Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I was feeling a bit generous today!!

Chapter 6

Tommy had never been happier about getting out of the studio. Karma's ego was too much for him. He was going to get take out because he knew Jude would be hungry. She was always hungry. Never had he met a girl that could eat like her.

He was on his way when he cell rang. "Hello?"

"Little brother, what's up?"

"Tristian, it's been awhile."

"Yeah, sorry for not returning your calls. Did you get the package?"

"I did. It came today. Thanks for sending it to me."

"It's rightfully yours to give, but Tom what have you gotten yourself into, a seventeen-year-old girl? I thought you left those days behind you."

"It's not like that man. She's amazing. She's turning eighteen in less than two weeks, but when you know her she seems so much older. We've been together for a while. She's it for me man."

"Wow, I never thought the day would come when I would hear my little brother talk like that. I'm surprised you didn't ask me to send you something else."

"I have that taken care of too."

"You've defiantly made a life for yourself out there bro." There was a slight pause. "So, are you going to ask about her?"

"She doesn't care about me. I was the screw up son."

"I still wish I could've made things better for you."

"Don't, that was a long time ago. I got out. You just keep taking care of her, and let me know if there is anything you need."

When Tommy closed his phone, he was finally able to relax a bit. His family was not a subject he liked to talk about. His mom was an abusive alcoholic who treated him like he was worthless. When he was little no matter how much his big brother tried to protect him, his mom would drink and take all her anger out on him. He would never have relationship with his mom, but his brother was a different story. They might not talk a lot, but they still got along.

When he got to Jude's, he found her sitting in her living room flipping through channels. "I brought take out." He noticed that she seemed distracted.

"Hey. I'm not hungry." She said of handedly.

"Not hungry, girl, what's wrong?"

She didn't respond, so he put the boxes in the refrigerator, and went back to the living room. He just watched her for a few seconds. It looked like she'd been crying. She wasn't paying attention that he was there at all. He sat down beside her and pulled her to him.

"He still won't talk to me. He still blames me." She said putting her head on his shoulder.

"So you tried to talk to Jamie?" It was all making since to him now.

"It wasn't your fault or even his. I'm not sure if anyone could have saved Patsy. He's in a bad spot. It's hard loosing some one you love that way. I was messed up for a longtime."

I hate that you've experienced this before. Did I ever thank you for opening up to me?"

They were finishing up her first album. Everything around the studio was crazy. They were there late hours, and no one was getting much sleep. So many people surrounded Tommy and Jude; it was hard to get a moment alone. Finally, it was dinnertime and they were left at the soundboard mixing, just the two of them.

"I can't believe it; we're mixing our last song together." She couldn't stop smiling. She's wanted her own c.d. since she could remember.

"That's right, thirty-six hours and then I am on a plane to New York, final mix in hand. And then one last day of mastering and then that's it, the albums done. The end of an era girl." He was proud of what they'd created over the last several months.

"Or the start of a new one. I've already started writing songs for our next album." She'd been so inspired lately it was like lyrics just flowed out of her on to the paper.

"It's your album, I'm just the wing man."

"Are you kidding me? Tommy, you're my producer. You're my co-writer. You're my partner. Not to mention my inspiration. I couldn't do this without you."

"You might have to, Jude. I don't know if I want to produce your next record. I think I need a break." He knew as soon as the words left his mouth he'd chosen the wrong words. He felt musically confused when it came to Jude. He didn't want to hold her back. He wanted her to grow as an artist.

"Why?" Her voice dripped with emotion.

"It's hard to explain, I just know something's missing." He kept choosing the wrong words.

"Oh, so you're dumping me?" She said thinking any minute she was going to stop breathing.

"No." He said quickly shaking his head and pulling her to him. The last thing he wanted to do was break-up. He kissed her lips quickly. "Jude, just go home, and get some sleep."

She nodded finally feeling the ground under her feet again. "But be warned Quincy, you can't get rid of me that easy."

"I promise, I'm not trying to." He reassured her.

"See you tomorrow." He nodded and gave her another quick kiss.

Jude could barely sleep; all she did was toss and turn. Tommy's words replayed over and over in her mind. He doesn't want to produce her anymore, but he said he wasn't breaking up with her. She didn't understand what he was getting at.

