A/N: Surprise! Another Jane chapter! I know, I usually alternate, but this is what my mind came up with. Enjoy!


Things were changing, as Jane knew they obviously would, because really, when does getting shot at not make things change? And they were changing fast. She knew that she would have to change her appearance in order to go safely out into public again, but a haircut? No thank you. She had always prided her hair, which was incredibly long and straight as an arrow, which had often made others envious.

But this was necessary.

"Ready?" Reed asked. She had been nice enough to come over, Jane not trusting either of the boys to come near her neck with a pair of scissors.

She nodded. "As much as I'll ever be." She closed her eyes, wincing internally every time the scissors snipped shut.

"You can look, you know," Reed said. "And the flinching doesn't exactly help."

"Sorry," Jane murmured. She stole a small glance at the floor, quickly closing her eyes again.

Reed began to softly hum a strange melody, trying to distract the girl as locks of her dark brown hair fell lifelessly to the floor with each snap of the scissors. "Almost finished." Snip. "Done."

Jane opened her eyes and looked at Reed. "Can I see it?"

"Sure. Let me go get a mirror." She walked off towards the bathroom.

Jane reached up and let her fingertips graze over her now ear-length hair, tears filling her eyes.

"Hey Jane!" Joe called, walking back through the front door. He held up a small box. "Look what I got for you."

It was a package of hair dye, the picture of a smiling woman with caramel-coloured hair on the front.

"No."

His smile faded. "Why not? It would be the perfect cover."

"Because I would look exactly like her!" Jane shouted, yelling internally at herself not to cry.

"Like who?" Joe asked.

"My mum!"

"Oh," he said softly, going to her side and sliding his hand into her's. "You never talked much about her other than saying she's dead. What happened?"

"She's not just dead, Joe, she was killed. Shot in the head. I still have the obituary. Her hair was that colour, except she always wore it-"

"As short as her ears?" he finished.

She nodded and let out a small whimper of pain.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked, drawing her closer.

"I'm biting my cheek so I don't cry!" she mumbled.

"Well stop. I don't like to see you in pain," he said. "Why don't you want to cry?"

"I just don't cry."

"Why not?"

"Because it's pointless!" she yelled, tears tugging at her eyes. "If crying would bring her back, believe me, I would have tried. But it doesn't, okay!? She's gone and I'll never be able to have her back, no matter what I do! Crying won't change what happened, so why do it at all!?"

"You're right," Joe said after a pause. "Crying won't change the past, but sometimes it helps ease the pain. Just have a cry, Jane."

"No."

"C'mon."

"No," she repeated, but even as she said it, she felt fresh, hot tears stream down her face and just like that, all the emotion she had hidden away for nearly three years rushed out of her in a huge wave. She let herself go as limp as a rag doll in his arms, burying her face into his shirt. "I saw the whole thing, Joe!" she cried. "Sher, he tried to turn it off before it came on, but he was too late!"

"Wait, Sher?" Joe asked. "Like Sherlock? Is Sher the person Joan was talking about?"

Jane nodded.

"And you lived with him"

"Well yes. Didn't I already tell you that I was born out of wedlock?"

"I don't even know what that means."

"He's my father," Jane said.

Joe blinked in disbelief. "You told me your father left you after your mom died."

"He did."

He looked back at the hair dye. "I guess I'll go get a different colour."

She sat up and sniffled a little bit. "See? All crying does is getting me all worked up."

Joe smiled. "Well I certainly couldn't let you explode."

She looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Everybody knows you explode when you don't cry."

"You're lying."

He smirked. "Am I?"


Reed smiled, her hands hovering near the towel. "On the count of three. One,"

"Two," Joe said.

"Three," Jane finished. Reed lifted up the towel and Jane gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

Joe began laughing. "You look like a peach!"

"Hey, it was your idea to dye it orange!"

"Whatever..." Thwack! "OW! What the hell was that for!?"

"Comparing me to a peach!"

Reed suddenly glanced at her watch. "Gosh! I have to go!" She grabbed hr coat and raced towards the door.

