Disclaimer: I own nothing Degrassi...

Emma had had over a month to bring herself to accept the cold hard facts that her friend would soon be Mrs. Jayson Hogart, but she just couldn't. Manny had made some doozy mistakes in her day, but this one took the cake. It was hard enough for Emma to admit her own indiscretions with Jay, much less to think of her friend's.

And now she was trapped in a small, and somewhat malodorous, room in the school basement, with this guy she couldn't stand. Where was the justice in the world?

"I can appreciate Manny's idea here, but you and I are never going to be buddies," Emma admitted.

"And I'm not leaving the picture. So you need to decide if your friendship with Manny is more important than your obsessive need to control everything."

Emma hated to admit it, but Jay had really hit the nail on the head with that one. Her therapist had said the exact same thing. All of Emma's major problems could be traced back to the fact that she was, and always had been, a control freak. Of course, she wasn't about to admit this to Jay.

"You know nothing about me!"

Jay licked his lips and let his blue eyes scan the length of Emma's body until he saw the red hue return to Emma's cheeks. "I know more about you than you think."

He wasn't sure why he felt the need to make her squirm, but he loved getting to her. Emma was the type of girl who wanted everyone to think she was perfect, but he knew the real her. And the real Emma was flawed just like the rest of the world.

Once again, Emma turned her back to Jay and took out her cell phone. Please work, she begged. But it was no use. There was still no service in this dingy room, something Manny probably knew and was counting on.

"Can you tell me it's, like, three o'clock?" Jay asked her, finally breaking the silence.

The two had been avoiding each other for the past half hour and it felt like forever. Emma looked at her watch and sighed heavily. She showed Jay the face of her watch. He gently grabbed a hold of her slim wrist and turned it so he could clearly see the time.

"That's it? We've only passed a half hour?" Jay leaned back and banged his head against the wall he was propped up against. He looked around and grabbed a lead pipe that was lying on the floor. He pointed it at Emma and said, "Just take this pipe and give me a good crack across the head. But make it quick. I don't want to suffer anymore than I already have."

Emma giggled. "You're insane."

"Oh, like you're gonna tell me you haven't dreamt about knocking me off before?" he asked with a crooked brow.

Emma shrugged, but then nodded her head. She grabbed the pipe from Jay's outstretched hand and looked at it. "I could claim insanity from being locked in an overly small space with my mortal enemy."

"You'd probably beat a murder wrap," he offered.

The two stared at each other, then at the pipe. After several minutes of strained silence, with only the hum of the school's monstrous furnace to interrupt, Emma and Jay broke out in hysterical laughter.

When Jay composed himself slightly he was able to get out, "For about five seconds, you were actually considering it!" before once again breaking down in laughter.

Tears were seeping out of both of their eyes and neither could manage to get out an audible thought. "That's the most I've laughed in a really long time," Emma admitted. "Thank you."

Jay had stopped laughing and was wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked at Emma and saw the sincerity in her eyes. Suddenly he felt bad for some of the things he had said to her in the last few months. He knew that she was struggling to keep her eating disorder from taking over her life and that her breakup with Sean had been devastating. But still, he couldn't resist jabbing her whenever he had the chance.

"What?" she asked him, flashing him a worried look.

"I was just thinking that maybe I bust your balls a little more than I should," he confessed.

"Is Jay Hogart trying to apologize?"

"Don't ruin it, Nelson. This doesn't happen very often and it may never come to pass again."

Emma was sitting cross-legged. She scooted around until she was facing Jay straight on. "Okay, I'm ready."

Jay raised a curious eyebrow. "Ready? For what?"

"For my apology."

Jay eyes widened in disbelief. "I thought I just did."

"I didn't actually hear an apology."

"Who are you? George Costanza?" he asked sarcastically. "I am sorry, Emma Nelson. I am so sorry for all of the times I was mean to you. Feel better?"

Emma nodded, but whispered, "That didn't sound very sincere to me."

Jay smirked and gave Emma's back a shove. "You try my patience, Nelson."

"And you repulse me, Hogart."

"And so nothing changes in the Hogart / Nelson saga. Our relationship is epic, Greenpeace. History books will tell of the wars we have fought, but somehow I think the real zest will be lost over time," Jay chuckled.

Emma rolled her eyes and looked at her watch. "Hey! We've just passed another forty-five minutes. Maybe fighting is the key to our survival."

"You may have stumbled upon something there, Nelson. What do you wanna fight about next?" he asked.

