ten years later

"You're way cooler than I had ever thought you'd be y'know," Violet said to the teenage boy that was laying on his stomach, propped up by his elbows next to her on her bed. Vivien and Ben were on some vacation, neglecting to include her because her "schoolwork was too important" so she had the house all to herself. Well, to herself and Tate. Against both her parents and his wishes, she had a friend come over to "chill", as the kids were calling it nowadays.

Trying to give Violet her privacy, Tate was reading in the office downstairs. Or, rather, he was trying to. He was too busy being shocked at himself to concentrate on the words. He was… jealous. It had never bothered him when Violet had friends over before so he couldn't understand why this visit was so different. Though, he had an inkling, deep down, that it was because she was with another boy. He could tell from the way her whiskey eyes twinkled when the doorbell rang that she felt something for this boy. Something that seemed to be beyond friendly. He had a feeling that this Jake kid, or whatever his name was, felt the same way about her.

"You're awesome too. And you have totally rad taste in music. Who knew you liked all the 90's classics? Nirvana and Morrissey? Hell yeah," the boy, Jake, said. Violet smiled in response to his compliment and turned up the volume on her stereo. With Nirvana's classic, "Heart-Shaped Box" blasting through the speakers, she looked over at him again. She admired the way his long, brown hair was constantly falling into his ocean blue eyes. She'd never say it out loud, but it reminded her of Tate's shaggy blonde hair that never seemed to stay out of his much darker brown eyes. While she was lost in thought, she didn't notice Tate's hand move until his fingers began turning her chin towards him. When their blue and hazel eyes met, Jake smiled.

"You're real cute when you're thinking, y'know that?" The noise from the radio faded into the background as Violet concentrated on his smooth voice. She unconsciously moved her eyes from his and looked a bit lower to his lips, wondering what they would feel like against her own. She had never kissed anyone before, and she knew Jake had. Because of her inexperience, she was too nervous to make the move. Jake, however, had noticed her eyes dart down and smirked to himself. He knew he could get her to kiss him. Now he was just seeing what it would take to get her to go further.

Jake moved to press his lips to Violet's. She froze for a few seconds before responding eagerly. It was very different from what she had imagined, but she was enjoying it. Jake moved from his position on his stomach to where he was holding his torso over Violet, who had been laying on her back the whole time. They broke off the kiss, Violet looking flustered with a goofy smile on her face.

"That was… fun," she said to Jake.

"Oh yeah? I bet we can have some more fun. Sound cool to you?" Violet nodded at him, understanding his words in a completely different way than he had meant them.

When Jake swung one of his legs over Violet's hips, placing a knee on each side of her, she was a bit confused. She had assumed they would keep kissing from where they were, not from this very, very intimate position. She would be lying if she said she wasn't uncomfortable. When he pressed his lips against hers again and made to slide his hands under her shirt, she had had enough. She grabbed his wrists and turned her head away from his, avoiding his continuing affections, if you could even call them that. He was behaving more like an animal at this point, trying to capture its prey. When he still wouldn't stop, moving his mouth to her now exposed neck, she really couldn't take it anymore.

"Jake… Jake. Get off! It isn't fun anymore… c'mon… Get off me!" Violet began thrashing under his considerably heavier weight. He just chuckled in between his forced kisses.

"You're the one who said you wanted to have more fun… now let's have more fun!" Jake ripped his hand out of her grip and made to pull the bottom of her long, floral dress up and the waistband of her burgundy tights down when she screamed a blood-curdling scream.

"Shut the hell up!" Jake yelled back at her. She paid no attention to his words, choosing to yell again instead. Only, she wasn't yelling at him, she was yelling for Tate.

"Tate! Tate help me! Please!" Violet screamed for him at the top of her lungs. Jake looked at her like she was crazy. Tate had avoided crossing paths with him when he entered the home, worried that Jake might see him. When Tate heard Violet's screams, however, he no longer cared who saw him.

Tate threw his book to the side, sprinting up the stairs to Violet's room. When he reached the door, he slammed it open, growling at the sight before him. Jake turned around, and in his shock, let go of Violet. Tate made it to the bed in two steps, grabbing Jake by the arm and roughly tugging him completely off of Violet's bed. He threw Jake on the ground and straddled him, just like he had been doing to Violet, and punched him in the face and torso over and over again. Jake tried to fight back, getting a punch in here and there but nothing could hurt Tate. Being a ghost had it perks. When Jake's face was satisfyingly pummelled, Tate got off of him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him to his feet. When Jake got his footing, Tate punched him in the ribs, sending to the ground once again. This time, Tate grabbed him by the arm and all but dragged him out of Violet's room and to the balcony overlooking the first floor of the home. He told him to get up and Jake listened. Limping, he made his way down the stairs that Tate was beginning to tug him down and to the door. Before Tate shoved him out of the house once and for all, he pulled Jake's face close to his.

"If I find out that you so much as look at her again, I will end you. Do you understand?" Tate's threat was used only to strike fear in Jake's heart. He could only follow through on Halloween, his spirit stuck inside the house at all other times. While he could try and track him down on his one day of freedom a year, he knew it would be a hell of a long shot finding him in the enormous city of Los Angeles. Plus, why waste the one day that he can spend with Violet outside of the house doing whatever she wants to do, or doing something he might enjoy? He only wanted his threat to strike fear in Jake's heart and make sure he would never touch his precious Violet again.

Jake nodded, his swollen face already showing signs of severe bruising. Tate shoved him onto the brick walkway, watching as he struggled to lift himself off of the ground. When he did, he hobbled away, his arms wrapped tightly around his torso in obvious pain. Satisfied that he had handled that half of the situation, he closed the door and ran back upstairs to Violet.

He found her sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and tears streaming down her face. The stereo was still playing loudly so he shut it off before approaching Violet. His heart broke seeing the tear tracks on her cheeks. Sure, in the 11 years she had lived there, he had seen her cry a fair share of times, but never like this. He climbed onto her bed, keeping his distance from her in fear of scaring her or making her uncomfortable.

"Violet? He's gone okay? I took care of it. What can I do? Tell me what to do to make you feel better," he requested of her. She just shook her head and began crying harder. Tate couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going to hold you, is that okay?" Violet nodded slightly at Tate's request and with that, he moved to sit behind her and wrap his arms around her shoulders. She moved herself into his lap and they just sat. Violet was still crying and Tate was combing her disheveled hair with his fingers. What felt like an eternity later, the sniffles stopped and the room became silent. Realizing she was asleep, her head laying against his chest, Tate made to lay down with her. Exhausted from the night's events, she didn't budge other than to snuggle even closer to Tate. Pulling one of her blankets from the bottom of her bed over them, he looked at her lovingly. He brushed her hair out of her face once again and whispered a promise in her ear.

"I will never let anyone or anything hurt you Violet. Never again. I love you so much darlin'."

Kissing her on the forehead, he too decided to try and get some sleep. Little did he know, Violet hadn't quite been asleep yet. She heard every word he said and smiled a small smile, thankful that he would always be there for her.

A bit of a shorter chapter this time, but it came quicker and it's pretty fluffy, if I do say so myself! I hope you all enjoy the progression of Tate and Violet's relationship from simply being close to falling into absolute love with each other. I plan to have another chapter up soon, and this one may have to raise the rating from T to M. I'll be writing about Violet's depression and possibly the furthered relationship between her and Tate, possibly leading into some intimate stuff, if you know what I mean, haha. Anyway, as always, let me know what you think! The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update sooner! Love you guys, thank you for reading!

Casey