Thanks to everyone who gave this a chance. ENJOY!

Chapter 8

She had called ahead to make sure he was there when she showed up to get some of her things, so it was no surprise to see him at the kitchen table eating cereal when she swung the door wide. His brown hair was a shaggy mess and he obviously had not bothered to get it cut without her to remind him. He looked up, a hopeful half smile on his face.

"Hey." He looked so happy to see her, it ripped little pieces from her heart. He wouldn't like what she had to say. "Sit down Jude. This is your place too." She shook her head but did step closer to him.

"Jamie…There's no easy way to say this--I don't know…I've been unfair to you." He misinterpreted her words as forgiveness and his hands reached out to grasp her upper arms.

"Jude I promise it'll never happen again. We can get through this. Believe me."

"Jamie no! You've got it all wrong…" She backed up three steps to put some distance between them. She had to say it quickly or it would never get past her lips. "I need a divorce. And the quickest way is for you to admit you cheated." He felt like a steel vise has just squeezed his heart to a bloody pulp.

"What?! Jude! No! What's the damn hurry?!"

"I'm pregnant." She admitted softly, her eyes meeting his brown ones in a unexpected show of bravery.

"Jude that's…Wow…I…How can you ask for a divorce now? We need to work this out." She winced, hearing the excitement laced with confusion in his voice. She shook her head and continued, knowing this would break her best friend's heart and she wasn't a vindictive person no matter her previous actions.

"You don't understand. The night you told me what you did--You knew I wasn't at Sadie's."

"So where were you?" He swallowed convulsively, sensing immediately he wouldn't like the answer.

"I was at a bar getting drunk when I met someone. We left together Jamie."

"The baby…" He had always been the smart sensible one in the relationship and made the connection right away.

"Isn't yours."

"Are you sure?" Jude nodded, knowing she was shattering all his illusions of her. This was almost a bit surreal to her. She had never imagined it possible to be in this situation. How had her fantasies intruded into reality so harshly?

"Yeah…"

"You've been pushing me away because of what I did, when you…" She thought she could literally see the fury building in his brown eyes behind the lenses of his glasses.

"I know…" She said quietly, accepting the blame this time.

"You hypocrite!"

"I know Jamie…" Silence was heavy around them, only broken by the cars on the street.

"Was he good?" Jamie said in a snide tone she had never heard before and she glanced up at him in shock.

"What?" She uttered it so softly it came out as barely more than a whisper.

"Well come on Jude. It's not like you've ever been that into sex. Was revenge really worth it? Letting some stranger put his hands all over that white skin of yours? Letting him do things to you? Or did you just close your eyes and think about telling me what you did?" Jude felt a shiver of revulsion run through her. This was not the Jamie she had known practically her whole life. She was not sure if the tears in her eyes were of hurt or anger, but they reminded her to start moving again. She started to pull the CD's that were most important to her off the built in shelves, shaking slightly as she did so.

"Was he good?!" The loud voice cut through her like a hot knife on butter and she jumped. Jude turned in what felt like slow motion and faced Jamie who had come up behind her without her realizing.

"Yes." Immediately she wished she had not uttered that simple word, but it was too late now.

"Get out." He said it so coldly she flinched, but obeyed, knowing that she was running even if he thought he was pushing her away. Jude picked up the box she had packed and swung her book bag onto her shoulder. She had to balance the laden box against the wall so that she could swing the door open, because Jamie had already stormed into the bedroom. He hated her now and she deserved it, but even now she could not find it in herself to hate him in return.

**

The trek down seemed to take a lifetime, giving her a little too much time for introspection. Were she and Jamie really ready to get married last year? Were they even meant to go down that road together? Maybe she should have recognized back then that he was trying to hard to be romantic, when it was so clearly not him, but he had whisked her away right after graduation driving in his old junker which she had been afraid wouldn't make the journey, to a small town where they were married. He had saved enough money to get a room at a bed and breakfast for the night. It had been where she had lost her virginity, where they both had. Knowing what she did now, she could finally admit two virgins wasn't necessarily a good idea. For her it had been awkward and a bit painful, but at least blessedly quick. He had not even gotten a good glimpse of her body because she had requested the lights be turned off. It had felt strange to be naked with him and although she hadn't wanted to admit it, perhaps because deep down she had never really been attracted to Jamie in that way. Not a surprise he would bring up her responses to him in bed or lack thereof. It had taken her maybe a bit too long to realize that it wasn't her, but them, together that had been off. But then again was that really important in the long term? They had love, or at least she had thought they did, and respect and so many things in common. They had a shared past, came from the same place and they both loved music. Who got to say what was lasting or not enough?

