Disclaimer: I don't own the show.

Chapter 3: Dreams Turned to Nightmares.

Jude twisted in her sleep. She could see it so clearly in her mind. The two of them; hanging out and watching movies together. Their faces moving slowly towards each other before they were in a total lip lock. Then the two of them breaking apart when the phone rang. She could here Jamie say, "Jude! No, I'm okay, just out of breath." She should've known.

She bolted from her sleep as she sat up. "I should've known. He was always gone or out of breath or busy. I was so stupid." She pulled her knees up to her chest and let her head rest on them. Tears fell uncontrollably from her eyes.

Tommy was also in a dream world. He could see how he and Jude met, when they worked on 24 hours together, and when they took that working vacation to her family's farm. He saw Jude and Shay together, Kat and Jamie together, and then that all being screwed up. He saw how he caught Kat and Jamie together while Jude was on tour and the way Sadie ditched him in Italy. He saw their whole time together up to the point where she showed up on his doorstep while her whole album played in the background.

He woke up from his dream with a jolt. "She'll be fine. She'll get better..." He looked over and checked his clock. "7 A.M. Might as well get up." She stood with a yawn. He walked through the front room to the kitchen without looking over at Jude. He poured himself a cup of coffee and then went into the other room to see if Jude wanted any. "Hey, Jude," he called before looking at her. "You want some cof-" He stopped speaking when he looked up.

She was gone. No note or anything. There was no one in the bathroom or any other room for that matter. She was just gone.

Tommy was seeing red. He didn't know what to feel. He wanted to feel mad because she ran away but he was concerned for her. All he knew was that he had to find her.

Jude wandered the streets aimlessly with Tommy's guitar strapped to her back. She had lived here forever yet she didn't know her way around downtown. Well, who cared? She didn't need help. She didn't need Jamie, she didn't need Kat, her mom, her dad, Sadie, or Tommy. She could do fine on her own.

She would stop on street corners to play and possibly earn some extra cash. She played 24 hours, skin, and her part of waste my time. She had only earned about ten bucks when a few guys who looked like they could roll with Shay showed up.

"What's up, girl?" One guy asked.

"Not much," she replied looking away from them.

"Looks like you made a few bucks," another chimed.

"I made a couple, what of it?" She snapped.

"Maybe you could share the wealth a little," a third one added.

"Do I look stupid to you guys?" She turned to look at them. "Get lost."

The first guy snapped his fingers and the next thing Jude knew, she was being dragged off by the other two guys. They threw her against the wall of an alley, making her drop Tommy's guitar, breaking the neck off. They took a few swings at her before they took her all her cash.

"Next time don't make a quick buck on our turf, Sweetie!" One of them yelled as they ran off.

Jude coughed out of pain and crawled out of the alley. She pulled herself out to the curb and coughed out some blood. "God, I hate my life sometimes," she moaned. She did her best to stand but ended up slumpping down in front of another wall.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there. It could've been minutes, maybe hours. She had no idea.

Soon, a knight in not-so-shining armor showed up.

"Jude?" Jamie asked as he parked his car.

Jude opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Jamie? Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I was just going to a music store down here and I saw you. Your mom said that you didn't come home last night. Have you been here all night?"

"Don-don't be st-stupid. I crashed at a fri-friend's."

"Well, we should get you out of here." He leaned down and grabbed her arm. He pulled her up and she swatted at him.

"I don't need your help!" She screamed at him, slapping him. She pulled her arm away from him and fell back to the ground. "Just get out of her, Jamie. I don't want to see you anymore."

He knelt down next to her and brushed her hair out of her face. "C'mon, I know you don't mean that. We've been friends forever and we shouldn't break that up just because of something like this."

"It seems like a good reason to break up a friendship. You know, if I could move easily, I'd be gone by now."

"Wh- Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about it Jamie. I'll be fine."

"No, you don't seem like you'll be fine. We should get you home." He grabbed her arm once again.

"Jamie! Just get lost!" She cried as he continued to pull on her arm.

"No-" He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Get lost, Stretch," Tommy said in a harsh voice.

Jamie got up and turned to face Tommy. "I was friends with Jude first, so you get lost."

Tommy grabbed the collar of Jamie's shirt and lifted him off the ground. "I don't want you near her again." He dropped him and Jamie scurried over to his car.

Jamie looked over at Jude. "You know where I am if you ever need to talk." He got in his car and drove off.

Tommy sat down next to Jude. "Are you alright?"

"No..."

"Why'd you run off?"

"I guess I felt that I needed to get out. Get away from anything that reminded me of these last several months."

"Jude, running away won't fix your problems, trust me I know. You just need to do something that'll make you feel better, write a new song or something."

"I know, Tom, things are just too difficult."

"But that doesn't mean you throw away everything that you've worked for."

"I guess you're right."

"I know I am." He stood up. "Let's get out of here."

Jude used the wall to steady herself as she got up and she groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?"

"Um, a couple of, ow, guys came along and beat me down and took the cash I earned by playing- No! Your guitar!"

"What about it?"

"I stole it, I'm really sorry and when those guys attacked me, the neck snapped off. I'm so sorry. I'll- I'll buy you a new one, whatever I can to make it up to yo-"

"Hey! Chill, Girl. I can always get another guitar but you could've been seriously hurt and I couldn't stand it if you were."

"But I'm not terribly hurt!" She leaned against the wall in oreder to stay up. "You should be pissed."

"I'm not, all that matters is you're okay. Let's get you home." He wrapped his arm around her so she could stand without the wall.

"I don't want to go home."

"Why not? It's not like Jamie's going to be there."

"I have a broken family already and Jamie lives right next to me, I'll still see him. I don't want to be there."

He sighed. "We'll go to your house and talk to your mom. We'll see if she'll let you stay with me at least for a while."

"We can do that?"

"Yeah, we can."

"I'm up for that then."

He helped her into his car and he climbed in the other side.

"Nobody ever cared as much for me. Nobody's touched my heart and healed my pain. You picked up the pieces and put me back together again," Jude sang softly, just loud enough for Tommy to hear.

AN: Kind of over-dramatic, I know. But I'm having fun writing this. Please R and R!