The baby was relatively quiet all day, but her presence made Tommy uneasy. Peyton, no matter how small, how quiet, now represented everything he couldn't have.

When Jude took a break to feed Peyton her bottle, Tommy stole glances at her, daydreaming that she baby she was playing Mom with, was their own child.

"Tommy."

He quickly snapped out of his daydream and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? No, of course not."

"You guys sure look like your getting a whole lot accommplished," Kwest said as he walked into the booth. "Whose little one?"

"Riley's."

Kwest raised an eyebrow at Tommy and Tommy quickly returned it with a don't ask look.

"Oh. She uh, she's cute."

"Yeah. I have her for the weekend until Riley gets back from Hawaii."

"Wow," Kwest said, looking for a reaction from Tommy. He saw him stare off in the direction of Jude with pained and dissapointed eyes. "Jude, why don't you take some time off while you're taking care of her?"

"I have to get something done though."

"Just go," Tommy said harshly, looking away from her.

Jude stared at him. "What?"

"Go home."

"You don't want me here?"

"Not when you're playing Mommy."

"Excuse me?"

Kwest silently slipped out of the room and left the two to do what they did best, argue.

"You bring you're boyfriend's daughter here with you, and expect me to be totally okay with that?"

"Why should you not be okay with that?"

"Jude, I don't want you here right now, and I really don't want that baby here right now, so just go."

Jude glared at him while she packed Peyton up and left G Major.

"Man, what was that?" Kwest asked when he came back into the studio.

"She's not getting anything done."

"Tommy-"

"What?" He yelled, standing up from his chair. "Am I supposed to be okay with that?" He pointed to the door.

"No, but what do you want her to do?"

"I want her to forgive me and tell me that she loves me."

"She's in a relationship."

"Yeah, with a surfer who has a kid and a past that's going to come back and bite him in the ass and she is going to get hurt in the process."

"Maybe that's what it's going to take to get her to forgive you."

"I don't know how much longer I can handle waiting for it to happen."

"Then go back to Canada, live your life until she comes out of this dream world where she thinks everything is perfect."

Jude was steaming by the time she got back to the apartment. She fumbled with her keys and when she finally got the door opened, she slammed it shut behind her, which caused Peyton to start crying, which triggered her own pent up tears. She set the baby carrier down and sat on the couch, tears pouring down her cheeks. She didn't even know the real reason why she was crying, all she knew was that she was in a strange city, in a strange apartment, and nothing seemed to be right in the world, or at least her world.

She was still in tears when the phone rang a few minutes later.

"H-hello."

"Jude, what's wrong?" Riley said in a worried voice.

"Nothing."

"Jude, I can tell you're crying and I can hear Peyton crying, what's going on?"

"I-I"

"Jude, listen to me, you have to calm down, breathe."

Jude gasped for air as Peyton's screams began to intensify in volume.

Riley could hear the panic in her voice and his own head spun with ideas to calm her down.

"Jude, c'mon, you're okay," he said, at a loss for words.

Jude was so worked up, she didn't hear the door open. Jersey rushed over to Peyton while Kwest took the phone from Jude and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Jude, are you there? Jude?"

"It's Kwest, I got her."

"Thank God. Where's Peyton?"

"Jersey has her. I'll call you back when things calm down a bit."

"Okay."

Kwest closed the phone and turned his attention to Jude. "Jude, what's wrong?"

"E-everything."

"What do you mean everything?"

"Tommy hates me. My life isn't supposed to be like this."

"Jude-"

"No, Kwest I should be in Canada, not here. Tommy shouldn't have left, we should be together," she cried, finally admitting to herself, that this thing she had with Riley, wasn't what she really, truly wanted.

"Shh, Jude everything will be alright."

It took Jersey almost an hour to calm Peyton down. After Jude had calmed down, Kwest called a frantic Riley.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Everything is okay now."

"What happened?"

"Jude's just really stressed."

"I knew I shouldn't have left Peyton."

"No, Riley, she's been great with Peyton, things at the studio are just a bit tense."

"Well, can I talk to her?"

"I really don't think that's such a good idea. I'll have her call you when she feels better or you can call tomorrow morning."

"Just take care of both of them for me."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, later."

