-Sobs- oh man, I can't believe its over… -wipes away tears- I loved writing this so much! As well as reading all of your wonderful feedback. Heck even seeing that you lovelies read was wonderful.
I love the characters in this story so much. Especially Jay. I wanted to write her a happily ever after. But she wouldn't let me. She's that strong in my head. I am sad that I could only give you a little bit of what she is. And I am sad to see her go. But it's okay this way. I'll miss her though.
Matt on the other hand…

Anyway. Thanks for sticking with me and my horrible update-issues. *ahem* and oh, did I mention there's some kind of a poorly made banner? yeah; w w w . twitpic . c o m / 1 ul 3d 7 The link's also in my profile, along with others.
Now, to the story.
You can see this as the epilogue or an additional chapter, since it turned out to be quite long.
Let me know what you think, one last time, okay?
Love you…

A few months later. Jay PoV

My eyes scanned the unfamiliar scenery through the small, fenced window. It was dark outside, but the moon was almost full, and I was bathed in silver light. My hands around my knees, leaning against the wall, trying to get a bit of distance from the smelling bodies beside me.
I absent mindedly stroked greasy blonde hair out of my face. The gesture making me smile, because I knew how much my Nick loved the fair hair.
Then I sighed.

Here I was, yet again, locked up in some dirty, small dungeon. It was ridiculous to consider that what Matt and his mistress had done to me was almost kind in comparison to this. But it was true, in sense of comfort, anyway. Pssh, hear me talk.
I rubbed my face in exhaustion, this wasn't exactly near the top of my 'things I just love to do' list; being away from Nick (and a nice shower with that) But I knew I had to, even though I knew it was dangerous and you know, it might potentially kill me.

I had only barely survived the attack of the 'lizard witch', as Kevin so affectionally called her, many months ago. I had been asleep for a remarkable 6 days, back then, 4 of which were comatose. The only thing that had pulled me through was the image of Nick's dirty, bloodied, but extremely happy face when I'd seen him in the brief moment of time I'd been in the light before I had once again glided to darkness. (Cliché, I know. But the image was dear to me)

Nick still said that it had been a few of the toughest days of his life, including the 3 days we'd been locked up together, because at least then, or so he claimed, I had been surely alive.
I still rolled my eyes at the memory, but also couldn't help but smile. Sickly romantic dork.

The weeks after that though, had been the least toughest of my entire life. Most certainly the happiest. This wasn't really saying something, seeing the way I'd spend my life up until then. But it meant a lot to me. No bitchin'.

My head snapped back to reality when I heard a cry of pain; it was the young girl again, who was locked up along with me and the 10 other women. She was just barely Amelia's age and my hands immediately started to stroke her dirty black hair as I crawled closer to her, trying to soothe. She was scared to death and beyond. (Can't blame her, poor kid, I remembered I was her age… though I hadn't been crying that much)
So I hugged her until she fell asleep and smiled when I remembered the day when exactly the same thing happened with the previously named Misa-sibling.

I had watched her play all day, something I never grew tired of, for some reason or another. And her too, had I hugged to sleep.
I'd been sitting in the windowsill after that, her sleeping form on Joe's bed behind me. Musing about the same thing I was now. The fact that I was so damn happy. Ridiculously happy.
It had been raining, which was fine with me, because I loved rain. It was the same scenery as a few weeks before that, when I'd been sitting in Matt's windowsill. So much had changed since then.
I allowed myself to slip back into the memory.

The group of friends, Nick's group of friends. My group of friends had absorbed me in its midst without further question. It was natural, like a lot of things were natural within the little bubble of happiness that I had reeled in.
Stella had told me (on one of those horrible afternoons she'd tried to doll me up) that it was like I was the missing piece to their puzzle. And I could now admit that she did have a point.
There were Kevin and Macy, Stella and Joe, Frankie and Amelia, but up until the point of my arrival, it had always been just Nick. Then, there was Nick and Jay. Puzzle solved.
There was Macy and Nick, both so intense with the things they did that they could sit next to each other for hours without any kind of interaction, just existing and doing what they did. There was Joe and Amelia because the little toddler and the pubescent rockstar had a certain fascination with each other. There were Frankie and Stella, who could bicker for hours, because of a shirt Frankie ruined or a prank he'd played on the blonde; his favourite subject. And then, there was –surprisingly— Kevin and Jay.

I'd spend a lot of time with the elder brother in those happy weeks. Which had been a surprise to the others at first, but like all the other things, it was natural. It wasn't nearly as much as with Nick, but it was very nice indeed.
Kevin and myself were complete opposites with most things. Where he was romantic, full of fantasy and a genuinely happy and trusting person, I was the down-to earth, sarcastic, genuinely ruined and suspicious one. But that only brought us closer, rather then that it let our personalities clash.
Kevin's happy mind had more then often soothed mine and his number of scatterbrained ideas-gone-averse had decreased enormously since I had come to gently steer him away from them. It was one of the things that I had never dared to dream of, but had gotten anyway.

