Disclaimer- still don't own the show. Damn. Don't worry; I'm working on it.
"Taylor Hagan!" Susan Marin declares happily as she engulfs me in a warm hug. "It's so lovely to see you again! My, I haven't seen you since we did all those silly press conferences after you kids were rescued. How are you dear?"
"I'm great Mrs. Marin, thank you." I smile sweetly at her.
"Oh please, call me Susan. You must be here for Lex, am I right?"
"Yes."
"Well then please, come in." She ushers me in the door and rushes off into the hall. "Lex!" She calls up the stairs. "Taylor Hagan is here for you!"
A stampede begins on the hardwood floors upstairs as I assume Lex races down the stairs to welcome me. He emerges from the hallway and I bend down to give him a bone-crushing hug.
"Taylor! I missed you!" His voice is high with excitement. Or perhaps I've forgotten how high the little guy's voice is.
"Aw, I've missed you too." I coo.
Jackson coolly walks into the room and sees our prolonged hug. He smiles. "Hey Taylor."
Lex and I manage to detangle ourselves from our hug. I smile back at Jackson. "Thanks for inviting me to your little hang."
"Don't thank me, thank Lex for nearly exploding with excitement when I said I saw you the other day."
"Well then thank you Lex," I smile down at him as he grins back up at me.
"You've got to see all the things I've invented since we've been on the island!" He takes my hand and pulls me up stairs. I giggle at his boyish charm. It feels nice to giggle again.
He spends the next hour guiding me through every detail of his new machines. They're all far beyond my intelligence level so I just smile and nod along. I see Jackson doing the exact same thing. Jackson. I can't get what Daley said out of my mind, about why he left.
"I'm going to get a refill of juice." Jackson declares as stands up.
"I'll come with you." I say the words before processing them. "Because, ah, I want some more juice too."
We walk downstairs in silence. Upon arriving to the kitchen, Jackson walks over to the fridge and grabs the juice. I walk over and he takes my cup and fills it.
"Thanks." I say breaking the silence.
"No problem." He says putting the juice back in the fridge. "Thanks for coming today."
I smile. "I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to see peewee. I love that kid."
"I know."
I look down at my shoes. "Jackson… can I ask you something?" My voice is suddenly quiet.
He senses the seriousness of my tone. "Sure."
"Why'd you leave?"
He exhales loudly. I don't dare to look up from my Jimmy Choo's. "It's complicated."
"Was it because of me?" I squeak out.
"Taylor," He says loudly. I look up into his icy blue eyes. "Of course it wasn't. Why would you ever think that?"
I shrug. "Just a thought… I guess."
"Listen, things were just too fucked up. With everything that was happening between you, Melissa and me and the court case and all that media shit… it was just too much."
I nod while casting my eyes downward again. "Yeah, I get it."
"Now lets go back upstairs before Lex starts to wonder what's taking us so long."
"Ok."
A/N: Short Chapter, sorry. Hope Jackson cleared some stuff up for you… a little bit. He never gave straightforward answers on the TV show anyway. So tell me your thoughts on the chapter please!