Sorry for not updating sooner, I wrote an alternate chapter to Lance waking up, but I pitched it. This happened instead, tell me what you think will happen next after you finish... As always, thanks for reading.

Lance's eyes drifted open, he ran a glance through the room, then checked his watch for the time: Twelve Thirty PM. He noticed the afternoon light flooding past the curtains, and immediately got up and out of Octus' bed.

He opened the door to find the robot standing in the doorway, staring at him with his blank expression in the dad disguise. "Good morning, Lance."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Lance demanded. "and where are the girls?"

"Hannah and Ilana have left for the grocery store; they should be gone for several hours. This way, you could rest longer without any suspicions." Octus turned around. "I have prepared breakfast downstairs."

The corporal scratched his head. "Okay… thanks."

The robot paused for a moment. "Oh, and Ilana has borrowed your car."

"What?"

"One jar of tomato sauce…" Hannah read a crumbled up list as she pushed a shopping cart down an isle of the local grocery store.

"Here it is…" Ilana grabbed a jar from the shelf. "Ooh… so many choices…"

Hannah read some of the labels. "Extra meaty sauce… Saucy sauce… juicy sauce…"

"I think this is the one we usually get…" Ilana grabbed a glass jar filled with thick red paste.

"Is there a difference?"

Ilana thought for a moment. "Probably not."

"There… there's that Ilana girl, and the ex…" Thomas pointed out, casually leaning against a shelf of canned soup.

Eric looked at the two girls. "She's living in the same house as that robot freak, Lance Lunis..."

Rocko popped open a bag of chips from the display. "And Hannah doesn't know about that?"

"Probably not… I wouldn't be surprised if she was completely oblivious, despite the fact that she was with me when we saw that Titan thing." Eric scoffed.

"Yeah… Thomas… go find out what they're doing later."

"So, you like those drama shows?" Hannah asked, reading the back of a microwavable dinner box.

Ilana thought for a second. "Yeah, they're pretty entertaining."

Thomas approached the girls; he straightened his jacket and leaned against one of the freezers. "Afternoon ladies."

Ilana seemed to have some sort of a kneejerk reaction. "Good afternoon."

Thomas unenthusiastically inspected the girls. "I like your shirt, fits you well." He flirted, not bothering to hide his glances.

"Go away." Hannah said pushing the cart and dragging Ilana with her.

"What? Can't a fellow have a friendly talk with some fine chicks like yourselves?" He asked, following them.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Just ignore him…"

"Aw, come on… gimme a chance." Thomas jogged next to Ilana. "Can you believe her? You seem decent enough to let me try to have a civil conversation." He asked. "Ilana, right?"

"Yes." She said, usually people didn't exactly notice her.

"Yeah…we, uh… walked past each other like every day between second and sixth period…" Thomas grinned; he was playing her like putty in his hands.

"Really, you noticed?"

"Yeah, sure… I mean, who wouldn't? You practically saved the school that one time… with those blob things..." Thomas leaned in. "That, was pretty cool."

"Oh, well… thank you…" She rubbed her arm.

Hannah groaned. "Come on, Ilana."

Thomas straightened his jacket. "Nah, now give us a minute."

"No, we really should be leaving." Ilana noticed Hannah's discomfort. "We have lots of errands to run."

"Alright… say, a friend of mine has a show later tonight, want to come?"

Hannah looked at Ilana. "We have plans…"

"Where is this show?" The blonde asked.

"Down at the promenade, Alien Death Hammer's got a gig."

Ilana thought for a moment. "I think I might come…"

"Really? That'd be great, it's at seven… I'll pick you up." Thomas grinned, he turned and walked away.

"That guy's bad news…" Hannah warned.

"I'll be careful…" Ilana watched him leave. "He's just taking me to a show, it's no big deal… besides, everyone deserves a chance to be noticed… who knows, maybe it'll be fun."

"Okay… I trust you know what you're doing." The green eyed girl gave in. "I just hope he's not anything like Eric." She mumbled.

"Lance, I'm going out!" Ilana called as Thomas pulled up in front of the house.

"Where? I should come." He walked down the stairs, holding his chest where he'd been injured.

Ilana laughed. "You just stay home, you need the rest, I'll be fine." Lance was about to argue further, but she already opened the door and stepped out. "Bye, I'll be back later tonight."

Ilana walked down the driveway, Thomas opened the door to her side of his old convertible. "You look nice." He commented, she was wearing skinny blue jeans with a grey t-shirt and a small black vest.

"Thank you." She observed his worn leather jacket and grey flat hat which he often wore.

"So, let's hope this is a good show…" Thomas started up his car.

