Okay, I promised it, and I shall deliver! This is the sequel to my other story, "Mr. Brightside". If you didn't read the first, you could prolly be able to follow this one, but you won't get any of the inside jokes or a lot of the beginning, so you might want to read that one. Oh, and this is a TornXKiera romance, so don't ask me if it will become a JakXKiera in the future, 'cause, well, it won't. I was totally a JxK myself, and still am, but the ending Jak 3 was horrible and then I read "Redemption" and "In the Dark" and I became a TxK lover. Oh and I hate Ashelin and adore Torn, so it all works out D

Summary: Jak 3: A horrible JakXKiera moment, but creator of a new relationship! The continuing of our favorite mechanic and the hott, shy commander's budding relationship. Expect hair cuts, hospital trips, and most importantly, the inevitable – Kiera jumping Torn's bones!

Disclaimer: As with all my other stories, I don't own any of the characters or names (unless I created them, i.e. dukoose) , 'cause if I did, they'd be in the game, coppice?

So Sick

Chapter 1

Avoiding the Unavoidable

A pair of eyes the same colour as ice scanned over the tired groups. A scowl that had been his constant companion for the past week and a half made his rugged, tattooed face even harsher. Hands behind his back, he paced in front of his men while they caught their breath.

"Aten-hut!"

His rough voice rang out in the cool morning air, making everyone of the soldiers stand up straight and salute him.

"Sir, yes Sir!" they all yelled simultaneously.

"At ease men."

All the men relaxed as their commander, Torn, stepped in front of their lines.

"Those drills you just did, they were nothing. From now on, each and every one of you will complete one set every morning. If you want to eat, you've got to run." He glanced around, daring anyone to protest. As a show of their superior training, none did. But no on liked it.

"Alright, you're all dismissed."

Torn walked past the ravenous soldiers towards the gate that lead to the exit of the barracks. Officers and foot men alike saluted the tall man as he walked by; they did not want to get on his bad side. Normally, he was strict and fair, hard, but not unbearable. Lately, however, he'd been in a very foul mood, and, although he was still fair, they'd all had to endure grueling training sessions galore. Being on the end of one of his death glares was not a pleasant experience.

Torn continued to walk towards the exit. Someone called his name. He kept walking. They called again, this time louder. Still not listening. Finally, he stood in one spot when the person yelled, "Commander, I order you to stop!"

His jaw tensed and he turned stiffly to the person yelling. A curvy red-head was walking briskly towards him, her suspiciously large lips pursed angrily. He saluted her and stood at attention.

"Yes governess?"

"Knock off the crap Torn. Why have you been avoiding me?" Ashelin snapped, gritting her teeth dangerously.

"I haven't been avoiding you," he told her in his normal, calm gruff voice. This was a lie; he had been avoiding her. For the past week and a half he had been giving himself constant missions, making sure he was as far away from her as possible. And, as an extra precaution, he didn't stay at his apartment or office for more than an hour at a time. A little paranoid, yes, but it had worked. Up until then, that is.

"Yes you have!" she barked back at him. A few staggering men looked on curiously, but ran away after she sent a look of pure venom their way. They didn't want to face her wrath.

"No, I've just been busy," he continued in that same calm voice, which was starting to both creep her out and give her the shivers; it was creepy because he was only calm when he was either really angry or hurt, and it gave her the shivers because, well, his voice gave any sane female the shivers.

She let out a frustrated, then said more quietly, "Look Torn, I think I know what this is about–"

"I need to go," he cut her off abruptly, avoiding her gaze, "I'm already late for...something."

She growled and attempted to grab his arm, but he was off through the gate, running in long strides she could never catch.

