Hi--you guys are truly amazing for the reviews! Thank you so much! As a quick warning about this next post, I was apparently still recovering from my bad day when I wrote this, which I think you'll see. Please remember, I'm a true Jommy fan all the way! So please stick with me...I won't let you down! Also, I pulled a small line from "My Best Friend's Wedding," which I was watching while writing this. Anyway, hope you enjoy...regardless of what happens...:-)

Jude slowly walked into the studio with her hands in her pockets, heading for the couch. She collapsed onto it, sighing deeply and rubbing her fingertips from the pain that was emitting.

Tommy took a deep breath and spun around in his chair to look at her, sitting on the couch with her eyes closed, rubbing her injured fingers. He felt a huge wave of guilt looking at her, knowing that he was the one who inflicted not just the wound on her fingers. He rolled his chair over silently in front of her and gently lifted one of her hands into his, causing her eyes to fly open and her body to tense. He looked at her fingers and started lightly massaging them, wanting to take her pain away.

She looked confusedly at him, not sure what was going on.

"Thanks," she said quietly, hesitantly.

He nodded and continued rubbing the ends of her reddened fingers. They sat in silence, Jude still looking perplexed by his actions. He sighed deeply and softly said,

"I'm like the biggest jerk ever."

She didn't budge or dare to disagree, so he continued. "Okay, bigger than the biggest jerk ever. I'm like the lowest guy to ever walk the face of the earth."

He looked to her for some sort of recognition of his statement.

She eyed him in irritation and said, "Lower."

"Okay, lower than the lowest guy to ever walk the face of the earth."

"Like scum," she added.

"Like scum," he repeated. "Scum who doesn't deserve to be talking to you, let alone ask for your forgiveness."

She shifted on the couch, not saying a word, still hurt by his behavior. He gently grabbed her other hand, holding them both in his own. "Jude, the way I treated you, how horrible I was to you, I can't believe I did that. It wasn't me, you know that."

"No, I don't," she countered, pulling her hands out from his grip. "I don't know you at all. One day, you're the sweetest guy in the world, and the next, the biggest ass."

"I know," he admitted. "I don't know what I was thinking, or wasn't thinking. I'm totally ashamed of the way I acted."

"You should be," she said decisively. "Tommy, you made me feel terrible. Like I had done something so wrong, so horrible to you. But what did I do?"

"Nothing. You didn't do anything," he said with a sigh. "No explanation is going to make my actions seem better, but I swear that this had nothing to do with you. I took out my own frustrations on you and I shouldn't have. I'm so sorry, Jude."

"Do you want to be with me?" she asked honestly, looking into his eyes.

"Of course," he answered, without any drop of hesitation in his voice.

"Then why do you push me away when things get tough?" she asked.

"Because…because…I don't know why…" he attempted to explain.

"Tommy, what happened to our whole team idea?" she said, throwing his words back at him.

"We are a team…but I just, I wish this were easier," he said, leaning back against his chair.

"And I don't?" she questioned.

He looked into her eyes, filled with hurt and disappointment, and felt embarrassed that this 17 year-old could handle stress better than he could.

"I'm not ready to give up here, but I think…maybe…" he started.

"You want to quit already?" she asked sternly.

"No, I don't. But it's your career that's on the line, Jude. I won't put it at risk anymore, even if that means taking a break for a little while."

"Taking a break?" she questioned.

"Yeah. We need to be the ones controlling this situation, not vice versa. If we can't do that, then I think maybe it's better if we take a step back."

"For how long? Another two months?"

"Maybe…or just until it's closer…" he said ambiguously.

She thought for a moment and then abruptly stood up. "Fine, if that's what you want."

"It's not what I want, but I think it's what we need to do," he contested, standing up too.

"You mean, what you need to do," she spat, grabbing her coat from the corner. "Face it, Tommy, you're not ready for this. You never were. If you really wanted to be with me, you wouldn't care about any of this. You wouldn't let those papers or Kwest or anybody get between us. But instead, you'd rather treat me like crap and then run away."

"No, that's not it. That's not what I want, I swear—I want to be with you, but I can't keep putting your career on the line. Just give it two months and then everything will be better."

"Better? Oh, please. Taking a break for two months is going to turn into putting us on hold which will turn into just being friends again. So you know what? I'm just going to skip the steps and make it easier for you like you wanted. Don't worry about changing anything in two months. This little break of yours can be permanent for all I care."

"No, Jude, I don't want it to be permanent," he pleaded with her. "Please don't be mad. I'm not running away, I just don't want to mess things up over the next couple of months."

"Fine, whatever you say, Tommy," she said angrily, putting her coat on and picking up her bag. "I guess I'm no longer the one who decides anything for myself anymore."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Leaving. I suddenly don't feel so well. Tell Kwest I'm sorry I made you both wait around for me, but I had to leave," she explained crossly, before opening the door and stomping down the hall towards the exit.

"Jude, wait!" he called out as she was leaving, watching her open the front door and take off. He slammed the door to the studio, running his fingers in his hair. He knew that what he had done was ultimately the right thing to do, although he didn't intend on it being permanent. As hard as he tried, he knew that his own self-control was lost when it came to her and if he didn't change the situation fast, he was going to not only lose his relationship with her but also lose her altogether.

Jude walked out of the studio in a huff and dug her cell phone out of her pocket. Hearing her sister's voice on the other end of the line, she begged her to pick her up, wanting to avoid getting lectured by Jamie. Minutes later, the green Beetle rolled into the parking lot and Jude hurriedly got into the car. She didn't talk much or explain to her sister why Tommy couldn't drive her home, but Sadie assumed from the look on her face and exasperation in her voice that they had had some sort of argument.

At home, she sat in her room all night trying to complete her homework. She couldn't sleep or eat, she felt sickened as she replayed their conversation over and over in her head. Take a step back, going on a break, it was like all of those terms were engrained in her mind as she tossed and turned in an effort to get to sleep. She wanted to yell at him—scream that he was a hypocrite and immature and insensitive—but in the back of her mind, though she wouldn't admit it, she knew that he was doing what he thought was best. And maybe it was best. But she couldn't get the thought out of her head that he would always run whenever things got tough.

They had made it through the last three months and now, as they were moving into the final stretch, he wanted to throw in the towel. Part of her was so angry with him for wanting to be apart, but mostly, she just felt hurt that he didn't believe in them the way that she thought he did. She knew his decision was meant to be temporary, but did she really want to be with someone who wasn't going to stick around whenever they reached a bump in the road? She stayed up all night questioning the last three months she had spent with him and whether or not she had made the right decision.