Disclaimer: I do not own the Troop, its monsters or characters. Original characters and monsters I do.

A/N: Chapter 9! I am so sorry for the late update. I just have so many things going on but I won't make you wait as long for the next chapter, my apologies again. I hope I didn't lose to many readers b/c of it. Just would like to remind everyone of the T rating and feel free to skip anything your not comfortable with. Please excuse any mistakes. This is uploaded with only a brief revision because it was one in the morning already and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. I will probably revise it later on. And with that said let me stop writing so we can actually get on with the story. Lol. Enjoy!


Chapter 9

Hayley didn't know how long she was there kissing Jake but what she did know was that she didn't care. Time seemed to slow down. She had no idea where this pent up energy had come from considering the day she just had. Jake seemed as vigorous and energetic as she, not that she was complaining, far from it.

She sighed contentedly as he left her lips and leaned down to trail kisses over her throat and collarbone. Her eyes fluttered shut involuntarily. They hadn't said a word to each other in a while. Hands were all over the place, groping and feeling. Hayley felt up his hard taut stomach, a product of being a member of the Troop for sure. She was always curious and tempted to touch them and here she was brazen and unashamed at fulfilling that wish.

Quite suddenly she was flipped over and was forced down to the bed with Jake on top of her. Her heart leapt inside her chest. As hot as that was for the moment she gave him a forceful shove after realizing what happened. She wasn't used to being "handled". In her past relationships she liked to be in control on how fast her physical relationships went. She wasn't sure why but it made her feel secure to know she controlled the gas pedal.

"Don't do that!" Hayley said giving him a glare. She didn't know why she felt so turned on after that. As far as she was concerned there was still a tension and frustration in the air that seemed to spill over from the previous argument. Everything was not forgiven or forgotten. Although she noticed there was a slight advantage because of that. At least there didn't seem to be any awkwardness that usually came with first kisses. There was no awkward pulling away, mixed signals, missed targets, shyness or bashfulness that she usually had in her experience. Their earlier argument was the only reason she could think of to explain why everything was so explosive with her mind and body right now.

Jake looked up from his work on her neck as if he was snapping out of a trance. He shook his head and looked at her. "You're right, I'm sorry I don't know what came over me, we shouldn't be…" He started getting off her slowly.

Without a tinge of hesitance from Hayley, she quickly hooked her legs to the back of his knees and over his legs causing him to fall on top of her for the second time that night. He had the quick reflexes to hold himself up with his arms on each side of her before he fell on her. He was hovering over her face to face again albeit this time in a horizontal position, flushed and out of breath.

"I just meant don't push me around like that" Hayley didn't mean for it to come out as a shy whisper.

"Well then I guess I've done by job," Jake smiled. Hayley knew that was a jab from their earlier argument. She noticed how he broke eye contact and looked down to her lips. She involuntarily licked her lips at the thought and realized too late how that might have looked like an open invitation. Jake looked right back at Hayley and without another thought she pulled him down by his shirt. This kiss was slow and gentle. Exploring and relaxed. Hayley noticed she liked these type of kisses as much as the fast hard bruising ones. She could feel them all the way down to her toes. She pulled him closer and she felt his arms give in and a good amount of his weight was on her.

Soft lips connected with her own slowly building in intensity. She ran her fingers in his hair and tugged lightly. She felt him growing bolder by the second and felt him putting his hand under her shirt just as she had done earlier. She chuckled silently at that but soon forgot and couldn't help but moan at his efforts. Somehow before she even realized it he had pulled away from her mouth and had started trailing kisses down her neck and onto her stomach leaving her skin tingling in its wake. She hadn't realized he had lifted her shirt up halfway already. She just got lost in the sensations.

Frustrated because now she wanted more than he was giving her she called him, "Jake please!" She coaxed with her finger.

He looked up his eyes glassy and unfocused. She tugged his shirt up again; if anyone was going to do the pushing it would be her. She pulled him down to her once again and she sighed contently. His kisses practically made her melt in his arms as they intensified.

She felt him chuckling against her neck. Curious and a little offended she pulled away, "What?" She looked back at him.

