Author's note: The first half of this chapter isn't that exciting, I will admit that. But it is relevant and you learn a little more about Blue's feelings for Zed and why she is the way she is, with the whole back-and-forth thing of a friendship with him.

The second half of the chapter is a little more light-hearted.

Please read and review. xo

16th September 2013

Silence. Silence so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. And then the silence was broken by the tap tap tap of a pen against a notepad and Blue sighed loudly. She looked over from her seat on the leather chair and across the room at her therapist. They were on completely opposite sides of the room, by Blue's choice. Aside from the desk and the chair the therapist sat at, there were nine other chairs in the room, all different sorts. Blue was told to sit on whichever one she wanted and she always wondered if it was some sort of test, whether there was a deep meaning to whichever seat she sat at.

She didn't enjoy her weekly sessions with the therapist. In fact, she hated them. They usually spent the first half an hour in silence and the second talking about meaningless things; the past few sessions they'd talked about her being back at home and how she was fitting in at school. They didn't talk about why Blue had to see a therapist, they didn't talk about Rosewood or whether she missed it or thought of it often.

The therapist met Blue's bored gaze and smiled at her gently. She was a kind woman with grey hair in a pixie cut and her body draped in a wavy bright maxi dress instead of the usual suit. Wendy Bower didn't seem to mind that Blue spent half of the session in silence because she didn't want to talk about herself and her life and for that Blue was grateful. But she knew that they had to talk eventually otherwise the session would be wasted.

"How's school going?" Wendy asked Blue. "Are you still hanging around with Trinity and the rest of the girls?"

"Yes."

"Have you made any new friends?"

Blue hesitated. "Not really."

"Not really?" Wendy picked up on that comment. "You usually answer 'no'. Do you want to explain?"

"Not really," she answered but continued anyway. "I guess I'm kind of friends with Zed Benedict now. I'm not sure, we've just sort of agreed to have a new start. He's teaching me how to ski later."

"That sounds fun," she replied encouragingly. "Are you happy about that?"

Blue sat up straighter. "I think I am. It's better than constantly arguing with him anyway and it's easier. Like I've said before, he lives next door to me and our families are friends. But I still remember all the things that I dislike about him so I'm a little bit cautious about how this is going to turn out. I don't want to get close to him and for things to fall apart again."

"Why not?"

She thought about this for a moment before the answer came to her, surprising her. "Because I want to believe that he's a good person. The good side of him that I've seen so far... Well, I like it. But I don't like the bad side that I've seen. I get this feeling that he understands me more than Trinity or my other friends, is that crazy? We barely even know each other. I just feel this... Connection. Like if I told him everything about myself, he'd understand and he'd be supportive. And I guess I'm scared of something happening that will prove that feeling to be wrong."

"Blue," Wendy spoke softly, "you always have this notion that things are going to turn out the opposite of how you want them. You have a negative outlook on life and I think that it's holding you back. Perhaps you and Zed will be great friends, you'll only find out if you don't give up. Don't shy away from him simply because you're scared of things going wrong. That's your homework for this week: make an effort to make a new friend. Okay?"

Blue nodded. To be honest, talking about Zed with her was making Blue feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't know why. Maybe because she knew that Wendy was right about her holding back from getting close to Zed because she kept thinking of negative possibilities, or maybe it was just that it felt too personal to talk about him which was stupid because she was seeing Wendy to talk about personal things. It was compulsory for her to continue seeing a therapist like she had done at Rosewood, even though it was a financial strain for Elliott to pay the bills and pay the therapist fee.

"Is there anything else you would like to talk about? We still have about ten minutes left," Wendy said without even looking at her watch. There wasn't a clock on any of the walls so Blue didn't know if she was correct but she trusted her- Wendy always had an uncanny ability to know what was left of their time together without even checking her watch.

Blue wanted to say no but her mouth blurted out words before her brain could stop them. "My dad came to the house to see me. My real dad, I mean. Jon."

Wendy tried to hide her shock like a professional would, but Blue still saw a slight raise of her eyebrows. "Really? How did that turn out?"

"Bad. He said that he wanted another chance to be a good dad to me, that he wanted me to meet my baby brother. He said that when I was little he tried being involved but my mum and dad wouldn't let me, they pushed him out and only let him come by on my birthdays. But I don't believe him. My mum and dad would have wanted the best for me, they would have let him see me. I know they would."

"Have you talked to your father about this? Have you told him that Jon came by to the house?"

