Disclaimer: I don't own them except for the kids!

Innocent Angel, Part 1

"Please."

"No."

"Come on Jet," Isabella pleaded as she looped her arms around his neck as she leaned over his shoulder. "One more and I promise to leave you alone."

Jet looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "You promise?"

She smiled prettily and nodded her head. "I promise."

He sighed as she let go of him and he stood. He took her hand once again and led her out to the dance floor as David and Kellie's wedding reception went on. "I don't know why I'm doing this," he muttered as he grasped onto her slender hand and placed the other on her waist.

"Because I asked," Isabella replied as she looked up at him. Her blue gray eyes sparkled merrily.

"I'm glad you're having fun," he mumbled. "You don't have a sister who has a wretched love life, another sister who can't get her head out of the clouds, and a father that could probably be dead if Duo had brought his gun."

"You're too pessimistic," she answered, wrinkling her nose.

"And you're too young to understand any of it."

"I'm seventeen years old. I hardly qualify that as being "too young."

"Izzy, you're young and innocent. You have no idea what happens once you get older."

"You're life gets screwed up?" Isabella replied dryly. She then snorted. "Please Jet, I have two older brothers who almost beat the crap out of each other a year ago over Randy, and a sister who can be a complete idiot and can't see to get her life together. I think I know how everything works."

Jet looked down at the girl in front of him. She didn't however, have the appearance of a girl anymore. She looked very much like a woman. That face of hers was delicately drawn. A sculptor's dream. A reed thin body, that was way too thin in his opinion. He looked away from her, suddenly aware that he was scrutinizing a seventeen-year-old girl. "You're not allowed to do that. She's not even out of school yet and you're twenty years old." "How many dances does this make?"

Isabella shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I think four or five." Her eyes went to his face. He wasn't even looking at her. She frowned slightly. "Something catch your attention?"

His deep coffee brown eyes went back to her face. Her brow was furrowed a little. "No. I was just looking around."

"Hmm…"

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing," she replied as she shook her head, sending a few platinum blond tendrils over her shoulders.

The scent of violets drifted past his nose as she shook her hair. It twitched a little. His fingers moved slightly on her waist. The silk of her pearl gray dress felt slippery under his touch. He was wishing he wasn't noticing. He wanted the song to end. He needed to get away from her before he thought of her even more then he was. His eyes went to her petal pink lips as she let out a soft breath he could feel against his chin. "Dammit!" He averted his eyes again as she looked back up again. A faint blush crept up his neck.

"What?" Isabella asked curiously as she tilted her head to one side.

"Nothing."

"Jet, you're blushing."

"I'm not. I just feel warm in here that's all. Why did Kellie have to have such a big wedding?"

"Because she's a Merquise by name and a Peacecraft by blood. It's practically written in stone to have a grand wedding for royalty," she pointed out, laughing quietly. She looked up at him, amusement written on her features. "Why? Want something smaller?"

"Wouldn't have to go through all this mess," he replied as he silently prayed for the song to end so he could get himself under some semblance of control.

"If you're so warm, why don't we go out on the terrace," she suggested as she smiled up at him.

"Terrace with her? Alone? I don't think so. This onna is too tempting despite her age." "I think I'll wait until the song ends."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." The song ended. Time for him to put some space between him and the girl in front of him.

"Thank you for the dance Jet," she said sweetly as she leaned up on her toes and pressed a kiss on his cheek. She smiled at him as she walked away from him.

He couldn't help but watch her as she walked away. She had a dancer's walk he couldn't help by notice. He ran a hand over his face as he made his way outside. He leaned his elbows on the railing and raked his hands through his sandy brown hair. "What has gotten into you Chang?" he asked himself. He couldn't even answer his own question as his brow creased in thought. He wasn't a playboy by any means. He was more into school and work, not girls. He dated here and there, nothing serious. He left the playboy image up to Miles Barton and Chris and Jonathon Maxwell. Vaughn Winner could be considered a playboy, but he was more talk than anything else. To him, women weren't that important. He wasn't chauvinistic by any means, but going to school with a certain type of girl, he wanted no part of it. They were too shallow, too rich, too whiney, and too snotty. He hated those kinds of girls. And he was determined to avoid dating any of the girls he grew up with. He had placed all those girls in an "off limits" status. "Then what is it with Isabella Barton?" he asked himself again. "She's seventeen years old for crying out loud. She's probably the most innocent of all the girls I know." A smile lit his face as he recollected that face of hers again. It was too ethereal to be considered real. She was an angel. Untouched. "And she will stay that way."

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Isabella tapped her nail on the edge of the damask tablecloth as she looked over at her sister Carin. "How many dances have you had?"

"Plenty. My feet are killing me," Carin replied as she slipped off her shoes and rested her toes on the floor. She looked at her younger sister out of the corner of her blue green eyes. "And I saw you dancing with Jet a few times? What's up with that?"

"He was available to dance," Isabella replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I still can't believe that he danced though. He hates dancing," Carin commented as she smiled at a passing waiter, who smiled in return.

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Is there any guy you don't smile at?"

"That's the whole point to get a guy interested sis. You have to show encouragement."

"I'll find guys my own way."

"Flirting is just an art form. Randy and Veronica have it down pretty good."

"Randy flirted only to have fun. Veronica flirts just to show she can twist the male population about her fingers."

"It works," Carin said as she smiled at a dignitaries' son. "You should try flirting Is, it does work wonders," she said as the son approached her and asked her to dance. "Later," she called over her shoulder.

Isabella sighed and shook her head. "That only gets you into trouble," she said as she looked over at Veronica Yuy, who was holding "court" at her table. "They'll fight over her in the end and it'll give just more fuel to the gossip that constantly circulates about her." Her eyes went over to Jet as he came back in. She liked him a lot. He was very smart and pleasant once one chipped away at that disdainful façade he seemed to wear. She noted that he was quite attractive too. Not in the same way as her brothers, but there was something about him. He had an intriguing set of eyes. They were almost black they were so dark. She wanted to dance with him to loosen him up a bit, but like most of the guys she was raised with, he treated her like she was a little girl and not the young woman that she was. She was the youngest of them all. It was rankling sometimes. She frowned slightly. "Too bad I couldn't change his mind," she mused thoughtfully. "Something has to be done to show that this angel just got her adult wings and that's she's ready to fly."

A/N: How did you like it? Another romance to warm you're heart and for me to cliff hang you all the way through! (Smirks evilly) Stay tuned for more coming soon! XOXO!!