"I'm sorry but I just can't believe that I'm kissing cheerleader Hayley Steele," Jake said. Hayley laughed at that, try Jake Collins feeling me up under my shirt she thought silently.

"You're such a dork," Hayley mused stealing another kiss. She couldn't stop, it was as if she was addicted. When did he get so good at this? Stella. Aside from one or two short-term girlfriends in sophomore year Stella was his first serious girlfriend.

And just like that everything came rushing back to her, Chris, Stella, and their life back in Lakewood. It was as if someone had quite rudely and bluntly burst the hazy bubble they were in and she knew what she needed to do.

…Just a few more minutes wouldn't hurt, she knew this was wrong and not like her but they were already in over their heads Hayley analyzed. What's a few more minutes going to do that hasn't already been damaged.

She noticed his slow movements and felt him pulling away again. Worried that he had just realized and was about to voice out her earlier revelation about their situation her hands grew bolder as they touched and teased him. She found a soft spot behind his ear that left him limp and hissing out her name. His breath came out in short ragged bursts.

"Hayley…I think that we need… to… stop for…just… a …geez Hayley!" She could feel him struggling to finish his sentence. She knew this had to end soon, but as cruel as it seemed she was the one who wanted to end it, as vain as it seemed it was better for her ego if she rejected him and not the other way around. It was just a rare occurrence when it happened and she didn't want to add (of all people) Jake to that number even if there was a good reason behind it.

It was just much harder than she initially thought to stop when his tongue had found hers again and was doing what it was doing. His kiss was so different from her other boyfriends, he gave her the undivided attention her mouth craved for. Maybe it was different because they were just friends she theorized. The way he was kissing her at the moment was soft and exploring, slow and sensual. A kiss that made her feel as if she was on cloud nine. It was as if he was paying attention to all the details and noted what she liked and disliked. It was driving her crazy how good his kisses made her feel and she wanted more of it.

She kissed him harder which surprised Jake as he jerked his head back suddenly. Taking advantage of the opportunity she flipped them over on the bed so that she was straddling him.

"Wai-"

Afraid he was going to say something again she dove in and captured his mouth distracting him once again. Her earlier agenda pushed to the back of her mind once again as she felt him respond and circle his arms on both sides of her waist.

"God Jake," Hayley sighed.

"Hayley…Oh God Stella!" Jake tore his lips away from her with a deep breath.

Jake's outburst snapped Hayley out of her daze.

"Oh my god! You and me…we… I'm with…Oh God," Jake said his voice rising with each word. Hayley covered his mouth with her hand at that. She used her elbow to prop herself up.

"Okay I got it! But you need to shut up or at least lower your voice, do you want creepy Bob to come in here! Cos I sure the hell don't! I will let you go but remember indoor voice," Hayley said.

Jake pushed her hand away clearly annoyed. "Don't patronize me, and don't tell me what to do Hayley," He said in a hushed exasperated tone.

He sat up hastily leaving Hayley to follow adjusting her position to sit on her knees. She noticed how anxious Jake became. The trail of expletives that he was saying to himself clued her in on his state of mind.

"Alright, alright, look it is not as bad as it seems," Hayley said getting his attention by seizing his face to look in her direction. He gripped her hand on the side of his face and gave them a squeeze before slowly putting them onto her own lap.

"What just happened? Oh god… I just I wasn't thinking…what did we do? Stella is going to kill me," Jake said gravely. Rubbing his face with his hands as if he was trying to wake up from a dream. A bad dream with her Hayley thought.

"It isn't as bad as it seems," Hayley felt like a parrot repeating it over. She couldn't think of a way to console him, frankly she was still reeling from there little make-out session. She was a little bothered at how quickly he jumped his thoughts to Stella. Did this not mean anything? She wasn't sure herself if it meant anything but at least he could be a little sensitive to her as well.

"No it's worse," Jake said quietly.

"I'm not exactly proud of it either but we just got caught up in the moment and it will never happen again," Hayley tried to explain.

"And never spoken about again," Jake said stated.