She thought about the possible topics sure to cause a rift between her and her cell mate. The list was infinite! "Okay," she started. "The proposal."

Jay licked his lips. "What about it?"

"Sort of came out of left field, wouldn't you say?"

"Not really."

"You and Manny dated for all of two seconds. Then out of the blue, you're asking her to marry you? What gives?"

"Manny's cool," he answered.

Emma hadn't exactly been expecting some major declaration of love from Jay, but "Manny's cool" felt a little lacking. "Is that all?"

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, feeling his anger begin to rise.

"Oh I don't know. Something like you knew you had to propose to Manny because you can't live without her. You love her. Something."

Jay got up from the floor and began to pace around the room. He didn't like having Emma Nelson analyzing him. She was the last person he'd share his most intimate thoughts with, especially about his love life.

"You do love her, right?" Emma probed, also getting to her feet, as if to square off against Jay.

Jay kept his back to Emma and said quietly, "Yeah."

Emma grabbed Jay's arm and swung him around. "You do love her, right?" This time her voice was much more forceful than before.

Jay raised his blue eyes to Emma's, revealing a vulnerability there, that she hadn't known existed. He sighed heavily. Emma could tell he was choosing his words carefully. "I don't feel comfortable talking to you about this! My relationship with Manny is none of your business."

"Manny is like a sister to me! If you don't love her, I have a right to know!"

Jay swung away from Emma's grip and walked to the other side of the room. His silence made Emma extremely nervous. What was he hiding?

"If you don't love her, why did you propose to her?" she asked.

Keeping his back to her, Jay answered, "I don't know what 'love' is, Emma. I like spending time with Manny. She doesn't try to change me. She accepts me for the ass I am."

Emma smiled. It was the first time Jay Hogart had been honest about his feelings. "So you like her. Why do you need to get married?"

Jay turned around slowly. "If I make a confession, can you promise not to use that pipe on me?"

She shrugged. "I make no promises."

"Things were going great between Manny and I. Then her father calls me out of the blue and wants to meet me for coffee. I've been called a lot of bad shit in my life, but no one has ever made me feel as small as that man did. Long story short? I'm not good enough for his daughter. Apparently I'm not good enough to pump his gas. I left that meeting and called Manny. The idea was to break up with her, but instead I found myself getting down on one knee and asking her to marry me."

Emma braced herself against the wall. So the whole proposal had all been a mistake? "Why didn't you tell Manny?"

"She was so excited. I figured that most engagements usually take at least two years. I had no idea Manny would throw herself into planning our wedding right away. Now I'm too far in. I can't hurt Manny that way."

Tears sprung to Emma's eyes before she even realized it. Jay looked at her strangely, not sure how to respond.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded her head slowly and smiled through her tears. "I just realized how lucky Manny really is."

Jay was confused, to say the least. "What?"

"At least she has a guy who's willing to commit himself to forever just so she won't be unhappy," Emma cried, tears running down her cheeks.

Jay swallowed. He was worried that Emma's hard shell was about to crack in front of him. Normally he would have some kind of smart ass comment, but this time he didn't have a clue how to respond.

"I...I...I've never been cared for l...l...like that," she wailed.

Jay shook his head and closed the space between him and Emma. He gathered her small frame in his big arms and pulled her close to his chest, while she cried away. They stayed that way for a long time. Jay didn't want to move and barely breathed, while Emma's tears soaked through his thin t-shirt. He found himself stroking her blond hair and whispering calming words in her ear.

Emma finally pulled away, colouring immediately due to embarrassment. She dried her eyes and blinked several times. "I am so sorry," she whispered, seeing Jay's soaked shirt.

"It's okay. Are you okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Oh you mean the whole mental breakdown thing?" she asked, trying to make light of the moment. Her face turned serious. "I guess I really needed that."

Jay let out a large breath. "Is this about Sean?"

"A bit, I guess. Not being able to face the person who dumps you kind of makes it harder to get over it. Is it wrong to say that I miss him?"

Jay shook his head. "I miss him too. But let's face it, he made a huge mistake! He dumped Emma Nelson...twice! The guy isn't as smart as he thinks."

Emma smiled. "Thanks."

"But I thought you were moving on? Spinner?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Spinner is okay, but it's not like we're getting married, or anything!"

"Was that a crack?" Jay asked, smiling. "'Cause I just ruined a perfectly good shirt on you!"

Emma grabbed the bottom of Jay's black t-shirt and tugged. "Yes and we all know the lack of black t-shirts in Jay Hogart's wardrobe!"