Hey everybody!! I'm back!!!!!!!! So I know it's been awhile but I have to be honest with you I wasn't feeling this story for awhile. I don't know why, maybe it's been the long vacation from the show and now not knowing when we'll get to see season 4...I was uninspired. But I opened the story today and started typing and damn did it flow. I really like this chapter. I am proud of it. I love writing Jommy, it's so easy and it just flows. I hope you all agree and like it, let me know! (a.k.a. review please!)
"Did I tell you that I love the song," Tommy said holding Jude's hand as she led the way into her apartment. "Because I really loved the song. You do have a way with words Jude."
"I had good inspiration," Jude said smiling at him as she let go of Tommy's hand so she could grab a bottled water out of her fridge. She moved out of the way so Tommy could peer in and grab the only thing left, another bottled water.
"We really need to go shopping," Tommy said shaking his head. He looked around at the bare counters and then looked at the cabinets with a smirk. "I'm willing to bet a hundred bucks that there is no food in your cabinets."
"I'll take that bet," Jude said opening the corner cabinet. "Ta da," she sang as she pointed to three boxes of pop tarts. "I have cherry, blueberry and my favorite apple cinnamon."
"That is not food," Tommy said rolling his eyes.
"It's covers one of the major food groups," Jude said her eyes twinkling. "There made with real fruit."
"Whoever told you that, lied," Tommy said grabbing one of the cherry ones and opening it.
"You mock my food of choice and then think you can eat them," Jude said horrified. "I don't think so." She ripped the packet out of his hands and walked into the living room.
"I'm hungry," Tommy said following her.
"So am I," Jude said opening the cherry pop tarts. She bit into one and smiled sweetly at him. She squealed when he jumped on the couch beside her and grabbed the other pop tart. She waited until they were both situated before she decided to try the whole come home from work and talk about your day thing. She'd never done it before. "So I have a new title at G Major."
"A new title," Tommy said curiously.
"Yeah you are looking at one of G Major's newest producers," Jude said bracing herself for his reaction. He'd either be really excited for her or he'd be skeptical. She was really pulling for his excitement.
"Really," Tommy said turning his head so they were looking at each other. "That's great, I didn't know you were thinking about becoming a producer."
"I wasn't," Jude admitted. "But I helped Karma out this morning and Darius said we did a really good job and Karma asked if I would do it."
"You are going to be Karma's producer," Tommy said sitting up. "Okay, helping her with a song is one thing but producing her whole album?"
"I can do this," Jude said emphatically. "I know I can. Karma and I…I can't believe I'm going to say this but we're alike in some ways. I see myself in her, or who I use to be." She looked at Tommy and shrugged her shoulders. "She's changed…different. I can work with this Karma."
"I'm proud of you," Tommy said as he finished off his pop tart. "That didn't even make a dent in my stomach."
"Oooh, is little Tommy Q. hungry?" Jude asked using her annoying fan voice she loved to tease him with.
"I'll show you what I'm hungry for," Tommy said grabbing her around the waist as he pulled her onto his lap. They stared at each other as they both leaned in, meeting in the middle for another long breath stealing kiss. Neither could get use to being able to just kiss whenever they wanted, it still seemed like they were stealing kisses in private. "This is nice."
"More than nice," Jude whispered laying her head down on his chest. She'd dreamed of this moment, being able to cuddle and know she wouldn't wake up the next morning wondering if she'd just have to forget it ever happened. Jude bit her lip as she admitted to herself she was still worried about the next morning. Tommy was really good at dealing with the here and now but the future, not so much.
She closed her eyes and was trying to let the anxiety of the future go when she heard a rumble coming from his body. "Is that your stomach?" she asked in disbelief as she sat up so she could look at him.
"I told you I'm really hungry," Tommy said rubbing his stomach with one hand. He gave her the puppy dog pout that he'd perfected with lessons from Caro.
Jude rolled her eyes as she climbed off his lap. She made her way to the phone on the side table at the end of the couch and hit one number before holding up to her ear. She walked into the kitchen so she could grab her bottled water as she placed her order with her favorite pizza place, DiAngelo's.
"It'll be here in thirty," she said walking back over to Tommy so she could climb back in his lap. Now that she was able to she was going to take advantage of all the cuddle time she could.
"What'll be here in thirty?" Tommy asked as he wrapped his arms around her again.
"Your pizza," Jude said yawning. She laid her head down on his chest and closed her eyes. She was so tired. It had been a long emotional day.
"You can go to bed," Tommy said rubbing her back through her shirt. "I'll pay for the pizza and clean up before I go."