"What is you problem Jake? You're the one who jumped me! And you didn't seem to be complaining, what was I that bad? Are you ashamed of me or something," Hayley asked getting in his face. Every word that came out of Jake's mouth seemed to sting worse than the previous one.

"What? It has nothing to do with what happened, we should just forget it happened. The point is it should never have happened! Don't you get that! And FYI you were the one who jumped me!" Jake let out.

"Oh really," Hayley said through clenched teeth. She moved into his personal space and hovered his lips an inch away from his. She looked at his lips and then back up his eyes, a silent dare. He was clearly affected; she could see himself trying to restrain himself. She smirked and bit her lip, a little act to put on for the shot. "Well then I'm really… sorry that I kissed-" She could feel his hot breath, this was bad she wasn't starting to get pulled back into the haze. Their eyes locked again neither one speaking. Both had forgotten what they were talking about. Hayley needed to realize all plans that involved Jake needed to be done at least a foot away, she just gets to distracted.

And once again their lips were locked in a battle of tongues. This was bad, Hayley thought. Their relationship could get really complicated. She heard herself start to moan and abruptly pulled away with more force than necessary. "Okay that just proved the opposite of what I wanted, I'm sorry I guess I did jump you," Hayley said moving away from him quickly before she attacked him again.

Jake sighed loudly and shook his head. "No I think we met halfway, Oh this is really not good. Lets just stay away from each other till we figure this out," Jake moved to the opposite side of the bed trying to find the furthest spot away from her.

"Okay so obviously we just got caught up, I think it's just this past two days are just messing with our minds you know?" Hayley explained.

"Yeah, yeah, what with everything that was going on, getting lost, having no idea where we were, creepy Bob, this house, yeah all factors that made us gravitate towards each other, you know seek out some comfort in a vunerable situation that looks dire and uncertain, it happens to the best people out there," Jake enlightened. He was starting to smile a little now.

"Like that movie Wedding Crashers where that Will Ferrell dude takes advantage of helpless, grieving women because they're vulnerable and have a skewed perception of what is good and bad for them," Jake said a little relieved that there was a reasonable explanation for their actions.

"Yeah okay that makes sense so we just tell them it was an accident," Hayley agreed.

Jake's smile turned into a frown. "I don' think that's such a good idea,"

Hayley paused. "So you want to lie?" Hayley asked confused.

"Look me and Stella are doing so good right now. She is coolest, funniest, girl I know. We click on so many levels that I never thought I would find in anybody else. I feel so lucky to know her. This isn't some temporary high school love that you go through with your jocks…with Chris-"

"Hey I-"

"Let me finish Hayley, I really like her Hayley and I don't want to mess that up, I know you don't want to get too serious with any of your boyfriends, and that is probably why you aren't as worried as I am about the repercussions but I just want to stress that I am as serious about Stella as I am about my comic book collections," Jake said looking at her in the eye. A comparison Hayley was sure only Stella would get, which was why they were perfect for each other she guessed.

She was offended on the statement about her boyfriends. If she was being honest with herself there was a little truth in it and she hated him for knowing her so well. She cleared her throat. "Then don't you want to be honest with her? You don't want your relationship tainted with a lie do you?"

"You don't know her like I do, she already has her suspicions on why we are so close while we are in different social circles in school. I cannot exactly give her the real reason that we are Troop members who fight monsters," Jake said.

"I'd like to think we are little more than members forced to interact because of a common agenda, I thought we're friends," Hayley huffed.

"Well yeah now, but come on you know we probably wouldn't even give each other the time of day if we didn't get to know each other in the Troop, I mean what cheerleader would notice us "common folk", and I probably would be too busy making fun of your job prancing around for jocks to notice you," Jake said honestly. "But anyway that's beside the point, please can you help me keep this secret. It's not like it will happen again. I just don't want to hurt her." Jake pleaded.

"Okay I promise I won't say anything, but don't say I didn't warn you," Hayley said. She didn't think it was a good idea, but who was she to meddle between those two. More than she already had anyway she thought guiltily.

