A/N: Thanks to everyone for your patience with this chapter! It's written a little differently than any of the others, so it's taken me awhile to get it right. I hope you like it - enjoy!

"Think about it," he said quietly, lightly placing a kiss on the inside of her wrist. "But I really hope…I really want you to make the right choice. The one that's in your heart."

She exhaled as he gently dropped her wrist and turned to walk towards the door, seeing himself out.

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Jude watched as Tommy turned his back to her and walked towards her front door. He leaned forward and grabbed his bag that lay on the ground against the door. Taking a deep breath, he gingerly turned the knob and pulled open the door, glancing back at her before making his exit.

"I'll wait to hear from you," he said quietly, before stepping through the doorway.

"Wait!" she called from inside, almost instinctively, walking swiftly towards the door. She looked at him in the hall, seeing the hope in his eyes, but had no idea what to say to him. She just knew she didn't want him to leave yet. "Where will you go? I mean, are you going back to your apartment?"

His expression turned downwards, clearly disappointed by her question. "I don't know…Jessica kicked me out, so…" he started, gaping at the ceiling in her hallway, anxiously trying to think of a place to go. "I'll probably just crash with Kevin, that other producer from my studio. He's got a nice couch and his roommate's out of town so…yeah, I guess I'll go there."

He looked at her, waiting for a reaction, but she just silently nodded, biting the edge of her lip in thought.

"I'll be fine," he stated, seeing her uncertainty.

She nodded again, stepping back inside her apartment. "Okay."

"So I'll…talk to you?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah," she said softly, holding on to the edge of her door. "I'll talk to you."

He gave her a timid half-grin, before turning back around and heading down the hallway. She watched each step he took further from her door. As he hit the end of the hall, he turned to make eye contact with her one last time before rounding the corner and disappearing into her stairwell.

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She watched him leave, her heart still pounding in her chest. She stood stationary for a few moments, gazing at the empty hallway, before mechanically stepping back inside her apartment and closing her door. She bolted it shut, then slumped against the back of the door, letting go of the breath she had been holding.

She stared around her living room, now quiet and still, a drastic change from how it had been just minutes earlier. She heard the sound of the rain that she had all but forgotten against her window. She looked at the couch, with the cushions shifted where she had been sitting during his speech.

"Being friends with you again—it changed my life."

Mindlessly, she drifted back across the room and sat down in that very same place, lightly dragging her fingers across the cushions to feel their warmth. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes, reflecting on how it was possible to go from feeling lonely, to angry, to confused, to moved, to confused again, and finally, to alone again, in just under an hour.

"I don't think I stopped thinking about you for more than two seconds."

Keeping her eyes closed, she couldn't help but replay every word he had spoken. Every action he made, every way that he expressed it. The nervousness in his voice as he recounted the truth behind his engagement…the spark in his eyes when he told her why he had pressed her to hear how she felt…the way he gently kissed her wrist before departing…it was all still so fresh, so vivid. Almost like he hadn't left at all.

"That night wasn't about making mistakes. It was about making things right."

And all at once, the back of her eyes began to burn as his words echoed in her mind. Keeping her eyes closed, she felt the tears well up and slowly trickle down her cheeks. Her breath was caught in her throat, at the vision of him opening up, of being honest, of letting her in.

She was afraid. To open her eyes, to know that it was real. That everything he had said was real. That he really broke off his engagement. That he did it to be with her.

But she was also afraid to open her eyes and face the reality in front of her. Her empty apartment, her quiet cell phone, her fleeting boyfriend, her perfect sister, her mismatched job…her life that was falling apart at the seams.

"I cared more about what you thought than anyone."

Yes, she had a boyfriend, but did she really? She loved him but he wanted to move on and take some time apart. He wanted her to figure out who she was and what exactly makes her happy. But it scared her more than anything to think that the answer to his question may not involve him.

Was Rob the right one? Was she supposed to try to convince him that they belonged together? Did she even want to reconcile? Was he worth the effort? Was he worth the fight?

Just minutes ago, she had sat in this room and listened to a story being told about how much one person would give up to be with another and she couldn't help but wonder, could she ever do that for Rob?

"The only way I could make things okay was to make a decision once and for all."

But choosing Tommy would certainly be a risk. She knew it and couldn't stop thinking about how he had left her on the streets in Toronto five years earlier. She wanted so badly to let her memories go, to let her fears go, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't. She couldn't get that vision out of her head of watching the car race down the street as she cried his name.

Could she trust him? Could she let him in? The memories hurt, but would being without him hurt even more?

"Deep down, I was hoping you felt the same way that I did."

Throughout the last six years of her life, every choice she had made had been safe. Every decision was logical and calculated. From her move to New York, to her job, to even her boyfriend, each step in her life had been sensible and secure, not being questioned or opposed by the people around her.

But listening to Tommy's speech, she suddenly realized that by doing what was safe, she had lost her own voice. She had forgotten what it felt like to make her own decisions, to take a risk, the way he had done. The last risk she remembered taking was back when she was sixteen, when she and Patsy spray painted that picture on the side of the building in Toronto of the shock jock DJ who had humiliated her on the air. And not since then had she honestly felt so alive.

"I decided to make the timing right."

Maybe being with him wouldn't be perfect. Maybe it wouldn't be exactly right. Maybe it would take her time to trust him completely. Maybe she'd still have feelings of loneliness, of emptiness. Maybe she'd still question where she belonged and what she was supposed to be doing with her life. But maybe…just maybe…she could find a little bit of happiness.

"I guess you have a choice to make."

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, her vision immediately clouded by tears. She wiped them away, though they continued to roll down her cheeks, so that she was able to take in the sight around her, confronting the life that she was leading.

And there it stood—her empty apartment, a quiet cell phone…they were all part of her reality. And unless she was ready to take her own risk, make her own choices, her life would continue to be vacant.

After all, he had done it. He had taken a risk, taken a chance. A chance to have something more. A chance to start over. With someone worth fighting for.

"I really want you to make the right choice. The one that's in your heart."

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes once more, feeling her heartbeat quicken. Without thinking, she stood up from the couch and rushed towards the door, grabbing her keys from the table. She wrestled with the lock for a second, her hands sweating in anticipation, and finally yanked the door open, hearing it slam behind her as she took off into the hallway. She didn't know what she would say to him or how she would explain what she was thinking—she just knew that she needed to find him.