The End and The Beginning
By Misha

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters of General Hospital. They belong to the creators of General Hospital, Wendy Riche, Bob Guza, ABC Daytime, and probably a lot of other people with more money than me. I'm not making any money off this story so please don't sue me.

Author's Notes- This was inspired by the February 18th episode of General Hospital. I love the way Vanessa exited, especially the montague of all those beautiful moments, but I couldn't help but write my own goodbye piece. I've been a Brenda fan for years and I was thrilled when she came back and I hate seeing her go all over again. But, what can I do? Still, it was wonderful to have her back, if only for a short time and this is written in tribute to the wonderful job VM has done over the years and all the incredible Brenda scenes we've gotten to witness. Well, that's all, enjoy!

Rating- PG

Brenda sat at the airport, just waiting for the plane to come.

It was strange, that she was leaving Port Charles.

She had spent four years dreaming about coming home and now she couldn't wait to get away.

But that was because it wasn't home anymore. Too much had changed.

She closed her eyes for a moment. During her years with Luis, all she had thought about was going home.

Sometimes, she dreamed about what it would be like if she was suddenly cured and she could go home.

The dreams varied. Sometime she returned to Jax and it was just like it always had been. Other times, she came home and reunited with Sonny, realizing that she had never stopped loving him.

How strange the reality was.

She smiled sadly. She'd had two great loves in her life and now both were gone.

She wasn't even thirty yet and she had already loved and lost twice. It was strange, in her years away, she had never imagined that anything would change.

She had always supposed that her world and her men would be the way she left them.

How wrong she was. Life had gone on without her and so had Sonny and Jax.

And that was why she was sitting by herself at the airport, reading to leave. She finally had to accept that life had changed.

Boy had it changed.

She was leaving the only place she had ever thought of as home and she was leaving with the knowledge that love wasn't forever.

After all, at this moment, she could barely stand Jax and she knew that what she and Sonny had shared was dead. There'd always be a love there and the memories would always be beautiful, but it was over.

Both of those love stories were over.

And now she had to figure out who she was. She had been in love with one or the other for so long, that she had no idea who she was without them.

But now was the time to find out. She finally had to figure out who she really was.

There would be no more memories to cling to, no dreams or desperate wishes. There would be no more looking back.

And in a way, it was a relief. She was looking forward to discovering who she was and what the future held for her.

But at the same time, it was terrifying. She was leaving behind what she knew.

For so long, she had been defined by her love for two men. She didn't have that anymore.

Oh, she'd always love them, but she was no longer in love with either one of them.

In a lot of ways, she really was grateful that Jax had canceled the wedding, though she wished that he had done it in private, because she knew that she would have gone through with it and ended up making them both miserable.

In the end, this was better. It hurt like hell, but in the long run, it was the best thing for her.

But it was still hard to walk away from it all.

There had been some wonderful moments, some horrible ones, but some wonderful ones all the same.

She leaned back and let the memories sweep her away for a moment.

The memories of Jax and Sonny and the love that had always been there. She thought about the good times and the bad, she thought about what it was like to love both those men with all her heart.

Suddenly, she was jolted out of her memories by the stewardess' voice telling her she had to board the plane or she'd miss her flight.

Slowly, she got up and walked towards the plane. She paused for a moment at the gate and took one last look.

"Goodbye." She whispered as she boarded the plane that would take her out of Port Charles and towards a whole new life.

It was the end of one chapter of her life. But, oh what a story it had been...

She smiled through the tears welling in her eyes as she sat down.

The wildest times in the world, they had been hers.

But who knew what the future held?

Yeah, the past had been beautiful, but the future might be too.

She didn't know, it was a mystery waiting to be solved and she couldn't wait.

The End