Author's note: Reviews are appreciated – very much so in fact. Anyone who reviews this story 4 times between chapters 21 and 30 will get a bonus chapter.

Many thanks to Alexanna, the girl who helps me come up with great ideas. Pinksakura271's is being a wonderful help in integrating her OC character into the story.

Summary: Jamie was physically abused by her father when she was younger but convinced him to stop for the last few years – right up until she was about to leave for Auradon when he beat her back black and blue. He threatened that she'd better find him a ship so he could escape the Isle but Jamie has no intention of ever releasing her father from that prison. Amelia noticed that Jamie's back was sore a few chapters ago and confronted her. Jamie refused to talk about it and ran out of the room, eventually finding Carlos along on the roof.

And now back to the story….

Jamie spent the rest of the day feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles. The kiss she'd promised Carlos that she'd inadvertently forgotten about weighed on her mind. She knew it must be bothering him too because it would have been driving her batty. She knew what it felt like to have someone promise something and not deliver it. Her father had been doing that to her all of her life and she knew that Carlos's mother had done the same to him. Carlos had been so sweet when he said he wanted to be sure that her kissing him wasn't just crazy emotions and the passion of a moment. And she knew that if she'd changed her mind, he would have totally understood. He didn't just expect something from her and that made him even more amazing in her eyes. The thing was, she hadn't changed her mind and she hadn't talked to him about it. Bottom line, she still wanted to kiss him. She had just been a little bit of forgetful and then a whole lot of chicken.

Jamie also realized from her own experiences that disappointments tended to convince you that you hadn't deserved the thing in the first place. That meant that instead of blaming the person who had broken their promise, you blamed yourself for somehow not being worthy of that promise. It was vicious and icky and just made you want to scream at the world. She'd made a practice of never doing that sort of thing to anyone but the first time that she finally got to know a good guy, she'd managed to treat him terribly. She wasn't sure how to fix it but she knew that she needed to do so fast.

As it got farther into the afternoon, she started to think that maybe she was blowing all of this out of proportion. Maybe she was just telegraphing onto Carlos how she would feel in his place and it wasn't how he would feel at all. She could just be imagining that he would feel that way about her. She'd just convinced herself of that when she happened to pass Carlos in the hallway between classes. He'd tried to wave in a friendly manner but she could see that his heart wasn't in it. He'd looked like he wanted to talk but as soon as they got close enough to hear each other, he bolted. That was telling all in itself, like he wasn't sure she'd want to talk to him and he didn't want to inflict his presence on her. Once school got out, she knew that he'd be headed to Tourney practice so she just headed back to her room to mope and do her homework. Probably in that order.

She'd just gotten settled when Amelia had joined her and cheerily suggested that they work on their Remedial Goodness 101 homework. This wasn't too back because Amelia seemed to be a real natural at it and before Jamie knew what had happened, all their work was done and she was sitting across the table from Amelia who was staring at her intently.

Uncomfortable, Jamie looked down and fiddled with her pencil a bit. When she looked back up, she was hoping that Amelia had found something to do other than stare at her. She hadn't. But seeing that Jamie wasn't about to start the conversation, she did.

"Your back seems to be better. How did you sleep last night?" Amelia asked,

"Yeah, it's better. I slept fine" Said Jamie, trying to put the matter to rest.

"Oh my pink. I'm sorry, I asked the wrong question. I meant to ask where did you sleep last night?" Amelia smiled while she asked the question.

"I… Um…."

Amelia saw the concern. "Look, something's going on and you need help. I know you do. If you don't want to tell me about it, that's okay. But you need to tell someone. Would you perhaps like to talk to my sister instead? She could help in ways that I can't. She's got the ear of the king after all… And any other part of him that she wants." Amelia threw in the last bit in the hopes that she'd get a smile out of Jamie. She didn't.

Jamie didn't know how to answer but the fear was clear in her eyes. "No… No way."