"Oh thank you, thank you Hayley! And I promise I won't say anything to Craig either," Jake said moving across the bed to give her a grateful hug.

"It's Chris remember, I haven't seen Craig in months," Hayley said sheepishly. "And thank you, I mean Chris and I are well we have fun, we're having a good time and you know him, he is very down to earth and is very protective he makes me feel safe," Hayley explained to him as well as to herself.

"Well good I'm glad you found him then," Jake said sounding genuinely happy for her.

"Yeah thanks," Hayley said still in deep thought staring at her hands.

"Alright so how about we get up in a few hours at around five in the morning so good so we can explore this little house that Bob has huh?" Jake said switching gears.

"Huh what? Oh right, let's make it four-thirty, sounds good. Goodnight then" Hayley said switching off the lights and laying on one side of the bed as far as she possible could from Jake and facing outwards from the bed so that her back was facing Jake on the other side. She was positive that Jake was also facing his back toward her as well.

"Yep goodnight," Jake said as he settled comfortably as he could on the bed as well.

It would be another half hour till the pair finally found sleep, both still had their mind racing what just transpired. It was the most restless sleep that Hayley had in a while.


Hayley woke to a slight movement at the edge of the bed. She opened her eyes to Jake getting up from the edge of the bed who had just finished tying his shoes.

Jake turned around and noticed her, "Oh good you're awake, I thought I was going to have to wake you up and you know that never goes well." He said not looking directly at her. Remembering late nights in HQ she knew that to be true.

"Come on it's five in the morning, we overslept enough already," Jake said leaning on the wall.

"Okay let me just get cleaned up," Hayley said getting off the bed. Just as she was about to close the door of the bathroom she did a double take on the room. How did she get up on the other side of the bed? She was positive she had fallen asleep on side facing the drawers. She just hoped didn't do anything stupid while she was sleeping. She had been told by her friends and exes that she was a spooner when she was sleeping.


Ten minutes later

Putting on her bag she did a once over on the room to check if she left anything. "Okay I'm all set," She said opening the bathroom door. Jake was nowhere to be found.

"Jake?" She noticed that the door was opened. She stepped out into the hallway and whispered again. "Jake!"

She tiptoed down the dark hallway heightening her senses.

"Jake? Where are you?" She heard a clamoring noise and followed the source.

It seemed to be coming from the Study room. The door was left slightly ajar. "-and you won't me to go ahead with what your plans from yesterday with those two? Do you really think that it will work? You cannot risk everything just because you believe that they-"

Just as suddenly another voice interrupted him, Hayley put her ear closer to the door, it seemed to coming from a speaker, she tried to make out what the second person was saying, "Believe me, just stick to the plan and trust me Hayley will definitely see our side"

"And what about Jake?"

"Don't worry about him, just do what I said and take care of him,"

"Oh no, I'm done listening I will take care of both of them as soon as we leave, they won't be getting out of these wood's alive, they've seen to many of the monsters, they will rat us out… no they are as good as dead,"

The other guy started saying something, or shouting she wasn't sure but all she could think of now was that they needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

She quietly ran past the hallway and into the living room. "Jake?" He wasn't there. Her heart was racing again.

"Jake?" She tried the kitchen. It was a small regular kitchen. Like the rest of the house it was bare with nothing but the necessities. No Jake. But then she noticed the refrigerator door light and noticed that it was open. The door was blocking her view of who could be looking inside. "Jake?" She tried again.

"Oh hey I was just grabbing a bite you want a bologna sandwich?" Jake asked naively.

"Why did you just leave me alone in the room? Don't you know we have to stick together?" Hayley tried to convey her annoyance and anger without yelling.

"I'm sorry…I was hungry…." Jake said slowly trying not to chew on the food that he already had in his mouth so it had come out a little muffled. "You want some?" He offered her the sandwich.

"No I don't want it," She pushed it away from her. "We need to get out of here right now, Bob is going to kill us!"

"What?…Calm down, it was only a bologna sandwich, here I'll just make him another one, relax," Jake said putting down his sandwich already taking out the ingredients of the sandwich.

