a/n: You know, I never would have thought just two reviews would have made a difference, but you guys really made me smile : I hope more of you read it and like it.

That night's turmoil left Jude grouchy the next morning. She realized she had woken up late and only had a few minutes to get ready. Quickly Jude grabbed a pair of jeans and band tee and traded them for her sweats. Grabbing a pop tart and her keys, Jude ran out the door and jumped into her hand-me-down car that Sadie had given to her before she left to college.

Jude walked briskly into the studio after her ten-minute drive there. Studio A was calling her name, and she had some fresh new lyrics to run by Kwest, who had been working as he producer since Tommy left. She actually liked working with Kwest, he understood her the best next to Tommy and she almost understood him too.

"Hey, Kwest I-" Jude stopped when she realized that Kwest was hunched over the soundboard with his headphones on and the mix blaring.

She walked over to him and took off the headphones, which immediately caused him to jump back and knock Jude over.

"Woah, hey Jude." Kwest offered her a hand and pulled her up quickly.

Jude scoffed slightly and sat in the chair next to his, presenting him with the newly written lyrics. "What do you think, the next track for the album, or no?"

Kwest took the paper and read it over a few times before handing it back to her. "Lets work with it. Not the best you've done," he smirked playfully, "but I guess it'll do."

Jude laughed and set the paper down, grabbing her guitar and heading behind the glass. "Ok, lets try something liiike…" She began to strum a soft, then harsh melody. Kwest raised his eyebrows to this, wondering where she was going with the song.

"Ok, well that was rough." Kwest turned on the sound room receiver to talk to Jude. "Want to try the lyrics first. You can listen to them and try recording the background to it."

Jude nodded set down her guitar.

Kwest gave her a thumbs up and she began to sing just like she imagined the song should go.

"I will not bend

And I will not break

It's amazing all the hope you take

I won't crash now

I won't give in to you

You seem to expect that I'm still tender

But not this time,

I won't surrender

These battles are pointless

These words are cruel

And there's only one thing I can do

All this hunger

You gave it to me

And all the lies that I believed

They add up now

But you can't expect this ender to be

My sweet surrender

I'd like to pretend that I didn't care

I wish you didn't see the deceit in my stare

"This time its different."

I've heard it before

This is my closure

I'm shutting the door

All this hunger

You gave it to me

And all the lies that I believed

They add up now

But you can't expect this ender to be

My sweet surrender

I will not bend

And I will not break

Again."

Kwest nodded after the recording and talked into the receiver to Jude. "The lyrics hit it, lets work on the chords again. I'm assuming this one's acoustic?"

Jude nodded and picked up her guitar again. It took hours for her to get everything semi-right. Kwest tried to convince her into making SME do the backtrack, but she felt raw about this song, and acoustic felt right.

Slowly Jude clamored back in front of the recording area and sat next to Kwest once more.

"What's it called?" Kwest asked very suddenly.

"What?" Jude lost track of thought for a minute. "Oh, right. The song. It's called Sweet Surrender."

He nodded and reached for his headphones so he could listen to the track and figure out what needed work, but Jude stopped him with a question.

"Do you like working with me?" Jude's question was blunt, and she turned to face him, hoping for a blunt answer.

Kwest turned and his chair and sighed, giving up on the idea of working on Sweet Surrender for right now. When Jude wanted to talk, she wouldn't give up.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" He replied nonchalantly.

She bit her lip. "Well, I suppose you know that Tommy is coming back." Kwest merely nodded. "And he wanted to work with me again. So he would be my producer… instead of you."

He shrugged, turning back to the soundboard. Honestly he was a little aggravated. Tommy comes back after leaving Jude for almost two years, and now she's running back to him, while this entire time he'd been there for her.

Jude continued to talk. "So have you been talking to him lately?"

He massaged his temple briefly. Kwest would never admit it, but he was jealous of all the attention Tommy got. "Yeah, I have. He's really excited to come back and see you. Trust me, I've heard it over and over again."

Jude rested her head on her hand and looked down. "Can I talk to you about all this without you running to Tommy and telling him everything I said?"

Kwest smiled slightly, but quickly shooed it away. "Sure." He knew if this brought up something major he wouldn't be able to keep it to himself, but he was a gossip fiend, he couldn't help it.

Jude sighed and sat up. "I don't know if I want Tommy to come back." She saw the surprised look on Kwest's face and shook her head. "I mean, what if he's all different, what if everything is different."

Kwest couldn't help but laugh a little. "Things are going to be different, you know that. You're an adult now, just think about that."

Jude shook her head. "But that's just it, you know he's just coming back now because he can't get into trouble if… if…" She merely shook her head and Kwest laughed.

"You don't have to pretend like I don't know."

She shrugged. "Its like, he always wants me then he doesn't. But now that I'm 18, do you think he'll just go for it?" Jude bit her lip.

"Of course he will, he's Tommy."

"But why should I let him! He just does things when it's best for him and doesn't even consider me!" Jude burst out for the first time in a long time. "I mean, he left me Kwest. He didn't leave my sister, or you, or the studio, or anyone else. But he left me when he knew I needed him and now that I'm doing good with you and my album and I'm finally starting to get back up on my feet, he decides 'Hey, more money and Jude's 18, so now when I hit on her it won't be illegal!'" Jude snorted with disgust.

Kwest pressed his lips together, fighting a laugh. "Well, Jude, I know that you want Tommy too. So you're just going to have to control yourself, eh?" And before Jude could protest, Kwest picked up his headphones and began to work with the freshly recorded song.