Disclaimer: I own nothing except my ideas...yah Jemma!!

Emma closed the basement door behind her, taking a sip from her glass of water, as she quietly climbed the stairs to her bedroom. The last thing she needed was to wake Jack and hear her mother rag on her for keeping such late hours! She reached the cold floor, realizing that she had forgotten her slippers, and jogging to her bed. That was when she saw Jay, stretched out on top of her comforter, feet crossed at the ankles, arms thrown above his head. She let out a piercing scream.

Jay covered her mouth with his hand, knowing that Mr. Simpson catching him here, at this hour, in Emma's bed, would not be a good thing.

"Calm down, Nelson. It's just me," Jay soothed. He released his hand from Emma's mouth slowly, pointing a finger of warning at her. "If you scream, you'll just send Simpson down here all in a huff and who knows what will happen then."

Emma shoved him away. "What are you doing here? How did you get in here anyway?"

Jay turned and pointed to the window. "Magic window. I think we should talk."

Emma gave him an odd look. "It's, like, almost midnight, Jay! You wanna talk with someone, get a friend or go talk to your girlfriend or something! I should be your last choice!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Jay held up his hands in surrender, sitting down on the edge of Emma's bed. "Look, I know it's late, but obviously not too late if you're still up. And I have no more girlfriend, mostly due to...well...mostly because of..."

"Spit it out!" Emma yelled. She rolled her eyes. "What is wrong with you?"

Jay got to his feet and suddenly noticed what Emma was wearing. He sized her up in her short, fitted boxers and tiny, tight tank. So at least my dreams weren't lying; Emma's body is smokin'!

"What?" Emma asked. When she realized that he was staring at her body, she gave him a disgusted look, and grabbed a sweatshirt, throwing it on over her small getup. "Why are you here?"

"I broke up with Mia."

Emma shrugged, knowing her action was mean, but really not caring. She doubted Jay was that heartbroken over this break up anyway. "And?"

"Well aren't we prickly, Greenpeace. Not a late-night person?" he teased.

She raised an eyebrow and tugged on the hem of the sweatshirt, feeling naked in front of her boyfriend's best friend. "Let's get on with it, Hogart."

Jay's brow shot up in intrigue. "Get on with what, Nelson?"

She couldn't help the sarcastic laugh that escaped her mouth, so she covered it with her hand. Jay knew she was laughing at him. Her eyes were sparkling mischievously. He smirked, walking toward her. She gave him a funny look and stepped back.

"Jay?"

He took a deep breath, wanting to close the distance between them and take her into his arms. Maybe if he could convince her for a quick roll in the hay, they could get back to hating each other and things would, once again, return to normal. Jay had to hope something would give, since his other plan had failed horribly.

"Stop whatever it is you're doing," Emma warned, backing up until she bumped into her dresser and realized that she was trapped. Jay kept moving toward her, determination written all over his face. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Jay stopped in front of her, placing both of his hands on top of the dresser, trapping Emma between his strong arms. He leaned forward until his face was within inches of her own. "What's the harm, Nelson?"

"The harm in what?" she asked, playing dumb, but knowing exactly what Jay was getting at.

He smirked. "Well let's see. I just got dumped. You're here and...alone. Ever heard the saying I scratch your back and you scratch mine?"

Emma put her two hands out, pushing on Jay's chest, but not managing to move him an inch. "I think you may have hit your head on the way over here. What on Earth would give you the idea that I would ever even consider sleeping with you?"

Jay stood his ground. "Remember that night, here, a few months ago? You and I, laying on that bed right over there," he said. For effect, he cocked his head that way. "Something was there, Nelson. I think you're just as attracted to me as I am to you."

Emma burst into hysterics, resting her head on Jay's shoulder to stop herself from laughing until it hurt. She lifted her head, meeting Jay's less-than-impressed gaze with her own lighthearted one. "You...you're...you are attracted...to...me?"

Jay flung himself away from Emma, crossing to the other side of the room. He turned back to her and glared daggers. "You think this is funny? You think it's funny? Well ha ha, Nelson! The joke's on you! You think your life's just so perfect! Got news for ya, honey, you and Seanie are so totally over and you don't even know it! You think he's gonna come back for you or something? Not likely! You're not that special!"

Emma's face fell and she lowered her chin to her chest. It was a full three minutes before she raised her head, meeting Jay's eyes. His heart took a tumble seeing tears brimming in her beautiful eyes. She sniffed and swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "That was really cruel, even for you," she whispered.

Jay felt like he'd just killed her puppy. He sighed. How do I make this one up to her?

Emma pushed herself off the dresser and walked over to the window. She lifted the pane of glass, holding it high above her head. "Get out," she said quietly. "And don't you ever come back."

Jay walked to the window, refusing to meet her eyes. Sure, he had said something he shouldn't, but it probably wasn't a far stretch. Sean was enjoying himself a bit too much in the armed forces. But still, it wasn't Jay's place to judge and obviously Emma was hurting over this whole thing.

Jay reached up and took the window from Emma's hand, which he intentionally grazed as the window passed hands from one to the other. Emma's tear-stained face looked into his apologetic one and something passed between the two. Jay found himself lowering the window until it was closed, shutting out the cold air that was slowing filling the already chilly basement. He gathered Emma into his arms, holding her tightly against her chest.

He felt her body begin to shake, knowing that she was sobbing. He continued to hold her, afraid if he let her go, that she would tell him to leave, and then he'd never have the chance to say he was sorry for the awful things he had said to her.

But Emma herself pulled away from Jay moments later, using the end of the overly large sweatshirt to wipe her face. When she looked up at him, her nose red, her eyes puffy, Jay felt overwhelmed by his own feelings of helplessness. "I said get out," she repeated.

"Emma," Jay tried, stepping toward her.

Emma walked toward him, straight up to his chest, standing her ground. She knew she couldn't yell, but that didn't mean she couldn't get her point across. She grit her teeth and said, "I told you to get out of my house! And don't you ever come back. Don't talk to me and don't try to seduce me and don't you dare tell me what's wrong with my relationship with Sean! You know nothing! You wouldn't know love if it smacked you full on in the face!"

Jay swallowed, looking down at the fiery beauty in front of him. "So what if I knew love, but I also knew that it was wrong?" he whispered hoarsely.

Emma eyed him closely, wondering just what he was getting at. "Don't."

"Emma."

She turned her back to him, striding away, but Jay was only sure of one thing; he wasn't about to let things between him and Emma fall away. He followed her, making sure to give her the space she needed, but still letting her know that he wasn't giving up so easily.

Jay heard Emma take in a large breath and exhale it fully. Her body turned slowly until she was face to face with Jay. "So what? So you love me now?"

Jay did the first thing that came to his mind and shrugged. "I don't know. It's just that I think about you... a lot. You're not...you're not the type of person I usually find myself...attracted to. But...I am. I'm...attracted to you...or whatever."

"Or whatever? Well isn't that reminiscent of something? Oh right! When you told me I had virtue or whatever. Wow! You really dug deep there, Hogart!"

Jay shook his head. "Forget it!"

"Forget it then!" Emma said calmly.

"It isn't supposed to be this hard anyway," Jay shrugged, walking backwards toward the window. "Later, Nelson."

Emma watched him making his way to the window, out of her room and probably out of her life. At that exact moment, Emma felt something attuned to panic; panic that she was losing something she never had, but something she needed so very badly at this moment.

Emma rarely threw caution to the wind and Jay very rarely caught it, but here they found themselves, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing each other madly.

Did they or didn't they? Will this change things for the better or for the worse? Keep reading and I'll try to post updates quickly!