This fic was once a one shot, but it had depth and deserved a deeper telling than a single one shot could provide, therefore, it has been expanded. Please do re-read this chapter if you read the one shot, there are a few differences.

This is dedicated to Bluemyst19, who has been beyond kind to me for answering all my writing requests. I feel like her and I are original JxT shippers (even though we didn't come up with the idea we have embraced it as feverishly as some people embrace DxS).

Beyond Reason

Tucker stood on the sidewalk in front of Fenton Works with Maddie, Jack and Jazz waving at Danny and Sam as they drove away. The newly married couple were off on their honeymoon, to start their lives together, naturally leaving Tucker behind.

He knew he couldn't go with them, but as a trio, they were seldom ever apart and now, he felt a little lost. He was happy for them. He was happy that they found happiness with each other, but where did that leave him? Where was his happily ever after?

Tucker had a few relationships through college, most notably with Valerie Grey. The problem with his rocky relationship with Valerie, was that Tucker always felt like the consolation prize. She'd lost Danny to Sam, so she turned to Tucker to stay close to Danny. Their relationship lasted two years, and was rocky and hurtful to both he and Valerie.

Their last fight left them on bad terms with each other. Tucker had told Valerie that he was sick of being the runner up, that he wanted her whole heart in the relationship. Valerie had fired back that he was one to talk considering that his heart wasn't completely committed to her either, and how dare he draw an ultimatum when he wanted someone else. The accusation had burned.

He hadn't realized until that point, that he hadn't truly committed himself to their relationship, that he was just as guilty as Valerie. He wanted someone else too. Someone he could never have. Someone who wasn't interested in him and would never be, and it wasn't Sam, though it would have completed the sickness in his relationship with Valerie if it had been her.

So, there he was, left standing on the sidewalk, watching his two best friends drive away. He'd be alone in Amity Park for most of the summer before starting his job with a tech firm in Southern California. Nothing much had changed about Tucker, he was still a techno geek.

He was aware of Jazz standing beside him. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to take her hand and ask her to run away with him, if only for a little while. It would be so easy to just turn and ask her out, but he couldn't. She was older than he was. She was sophisticated, smart, beautiful, way out of his league, and Danny's sister to boot. She was off limits. She would be kind as she turned him down, but inside she'd be laughing at him for his audacity.

………….

Jazz Fenton, looked at her little brother's best friend and sighed. She knew he was hurting and that he felt a little lost. His life was in transition and he'd just said goodbye to his closest friends, and didn't know when he'd see them again. She knew it had to be hard. Danny, Sam and Tucker were a tight knit group, they'd been through a lot together, refusing to let life pull them apart, until now.

She watched her parents walk back into the house, arm in arm, then sighed and walked up beside Tucker. She wished she'd had the courage to talk to him, but he'd always avoided her like the plague. He was Danny's friend, and though she'd known him a very long time, she didn't really know him. They'd rarely been alone together. If Tucker found himself faced with Jazz and no one else, his expression would freeze with fear and he'd rattle off a polite excuse to leave before Jazz could say two words.

It hurt Jazz to think that Tucker couldn't stand her. The last time she'd seen him was at Christmas, standing unwittingly beneath the mistletoe her father had hung in the doorway. She'd been tempted to kiss him. It would have been the perfect excuse, but she couldn't do it. Not while Danny and Sam sat in the kitchen, both happily basking in the glow of their love, unwittingly leaving everyone else on the outside of their joyous little bubble.

Jazz had to admit that she was jealous of what they had. A love life was something which had escaped her. It was something she couldn't schedule in on her planner. She never had time throughout college for anything more than a few casual dates, and even now, as she was busy in graduate school and was two years shy of having her Ph.D., in psychology, she simply didn't have time to pursue a relationship, and it didn't help that her mind was always on her little brother's tall, dark, and mostly goofy best friend.

She took a deep breath and reached up to put her hand on his shoulder, when had Tucker grown so tall? Jazz knew it was in during his senior year in high school, Danny had shot up in height at roughly the same time, but she'd rarely been close enough to realize how tall Tucker had grown. Both boys had grown and were tall and lanky, though Tucker wasn't as slender as Danny who was lithe and wiry, no, Tucker looked like he could kick butt, while Danny's strength was more deceptive.

Jazz smiled as she smoothed her hand up Tucker's arm, he turned and looked at her in surprise, and she thoughtfully calculated his height against hers. She wasn't short, small, sweet and cuddly like Sam, though if Sam heard that description, she'd be ticked and assert that she was neither sweet nor cuddly, thank you. Maybe she really wasn't, but when she was with Danny, her slim body and angular curves seemed to take on a softer glow, and she was cuddly and sweet.

