Forty chapters! Forty chapters and we've barely begun to tell this story it may go another forty chapters or more! A huge thank you to everyone who reads and especially those who review I always like to know what the readers are thinking, hoping, looking forward to, want more of or less of.

Anyway here's to another forty chapters and I hope you all enjoy this one.

Ch. 40 When He Kisses My Lips, Get a Thrill through My Fingertips

(CLARE)

"Okay talk," Jeff asserts and I bite my lip. "Clare talk to me we've always been able to talk."

"Yes we have until you didn't tell me that you were moving to Toronto and you convinced one of my closest friends not to say anything about it either. Then you show up without notice and my relationship with Mark is shaken because now you're not an hour away now you're here. And now that you're here we're not talking, we should be talking every day but I can barely look at you because when I do I think about us. I think about us and I think about how betrayed I felt when I first saw you in your Ice Hounds jacket."

"I didn't want to cause tension in your relationship with Fitz," Jeff says.

"I know you didn't but you have. I love Mark but every time I see you I think about us and every time I see you with a puck bunny hanging off you I get jealous. You may not have intended it but you threw chaos into a part of my life so that I'm questioning who I should be with," I tell him with a frustrated and angry tone yet it's laced with some unintended desperation.

I take a step trying to walk past him and out of the room but Jeff catches my hand. He turns me back to him and our lips connect, joining together almost on their own and once connected they spark! I inhale a breath from Jeff's lips and part my lips gripping his jacket and deepening the kiss. My tongue licks across his bottom lip and his tongue caresses mine. Our tongues and lips coalesce, his arms embrace me, and the rest of the world disappears, at least until the door opens and a woman's startled gasp pulls us apart. I bite my lip, push Jeff away and run from the room. I run past Adam, Drew, Bianca, Maya and Mark as they come down the hall to see Tris.

"CLARE," my brothers and Mark call after me but I continue running out of the hospital.

I barely make it outside before Mark catches me wrapping me in his arms. I cling to his shirt and begin to cry, trembling slightly and trying to forget that I was just kissing another boy.

"Clare what's wr…" he begins to ask but I don't want to talk so I look up and snatch his lips before he can continue.

I kiss him hard and deep with passion but also desperation, desperately trying to erase Jeff's kiss, desperately trying to hide the kiss and how much I liked it. I keep us locked in the kiss until I'm no longer crying and then I break the kiss.

"I love you," I whisper to him.

"I love you too, do you want to tell me what's wrong now?"

"I just don't want to be here can we go?"

"Go where?"

"I don't care let's just go," I reply grabbing his hand and I take off running pulling Mark behind me.

We run for a few blocks through the snow before we stop at a park. It's snowing lightly so I cuddle into Mark's jacket and he holds me tightly.

"You want to talk now?" Mark asks.

"There's nothing to talk about I just didn't want to be at the hospital," I reply capturing his lips once more.

I break the kiss and look around the park pulling Mark down into some trees. Pushing him against a tree I mash my lips to his again. I pull at his fly and get his jeans open, tugging them down a little and stroke his already growing erection. Mark moans and I'm fairly certain he's no longer thinking of talking or asking me what's wrong. When he's entirely hard I unzip my own jeans. It takes some finagling, Mark picks me up and I wrap my legs around him, he holds me up and thrusts in evoking a moan from my lips. It's a little awkward, more of a quick bang than making love but it's a good release for me and it's keeping Mark from talking. He sets me down and my legs are shaking, after fixing our jeans Mark puts his arm around me and we go back to the park.

"Do you want to go back to the hospital to see Tris now or shall we go home?"

"Let's go home, I don't feel much like being at the hospital. I'll visit Tris tomorrow."

We walk back to his car still parked at the hospital, Drew's car is gone so everyone else has gone home. Of course the Ice Hounds bus is long gone and they are now at practice. We get into Mark's car and he starts driving.

"Can we go to your place? It will be quieter, actually it should be empty with Sean and Emma at Jay's right?"

"Yeah but you'd better call Adam or Drew and tell them we're going to my place and where's your backpack?"

"I guess I left it on the Ice Hounds bus."

"Just why did you ride over with them?"