She turned him around to make him face her. "No he is really going to kill us," She said seriously.

"And what makes you say that," Jake replied.

"I just overheard him talking to someone saying he didn't want to wait to kill us"

"And you're sure you didn't hear it wrong,"

"Positive"

"Okay we need to get out of here," Jake said scrambling to put everything back and closing the fridge door.

"The… the truck outside, we can hotwire it so we can get out of here," Hayley piped up.

"Okay do you remember how to do that from our Troop training?" Jake asked hopefully.

"Not exactly I'm hoping you do," Hayley asked knowing it was a long shot.

Jake was looking around, "Of course…I do…but why would I…" Leaving the kitchen going to the front door, "Do that if I AH Ha!… already have the keys," He fist pumped triumphantly. He had found it on a key holder attached to wall.

Of course. Hayley smiled and rolled her eyes. Bob sure was predictable for a guy she never predicted would want to kill them.

Hayley heard a door creak, alarmed and scared she moved to open the front door, "Oh my god, it's locked, we're locked in I can't get it to open," She panicked.

Jake's arm went past her and turned a knob on the door. Click. She turned the door handle and was relieved to find it swung open.

"Okay so I'll give you some time to gloat when we get to HQ let's get out of here I think he heard us," Hayley rushed.

And without a second thought to look back she ran out with Jake right hot on her heels. She climbed into the shotgun seat of Bob's car while Jake settled into the truck. "Move! Let's go home," Hayley said.

"Right with you there," Jake said turning on the ignition and speeding out of there as fast as he could.


5 Hours later

"And then I remember this one time where me and Jake dressed up as girls to get into Hayley's slumber party. You would not believe how much fun I had!" Felix recalled. He thought back to that day. It was really strange how easily he had fit in with the girls. He had no history with them he supposed. It was easy to start over.

He was in the middle of retelling another adventure of the Troop to the Gelatinous Cube outside the containment room. He liked to think that they had gotten to be good buddies. He certainly tamed that cube he thought proudly. He was telling the stories of the good ole days with Jake and Hayley one last time.

He had been continuously searching for Jake and Hayley for two days. It was Sunday afternoon and he had come up with nothing. Not even a lead. He knew that time was running out. He had never even gotten to tell them how much he loved them.

"Oh Gelatinous Cube my man, if you only knew how much we all meant to each other, You'll never find better team members, it was definitely an honor to work with though" Felix could feel himself welling up.

The doors of HQ opened up abruptly to image of a grungy Jake and a ragged Hayley. Felix stared at the door too scared to blink because he was afraid it was an illusion.

"Well if you listened to me in the first place and asked for directions like I suggested we wouldn't have wasted two hours of our time driving in the wrong direction," Hayley continued with Jake.

"Well at least I got us here didn't I?"

"Guys?" Felix butted in walking toward them slowly all but consumed with joy at the sight of his best friends.

"Yeah not thanks to me finally going to a convenience store and asking the guys where we were and getting a map," Hayley noted sarcastically.

"Well thank you then queen Hayley, I don't know what I'd do wit-"

"GUYS!!! Hey!"

"What?!" Jake and Hayley asked.

"Your back!" Felix said grabbing them both in for a hug.

They both hugged him relieved to see him as well.

He took them both in, they both looked tired, beaten up, and well cranky was a given. Yet something was different about their posture with one another.

"I was so worried about you guys, I really thought you guys were gone, your watchcoms weren't working, and the Heraptacore got you guys, I mean where did you guys go after you vanished, what happened to you guys," Felix held up his hand. "Wait, just start from the beginning," Felix rushed out.

And with that Jake and Hayley filled him in on what took place in the woods. Everything except what had happened behind those closed doors or Bob's guest room.

A/n: As always pls let me know what you thought. They really do mean a lot and the feedback is really appreciated and noted for when I write my chapters. And also I've already got the next chap. underway yay. If you guys want to read a teaser, the first page of it I can send it to you in your reply option of your review (providing you have an account on ff), just my way to thank you for reading and waiting. Thanks guys ox