Thomas and Ilana walked into the crowded concert room, lights were flashing and the music was blasting. The crowd pushed and shoved for a better view of the performers, and there were more armature dancers than you could count.

"Hey!" Thomas exchanged several greetings with friends and adapted quickly to the lively atmosphere. Ilana shyly followed her friend, or at least the person she recognized. She'd been to one of these shows with Lance, but Thomas… he seemed like a good guy, but she barely knew him. "Ilana, come dance!" Thomas threw his jacket onto a chair by the entrance and ran off to the center of the mosh pit to listen to the heavy music.

Ilana slowly followed him, taking up as little space as possible to avoid interrupting anyone's dancing. "What's up, Lunis? Come on, they won't bite." Thomas teased, taking her arm and pulling her closer to the stage. He started banging his head back and forth to the music, Ilana stared at him with a half effort smile.

Suddenly, the girl felt a bump from behind and fell forward as the partygoer that hit her stumbled to the floor. Thomas leaned forward, and caught her by her shoulders before she hit the ground. He turned her around and held her by her lower back, face to face.

He laughed, and helped her to stand up straight. "Hey, it's like we're dancing or something."

"Yeah, sorry…" Ilana said sheepishly, watching the boy who crashed into her get back up and run to go dance some more.

"Hey, it's in the trade." Thomas looked closer, staring into her expression. "You're really not having a very good time, are you?"

"No, no… this is fun!" Ilana defended, the boy stared at her for a moment. "Okay, it's a little… fast paced…"

"That's alright… what do you say we get out of here?" Thomas cocked his head towards the door.

"…to where?"

"…there's a park up the street, what do you say? Just relax, slowdown… look at the stars, maybe? Friendly conversation..."

Ilana looked around at the utter chaos evolving around her. "That sounds great."

"I don't like this… I don't like this…" Lance paced back and forth through the living room; Hannah sat on the couch nearby.

"I've known Thomas for years… and if he offered to take her out, then he's got something up his sleeve." Hannah said, only fueling Lance's uneasiness.

"I could handle her seeing Jason, he's harmless… but… I don't even know this Thomas guy…"

"He's a pretty shady dude… I can't even count the times he's tried to pick up on me when I was seeing Eric…"

Lance stopped his pacing. "…Eric… you're old boyfriend?"

"Yeah… why?"

The boy tensed. "Does…. Does Thomas happen to know Eric?"

Hannah stood up. "Yeah, he's like one of his best friends."

Lance stopped dead. "Stay here." He ran to put on his shoes and grabbed the keys to his car.

"Wait, where are you going?" Hannah followed him.

"Hannah, please… stay here…" Lance ordered.

"Lance, don't… Thomas is a bad guy… but…"

"If he knows Eric, then he's doing something for him." Lance put his hand on Hannah's shoulder. "Eric attacked me the other day… it has to do with you and me… together."

"What? That piece of…"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about that, but now he's going to try to use Ilana to finish what he started… he's pulled a gun on me… whatever he's planning, it's not good."

"Then I'm coming with you…"

Lance put his other hand on her. "No… please, stay here, Hannah…" He lowered his head. "Ilana is everything to me… she's my sister… other than her, you're the only thing in this world that has any meaning to me… if anything were to happen to you…"

"I'll be fine… just…." Hannah stopped at Lance's seriousness.

"Eric has tried to kill me before, he failed… he's angry… he's dangerous. He will try to hurt Ilana because it can hurt me. Please… I don't need anyone else getting hurt, especially someone as important as you."

Hannah paused for a moment. "You jerk…" She stepped back. "What am I supposed to do if you get yourself killed? I know I'm a lot to you… but… Lance, you're the last damn person I have left! You're everything to me…" Lance paused. "My dad's dead, my ex-boyfriend's a psychopath… and…"

Lance leaned forward and kissed Hannah on the lips, he whipped a few tears from her eyes and stepped towards the door. "I love you Hannah… and when I get back, we're going to be okay… I'll be alright…"

"…You better be." Hannah sighed. "I'll wait for you."

"You know, I've been involved with some pretty dirty business in my life…" Thomas walked next to Ilana in the cold night air. "Not a lot of people are comfortable around me… because of what they've heard about me… so, thanks for giving me a chance. I have loyalty to my friends… and I'll be anything for em… legal or not… but, I've been thinking… I can't do this forever. I needed someone like you, miss perfect… maybe you could fix me."

Ilana looked at the boy, they'd been aimlessly walking for about an hour, she'd found out that he admitted to dealing drugs, and stealing some stuff, but he wasn't proud of it. "I think everyone deserves a second chance…"

"Really?" Thomas asked. "Hey, I'm sorry about what Eric did to your brother."

Ilana paused. "You were there, weren't you?"

