Chapter 9:

Jude couldn't sleep. She and Tommy had arrived at his house two hours ago and had almost immediately both went to bed. Tommy had insisted that she take the master bedroom and no matter how much she protested that it was his house and she didn't want to take his bedroom, he wouldn't hear of it.

"You and our baby deserve the best," he'd said, "and I'm going to make sure you get it." And then he'd smiled at her, the way only Tommy could smile at her.

How could she possibly refuse after he said that, and smiled at her like that? But she knew taking Tommy's bedroom was not a good idea. She could smell him everywhere, including the bed where she was attempting to sleep. And that made her want him. And it made her envision Tommy sleeping in the bed, next to her.

She jumped out of bed. She had to stop herself from thinking like that.

She paced for a minute, wondering what she was going to do. It was 1:00 in the morning and she was wide awake. And she was hungry. Now that she was eating for two, she wanted food all the time. And whoever said that pregnant women craved weird combinations was absolutely right. Jude couldn't stop craving peanut butter and salt and vinegar chips. Normally she would have gagged at such a combination. But right now, that's all she wanted.

She would have made her way down to the kitchen, but she was at Tommy's house and she didn't feel comfortable yet just wandering around. Her stomach growled, reminding her of her hunger. She was SO hungry.

"Oh, what the hell?" she said, making her way to the bedroom door. She looked down quickly at her apparel to make sure she was decent enough to leave the room. Her t-shirt and shorts would have to do.

She opened the door slowly, looking out to make sure that the door to the bedroom Tommy said he was going to be using now was closed. It was.

She breathed a sigh of relief. She just wanted to go to the kitchen and get her food and come back. She didn't want any late night Tommy-time.

She tip-toed to the staircase and down the stairs as quietly as she could manage. A few stairs creaked, and she paused, listening to see if she heard Tommy rousing. She didn't hear anything so she continued her descent. She walked slowly to the kitchen, trying to find her way around in the dark. It would have been smarter to turn a light on, she knew, but that would likely draw Tommy's attention. Tommy had just bought this house before they went to Thailand and had not moved into it until he had returned, so Jude had never been there before. Tommy had given her a five minute tour of the place before they went to bed, so at least she had some general idea of where the kitchen was.

She placed her hands on the wall, and walked along, sure that she was going in the right direction. Finally, she arrived at the doorway and saw the fridge.

"Thank God," she whispered, walking towards the fridge and opening the door, still completely in the dark except for the small light coming from the fridge. She stared in it, noticing that Tommy had very little food in there. And there was nothing that she wanted. She REALLY wanted salt and vinegar chips and peanut butter. She was almost tempted to go out and get them, except that her car was at her house, after she had asked Sadie to drive it home from the airport, and she had no idea how to drive Tommy's. And she knew Tommy would have a heart attack if he woke up and she wasn't here. Not that he didn't deserve a bit of panic after all he'd put her through over the last three years. But still, she couldn't do that to him.

"Looking for something specific?" Jude jumped hearing Tommy's voice behind her. He flicked on the light as Jude turned around.

"Tommy! What the hell are you doing?" Jude yelled, putting her hand to her chest to calm her heartbeat.

Tommy stood in the doorway of the kitchen looked at her curiously, a small smirk forming at the corners of his mouth. "I should ask you the same thing. What were you doing creeping around in the dark?"

Jude knew he had a point. "I was hungry. And I didn't want to wake you."

He moved closer, standing only a foot away from her. "Jude, this is your home now, too. You should feel comfortable enough to do whatever you want. And please, don't go walking around in the dark. It's dangerous. What if you fell and I wasn't awake? That could be pretty serious for you and the baby."

Jude saw the genuine concern in his eyes. "You're right," she said, suddenly feeling the heat of his body which felt closer than it was. Besides, now that she was past the fright he had caused her and the embarrassment of being caught, she noticed that Tommy was wearing pyjama pants. And no shirt. She felt her cheeks flush at the sight. She stared at his bare chest for a minute before averting her eyes.

"Do you have peanut butter?" She asked suddenly, desperate to get her mind off of Tommy's half-naked body.

Tommy almost laughed, seeing Jude staring at the floor instead of looking at him. Nothing escaped his notice, not the way she blushed looking at his body or the way she stared for a few seconds longer than is appropriate. He thought her nervousness was amusing considering that when they were in Thailand she saw him naked and half-naked more than a few times.

He moved to one of the cupboards, grabbing a half-empty jar of peanut butter. He handed it to her, and then went to grab the bread, figuring she wanted toast or a sandwich.

"Nope, just get me a spoon, Quincy," Jude said, smirking as she carried the jar over to the kitchen table and sat down. "And you don't happen to have salt and vinegar chips too, do you?"

Tommy turned and looked at her curiously, then went to one of the other cupboards and pulled out a bag of unopened chips.

