A/N: So, this sounds like it could be the last chapter, but it's not. No worries! OMG, I have to thank you guys soooooooo much!! The comments and favorites are really special to me. I mean, every time I have a shitty day or feel like a shitty writer, I just have to check my reviews and everything feels better. You're the best fans ever. XD
And I think there are eight of you now!! I have EIGHT people reading this fic! OMG! That is amazing to me. I wuv you guys. big group hug Okay, enough sappy stuff XD, lets get to the story again! HEARTS AND LOVE!

"Are you kidding me?" Lucy's lips tightened and her hands curled into fists. "Are you kidding me?!" She seemed as though she was going to run off or slap Jude in the face, but she ended up doing neither, stuck between the two actions, frozen.
Prudence's face was shocked, scared, and sorry, and she stood behind Lucy, biting her lower lip, looking from one man to the other. No one was speaking.
They all heard the ticking of a clock like a time bomb, and it was easy to tell that they thought Lucy was going to be the one to blow. They were right. "Why couldn't you just TELL me, Jude?"
"Lucy," Jude stood slowly, treating his fiancee like she was a wild animal, ready to bite his hand at any moment.
"NO. Don't you dare 'Lucy' me." The claws were out. "All this time you've been pretending! Dragging me along, saying you loved me when you were really... Oh god." She put a hand to her forehead, trying to comprehend the gravity of the situation as she began to tear up.
"I wasn't pretendin, Luce. I do love ye."
Max looked down, swallowing the words he wanted to say. Prudence was the only one who saw. She sidled slowly out of the room, but no one noticed.
"Then why the hell, Jude, are you kissing him again? What, can't go a few weeks without sex? I don't put out, so you turn to my fucking BROTHER?!"
"That's not how it is."
"Then please, enlighten me! Why do you keep running back to Max!?"
Jude looked down, opened his mouth, then closed it again. Max looked at him closely, but Jude didn't say a word.
"Jesus Christ, Jude." Max's voice was an exasperated whisper, and with a sigh, he stood. "You can be such a coward sometimes." Lucy and Jude both stared at him and he went on, resting a hand on Jude's shoulder and looking at his sister. "Maybe we should talk, Luce. 'Cause you're about to rip off Jude's face, and we both know he's too pretty for that."
Lucy wasn't done being angry, not by a long shot. "Oh, shut up, Max. If we're going to talk, we're going to talk with Jude. He needs to make up his mind and you know it just as well as I do." She looked over at Jude, witnessing the guilty, worried look on his face. "You told me," she began slowly, "that you didn't want to hurt either of us. Well, look now, Jude. I'm in tears and Max looks like hell."
"Love you too, sis."
She shot him a withering glare and Max forced down a smile. He was acting like a little kid. Jude wished he could feel just as lighthearted about the situation. Lucy went on. "So you're going to hurt one of us really badly, and we both know it, but you're going to have to do it right now. I'm sick of waiting, and I know Max feels the same damn way."
Jude shook his head, going crazy with the level of tension in the room. "It's not that easy, Luce."
"Well, it should be! Tell us who you choose before I break it off myself." She tore her eyes from her fiancee and shifted to Max, who was shuffling his feet and looking nonchalantly at the floor. "Shouldn't you be worried right now?" She snapped, genuinely irritated.
Max looked up as though he had just noticed her, and his eyes shifted to Jude, who was sweating under the pressure. "No." he said simply and shrugged. "I"m not worried at all." He ran a hand through his hair and went on, tired of the back-and-forth games they were all playing, He had to set things straight (in a manner of speaking) and it looked like Jude wasn't going to be helping him. "Luce, I don't know if you're gonna get this or not, but I'm about to tell you something you might not want to hear." He paused for dramatic effect, enjoying the eyes in the room fixed on him, enjoying the spotlight like he used to. Something about Jude's confession and kiss had rejuvenated him. Something had brought back the Max he used to be, and his heart was light, because he knew something his sister didn't. "Just now, before you and Prudence rudely interrupted, Jude kissed me."
