Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis or the characters from the show, obviously.

A/N: jut thought I might tell you that most of my stories won't have season 3 content in it because I live in England and season 3 hasn't premiered yet. It's staring on the 15th of April. YEEEEEEEK. But because of all the spoilers, I basically know what's gonna happen. JARA SHALL NOT DIE

OH AND THE BEGINNING MAY SEEM CONFUSING BUT STICK WITH IT, IN THE NEXT CHAPTER IT WILL MAKE SENSE!

"Mara," Jerome whispered, nudging her gently. "Mara, wake up."

He was dressed in his military uniform and it wasn't anything fancy like the uniforms of those who are higher up in the army, but still he managed to make it look good, and he looked very handsome indeed.

Jerome had never been in the army before. He was a well-known photographer, in fact. He had only once considered joining the army and that was when he graduated (A/N I know in England they don't call it graduation, but I've been spending way too much time reading American fanfics.). He was smart, second highest scores in almost all his classes (one place behind Mara, of course) and he had a range of qualifications meaning he could select from many different jobs, but he didn't see it that way. He saw himself as worthless and unloved. Mara had tried to convince him all the time that he was special and kind and caring and that she loved him very much.

Obviously, she didn't love him enough though, because she was still with Mick Campbell.

And he knew it was selfish for thinking that Mara didn't love him just because she wasn't going out with him, but he wanted her to love him more. He wanted for them to be more than friends; much more.

That was why he had considered joining the army- to get away from it all.

But a few weeks after graduation, Mara and Jerome were officially together. Jerome couldn't quite believe it. Mara had caught Mick with another girl at the graduation party, and Jerome had been there to comfort her. Jerome had expected that much- Mick was never content with what he had, he always tries to reach for more but just ends up losing all he had to begin with. But cheating on Mara had to be the biggest mistake he ever made. Jerome knew Mara was amazing- she was sweet, kind, caring, considerate, generous, beautiful and adorably shy. She was everything a man needed to keep him happy, but Mick had let all of that go, and Jerome couldn't be happier. After getting together with Mara, all thoughts of joining the army were forgotten.

After Jerome had comforted her, they became closer, and eventually Jerome plucked up the courage to ask her out. He remembered that day to the last detail.

FLASHBACK

"Jerome?" Mara asked.

They were sat in a quaint little coffee house and Jerome had just placed two steaming cups of coffee on their table. They came here a lot and Mara always insisted that they sat at the back of the café, in a little 'booth' where they were hidden from the world. They were now in University, Mara was trying to pursue a career in journalism and Jerome was taking a photography course.

"Yes, Jaffray?" Jerome replied, shooting her a dazzling smile.

"I just wanted to say thanks." Mara said, wrapping her arms around Jerome's middle and hugging him from the side. Jerome was surprised, he hadn't expected that, but then again Mara did hug him frequently and it meant nothing more than friendship, so he tried to calm his heartbeat and urgently tried to push away the butterflies in his stomach.

Jerome snaked his arm around her shoulders and gave a confused laugh.

"Thanks? Thanks for what?" Jerome questioned.

"You know, for comforting me and all." Mara mumbled, still hugging him.

"That's quite all right Jaffray." He chuckled.

"No, no it's not." Mara insisted, looking up at his face with a serious expression while he stared down at her with loving eyes. Mara didn't know why, but Jerome always seemed to look at her like that. She saw the way he looked at other people, and his eyes were never like that; not even to the people he loved the most like Alfie or Poppy. "You're always there for me, Jerome. Always. Whenever I need comforting, like all those times back in school, you would drop everything and make me feel better."

"My pleasure."

"You're the best friend ever!" Mara buried her face in his side again.

Jerome froze. He felt privileged that Mara thought he was 'the best' but what would make him even more happy was if she had added the word 'boy' in between 'best' and 'friend'.

Mara felt Jerome stiffen and she pulled away from him gently, but still had her arms around him.

"Are you okay?" Mara asked, worried. "Did I… say something?" she looked into his eyes.

"No! of course not, it's just…" Jerome wondered whether he should do it. Should he tell her how he felt? He had tried once to ask her out, but she had let him down, and after that, he never asked her directly- instead he just made…gestures. Then he realised that after university they would be going their separate ways and he may never get the chance to ask her out again.

"What?" Mara urged and her voice was a whisper.

"I was just wondering… y-you know…"

"Yes…?"

"If we could be something a little more than friends?" Jerome said it all rather fast and as soon as he had finished- which was about a millisecond after he'd started- he closed his eyes, awaiting the response.

"Oh," Was all she said. "Oh, Jerome I never knew you felt like that."

"Look Mara, I know that stupid Meathead hurt you," Jerome said and Mara giggled. She had always scolded him for using that nick name but now she could see that he had been right all along. Seeing her smile and hearing her laugh made Jerome relax and encouraged him to continue speaking. "But I won't, okay? I would never do something like that to you-"

"I know that, Jerome. It's just that… well we only broke up a week ago, a-and I'm not really sure if I'm ready for a relationship just yet. And you're my best friend, what if we break up? I don't want to have to ignore you forever." She explained making cute little hand gestures while she spoke, another trait Jerome admired.

"Okay, how about…OH!" he suddenly cried and Mara could almost see the light bulb above his head. "How about we just, give it a go? Try a few dates and if you feel uncomfortable then we go back to being best friends, as if nothing happened, with no hard feelings!"

Mara couldn't help but smile, he looked so enthusiastic, and it was pretty much a fool-proof plan.

Instead of replying, Mara extended her neck and placed a little kiss on his cheek.

