Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Revenge, I Just Love It

A/N I have no excuse for how long it's taken me to update, so I'm just going to say I'm sorry, and thank you all for reading my story and leaving comments and compliments. Its always really nice to hear. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Here's the new chapter, for those who haven't given up on me yet :)

Chapter 7: Understand

It had been two weeks since Amanda's return to the Hampton's. The weeks went by relatively fast, despite the days feeling slow with both Daniel and Jack being in school. During those times, if Amanda wasn't going over the details of her emancipation with the Grayson's attorney, she would usually find herself wandering the beach or the town alone, trying to breathe back in all the settings she had forced herself to forget, or discover all the little ways the Hampton's, like her, had changed.

Mostly she just liked to be out of the house when it was her alone though, feeling it was in her best interest to avoid Mr. and Mrs. Grayson. Though consciously, she knew she should feel nothing but gratitude for their help, internally, mistrust and confusion was what flashed through her mind when in their presence. The one good thing about the manor though, was that it was so huge that crossing paths with either of them was not as likely as she imagined, especially with their busy schedules.

It was the evening times for Amanda when she felt most comfortable…. when she was with Jack in their booth at the back of the Stowaway, or sitting at their hideaway spot along the beach.

Daniel had also been a sense of comfort for her. He had shown her his little spot behind Grayson Manor, where a small wooden bench overlooked the beach. It was the perfect substitute for her bench in Connecticut, and so some nights… the two of them would carry on whatever it was they had started all those nights ago in that different town.

Other nights she'd find Charlotte dragging her to his room, and the three of them… or more the two siblings would talk and laugh and joke around. She would just watch painfully amused, feeling both a part of but also apart from their interactions. Amanda wasn't as light-hearted as them, she couldn't laugh as easily, but just watching them made her feel warmer and so those were always good nights.

When it came down to it though, no matter how calm her nights were or whose presence she spent it in, every night as she laid down to sleep, Amanda Clarke could never settle the feeling of discord deep in her stomach.

It was like she could feel him… her father turning in his grave, enraged by her "saving" being done at the hands of those who had condemned him. Even at death, he couldn't seem to let her have it….. a fresh start, or chance to forget. But maybe, just maybe if she buried all her conflictions, the Grayson's just could.

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked along the quiet beachfront to meet Amanda at their special spot; a hideaway place they had discovered as children while straying too far along the beach shore. It was more along the outskirts, hidden behind soft sand dunes where the Hampton's sand seemed to blend into the green grass.

It was late almost past midnight but Jack didn't mind. It was the night before Amanda's court date for emancipation, and although she refused to say it, he could sense she was nervous.

In only two weeks together after eight years apart, the two of them had reconnected beautifully. It being a true testament to the special bond they had crafted as children.

"I'll come back for you, I promise" Amanda had whispered, choked with tears all those years ago. At that time he'd believed her with all his young heart, and he'd waited on the beach every day, hoping that day would be the day she'd run up from behind, tap him on the shoulder and say let's play with a smile so wide he'd forget he'd ever seen her cry.

Amanda had never come back though and at the end of that summer, his father had sat him down and tried his best to break it gently to him that she never would.

Stubbornly at the time Jack had refused to accept that, but the older he grew and the more he began to read and understand about the David Clarke case, the more it dawned on him that his father was probably right.

That's when his wishes began to change, no longer did he immaturely wish that she would return to the Hampton's and that the three of them including Sammy could play happily on the beach again like nothing ever happened. Instead, he began to wish for her well-being….. that she was in a good home….. that she wasn't all alone, and that eventually, she'd learn to get through all the terrible things the David Clarke case had forced upon her.

Having talked to Amanda these past few weeks though, it ripped Jack's heart apart to learn that his wishes for her had never even been heard. It was so frustrating all the horrible things she had endured, and all by herself too. If Jack could have just been there for her…. If he could have helped in some way, but maybe he was being naïve thinking he could have been any more helpful than he was the day social services took her away.

All that pain had left its mark on Amanda too, he could see it everywhere; in her eyes, her voice, her actions, in the way she held herself and the words she spoke. And though Jack could still feel the presence of the bright-eyed Amanda he had once known, hiding underneath, sixteen-year-old Amanda had definitely changed.

Jack couldn't blame her for that though and he promised himself he never would. As long as he could still feel it, the strong bond they had created as children, then he knew that Amanda Clarke was still Amanda Clarke and that he was still Jack Porter, and that inevitably they'd always find a way to truly understand each other.

"Scared?" Jack Porter asked quietly, his blue eyes looking at Amanda carefully under the dark indigo sky. They were sitting side by side in their hideaway spot, a late night conversation flowing between them.

Averting her eyes from his as she ran her fingers through the sand, Amanda slowly shook her head, "They're the Grayson's" she replied coolly. "I should be fine… I just".