Jazz herself, was tall and thin, standing two inches taller than her mother in bare feet, and she found it a little irksome, but a little bit of a blessing, that she hadn't inherited her mother's curvy figure, though if she had, maybe she could get Tucker to look at her at least once. He was an avid admirer of the female form, and didn't make any secret of it.

"Jazz?" Tucker asked in bewilderment. "You okay?"

Jazz shook herself out of her reverie and nodded her head. "I'm fine Tucker," she replied. "I just wanted to know how you're holding up."

Tucker smiled at Jazz. "Uh, Jazz," he said lightly. "It's not like I'm never going to see them again."

"I know but…" Jazz started. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm just fine," Tucker assured her then fidgeted a moment. "I should probably you know, go now. It was, nice seeing you again, Jazz." He looked at her sadly a moment and wondered when and if he'd ever see Danny's sister again. Life had caused the trio to part ways at last and though he knew he'd have plenty of opportunities to reunite with them, he knew that this moment was the last time he'd look at Jazz for a very long time. She'd probably be married with children by the time their paths crossed again.

He took the opportunity to look at her, to soak in the moment and remember her just as she was right now, with the sun shining off her auburn hair, her aqua blue eyes met his questioningly. She was smiling like she knew just what he was thinking, and was about to chastise him for it. He almost wanted to take the chance and kiss her, but outrage and embarrassment were not the emotions he wanted for his last memory of Jazz.

"Why?" Jazz asked in a teasing voice. "What better things do you have to do than stand here and talk to me?" Tucker paused, what could he say that wouldn't sound offensive?

She smiled again. "Come with me to the Nasty Burger. I'm hungry, and I hate eating alone." Tucker looked at her in surprise then followed along hesitantly at first, but he was curious, though he figured it was pity which prompted Jazz to offer to spend time with him.

They sat at the Nasty Burger for two hours, both eventually relaxing and laughing over old memories and adventures.

"It's funny," Jazz said as she leaned on her elbow and looked at Tucker from across the table. "You and I have been doing pretty much the same job between Danny and Sam, yet we've never spent much time talking to each other. Why is that?"

Tucker took a long sip of his chocolate milkshake as he looked at Jazz. "I guess we never needed to," he answered.

"I guess," Jazz replied sadly. "And it didn't help that you always took off when we were in the same room alone. Tucker laughed, he ran away because he loved her and was terrified she'd figure it out, he didn't think that he'd be able to bear the humiliation. It was better to watch her from far away.

They ended up walking in the park, watching the sun go down and talking about all the things they had in common, about Tucker's job and Jazz's continuing education. They talked of future dreams and aspirations, then ended up on Tucker's failed relationship with Valerie.

"Why exactly didn't it work out?" Jazz asked curiously.

Tucker looked at Jazz thoughtfully. "We were both in love with different people," he answered honestly.

"Danny?" Jazz asked sadly.

"Yeah," Tuck answered then swallowed uncomfortably as he watched Jazz look at him thoughtfully. He knew she was going to ask, and he had no idea what to tell her.

"Sam?" Jazz asked hesitantly and Tucker cracked up laughing.

"No way!" he told Jazz, as he calmed himself. "No. Not Sam."

"Who?" Jazz asked as she smiled. "Come on it won't hurt to tell me. What am I going to do, run off an tell her? I probably don't even know her." The look in Tucker's eyes told her that she did, and oh how she wished it was her.

He sighed deeply. It's not like he was going to see Jazz every day of his life and have to live with the humiliation of his admission.

"Who is it?" Jazz teased. "If you don't tell me I'll tickle it out of you. It always works on Danny." Tucker looked at her with wide frightened eyes and she laughed.

Jazz's heart began beating erratically in her throat, she knew he was going to tell her and it would hurt, but she was prepared. He looked down at his hands and mumbled a name, it didn't help that her blood was rushing in her ears, cutting of her hearing.

"What?" Jazz asked in confusion.

Tucker looked at her in horror then started to stand. "I'm sorry," he said frantically. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you. I don't blame you for hating me I…" Jazz grabbed his arm and forced him to sit back down.

"Tucker," she said. "Don't freak out on me. I didn't hear you. I just wanted you to repeat it."

"Oh" Tucker replied in surprise. He looked into Jazz's eyes and fought the shaky feeling in his limbs. "I guess it really doesn't matter."

"Come on," Jazz coaxed. "I'm your friend. I won't bite you or anything, and I won't judge you." She paused and frowned sadly. Was he gay? Is that why he was so upset? She had always thought Tucker was firmly heterosexual, but it could be hard to tell, and sometimes secrets could be deeply hidden.