"You don't have to pay," Jude said covering up another yawn with her hand. "I have a tab and Mickey never makes me pay. He's a fan." She sat up so she could look him in the eye before continuing. "And if you think you're going anywhere you're nuts. All I want to do is crawl into bed with your arms wrapped around me." She laid her head back down and nuzzled in so he could resume smoothing her back.
"Jude…you're Dad," Tommy said softly. He may have been gone for three years but he didn't think Stuart Harrison had changed that much. Jude was still his little girl and he was still almost 10 years older than her. If you added in all the strikes against him for his past mistakes, Stuart probably wanted ten minutes alone with him in a locked room.
"I'm twenty years old Tommy," Jude said softly. "I'll be 21 in a couple weeks."
"Age doesn't matter when it's your daughter," Tommy pointed out.
"Do you not want to stay with me?" Jude finally asked after a long uncomfortable silence passed. She climbed back off his lap and paced away. She was a little afraid to hear his answer.
"Of course I want to stay," Tommy said standing up. He followed her until she was wrapped back up in his arms. "I love you Jude Harrison and I never want to spend another day away from you but…I also want your father to like me."
"He does," Jude insisted but her face flushed showing how bad she was lying. "Okay so we might have to work at getting him to like you. But pissing me off by leaving me alone on our first night as an official couple isn't a good way of showing him how special you are to me."
"Good point," Tommy said nodding his head. He leaned down and kissed her again. He was the first to pull away and he pushed her hair out of her face with both of his hands as he smiled down at her. "Okay, I'm staying." When she smiled triumphantly he rolled his eyes at her. "But you are going to bed and I'll meet you there after I eat." He added quickly when she opened her mouth to say something, "I promise."
Jude stared at him before she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him with as much passion she could muster with barely any energy. She pulled back slowly and tapped his mouth with one of her fingers before turning and walking into her bedroom.
Tommy stared after her and he had to shake his head before walking back over to the couch as he reached for the remote. There was now no doubt in his mind that he'd be joining her after he ate his pizza.
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"I'm coming!" Jude yelled as she stumbled out of bed. She was going to kill whoever was banging on her apartment door at…she squinted as she looked at her clock on her bedside table…7:30 in the morning. She turned back when she heard somebody grumbling and smiled when she saw Tommy pull her pillow over and cover his face with it. At least she'd gotten one of her wishes, she woke up in Tommy's arms…way too early but she was about to chew somebody's ass for that.
"You better have a good reason for being at my door at 7 in the damn morning," Jude said as she flipped the lock so she could open the door. She opened the door and froze when she saw her Mother standing there. "What are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I was done with our conversation last night…did you?" Victoria asked as she pushed around Jude to enter the apartment.
"I know I was," Jude muttered but shut the door. She headed towards the kitchen forgetting that she still didn't have any coffee to make. She whimpered as she looked in the empty refrigerator. She only wished for Sabrina's powers a couple times a year but this was definitely one of those times.
"How could you do that to Jake?" Victoria asked watching as her daughter just stared into the fridge. "He's Jake Ryan Jude. You can't treat people like they are nothing."
"I didn't Victoria," Jude said letting the jab hit home before continuing. "I told him that we were done. He just embarrassed himself by not accepting it."
"This is because of that damn Tom Quincy," Victoria said glaring at her daughter as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"No Mom, it really isn't," Jude said shaking her head as she walked past her Mom into the living room. "I ended things with Jake because I wanted to end things with Jake. If he would just be honest with himself he'd agree that things weren't working out. We barely saw each other and he only used me as arm candy for premieres…which he doesn't need me for anyway since they like you to go with your costar anyway. Like I said last night, I just hurt his pride."
"It's a little convenient with Tom Quincy coming back into your life weeks before you decide to dump America's hottest actor…isn't it?" Victoria asked arching an eyebrow when Jude just stared at her for a moment.
"What do you want me to say?" Jude finally asked. "That I have feelings for Tommy? You heard me last night…I told him I loved him. I'm with Tommy yes but that was my choice, just like breaking up with Jake was my choice. Why do you even care?"
"It looks bad Jude," Victoria said walking towards her. "I just can't handle this right now. I'm trying to move back here so Don and I can start our new life."
"How does this effect your life?" Jude asked confused.
"Don socializes with people associated with G Major and there is going to be talk now," Victoria said like Jude was an idiot for not figuring it out.
"Oh no, not talk," Jude said sarcastically which earned her another glare.
"I know you don't care Jude but I'm sick of having to explain your poor choices," Victoria said pissing Jude off.
"Don't ever try to explain something I've done," Jude said standing up. "Victoria, lets get something straight. You don't know me. You chose to give that up when you left without looking back. I've changed. I'm an adult now and whatever choices I make are my own and I don't need you trying to 'explain' anything."