"Just what?"

"Just can't help wondering what the catch is….." she muttered slowly, the unknown making her most nervous, "Or what's next".

Amanda wasn't usually a nervous person but she knew more than anyone that nothing came easy for her in life…. and this, such grand help on the Grayson's part seemed a fate way too good to be true.

"You told me they're helping you for Daniel, maybe there is no catch." Jack quietly offered. "I've seen these people, they have more money than they know what to do with, and Daniel's their entitled son. He probably gets everything he wants, and he wants…"

Jack paused, his voice trailing off into silence. He still didn't know what Daniel wanted from his best friend. To go so far for someone he'd only met for a week, was still the part of the story he found hard to wrap his head around. But then again maybe to Daniel, it didn't feel like going so far, when he knew he had the power, money and influence to actually help.

Even still, Amanda must have made an impression on Daniel, because help her he did. More than anything Jack was thankful for that though, because not only was Amanda now safe from her abusive foster father, but she was also back home now, where he could look out for her. Still a part of him deep within couldn't help feeling so helpless and frustrated in his inability to help her himself. Daniel Grayson had done more for Amanda in the span of weeks, than he'd been able to do for her in the span of years, and he'd be lying if he said that didn't sting.

"I'm just glad, that you're back and here to stay" Jack added with a gentle smile, playfully bumping into her shoulder to shake her of her looming thoughts and garner her attention back towards him. When he had it, her dark chestnut coloured eyes, staring into his determined blue ones, Jack finally spoke again.

"And whatever happens, you're not alone anymore Amanda…. And I'm old enough now, to make sure I don't lose you again. I promise you that, okay?"

Nodding her head slowly, feeling both an unfamiliar warmth and a bittersweet pang at his words. As her eyes absorbed the conviction in Jack's sea-blue eyes, a tiny hidden smile escaped Amanda's lips at the soft comfort his promise provided.

It was one promise she didn't fear putting her trust in.

It was the cold draft that hit Amanda first, as she stepped inside the grand city hall building. It's rigid, orderly presence causing Amanda to swallow down the uncomfortable lump in the back of her throat, as she pulled at the hem of her soft cream coloured dress, wanting more than anything to rip it off and put back on dark jeans and a darker sweater… but appearance was all in the Hampton's, and even more so when in court for the morning.

"A few words Miss Clarke"

Nodding her head briefly, Amanda turned towards the Grayson's experienced attorney.

His aging face was serious as he spoke, and his eyes were stern with not a hint of encouragement in them. "You will say exactly as we discussed Amanda, no more, no less, you'll stick to the script. You'll speak yes your Honor, no your Honor, you'll stand up straight, no slouching, no mumbling, and you will look the judge in the eyes as though you have nothing to hide... despite your rather long list of offences." He couldn't help but snidely add, "Do you understand Miss Clarke?"

"Yes your Honor" Amanda muttered sarcastically, knowing she shouldn't mock the one advocating her request for emancipation, but despising more than anything the condescending manner in which he spoke to her.

As his eyes narrowed in contempt at her ungrateful response, his lips curling up disapprovingly, Amanda's couldn't help but flicker in slight satisfaction. "I would work on that attitude Miss Clarke" he responded disdainfully.

"And I would…"

Excuse me Mr. Barkely, while I steal Emily" Daniel smoothly interrupted, pulling Amanda firmly by the arm and away from the attorney, who shook his head abruptly in discontent.

"He's an ass, but he's one of the best at his job… if that helps" Daniel reminded her, as they turned the corner, out of eyesight from him.

"Well, I had a few things to say to him" Amanda scoffed, as she pulled her arm away from Daniel, and slouched against the wall, silently fuming.

Leaning against the wall beside her, giving her a few minutes to herself, soon enough Daniel broke the silence.

"So, how do you feel?" he asked inquiringly his brown eyes looking into hers intently, until she averted her eyes down and shrugged her shoulders, looking noticeably uncomfortable. "I hate this damn place, courts only ever brought me pain", Amanda resentfully muttered. "But I'm fine I guess".

"Are you worried?" Daniel questioned again, with a quick side glance towards her.

"About what? I'm not naïve Daniel" she murmured, "Your fancy attorney's just for show, but regardless of his help no sane judge would grant my emancipation. I'm a ticking time bomb, that's what my last social worker called me. But you're a Grayson, and your parent's are powerful people, that's what you told me didn't you?"

Nodding his head slowly, Daniel wet his lips to speak, knowing what Amanda was getting at but wanting to approach it with a little discretion. Amanda beat him to it though, discretion straight out the window, "So what did it take?", she questioned boldly, a dark curiosity in her eyes as she stared at Daniel, waiting for him to reply. "to persuade the judge".

