A/N - "Thoughts"

Chapter 14 - Happens So Suddenly

After a week of being grounded for the poolside activities, Amanda and Jason finally got their chance at a first date. That was a little over a month ago. But with most good things, real life has an annoying habit of interfering.

It was a little after four o'clock, early Saturday morning, and Jason was sound asleep when he felt himself being shaken. Groaning softly, he tried to turn away from whatever was shaking him. Than he heard his mom's voice, "Jason. Come on honey, wake up."

Rolling on his back, he cracked his eyes open a little. "What?" he mumbled as he tried to keep himself from drifting back to sleep. He was tired and a little annoyed his mother was waking him up.

"There's been an accident."

Jason immediately woke up; bolting up right, he tried to ignore the pounding in his head as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Dad?" he asked as he tried to get his body to wake up.

"No," Miranda told him as she stepped back to let Jason get out of the bed. "Mr. Braden."

"Bec," his best friend was the first thing to enter his mind. "What happened?"

"He'd been working some long hours and was going in early this morning when he fell asleep at the wheel. He hit the guardrail and flipped the car." Miranda paused as she tried to keep her composure. "He died instantly."

Jason's head snapped up and he looked at his mother, "Died?"

"I need you to stay here with the girls. Your father and I are going,"

"No," he snapped at her. "I'm going too."

Miranda looked at him for a moment, than reluctantly nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry." Just like she wanted to be there for her friend, she knew Jason would want to, at the very least, check on Rebecca. "We're leaving in five minutes."

As Miranda left to tell Maria that she was watching Natalie, Jason quickly changed out of the tank top and shorts he wore to bed and quickly threw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. With a thousand thoughts rushing through him, came a thousand different emotions. The biggest thing was, he was scared of what he was actually going to say to her. "What do you say to someone who just lost their Dad?"

Five minutes later, as Jason was completely lost in thought and staring out the back window, Gordo pulled the car into Braden's driveway. Meeting them in the doorway, Lizzie practically collapsed, sobbing, into Gordo's arms. As he hugged her tightly, Miranda gently stroked her back and tried to not start crying too.

Jason quietly and quickly made his way past them and upstairs to Rebecca's room. Pausing in front of the half open door, he tried to ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach. Gently pushing the door fully open, he walked into the dark room. He found Rebecca just lying on her side, facing away from the door.

"He…Hey," Jason stuttered as he walked in a few steps. "Smooth Gordon. Real smooth." Running a hand through his hair, "How are you?" Jason groaned softly to himself as soon as the question left his lips, "This is going great," he said to himself sarcastically. Jason sighed as he struggled to find what to say and not come off as an idiot.

Meanwhile, Rebecca continued to lay on her bed, dead to the world and not even acknowledging Jason's presence. When her mom had woken her and told her what happened, through her tears, it was like Rebecca had just shut down inside. When her mom left, to call Miranda, she laid back down on her bed and just stared at the wall. She felt numb inside and wasn't sure what to do.

Jason scratched the back of his head as he helplessly looked at her. He was getting nowhere and was starting to feel like an idiot. He felt like he kept saying the wrong thing, which was why Rebecca was continuing to ignore him. Walking over to her, he gently put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed, "When you're ready, I'll be here," he told her softly.

Just as he released his grip, Rebecca's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Jason barely kept himself from jumping four feet in the air. "Bec?" he asked as he froze in place. He watched as Rebecca slowly started to come back to life; hearing her whimper, he felt his heart crack.

Jason opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He watched helplessly as what started as a few tears, quickly turned into racking sobs.

Sitting down on the bed, he didn't know what to do and to say he scared out of his mind, was putting it mildly. As Rebecca tighten her vice grip on his wrist, he knew he wasn't going anywhere. Sitting there, he begged whatever power to be, for him to find a way to make her stop crying.

Surprising and scarring the hell out of him, Rebecca rolled over and curled up against Jason's chest. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her and just held her; he didn't know what else to do. Leaning back against the wall, he wondered, "What the hell do I do now?"

Meanwhile downstairs, Miranda sat on the couch and watched Lizzie practically buzzing around the room, organizing and cleaning up. Since they arrived, Lizzie hadn't stopped moving, which didn't surprise Miranda. "Surprised she isn't in the kitchen baking."

Miranda elbowed Gordo in the ribs and when he looked at her annoyed, "Say something?" she hissed at him.

