As much as Jack wanted to have another date with Kim, life seemed to interfere.

He was busy.

Even though the tournament was over, he could not drop off the training. Any free time he now had was eaten away by constant presence in his father's office. His father's personal assistant was fired and Jack was filling in for him. While he was in school and the dojo, other employees were filling in and every single day he was met with relieved smiles. His father was hard task master and Jack was somewhat insulated from his most caustic remarks by virtue of being his son. It also helped that he knew his father well enough to predict what would be important to him or not. The pockets of time he found that he was free, did not always align with Kim's schedule. He found out that she worked at a restaurant and volunteered and he wondered when she had time to even study for school. He would try and stop by the GreenBean as much as he could and the looks he got from her co-worker, Mike, were so smug and knowing that he ended up asking him if something was the matter.

"No, nothing. I am just glad to be proven right. I am just waiting to be proven right about another..."

They talked, of course, on the phone and at school. He actually sat down at her table the next Monday after the date and the silence was so thorough, that he could here an audible gasp from his usual table. Milton looked weary and Julie was outright glaring at him. Jerry stared at him with his mouth hanging open and Jack was almost itchy with discomfort.

"Hello, everyone." He said politely looking at Julie. "We were not introduced before. I am Jack Brewer."

She continued glaring at him. "I know who you are. Uncle goes on about you enough. And, of course, you threatened Milton."

She wasn't mousy at all, he thought.

"Yes, I did. And I am sorry about it. Milton, I was wrong. In my defense I thought you were leading both girls on... You can understand what being protective of your friends means..." Jack trailed off hoping Milton understood him.

The other boy looked pensive as if considering the argument and then nodded his head. "I do." He paused and had a fierce expression on his face, "My warning still stands."

He really had to give this guy a credit. Not everyone would feel comfortable standing up to him. "Understood."

The other three at the table looked on uncomprehending and finally Jerry blurted, "What happened? What did I miss?"

That seemed to break the tension and they entered a light conversation about school work and extracurriculars.

Later, at PE, Brody sidled up to him, "So, you trying your luck with Blondie?"

Before Jack could say anything Brody went on, "Look, do whatever you want, of course, but Randy is convinced he still has a chance and Lindsay... Well, its your headache. I am just glad Donna would be off my back about Kim."

Right, dating Kim was like navigating a field with land mines.

Randy, in Jack's opinion was the easiest hurdle. His claim on Kim was entirely in his head and even though he tried to impress Kim with a grand gesture, her friends sort of foiled it. Randy complained about the nerds, who didn't know how to walk, let alone do sports, and was worried that Kim would just move on.

Lindsay was a different matter. She was after him for a while and his single status for majority for the time in high school gave her false sense of security that even if he wasn't with her, he at least wasn't with anyone else. Besides the disappointed hopes, she would be suffering from a gossiping by others. He imagined that her pride, rather than her heart, would be wounded the most. He didn't know what Lindsay would do if she felt like Kim was the source and the reason for her failure.

Then there was Donna, who should not care of he was with Kim, but she acutely disliked Kim and was Lindsay's friend.

But when Jack drove Kim to the GreenBean that afternoon and she was smiling and singing along to a song and looked so carefree, he didn't care about the land mines and school politics that he abhorred so much. When they got to the mall she turned to him and leaned to peck him, but snuck his hand around her head and held her closer for a deeper kiss.

"Mmmmh, I have to go, Jack." She mumbled into the kiss and he relented. "And thank you."

"For what?"

"For not reverting to your usual pattern of opening up and clamping down again. For trying with my friends. For coming to sit with us." She was sincere and he was sort of overwhelmed. There was so much to explain, but now was not the time.

"I fought with myself for a while, thinking I had no chance with you. I would not want to ruin everything by being inconsiderate." Was all he said and Kim's face had the softest of smiles, her eyes now light and bright, and he practically dove in for another kiss.

She returned the kiss, but jumped out before it got too heated, leaving him to his thoughts.

The next day when he sat by Kim's table he was followed by Grace, who plopped down next to Jerry and they way they sat so near each other made it clear that they were not strangers. Huh, he would never had guessed. The six of them had few things in common and it seemed to add to the lively conversation all around. There was some mention of sports, of course, between him and Grace they had the school sports covered. He, Kim and Julie could talk about Karate. Schoolwork was a favorite subject to Julie and Milton, but he and Kim were decent students as well. And Jerry always had the freshest scoop of news/gossip available that day.

On Wednesday, Jerry and Grace told them that Donna was struggling to keep the dominance over the cheer squad. Apparently, Kelsey still remembered the stand off from the last year, shortly after Brett and Kelsey started dating, when Donna was unscrupulously mean about the other girl. Now that Donna lost Brody and Grace openly defied Donna and befriended Kim, Kelsey felt that Donna could be taken down a notch. Donna's strongest supporter was Lindsay, but she was distracted by the fact that he, Jack, rejected her.