"I was…" Thomas stopped. "I watched him pull the trigger; I don't remember much after that. If there's anything I can do to help…"

"Lance is recovering… but, you need to get away from those guys…" Ilana said, concerned. "You don't have to do this to yourself, you don't have to be involved in that."

"You know, but people like me don't change… born a crook… stay a crook."

"That's not true… Lance used to be involved in illegal street racing… but now he's an ideal driver!" Ilana explained, proud of her protector.

"Really?" Thomas sat down at a bench. "You think I could get out of it?"

"Sure… based on tonight, you're a pretty decent guy."

"Aw, thanks." The boy chuckled. "My dad… before he kicked me out of the house… said that I should start saving money so my friends could bail me out of prison. I was like… thirteen."

"That's horrible… you've been…"

"On my own… living at other people's houses… abandoned stores… parks… cars… school… wherever."

"I had to leave my dad…" Ilana said. "It wasn't working out at home, so I had to leave for America… just packed my bags and left, dad sent me off."

"Really? I thought Mr. Lunis was your dad?"

"No… he's a foster parent, just like Lance is a foster brother."

"Wow… I guess we're not so different after all…" Thomas turned around for a second to look behind them. "Funny thing… I thought perfect people like you just get pampered all their life, so they turn out that way."

"Not at all…"

The boy faced the girl. "I guess there's hope for me after all…" He leaned forward and kissed her, held the back of her head in his hands. She pulled away and stared at him, shocked he would try that after meeting so briefly. He was a good guy, but she had a boyfriend already.

"Ilana…" A voice asked.

She took a breath. This wasn't going to work. "Thomas…"

"What's going on?" The voice asked again. She turned around to see Jason standing behind the bench. Her eyes widened.

"W-What are you doing here?" She stammered.

"My astronomy club meets here every week, I've told you that…" Jason glared at Thomas. "Now… I've explained, why don't you?"

"Jason… it's…"

"It's not what it looks like… yeah, yeah." Jason was more cross than she'd ever seen.

"Look man…" Thomas stood up and walked to face Jason. "This is a mess up…"

"Yeah, it sure is." Jason crossed his arms. "Why?" He asked Ilana.

Thomas stepped closer to Jason. "This is on me… leave her out of it…"

"You knew she was dating me?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well, then it's her fault!" Jason looked at Ilana. "I trusted you! I loved you, and you stabbed me in the back!"

"I said to leave her out of this…" Thomas put his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" He turned and swung his fist at the taller boy's face, he stumbled back and whipped the blood from his lip.

"I'm not gunna hit you, man… I just want to talk." Thomas said.

"You just want to kiss my girlfriend, that's what you want!" Jason threw another fist at his gut.

Thomas took off his jacket and stared at Ilana. "Don't hurt him, he's not thinking!" She ordered, seeing that Thomas was at least half a foot taller than Jason.

"I'm gunna change." He said softly, Jason threw another punch.

"I'm the bad guy now? You cheat on me, and somehow I turn out to be the bad guy?" He asked, kicking Thomas in the knee and pushing him down.

"Jason, stop!" Ilana cried.

Tears were coming from Jason's eyes. "Why couldn't you just tell me?" He send his shoe into Thomas again, who did nothing to defend himself.

Ilana grabbed hold of Jason, as he pulled his fist back to strike again. Without realizing, his elbow flew back and hit Ilana, she stumbled backwards. Within a second, Thomas was already up and sending a fist into Jason's cheek. With one blow, he was unconscious.

"I'm sorry that happened…" He helped up the crying girl. "Did he hurt you?"

She whipped back to tears. "It wasn't the hit that hurt…" Thomas stared at Jason's motionless body.

"I tried to not fight him, it wouldn't be right if I did... I tried to change…" Thomas handed her his keys. "Why don't you go find where we parked, you can wait inside the car, turn the heater on. I'll take him to the rest of his astronomy group or whatever… they can take care of him. I'll take you home afterwards, and you won't have to see me again."

Before she could argue, Thomas was already walking away with Jason's body over his shoulder. Ilana's heart seemed to be literally breaking in half. How could she have done something so horrible to make someone as sweet as Jason turn into that? She felt horrible, she really had betrayed him.

Thomas talked on the phone as he walked down to the parking lot where Ilana was waiting. "Eric… I brought Ilana to the party… we ran into her boyfriend at the park, he beat the snot out of me… just like we planned. She won't be talking to him after what he did. I'm driving her home now… she'll definitely want to see me again. I'll invite her to dinner on the drive back, and we can go as scheduled… but, instead of kidnapping her right after the meal like you said… I want to take her home afterwards." Thomas looked at the girl sitting in his car; who listened to him that night, she actually believed he could change. "You can have her in the morning."