Tommy raised an eyebrow at this. He got up and took the phone from Jude as he walked into the hallway. Jude listened but all she could pick up was 'uh-huh.' 'okay' 'right' 'mhm' and then finally a good-bye.

"What was that about?" Jude questioned. What could Tommy and Sadie possibly have to talk about?

"About you." He murmured, rubbing his chin lightly. "She thinks you shouldn't be alone tonight. She wants me to stay with you."

Jude laughed at that. "Oh, that's ridiculous, right Tommy?"

"Actually, I agree with her." Tommy calmly said as he walked into the kitchen. "Your mom said something about ziti?" He called out.

Jude quickly followed him. When she walked into the kitchen she saw him in the fridge, shifting through food. "Are you serious? I can handle staying by myself. I'm 18. I don't need a babysitter." She proclaimed.

"Aha." Tommy exclaimed as he found the container of macaroni. He pulled it out, shut the fridge, and placed it on the counter. He started to open it and looked around. "Where's your microwave?"

"Tommy, can you focus for a minute? Did you just hear what I said?" She asked him.

He looked at her. "Yes, I heard what you said. I'm choosing to ignore it. Really, Jude where is the microwave?" Tommy surveyed the kitchen again.

Jude pointed to a corner where it was well hidden, infuriated. Tommy nodded as he popped it into the microwave oven and hit a few buttons. He then plopped himself on the kitchen stool and waited. Jude gave him disbelieving look. He really was going to disregard what she just said. "Tommy, I told you I'm fine. I don't need you tonight okay?" She said strongly.

"Jude, you don't fool me with this act you have going." He exhaled. "I know you're anything but okay. Apparently, you didn't fool Sadie either. She doesn't think it's safe for you to be in this house by yourself in light of what happened before with Chris. And I agree with her about that too." Tommy explained.

Jude knew what he was implying." Are you crazy? You really think Chris would do something to me?" She gave a shocked laugh. "He would never physically hurt me, he maybe mad, but he's not violent. He's not that type. I'm the one who hurt him, remember?" She recalled.

"Exactly. He's hurt and angry because of what happened. Not a good combination. Did you think he was the type to threaten you?" Tommy got up when he heard the beep from the oven. "Cause he did. I was standing right there when he told you he'd get you back for this." He ripped open the door to the microwave, frustrated. Couldn't she see he was trying to protect her?

"Oh please." She began as she instinctively walked to the cupboard and pulled out two dishes. "He's in pain. He just said those things out of spite. I didn't take it seriously." She proclaimed. When she turned around, Tommy was standing right in front of her. She gave a startled gasp.

"You should, Jude." He began, his voice low. "Everything he said should be taken seriously. It wasn't some empty threat" Tommy bit out harshly. "I've seen people in pain. Chris is not one of them, he's down right furious and vindictive. You have no idea what he's capable of, Jude. And until we get it all sorted out, I don't want you alone. You hear me?" When she shook her head yes, he grabbed the plates from her and placed them next to the steaming container. When he realized how vicious he had sounded, he sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off so, so-"

"Nasty?" Jude cut in, obviously distressed about what he had said.

"Yeah. I'm just saying don't think you know him, cause you don't. I don't want you to be hurt any further, okay?" He told her as his faced scrunched up in concern.

"Okay." She could tell he was just worried about her. "Stay the night if it'll put you at ease." She went towards Tommy and hugged him in comfort.

Tommy closed his eyes as he hugged her back, putting his hand on her head. He thought dimly of the last thing Chris said.
"Just so you know whatever happens from here on in, you helped put it into motion, you're guilty of it too."
Tommy still wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but he'd make sure whatever Chris had in mind, he'd put an end to it before Jude got hurt.

oh quick note- i have no idea where Jamie's house is on Jude's block, in my story its 5 houses down (ill be using it later). also i have no idea how the layout of jude's house is. i'm just winging it all:)

Thanks for all fabulous feedback keep it comin

Tommy and Jude sat at the island in the kitchen soundlessly, eating the baked ziti. Well, Tommy was eating and Jude was just pushing her food around with her untesil. He gave Jude a sideway glance and noticed she wasn't eating anything.

"You need to eat, girl." He said softly as he returned to his dish and stabbed a macaroni with his fork.

"Not hungry." She mumbled as she rested her head on her hand. How could she have an appetite after her boyfriend caught her cheating?

Tommy dropped his fork lightly and looked back at Jude. "Come on, just a few bites, you'll feel better." He prodded. He could tell that this whole thing was really messing her up.