"I don't know, I didn't ask" Daniel sighed, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Though people could often guess, he still had a hard time admitting his parents could so easily bend the rules or get around obstacles most people couldn't, even if it was in good faith, like this time. "Why does it matter….. just be relieved Amanda".

Narrowing her eyes at him at his use of her given name, it feeling slightly off coming from his lips, Amanda shook her head as she muttered, "I am relieved, Daniel". She was also just curious. Though it had worked in her favour this time, the Grayson's influence on the Hampton's and its residents, still made her uneasy, and in her own sick sense of curiosity, she just wanted to know how much she had been worth to them to influence the judge.

"How come you don't ask" she questioned with narrowed eyes, breaking the brief silence that had transpired, "because you don't want to know, or because you don't care to know as long as it all works out?"

"Neither….. both, I don't know" Daniel replied struggling to find the right words under her gaze. Whether intentional or not he found a streak of judgement in them, and he couldn't deny it made him uneasy, especially because he knew if he had to choose between his parents ugly truth or their convenient lie, he'd probably go with the latter to make it easier for him to swallow. "But they're not…."

"Not, what?"

"My parents aren't bad people, they may flex their power and influence…. bend the rules sometimes, but they don't abuse it. They're not..."

"I know" Amanda interrupted, the words feeling heavy off her lips as though she didn't quite believe them. Still…. who was she to question the ones who were helping her.

"Let's go Emily" Daniel sighed, glad she'd dropped the subject, "my Mum will kill us, if we walk into the courtroom late".

Nodding her head slowly, Amanda walked silently behind him, her mind a buzz as she thought about how different this year was already shaping up to be with the unlikely help of the one suited up teenage boy walking confidently in front of her.

"Why the Amanda?" Amanda Clarke asked from where she sat crossed legged along the docks, watching as Jack quickly got to work on un-anchoring his boat for sail. It was the early evening time in the Hampton's, and an eager Charlotte Grayson had decided to plan a little celebration in honour of Amanda's successful emancipation. It had been Jack's idea though to celebrate on his boat, deciding it was about time, he introduced Amanda to The Amanda.

Shrugging his shoulders, as he worked to untie the boat, Jack avoided her eyes, as he softly replied, "I don't know… I just wanted it to be named after something that means something…. If that makes sense".

Nodding her head slowly, warmed by his words, but unsure how best to display that, Amanda stood up and walked closer towards the boat, as she smiled and said, "The boat means a lot to you, that makes sense… I'm really glad you have it, you could always talk my ear off about boats and sailing. How'd you ever convince your Dad to let you own one?"

"A good friend of his was wanting to sell this boat, and he was really looking for someone he knew would take good care of it. He wanted me to have it and he gave us a really good price. It was still all of my savings… and my dad had to chip in too, so I'm working for free at the Stowaway until I pay him off but…. it's worth it."

"Looks like it" Amanda replied, noticing the way his whole face lit up when he talked about it, "I'll trust you to teach me the ropes then Captain Jack".

"Well step aboard" Jack replied with a bright smile, his hand held out for hers so she could step on more stably. Taking it thankful for his strong grip, as the boat bobbed just on the water at her movement, the two of them looked out towards the docks to see Daniel, Charlotte and Declan nearing the boat.

"You two better not be sailing off without us…. we have the treats." Declan yelled playfully at his brother. The treats being a tray of assorted cupcakes, which no doubt Charlotte had sweetly persuaded the Grayson cook to make for the occasion.

Everyone seemed to have a soft spot for that girl, from Daniel, to Jack, to the maids in the house, to her cold grey-eyed father. Even Amanda herself was quickly beginning to realize that she might too.

It was their sense of ease… her sense of ease with him that Daniel noticed most of all in Emily's interactions with Jack Porter. She was different around him, more comfortable, less guarded. It was the little things he noticed, the way her smile seemed less restrained when in his presence, the soft steady flow of their conversations, and the way she never felt the need to shake off his friendly touch, like his hand on her shoulder.

Things like that, things that were still slowly developing between him and Emily. Jack had years on him though, and no amount of catching up would change that.

"Isn't it beautiful… sailing?" Jack asked Amanda, from where the three of them stood by the steering wheel. "Coming out here is the most peaceful thing for me, I always feel just a little more free…. you know, breathing in all this fresh ocean air."

"It's a release" Amanda whispered back feeling it too, in fact, she felt the most comfortable she had in years, it was hard not to daydream that the five of them could just go sailing on. The ocean she could handle, but society and strangers….. she was so tired of living in a world that didn't want her, fighting in a world that only hurt.

Here though, with Jack and Daniel and Charlotte and Declan, she felt all right. In fact, she felt kind of happy, if happy was even allowed in her life.

"So what's your release?" Daniel questioned, his words just beating the same question about to slip off Jack's tongue.

"You should know" Amanda replied instantly, her eyes staring into his as she added, "it was how we first met".