She shook her head. "No. And I don't plan on doing so any time soon. Jon's lying, he has to be. I don't want that kind of person in my life, I'm not going to start an argument with my dad over something like that."

"Have you thought about the possibility of Jon telling the truth? What if you asked your dad about what Jon said and he confirmed it? How would that make you feel?"

"Terrible," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It would mean that my parents lied to me ever since they told me Jon was my biological dad. They always told me he never wanted me, that Elliott stepped up and became a dad to me so that I'd have a father figure in my life. I don't know what I'd do if I found out they'd lied to me about something so important, I don't know if I'd be able to forgive them for that. But it doesn't matter, anyway. Jon was lying. And I don't want him in my life."

"Hmm... Blue, I really would like to continue this conversation but I'm afraid it will have to wait for our next session now. Our time is up and I have another client coming in. I promise that we'll talk about Jon in our next session. And remember your homework."

"That's not a promise you have to keep, Wendy," Blue said as she stood up to leave. Wendy laughed in response but Blue didn't; she really did hope she forgot to talk about Jon. She didn't want to dig deep about her feelings relevant to him.

She was scared of what she herself would discover about them.

Blue was a natural at skiing. If you considered managing to stay on her skis for a whole ten seconds before falling a natural. Zed couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or not. Under the layers of clothes and the black hat she was wearing – an outfit practically identical to his own – she was still freezing cold on the slopes, as was he. Their skin was red from the cold so he couldn't tell if the pink blush on Blue's cheeks was from the cold or the embarrassment. She didn't seem embarrassed. If anything, she seemed angry that she wasn't getting any better and was cursing at herself as she once again struggled to get back up.

"Calm down," he said, reaching a hand down to help her to her feet. "I see people learning to ski all the time, plus I teach a few introductory lessons sometimes. So I can honestly tell you that you're not doing as bad as you think you are, you're actually pretty good for a beginner. Think of it like running: you hated that, until you stopped trying so hard and realised you were actually pretty good at it. Try not to focus so much. You know what to do, so just let your body take over. And don't get angry if you fall."

"Easy for you to say," she grumbled, now steady on her feet and looking up at him. "You're like, really good."

"Well I've been skiing since I was a child," he grinned, "so of course I am. I'm better on a snowboard though, but my brothers hate that. Next time we'll try out snowboarding, you might end up better at that. It's easier to balance on a board than skis. You wanna just walk the rest of the way down the slope and go to the café for a drink? It's only a short way."

She nodded and after they'd took their skis off and were instead carrying them in their hands, they started walking down. At the bottom of the slope, Blue spotted her father working at the ski lift and headed over to him, Zed following close behind her.

Zed stood back for a moment as Blue hugged Elliott. "How was she doing up there?" Elliott asked Zed as he let go of his daughter. "I still think you should have gone onto the slope for children first, at least until she'd got the hang of balance."

"Dad, I was safe with Zed. He wouldn't have let anything happen to me," Blue said, rolling her eyes. Her words made Zed smile, thrilled that she knew that and trusted him to look after her.

"I don't think she needed that," Zed said to Elliott. "She was actually quite good. Well, she fell over a lot and didn't really get the hang of turning that well, but she was better than most beginners. We're snowboarding next time."

"Well I'm glad you both enjoyed yourselves," Elliott said. A group of boys that Zed recognised from school in the year below him came over and the two said goodbye to Elliott so that he could see to the customers.

Connected to the ski slopes, on the other side away from the two houses, was a café, toilets, and a shop where you could buy or rent gear. The café was packed with tourists and kids from school enjoying the day off, but Zed managed to find a free table for two and led Blue over to it.

"I'll go and order our drinks, what do you want?" He asked her as she sat down.

"Um, a hot chocolate please. I can pay for my own though, I don't mind," she answered, looking uncomfortable with the thought of him paying for her drink. "My dad gave me some money in case I wanted anything."

"No, it's fine," he waved a hand in the air. "Honestly. I get employee discount, plus I always get the best stuff because my family own the place," he laughed. "I could probably get it free if I wanted, but this place has to make it's money somehow, right?"

"I guess," she smiled.

He smiled back before walking over to join the long line at the counter. He felt like he was almost walking with a spring in his step he was that happy. It was just such a joy to spend the day with his soulfinder and he was glad that she was finally giving him a chance instead of being overly-sarcastic and bitter towards him. He craned his head around the line of people to look at her and saw her staring out the window with a thoughtful expression on her face. He hoped that she was thinking about how nice it was that they were improving their relationship.

