Whenever Jason felt Destiny's body rise and fall out of rhythm from her soft breathing, he would look down at her, watch her. He would watch her until he thought she was okay, and then close his eye again. He did this repeatedly, constantly, worrying if she was alright or not with him holding her like this. He had the feeling that from then on, he would be much, much more hesitant about touching her, even patting her head. After almost losing her for his behavior…no, he didn't want to think about it anymore. And yet…he wasn't hesitant at all about holding her now…holding her so close…

…Oh, now he had to stop beating around the bush. This was the sixth time he had looked down at her within a minute. He had to face facts; he was watching her because he couldn't stop. He couldn't stop watching her because she was just too cute.

He sighed and tried to prop his elbow without waking her up. He couldn't sleep now. He just couldn't. He had to watch her. She was just too beautiful. And after almost losing her…

'Jason, STOP IT.'

She was curled onto her side, her back obviously facing him. Her face was buried against the limp pillow but he could still distinctively see the deep blush settled almost permanently on her cheeks. Her legs were curled up as well, her back arching slightly toward the curve her body was making. Her shoulders were hunched slightly, as if she was trying to hide from him. Her face was slightly contorted in an expression of nervousness. He knew she must have been uncomfortable, and yet the muscles in her body – most of them – were relaxed.

Jason tilted his head slightly in confusion. Her body language – he could guess body language decently well what with his prior experiences – expressed fear, and she had yet to tense up like she usually did. It didn't make sense to him. She was scared, and yet she was relaxed. What could that mean? He tilted his head to the other side in wonder, slightly hoping Mother would help him understand.

"Jason, Darling…don't worry about her now. She's relaxed. She's comfortable in your arms."

'But she looks afraid, Mother. Why does she look like that when she is comfortable?'

"I doubt that she's been in a situation like this, Honey. Having someone hold her so closely. It's taking her time to fully relax mentally. She might be relaxed physically but her mind is still reeling from what has happened to her today. It will take time for her to calm down completely…perhaps you should have waited until later to hold her for the first time, Darling…" Jason growled and subconsciously pulled her closer, suddenly feeling possessive. He could hold her anytime he wanted. She was his girl, after all. Destiny didn't react, but her face deepened in color. "Oh calm down, Jason…what's done is done, nothing can change it. Just…promise me you'll be careful with her." Jason found himself nodding and moving his head down again to watch her. Her back – or at least the part of her back that wasn't curled away from him – was pressed against his stomach. Jason could feel a small spark from the contact once he had fully noticed it. It felt nice. Very nice. But…not nice enough. Not for him at least.

Jason moved his hand from her waist and pulled off his glove. He did the same to his other hand before tossing the not-to-be-remembered-soon pieces of clothing somewhere in the destroyed masses of what was Destiny's room. He slowly grazed his knuckles over Destiny's arm, feeling immensely smooth skin against his rough, calloused hand. Jason couldn't stop the chill that ran down his spine at the feeling. He had almost forgotten how soft her skin was. How delicately lovely it felt against his tortured hand. He could feel slight bumps along certain parts of her arms, but that only made her seem more real to him. Not fake like one of the bad girls he had come across.

Jason found himself stroking even softer skin on her lower arm, the only side of her arm that was hidden from his eyes. It felt so fragile, like he could tear the skin if he pressed any harder. Jason breathed slowly, savoring his touches on her skin and caused her back to press even closer to him. He slowly lowered his upper body, which was still propped up by his other arm, and took in the weakened scent of her hair. His other hand was able to catch a few strands of her hair and he stroked it carefully, feeling slight dirt in them. All the while, Jason's other hand went back to her waist, molding his hand against the subtle curve. Caught up in all the unknown and somewhat exciting emotions coursing through his defaulted-numb body, he didn't realize his hand was at the bottom of her shirt until he felt the fabric between his fingers. He paused. His eye opened and he looked down at where his hand was lying.

What would mother say if he continued? Would she call him a bad boy for touching her like that? She seemed to have no objections toward him touching her already. And wouldn't she warn him if he was going too far? It wasn't like he was going to try and do bad things to her…he just…he only wanted to…

Jason closed his eye again, twirled a few hairs between his fingers clumsily, and pushed Destiny's shirt upwards slightly, just enough for some skin on her hip to be shown. Completely untouched. Completely pure, and utterly silky. Jason growled softly and stroked the slight path of skin he allowed himself to reach.

He did not notice Destiny tensing and whimpering until her eyes shot open.

She let out a mix between a scream and a gasp and literally propelled herself off the bed and onto the floor, scrambling away from Jason in a spider/crab-like manner. Jason flinched and watched her, shocked that she managed to move so quickly. She let out scrambled whimpers and stutters before curling her body against the wall and hugging herself as tightly as possible, her face impossibly red. Guilt immediately flooded Jason's stomach at the sight, and he pulled out his notepad and pen to explain, but she seemed in no mood to understand. Her look contrasted any other expression Jason had seen in his victims. Her mindset seemed clear; get the hell out of there! But he had to make sure she understood. He didn't want to scare her off again…

"Destiny, I didn't mean to scare you. I just liked the way your skin felt. It feels nice. It's really soft. I'm sorry I scared you." He showed her the notepad and she read it a few times before staring up at Jason fearfully.

"Y-you…y-you w-weren't…?" Jason frowned slightly, trying to understand what she was trying to say when it suddenly clicked in his mind. Jason quickly shook his head and started writing again.

