Chapter 2

She turned to see him and Darius standing outside the door to his office, and Tommy's expression caused her to jump to her feet. He looked shocked and confused, but Darius was just staring stone-faced with his arms crossed.

"Are you going to do something about this?!" Karma shrieked as she stood up.

Tommy had started taking a few steps toward Jude, when Karma decided to test Jude again.

"See, this is what I've been telling you people! She's a freak! And she's obviously unstable!!"

"You little-!" Jude yelled, once again lunging at her, but this time, Tommy caught her.

"Jude, not here, babe!" he said, holding her back while she struggled against him.

"Let me go, Quincy!" she said through clenched teeth.

He set her down on her feet and took hold of her shoulders.

"It'll only make things worse for us…" he said quietly, pleading with his eyes that she would just let it go.

She stared back at him for a few more moments, before he felt her shoulders relax and heard a sigh that he knew meant that she was listening to him.

"Okay… Sorry…" she replied quietly, looking at the floor, "Let's get this over with…"

"Wait, where are you two going??" Karma spoke up again, "Darius, are you not going to do something about this?!"

"Karma?" Darius spoke for the first time since he'd been out there.

"Yeah?" she asked sweetly.

"Shut up."

He nodded and took her hand is his as they walked toward Darius's office.

"Wow…" he thought to himself, "She was ready to seriously fight someone just over something that she knows bothers me…"

He gave her hand a comforting squeeze as she looked at him nervously.

As Tommy followed Jude into the room, he closed the door behind him and turned to Jude as she threw her arms around his neck.

"Baby…" he said, wrapping her up as tightly as he could in his protective arms.

"What's going to happen?" she sobbed desperately into his chest.

"I… Really don't know, Jude…" Tommy replied honestly in a weak, quiet voice.

The room was filled with silence for a moment, but it was quickly broken as Darius came through the door, closing it behind him once again. Tommy met eyes with him, and kissed the top of Jude's head before slowly pulling away but kept his arms around her waist to lead her to one of the chairs that sat parallel to Darius' desk.

After squeezing Jude's small hand lightly, he took the seat beside hers, and watched anxiously as Darius stared at the wall, keeping his back to them.

After an excruciatingly long minute, Darius finally turned to the couple and let out a long sigh.

"I really don't know what to do…" he said as he crossed to them, leaning against the front of the desk, "I can't just look the other way on this… You were seen by some very important people… Not to mention a reporter…"

Darius rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes, suddenly appearing very tired and worn.

Jude stood, surprising herself, and put a hand on Darius' shoulder to pull him from his thoughts. He let his hand drop and looked over at the newly blonde songstress standing next to him. Even though he'd only known her for a short time and hid it very well, he had a soft spot for Jude.

"I'm sorry…" she spoke softly, looking down, "It's mostly my fault for this… I was the one who kissed him… I shouldn't have done that here…"

She trailed off, and Darius put his hand over hers that was still resting on his shoulder.

"You really are something, you know that?" Darius said with a small laugh.

Jude was taken aback by his action but couldn't stop a small smile from crossing her face.

"Not only did you steal my best producer's heart, somehow pick the absolutely worst time to kiss him that you possibly could, finally shut Karma up for more than two seconds, and let the entire staff know about you and Tom simultaneously…"

"Actually that last one was me…" Tommy replied pausing a moment before letting a smirk cross his face, and Darius let out a small laugh.

After a moment, Darius met eyes with Jude again, "But you also managed to make me remember why you are needed around here so much…"

Jude's eyes widened in disbelief, "Is he saying what I think he's saying?"

"You two have really put me in a bind, you know that?" Darius said in a more serious tone, looking between Jude and Tommy, "There's going to have to be some major damage control for us after this…"

"We'll do whatever we need to…" Tommy replied, now also standing.

Darius thought silently for a moment while Jude and Tommy both waited anxiously. Jude's nervousness was more visible, however, as she shifted back and forth a few times from her heels to the balls of her feet.

"I want you both to take the rest of the day off, and when you get back, I'm putting you on probation…" he said to Jude, and then continued to speak, turning to Tommy, "And you… You are temporarily banned from the studio on the days that Jude's working… Kwest will take over between then and now with recording her for now, and you will both mix her songs on the days she's not here…"

Jude's eyes fell to the ground. She was more than glad that they weren't fired, but the thought of not having him to work with killed her.

"I don't want to do this, but I have to…" Darius added, noticing Jude's disappointment, "But… I can't tell you not to work on your music together on your own time…"

Jude's eyes darted back up to Darius's smiling face, then to Tommy who also looked pleased with the conditions.

"What? You think I want you writing with anyone else??" Darius replied to Jude's shocked expression, "Together you're unstoppable, and I'm not one for losing money if I can help it…"

"Thanks, D," Tommy said, resting his hand on Jude's back, "Really… It means a lot to me…"

He nodded in response and the couple began walking toward the door, but as they neared it, Darius called Tommy's name.

"Could I just talk to you alone for a minute longer?"

Tommy nodded before turning and placing a chaste kiss on Jude's cheek.

"Meet me by the car?" he asked with a small hint of a smile.

She smiled and answered with a nod before turning and leaving the two boys to their "man-talk".