"Theft?" Daniel questioned playfully, his lips upturned as he watched her crack a smile through the frown she was trying to send him. "Our second encounter then".

"Drawing" Jack responded for Daniel much to his irritation, "You were always so good at it when we were younger too. Remember when you insisted the only way for me to catch up to you was if you became my art teacher."

"and for a whole week before we went out to the beach, I made you sit down at my kitchen table and practice your drawing on that mini whiteboard I had" Amanda said with a laugh.

"You were my meanest art teacher to date" Jack replied with a nostalgic warmth in his eyes. "What's your drawing like now?"

"Probably amazing" Daniel responded, inputting himself back into the conversation, liking that he had information Jack did not, as he added "but Emily doesn't show her drawings to anyone they're secret".

"Well I've seen Amanda's drawings since we were kids" Jack replied back steadily, his eyes cutting from an inwardly annoyed Daniel to Amanda who had purposely shifted her gaze back to the ocean, her lips pursed until she quietly muttered. "I can draw you one picture, I suppose"

"Deal" Jack replied with a wide smile it contrasting with the frown appearing on Daniel's face.

They were sitting with blankets now, the cool evening air having taken over especially with them being on the water. Declan and Charlotte had taken over the steering wheel, but mostly the gentle waves were moving The Amanda along.

Jack and Amanda had once again fallen back into childhood memories, Daniel having given up with trying to change the subject a long time ago. Instead, to remain in the conversation he began to ask questions of his own, liking to hear what Emily had once been like before years of being ostracized in the foster system.

"Do you ever think of him…. your father" Jack eventually asked softly, knowing it was a touchy subject but wanting to understand his best friend just a little better. That question having been on his mind for a while now since they had first reunited. Shaking her head firmly, her whole body tensing at the question, Amanda sighed as she bitterly murmured "I try not to".

Nodding his head slowly in understanding, Jack tentatively continued, "You know I never believed it…. your father was a good man Amanda….."

"My father was a terrorist" Amanda muttered sharply and automatically, her eyes seeming to darken as the words left her mouth. "And I'd rather not talk about him, Jack".

Biting down on his lip hard, as his eyes clouded in confusion, Jack could sense her discomfort as she turned away from him, listening to Daniel who had begun talking to purposely try and change the subject.

It didn't make sense though, Amanda had adored her father and David had seemed like the type of man to move mountains for his daughter. It had always made him jealous as a kid, seeing the way her father's eyes had lit up so brightly when he had stared at her. He knew that his own father loved him very much too, but sometimes he wished that love could have been just as transparent as David Clarke's was for Amanda. There was no way David could have done that to her, and no way the kind, smiling man, who had watched him play with his daughter all those warm summer days could have committed such a heinous act.

"You don't really believe that…. do you?" Jack asked seriously, interrupting Amanda and Daniel's conversation, "you adored your father, and he adored you".

"He betrayed me Jack…. left me alone…. and for terrorism of all things," Amanda replied bitterly, the subject of her father never failing to put her on a short fuse.

"Or so they say…."

"What are you Jack, a conspiracy theorist?" Amanda spat angrily, her fuse having quickly blown out "because I ignore those".

"No, I just…. The courts have been wrong before, the legal system isn't perfect, but when I was younger I honestly thought your dad was, he was such a kind, fun-loving man….. It's just hard to believe….. and I thought you of all people would….".

"Would what?" Amanda replied harshly trying to keep the tremble out of her voice, "you think I wanted to believe that….. you think I didn't deny and deny and deny despite all the facts piling up and all the people involved. It broke me Jack, and so I decided to grow the hell up…. maybe you should too!", she added tensely, evoking only silence from her oldest friend who averted his eyes down not wanting to see any more anger or hurt in her dark brown eyes.

"I'm sorry" Jack murmured tentatively, forcing himself to look into her eyes now, feeling the guilty pit in his stomach at having brought up such a painful topic, "forget I said anything". Amanda nodded her head slowly in reply, but the peaceful atmosphere around them and the ease in which they had been talking before was now broken for the night. They both knew it, but Daniel was the first one to say it, "We should probably be getting back home now, it's getting late".

"I'll take to the steering wheel" Jack muttered standing up quickly, not liking to listen nor agree with Daniel but knowing that it was probably best that they called it a night. Amanda looked like she wanted to be alone, and his own mind was now buzzing with more confusion and sadness. Turning his gaze back to look at her from where he stood near the hull of the boat, Jack noticed her tense composure had failed to return to the ease it had been an hour ago, it causing him to inadvertently clench his fist in frustration, especially as he overhead Daniel asking if she was okay, as though he'd hurt her.

He hadn't.

Or if he had he hadn't meant to, he was just trying to understand.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter... I will try my best to do better with the updating.

I have only one question for you guys though... Team Jack and Amanda or Team Daniel and Emily?