She burst through the door of 2J and stomped all the way to the orange couch tossing her bag on the floor. He watched her slump down and cross her arms. She wasn't crying, was she? No, Katie Knight never cried. He'd known her since she was a baby and the only time she'd ever cried was in the way that babies do. She didn't even cry when she fell down and skinned her knees as a young kid. Well, okay, she did cry to get sympathy out of her mother and brother when that happened.

He got up from his position at the counter, walked over to Katie, and handed her a tissue.

"Thanks, James." She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

"Are you okay?" He sat down next to her. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

He watched her tuck her brown hair behind her ear. He'd never seen her this upset before. She was such a strong girl. Woman, he corrected. She was eighteen now. Wow, when did she grow up? For that matter when did he? He was almost twenty-two!

"Mark," she spoke softly.

Mark was her boyfriend of almost a year, her first serious boyfriend, and also the new face of the never ending teen drama New Town High.

She took a deep breath.

"He's such a jerk!" Her brown eyes caught onto James's. "I wish I had a girl friend, well, a female friend, to talk about this with."

"I could go get Camille or Jo or someone?" James suggested though he knew they were both out.

Katie shook her head.

"You know we've been having some trouble for a while lately."

James nodded. It wasn't unusual for Katie to storm into the apartment after spending time with Mark slamming the front door and her bedroom door. But, this was the first time he'd seen the boy bring her to tears.

"How do you feel about him?"

Even though she was holding a tissue, she wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand.

"I do care about him. I do. I'm not just saying that."

"I know."

"But, I can't take it anymore! He's so selfish and insensitive. Why did I not see this before?"

"Maybe it wasn't there before. Hollywood can change people." James thought back to the time when he and his friends minus Kendall got Hollywood Fever. He learned that other people like The Jennifers and Guitar Dude had been drastically changed due to the homesickness.

"Yeah," Katie sighed softly. "It didn't change you or Logan or Carlos or Kendall."

"That's because we have your awesome big brother to keep us in check. Otherwise I'd be some orange megalomaniac freak."

"You already are 'some orange megalomaniac freak.'" She patted him on the thigh sending tingles up and down his leg.

"No, it's mangerine." He waggled his fingers in front of his face.

"I'll show you mangerine!" And then Katie kissed James. On the lips. Hard.

"What was that?" James questioned at the same time as Katie exclaimed, "Oh my god!"

They leaned back into each other staring into the other's eyes. James put a hand behind Katie's head. He leaned in closer. His lips met hers again. Her lips parted. His tongue went in and then he jumped back.

James turned to see Carlos staring at them with the widest eyes, wider than he thought possible.

"W-what was that?" Carlos choked out.

"I—I—" James sputtered.

He looked at Katie. She initiated it. It's her fault. He could say that. But, it wouldn't be true. He started the second one and he did enjoy both of them.

Oh dude, he enjoyed a kiss with his best friend's baby sister. Kendall was going to kill him.

"Don't tell Kendall!" James blurted out.

"Don't tell Kendall what?" Kendall entered the apartment with his girlfriend, Jo.

Katie immediately stood up and ran to bedroom.

"What was that about? James, did you do something to her?"

Carlos gasped slightly. James hoped Kendall didn't notice.

"No. No. She was upset about her boyfriend and I was just comforting her."

"Yeah, I'd call that comforting," Carlos remarked.

"Would you like me to talk to her?" Jo suggested.

"What did you do?" Kendall asked eyebrows furrowing.

"I—I—"

"He kissed her!" Carlos exclaimed before clasping a hand over his mouth.

James gave Carlos a dirty look.

"You did what?!" Kendall shouted.

Kendall's voice was a slap to James's face. He hated disappointing his friends.

"I kissed your sister," he admitted. "She came to me for advice and I kissed her. Well, she kissed me first, but I didn't stop her, and then I started again." He couldn't believe he said all that. He could have denied it, told Kendall that Katie kissed him and he tried to get out of it. But, no. That wouldn't be fair to Katie. He couldn't do that to her. He wanted to protect her. "Don't be mad at her. It's my fault."

"What the hell, James! You're one of my best friends! You're supposed to protect Katie from people like…well, people like you!"

"Dude, isn't this like incest? Isn't she supposed to be like a sister to you?" Carlos interrupted. "She is to me."