"You," Tucker said on the exhale of a deep breath. Jazz looked at him in bewilderment, as if she didn't quite understand what he said. She shook her head at him and opened her mouth.

"It's you," Tucker repeated, feeling sick to his stomach.

"No," Jazz said slowly. "You hate me. You always take off when…" She trailed off as things suddenly started making sense.

"Oh," she whispered.

"Yeah," Tucker said miserably looking down at his feet, waiting for Jazz to kindly let him down, to tell him how sincerely flattered she was by his admission, but that he had to understand that she didn't feel the same way.

"Really?" Jazz asked as she watched Tucker move away in embarrassment. He looked up at her and wondered why she was making him go through this. He could feel his cheeks burning and he didn't have the courage to look up at Jazz..

Jazz had a million questions, she wanted to know how long and why didn't he say something, but of course, she knew why he never told her. She smiled softly.

"I like you too Tucker," she started. "I mean. I feel the same way. I can't say that I'm in love with you, because that would be moving too fast and it wouldn't be sensible, but I can say that my feelings for you are very strong, and I would have never dreamed that you shared them in the slightest…"

"Jazz," Tucker said as he turned to Jazz who was rattling on nervously, much the way he was prone to do. She stopped and looked at him.

He looked at her for so long, without saying anything, that Jazz began to wonder if he was waiting for her to talk. She was just about to open her mouth to speak, when Tucker took her by the hand and turned her to face him. He caressed her face gently with one hand and looked into her eyes.

"You talk too much," he said in amusement. It struck him as ironic that he never thought he, of all people, would be telling someone they talked too much.

Jazz smiled slightly as she looked into Tucker's eyes. She knew if she allowed herself to, she would just dissolve into those misty green depths. Her breath hitched slightly as his gaze focused on her lips, and she knew he was going to kiss her. She couldn't help moistening her lips in anticipation for the brush of his mouth against hers, as she tried to force herself to be rational.

"Tucker," she said softly as he moved closer, he focused his gaze back to her eyes and paused.

Jazz swallowed hard, wanting desperately to close the distance between them, but forced herself to her senses.

"I don't think that we should be rushing into anything," Jazz began. Her heart skipped several beats as Tucker smiled.

"I think you think too much too," he told her, then closed the distance between them and kissed her softly. The brush of Tucker's lips against Jazz's was so gentle and so brief that Jazz moved forward slightly, seeking a more satisfying embrace as he moved away.

"Jazz," Tucker sighed as he watched her open her eyes sleepily.

"Yes?" She asked almost dreamily.

"Would you go out with me?" Tucker asked. "On a date? Dinner or a movie or whatever?"

Jazz looked at him in frustration. He was moving away from her, forcing her back into thought, leaving her in almost disbelief over what had just happened.

"A what?" she asked, still blinking and recovering from the very brief, very chaste kiss Tucker had bestowed upon her.

Tucker had to work hard to keep the grin from his face. It was strange to think that he was in control of a situation, a situation involving Jazz, who happened to be the smartest and most quick witted person he knew.

"A date," he repeated. "You and me." Tucker really wanted to kiss her again, but for real this time, but he knew better than to rush Jazz, but it was very difficult, but he never thought this chance would come, and he wasn't about to blow it.

"Tonight?" Jazz asked still not thinking quite clearly, amazed herself that one small simple brush of the lips could completely knock her socks off.

"Uh," Tucker said as he looked around at twilight which was quickly fading into night. "It's all ready tonight. Tomorrow?"

Jazz took a deep breath. "Okay, Tucker. Tomorrow."

He stood and extended his hand to her. "I'll walk you home," he said. "It's getting kind of dark and…"

"Tuck," Jazz laughed. "I can hold my own against a ghost or two. You know that!" Tucker only smiled and squeezed her hand as they walked back to Fenton Works.

Jazz hoped he would kiss her as they stood on the door step good night. She needed to find out if the magical spark she'd felt so briefly before was real, but she was too sensible and too rational to reach out to Tucker on her own, so she let him go with a wave then went into the house and headed upstairs to her room.

She'd been kissed on a few occasions, and it had been nice, and that's it. Nice. She would have assumed that everything she'd heard about love and passion was a myth, if it hadn't been for Danny and Sam, who just couldn't seem to keep their hands from each other, and then her parents well…she'd rather not get into that one.

Her heart was troubling her. First there was the giddy amazement that Tucker, Danny's best friend, didn't hate her like she thought he did. Then there was that kiss. She balled her hands up into fists. Why did he have to do that? Why couldn't he have just given her a real and proper kiss so she could assess the situation sensibly? She sighed heavily and went downstairs to talk to her mother.

"Hi Sweetie," Maddie said from her place on the couch.

