Hi, I'm back. I apologize for going off my schedule for this story--I had aimed to have it completed by the time Season 2 started but it looks like it'll be a little after that. What did you all think of the premiere? I definitely thought it was different than Season 1, it had a totally different feel. I liked it, I think I just have to get used to it, ya know?

Anyway, back to our story. I now officially have 1 chapter after this and then an epilogue, so we are sadly approaching the end. I'm thinking more seriously now about doing a sequel, I have a few ideas, but it would definitely be different than this story and many others where Tommy and Jude are together. No promises, but I think it might be a strong possibility. This chapter is semi-uneventful but has some cuteness in it, so enjoy :-)

Putting on an extra pair of socks, Jude headed downstairs to help shoveling. Standing by the door were Jamie, Kat, Kwest, and Tommy, all getting their coats on. She grabbed her boots and put on her coat and hat. Ready to go, they all exited silently. She could barely see between her hat and scarf and once they got outside, all she saw was snow. But she followed Jamie towards the driveway and saw Steven standing there with shovels.

"Here you go," he said, offering a shovel to each of them and retreating to work on the back walkway.

They shoveled the driveway all morning, barely speaking, determined to get rid of all of the snow. Jude stopped for a few moments, looked around and stretched. She went to the side of the driveway and leaned against a huge snowbank.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Tommy asked, seeing her stop.

"Resting for a minute, Mr. Slave Driver," she responded with a glare.

"There's no resting here, missy," Jamie yelled, hurling a shovel full of snow towards her.

"Jamie!" she yelled, jumping out of the way and missing all of the snow. Kat laughed at her, which Jamie noticed.

"You think that's funny? Then you're getting it too," he said, picking up another pile of snow on his shovel and tossing it at Kat. She unfortunately wasn't as quick and the snow landed flat on her head.

"Okay, Andrews, you're dead," Kat said, shaking off the snow. She bent down and picked up a handful of snow and threw it. But Jamie ducked out of the way, so her snowball landed right on Kwest.

"Ok, you're both going down," Kwest said, dropping his shovel and picking up more snow to throw at them.

Jude stood watching and giggling as the three of them threw snow at each other. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Tommy leaning over and creating his own snowball, looking right at her.

"Oh, no you don't," she said, moving away from him. She took off as he came closer, only she couldn't get very far because of the unshoveled snow. She got towards the end of the driveway, when she felt the cold, wet snowball hit her cheek. She turned around to see him laughing. She smiled at him and leaned down to pick up snow of her own.

"What's so funny?" she asked approaching him, snowball in hand.

"You couldn't get me even if you tried," he said smugly, walking backwards.

"Wanna bet?"

He turned around and bolted. She went after him, seeing Kwest nail Kat with another snowball. He slowed down, approaching the side of the driveway. She crept up behind him and instead of throwing the snow, gave him a quick shove, driving him head-first into a giant snowbank next to them. She exploded with laughter as he wiped the snow off his face and turned towards her.

He held out his hand and said, "Help me up?"

She regained composure and went to help him when he tugged on her arm and pulled her down with him.

"That was way too easy," he laughed, watching her push the snow out of her eyes.

"Truce?" she asked, watching him pick the snowflakes from his hair.

"Truce," he agreed, shaking her hand.

They both lay there unable to get up, watching Kwest, Jamie, and Kat run around. He looked at her smiling next to him and grabbed her hand, giving it a quick squeeze. As she turned to look at him, he brushed some snow out of her hair. She grinned at him, but then looked around to make sure no one was watching them. He took her cue and pushed himself up off the snowbank, then helped her up.

They brushed the snow off and returned to shoveling, as Jamie, Kat, and Kwest also calmed down to continue their work.

An hour later, they had finished clearing the driveway and stood inside, removing the wet layers. Jude's mom brought them all into the kitchen to join Sadie, Ryan, Drew, and Kristen, and handed them mugs of hot chocolate.

"I just spoke to Yvette," Jude's mom said to Jude as she sat at the table. Everyone stopped to listen as Jude turned to face her mom. "She said he's doing much better today and we can go see him this afternoon."

"That's good," Jude said, relieved.

"And we can take Steven's Jeep," her mom continued.

Jude looked around. "What about everybody else? How are they going to get back?"

"Well, we can drop some of you off on our way," her mom offered to the group. "And the rest of you will have to walk back to your cars. Ryan and Kwest's cars should be in the same area, so Steven can go with you and make sure you get off okay."

They all nodded at this procedure. "We can head out after lunch," she added, taking the empty mugs over to the sink.

Jude sighed and silently stood up, walking into the living room. She started to roll up her sleeping bag as she heard someone behind her.

"Hey, you okay?" Tommy asked, approaching her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said, folding her blanket.

"You sure? You don't look fine," he responded, as she stopped folding to look at him.

"It's just my dad. I'm worried about seeing him."

"Why?"

"Well, we didn't exactly hit it off the last time we saw each other," she said, remembering the painful dinner with her dad and Yvette where they all were silent the whole meal. "I'm just not sure how to act around him anymore."

"Just be yourself," Tommy suggested. "It'll come naturally once you see him."

"I don't know…over the last year, looking at him has only made me angry," she replied, crossing her arms in frustration.

"Well, you're starting fresh with him. Think of it like a new chapter in your life. Whatever happened between you two is in the past."

She thought about his advice for a moment. "But what do I say to him?"

"Anything. Jude, he's just going to be happy to see you, he's not going to care what you say," he told her, reaching out and holding her crossed arms.

"You think?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I do," he said warmly, as she uncrossed her arms and he held her hands.

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks. I guess I needed to hear that."

"No problem. If you want, I can come with you. If it'll make it easier."

She smiled at his offer, touched by the thought. "Thanks, but I think I should do this by myself. That's really sweet though."

"What can I say? I'm just a sweet kind of guy," he said with a smirk.

"I guess you are," she agreed, pulling him in for a hug. "But I won't repeat that. I wouldn't want to destroy your tough guy image or anything," she added with a grin, letting go from the hug.

"Very funny," he said, gently pushing her and watching her giggle. He sighed and casually wrapped his arm around her shoulder, as they headed towards the kitchen for lunch.