A/N: So this show was excellent up until the whole after the hearing part. Cause the creepy, making out with her brother thing was horrendously disturbing and an unnecessary plot twist. I was fine with the killing his father thing, but then he tried to get back with Lacey and that was dumb. I am overall irritated. So I'm fixing what needs to be fixed. And I DO NOT own any of these characters.

Jo ran out of the hearing a few minutes before it was dismissed to avoid the crowd. She darted into the girl's bathroom. Leaning over the sink, she splashed some water on her face, trying to catch her breath. She couldn't believe what she had said at the hearing. How could she ever show her face to Danny again? She'd basically just declared her love for him loudly for the entire school board, some key members of the populars and her mother. More than that, how could she ever bear the misery of him not feeling the same way?

It didn't make sense. Falling for Danny did not make sense. He'd basically ruined her childhood, destroying her innocence and eliminating any semblance of normalcy for her ever. He killed his aunt, for pity's sake. Sure, he said he had a reason, but he'd spent so much time lying, how was she supposed to know that was even true? But then she'd look at his face and…all her pain, all the terror and anger…just, evaporated. She was crazy about him and it didn't make any sense.

She patted her face dry with a paper towel, glaring at herself in the mirror.

Time to face the music, idiot.

She walked out of the bathroom and straight into Danny. She stumbled and he caught her, steadying her with one hand on her waist and the other on her arm.

"Ummm, hey…" Jo mumbled awkwardly.

"Hey," Danny said. He smiled at her, equally tense.

"So, when do you hear?" she asked. She pushed her hair back and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"It could be any minute," Danny told her, "Any hour. It depends how long it takes them to get over my mother calling Regina Crana a whore." He chuckled to himself and cringed a moment later. Jo smiled.

"Yeah, that probably won't go in the plus column," she admitted.

"Probably not…" Danny agreed, "Jo, about what you said…"

Jo sucked in a quick breath and shook her head at him. She held up a hand, as if to shield herself from this upcoming conversation. She didn't want to have it. If she had to stand there and hear him tell her that he didn't have feelings for her, she would most likely start crying right then and there. In front of strangers and, even worse, in front of him.

"We don't have to talk about that. I was just…" she began, twisting one of her curls around her finger, "I really wanted to help. I mean after all that crap with Archie and Gloria, I was pretty revved up."

One corner of Danny's mouth turned up a little. Jo looked away from him.

"Well, uh…thank you…" he said, "Jo, what we have…our relationship, it's very special. I don't know what I would do without it. Okay?"

Her heart turned to ice.

"Way to let me down easy, Desai…" Jo replied in a teasing fashion. She smiled, but Danny knew it wasn't a really smile. It didn't reach her eyes. Her beautiful eyes watered.

"Jo…" he said gently, reaching out towards her. She flinched.

"It's fine, Danny, really, we don't ever have to talk about this," Jo told him. She shook her head, trying to smile but having trouble keeping her mouth upturned, "I'm fine. It's all okay."

"Jo."

"I have to go…"

"Jo, stop…"

He grabbed her elbow and swung her back to him. She stumbled into his arms and struggled against him as he held her in place. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. The pad of his thumb brushed against her lips lightly.

"Jo…"

His hand slipped to the back of her neck and he pulled her face to his. He kissed her tentatively, a slow burn set to ignite a nuclear explosion.

Jo couldn't think. Her arms slipped around his back of their own accord, pulling him closer. Her fingers dug into the soft material of his jacket. She felt Danny smile against her mouth as he ran his fingers through her curls and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, keeping her near.

They finally broke apart; it could have been mere seconds or maybe hours later. Danny leaned his forehead against Jo's, breathing heavily. Only then did they both realize that they were in a very public school hallway.

"Jo…"

"I...I have to go."