"So, was that a yes? We can give it a go?" Jerome asked quickly.

"We can give it a go." Mara said with a smile and she was immediately in his arms, engulfed in a warm hug.

Their first date was on the 26th October. It was mid-Autumn, so the trees hadn't yet lost their leaves but they had turned to beautiful earthy colours- reds, yellows and oranges. The weather was just right too- not too hot but not too cold. The sun shone in the sky and warmed the atmosphere and a warm breeze also filled the air. Perfect conditions for a picnic in a meadow.

Yes, you heard right. A picnic in a meadow. It was a place that Jerome was sure only he knew about- it was abandoned whenever he went there. It was his special place and Jerome was hoping that- if this 'trial' went well- it could be his and Mara's special place.

The meadow was beautiful. It was a huge clearing with red-leafed trees outlining the perimeter. The grass was tall, up to his waist, but it didn't look green because there were thousands of light pink flowers growing up to the same size as the grass. It was quite hard laying the picnic, because he had to stomp on the grass and flatten it first.

Now he was in front of Mara's flat and he had just knocked on the door. A few seconds later Joy opened the door.

"Hey Jerome!" she said brightly. "Looking forward to this date?" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and he rolled his eyes.

"I just hope it goes well."

"Of course it's going to go well! Any idiot can see that you two are perfect together- I think Mara likes you too, you know. It's just that the whole 'Mick incident' was quite recent."

"Yeah, I know." Jerome said, waiting for Mara to come down.

"Oh, right. Sorry! You probably want to talk to Mara now!" Joy laughed nervously. "MARA! WOULD YOU GET DOWN HERE?"

Jerome had taken a step back at her outburst. Just then Mara stepped out into the hallway, and she looked beautiful. She was wearing a white lace dress- the lace had a rosy pattern on it- and she wore a brown fabric belt around it. Her hair was down and passed her chest- she looked breathtaking. The lace dress looked cute; it wasn't fancy, just perfect for the warm weather outside.

"Hey, Jerome." She said nervously, fidgeting with her dress.

"Okay now, you kids have fun," Joy said. "But not too much fun!" she said pointing at Jerome and Mara giggled. Joy then went back inside and shut the door.

"Hey, Mara. You look…wow!" Jerome was speechless.

"Thanks," she blushed. "Should we…?" Mara asked, pointing down the hall. Jerome nodded dumbly and then regained his posture, why did he always have to be so awkward around her? He was supposed to be the 'ladies man'.

"yeah." He whispered and he gently took her hand in his, leading her down the hall and out into the crisp autumn air.

They had been walking for ages, but neither of them were tired, they were exhilarated. They loved being in each other's company. "Jerome, where are we going?" Mara asked yet again, a huge smile on her face.

"I told you, Mara, it's a surprise." Jerome said again. He knew Mara loved and hated surprises at the same time. You see, she loves surprises, but she hates having to wait for them.

"Fine." Mara huffed, but both she and Jerome could see the huge grins on each other's faces, and it gave Jerome hope that maybe she was enjoying this, and that it will work out.

A few minutes later they were in the woods, slaloming through the trees, laughing out loud for no apparent reason.

"Jerome, do you even know where we're-"but she was shushed by Jerome who placed a finger to her lips. They were in a place where hundreds of trees were stood in a perfectly straight line. Jerome let go of her hand and squeezed through the gap between two of the trees and Mara followed suit.

As soon as she was at the other side, she gasped. It was so beautiful. A breath taking meadow. Trust Jerome to find a place like this.

"Come on!" Jerome said and he crouched down.

"Umm…Jerome?"

"Piggy back ride- Come on! Get on my back, Mara!"

"O…K." She was a little surprised, but excited nonetheless. She straddled Jerome's back and gingerly moved her hands to grip his shoulders. Jerome stood suddenly and Mara let out a squeal. Jerome chuckled and asked "You ready?"

"Mm hmm" was Mara's response.

Jerome shot off at full speed, racing across the Meadow to where the picnic lay. Mara was giggling loudly and Jerome was laughing too. When they got to the picnic, Jerome crouched down again do that Mara could get off of him.

"Oh, wow, Jerome!" Mara gasped, looking at the picnic.

"Do you like it?" He asked nervously.

"I love it."

Jerome remembered those days as if they were last week. He and Mara were now married, he had become a professional photographer, but because of a recent war, he had been called up. He didn't want to go any more; he had a reason to stay now- Mara.

But you couldn't refuse to go- it was against the rules.

Mara had only wanted to be a journalist, but now, she had journalists working for her. She and Amber worked together to run their own fashion magazine, and they were pretty famous. Not so famous that she gets bombarded with paparazzi every time she stepped out of her door, and not everyone recognized her; she wasn't exactly in the magazine anyway, she co-owned it. But she and Amber got invited to exclusive events and higher class people knew her name.

Mara always got sent packages of new clothes straight from designers, almost begging her to include them in one of the articles.

Fashion wasn't really 'her thing' but she knew a thing or two about it. Basically, she was into the articles that talked about friendship and relationships and Amber was more into the fashion side of it all. So together, they were the perfect pair to create the perfect magazine.

Jerome would also get his photos published in Mara's magazine- an added bonus.

He couldn't believe he had to go and leave her behind. The army promised that they'd be back within 10 months but you can't really trust them. He may not even come back. Both he and Mara knew that there was a risk of him dying or even coming back disabled, but they always tried to look on the bright side.

"Mara," Jerome whispered, nudging her gently. "Mara, wake up."

Mara's eyes fluttered open. "Hmm…?" she asked sleepily. She was so adorable.

"I have to go now."