Jack kissed the top of Brelle's head tenderly as he got up from the bed.

"I'll be right back, love. There are a few calls I have to make." he said as he caressed her cheek. Brielle nodded.

"I love you." he said huskily, his voice thick with tiredness and lack of sleep. They had both been awake for over twenty four hours.

"Love you too." she said reluctantly letting go of his hands. He gave her such a dazzling smile, that Brielle was sure had she been standing, her knees would have let her down.

Jack wrapped a white towel around his waist and went out into the balcony, busily dialing numbers on his phone. Brielle watched his well sculpted muscles ripple as he moved. His body was perfect, to her, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. It was hard for her to believe that she had been able to touch him, feel him ever so deeply a only few hours ago. It was even more unbelievable to her that this amazing man loved her and wanted to belong to her for the rest of his life.

She felt an inexplicable sense of loss as his lips left her forehead. As he left the room, she found herself missing him almost immediately. Was it normal to feel like this? To feel as though her every breath depended on knowing he was safe and loved?

"Get a grip on yourself Brielle." she chastised herself. "It is not practical for Jack to be with you twenty four into seven. Remember when you were all alone and had to do everything yourself? You can't lose that Independence. It is what makes you you."

Childishly, she sulked for a couple of minutes, unhappy that she couldn't have Jack all to herself at that instant. She thought of going up to Jack in the balcony, clad in a bed sheet and drag him back to bed. Sighing deeply she decided it was futile, she didn't want to be a clingy, attention craving partner. She wouldn't want Jack to behave that way with her, after all.

"I'll watch some tv then." thought Brielle as she dug out the remote control from under the covers. "Nothing like a bit of Desperate Housewives to put things in to perspective."

Switching on the television she browsed through the channels looking for one which was in English. She barely knew any German, but was forced to stop at a regional channel because they were displaying Jack's picture with big headlines she could not read.

Brielle sat up quickly and crawled towards the tv, trying to get a closer look. The screen showed several people gathered in front of Dixon Enterprises back in California. Reporters with microphones and large swinging cameras were swarming all around. They all seemed to be hell bent on recording the video of a beautiful woman standing on a stage at the center of the crowd. As Brielle looked closer she thought the woman looked familiar.

"Wait a minute." she said aloud. "She looks an awful lot like ."

Brielle strained to hear Claire's voice under the thick dubbed German accent. She couldn't understand the words, but as she observed Claire's beautiful face, she could see anger and hatred reflected in her perfect features.

"This can't be good. I doubt she's announcing her donations to the orphanage here." thought Brielle as her mind raced.

"What could she be saying that she had to do it in front of Dixon Enterprises? It must have something to do with Jack." deduced Brielle before slumping back on her pillow. "But they had broken up long ago, hadn't they? What's wrong now?"

She looked at the television again. Claire was now carrying a child in her arms. Brielle sat back up so quickly she might have snapped her neck. Rubbing the strained muscle she stared at the child. The more she looked, the wider her eyes grew. Brielle was shocked to notice the striking similarities between the child and her parents. The resemblance was unmistakable, and Brielle found an uncomfortable lump forming in her throat as she blinked away sudden tears that had arrived at the edge of her eyes.

"Jack..." whispered Brielle as she looked at the little girl's sad face more to break the news to herself than anything else. "He has a family."

There was no doubt as to who the tiny girl was. Brielle was smart enough to put two and two together to understand what had happened. But the truth affected her much more than she expected it would. 

Had Jack known for all these years?

Was he secretly in touch with Claire?

He had to be, if he had a daughter with her.

Brielle rubbed her blurry eyes in despair. She had fantasized about starting a family with Jack not knowing he already had one.

He never told me.

She did not know what hurt her more, the fact that he had a child or that he had chosen not to tell her about it.

"Such a beautiful child." thought Brielle as she looked at the child's brown eyes. They were exactly like Jack's with a hint of melancholy in them possibly caused by the cruel way Claire was pulling her hand. Brielle felt the sudden urge to snatch her away from the vice-like grip of Claire's and hold her close to her own bosom.

"But she is not my daughter." thought Brielle, feeling quite sad herself. "I don't have the right. I hope Claire is a good mother."