He kept running until he could duck into one of the narrow allies between buildings. Good, she hadn't followed him. He didn't know what was worse: her trying to make amends with him or ignoring him. Either was as painful as the other. Every time he looked at her, he was reminded of what he'd seen in her office eleven days ago. He didn't want to hear her explanation, one that surely ended in 'You never said anything', and preferred not talking to her if it pertained to that. But he felt ill whenever he saw her and Jak, her now 'Official' boyfriend, together. They were actually dating now, something that ripped into Torn like a dagger. He didn't put any blame on the blonde guy; it really wasn't his fault. Truly, it wasn't anyone's fault, not even Ashelin's. Sure, she kissed Jak, and what was more, he had kissed her back, but he himself hadn't made a whole lot of effort to win her back. That just wasn't how he was.

Torn, who'd been leaning against the dirty brick wall of the alley, got up in order to head back to HQ, when pain stabbed at his temple. He took a deep breath and started walking again any ways. He'd been getting these pains– along with dizzy spells and the shakes– frequently; they didn't bother him. He walked slowly to his office, about a block away.

He entered the building five minutes later, still dizzy but the pain in his head slowly ebbing away. As soon as he stepped into the hallway, he was hailed by his secretary, a middle-aged woman with rapidly greying raven hair.

"Sir, there's a slight problem," she said in her quick, fidgety manner.

"Yes Lynn, what is it?"

"Well, one of the cruisers looks busted and is going at a snails pace. I looked at your schedule and saw you actually had an opening (what a concept) for a few hours..."

"Can't you have someone else take it?"

Torn didn't really want to have to socialize with anyone for however long it would take, and with his luck, it'd be a total jerk. 'Wait, isn't our new mechanic–'

"Well, that Jinx guy said he'd gladly take it to Kiera's but I–"

"Jinx the one with those nasty cigars?"

"The one and only."

"And Kiera, green hair, green eyes?"

"Who else? I can give Jinx a call if–"

He stopped her from reaching for the phone.

"That's all right, I need to talk to Kiera any ways. What garage is the cruiser in?"

"Number 7."

He nodded towards her and walked back into the elevator. "Okay, thanks Lynn."

/ns/

Lynn was right, the cruiser really was slow as heck. It took him half an hour to go three block over to Kiera's garage. When he arrived in front of the building, he parked it and stepped out of the cruiser.

The main door was half way open, allowing him to duck under and go inside. Kiera was bent under the hood, searching for something or other. She didn't seem to know he came in and went on tinkering with the engine. Torn decided he should get her attention soon, because even though his head hurt, that voice that was so well known in her presence was still able to comment on how she was standing.

"Hey," he simply said, hoping his voice didn't sound to harsh.

Kiera startled a little bit, jumping and nearly smacking her head off the hood. She emerged from the inside of the car, it seemed, in slow motion. As she turned towards him, her beautiful aqua hair swayed back and forth smoothly before it settled back in position, and he was almost positive it would smell like fresh picked apples. Her large green eyes looked to him, shining brightly against her milky white skin. Her face lit up as she smiled at him, and she put her wrench down and walked over to him.

"Torn! Hey, what are you doing here?"

Anyone else who was that cheery would've probably had their head smacked, but he just couldn't get annoyed by her. There was something about her( 'A quality!' he reminded the voice) that he liked. He loved being around her, she just made him feel...better. The pain in his head felt cured for the moment and he actually smiled and said, "Well, we've got a junk cruiser that needs repaired. It was either I bring it or Jinx, so..."

"Eww, thanks. I'm not so sure he learned his lesson last time."

They traded smirks, both remembering how the vile pyrotechnician had nearly wet himself after Torn almost killed him for taking a grab at Kiera. It was just too funny.

"Where's it at?" she said, getting down to business now.

"Out in front. Let me pull it in."

Kiera watched the tall man walk out of the garage. She hadn't said anything, but she was really worried about him now. He wasn't just lean anymore, he was downright emaciated! He was still overworking himself, she could tell, despite promising her he wouldn't. He looked surlier than usual too, and his eyes showed he was depressed. About what she didn't know though. Did something happen to him and Ashelin? Oh, yeah, the governess and Jak were now 'official', that was probably a real drag. Kiera just wished he wouldn't take it out on himself.