"I doubt it." She pushed her plate away, not being able to look at it anymore.

"You wanna talk about it?" Tommy offered, wanting to help.

Jude gave a snort. "With you? No thanks." She answered as she got up, scraped her plate into the garbage and then placed it in the sink. Tommy followed suit and then went to her.

"Come on, Jude. Forget for a second what we have between us right now. You can talk to me." Tommy reasoned.

"I just, I can't." Jude honestly told him. "I can't right now. I'm uh, I'm tired, really tired." SHe said, making an excuse to get out of the room. "I think I'm just gonna hit the sheets." She walked out and Tommy heard the sounds of her hurried footsteps on the stairs, leaving him sighing to himself

When Jude made it to the second floor, she exhaled. The last person in the world she wanted to talk about Chris to was Tommy. He was part of the problem and definitely not objective about the whole thing. She ran a hand through her hair, sighing deeply again. She still was trying to come to terms with what happened tonight. It all felt like some terrible nightmare that she just couldn't wake up from. She wanted to forget it ever happened, but she knew it wouldn't be that easy. She was responsible for it all. She had herself to blame for Chris being so upset and she knew she deserved it. She'd like to blame it on Tommy, but it would be dishonest of her. Sure he kissed her, but she kissed back. And it wasn't like she didn't enjoy it or anything. Of course she'd enjoyed it, she'd been waiting for Tommy to kiss her like that again since her Sweet 16, and he's been back for a month or so already kissed her 4 times, if she counted the video. And now he was downstairs in her living room sleeping on the couch...

She shook herself not wanting to go down that road, and then realized that he'd need a blanket and some pillows for the couch. She went to the hall closet and pulled out a big, blue comforter, but didn't seen any pillows, so she figured she'd just grab some from her room, she had plenty.

She opened the door to her bedroom and flicked the light switch on. She didn't bother closing the door, she'd be out in a second. She quickly went to the side of her bed and picked up two pillows. She hurried back towards the door, pillow and blanket stuffed on top of her arms, but stopped when something caught her eye on her desk. The things in her arms carelessly floated to the floor as she stuck out her hand to pick up the shiny silver metal. She held it in her palm as she scrutinized it. It was Chris's bracelet. She had taken it off while they were shooting the video and forgot to put it back on. Seeing it made her eyes well up and her heart beat rapidly. She squeezed it tightly, making a fist, hoping that if she wished hard enough it would all go away. That it really would be a nightmare, that she hadn't wounded Chris so bad. She didn't want it to go that way, she never wanted it to happen like this. But it did, and it has, and now she knew she'd have to pay the consequences. Once the press got wind of it, it be terrible. She closed her eyes at the thought of that and a single tear made its way down her face. She knew she was strong enough to handle this breakup, even if it ended so badly. But a public breakup was a whole different story.

"Jude."

She whipped around, surprised to see Tommy was leaning against her door frame, looking concerned. She dropped the bracelet by accident and quickly went to retrieve it off the floor but Tommy beat her to it. When he saw what it was, he looked up at her.

When Tommy came into Jude's room, he saw her just standing there with a blank look on her face. He watched her turn around and then saw the shiny bracelet fall to the ground. He bent down to pick it up and realized what it was. He looked at Jude who was kneeling as well, before they both slowly came back up.

"Here you go." He said softly as he placed it in Jude's outstretched hand.

"Thanks." She murmured, as she fiddled with it. She avoided Tommy's prying eyes, as she toyed with the TV charm, remembering the day Chris gave it to her. The memory only brought more tears her way as she looked away from Tommy, embarrassed.

Tommy sighed. Why was she doing this to herself? "Jude, you need to stop beating yourself up over this."

She turned to him as tears burned in her eyes. "I can't Tommy. It's my fault." She whispered.

"Damnit Jude. Maybe Chris shouldn't have caught us like that, but you just seem to forget everything he said to you! Why can't you just see that he was a bomb just waiting to explode? He threatened you, Jude. Why don't you seem to care about that?" Tommy fired at her, mad.

"I told you Tommy, he isn't the physical type-"

"Even if that's true there's plenty of other ways to hurt a person without touching them, okay? There was something in his eye tonight, that just made him seem dangerous. You can't forget that, you can't forget he wants revenge." Tommy warned, needing to make her see. His conversation with Sadie briefly ran through his head, and what she told him and how she sounded only cemented his beliefs about Christopher Line

"He was upset and shocked, Tommy. Chris isn't like that, okay? I don't think he'd resort to retaliation or anything." Jude said, hoping to convince him.