Claire and her daughter disappeared into a big limousine and rushed off. The camera men followed thhem for a while before over enthusiastic newsreaders gave their opinion on the

The news channel finally decided to shift to other news and started a documentary on the growth and evolution of football in Europe. Brielle didn't know any football worth speaking of, nor did she have any desire to learn so she just closed her eyes and hugged the blanket closer to her chest trying to fathom what had happened. 

How was she going to face Jack after this? How would he react when he learned that she knew?

Just then, Jack entered the room. His eyes were full of worry, his lips while curving into a grin upon seeing her, lacked the playfulness he had a while ago.

"Brielle?" he said his voice sounding hollow as he sat next to her. Brielle didn't dare open her eyes. She had no idea how to face him.

"I need to tell you something. Please promise me you'll hear me out completely okay?" he continued taking her hands into his own. "Please don't leave me."

Brielle opened her eyes immediately. She gave Jack's hands a reassuring squeeze.

Leave him? She was scared he was going to leave her and live happily ever after with Claire and their daughter.

"I know you have a daughter." said Brielle looking into his eyes. She was surprised to see them full of anxiety and stress.

"H-how do you know?" he stammered finally.

"I just switched on the television, and it showed up in the local news." she said wringing her wrists.

"Oh, did you hear what they were saying?" he asked looking relieved.

"I couldn't understand the words, but the way Claire was---holding the child, it was cruel." said Brielle.

Jack's face was unreadable as he gripped the back of her neck, bringing her face close to his own and kissed her deeply. A few glorious moments later he pulled away.

"I didn't know I had a daughter either." he said huskily, his lips caressing her cheeks. "I called Raul and Sebastian a while ago and they dumped all this on me. Turns out Claire had a press conference yesterday. She accused me of selfishly leaving her when she was pregnant and not supporting her at all. I had no idea she as carrying my child. How could she keep that from me?"

"The child, my girl, my little girl, she looks so strikingly similar to me Brielle. It is making my head hurt. I've missed three years with her. She has spent three long years with that woman. I personally have enough experience with Claire to know how negligent a mother she can be. My daughter has probably been raised by her several staff members. This is all my fault."

"Jack, its not your fault." said Brielle consolingly, kissing his neck. "It's okay, we'll find a way out of this."

"You can leave if you want Brielle." said Jack suddenly hoisting himself up and moving away from her. "You didnt ask for this and I don't have any right to impose this on you. Our engagement can stand cancelled, if you want to le----"

"Shut up." said Brielle fiercely pulling Jack back on top of her. and kissing him like her life depended on it.

"You idiot." she said angrily. "I love you. I love more than I can put to words okay? I don't care if you have a daughter. She will receive my love all the same."

Jack looked surprised at her words, but finally gave a grin as cheerful as the Jack she had always known.

"I love you Brielle. Thank you." he said kissing her forehead. "Do you want to hear what Claire said in the press conference? Switch on the tv and I'll explain it to you."

"You know German?" asked Brielle in surprise.

"Yes, among a few more." he said non-chalantly unaware of how impressed Brielle was.

They tuned into a local channel that was showing Jack's face with words written in red over it. Brielle had a feeling they weren't very desirable words to be equated with.

"She painted me as this vile, despicable human being who doesn't care about the people in his life. " said Jack in a toneless voice. "She is accusing me of not providing her child support and being heartless enough to leave her when she was pregnant."

He sounded bored. "Big surprise there. I didn't know she was pregnant. I wouldn't have left her at all if I did. I would have married her. She didn't have to go through everything alone."

Brielle shook at his words before realizing that he wasn't intending on marrying for love, but for providing a better life for their daughter.

"I have apparently caused her mental and physical trauma. Rubbish. I have never hurt her." he said sounding angry. "My daughter, I don't even know her name. She has denied her a father, has she not caused trauma to our child? How dare she."

He was shaking and Brielle pulled him into a hug. "She won't hurt her. Mistreat and manhandle her a bit maybe, but Claire won't dare to do anything else. We can go to court. We can win the custody battle, we can bring her home."

"How dare she hold my daughter like that?" asked Jack as the a clip of Claire snatching away the girl's hands was shown on repeat.

"It's okay, she is fine," soothed Brielle, despite feeling very angry herself.

"So we will fight for her?" asked Jack his head resting on Brielle's chest, his ears against the thundering in her chest.

"We fight and win." said Brielle firmly.