"Destiny, I would never do that to you. I would never break your innocence. I am trying to protect it remember?" Her face flushed possibly darker and she stared at her curled-up toes, nodding silently. Jason heaved a sigh, feeling somewhat relief washing over him, and he opened his arms to her. When she didn't respond and instead stared down at her toes even more intently, Jason huffed in annoyance. What, was she planning on just sitting there all night? She needed sleep. She was exhausted. Jason growled gently, causing her to flinch, and beckoned her over with his hands still outstretched. The sight caused Destiny to flush and she looked back down again.

"J-Jason…I-I think I should sleep s-somewhere else…"

Pure fury immediately slapped Jason's mindset into immediate action and caused him to stand up and out of the bed immediately, glaring down at her.

'Well…I'm waiting.'

Destiny stared up at him in fear, her frame trembling.

"I-I…J-Jason, st-stop giving me th-that look…i-it's scaring me." Jason snorted, not giving a care in the world whether or not he was scaring her now, and made his way to Destiny, crouching down low and giving her a hardened look before scribbling on his notepad.

"You're not leaving."

Destiny stared up at him, her eyes wide.

"Wh-wha-?" Jason shook the notepad in her face before she could finish her sentence. "B-but, I-" Jason shook his head and pointed at the notepad again, insistently. If she thought she was going to sleep somewhere else, she had another thing coming.

"W-why? W-why can't I?" she asked weakly, a slight edge to her voice. Jason took no notice and simply grabbed her by the arm, causing her to squeak in shock.

"J-Jason!"

He growled warningly and tugged her into the bed again. She toppled onto her back, but quickly scrambled to her side to get away only for Jason to grasp her waist from behind again. Destiny gasped in shock and tensed instantly when Jason tugged her against him. He growled deeply and pressed his mask against her hair, taking in her scent. He breathed hard, unable to stop himself from stroking her skin again. She felt so good…so warm and soft…he just couldn't stop…

"J-JASON, S-STOP IT, PLEASE!"

Tears soaked into the sleeve of his tattered coat and caused his ministrations to stop. He hadn't realized that his hand had made his way back under her shirt until he could feel the cloth on the back of his hand. The scent of Destiny's hair became stale under his nose as he raised his head to look down at her. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her entire body now tensed and trying to curl to protect itself from Jason's wandering hand. Her face, neck and her upper chest were deeply flushed and her hands were glistening with tears and sweat.

He was ruining her.

He was tainting her.

He was touching her badly.

Like a bad boy.

Jason felt his own body tense at the realization, and he slowly pulled his hand away. Destiny was still crying, hard, but it didn't stop him from carefully, delicately, turning her around to face him. He made sure to leave some room between them, and he slowly pulled out his notepad to write.

"I'm sorry, Destiny. I'm sorry I scared you again. I'm sorry I touched you like a bad boy. You're a good girl. Good girls shouldn't be touched like that. Destiny please forgive me. I won't ever do it again, I promise. I know today has been hard, but I want to start over. Can we? I want to make up or what I did." When he was finished, he could still see Destiny crying. Jason felt the guilt seep into his chest like crashing waves. What kind of protector was he?

Jason slowly brought his hand up to her wet face, brushing back strands of hair from view and carefully catching each of her tiny hands in his and guiding them away from her face. At this point, she had flinched, gasped, and gone possibly redder, but her eyes opened and she looked down at the notepad in front of her. Jason's heart thumped hard as he watched her eyes scan the paper, inwardly praying that she would understand and accept his apologies.

"..I-I…J-jas-I…" She let out softened stutters as she struggled to respond, but a heavy yawn interrupted her words. Jason couldn't help but let out a chuckle, which only made her flush more. "I-I…I-I f-forgive you…j-just…p-promise me y-you…w-won't do th-that a-again…p-please…" she managed to let the rest of the sentence whisper through Jason's ears. He watched as she stared determinedly at his chest, refusing to look anywhere but. Jason knew it would be a challenge, a BIG challenge, to never touch her like that again, because, damnit, it felt so good…but if it uncomforted her so badly to the point it brought her to tears…he just couldn't stand her being that unhappy…

Jason carefully cupped her scarlet cheek in his hand and gently lifted it so her eyes met his. He gave a slow nod to show his understanding, and carefully, almost hesitantly brought the hand to her back, pulling her close to him to press against his body. Destiny gasped and tensed quickly, but Jason slowly shushed her, moving his other hand to cup the back of her head, stroking her hair as gently as possible to help soothe her. She let out a soft whimper and buried her face against his chest, making do with the fact he wouldn't let her free, and began to relax minutely against him again. Jason slowly lowered his head to her hair, still shushing her softly and breathed in her fresh scent once more, rubbing her back soothingly until she had fallen asleep once more.

Jason noticed that her tiny body, though contrasting with his giant frame, molded almost perfectly against his own. The spark that flitted through his body from the experience didn't leave him all night.


END CHAPTAH!

Okay, this chapter was meant to be uber fluffy and uber…emotionally weird for Jason, so I hope I pulled it off well!

I also need to apologize for not updating in, like, FOREVER. My reason for doing so was my graduating, my prom and my senior trip, which were all extremely emotional and fun as hell. I really had little-to-no time to do anything FF-wise, so I hope this chapter makes up for it…

Anywhoo, please review! 200 REVIEWS, GUYS! WHEE!

-NikoRu Rene