AN: Here it is; the last chapter. Thank you again to everyone who has been reading and/or reviewing. I may decide to continue this story in future, but it will be a long time before I do, so for now, this is the ending… or is that beginning?

Chapter Six

When Torn woke up the next morning it was difficult to think of the night's events as anything more than a dream. It still seemed only half real, but one glance at the new set of scars on his stomach and he knew that yes, certain things had happened last night,and theyhopefully meant that some things would be changing soon.

Changing for Torn though? He could only hope. Somehow, he doubted he would have anything to look forward to apart from seeing Jak smile a little more often, as he walked hand-in-hand with whoever he chose to get a little closer to.

But of course, Torn hadn't heard the five smallest, but most important words that Jak had said last night.

I love you too Torn…

"Where's Jak?" Torn asked no-one in particular as he arrived downstairs to find the bar empty apart from Daxter, Tess and Jinx. In other words, it was quite a busy day for the Naughty Ottsel.

"He went to visit Ashelin," Jinx answered, before taking a long breath from his cigar.

So Ashelin was the lucky one. Well, that made sense, Torn thought as he sat down at an empty table. He supposed he should be happy for the both of them, but knew that would be difficult.

He would try though, for both of them.

"Has anyone seen Ashelin?" Jak asked as he arrived at what was still being referred to as Freedom HQ. Several people shook their heads, but one feminine voice answered.

"She said she was going to go visit Vin," Keira said.

"Vin?" Jak asked. "Why would she…?"

"I don't know," Keira answered. "All I know is that she told me she was going to visit Vin."

Jak was glad to realise that there was no bitterness or fear in Keira's voice.

"Thanks Keira," Jak said, as he turned to leave.

"No problem." There was a smile on Keira's face now, and it was genuine. It was good to know that even if he had no chance with the woman romantically, that there was at least some semblance of a friendship left between them. For some reason, however, Keira's smile didn't make Jak's heart flutter as it once would have.

"You know something?" Sig's deep voice said as soon as Jak had left the room. "I wonder if Torn knows what chilli pepper is up to."

"Why would Torn care?" Keira asked.

A few seconds and a very short explanation later, and the room was full of shocked looks. Everyone seemed too stunned to move, apart from a small, wrinkled old woman who sat in a corner and waved her arms about theatrically.

"Onin says," Pecker began, even though the shock still hadn't disappeared from his face. "That it is good news. It is good that they are finally together… Squawk! I can't believe I am saying this!"

"Well," Keira said, looking down at her feet. "If they're happy together…"

The room was suddenly very silent.

Indeed, it did appear that Ashelin was visiting Vin. She sat on the Power Centre floor, apparently deeply involved in whatever she was talking about with the large holographic head.

They both turned to stare as Jak entered the room.

"Hello Jak," Ashelin said, smiling at him warmly.

Vin just frowned.

"I came here to say…" Jak began, then stopped mid-sentence.

Jak had wanted to say so much to Ashelin. He had wanted to return her kiss, and tell her that he felt the same, but seeing her here, the idea didn't seem nearly as wonderful as it had in his head.

There was something missing here. He stared at Ashelin for a moment, hoping she could provide the answer. She was beautiful; so beautiful that any man in the world should have been happy with her, but his heart didn't skip a beat as it did when he used to look at Keira, or more recently when he looked at… Torn? Was that right? When he looked at Torn?

But that could only mean one thing.

I love you too Torn.

He had forgotten that he had said those words last night. There was so much else he had to remember and think about, but sure enough, he had told Torn he returned the older man's feelings, and he was pretty sure he meant it.

He took another look at Ashelin, who was still staring at him, waiting for him to do something other than stare at her, and smiled.

"I'm sorry Ashelin," Jak finally said. "I care for you. It's just that…"

"It's all right," Ashelin interrupted him. "I know about you and Torn."

"You do?"

"Yeah, and he cares about you a lot so," Ashelin paused, and stared off into the distance for a moment, before sighing, and turning her attention back to Jak. "Just look after one another, all right?"

There was a moment then, when Ashelin and Jak's eyes met. Both knew there was still so much that hadn't been said, and yet they both understood that words were so unnecessary. Perhaps, in another place, another lifetime, they might have had something more than this, but as it stood now, they were friends, and that was enough. They would still stand beside one another when the time came.

"Thanks Ashelin," Jak said, leaving Ashelin and Vin to their earlier conversation.

Yes, Jak thought as he began the long journey back to the other side of the city. Today, everything will be made right.

Jak's arrival at the Naughty Ottsel late that afternoon was announced by a loud swish of the automatic door.

"Jak," Torn greeted him. "How did your visit with Ashelin go?"

Jak didn't miss the innuendo in Torn's voice, and couldn't help but smile at it.

"Great actually." Jak didn't know whether or not he should be happy when a look of absolute disappointment appeared on Torn's face.