Amelia didn't like seeing that fear. "Look, I'm not my sister, okay? I'm not going to force you to tell me what is going on. I know that's what you're used to from Isle, people forcing you to do things. Heck, my sister isn't even that person anymore. This place has changed her. Everything you know about either one of us is based on how you saw us on the Isle. Heads up - we're not there anymore. And you're not either. You can't just exist like you did there, just trying to survive. It's time to live. It's time to have friends. It's time to trust someone." Amelia saw Jamie's eyes twitch when she said 'trust' and she knew she'd found an opening in that formidable armor against the world. "I understand if you're not ready to tell me what's going on but did you find someone else to talk to after you left? Someone you were ready to trust?"

Jamie didn't know why but she nodded yes.

"Can I ask who?" presses Amelia.

"Carlos. That's why I was out so late. I, umm, I slept with him last night." At Amelia's suddenly raised eyebrow, Jamie rushed to explain further. "Nothing happened! I mean, we talked. A lot. We've been though some similar things. And then it got cold and I was tired of being alone so he held me for a while. It felt so nice that fell asleep." Jamie's eyes were shining a bit. "No funny business went on, I swear."

Amelia sensed there was something in the way that Jamie was protesting that didn't quite ring true. "Nothing? Not even a kiss."

Jamie looked away and rubbed at her eyes. "Not even a kiss." she said sadly.

Amelia noticed the change in mood. "Did you want there to be a kiss?" she asked. When Jamie whipped her head back around and stared at her in shock, Amelia knew she'd hit pay dirt. "What happened?"

"I, well… I tried to kiss him but he said he didn't want to while I was so upset. He didn't want to take advantage of me."

"Sounds like he's a good guy then. So, what went wrong?"

"I asked him if I could kiss him in the morning if I still wanted to. He said he'd like that. But when I woke up this morning, I forgot all about it. I mean, I still wanted to kiss him but I was so worried about getting back down here that it was all I was thinking about. I missed my chance. So, now he's trying to be all good and noble but I can tell that it hurt him some that I didn't even mention it before I left. I don't even remember if I said thank you to him for taking care of me. And I don't know how to get back into the right mood and place where kissing him would be special. I'm doomed." Jamie finally gave up and let the tears run down her face.

Amelia thought about it for a moment. "You care about him, right?" she asked. Jamie nodded. "And from what you've said, I can tell that he cares about you. Which means that you don't really have a problem."

"I don't?" asked Jamie. She was afraid almost afraid to let herself hope.

"Nope. All you need to do is arrange to be alone with him again… and this time don't run away before your heart leads you to where you want to go."

Jamie walked nervously around the roof. She'd put a note under Carlos's door telling him to meet her on the roof tonight. It wasn't that original but she hoped recreating their experience might get them back to the same level of intimacy that they'd had the night before. Hopefully without her having any sort of breakdown, which wasn't looking all that likely at the moment. She just kept moving, trying to calm herself down by being in motion. As the shadows lengthened and sun started to set, she began to get worried. "What if the note had gotten lost?" she wondered. "Guy's rooms can be pretty messy and it could have just gotten shoved under something.. Gosh, why didn't I get someone to deliver it to him, or, even better, tell him in person…."

Then a more insidious thought worked its way into her heart. "What if he'd read it and decided not to come… What if he was too mad or hurt or…"

Her panicked thoughts were dispelled when the access door opened and Carlos came through. Jamie crowed in triumph and then went hurtling across the roof toward him, pinned him back against the door and kissed him. After a moment, she realized the audacity of what she'd just done and pulled back. She was blushing profusely. "Sorry. Umm, I was supposed to do that this morning but I got kind of side tracked and…" she trailed off just staring into his dark eyes and trying to comprehend how he must be feeling. "Hi?" she asked, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Carlos shook his head but couldn't stop grinning. "Hi." He replied. "I'm glad I got your note. Hey, was that just a kiss you thought you owed me from this morning or was it mo…."

His words were cut off when Jamie pounced on him and just started kissing him again. It wasn't passionate kissing, although there was the potential for it to grow into that someday. It was happy kissing. Laughing and tickling were wrapped around it like a beautiful bow. And for at least a little while, Jamie let go of all the resentment, anger, and pain that her father's abuse had brought into her life. There wasn't any worry or pressure about where any of this was going to go next or what it might mean for her future. She let all of that go and gave herself permission to be happy. And deep in her heart, she could tell that Carlos was doing the same thing.