"Where's Dad?" Jazz asked as she curled up in a chair.

"Up in the Ops Center," Maddie answered as she surveyed Jazz's worried face. "Is something bothering you?"

Jazz chewed on her thumbnail a moment. "I'm just trying to figure a few thing out. Why do you love Dad?"

Maddie raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Do you really want to know?" she asked.

"I mean reasonably," Jazz clarified. "What is a reasonable reason why you love Dad?"

"I don't know Jazz," Maddie said as she tilted her head and looked at her daughter. "I don't anything about your father can be termed, reasonable. Then again I don't think love is something you can reason with either, Sweetie, it just is."

Jazz sighed in frustration. She didn't want to be unreasonable. She didn't want to be senseless like her parents, so caught up their passions of life that they couldn't see past their obsessions, with ghosts and each other.

"What about Danny and Sam?" Jazz asked nervously.

Maddie smiled. "Do you honestly think there is anything reasonable about their love for each other? It seems completely beyond reason to me, and that's a good thing. Love isn't something logical, Jazz. It is what it is."

Jazz took a deep and annoyed breath, "What does that mean? It is what it is. I have my life planned out everything is logical and balanced."

"Oh, Jazz," Maddie said as she shook her head. "Love isn't something you can just plan. It happens on it's own time, with little concern to our hearts and our minds. Love can hurt quite badly, or heal what we thought was broken forever. It can sweep you away with it's passion and strength, and then once you find it, you have to nurture it and care for it to keep it from fading. It's very hard work, but worth it."

"I don't know that I want to be swept away, Mom," Jazz replied worriedly. "It's just not sensible to let your heart rule your mind. I don't want to be distracted from my coarse. I know where I'm headed, at least I thought I did." She frowned and shook her head.

Maddie gave her daughter a thoughtful look. "I think you're afraid, because you think you'll become like me. You think that I've dropped everything to pursue you're father's dreams. You think passion and love has ruined all my potential, and you're afraid the same thing will happen to you."

Jazz opened and closed her mouth to make weak denials, but Maddie continued, "And then you look at Danny and Sam with all the sacrifices they've made just to be together, how hard they've had to work and how much hurt they've endured in the process, and you're scared it will all be that way for you."

"Well yeah," Jazz admitted. "I guess you're right."

"You want your life to be predictable, Jazz?" Maddie asked. "If you do, well that's boring. It's life's surprises that make it worth living. If you walk around afraid of risking your heart or even your dreams, in the end you'll end you with a empty heart and faded dreams. You will have lived reasonably and have nothing to show for it, that my darling is much more hurtful than anything I can think of, to look back at missed opportunities and regret that you didn't give love or anything else a chance."

"But isn't the whole love thing, just a chemical reaction?" Jazz asked. "Nothing more than a series of neurons firing in the right sequence, releasing hormones and causing feelings?"

"Well that's certainly a cold way of looking at it," Maddie answered, her eyes growing far away with thought. "But if love was nothing but hormones and synapses, neurons and axons then maybe it would be more reasonable, more logical. You could fall in love with whomever you chose, just as long as the conditions were right. I don't believe it works that way, or I would be married to Vlad instead of your father."

"But, that's exactly it!" Jazz argued. "If the conditions are right, then all the chemicals interact and you think you're in love."

"Well," Maddie sighed. "I happen to believe differently. That it has to be the right person at the right moment. It's more than a chemical reaction. It's spiritual too."

"But, Mom," Jazz argued. "People fall in love with the wrong people all the time. What are the odds of finding a good person with whom you have good chemistry, as well as compatibility and all the other things required for healthy love?" Maddie said nothing, she just smiled at her daughter.

"Taking the chance is half the fun," Maddie finally responded. "It's a wonderful, scary journey but it's worth the risk."

"But it's silly to open yourself up to potential hurt. It's not logical!" Jazz said in frustration.

"You know what Jazz?" Maddie began. "There are times when it's completely logical to let your heart rule your head. There are too many variables involved in love to make predictions about a relationship and whether it will succeed or fail, besides a life lived in fear, is a life lived in regret. Love can be a wonderful journey. Letting your heart rule your mind can be good. You should try it sometime. You might be surprised."

Jazz considered her mother's words then nodded her head. "I'll think about it," she said then stood and kissed her mother good night before heading back up to her room. Maddie shook her head as she watched her daughter walk up the stairs then turned as he husband walked into the living room.

"What was that about?" Jack asked as he followed Maddie's gaze.

"Tucker," Maddie said as she turned to Jack who gave her a confused look.

If you reviewed this the first time, you'll have to wait until chapter two to review, otherwise, please do me a fave and tell me what you think.