"Dallas said they were going over and invited me to ride with them," I reply getting out my phone and calling Adam.

"Where are you guys?" Adam asks.

"On our way to Mark's."

"Do you want your backpack? Owen brought it off the bus," Adam tells me.

"Yeah I do need that I have homework," I reply and look at Mark, "stop at my place I need my backpack."

"Okay," he nods.

I hang up with Adam and we arrive at my house a couple minutes later. I run in and grab my backpack and tell Drew I'm sleeping Mark's tonight. I get back in Mark's car and he takes us to his house which is empty. We make something to eat and get started on homework, I help him with his homework and we watch TV until we're tired. I fall asleep in Mark's arms but I have a dream about Mark and Jeff. I wake up suddenly and slip out of bed, I can't sleep after that and spend the rest of the night watching TV while my mind and heart are in turmoil over two boys.

"Clare?" Mark calls to me in a sleepy voice a little after six.

"Here," I call back.

"What are you doing out here? If you couldn't sleep you should have woken me up," he yawns.

"I didn't want to wake you, I'm fine but I am going to take a shower," I tell him giving him a gently kiss before walking to the washroom.

I manage to shower without thinking of either boy, we get ready for school but I don't eat breakfast, I don't feel hungry. Mark drives us to school and walks me to my locker.

"Are you sure everything is okay? You know you can talk to me about anything," Mark says as I start to get books from my locker.

"I know and I love you but I'm okay," I reply kissing him passionately. I grab my books and walk with Mark to his locker, Owen is here at his own locker. "How's Tris?" I ask him while Mark opens his locker.

"They said he might get released Monday. Zane was released this morning but he won't be back at school until Monday probably. Tris might need more surgery but he's stable for now and as long as he stays that way he should be okay. Riley is still unconscious and Tris hasn't really been able to describe the guys who beat them but when I find them I am going tear their heads off."

"We'll help, no one hurts one of ours," Mark says.

"Thanks I know you will," Owen grins.

"I'll go see him after school this time. I know you're worried about Tris but at least your date with Vanessa tomorrow will get your mind off it for a bit," I comment.

"Shit my date I totally forgot. I haven't even thought about what to do," Owen remarks putting his head on his locker door.

"Owen she likes you, I'm sure whatever you do together she'll enjoy even if it's just a nice dinner," I advise him.

"I hope so because I haven't thought about it at all and I haven't talked to Dallas about what his problem is with it either."

"Unless Dallas directly tells you not to go out with her I think you should wait to talk to Dallas until after the date," Mark advises.

"Yeah you're probably right," Owen agrees just as the bell rings and they walk me to class before they go to native studies together.

By concentrating on class, and the fact that I have neither Jeff nor Mark in either morning class, I get through the morning without thinking about them. Lunch however is an entirely different story. Adam and I leave science and meet everyone in the memorial garden for lunch, Owen is eating with us today instead of the Ice Hounds. I eat a little but I'm still not the hungry, after eating I lean against Mark with my knees bent and my toes tucked under my brother's leg. Until I see Jeff in the hall being flirted with again, then I grit my teeth and sit up so I'm longer leaning against Mark.

"I need to use the washroom, I'll see you in class," I tell Mark kissing his temple and leaving the memorial garden. I use the washroom and begin walking to the drama classroom but Jeff grabs me pulling me into the storage room first. "You can't keep pulling me into empty rooms," I censure him.

"We could talk in the hall but I didn't think you'd want rumor to spread. You can't keep denying what you feel, that kiss yesterday you felt it too, you wanted it too. You're lying to yourself, to me and to Fitz."

"I love Mark."

"I never said you didn't."

"I'm going to class," I reply trying to walk past him but he blocks my path. "We have to get class," I remind him.

"Not for another few minutes and we need to talk," Jeff comments.

"No we don't, we needed to talk two months ago when you made the Ice Hounds," I snap at him.

"I'm sorry I should have told you, it was a mistake. I think that you don't want to talk because you would not have kissed me like that if you didn't want me so much. You deepened the kiss, I felt the passion in your lips, the way you kissed me and I know how you feel because that's how I feel about you. I know you love Fitz but that doesn't change how we feel and trying to ignore it isn't fair to anyone," Jeff says and the bell rings.