"I don't think you know him Jude! You think you do, but you've only known him for what-3 months or something? He's an actor, girl, who says he wasn't playing a part with you?" Tommy said, without thinking.

Jude's eyes filled with hurt at the thought. "Nice, Tommy. Real nice. Really know how to hit a girl when she's down, don't you?" She choked out, emotion overcoming her.

Tommy exhaled loudly, clearly frustrated. Why did he just say that? Did he always have to hurt her? It drove him crazy the way Jude still was defensive of this punk, that he just couldn't stop himself. "Jude I'm sorry-"

"Save it." She said, trying to make her voice sound strong. She placed the bracelet that was still in her hand gently on the desk as if it was priceless. She leaned down and picked up the blanket and pillows. "Here, uh, these are for you. I forgot to get them before. The couch isn't the greatest place to sleep, but it'll do." She said as she shoved the things in his arms, then pushed him slightly, slamming the door in his face.

Jude laid in her bed as she turned her head to the night stand. The clock read 3:30. She groaned a little, realizing that she's been in out and of sleep since she shut the door on Tommy, got changed and crawled into bed at about 12ish. She was restless now. Before she was dead on her feet, now her skin was crawling. She threw the covers off her as she got out of bed. She couldn't lay down anymore. She thought maybe a drink or something to eat would calm her nerves a little. She softly opened the door, and made it down the stairs as quietly as possible, hoping not to wake Tommy. She passed the living room and glanced at the couch, but couldn't make Tommy out because it was pitch black. She soundlessly went to the dark kitchen and turned on a low light. She gasped loudly when she saw Tommy sitting at the island with a glass of orange juice in his hands, and the container in front of him.

"Tommy!" She said, putting her hand to her heart. "I uh, I didn't know you were in here, how come you didn't turn on any lights?"

Tommy shrugged lightly as he replied. "I like the dark."

Jude nodded and made her way towards him when she noticed what he was wearing. Or lack of. He was shirtless. She averted her eyes quickly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. She looked back again, not being able to help herself, but turned her head, cursing herself. She felt like she was 16 years old again, not quite knowing how to deal with her hot producer Tommy Quincy.

Tommy noticed her reaction and smirked. It made him happy that she wasn't immune to him or anything, even after breaking up with that jerk, even though he knew Jude was sort of mad at him. He slowly got up and walked past her as he grabbed a cup from the cupboard. He placed it on the counter and patted the seat closest to him, as he took his. "Sit."

Jude followed his command, not sure why, but chose the stool furthest from him. There was no way she could have processed with Tommy sitting so close, with his chest right there. Thinking of his upper body, she looked at him again, but turned away, blushing. She had to stop that.

Tommy had to stifle a laugh when he could have sworn he saw a little red creep in her face. 'So I make her unnerved.' He thought smugly. 'Good, she makes me that way too.' He took her in and noticed what she was wearing. She was clad in some ratty old red T-shirt that had seen better days and a pair of white drawstring pants with some sort of animal plastered all over it that he couldn't figure out what species it belonged to. It had a huge hole in it at the knee, and the colors were fading. Her hair was thrown up in some weird bun and her face was void of any makeup. 'She looks ridiculous.' He thought with a smile. Yet she had never been more appealing to him than that exact moment. He shook his head of those thoughts not wanting to go there, as he slid the container of Orange Juice and the glass her way, as she caught them and poured herself a cup. "Couldn't sleep?" He curiously inquired.

"Nah." She said taking a small sip. "You either, huh?"

Tommy felt like that was the stupidest question he was ever asked. Of course he couldn't sleep. He was laying in Jude's house on her couch, while she slept above him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He had tossed and turned for the last 3 hours, finally getting up and going into the kitchen. He figured Orange Juice might help take his mind off of Jude, but he was wrong. Now she was sitting next to him. "Yeah." He answered her finally.

"I'm sorry about before." He offered sincerely. "I was just angry."

"Tommy, I know you're mad that I don't see Chris the way you apparently do, but I can't, okay? He's just not like that." She repeated for about the fiftieth time that night. "I know it be easier for both of us to just somehow blame it on him, as if I had no part in it. But the truth is, I'm the only one who does. I've accepted it, you need to." She stressed to him.