That night Jude slipped into a hot, rose-scented bubblebath. She couldn't even explain what had happened earlier when Kwest had asked her about her breakdown. She had feelings for Riley, but she knew in her heart that they would never be what her and Tommy could be.

At the same time that Jude was soaking in the tub, Riley hopped on the first flight from Hawaii and was in L.A. by the next night.

He knocked on the door to Jude's apartment, and waited patiently for her to open it.

As soon as she did, he hugged her tightly and looked around for Peyton.

"Kwest has her with him in the bedroom."

"Jude, we need to talk."

She looked down at the floor. "I uh, I knew that was coming."

"Come here," he said as he led her to the couch. "What happened?"

"Riley, I honestly don't even know. It was just a lot of things jumbled together ya know?"

"Jude, when you're watching Peyton, you can't let a lot of jumbled things freak you out."

"I know, I know that, I just, Riley, I really don't know what happened, and you can't expect me just to figure it out in a few hours."

"I'm going to take Peyton home, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh, yeah," Jude said as Riley went to get Peyton and her things. Within ten minutes he was gone.

"Jude, what happened?" Kwest asked her.

"Honestly? I'm not sure," she said, staring at the door.

The next few weeks passed by quickly. Jude went to work, and spent the evenings with Riley and Peyton. Over time she had begun to feel more and more towards Riley, and she hoped he felt the same.

The day she finished the last song that was to go on her album, she rushed over to Riley's. She opened the door and found him making out with an attractive blonde girl on the couch.

"Wh-what's this?" She said, willing herself not to cry.

"Jude!" Riley said, quickly getting up and putting his shirt on. "This is, uh, this is Krista, Peytons mother."

Jude nodded, tears beginning to cloud her vision. "I wish I could say it was nice to meet you," she said softly before turning around to leave.

"Jude, wait!" Riley yelled, following her out into the hallway.

"That, that wasn't what it looked like."

"It wasn't? It sure seemed like what it looked like."

"Jude, I love you."

"No, you are not allowed to tell me that after I just caught you cheating on me."

"Like you haven't cheated on me with Tommy."

Jude felt her hand connect with the side of Riley's face. "How dare you accuse me of that."

"Look me in the eye and tell me it's not true."

Jude stared him straight on. "It's not true."

She left to go to her own apartment. Mason had moved out a few weeks before, and now she was all alone. Alone to deal with the fact that she had nobody at the moment, nobody that was going to tell her everything would be okay.

She curled up on her couch, covered up with a blanket, and stared out the window. Later that evening, she heard the knocking on her door, but assumed it was Riley. "Go away."

"Jude, it's me," Tommy said as he opened the unlocked door.

"Oh, hi."

Tommy walked over to her and looked at her red rimmed eyes. "You've been crying."

Jude reached up to feel her cheeks, she hadn't even noticed she'd been crying. "I guess I have," she said with a pained smile.

"What happened?"

"I, uh, I caught Riley cheating on me with Peyton's mom."

"Jude, I'm sorry."

When Jude looked into his sincere blue eyes she lost it, tears trickled down her cheeks as she looked up at him. "I just, I want to go home and have everything go back to normal."

"Oh Jude," Tommy said, hugging her against his body.

"I don't want to be here. I should have never even came here."

"Shh, Jude, it'll be okay."

She pulled away from him. "No it won't. Jersey has Kwest, Sadie has her own boyfriend, Mason has his boyfriend, and I have nobody."
"You have me."

"Tommy-"

"No, Jude, please listen to me. I know that at times I have treated you like crap. I know I've done wrong by you and I know I've screwed up, but I want a chance to make it better."

Jude looked at him, her eyes still misty. "Promise you won't hurt me?"

"I'll try Jude, I can't promise that because no matter what people always end up hurting each other, but I can promise that if I ever do hurt you, I'll do everything in my power to fix it and I won't run away from us again."

Jude nodded. "Then you have your chance.

Tommy took her in his arms again and kissed her softly, not demanding anything more than her love, which he knew he'd had since they met.

And that my friends...is the end. I know it was a bit rushed, but I had to finish it or who knows what we could have ended up having. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and read, and stuck with it for as long as it took me to finish it! Be on the lookout for my new season 3 story!