I remembered sitting in that windowsill, watching the young Misa-girl dream and mutter in her sleep, seeing what real childhood was about when I had felt Nick's arms slide around my waist, his lips pressed to my exposed shoulder soothingly, because he sensed I was thinking hardly.
Then we'd talked, until deep in the night, a thing that happened more then once. We never spoke of what we were to each other though, because that, once again, had become too natural to even bother talking about. We didn't talk, we just were.
Nick would however –seriously, mind you— never become something I'd consider something normal, something that was a stable thing in my life. He would always stay that wonderful surprise he'd been when he broke down my wall, his arms open. And I would always have that feeling of coming home when he would close them around me.

Yeah, his romanticness was rubbing off on me. I'm doomed to the depths of love.
And did I care?
Naw, not really.

The sleeping girl on my lap snuggled up to me and I only slightly winced at the skin-to-skin contact.
The lovely elderly Lucas's, who had insisted on me coming to live with them so generously (once again something I'd gotten without ever asking for it) had asked if I'd wanted to see a psychiatrist and I was fully aware that everything that was wrong with me would've been fixed a lot sooner then it would now. But being away from my new beloveds, being away from my newly found other half, it just wasn't an option. I had discovered I did have a very strong will, when it came down to it.
I'm such an idiot, but I knew no one judged me for it. They were far to loving for their own good. It would bite them in their butts eventually, but I would try and make the bite hurt the least I could possibly manage.
Oh yeah, I also found out I'm strangely possessive over the ones I love.
I'd seen it with the others. The protectiveness when they hover over their mates or the two littlest siblings. It was apparently a natural thing that came with love, not that I'd known, but I learned soon enough.

Of course not everybody had been happy with my renewed appearance and my new link with the youngest member of JONAS (I had to get used to that part of Nick's life too, but for the thousandth time it had turned out to be a natural part of him)
I silently chuckled at the memory.

"Hi Nicky-pooh!" Leslie van Dyke had cooed, the first day Nick and myself had attended school again, about 2 weeks after the accident. (I had shrugged off the concerns; I'd been to school under way worse circumstances)
Leslie had been all over him, waving her unnatural blonde hair in his face, hoping to completely woo him with her shampoo. Yeah, like that could mask the stench.
"Where have you been, hottie? I missed you so much!"

At that point, I had walked up to Nick, shoved her aside and had pulled him down in a kiss that had left both him and the obnoxious girl unable to speak for a few minutes. Him because of, well… me and Leslie because of the fury and jealousy she was feeling.

I had given her a sickly sweet smile, asking if maybe I'd interrupted something, after which I laughed out loud saying; "Oh sorry, I forgot you could never be in the midst of something, because frankly. He's mine."
Then I'd happily dragged Nick to musical history. Ironically the first class we'd ever met.
Leslie hadn't shown up the entire period. Nick hadn't talked for the entire period either, but I took that one as a good thing.

I felt bad for hurting Leslie (kinda…) but like I said, I was possessive of the ones I loved.
Shrugging Leslie and her dumb herd off my mind I went back to the more pleasant memory of Nick and myself in the windowsill and the feeling of leaning against his chest, just talking.
I missed him, god did I miss him. I missed each and every one of them.
Love, my friends, turns out to by quite painful here and there.

The sweet smile of Mrs. Lucas every morning when she gave me the biggest platter of breakfast, trying to get me out of the 'dangerously thin shape' (I always sneaked half of my plate to Joe, who knew and didn't mind).
I missed Joe's jokes and the way he would always try to pry a smile out of me. I wasn't a person who naturally smiled a lot, but according to him, he had grown up with Nick and was used to it. I missed his touching (he was simply a person that needed touch) but was always gentle when it came to me. I was spared his bone-crushing bear-hugs, but every once in a while I would be lifted up and thoroughly spun around. Though I didn't necessarily miss that. Just like I didn't exactly miss Stella's attempts to make use of my 'pretty face' and dress me up like a Barbie-doll. But I did miss my 'girl-talks' and our sisterly sketch-sessions (turns out I was kind of talented in drawing…. What about that, huh?) She was the one that had taken me out shopping and found me the deliciously wide, baggy clothes I loved to wear. After all, I had been in too tight, showy clothes for all of my life… She was a bit disappointed, but otherwise, no one really cared how I looked.
I missed my new found friend in Kevin, who had developed almost the same level of skill in reading me as Nick had. I missed his adorable thoughts and the way he could be so caught up in what he did. I missed his interaction with everyone around him.
I missed his girlfriend Macy, who always brought excitement wherever she went. She was the one that got me into physical exercise, something that was almost as efficient as Nick in taking my mind of things. I had always been strong and flexible and I loved increasing my skills.
With that, I missed playing the piano and my lessons with Nick. I missed trying to tame the guitar with Kevin. I missed playing basketball with Joe, I missed playing with Amelia, her wonderful childishness and 'rockstar-dog' Elvis in the park (yeah, I sorta had a pet now too, once again something I'd unexpectedly gotten) I missed Frankie's constant attempts to prank me and the way the youngest Lucas never ceased to ask me questions no one else dared to. His honesty was refreshing...

