"Best Friends"

Summary: Tommy Quincy hates Jamie Andrews with a passion. But why? Takes place after "Date With the Night."

Disclaimer: All chapter titles are songs by Fall Out Boy. Also I don't own anything related to "Instant Star" except for a couple of Jude-centric fantasies.

Author's Note: Judging from the first three episodes and the looks of the previews, the new season of "Instant Star" is gonna kick ass; which of course means my girlfriend will have to put up with my drooling over Alexz Johnson again and you guys will have much, much more regular updates. Swear on a stack of Jude nip-slips.

88

Jude couldn't believe her eyes. Tommy, there was no doubt it was him, stood before her. "How?" she finally managed.

"It's a long story," he smiled down. "But right now it doesn't matter. 'Cause we need to talk."

"I'll say."

88

Jamie slowly got out of his bed and into the wheelchair the nurse had left him. Making sure that his guards were asleep, he began wheeling himself towards Jude's room. He felt that they needed to stick together, especially given the current circumstances. As he got closer to Jude's room the sound of her laughter reached his ears.

Puzzled, he peeked into her room through the glass in the door. 'Tommy?'

The sight of the producer, laughing and smiling with Jude was like a kick in the stomach. 'He revealed himself,' was all he could think. 'He knew how dangerous it was for him to come out of hiding but he did it anyway. For Jude.'

He glanced in to the room again and felt a stab of pain. Jude's face was lit up with joy and she truly seemed to not have a care in the world. The longer Jamie watched the deeper the pain seemed to go until finally he realized the stitches in his arm had popped and he was bleeding all over the place. "Oh, shit," he breathed. He tried calling for help but he'd apparently lost a lot of blood in the short time he'd been sitting at Jude's door and every time he moved his head his vision blurred. Finally he stumbled out of the chair reaching for the doorknob, but his legs suddenly felt as if they were made of lead. "Fuck," was all he managed to say before passing out.

88

Tommy had never felt better in his entire life. It was risky, showing himself to Jude but no matter what Liam said, he would be there for her. As Jude smiled up at him he realized how much he missed her. And how much he loved her. "Jude, listen," he began.

"No," Jude shook her head. "Don't say anything."

There was a silence between them until finally, not able to bare it any longer, Tommy leaned forward to kiss her. It was at that moment when something slammed into the door. Startled, Tommy jumped backed. He saw a mix of gratitude, shame, and frustration cross Jude's face. Not wanting to discuss what had just almost happened Tommy walked to the door and opened it. "Son of a bitch!"

88

For the second time in as many days, Jamie woke up in his hospital bed with a searing pain running down his arm. "Morning, Jackass," a familiar voice greeted.

"Tommy," he gritted out, not opening his eyes.

"What exactly were you doing last night?" Tommy asked, flopping into a chair beside him.

Jamie finally opened his eyes and stared straight into Tommy's. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Fair enough," Tommy grinned. "I was worried about Jude so I came to see her."

"Despite the fact that you were supposed to be dead?"

"Darius already knew," the ex-producer waved off dismissively.

"But Jude and everyone else didn't," Jamie argued. "Ever think that it would be hard to come back from the dead?"

"No," Tommy admitted. There was brief, somewhat tense silence before Tommy spoke again. "Okay, so we know what I was doing. What about you?"

Jamie sighed. "I was going to see Jude."

"With your arm being held together by twenty stitches?"

Jamie, embarrassed, nodded. "Yeah."

"Some hold she has over us, huh?" Tommy finally said.

Jamie chuckled. "Yep."

The two men sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence for a few moments before Tommy excused himself. Some time later Sadie and Stuart came to visit him and, once they left, Kwest showed up with Kyle and Wally. Once all of his visitors had gone, Jamie tried getting sleep but once again it wouldn't come. However, he knew this time that it wasn't worry over Darius, it was worry over Jude. Tommy was back and Jamie didn't know where that left him.

88

Over the next few days, Jamie recovered enough to go home. Liam had visited a few times and given him updates on the search for Darius, who'd' gone missing after Tommy had given the FBI a disk that could land him in jail, and Kwest and Sadie became his most frequent visitors. Tommy had stopped by just once more since his first visit and from what he'd managed to trick Wally into saying, the producer was had spent every minute he could in Jude's room, which only fueled Jamie's growing paranoia. Finally, he was released and after being picked up by two agents, he went straight to Jude's house.

Only when he got there Tommy's car was in the driveway. Not really knowing why, Jamie asked the agents to keep going. Eventually they wound up at Jude's rehearsal space and he let himself in. He wanted to be alone. Unfortunately he wasn't.

"Hey, Jamie," a voice came from behind.

Jamie turned around to look behind him. "Oh, shit," he muttered.