Jude finally made it onto street level no thanks to the box that had seemed to get heavier with every step she went down. She wasn't even sure where Tommy lived and she didn't want to go back to Sadie's only to have to turn around and move this stuff again. Jude pulled out her cell phone and the piece of paper Tommy's number was written on along with it. He sounded distracted when he answered the phone so her voice was unusually weak.

"Hey. It's me." Tommy sat up straighter from his position at the soundboard and his voice gentled as his attention focused on the call.

"Hey. How's it going?" Jude gave a small bark of choked laughter.

"It could be better."

"You alright?" Kwest raised his eyebrow at the genuine concern in his friend's voice. He had already signaled the band to take five and was unabashedly eavesdropping.

"Um…I just told Jamie about the baby."

"Oh…"

"So about your apartment…"

"I have your key. Do you want to swing by G-Major?" He realized as soon as he asked, that that wouldn't be the best idea with the gossiping staff and his ex-wife on the premises. "Or do you want to come by later?"

"I…" Jude kind of wanted to sit on her box and just cry. She didn't know if the baby hormones had anything to do with it, but she felt completely overwhelmed all of a sudden. "I guess I could do that." She figured she could make it to Sadie's dorm room and splurge on a taxi later if she needed to. Her words were not very convincing to his ears so he glanced through the glass at the band he was producing, barely noticing they weren't playing and decided they could wait.

"Where are you?"

"In front of my apartment."

"Address." She told him automatically.

"Tommy you don't have to…" He cut her off briskly.

"I'll see you in ten minutes."

**

She took in her new surroundings with barely concealed awe, a little intimidated by the obviously expensive place. He closed the door behind her and dropped her box and the bag of clothes they had swung by Sadie's to pick up, onto the floor.

"Wow. This place is amazing." He shrugged a little sheepishly.

"It's just an apartment." In a uncharacteristic bout of honest self-effacement. Usually he showed an air of arrogant confidence to the world.

"Shaking your ass must really have paid well."

"Hey!" He couldn't help but respond to the impish grin that brightened her big eyes. "I thought we were getting along." Despite his words he was relieved to see she was out of the quiet mood she had been in when he had found her at her apartment. The neighborhood had not been the best and he was glad she would no longer have to be there, even if it was taking away his own personal space to get it done.

"Didn't you know Quincy?" She had started calling him that just recently and he liked it on her tongue. Usually only other guys called him by his last name. "I treat all my friends like this." A small teasing smile graced her face and he could only stare.

"Is that what we are Harrison? Friends?" Harrison; she found she had missed that name. Their gaze was a little too intense and she looked away pretending interest in the room once again, taking in the hallway and doors. Tommy cleared his throat.

"So let me show you around." He took her hand and though she felt a slight jolt she ignored it and followed him where he led. There were three bedrooms, one converted into a music room complete with gleaming baby Grand piano that had Jude's eyes shining. She was caught by the beautiful instrument for an instant and Tommy had to catch her attention. She turned towards him already in love with the place.

"Do you play?" He nodded.

"Some. I like piano to work through a melody sometimes." He nudged her into the room and pulled her towards the bench. They sat side by side, she aware of their closeness and trying hard to appear unaffected by it. His fingers moved lightly on the keys playing something unfamiliar to her, but definitely showing promise.

"What is that?"

"Just something I've been working on."

"It's nice." He was strangely affected by her simple word of praise and decided to take charge once again. Tommy got off the bench and pulled her up, leading her to her new bedroom.

.

It was done in shades of sage green and gold, a generic type of designer bedroom a former flame had done, thinking it would please him. There had never been a shortage of women in his life trying to impress him and make themselves stand out in it. Jude stared at the fluffy duvet on top of the queen sized bed and almost moaned in pleasure. It actually looked like it would be kind to her back.

"If you don't like it, you can always reconsider mine." His voice broke into her thoughts and she looked at him, unsure if he was serious.

"Tommy…" His name was a caress and he didn't like that it made him respond to her. "This is going to be hard enough without us getting involved again."

"It's okay Jude. I know." He gave her a small smile that made her feel instantly better. If she had enough time and energy to think about that it would have scared her, but because everything right now was overwhelming it was barely a blip on her radar. "So the bathroom's next door and the other one is adjoining my room."

He flipped on the light to his bathroom and showed her the reason why he had brought her in here. He pointed to the large raised hot tub in the corner.

"If your muscles ever get sore that'll take all the knots out." It looked tempting to Jude and she was already in awe at the size of the bathroom, but she knew she wouldn't take him up on his offer. She was already intruding into his home; how could she enter his bedroom as well?

"Thanks." All at once he felt too close to her, especially when his pale blue eyes shifted to hers. "For everything Tommy."