"I need to talk to you for a minute," Jak said.

Torn gestured at the empty seat opposite him.

"Alone," Jak said, nodding faintly back at the other occupants of the room.

"Okay."

"'Talk' my ass," Jinx commented once the two had disappeared from sight.

"Wait a minute!" Daxter said, walking off in the direction Jak and Torn had. "Since when has Jak done any important talking without me being there?"

Daxter was swiftly picked up and put back down on the nearest table top next to Tess.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Jinx warned him.

"All right," Torn said once Jak had dragged him into the older man's room. "You wanted to talk; now talk."

Torn wassilenced as Jak pressed his lips against the other man's. For a moment Torn was too stunned to do anything, then his eyes closed and he began to move his lips against the blonde's. There was nothing to interrupt this, no alcohol to blur their senses or erase this perfect moment from their memories, just two pairs of lips, dancing and pressing against one another in a way that made both men feel as though they had just been given a glance of heaven.

Jak felt Torn's hands wrap around his waist and pull him closer. Jak's hands reached up to tangle themselves in Torn's hair, and for a time immeasurable, the world stopped, so that all that existed for the two men was each other, and this beautiful, heavenly feeling.

After an eternity, which somehow still wasn't enough, they parted. Torn panted for a moment, before speaking.

"What about Ashelin?"

"What about her?" Jak asked, before pressing his lips to Torn's once more. Torn tried to protest, but that only lasted for the second that his brain wasn't completely overtaken of all reason by the fact that Jak's body and lips were pressed against his own in a way that was wonderful beyond belief.

"You're not drunk again, are you?" Torn asked when they eventually parted again.

"What?" Jak laughed, raising an eyebrow. "Why would you say that?"

"That's right," Torn sighed. "You don't remember what happened while you were drunk, do you?"

"No," Jak said, his eyebrows furrowing with concern. "Did you conveniently 'forget' to tell me something?"

"Perhaps," Torn said, smirking a little as he leaned forwards to whisper in Jak's ear. "I told you we danced, didn't I?"

"Yes," Jak answered quietly.

"Well," Torn continued, pausing to nip playfully at Jak's ear. "We danced like this."

He caught Jak's hands in his own, and placed them where they had been during the dance, before wrapping his own arms back around Jak's waist.

Jak frowned at Torn, obviously not believing what Torn was saying.

"Don't look at me like that," Torn protested. "You were the one that pulled me out there and made me dance like this." He sighed, and placed a gently kiss on Jak's forehead. "You don't know how difficult it was for me to hold you like this and not do anything."

Jak just smiled then, and let his head rest against Torn's shoulder, unknowingly mimicking his movements from the last time they had danced.

"You did that last time too," Torn commented.

They began to move then, as they had that night, slowly swaying and shuffling to the sound of music that no-one else would be able to hear.

Torn began whispering the words to a song that registered somewhere in the back of Jak's memory.

"With all of this I feel now, with everything inside of my heart…"

Jak lifted his head off Torn's shoulder once more, and stared into the older man's eyes.

"It all just seems to be how…"

Torn's song was silenced as Jak interrupted him, once again, by kissing him passionately.

Another break came, and this time, the words that came from Torn's mouth were as beautiful as they could be to Jak.

"I love you Jak."

"I love you too," Jak answered. "I'm an idiot for not realising it sooner."

"No you're not."

This time it was Torn who started the kiss, and it was a long, long time before their lips parted.

Ten minutes later Daxter and Tess stared wide-eyed at the closed door in front of them. The only sounds that were coming from behind Torn's door were a soft, deep moaning and a very quiet squeaking, which sounded as though it might have come from an old bed-spring or two.

"'Need to talk'. Right," Daxter muttered. "I knew something was up."

"Well, Jinx did warn us," Tess commented.

"Jak… more…" Torn moaned, attempting to wrap his body even tighter around the blonde's.

Jak tried his hardest to give Torn what he was asking for, even though he wasn't sure whether it was possible. There was no space between their bodies anymore. Neither could remember where their body ended and their lover's began.

Torn dared to open his eyes for a moment, but the sight of Jak's pleasure-stricken face above him was so beautiful and the pleasure so great that he had to close them again or risk going insane.

As one eternity stretched into two, and then all collapsed back into a couple of seconds, they shared a pleasure that made the earth move, and stars dance behind their eyes.

Jak collapsed on Torn's chest, panting. Torn's eyes were still closed, and his breathing was as ragged and uneven as Jak's. Very slowly their eyes opened and met one another's, causing them both to smile enthusiastically.

Neither of them needed to say anything. All that needed to be said already had been, either through words or with the loving look they gave one another.

Torn moved then, gently rolling from under Jak so that they lay facing one another. He wrapped his arms around Jak and pulled him closer, pacing one gentle kiss on Jak's forehead.

Jak sighed in contentment and nuzzled into Torn's neck.

There would be no nightmares this night.