"Like what?" he snapped back.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Miranda got up and followed her into the kitchen. "You know no one really cares if the house is spotless."

"I do," Lizzie said as she started putting away dishes. As one slipped out of Lizzie's hand, like in slow motion, the two women watched it fall and crash. As Lizzie bent down to pick up the pieces, she started hyperventilating. "Damn it. These were wedding gifts from Todd's mom," Lizzie whined softly, fighting back the tears.

Miranda looked down at her sadly as she watched Lizzie hanging on by a thread. Watching Lizzie carelessly grab a piece and nick her hand, she bent down and gently touch Lizzie's shoulder, stopping her, and picked up the pieces herself and threw them out in a nearby garbage can.

"Liz," Miranda said softly and as they slowly stood up, it was like the dam walls busted and Lizzie just started crying again. Miranda wrapped her in a tight hug as Lizzie continued crying into her shoulder. As Miranda felt tears start to well up in her eyes, she looked up and saw Gordo standing in the kitchen doorway. Locking eyes, Miranda shuddered at the thought of loosing Gordo and held Lizzie tighter and gently rubbed her back while never moving her eyes from Gordo's.

Early the next morning, as soon as she had found out, Amanda immediately headed over to the Braden's. Walking upstairs, she tried to steel herself for what to expect. But nothing could prepare her for what she found as she stood in Rebecca's doorway.

She found her best friend sound asleep and curled up with her boyfriend. Trying to suppress any jealous feelings, Amanda walked into the room. "They're just friends. He was prolly just comforting her. Don't jump to any conclusions. You know Jase would never hurt you, especially like this," the rational side of her brain tried to reason with her.

Reaching the bedside, she reached out and gently stroked Jason curly hair. With a painful groan, Jason lifted his head up and felt his neck crack. Slowly opening his eyes and blinking a few times, he looked up at Amanda and smiled. "Hey," he said softly. Gently moving Rebecca off him and laying her down on the bed, he stood up and felt his stiff body protest him standing up.

"Stay with her, I'll be right back," Jason said to her.

Amanda arched her eyebrows at him. "Where are you going?"

Grinning sheepishly at her, "Bathroom," he said as he walked out of the room.

Rolling her eyes, Amanda sat down on the bed and looked down at the sleeping Amanda. "Told you there was nothing to worry about. You saw his parents downstairs, he naturally came with them to be there for Bec." Suddenly, a screaming and panicking Rebecca interrupted her thoughts.

Rebecca's eyes flew open, "Jason?" she called out. When she got no answer, she bolted up right, "Jason?" she screamed frantically.

Amanda quickly gabbed a flailing Rebecca and shook her a little, "Rebecca!"

"Amanda?" she mumbled and then grabbing her head, she tried to make sense of everything. Nothing made sense at the moment, she felt disoriented even in her own room.

As she did, Jason came crashing into the room, running at full speed. "What happened?" he asked out of breath.

"I think she had a nightmare," Amanda said as she hugged and tried to calm Rebecca.

Jason quickly made his way to the other side of the bed, "Bec." he said softly. Rebecca's head snapped up and she looked over at him. Kind of falling off the bed, she landed on one knee and wrapped her arms around Jason, hugging him.

"What the hell?" Amanda tried to keep her mouth shut. "Stop being so possessive. Rebecca's scared, she just lost her father. Jason is her best friend. I guess its only natural she'd turn to him." As she watched Jason hugging her and trying to comfort him, Amanda still couldn't help but feel a little jealous, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

After Gordo had driven Amanda and Jason back home, Miranda was going to stay with Lizzie and Rebecca for a little while, Amanda was walking down the driveway when Jason stopped her.

"Mandy?" Jason called and Amanda turned to face him. Walking to her, "Are you alright?" he said as he loosely wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I guess," she answered, "considering my best friend just lost her father."

"That it?"

"Yea Jase, I'm fine. Really," Amanda forced a small grin on her face. "I'm gonna go home and relax for awhile. I'll call you later," she said as she untangled herself from his arms.

"Are you sure?" he asked cautiously, getting a weird vibe that something was wrong. When Amanda nodded yes, Jason sighed and knew not to push just how fine she was. Leaning in and kissing her goodbye, he could kind of sense that Amanda was holding back something. As he watched her walk away down the street, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up.

"If everything is alright, than why do I feel like I just walked into a mine field?"