A/N: So, our characters are getting some intimate time in the end of the chapter. As usual, I am not sure if any of it is good so I warn you.


After Kim's bombshell of the Kicky story, the boys sat, shocked into silence, and they were not spoiling for a fight anymore. Both went to look at the latest of the speculations on the Kicky and every now and then she could hear them muttering and cursing.

"So, I think we can stop trying to deny everything." At their looks of disbelief, she added quickly, "What I mean is that you can deny it, but it won't stop people and only would give fuel to all these crazy rumors about cover ups and beards." Kim announced into the silence and both boys looked at her with identical expression of confusion. She had the beginnings of an idea, but she was not sure if they'd go along.

"So what are you suggesting we do then?" Jack asked and she smiled because, whether he realized it or not, he was lumping the three of them into one group. Such a difference from earlier animosity.

"Well, they say that if you can't beat them, join them." She said cheekily and chuckled when both guys just stared at her like she was insane. "I mean that we should continue to confuse them. Let's go with the denial. It won't achieve much, but we would be on record. And we can then proceed being friends or, at least, appear friendly. They can't say anything about the triangle and rivalry if all three of us are together in the same place with Bobby in tow, unless it is to say we are a triad and that is a much smaller camp of people. This way we can claim being friends and there is not much they can say about romantic stuff if there isn't any visual proof."

She waited for them to absorb her crazy idea. Jack recovered first.

"You want us to claim that there is no love triangle, but there are three friends, who sometimes hang out together? What about the two of us? The word is already out there that we are dating. I thought we would not be hiding our relationship?" he said and she could have kissed him there for being so Jack about it.

"We will not be hiding. If asked, you and I can confirm that we are, in fact, dating. It's just that we should take an opportunity and present this notion that Ricky really is a friend to us both and there is no hidden affairs or pining. Neither between Ricky and I, nor between you and him," as she said, she carefully avoided looking at Ricky. After his confession and her refusal, she was not sure if he would want to be around either her or Jack. Granted, he was obviously convinced that he had a chance, and she really needed to talk to him about it, but that had to wait for now.

"Us being friends gives an explanation for why I was here before and why I am here now," Ricky said thoughtfully and then added. "We can even convince them that Jack and an I are friends." At Jack's questioning look, he said, "We did go to San Francisco for burgers once. Although I am not sure if I want that out there. It might give credence to the whole Ricky and Jack nonsense."

"It's Jicky or Jacky," Kim told them and the curse that Jack let out was so inventive that she was quite impressed.

"Oh... What about us? Is it Ri-Ki, Ki-Ri or Rim? No. Scratch that. That's actually awful." Ricky added and the three of them burst out laughing, the surrealism of the situation hitting them all.

When they calm down, Kim asked, "So, are we doing this?"

Ricky nodded and she and him turned to Jack.

He looked at them for a long time and finally said, "Yes."

"OK, then. Let's get the others in and tell them of our plan." Kim was feeling jittery. It was her idea , but now that it was about to become a reality, she was anxious.

"Wait," Ricky said suddenly. He pulled out his phone and quickly moved to stand by Jack and Kim. His intent became clear when he put his arm with a phone out and said, "Time for the first official Kicky selfie."


Bobby and Steve agreed to the plan, albeit reluctantly in case of Steve. With the bones of the plan worked out, they all decided to disburse for the day. Bobby offered Ricky and his entourage to stay at his place.

For her part, Kim was wrung out. She had so much emotional upheaval for one day, but she had a feeling it was not over yet. Jack was tense throughout the planning session and she couldn't blame him. What he saw in library didn't look good and Ricky gave him every reason to be jealous. Bobby decided to come with Kim to talk to her parents about the situation and the solution. They drove in silence. Jack was clenching his fists and grinding his teeth and Kim hated to see him this way. She placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it. When he looked at her she gave him a small smile and nudged his shoulder with hers. He didn't return the smile, but his eyes softened and his face no longer looked like it was carved out of stone.