But mostly, I missed Nick. My beautiful Nick. I missed the way he understood me without speaking, I missed the way he subconsciously always tried to protect me. How his first reaction was always to look at me, either to see if I was okay after something that might disturb my 'gentle soul' –cough, cough. Yeah— or for reassurance of his own. I loved calming his nerves before his show; I missed his passion on stage.
But mostly, I missed his music. And not just the music he made with his guitar, his piano, his drums. Not even his voice.
I missed the music we made within. I missed the music we shared, constantly and sometimes without noticing.
Writing songs had never been as easy as when we were together. We completed each other.
Okay, yeah. I am romantic. Shut up.

And it was so hard being away from him, harder then I ever thought possible, back in the day.
And it was almost as if I was back in the dark ages of my life, when I didn't have him. Almost.
Because I did have him. I could feel him, everywhere I went, and I felt the strings that attached me to him. It was natural and necessary.
But what I did now was necessary too. Something I wanted, almost as badly as I needed to be close to him. Almost.
He wasn't happy, of course, that he didn't have me by his side. (Or rather, that he wasn't by mine, but I'd refused to let him join me.)

When my mind had cleared up and I felt like I was in balance again after those weeks of light, this wish had made itself clear.
I'd thought and talked about what happened to me a lot in that time. I knew how horrible it was. Having no future, except for constant pain and suffering.
And there were countless others that shared that fate.
I'd gotten out of it and I wanted to help others get out of it too. I wanted a new purpose for my life.

They'd been reluctant, at first. Caring, worrying. Being the idiotic loving beings they were. Nick had been the only one to take it in silence. Knowing it would hurt to be away, but also, of course, putting his own needs below mine.
And it had been his idea anyway, me living to help the world. I hadn't ceased to rub that in his face.
Of course, in the end, they'd supported me. They tagged along when I went to talk to the police and the governmental blah blah's involved. Nick's rockstar funds had helped too.

And now, I was here. Inside yet another illegal trafficking organisation. This time, the bastards handled in young women.
I was perfect for the job, really. And even though the ones that worked with me now had been a little unhappy with it at first, because of my young age and fragile appearance (insert eye-roll here) they had quickly come to appreciate me very much. I had shown I was of great value, multiple times.

Somehow, I was appealing to the dark-side of human-kind. Dunno why and I don't think I want to know, but I was.
I also was very strong by soul. Even stronger now that I had Nick to fall back on at any moment. I could withstand almost anything the bad-guys could put me through and I loved to laugh in their faces at the end. Because that was what I did now. I was helping catching the Matt's of the poor unfortunate souls around me.
I loved helping them and I smiled at the thought that it would be over soon for this little girl on my lap too. Because of me, all of the women around me would be free again, when my new co-workers would arrive. My confession would make those rotten men pay dearly for what they were doing. And that was why I got myself captured, got myself close to torturing every time. Watching, until I had enough evidence to get them good, always trying to find links to other organisations. Trying to protect the victims in the meantime, because mostly, they were as broken as the slaves in Matt's place had been. To help them. Like Nick had done me.

But it wasn't the only reason, not the main reason why I was breaking down these criminal companies that were abusing human rights. It was more then just the desire to help those that shared my previous pain. More then the knowing that there were thousands, if not more, that had no future to look at, just like me, because they hadn't been as fortunate to meet someone as my Nick.
I knew I was lucky, I knew I was an exception and because of that, I couldn't let myself have the perfect happy fairytale ending.

The main reason was that I knew that one day, I would find Matt. Find the man whose body hadn't been found where it should've been laying after Joe and Stella had thrown him off the roof. I would find the man that was undoubtedly alive and he would rue the day that I did.
Not because of what he did to me or the fact that he tried to break me, not because he tried to damn my life, but because he hurt Nick.

Because that, to me, was something that couldn't be forgiven.

Nobody hurt Nick; the idea alone was sickening to me. Nobody would ever hurt him again and Matt would pay for what he did to him in those three days and he would never ever hurt anyone again when I found him. And find him I would.
Of course I was a little scared, the man had almost killed me after all, and I wasn't that heroic. But I was ready to face him. Now that there were people that would miss me when I wouldn't return.

I went back to looking out the window, knowing that the end of this was close. That within the hour, the door would burst open and bright light would blind us all once again, this time with the promise of freedom, instead of suffering. I knew that within the hour, all the crying women around me would be free and helped to regain their life.
I knew that within hours, all I knew would have been written down and each and every man that hurt me and those around me would be severely punched into the ground, as deserved, in court.
I knew that before the sun rose, I would be back in Nick's arms.
So I looked through the window, the child in my arms, my thoughts revolving around Nick. Revenge for now forgotten. For within hours, I would once again be where I belonged.

Then I started humming, the soft tune of our melody, the soothing tune of promise.

In the end, it all came down to the music between us. That music, that melody, would always be there. And even when everything failed, it would still be there.

Hold on, Nick. I'll be home soon.
Love you…

The end