When he finally reached the front of the line, he was surprised to see Jodie on the other side of the counter in the yellow t-shirt that was the café's uniform. By the look in her eyes, she was surprised to bump into him too which was ridiculous seeing as she knew his family owned the slopes. A smile graced her face and she said, "oh hey, Zed."

"Hey, Jodie. I didn't know that you worked here."

"Yeah, it's recent. To help with the college fund," she nodded. "I'm working to get into Stanford."

"That's brilliant," he replied. "Could I have a coffee and a hot chocolate please?"

"Sure." As she set about making the drinks, she continued to talk to him. "So are you going to be at track practice Wednesday? There's a race next week so coach is going to be super hard on us. He's still looking for a twelfth member, we could really do with another person to make our chances of winning higher."

"God, I forgot about the race next week. Maybe I could talk to Blue and try and persuade her to give it another shot," he said his thoughts aloud.

"We don't need Blue Williamson," Jodie said, almost defensively. "She left, that's not a team player. She didn't even enjoy running all that much. Besides, I thought you two hated each other? You're always ignoring each other at school. Why would she listen to you?" She placed the two drinks in front of him and Zed pulled his wallet out of an inside pocket of his ski suit.

He shrugged. "We don't hate each other. We just had a disagreement, that was all. We're friends now. In fact, I've just been skiing with her, she's waiting at a table for me now."

"You're here with Blue?!" The smile faded from Jodie's face as she took the money from him and moved to the till. "But..."

"She's not as bad as you think," he picked up the two drinks. "Just keep the change, it doesn't matter. See you around, Jo." He smiled before leaving her stood in silence as he headed back over towards Blue. He slid into the chair across from her and apologized for taking so long.

They spent a few minutes in silence, sipping from their hot drinks and letting the warmth seep into their cold bodies. Zed was struck by how comfortable they were around each other despite their past arguments and the fact they really didn't know that much about each other, and how he was just so unbelievably happy to be with her. He'd never felt this way about anybody before.

He guessed that was courtesy of the soulfinder bond in part. He knew that she didn't feel they were soulfinders the times they'd spoke telepathically because usually it was the male in the pair that felt the first connection. Sometimes the female felt it instead but that was very rare. And of course there was the case of same-sex couples, in which case only one of them first felt it. So even though he knew that Blue didn't know they were soulfinders like he did, he wondered if she ever thought about why they didn't seem to be able to stay away from each other. Whether she felt a connection and wondered where it came from.

"Zed?" Blue spoke first, her voice timid and gentle. "Can I ask you something?" When he nodded, she continued. "The night of the party... Why were you so mad that I was drunk? And why did you pull me away from Isaac? I mean, I'm glad that you did but still. Was it just because you knew Victor would get mad if he somehow found out you didn't take me home?"

"Well it was partly that," he said slowly. "But also because... I like you, Blue." He met her eyes and smiled sweetly. "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you. Isaac may be my best friend but that means that I know what he can be like. He's a ladies man, he sleeps around. He would have just pressured you into sleeping with him and then moved on to another girl the next day."

"It's funny, that's what I used to think you were like," she returned.

"There's rumours about me like that going around all the time but none of them are true. I've had girlfriends yes, but I never slept around or cheated on whoever I was dating at the time. I don't like that Isaac's that way, but we've friends for years and I like him for the other side of him. So. Does that answer your question?"

She blushed a little. "Yes. It was just something that had been playing on my mind."

"Okay. Can I ask something that's been playing on my mind now?" He asked. Part of him was telling him not to ask it, that it could ruin the development they'd made today if she took it the wrong way, but he didn't care anymore. He was desperate to know the truth.

"I guess..."

"You kept denying that you were jealous when you saw Jodie kiss me. But I could have sworn I saw a look in your eyes that said differently."

"That's not a question."

He smirked. "Fine. But you have to answer honestly: were you jealous at the thought of me dating Jodie?"

Her light blush spread until her whole face was practically bright red with embarrassment. She took a long sip of her drink and stared down at the cup whilst she answered, refusing to meet his eyes. "I dunno," she shrugged her shoulders. She sighed. "Yeah, I was jealous. I didn't realise I was jealous until I saw her kissing you, and then I felt sick and miserable. I don't know why I was jealous but I was."

She looked up and met his eyes nervously. Zed thought back to the day before and smirked. "You like me."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I like you. A little bit. Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," he laughed out loud.

Author's note: Little over 3000 words there, whoo. I normally only aim for at least 2000. Hope you liked it!

A hint about the next chapter: Zed and Blue learn more about each other, including what each other's power is.