"I did look back Jude," Victoria started to say.
"When…huh?" Jude asked throwing her hands up. "I never received a phone call or an email. Just that one letter which didn't even give me any peace of mind. I needed you Mom," she said slipping back into calling her Mom as tears gathered behind her eyes.
"I was so angry with Dad…hurt because he'd torn our family apart. But he wouldn't let me give up on him. He made a mistake and it wasn't right. I never condoned what he did but…he was there…he stayed and besides I like Yvette." When Victoria just stared at her without an expression on her face Jude sighed. "She's really nice…and with you gone, I craved grown female attention. She was there for my senior prom, helped me get ready. She cried with Dad at my graduation…took thousands of pictures and made me a scrap book."
"She sounds like a saint," Victoria said through clenched teeth. It was killing her listening to her daughter praise the woman who had torn apart their family. Her kids weren't suppose to like the other woman. Where was their loyalty?
"No but she was there," Jude said softly. "Has been since the moment you left. Even when I told her she wasn't wanted, she stayed."
"Then you must be thrilled that you're going to have a younger sister or brother," Victoria said bitterly. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't see the confusion on Jude's face or the shock that quickly followed. "I didn't come here for this. I just wanted you to think about what you've done. I'll see myself out."
Jude watched as her Mother strode from the room and then she heard the apartment door shut quietly behind her. She reached her hand back slowly before lowering herself slowly to the couch.
"You okay," Tommy asked from the doorway.
Jude turned to look at him and she had to take a moment to appreciate the sight that was Tommy early in the morning with only a pair of jeans on that weren't even fastened. Damn was he gorgeous. She mentally shook her head so she could get her thoughts back on track as she said, "I think I've just been hit by a truck."
"Yeah I kinda heard," Tommy said walking farther into the room.
"How much?" Jude asked leaning forward to put her head in her hands.
"Pretty much everything," Tommy admitted.
"So you heard-" Jude said but Tommy cut her off.
"Your Dad's going to have a baby," Tommy finished.
"Actually," Jude said slowly turning her body so she was facing him. "I was going to say, you heard me basically throw Yvette in my Mother's face with no care at all to her feelings." Jude let some of the tears fall, she wasn't capable of holding them in anymore. "I thought I wanted to hurt her. To cause her pain because she hurt me so much but as soon as I finished praising Yvette I just wanted to take it all back."
"Yvette really was there for you," Tommy pointed out. He hadn't known that her Mom had left the way she had. He wanted to kick his own ass for being just another person in Jude's life to leave her. But he'd come back and now he had the rest of their lives to make it up to her.
"Yeah she was," Jude said but she smiled sadly when she added, "but my Mom was right. I didn't really need her. I was an adult by every sense of the word except age. It was just nice to have someone there…for all those things. It's every girl's dream to have their Mom help them shop for their senior prom."
"Who'd you go with?" Tommy asked straying from the topic at hand. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous thinking about the guy who'd gotten to take her to one of the biggest moments in her high school career.
"Honestly," Jude said her face flushing. "I went stag." When Tommy looked like he didn't believe her she grew defensive. "I wasn't seeing anybody and there wasn't anybody I wanted to see. So I was the third wheel tagging along with Spied and Karma and Jamie and Patsy." She furrowed her brow as she thought about it. "Or I guess the fifth wheel in this case."
"Patsy went to senior prom?" Tommy asked beginning to laugh.
"Who do you think spiked the punch?" Jude said smiling.
"I missed out on a lot," Tommy said softly reaching over with a hand to stroke her cheek.
"You did," Jude agreed.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he leaned closer so he could kiss her but groaned as his cell rang. "I have to get that."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Jude said leaning back against the couch. She stared at the black screen of the TV but she couldn't get past the brief flash of pain in her Mother's eyes when she'd been praising Yvette.
"Jude," Tommy said breaking into her thoughts, the tone of his voice making her sit up quickly and look at him curiously.
"Who is it?" she asked standing up and walking towards him.
"Uh…Kwest," Tommy said biting his lip trying to find a way to gently break the bad news he'd just delivered over the phone.
"What's wrong?" Jude asked slowing her steps so she was barely moving. The look in his eyes was scaring her. Nobody said anything remotely close to good when they had that look of trepidation shining in their eyes.
"He…uh…said," Tommy said stalling.
"What did he say Tommy?" Jude asked as she finally reached him. She wanted to lay her head on his chest and tell him to just forget what Kwest had said and suggest going back to bed but before he even opened his mouth she knew that couldn't happen. It was going to be bad.
"Sadie's on her way to the hospital," Tommy said quickly, spitting it out before he lost his nerve. "They think she's losing the baby."