"Fine, just promise me something." He asked as he moved down a few seats so he was sitting directly next to her. He took her by the shoulders. "Promise to be careful, okay?" When Jude gave an exasperated sigh, he continued. "I know you don't see Chris the way I do, but just don't think he's gonna roll over and let this die. He won't, I know his type. I won't keep telling you this, if you just promise to remember that, okay?" He asked her, his eyes pleading to agree with him.

"Okay, even though I think you're being ridiculously overprotective-"

"Please, Jude. Just say you promise." He asked her, his voice slightly urgent.

"All right. I promise." She finally agreed, knowing it be the only way to stop him from worrying. "Satisfied?" She questioned sarcastically.

"No." He said thoughtfully as he waited a second. He then brought his face to hers, and kissed her quickly but fully on the lips. He couldn't resist, he didn't care what was going on around them. "Now I am." He smiled lightly at her as he dumped his glass in the sink and went to bed, leaving Jude flustered by a shirtless Tommy Quincy.

Tommy groaned loudly as he heard his cellphone ring for the 7th time that morning. The first six he managed to ignore it because he knew it was ridiculously early in the morning and he had gotten barely any sleep that night. When it rang for the 7th time, he figured it was important. It better be. He grabbed for the vibrating phone that laid on the coffee table and noticed the time. 7:15. Without seeing the caller id, he hit the talk button.

"This better be good." He mumbled into the phone.

"Tommy!" Georgia's frantic voice came through the line "Have you seen Jude? Do you know where she is?"

He sat up a little as she asked him this. "Yeah, I'm with her." He said casually, but wondered how Georgia would react to that.

"What?" Georgia asked, and then he heard her sigh as if she just figured it all out. "So it's true?"

"What is?" He questioned, having no idea what she was talking about.

"About Chris and Jude. EJ called me at 5 in the morning, telling me that her friend who worked at one of those gossip magazines called her and told her about how all the major magazines were running late print because they got wind of this supposed breakup they had last night at G Major. I didn't know if it was true. So I tried Jude's cell, but got nothing. Then I tried her home." Georgia said, and Tommy realized that probably some of those rings were Jude's house phone this morning. "And also got nothing. So I thought maybe she was at the studio, still, hiding out. When I got here, I saw her car, but no Jude. And then I got really worried when I saw her bag in the conference room and her cellphone smashed on the floor. So then I called you. What the hell happened last night, Tommy?"

Tommy sighed. Damn Chris, he must have been the one who went to the press. "It's a long story, Georgia. Jude's fine. I stayed over the night." He could almost hear Georgia's eyebrows raise in speculation. "And I slept on the couch, so stop thinking whatever you're thinking, okay?" Tommy rubbed his head with his hand as he got up and peaked out the window, then quickly threw the curtain back. He cursed at what he saw.

Georgia heard him. "What?"

"The press is already camped out in front of her house. And my car is in her driveway." He explained. This was the last thing Jude needed this morning. "Listen, I gotta go wake Jude and explain the situation to her, okay? I'll call you later."

"Wait Tommy." Georgia said before he could hang up. "I don't know exactly what they printed but from what I gathered it's not very pro Jude. Maybe she shouldn't be around for the next few days." Georgia told him, not wanting to subject Jude to any bad press.

"All right, Georgia. I'll make her dissapear." He clicked 'end' on his phone before Georgia could even respond. He paced a little, his head concentrated on the floor, as he tried to think of a plan. He turned his face up when he heard feet on the stairs. Jude then appeared in the living room, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Did the phone ring?" She questioned, yawning. She could have sworn she heard it before, but wasn't sure if it was a dream or not.

"Yeah." He said absently as he looked at her. "We got a problem, Jude..." He began hesitantly.

After Tommy explained to her about the story and the press who waited outside like voultures, Jude sat dejected on the couch as she put her hands in her head. "What are we going to do?" She mumbled. She didn't know how the press could have found out.

He sat next to her and put a friendly arm around her. " I don't know, but we have to get out of here. If the press have any clue that I was there last night, we both have to lay low for a couple of days. We'll think of something. Don't worry." Just then the phone rang and Jude reached over to pick it up. "Hello?"

"Jude? Oh thank god!" Jamie's voice came through the line. "I've been trying your cell all morning. Do you know that there's about a million people waiting outside your house?"

Jude looked towards the window. "Yeah." She said weakly.

"Did something happened?"

Knowing she could trust Jamie she relayed everything. From Chris catching her and Tommy, to him staying the night. Jamie just stayed on the line and 'mmhmm' understandingly every so often. When she finally finished she said to him."We don't know what to do. We need to get out of here, but Tommy's car is in the driveway and like I said mine's at G Major." She told him, wishing she could think of something.