Her house had a few photographers near the sidewalk, but they clearly stayed out of the property line. She guessed her dad had already talked to them. Bobby's limo rolled in and the ninjas filed out to form a bubble around her. Jack and Bobby brought in the rear, like sentinels. She felt odd going into a decidedly suburban house with bodyguards and ninjas. Maybe because the procession was worthy of a princess, the reporters kept quiet, only deigning to take pictures.

Her parents were quite put out by the whole situation. They couldn't blame Jack really, although her dad kept glaring at him. Her mom was intermittently in awe of the attention her daughter was getting, and mad at all the insults and insinuations. Bobby plead mea culpa over the father-daughter bit, but he also pledged his protection to Kim, both physically in the form of ninjas and in more intangible ways by offering his name and support to Kim.

When Kim told them of her plan to present the united front of friendship to counteract the crazy rumors her dad actually smiled. It being her plan, she was amazed that so many people thought that it was not entirely bonkers.

Bobby left and offered Jack a ride, but her dad told them that he needed to talk to Jack. It didn't bode well. Kim was dreading her own conversation with Jack and her dad's shovel talk wouldn't be helping.

When they were done, Jack was basically shown to the door by her dad and she only got to say a quiet bye to him. Her dad was serious and said that he was trusting her, but had no such faith in either of the boys. He basically told her that if he even suspected that Kim and Jack were taking advantage of his trust, she would be forbidden to talk to Jack.

Kim knew her dad was simply reacting to the roller coaster of this day's events and normally she would fight and defend herself and Jack, but she was so exhausted she just nodded her head and went to her room.

She spent the next hour setting up her Twitter and Instagram accounts. It was part of the plan. This would give her a voice in the situation. Her handle was simple and she hoped recognizable: blackbeltkimc. She had thought about it while her dad was threatening Jack. She wanted to keep it less personal and focus on her Karate, cheer-leading, volunteering and the Wasabi dojo. She didn't want it to be so obviously about her, but have enough details to hint at the going ons of her personal life.

Blackbeltkimc: hey there! Decided to join the 21st century. Can't wait for this Friday night game. We have new cheer routine planned. Go Seaford Whales!

On her brand new Instagram she posted a candid picture of her cheer squad during practice.

She followed Ricky, Bobby and Jack, who soon followed her as well. She did the same with the school, cheer squad, hospital and the animal shelter.

Done with the her PR stuff, Kim finished her homework, showered and was ready for bed. She hoped that tomorrow would be better than today.

She was almost asleep when she heard thwacking noises on her window and when she opened the curtain she saw Jack standing in their backyard and throwing pebbles at her window. As tired as she was she was, the sight of him made her heart race. She opened her window and Jack scaled the brick side of the house using the drain pipe and cracks in brick. He reached the window in no time and threw himself into her room.

He straightened up and Kim was mesmerized by him anew. He is grown so much since he was a boy who caught her falling apple. He was tall, broad shouldered, his hard work at Karate paid off with impressive muscles. Gone was the slender boy. Now he was a young man, strong and imposing.

They stood in the middle of the room for a moment, just looking at each other. She finally broke the silence, "How are you?" Her voice was soft and she lifted her hand to trace his jaw that was still tense.

He caught her hand against his cheek with his own and said quietly, "I don't know. I am mad at rumors, mad at Bobby, furious with Steve, and I think I hate Ricky. But I am mostly worried about you, about us."

There it was. They were going to talk about the Ricky sized elephant in the room.

"You shouldn't be. I am apparently tough as nails and can take a little dirt flung at me. And us... There is nothing to worry about. Unless you want to stop seeing me because of the attention and scrutiny." She finished her speech, echoing the conversation in the locker room. Jack only squeezed her hand that by now dropped to his chest, still held tightly by one of his.

"No, I learned that lesson. It won't change how we feel and will make us miserable." She smiled at him and new hope was growing in her soul again. "I... I hate how much of Ricky we would have to see from now on. I know he wants you. He wants to take you from me... I am... not very good with words. I won't write a love song for you... I am not sure how to compete with that..." He wasn't looking at her now. He was staring at their joined hands like they would have all the answers. And in a way they did.