"I'm going to class," I reply quietly and walk past him.

Jeff follows behind me a few seconds later and we walk to drama. When I enter the room Mark looks at me and then Jeff, I feel Jeff's eyes on me and I suddenly feel stuck between them. Rather than walking to Mark I walk to my brother, taking Drew's hand I pull him to the loveseat and sit next to him so that no one else can sit next to me.

"Trouble?" Drew asks in a whisper.

"Don't you always say I attract it like a magnet?" I whisper back.

"That you do," he nods just as Miss Dawes begins class.

(OWEN)

"Hey little bro how you feeling?" I ask peeking my head into Tristan's room Friday morning.

"A little better, still finding it a bit hard to breathe," he says.

"Yeah broken ribs suck. Can I bring you anything after school? We have practice tomorrow instead of this afternoon."

"I'll be okay, Zane and his parents are coming by later. Are you ready for your date tonight?

"I think so, at least I have a dinner plan. The guys that beat you do you remember what they look like yet?"

"A little but they were kind of a blur. Two of them had North Park jackets on though. I think the detectives are coming back later to ask me the same thing."

"I hope I find them before the cops so I can kill them. I should get going to school, I'll be back this afternoon."

I say goodbye to my brother going out to my car and driving to school. I park and walk inside, the Ice Hounds are here and Jeff is watching Clare longingly, while she stands there uncomfortably trying to hide behind her brothers and seems to be as far away from Fitz as she can be. I knew there would be some tension when Jeff made the team and he'd be transferred here, but I think this tension is about to explode. Speaking of tension Dallas is giving me a pretty harsh look, when I look at him though he smiles. I hang out with the team until the bell and then walk to class with Jeff, Craig, Kelly, Jimmy and Peter. Most of us also have second period together and we walk in a group. At lunch the team meets in the caf and I sit next to Dallas.

"If you don't want me going out with Vanessa then say something," I tell him.

"You can go out with Vanessa," he shrugs.

"You don't sound like you're okay with it. You practically push us together and when I ask her out you seem to opposed to the idea so what's up?"

"I'm not opposed to it, Vanessa can date who she wants," Dallas replies.

"Then how come I keep catching you glaring at me?"

"I'm not," Dallas responds but he won't look at me.

"Then why d…"

"Hey tomorrow is an important practice," Dallas says loudly cutting me off, "I know it sucks to give up part of your Saturday but our first game is next week."

Whatever is bothering Dallas he's not going to talk about it so I give up. I leave the caf early and find Vanessa with Anya and Holly J.

"Hey Owen you're coming to the party tomorrow night to welcome my cousin Samantha aren't you?" Anya asks.

"Yeah I'll be there," I nod and look at Vanessa. "Since we don't have practice this afternoon I thought we'd move the date to a little earlier and give us a bit more time. I'll pick you up at four if that works for you?"

"Four is great I'll see you then," she smiles.

I grin back and walk to my locker to get my text book for third period. After third period I go back to the hospital to see my brother since I have a spare last period. Zane is here and so is Dad but I still hang out for a while before going home to get ready for my date. I shower and dress in dark jeans and a nice shirt, of course it's freezing out so I take my Ice Hounds jacket, gloves and a hat. I'm a little early but if Vanessa's grandparents are anything like parents they may want to meet me and ask me a few questions before we leave. Vanessa already gave me her address and it's pretty close to where we live. When I knock on the door her Grandfather answers.

"You must be Owen, please come in Vanessa will be down in a moment," he says stepping aside.

"Thank you Sir."

"You're on the team with Michael," her grandfather comments and it takes me a second to realize he means Dallas.

"Yeah I'm the team captain," I reply.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Vanessa says coming out of the back.

"Not at all, you look beautiful," I grin.

"Thanks," she smiles before hugging both her grandparents and grabbing her jacket.

She's wearing skinny jeans and a red sweater with white knee high boots. She puts her jacket on and we go out to my car. I open the door for her and drive us to Queen Street, it takes a few minutes to find parking but we manage and then walk to the restaurant. I was smart enough to make reservations so we only wait a couple moments for a table. We look at the menu a few minutes and are ready to order when the waiter comes back.