"Having trouble sleeping, Sis?" She heard Sadie's voice from the door.

"Sorry, did my tossing wake you up?"

"Kwest just called to let me know he got home. What's wrong?"

Jude sighed and sat up. "Tommy doesn't want to produce my next record."

"What? Why?"

"He said something was missing. That he needed break. Sadie, I can't figure out what he means."

"Did he say he needed a break from you or the producing?"

"He promised he wasn't trying to get rid of me, but what could be missing?"

"Maybe he wants to record again. His first attempt at a solo record was never complete."

"What?"

"All I know is it was called 'Frozen.' It never came out and was never talked about again."

Tommy couldn't sleep though he knew he needed to. He kept thinking about what he told Jude. He wanted to keep working with her, but maybe not working together would help their relationship. Maybe not working together would keep them out of the public eye. All he wanted to do was protect her. If she had a new producer, they wouldn't be under public scrutiny all the time. Sleep wasn't coming tonight.

The next day was just as crazy, but the end result was closer. As soon as Jude arrived at the studio, Darius approached her. He gave her flowers and slipped her his card. Tommy saw this and knew he needed to intervene.

"Tom. I just want to congratulate you and your girl here on finishing the album."

"Thank you Darius." Tommy forced a smile. There was no way he was going to let Darius control Jude the way he used to control him, "Jude can you just give me one minute with Darius?"

"Yeah" She said walking away. She couldn't help but look at the business card in her hand.

Tommy turned back to Darius. "You sign her over my dead body."

"Think what's best for her. I made you a star."

"You made me do taco commercials. And you aren't going to do the same to her clear?"

Luckily, Georgia approached them. "Shouldn't you be mixing Tom? This album leaves this building at six a.m."

Tommy nodded and walked away. He had to keep a clear head to finish this album on time.

Jude decided to go find Kwest. If anyone would know about Frozen, it would be him. She found him working in one of the studios. "What's 'Frozen'?" She was straight to the point.

He didn't want to tell her, but she insisted it was really important. He told her the story. "Darius locked it in his vault. Imagine if someone came right now and took your record away?"

"Kwest, what would you say if I was able to get it back from Darius?" Jude had a plan forming. She was going to make a deal with the devil.

Tommy was working on levels when Sadie walked in. "What can I do for you?"

"Are you trying to get rid of Jude?"

Tommy just rolled his eyes; this was the last thing he needed. "Sadie, I'm trying to finish here."

"Look, she's crazy about you."

"And I'm crazy about her, Sadie. This has nothing to do with her personally, it's business."

"Well, she's taking it personal." Sadie said then walked away.

Jude was working on a new arrangement for his song when she heard the announcement that her album was finished. She ran to find Tommy. "Congratulations!" She said hugging him. "You did it."

"No, you did it. This is your masterpiece." He said framing her face with his hands and looking into her eyes.

"You know, for the celebration of the album, I kind of have a gift for you, and I think you'll like it."

Tommy felt stupid he didn't get her anything. "A gift for me? I didn't get you anything."

"Yeah you did this album. This album's my gift." Tommy just wanted to kiss her right then and there, not caring who saw it.

"Jude, Tommy, get in here." Georgia's voice brought them out of their trance on each other.

"Look, go have some fun alright. This is your moment enjoy it."

Tommy noticed Jude's dad, and made a mental note to ask her about it later. He wanted her to enjoy her success. He tried to keep a distance between them because they hadn't told Stuart yet. Every time she smiled over at him he felt like he was a pile of goo.

When the party was over, he went to find her in studio C. "Alright, I'm ready for my big gift, where is it?"

Jude smiled and started playing a song that he hadn't heard or even thought about in years. It felt like knife was in his heart. He'd written this in a very dark and painful time in his life. How did she know about this, and why would she do this to him?

She noticed he didn't seem happy. "You didn't like it?"

"How did you even find out about this?" He couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening.

"Kwest. Did you not like the rewrite? Would you want to record it?"

"Slow down, even if I wanted to, Darius still owns that record."

"Not anymore! I got it for you Tom." She said handing him a c.d.

Then Darius walked in. "She drove a hard bargain too. It's strictly business. I had something Jude wanted, and Jude had something I wanted. Now everybody's happy. Say hello to my newest client."