James threw his hands up.

"Yes, no, maybe, I don't know!" He turned to Kendall. "I love your sister. When I kissed her I felt something."

"I'm gonna make you feel something!" Kendall raised his fist now standing over James on the couch.

"Go ahead. Hit me. I'm a terrible best friend. I should not have fallen in love with your sister." James stood up ready to take the blow.

Kendall dropped his arm. James suspected he didn't expect to hear that. Heck, James didn't expect to hear himself say it!

"You're in love with Katie? Wh-when did—where did—what—why—how did this happen?"

"I don't know," James admitted. He swallowed not really sure how he should answer this. The only thing he knew was he had to tell the truth. "We've always been close. I've been there for her. She's been there for me. I don't know. This is really hard telling the brother of the girl I love how I fell in love with her, especially when that brother is my best friend."

"Do it. This is my baby sister we're talking about not just some random girl you met out there." Kendall waved his hand toward the window.

"I know. I know!"

"And you do know she's five years younger than you? I'm not sure I'm comfortable, no I know I'm not comfortable with her dating someone five years older than her."

"Mark Bradenfield's in the hall." Logan entered the apartment. "Said he wants to talk to Katie."

"Jo?" Kendall turned around. "Hm."

Carlos disappeared down the hall and a few minutes later appeared with Katie and Jo.

"I don't want to talk to him," Katie said crossing her arms. She stood off to the side like she was afraid to pick a guy, Kendall or James to stand next to.

"You need to talk to him," Jo said. "You need to tell him how you feel."

"Don't break up with him because of me," James said.

Fresh tears formed in Katie's eyes.

"Our kiss was a mistake, wasn't it? I'm stupid to think I felt something," she said softly looking James directly in the eyes.

"No. I felt it, too. But, you were with him first. I don't want your feelings for him to be effected by what you think you might have for me."

James sat back down on the couch as Katie stepped towards the door. Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and Jo joined him on the couch.

"Do you have feelings for Katie?" Logan asked having come in at the end of the whole ordeal.

"I think so."

Logan immediately looked at Kendall.

"We've been through this. I'm not happy with the idea of you dating my sister—"

"Which is most likely not going to happen because she's with Mark," James interrupted.

"I'm not happy with her dating him, either, honestly. That prick has hurt her so many times." Kendall closed his eyes for a brief second. "She needs a decent guy, not some jerk kid who thinks he's God's answer to women."

"You mean me, right?"

"Mark's the jerk," Kendall said. "I've seen the way he hurts my baby sister. I won't let anybody do that."

"I won't hurt her."

"I know you won't intentionally."

"You think I would."

Kendall didn't have a chance to respond for Katie stormed back inside.

"That's that," she said.

"What happened?" Kendall asked.

"He broke up with me." Before James could say anything she continued. "I didn't break up with him. I didn't say anything. Apparently he's been seeing Jessica Holmes. He's been cheating on me. I guess because I'm a nobody, I mean, I'm not a star in Hollywood." Katie never wanted to be a star. She wanted to be a talent manager or some other shrewd business woman.

"He's a fool to think someone's not important because she's not a star," James said. "You are special. If only he'd taken the time to find out."

"Thanks," she sighed. "We had plans to go to the movies tomorrow. I already printed out the tickets. Waste of money that was."

"No," James stood up and walked over to Katie. He didn't care that Kendall and his other buds were watching and probably against the idea. "I'll take you."

"But, it's Saturday, your date night," Katie said.

"And you're my date."

"A date?" Katie squeaked.

"Yeah, a date," James agreed.

"With my sister?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah, with Katie," James responded.

"If you so much as think of hurting her…"

"I won't."

"But if you do—"

"I know, I know. You'll hurt me."

"You'll wish all I was doing was hurting you."

"Thanks," Katie said.

Kendall, Carlos, Logan, and Jo headed for the door. What Carlos said next stopped Kendall dead in his tracks.

"And then James will become your brother-in-law."

Just a little one-shot I thought I'd write to help get my creative juices flowing. I sort of ship Jatie. I prefer the idea of James with someone his own age and I've grown fond of Jucy. But, there have been cute Jatie moments on the show that make it look like it could be a possibility in their future. Kendall would be none too happy about it, though.