He saw Jude's eyes sparkle as he carried the bag and the spoon over to the table and sat across from her.

"Peanut butter and salt and vinegar chips?" Tommy asked, a mock disgusted look on his face.

Jude was already too engrossed in her food, smiling widely as she ingested the first spoonful of peanut butter.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat just peanut butter before," he commented, watching her, smiling at her happiness.

She dipped the spoon in the jar and held a full spoonful of peanut butter in front of Tommy. "Want to try?"

He hesitated for a moment, and then opened his mouth for Jude to put the spoon in.

"Mmmm…" he said and he swallowed the peanut butter, "not bad at all. It's not exactly red liquorice, but it's not bad." He laughed and Jude laughed too. Besides hearing their baby's heartbeat in the hospital, her laughter was the nicest sound he'd heard in a very long time.

He watched Jude gleefully eating her chips and peanut butter, just glad that she was here with him, that he knew about the baby and they were going to experience the pregnancy together.

She finished eating and they sat in comfortable silence.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked.

"Nope," she answered, not meeting his eyes. She couldn't tell him that the reason she couldn't sleep was that his room reminded her too much of him.

"Me neither. I guess we got enough rest on the plane," he said, thinking about their shared nap.

She blushed again. "I guess," she said quietly.

"Why don't we go in the living room, put on the television until we get tired?"

She smiled. "That would be good." They both stood up and he put a hand on the small of her back to lead her into the other room. She could feel the heat from his hand burning through the thin fabric of her t-shirt.

She moved quickly away as soon as they were in the room and headed towards the plush couch opposite the television. She sat at one end and prayed that Tommy would take the other end.

Tommy grabbed the remote and made his way over the couch, sitting in the middle, only a few inches from Jude.

He's not going to make this easy on me, is he? she thought to herself. They both leaned back, making themselves comfortable on the large couch as Tommy flipped through the channels. As it was 1:00 there was nothing on except old movies; Tommy stopped the channel when he hit a station that was playing "Gone With the Wind". Jude turned to look at him, smiling.

"Have you seen this?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

"Harrison, this is one of the best movies ever made. Not that I won't kill you if you ever tell anyone I said that."

She laughed, amused, and turned back to the television. "Whatever you say, Quincy."

They were watching for half an hour when Jude could feel herself drifting off. She looked towards Tommy and could see his eyes getting heavy as well. But for some reason she didn't want to leave his company yet. She tried to open her eyes widely to keep herself awake, but it only made her more tired. She leaned her head back into the couch. She closed her eyes. I'll close them for a few minutes and then I'll be more awake, she thought to herself. That was the last thought she had before she drifted off to sleep.

Tommy was struggling with keeping himself awake when he felt Jude's body lean into his. He looked in her direction to see her sound asleep, her head leaning on his shoulder. He smiled, relishing the feel of her body against his. He flicked the television off, and leaned back into the couch, putting his arm around Jude to bring her closer against his side. And within minutes, Tommy was sound asleep too.

Jude jolted awake, disoriented. She looked around her, noticing first that she was leaning into someone's warm body. And by the way her own body was tingling with desire, she knew it must be Tommy.

Then she remembered. She was at Tommy's house because she was now living with him. And she remembered the late night peanut butter and chips craving and watching "Gone With the Wind" with him. They must have fallen asleep on the couch.

She felt Tommy's body moving, realizing he must be awake too. He looked down at her, their faces only a few inches apart. "Good morning," he said, his voice still laced with sleep. She saw desire and what looked like love shining from his eyes.

"Morning," she said shyly, suddenly aware of how close they were. And how inappropriate this was for friends. Which is all they were.

She lingered for a moment longer, staring up into Tommy's piercing blue eyes, and then she made herself pull away from him, out of his arms.

"So," she said, straightening, "I guess we should go get some of my stuff today. And my car."

"Sounds good," Tommy replied. "And I was thinking we might tell the news to ours friends who don't know and figure out what we're going to tell the press. I want the truth to be out."

"I agree," Jude said, standing up from the couch, "Just give me half an hour to get ready and we'll head over to Paegan and Jamie's studio. SME will probably be there so we can tell Paegan and SME and Kwest. I think that's everyone close to us who doesn't know."

Tommy looked up at her, a thought dawning on him, "You mean Jamie knew?"

Jude frowned, knowing Tommy wouldn't like it that Jamie knew before him. "He was the one who figured it out, actually. Forced me to take a test. Don't be mad, Tommy. He's been my friend forever, you know that." Tommy still looked unhappy and Jude continued, "Besides, not that it matters since we're not together anymore, but I didn't choose him. And it's not him that I'm having a baby with." She turned around, walked up the stairs and into her room, which still smelled of Tommy. Even just the scent of him made her knees weak.

As soon as she entered the room, she shut the door firmly and collapsed against it. This whole "friends" thing was going to be a lot harder than she had hoped.