"Oh, Jack... You don't have to compete. There is no competition. It's always will be you for me. I only have seen Ricky a total of four times in my life. With you, there are thousand days, and moments, and adventures, and conversations. How can anyone compete with that? Not even the prettiest love song would be enough."

Jack looked at her like she was something he'd never seen before and then crashed his lips to Kim's and this time there's not hesitation, no waiting on either end. Their mouths slanted against each other instantly, tongues peeking out shyly at first before taking bolder strokes against one another. Each one of them took their turn exploring the other's mouth, learning what they taste like for the first time.

Kim's hands came up to card through Jack's shaggy hair and he groaned into her mouth when she tugged at the strands on the back of his neck. More, he needed more but it was hard to do when she was so much shorter than him. So without a second thought his hands slid down from where they somehow ended up at her waist, over the curve of her butt, pausing to kneed the flesh there for a second, before tugging at the backs of her thighs.

Kim took the hint and hopped up to wrap her legs around Jack's waist, pulling her mouth from his for a second and giving him perfect access to her neck. He quickly planted soft kisses up and down the delicate, pale column before sucking over her pulse point, causing her to whimper out.

"Jaaack..."

God, he's been having dreams of her gasping his name like that so many times, both in his sleeping and waking hours. It sounded so much better than in his mind and it sent a bolt of heat shooting straight through him. Her hands clung to the back of his head, holding his mouth against her neck as she panted above him. He nipped at the spot that he's been occupied with for the past minute, now a satisfying purple, the surrounding area red from his stubble rubbing against her skin.

Kim pulled his mouth back to hers, pressing urgent, open mouthed kisses against it as her hands slid down his neck and around his shoulders to slip under the collar of his shirt. Jack stumbled into the wall and pressed her into in with his body. His hands free, he slipped his shirt off, while she watched him with hooded eyes. The moment his shirt came off, her eyes widened and unabashedly traveled across his now exposed skin. Jack wasn't self conscious, but the moment was so heated and her appreciation so open, he was almost blushing. Jack took this as permission and he moved his hands to the bottom of her tank top and slowly lifted the garment off of her. She was blushing now and he was simply speechless, staring at her in awe. She was gorgeous. She was proportionate to her overall small frame and everything looked so delicate, and golden, and oh so beautiful. She moved her arms as if to cover herself and he finally recovered his wits. He stopped her hands and looked in her eyes. "You are beautiful. So, so beautiful. More beautiful than I imagined. And I imagined it a lot." He closed the distance and kissed her relishing in the full skin on skin contact between them. She returned her hands to his shoulders, trying to bring herself closer and inadvertently rocking her hips against his own. Jack's knees buckled beneath him and his breath caught as he mumbled against her mouth.

"Jesus, Kim."

He stumbled again, bumping into one of the bookshelves and knocking a book to the floor.

The noise pulled Jack and Kim apart. They made a mess on her floor, clothes and books in one heap.

But none of that mattered because there was rushing sound in Jack's ears that corresponded to the pounding of his heart. Every nerve ending in his body felt like a live wire.

"Maybe we should – " Kim paused, still trying to catch her breath through kiss-swollen lips and Jack was just staring at them thinking that he wanted to go back to kissing, "Maybe we shouldn't do this here."

Admittedly she was right. But it did not stop Jack from leaning back in and pressing his mouth to hers. The kiss is gentle, sweeter than the urgent, messy ones they shared less than a minute ago. He captured her bottom lip between his and sucked at it, nipping gently before lightly pressing his mouth fully back to hers.

They spent a few more minutes like that. Their kisses eventually reduced to small pecks until they parted completely, foreheads resting gently against one another and eyes still closed, basking in the blissful stupor they were both in.

"So, thousand days of memories? I knew you had a crush on me from the very beginning," Jack said playfully.

Kim pouted for a second and then just whispered against his ear causing him to squirm, "And you had a massive one on me."

Jack did not deny it. It was, after all, the truth.