All this intrigue and drama was part of the reason why Jack avoided entanglements in school. But, now that he thrown his lot with kim, he'd have to endure. He knew that most of it was just that: talks and gossip and little action. In fact, majority of the school population didn't care about who date whom and what it meant for the pecking order of the cheer squad. At least he hoped that was the case. For her part, he knew that Kim equally abhorred the talk and gossip, but unlike him she wasn't willing to give up things and friends because of that.

It was Thursday, one day of the week that Kim wasn't working or volunteering. He still had to go to the office, but they agreed to meet at Phil's, since it was near the dojo and he could take a break from training. He was hoping to get some quiet time with Kim: so far they only had a couple of hurried kisses goodbye in the car and he was already very greedy about them.

He found her with Milton talking very seriously over some giant Excel printout. He heard words like algorithm, selection, inconsistency, and further fine-tuning. It looked like they were working on some project and when he asked them about it they both nearly jumped and skittishly changed the subject.

He tried not to dwell on it: he was sure there were many things he still didn't know about her and he was looking forward to learning it all. He simply sat next to her and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. She blushed and Milton made an exaggerated gagging noise.

"Please, Milton, don't be a hypocrite. Jerry and I had to see you and Julie be all lovey-dovey."

"You are right. But I still don't want to see you do the same, so I'll leave you two alone." Milton left to sit at another table and Kim turned to Jack with a smile.

He kissed her properly then. When he pulled back she had flushed cheeks and a silly smile. "Hi."

"Hi. One day I am going to want to know how many girls have you dated, because you are very good at this."

He blushed and tried to hide his smug smile, but was not entirely successful. "It's not the quantity that matters. I am not Brody."

"Yes, but quantity does eventually turn to quality... Just tell me if Donna or Lindsay were among those girls."

"No... Why?"

"Because I really don't want to be grateful to them for teaching you to kiss."

He laughed and kissed her again, marveled at how goofy and light-heartedhe felt right now.

Their bubble of togetherness was shattered when they heard a loud commotion and angry voices.

"You, fucking loser..." Randy, angry and red faced, was staring down Milton, who lifted a tray as a shield. Next to Randy was Frank, cracking his fists and smiling like a loon.

Jerry came in flying from behind the counter to stand next to Milton and before Jack even registered the move - she was very fast - Kim was right there with her friends standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

"Kimster, step aside, this jerk does not deserve you!" Randy said, while Frank added, "Yeah, this nerd's cheating on Julz, he is gonna get it."

"Milton is my friend! What the hell is going on?"

"He is cheating on Julz!" Frank yelled just as Randy shouted, "He wants you for himself!"

Oh good grief... Jack was getting tired of these idiots misunderstanding everything and he came up to join his girl and his friends.

"Randolph, Kimberly is dating me. Franklin, Milton and Julie have been together for a while and, please, stop and think when has Milton even cheated on anything in his life?" His tone was measured and he used their full names to reel back some of the attention and emotion.

There was a moment of disbelieving silence and then, "You?! You stole my girl!"...

And Randy threw a first punch at him.

He blocked, of course, Randy wasn't well versed in martial arts, though he had plenty of street fighting experience. He tried to keep his responses to a more defensive mode to avoid great impact on Randy. That lasted until he saw in the periphery that Kim was now fighting Frank, while Milton and Jerry were team-tagging a third moron that came in for a fight. Furious and concerned, he flipped Randy, who did not get up, and turned just in time to see Kim kick Frank in the chest that sent him crashing into the table. The third guy, who Jack vaguely recalled was the guitarist in the failed grand gesture scheme, saw that he was the only one left standing and backed away... straight into Rudy, who grabbed his hand in what looked like a normal hold, but Jack knew that there was no way to break free from it easily.

There was a moment of quiet and then Rudy broke it, "I thought you were taking a break from training?"

Jack only shrugged in response. Not that Rudy noticed. He looked at Kim, "I can see you had some training. What belt are you? Brown? Good, but could be better. You need more training with your upper body movements. And you two... You need a lot more training. You should join the dojo. You may not know how to fight, but you are a team already and you have the spirit."

Kim laughed softly and Jerry and Milton stood straighter and taller at this unexpected praise. Rudy was an interesting character for sure, but he was a great sensei.

Everyone broke up in excited conversations, with Joan, the security guard, taking the three defeated guys with her. Jack, though, kept his eyes trained on Kim. The worry for her mixed in with and admiration for her Karate skills, and he was still coming down from the rush of he fight. If only they were alone...


Kim could count on her fingers the number of times she felt so light and carefree in the last three years. And really, she still had little money and her dad was still depressed, and she was more and more convinced that some fraud was taking place at the charity, but she was not as alone as was before. Somehow, miraculously, she had friends and started dating a guy, who was proving to be a true gem under his cold exterior. He had some shortcomings, his temper was uneven and he was prone to over-protectiveness, but he was honorable and smart and very easy on the eyes. She even didn't mind his cousin, who started showing up again trying to talk about literature and subtly, or so he thought, mining for information on Jack. Luckily the two did not intersect in the GreenBean, much to her pleasure and Mike's chagrin, who missed out on the altercation between the two black belts.