"I think I may have a plan..." Jamie began excitedly.

"No way, Jude. NO WAY." Tommy forcefully said as he started to pace the room. Jude just got off the phone and told him of Jamie's brilliant plan. 'Brilliant my foot'. He thought angrily.

"Come on, Tommy. It's the only way we'll get out of here." She sprang off the couch and wrapped her hand around his forearm.

"There's no way in hell I'll let Jamie drive my car. I don't let anyone drive my car!" Tommy said, trying to reason with her

"You let me." Jude smiled at him and batted her eyes.

He gave her a look. "That was completely different."

Jude shrugged and continued trying to convince him. "It's a good plan, you know it is."

Tommy considered it. "Maybe, but Jamie looks nothing like me."

"Okay, but he'll have a hat on and your jacket and he'll run to the car and keep his head down. Nobody will even be able to tell." She persuaded. "Please Tommy." She looked up at him, her eyes begging him. "You said yourself that we can't stay here."

He knew she was right, but the thought of someone else driving the Viper made him physically ill. "Fine, I guess desperate times call for desperate measures." He conceded, though he didn't look happy about it.

"I knew you'd see it my way." She grinned at him and then looked at the wall clock. "We have about a half hour before Jamie calls Kat and gets here. We need her for it too, she'll get my car or take Jamie's. So in the meantime I can see if there's anything to make for breakfast, but I'm not that, ah, skilled in the kitchen..." She trailed off, knowing the only thing she could do in a kitchen was pour and heat things.

"Go pack a bag for a few days and I'll fix something quick for us, okay?" He said getting his words out fast.

Jude looked at him, shocked. "You know how to cook?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, so what? It's no big deal" He muttered, feeling like Jude was making fun of him.

"I think it is. That's really cute that you can cook and all." She said, biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"Well, when you're on the road, you get tired of room service and stuff so I just kind of learned.." He looked at her, wondering why he was devulging this information with her. "Whatever, just go get something to take away, okay? I know where we can hide out for a few days." He said casually.

Jude's face broke out in a grin at Tommy's attempt to be cool. She shook her head and walked towards the stairs, but turned around. "Tommy." She called out, stopping him from going into the kitchen. When he faced her, she smiled at him. "Thanks. For everything, you know? It means a lot." When Tommy just nodded, she continued up the stairs.

"Anything for you, girl. Anything." He murmured to the empty room as he went towards the kitchen to make breakfast.

Twenty minutes later Jude bounded down the stairs, fully dressed, with a duffel bag swung over her shoulder. She just threw whatever she had around, not really knowing what to bring. She placed her bag down in the living room and went towards the kitchen as she was hit with the most enticing smell.

"Mmm." She began sniffing the air. "What is that?" She asked as she sat down on the stool where Tommy had already put out two plates.

"Omlette." Tommy gave a short answer as he walked over with a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other. He placed the steaming egg down on her plate as Jude did all but salvate. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she saw the delicious food. She took her fork and cut off a piece and put it in her mouth.

"Well?" Tommy asked expectantly as he stood there still with the pan and kitchin utensil still in his hands.

"Mm.. delicious." Jude answered truthfully. Tommy shot her a smug look as he walked back towards the stove.

"I know." He answered, self-pleased.

"Ah, modest to a fault as always, Tommy." She laughed as she ate another forkful. She was surpised though that she could even joke after all that had went down the night before, but Tommy brought it out of her.

She heard a small rap on the back door, that was so low she almost didn't catch it. "Oh, that must be Jamie." She said as she quickly got off the stool to let him in. She walked past Tommy to where the door was all the way in the back of the kitchen. When she swung it open, nobody was there. She shrugged figuring she was imaging things and was about to close the door when something on the floor caught her eye. She curiously bent towards the ground where a paper laid with two black roses on top of it and a note clipped to it. She slowly opened the small piece of paper and read it.

"Never send a rose, unless it's dyed black as a warning.
and if one is sent to you, it's meant to destroy you ... emotionally of course.".

He face froze in shock and horror as she re-read the card. It was typed in small neat letters with no signature. She numbly looked towards the paper, almost scared to see what it said. Whe she reached for it, she read the front cover and gave out a small, strangled sound.

Quick author note- that last thing was from the movie Jawbreaker (what the note said) i just tweaked it a small bit to make it fit a little better
ill explain 'the plan' in the next chapter