Chapter One: Entangled

It took a moment before Tru could respond to him. A second before she could fully comprehend his gentle words. Words of concern.

For her.

She couldn't help but be confused by this. It didn't seem right that it should be this way. How could Destiny and Fate collide so suddenly? How could Life and Death suddenly become so entangled in this intricately weaved web of chaos?

His icy blue eyes penetrated deep into the mysterious depths of her sleepy brown ones. He was pulling her to him and she let herself be drawn closer, not out of want or need but magnetism.

"What's wrong?" he repeated; his breath was a toxin to her. She was fully intoxicated by him now, drawn into his web, entangled in his passionate embrace.

"I… I don't know," she whispered slowly. "You were talking about ripples."

"Ripples?"

"In my dream, you were talking about ripples. Ripples of Fate. Consequences of our actions…" her voice trailed off.

"It scared you."

She nodded slowly. "A little bit. But what really scared me was the reflection I saw in the stream. My reflection. And then yours."

"What did it mean to you?"

"I couldn't see past my reflection. It was like I was floating. My mind was below it, but I couldn't feel anything."

She paused. "This isn't right, Jack. What we're doing isn't right. It shouldn't be this way."

"I know you're still angry," he whispered back, stroking a few tendrils of her dark brown hair with the tips of his fingers. "You're still grieving. It's not something you can just ignore and go on with your life like it never happened. Grieve. Then move on."

Tears of anger and grief came pouring down her face, staining her cheeks as she gazed at him, her eyes wide and hopeless. "I don't know if I can."

"Let me help you," he said; his voice echoed in her ears, the plea seeming urgent as she let the poignancy of his words seduce her innocently.

It was tantalizing, but she couldn't speak. That was forbidden. Everything they were doing in the black of the night under the midnight sky was forbidden.

No longer in the realm of reality, she let herself lean fervently against his chest, savoring the inviting warmth. His fingers traced an obscure pattern across the length of her jaw and cheekbone and she convulsed slightly underneath the woven embroidery of the soft, clean sheets.

"Relax."

Feeling oddly comforted by the sound of his voice, she gradually sank into the soft bed, into him and into the black oblivion, which she had just awoken from not long ago.

Tomorrow would bring about a whole new day. The battle lines would be drawn once more and Life and Death would take up their respective positions on opposite sides of the battlefield. The union would come again, though, just as soon as the impending darkness permeated through the night sky.

Everything had an order. A clean, perfect, standard order. Just as his funeral was.

The prayers, the ceremony and even the grief. With everything, there was an order.

But none of this mattered to her. She didn't care. She didn't want to care. She didn't want to feel. She felt numb, even when the tears tipped at the rims of her eyes, ran down her cheeks and fell to the cold earth past her chin.

A comforting arm was wrapped around her shoulder as Harrison Davies held his sister close. He couldn't even begin to imagine what she was feeling or going through. All he could do was be there for her.

She saw his body lying there in front of her embraced by the immaculate white of the inside of the wooden casket. He was dressed in a suit like a proper gentleman. Like his life had been taken out of innocence. An accident. Not a bloodied murder. Not by a murder she had witnessed. Not by one where she heard the cacophony of the gun being fired, by the one that had been in her trembling hands.

The sight of the blood horrified her. It made her own blood curdle and run cold, pumping wildly and freely through her veins.

His eyes were closed now. They were no longer open like they had been immediately after he was shot.

They haunted her.

There they were, cold and probing. Probing for nothing because he could no longer hear, see or feel. He was gone. Gone finally, although his soul had escaped from him months before. Now all that was left was this body. This hollow shell of nothingness.

Suddenly, a sort of unsavory chill crept over her. Harrison's arm fell from her shoulders as she turned around to find Jack leaning against a tree just a few short feet away. Her mind almost instantly wandered back to Luc's funeral, where the scene had played out almost the exact same way.

"Tru, don't do this," Harrison warned his sister, his voice laced with a peculiar uncertainty and caution.

"I have to, Harry. Stay here. I'll be right back."

Her face suddenly became serious with no traces of sadness or tears to be seen as she turned on her heel and strode towards Jack.

"You know you did the right thing," Jack whispered harshly as Tru approached him. He saw Harrison off in the distance and how he kept a watchful gaze on his sister.

"Didn't make the job any easier, did it?" Tru shot back, her voice matched the fierce intensity of his whisper perfectly.

"Maybe not, but it's still my job."

He then gestured for her to follow him.

She obliged as he led her behind the massive tree and pushed her firmly against it. His expression suddenly changed from serious to sympathetic.

"Have you told them about us?" he asked her.

"No, not yet," she replied. "They wouldn't understand. At least not right now."

"When are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know, but they may end up finding out on their own." She looked at him intently, her eyes innocent yet curious. "Do you think they'll be mad at me?"

"Harrison's your brother, Tru. Davis is your mentor. They might not be thrilled about it at first, but this is your decision and they're gonna have to learn to accept that."

Tru gazed longingly into his eyes as Jack moved closer, closing the gap between them. She didn't know what to say or do or feel anymore. But she wanted. She wanted something. She wanted him.

It suddenly felt right to her as he captured her lips in his, her lips suddenly charged and tingling with excitement. Her hands rested comfortably on his broad shoulders as his hands climbed up her arms towards her shoulders, sending uncontrollable shivers down her spine. She inhaled his smoky aroma: a bit of musky cologne mixed with a touch of smooth aftershave. So very much like him.

And here they were again. Life and Death entangled in a raging maelstrom of imminent chaos as a smoldering desire engulfed them. Neither one of them could extricate the other from this entanglement.

Forbidden, yes. But, in the moment, nothing else could have felt more right.

TBC…

Author's Note: Well, it looks like I'll be sticking with shorter chapters. At least for right now until I figure out exactly where this story is going. But I promise you it is going somewhere! I will be using a lot of flashbacks or dream sequences throughout this fic (or at least as many as I can) because I LOVE writing them and I think they will really enhance this story quite nicely. As you probably already know, I love writing T/J romance and fluff, but I also love writing their banter moments. So I wanted to emphasize their forbidden love-type relationship instead of the happier fluffy ones I usually write about. This way, I can write both. ;)

A special thanks to all those who have reviewed thus far. It made me sooo happy to get all of those delicious reviews in my mailbox! Thank you and please keep them a comin'. See you whenever my next update will be!