She sighed and hit the button to raise the garage door the whole way. He was a grown man; she needed to let him handle things himself. The petite mechanic had to giggle, however, when she saw the cruiser pull in. It had to be the slowest thing she had ever seen. Torn scowled at her and said, "Yeah, haha, real funny," which caused her to laugh harder and for him to smile.

"That, is slow!" she said, "What happened to it?"

"Well, I have the sneaking suspicion one of the younger officers took his date out in it and let her drive it, but I really don't know."

"Well, we'll soon find out wont we?"

She popped the hood up and put on a pair of gloves. She didn't say anything, outside the occasional 'hmmm' or 'what's this I see?', for a couple of minutes. Finally, she extracted herself from the engine and turned towards the commander.

"Shouldn't take too long to fix, maybe a half hour at most, probably more like fifteen minutes though. Might as well grab a chair, no use leaving and coming back."

He did as he was told and took a seat in a spinney chair near her tool bench. They talked about random things that came to mind; work, her father, refrigerators (not as random as you'd think), and dancing.

"I don't dance Keer," he told her with a stern look she wasn't able to see, "So don't try to convince me to give it a chance, because it won't happen."

"Come on, it's fun!"

"How is humiliating yourself fun?"

"You wouldn't humiliate yourself," she said with an eye roll he couldn't see, "The only people who look stupid are the ones who get drunk and start to strip or something, like Tess."

"Wait, what about Tess?"

"I didn't tell you? Well, remember how I went dancing the other night? Tess ended up doing a little strip tease for the DJ after drinking four shots of whiskey and a strawberry daiquiri."

"What'd the guy do?"

"He got totally freaked out and stood up on his chair until we grabbed her!"

They both were laughing by then. Suddenly, Torn felt really dizzy and had to grasp the back of the chair. The spell soon passed and Kiera didn't notice because of the hood obscuring her view of him.

"So, uh, how did the rest of the night go? Were those girls all bitchy?" he asked, still holding on to the chair.

Kiera grimaced. She'd almost forgot about the morons who had come with her and Tess to the club.

"Yes! I don't know what's worse – them bugging me about Jak or ignoring me while they talk about all the 'dangerous missions' they'd been on. They think I'm a weak little girl and it pisses me off!"

"You still up for learning how to shoot?" he questioned.

At this she looked out from behind the hood. She'd figured he'd forgotten about their little deal. She wondered if that meant he remembered that small kiss she'd given him. Probably not, it was just a kiss on the cheek. His very nice smelling cheek...

"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed with a huge, stomach flipping smile. Then she became more serious.

"But do you want to teach me? I mean, you've got much better things to do, and I'd probably be horrid at it, I don't want to waste your time–"

"Of course I want to teach you," he interrupted her, "And it wouldn't be a waste of my time, I like to work with y– weapons. It's a good idea for you to learn how to use a gun. As long as you take it serious, which I know you will, I'll teach you," he told her. He could tell she would take it very seriously. She was very mature and he could trust her.

"Are you positive you don't mind?"

"Would I lie? Why don't you meet me tomorrow at the gun course, around...eleven? How's that sound?"

She smiled at him, causing his stomach to flip yet again.

"That sounds great. And I really appreciate it too. You're the first person to treat me like an equal in this town, not like a kid or a slut. It really means a lot to me. Thanks."

He blushed and stuttered out, "Um, I, uh, your welcome."

"And, your cruiser is done," she said wolfishly, putting down the hood and pulling off her gloves.

He got up and hopped inside. Just like she said, it sounded smooth.

"See you tomorrow," he said as he pulled out of the garage.

"Yep!" she yelled as he sped down the street, a grin on her face.

/an/

well, that took me about 4 days to type, no lie. Okay, so the first 3 were spent playing with the clip art, but I try! Sorry, but I couldn't have our two love birds tearing at each others clothes yet (not that I'm promising anything! ;D), I needed to set up the plot.

Next chapter: Kiera learns how to shoot y'all! And might even teach the commander a thing or two! Lol