DISCLAIMER: Nope still not mine.

SUMMARY: Jason has talked to Tara and now needs to face Kimberly who's been talking to Tommy.

Tommy had managed to carry Kimberly up to her room and put her to bed before Jason got home.

He had just settled back down on the couch when Jason walked in the door. "Hey, bro. Is Tara okay?"

"When I left, she was sleeping. I put her to bed and came home to face the music with Kimberly. Where is she?"

"Well, she was pretty upset when she came home. Thankfully, we sat and talked for a while. She was so worried about Tara. She told me that Tara had been doing just fine. She wasn't panicking or anything."

"I know. I saw her. She seemed to be having fun at the store with Kim. I felt so bad after jumping Kim that I went to apologize to Tara. I couldn't believe how hard she had taken it. When I got there, she was crying and talking to herself, saying that maybe she shouldn't have come here. She even thought our mother was right about some rather nasty things she said to her last Christmas."

"Your mom was talking bad about Tara?"

"I know. It's crazy. She's her mother; she's supposed to love her. Mom doesn't love Tara. She only had her because she just had to have her little girl." Jason took a deep breath. "Right now, Kevin and I are the only two people in our family that care about what happens to Tara. Everyone else just thinks she's an embarrassment."

"I can't believe it! Tara's a wonderful person. How is it that your parents can't see that?" Tommy was angry and incredulous. Anyone who knew Tara would know just how wonderful she was.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because she's always seemed so very fragile. Tara was sick so often as a kid. She had meningitis three times and it almost killed her each time."

"That's no reason to cut yourself off from your child like that." He didn't care what excuses Jason made for his parents; parents were supposed to love their children no matter what.

"I know and I have always looked out for my little sister simply because something told me from the start that the tie between her and mom was never as close as it should have been."

Tommy stood up. "I'm going to go out for a drive. I'll be back a little later. Do me a favor and don't wait up for me?"

"Be careful with my sister, Tommy."

"And you be careful with Kim."

Both young men nodded and smiled at each other. Jason headed up the stairs to check on Kim as Tommy walked out the door, Tommy smiling as he pocketed Jason's keys.

Tommy knocked gently on the door and then tested the knob. Jason had locked it. 'Good. At least I know she's safe. Good thing Jason handed me his keys. Otherwise I might be out here a very long time.'

Tommy looked at the keys and tried one. The handle turned and he breathed a sigh of relief that the first key he'd tried had worked. He walked into the living room and closed the door behind him, making sure it was locked.

He saw the box on the table. Walking over to it, he saw that it was empty. 'Wonder what was in there. Maybe it was that outfit that Jason told me she was looking at.'

He walked over to the door on the other side of the living room and opened it to see a small bedroom with a bed in the middle of the room. Tara's tiny form was curled up on the bed with just a sheet over her. She had a pillow wrapped in her arms and, even in the darkness, Tommy could see the tear tracks on her cheeks.

Tommy sat down on the chair beside the bed and just watched over her for a little while before dozing off as he sat his vigil.

Walking into Kim's room, Jason could see the fact that she'd been crying and it broke his heart to think that he had caused it. He sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed the hair back from her face. "I'm sorry, Firebird. I didn't mean to upset either of you. I was scared and you know how I get when I'm scared. If you had just left a note I wouldn't have been so upset with you."

Kim rolled over to look up at him. "I'm sorry, Rex. I was only trying to cheer Tara up. She was nervous at first but once she saw that top, it was like she was a whole different person. But why was she so sad when she came out of the dressing room?"

Jason sighed. "It was something that my mother said to her last Christmas. Remember I went to pick her up from Angel Grove three days before Christmas?" When Kim nodded, he continued. "Well, Mom had told her that she was an embarrassment to the family and that no man would ever look twice at her no matter what she did."

The look of horror on Kim's face was enough to bring the anger at his parents boiling back to the surface. "Kevin was standing outside the door about to knock when he heard Mom light into her. He just listened and watched over Tara when she ran from the house in tears after calling me to come get her. She was so upset that she wouldn't even wait for me at the house. I picked her up at the park and she hadn't even put her coat on. It was sitting across her lap." Jason looked at Kim with tears in his eyes. "She told me that she was hoping she'd freeze to death sitting there in the park. That's why I haven't gone to visit my parents in almost a year. I won't even talk to them on the phone. They hurt her so badly that she would have rather died than live with the knowledge that her parents didn't care one way or the other."

Jason was really crying now and Kim had never seen him cry in all the years she'd known him. She sat up and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm here, Rex. And Tara's safe. Your mom's going to be proven wrong. Tommy does care about her. He's definitely looked twice and I get the feeling that he's going to look even more if I can convince her to get that outfit she tried on at the store."

Jason sat up and wiped his eyes a bit. He smiled at Kim. "You mean the one that I bought and took to her as a peace offering?" Kim's jaw just dropped as she stared at him. He nodded. "I couldn't help it. She looked absolutely beautiful in that outfit. I hope she wears it to school sometime soon. I really want to see the look on Tommy's face when she walks in wearing that."

Kim giggled and Jason chuckled. "Are we bad for wanting the two of them to be together?" Kim asked.

"They make a great looking couple. And I think she'll be really good for him and his 'white knight complex'."

"I know. I told her all about that. I hope she understands that Tommy has a really hard time not playing the white knight."

"I think she'll catch on quick enough. I just hope he realizes that he needs to back off a little sometimes."

"Definitely see some sparks happening there. There's going to be definite sparks." Kim giggled again. "She's just as stubborn as he is at times."

"True." Jason looked down for a moment. "Kim, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it, Jase?"

"I like you."

"I like you too."

"Actually, I love you. I've loved you for a long time. I've just been afraid to tell you." Kim smiled sadly at him.

"I was hoping you'd start this. I feel the same way. I just didn't know how to bring it up." She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly.

"Tara was right. I do feel better having said it. And knowing that you feel the same, that just makes everything alright." Jason pulled back only to press his lips to Kim's in a sweet and tender kiss that told them both that this was real.