"Has Dallas said anything to you about us? Not that there is an us but the date I mean?" I question Vanessa when the waiter leaves.

"No," she says slowly, "why did he say anything to you?"

"Not exactly but he practically pushed us together at first, when I told him we had a date his attitude changed. Not that he's said anything exactly but he's been different, sort of cold and he's glared at me a few times. I asked him today and all he said was that you can date who you want. He wouldn't talk anymore about it he changed the subject."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"If it will help. I don't want there to be tension on the team and I sure as hell don't want there to be tension between us. I thought he was okay with it all but now he seems so against the idea."

"Mike and I haven't dated for a long time but he's still quite protective, of both me and Rocky. The few dates I have been on since having Rocky have been just that a few dates. I went on one or two dates with a guy from my high school but as soon as he met Rocky and the whole mom thing became real, and they thought they'd be Daddy, they bolted. I stopped bringing them to the house or letting them meet Rocky. Mike may be concerned about that but I'll talk to him, don't worry about it," Vanessa replies with a reassuring smile and I grin.

"So tell me about Rocky I see the picture Dallas has in his locker but I don't know anything about him."

"He's great, he's a bundle of energy and he's stubborn, he'll argue with you to no end which can be terribly frustrating. He's extremely curious and loves to explore and build and he loves sports."

"Well that's not surprising considering Dallas is his father. When you're ready for me to I'd love to meet him," I tell her and she grins.

We talk all through dinner, a dinner and dessert that takes over two hours because we're talking. I pay for dinner and we go driving, getting coffee from a drive-thru coffee shop and parking near the beach. We continue talking, learning so much about the other but I'm eager to learn more, so much more. I take her home and walk her to the door.

"I had a wonderful time thank you," Vanessa smiles giving me tender kiss at her door.

"So did I. Will I see you at the party tomorrow?"

"I'll try and make it if I can get my grandparents to babysit. Goodnight Owen," she smiles kissing me again before going inside.

I grin all the way to the Mason house. Grinning ear to ear when I walk into the house and Bianca laughs.

"I take it the date went well?" Drew questions.

"Amazing it was amazing, we just had dinner and talked for hours it was all we did but it was amazing. Where's Clare? I want to thank her for her advise or I would have been stressing about it all night."

"She's sleeping at Fitz's place again," Adam tells me.

"You want to hang out and sleep over? You can take Clare's bed since she's not here. It's not like you haven't slept in it before," Drew comments with a grin and I shoot him a look.

"Yeah I'll spend the night," I reply.

We watch TV and I tell them about the date on commercials. I do sleep in Clare's bed but I think only of Vanessa. I wake up Saturday morning when I smell breakfast. Eating with the Mason's and Maya before I head to the hospital to see Tristan. I spend a couple hours with my brother before going to the arena for practice. I'm one of the first ones here and I go into the locker room to change. I'm still getting my gear on when Dallas comes in.

"So the date went well I hear," Dallas comments.

"Yeah it went great, we had a good time I really like her. You're not going to deck me now are you?"

"Vanessa is free to date who she wants but not everyone is free to be around my son. Don't get me wrong I like you Owen, I think you're a good guy and I think you'll be good for Vanessa. But she's had dates before and I'll be keeping a closer eye on you for a while and if you hurt Vanessa I will make you sorry," Dallas tells me.

"Understood but I won't hurt Vanessa I really like her and if you do have a problem with me dating her you better tell me now."

"I don't have a problem with you dating Vanessa but I don't want her to be hurt. Before you get into the relationship any further know what you're getting into and be 200% sure about all of it. It's not just a regular relationship, you can't think short term and it comes with a lot of baggage so before you go out with her again be sure with every fiber of your being that you are in it 200% and it's what you want," Dallas says lacing up his skate and going out to the ice.

I guess that's what's been bugging him, of course he could have just told me that to begin with. He is right though as much as I like Vanessa there is a lot to consider.

The update next Saturday will probably start with the party to welcome Samantha and what a party it will be!