"Bye!" Jane called over her shoulder. Now it was just the two of them. She looked up, tucking a strand of peach-coloured hair behind her ear. "You think she would be proud of me?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Who, Reed?"

"No, you idiot!" Jane said. "My mum. Sometimes... I wonder what she'd be like now. What she'd think of me."

He thought about this for a moment. "She would be proud of you, Jane. And your dad probably is, too."

Jane got up and grabbed her iPod, glancing at its clock. "Goodnight, Joe."

"G'night, Jane."

She hooked the device up to a speaker and took out her laptop. The was still one more thing she needed to do.

"You have mail!" the automated computer voice recited excitedly, just loud enough to be heard over the music.

She clicked it open and the words 'New Blog Comment' appeared. And speaking of her blog, it was time to post the next installment. "Well then, let's get on with it," Jane said to herself. She had two escapes: music and writing. She had created her blog a few years ago using the pseudonym Genevieve Monroe. Bella Hawking, the main character in the installments (who may or may not have been molded together using pieces of Jane herself and also a few characters from an old 40's radio show known as 'The Voyage Of The Scarlett Queen'), who was constantly getting herself into, er, sticky situations.

Now, slowly, she began.

Previously on The Continuing Adventures Of Bella Hawking:

The sound of echoing footsteps filled the dark hallway and mystery man opened the large steel slab of a door. Bella sat there, huddled in a corner with a semi moth-eaten quilt wrapped around her shoulders.

"You, Bella Hawking, will soon learn that there are consequences for your actions."

She gave sarcastic smirk. "Try me."
Installment 18
Bella's eyes focused on the bottom of the door frame where a small amount of light seeped underneath. How will I get out of here?
Suddenly the door opened again and she was pulled roughly up by her elbow. Whoever it was placed a blindfold over her eyes and the next thing she knew, she was seated in a hard wooden chair and the blindfold removed. On the other side? Mystery man, a.k.a Constantino.
"Good evening, Ms. Hawking."
"You should tell your brutes to use better care on your captives," she growled, rubbing her elbow.
"Apparently you have misunderstood," he said. "You are not a captive. You're free to go whenever you like."
"Really?" Bella asked in annoyance. "Well then I guess I'll leave then." She stood up and walked towards the door.
"I just thought you might want to see your sister."
She glared at him. "My sister is dead. You killed her."
"Did I?"-

-X-

The door to Jane's room suddenly opened and she jumped. "Joe! What are you thinking!? I could've been naked!"

He smiled. "Honestly... I wouldn't mind that."

"Joe Fry, you are a sick and perverted individual," Jane commented.

"Thank you," he said, taking a small bow. He peered at the laptop. "Whatcha got there?"

She pulled it away from his view. "Stuff."

He moved closer to her. "Oh, stuff. I like stuff. What kind of stuff is this stuff?"

She closed the laptop. "Just a little story I write in my spare time. Now go away. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep.

"Right, because that's exactly what you were doing before I walked in."

She stuck her tounge out at him.

"Fine, I'm going." He shut the door and went to his room for a few minutes before going back to Jane's room. She was beautiful when she was asleep, like an angel. A strip of orange hair covered one of her eyes. She turned and moaned slightly in her sleep and Joe smiled. "Night, fuzz."


A/N: Please excuse for any spelling errors, for I am typing this on my NEW LAPTOP, which does not have spell check yet. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Also: If any of you have read my profile, you'll know I am not entirely new to the world of online writing, and I wasn't new to it when I first started fanfiction. I used to go on a site called Quotev, and recently I started up on there again, however I still like this site better. Why? Because I get more readers. To date, I have only gotten EIGHT READERS on my Quotev story. EIGHT! So do you think maybe you could check it out and tell me what you think? I would really appreciate it. Its called "Lunar Eclipse" and again the site is called Quotev. Thanks again.

~Delila Jules

Merry Christma- Hanna- Kwanzaka!

(An acquaintance of mine came up with that, so if you hate it, don't yell at me)

REVIEWS ALWAYS APPRECIATED! ! ! ! !