She walked up to her usual bench and started to sketch with her oil pastels. She was so entranced in her sketching that it took her a couple minutes to notice the boy standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at her sketch. It was another picture of Julian, that sad look still shadowing his face.

"Oh, you startled me, I didn't notice you there…." Sydney trailed off as she turned to face the boy behind and saw the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They were so blue they made every other blue seem pale and washed out in comparison. "Julian!" she gasped.

He seemed to be ignoring her at first, only staring intently at her sketch. But as soon as she said his name he whipped his head over and stared at her in shock. He opened his mouth as if about to speak then changed his mind and closed it again. He then proceeded to go back to staring at her sketch. She watched him for a minute then tore the sketch out of her sketchpad and held it out towards Julian.

"Here you can have it since you seem to like it so much. I've got more and it is of you and seeing as I kind of drew it without your permission I think it's only fair you should have it." Sydney said, a slight blush painting her cheeks. Julian did the same open-close thing with his mouth that he had done just a second ago. Finally he said in barely more than a whisper, shock evident on his face "are you speaking to me?"

"Well obviously, there's no one else here right now" Sydney chuckled. "You can see me?" Julian said, shock and awe passing in intervals over his perfect face. "Yes. What did you think I was blind or something?" Sydney asked confused. Julian came walking around the bench and sat down next to Sydney before continuing. "You really can see me?" he questioned. "Yes" Sydney replied.

"You shouldn't be able to because…." Julian trailed off. "Never mind. So you said this was for me?" he asked, his eyebrows raised in a question as he pointed to her sketch. "Yes, here" Sydney replied as she held out the sketch. Julian took it from her small hands, handling it carefully as if it was precious. He looked back up at her and smiled. The pair spent the rest of the afternoon talking about nothing and everything. Finally Sydney looked down at her watch.

"Oh shoot! I have to go now, my brother will be worried about me, but I'll be here again tomorrow after school if you want to talk again." Sydney finished, looking at Julian for an answer. "I would like that very much my lady" he smiled as he took her hand and gave it a light kiss. Sydney blushed beet red and excused herself as she made her way back home.

The next day after school she was back sketching in the park as she had promised and Julian came to keep her company and chat as he had promised. They continued to do this everyday for the next few weeks, tom never suspecting that his little sister was slowly falling for the shadow man he so despised. One day as Julian came and sat next to Sydney as usual she took a deep breath and turned to him with a serious expression on her face. "Julian we've been spending a lot of time together and I think I've fallen in love with you." Sydney finished, taking another deep breath as she waited for his reaction.

"Sydney I…. I love you too but we can't be together, I shouldn't have even started meeting with you like this." Julian said with a pained expression on his face. "But why" Sydney asked, confused. "Just trust me when I tell you I'm not the right kind of guy for you" Julian said gently. "Why not" Sydney asked, her expression turning steely as she crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. "Please, this is hard enough already" Julian said, pained, looking away from her.

"Is it because of what you are, because I don't care if you're a shadow man, I love you anyway." Sydney said. Julian snapped his head up "what did you say?" he asked her quickly. "I know you're a shadow man" Sydney repeated. "How?" Julian asked in shock. "I….know jenny. She's like a sister to me and she told me everything." Sydney said, not completely lying, just leaving tom out of it. "Jenny told you everything. She couldn't have told you everything, if she had there's no way you could think you're in love with me." Julian said, sadness shadowing his perfect face.

"she did tell me everything and I do love you Julian" Sydney said softly as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Why, I'm evil" Julian sighed. "I don't believe that. You saved summer, you never really hurt anyone and you sacrificed yourself to save everyone else, you gave up on jenny so she could be happy. You could have stolen her away again once you came back but you didn't." Sydney stated.

"You're beautiful inside and out. After I lost jenny I didn't think I'd ever be able to love someone as much as I loved jenny but then I met you…. I love you Sydney" Julian sighed as he grabbed her into a hug. She squeezed him back, "and I love you Julian." They stayed there snuggled together for a long time. Finally Sydney reluctantly pulled away "I have to go, but tomorrow's Saturday so I'll be here early." She smiled as she gave Julian a sweet peck on the cheek and walked off.

The next morning Sydney woke up extra early and snuck out. Tom woke up and suspicious decided to follow her. He was less than pleased when he saw her begin to sketch inside the park. Why was she here, didn't she realize it was dangerous, Julian could still be lurking around here? Tom thought in frustration. He stormed over to her, "what are you doing?" he growled at her. "Tommy! What are you doing here?" Sydney asked in shock.

"That's what I wanna know." Tom said furiously. "I was just sketching" Sydney mumbled. "Don't you know it's dangerous here, he could come back at any time, and I just don't want to see you get hurt." Tom sighed, giving Sydney a hug. She hugged him back and then pulled away to see "Julian!" he was standing behind tom, a look of pain and sorrow covering his face.

Sydney went to run to his side but tom grabbed her wrist and turned to glare in fury at Julian. Shock briefly passed over Julian's face when he saw it was tom, before his face fell even more than it had been before. Why was it always him! First jenny, now Sydney…. Wait if he was with her now… "What about jenny!" he yelled in fury. "It's not enough that you had to steal her away from me now Sydney too? Jenny trusted you and you betrayed her, I can't believe I ever thought jenny was better off with you!" Julian screamed at tom.

"What are you talking about, I love jenny with all my heart. You're the one at fault! First you try to steal away my girlfriend and now-"tom was cut off as Julian jumped at him. "How dare you!" he cried as he attacked tom. Tom attacked back and in seconds they were in battle. "STOP IT!" Sydney screamed, tears running down her face. "please, just stop" she whimpered, falling to her knees.

"How could you…with him… I thought you loved me" Julian cried out in pain. "I do, if you would just let me explain" Sydney sobbed. "What! You can't love him!" tom cried out in shock. "Just shut up and let me finish Tommy!" Sydney yelled at him. "Julian, I do love you, I love you with all my heart. There is nothing going on between me and Tommy, he's still madly in love with jenny, he's my overly protective older brother." she finished. "Your brother!" Julian cried in shock.