The whole week after their only date Jack showed himself as the steadiest of men and she cherished that. Unfortunately, like her, he had plenty of obligations that kept him busy. So when he said he could meet her on Thursday at Phil's, she was excited. And maybe hoped for some more kissing, because Jack was good at it.

Of course the universe somehow didn't want her to have a good, quiet day and threw in the fight with the three stooges. Frank was a solid fighter and he got one direct hit on her shoulder, but he was slower than her and she got her kick in the moment there was an opening. Truthfully, she didn't think she could have held off Frank much more than that, but she didn't worry. They had Jack on their side.

This was the first time she saw him fight and she was mesmerized. It was clear he held off from serious moves, but even his defensive tactics were impressive. It was more the fluidity of his movement, the tightly controlled power of his body, the precision... She was frankly turned on. He was beautiful and powerful and she wanted to drag him to the corner and make out for a while.

After the fight and conversation with Rudy, she excused herself to the bathroom to refresh and cool off. She was brushing her hair, when she saw the door open and Jack's tall frame filled in the space.

She was about to ask him what was going on, when she heard him mutter, "Remarkable," in a heated whisper.

"What? Me?" she asked, turning fully to face him.

He walked out into the light with her, and even in her heeled booties, he towered over her. "Yes," he said and leaned down to look her in the eyes.

"Why?"

"You move like a dancer. You are fast on your feet. You are delicate and your moves are small, but powerful. I know you had stopped training, but... you are good," he said, slowly crowding her into the space behind her. His words were hypnotic, and his face, voice, everything was mesmerizing her and compelling her to look at him. She could feel the air that he displaced move across her skin and goosebumps covered her arms in anticipation.

There was something about the way he was looking at her that froze her in place. She wanted to move. But she couldn't. She couldn't seem to do anything but stand there.

The closest she could come to describing his expression was hungry. Like he meant to devour her.

"I could watch you for days. I want to spar with you. I want..." he whispered and reached a hand up to her face, just shy of actually touching her.

"We... probably... should go," she whispered, as if compelled to keep her voice soft and close.

He leaned in even closer, his lips nearly brushing over the shell of her ear when he whispered, "I could make you stay."

And despite herself, despite the situation, she felt her head roll back to meet her neck. Her eyes slipped closed and her exhale felt more like an approval.

"But I don't have to," he murmured and lightly cupped her face. "You feel it too."

Then, he kissed her. And she was eager for it. They moved together in a clash of bodies that felt more intense than anything she ever experienced. She raised on her toes and fisted her hands in his long hair.

She hadn't expected it to be so soft.

But she didn't have time to process much else, because she had never been kissed like this before. He held her so tightly she thought he must worry she would try to run. But running was the last thing on her mind as he crushed her against him. His hands were huge as they moved down her neck and curled around her back. And even though the kiss felt frenzied and disjointed, she could feel the way they move together.

He was maneuvering them in the small room, his movements were precise and his touch was guiding. He led her where he wanted her. And she followed. Caught up in the feeling of kissing him, touching him, listening to the way his voice sounded when he groaned, the way his chest heaved when he breathed deeply.

Now she knew why she could never quite ignore him. Everything about him spoke to his presence. And it didn't make sense, how she could almost feel his intent through the way he touched her. As if he was able to convey emotion through just the touch. She's never felt this in sync with anyone before.

He had turned them around the last minute, him resting against the wall, crushing her to him so tight he simply lifted her off her feet. Her hands were still in his hair, but the air was a necessity and she let go of his lips and dropped her head on his shoulder, gulping air and shivering from the intensity of the kiss. Good god, they were in Phil's kind of gross bathroom (and she was grateful that he put himself between her and the wall). Not that she cared, apparently. And that thought scared her even more.

He must have sensed her turmoil and the tight, nearly painful, hold he had on her shifted into a softer embrace and his kisses on her neck were feather light.

"I really can't wait for another date. Hopefully without interruptions." He murmured into her skin.

She laughed then, because she also couldn't wait for a date.


The next day, the news about the fight and the truth about who Kim was actually dating spread like fire around the school and Jack got fist bumps from both Brett and Brody. Jerry and Milton basked in their new fame as legitimate winners of a school brawl and Grace sealed Jerry's new reputation by kissing him by the lockers. Frank got a loud slap in the face from Julie, who scolded him for trying to undermine her and Milton's relationship and promising all sorts of retribution (what till Uncle hears about it!).

To finish the whole week of changes, Kelsey came to sit by Kim and Grace and Brett followed his girlfriend and sat next to Jack. It was a weird lunch to he sure. Girls tried to keep the conversation flowing, but guys did not exactly have much in common and Brett was a little tongue-tied. But eventually he and Jerry found out that they liked the same UFC fighter and soon they had one of those fan conversations salivating over their idol's every move and word.

For his part, Jack was content. Kim was by his side, her hand in his under the table. They had another date planned for the weekend and though he was supposed to have a chat with Mr. Crawford (Kim assured him that her dad did not own any guns) he thought he could face both the school and his father right now.