Tommy couldn't' stay there any longer. He stormed out. Jude went after hm. "Tommy!"

He went out the back alley. "Tommy! Tommy, can you just wait a second?" She grabbed for him. "Can you just wait one second?"

"I can't believe he tricked you into this! Okay? It's inexcusable."

"Tommy, it was my idea. You said something was missing and I think I found it, the record."

"It's a demo, Jude it's half finished."

"Then we work together and finish it. Imagine what we can do. You don't want to work on my next record, then I will help you work on yours."

He couldn't stay mad at her when he realized what this was all about. "God, Jude is that why you did this? I'm not going anywhere. You're my girl, and I don't want that to change. But I can't believe you meddled in my past that way."

"I just wanted to do something nice for you. You've worked so hard on my record."

Girl, that record was personal. I was going through a lot. Darius promised me a solo career if I stayed, but all he did was lock it away."

She looked up at him. "What do you mean stayed?"

"Why don't we have this conversation inside?" He said pulling her to his side. They walked inside to his office. She sat on his couch as he paced.

"Portia and I got married in a drunken moment. I was young and stupid. After Darius found out, he was very protective over his little sister .I wasn't proud of my actions. The Boyz and I were on tour, and I started hanging out with one of our backup singers, Angie. We could talk for hours. She always seemed to see the real me. I was Tommy, not Little Tommy Q."

All Jude could do was just sit and listen to his story.

"Before I knew it Angie was my world. She wanted to run away together, but before that could happen, Portia found out there was someone else. We fought and I ran out. Darius called me into a meeting, and promised me that I could have my own career with the kind of music I wanted to record."

"What was his condition?" She asked catching on.

"If I left his sister he'd end my career. So, I thought about it. I went to Angie and told her I couldn't run away with her. I told her that I wasn't in love with her, She tried to change my mind telling me she knew I was lying. I wouldn't give in and she grabbed my keys." He sat down beside her on the couch. "The next I heard she wrapped the car around a tree and died instantly." He had tears in his eyes.

"Oh, Tommy." She turned to face him.

"Darius kept enough of his word that he let me do the demo. Then he locked it up and told me I was bound to my contract. Frozen was a song about how I was feeling."

"I'm sorry. I would never want to bring something like this up. God, I'm an idiot."

"No you're not. In a twisted way it was sweet." He said just above a whisper before capturing her lips in a light but deep kiss.

They were interrupted by a cough.

"Dad!"

"I'm taking you home. NOW!"

The next day, Tommy had to see Jude before he left for New York. He hadn't got much sleep because he was thinking about his past. It was nice to open up to someone new. Plus, he was almost afraid for his life because of her dad

"I'm so glad you came. Come on." She pulled him into the house.

"I've only got a couple of minutes. I wanted to come by before I left."

"Look again, I'm sorry I totally meddled."

"Don't worry about it. Like I said last night it was sweet. How was your ride home with your dad?"

Jude just rolled her eyes. "He thinks he can tell me how I feel. Well, I told him how I felt about him tearing our family apart."

"Anyways, I made a decision that I thought was pretty big."

"What might that be?" She asked.

"I want to produce your next record if you still want me."

"Really?"

"Really." He said before she jumped in his arms.

"Of course, I want you."

"I take that as a yes."

"Of course yes. Ad I want to thank you for opening up to me. That couldn't have been easy.

"When I get back, I want to take you somewhere." He said holding her in a tight hug. He pulled back to lightly kiss her.

"You're going to be late, Quincy."

I realized something that morning" Jude said looking up at him.

"What?"

"Just how much I loved you." She answered curling her hand on the side of his face.

"I already knew how much I loved you. He said before meeting her lips in a deep kiss.

When the kiss broke, she smiled. Maybe she was just being silly like Sadie said. "So, I have an idea I wanted to run by you.

"Okay." He said smiling down on her.

"So, I was thinking since we haven't gotten much time together lately, we do something totally different with this album."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Why don't we record each song in a different location? That way instead of being cramped into a studio all day, we can out and have some freedom. Plus, we'll get more time alone."

"Not a bad idea at all." Tommy said with a smirk. "We'll have to run it by D, but I love it."

"And I love you."

Review and let me know what you think.