"I'm aware of that, Max," Lucy snarled, but Max didn't pay attention to her. He was watching Jude's face go red with embarrassment. Smiling lovingly at the man, Max began to explain himself, steadily and slowly, for once the only level head in the room. He looked to Lucy when he spoke.
"See, I don't think you know what you walked in on, really! I mean, Jude kissed me like I've never seen him kiss you. I thought, when I told Jude to come back to New York, that I would be giving him up for good, that you two would have a great life together and I would be fine as long as the happy couple stayed together. I thought that you were everything Jude wanted, and I was going to give him to you." He laughed hollowly, shrugging and holding out his hands. "I thought... I didn't have a goddamn chance." Max's smile faded. "But before you came in, Jude told me that he was happy with me. We were laughing, Lucy. Have you ever heard of it? Laughing? Something Jude tells me he does very little of in your majesty's presence. I used to think that given the choice, he would take you in a moment, but after he kissed me like that... Lucy, I know he loves me. So even if right now, he says that he chooses you, if he agrees never to be alone with me again or whatever stupid fucking conditions you saddle him with, I know beyond a shadow of a DOUBT, that it's a lie. That, my dear sister, is confidence you can't imagine." It seemed as though minutes passed, and Max's grin reappeared on his face. "So, no. I'm not worried."
That last little comment is what Lucy needed to snap herself back into action. "I..." Though it would have helped if she had any idea what to say. "Is that true?"
Max turned to Jude, knowing that this was the real moment of truth. Jude had to take matters into his own hands now, and Max was certain he would do the right thing. The Brit took in a deep, heavy breath, finally ready to say what he felt, finally strengthened by the strength of the man beside him. "Yeah, Luce. It's true." Her eyes welled with tears again, and Jude began to explain himself calmly. "I love ye a lot, but we don' belong together. It doesn' feel right, bein with ye anymore. It doesn' feel ... I don'... " He tried to find the words, but started over, a small, sad smile taking his lips. "When I'm with Max, everythin feels right. Everythin's warm and I fell like I could be with 'im forever. Let's face it, Luce. We can barely stay in the same room for more'n five minutes these days. Let alone a lifetime."
In the brief moment when no one spoke, they all heard a sniffle and a choke of tears from where Prudence was hiding in the hallway, scared to come in and ruin the moment. It was too late though, the silence was broken, and Lucy was the one to speak next. "So... So that's it, then?"
"Aye."
"Even though he's my brother."
"Aye."
"And even though you're both... both men?"
"Aye."
"You know people might not understand. They might even try to... to hurt you. You know that, don't you?"
"Aye, Luce, but I'm choosin Max no matter what they think. A lot o' people might not like it, but I hope ye can accept it, at least."
"I need..." She turned, lip trembling with her held-in sobs, hands shaking. "I need to get out of here." Making good on her words, Lucy moved quickly out of the little apartment, slamming the door behind her. Prudence reappeared in the doorway a second later, eyes teary with a small, proud grin touching her lips.
"I'm gonna go find Lucy... talk to her a bit... but, I want you both to know..." Here, more tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she ran forward, wrapping her arms around them both, bringing them down in a fierce hug. They looked at each other over her shoulders. "I want you both to know how happy I am for you." Then she was off, chasing after Lucy out the door.
This left the two men alone again, and Jude immediately felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. He felt like he could breathe again and he nearly laughed with the joy of such relief. He looked at Max, sure for once that he had made the right decision. "Max... Ye really saved me."
Max shrugged and stepped a bit closer, trying not to sound too cocky when he said, "I would think you'd be used to it by now. I'm always covering for your stupid ass."
Jude didn't even pay attention to the good-natured insult. All he cared about right now was kissing that arrogant little grin off of Max's face. So he did, resting his hands on his friend's--no, his lover's shoulders and pulling him in close. Max wrapped his arms around Jude's waist and they stood like that, lips interlocking, for a long time. Finally, everything felt right, and though Jude knew there would be hell to pay when they told their friends, when they talked to Lucy, when they tried to get their lives going again, he wasn't scared.