DISCLAIMER: Nope still not mine.

SUMMARY: Tommy messed up his ankle while playing "white knight" to Tara. Jason has insisted that Tommy stay with him and Kim for a few nights to make sure that he stays off his ankle some while it heals.

Tommy and Jason were sitting in Tommy's classroom, waiting for Tara to arrive. They were both concerned because she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before with worrying about Tommy's ankle.

"She'll be fine, bro," Jason said, seeing the look on Tommy's face. "After all, she learned about staying up all night on school nights from me."

"Great role model you are, Jase," Tommy grumbled.

"So do I have to have the talk with you?"

Tommy's head jerked up as he wondered if his friend meant that the way it had sounded.

"I don't know. Which talk are you thinking of?"

"How about we start with the one telling you just how innocent my sister is and swing into the one dealing with how badly I'm going to hurt you if you hurt her?"

"Jase, I barely know your sister. I think she's cute. Hell, I think she's gorgeous. I want to get to know her. I want to know everything about her. I already know a few of the things that made her the way she is now. I want to know what makes her smile, what makes her laugh. I have this uncontrollable urge to see what those incredible eyes look like when she smiles, when she's truly happy."

"You've got it so bad you don't even know what hit you." Jason started laughing. He walked to the classroom door to see if she was coming yet. He turned back to Tommy. "Here she comes, bro."

Walking down the hallway, Tara was aware of being watched by almost every student that hadn't yet fled to classes. She was also well aware of the four football players walking up behind her. She felt her body start to tremble.

"Miss Scott?" one of the guys called out to her.

Steeling herself, Tara turned around. The four large guys walked up to her. They all had sheepish looks on their faces. "We just wanted to apologize for scaring you the other day. We brought you these in the hopes that you'll forgive us."

The one speaking held out a small bouquet of flowers. "We also hope that there's no hard feelings."

"Thank you, guys. I – I – I think we can let this go. Just t-t-try to remember this n-n-next time you th-th-think about teasing someone."

"We will. Thank you, Miss Scott." She stood still until the four guys had turned and left.

"Thanks, Jase." He was amazed. She always seemed to know exactly where he was, even without seeing him.

"For what, sissy?"

"You had a talk with them, didn't you?"

"Don't know what you mean."

"I'm sure you don't." She turned and walked down the hall to the classroom where Tommy was waiting. She felt her heart speed up just a little bit as she approached the room.

"How are you this morning, Tara?" Tommy asked quietly.

"Tired. I'm okay otherwise though." She looked down at his ankle. "How are you?"

"A little sore. I'm okay though." Jason took this opportunity to slip out of the room to leave the two to talk.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tara asked, concerned for him. After all, he had gotten hurt protecting her.

"Really, Tara, I'm okay. I just have one favor to ask."

"Anything, Tommy."

Smiling, Tommy chuckled. "Would you mind doing the writing on the blackboard today? Your brother would kill me if I spent all day standing on this ankle instead of sitting and letting it heal."

"No problem. I like writing on the blackboard." She giggled.

The day had gone relatively quietly; at least until Kira had come upstairs to see if what she'd heard was true. Tara was back. She was thrilled because she genuinely liked the young woman.

It had been lunch time and Tara had just come back from picking up Tommy's lunch in the cafeteria. She opened the door to find Kira and Tommy talking about what had happened to him on Sunday.

She bowed her head for a moment before walking into the room. "Hi, Kira."

"Tara! Thank God you're okay. Tommy told me what happened."

"He got hurt because of me." Tara's voice had dropped back down to that soft, almost inaudible register. She still felt more than a little guilty about his injury.

"Come over here, Tara," Tommy instructed. Tara walked over and set his lunch down on the desk.

Pulling himself up to his feet, Tommy hooked a finger under her chin and pulled her head up so that she had to look at him. "I got hurt because I wanted to see you safe. I wanted to. Remember that any time you start feeling guilty about this. I made the choice to save you. I don't want anymore guilt from you on this."

Tara nodded. Then, her eyes sparkled with mischief for a moment. "You and your 'white knight' complex."

"What? Did Kim tell you about that?" Tommy tried to sound outraged as Tara turned away with a smile on her face. "Tara? Did Kimberly tell you that I had a 'white knight' complex?"

"She told me all about how you always tried to protect her at the cost of your own safety at times." Tara kind of bowed her head, feeling a little ashamed of the sudden flash of jealousy that was running through her.

"What's wrong, Tara?" Tommy asked, limping over to stand behind Tara at the window.

"N-n-nothing."

"Tara, if it was nothing, you wouldn't have turned your back to me. Talk to me."

Tara took a deep breath. This admission was going to bother her. "I – I – I have to a-a-admit I was m-m-more than a l-l-little jealous of her when you w-w-were in school."

Kira left the room figuring that now was not the best time for them to have an audience. "What do you mean you were jealous of her when we were in school?"

"S-s-s-she had you. I-I-I was crushing on you s-s-so bad and I knew t-t-that I couldn't even t-t-talk to you. S-s-she was so pretty and a-a-athletic and all. I knew I w-w-wouldn't have stood a ch-ch-chance even if I could t-t-talk to you." Tears had filled her eyes; she had only ever admitted this to Kim before. Kim had tried to understand how anyone could be jealous of her.

"Tara, look at me." When the young woman shook her head, Tommy took a hold of her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Tara, you have no reason to ever be jealous of anyone else. You are a beautiful young lady."

"I'm tiny. She's petite while I'm just plain old tiny."

"You are far from plain old anything." Tommy didn't know what else to say so he simply pulled her in close and held her for a moment. "Trust me when I say that you are beautiful. In fact, I'd say that you're absolutely gorgeous."

"I'm not. I'm too little."

"Not true. You're beautiful. You just have a small problem with your self-esteem. I'd like to help you with that if you'll let me."

"Tommy, are you sure that you want to do this?"

"I want to get to know you better. I want to know what your eyes look like when you laugh. I want to know what makes you happy. I'll be honest with you as long as you're honest with me. Sound like a deal to you?"

"Works for me." He gave her a quick hug and they went back to the desk to eat their lunch before the next class filtered in.