AN: Welcome back my faithful readers/reviewers! Thank you all so much for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this one but I haven't had as much time for writing as I'd like due to family emergencies. Hopefully I'll be able to get chapter through done in the next couple of days so you won't be waiting too long. I hope you all enjoy chapter two! Ciao!

Heaven Sent
By An American Mom

Chapter Two: Promises

They're sitting in the studio working on what will hopefully be her next big single and the first track for her second album, it's nearly time for their day to end he realizes with a heavy sigh as he watches her working on the lyrics and adjusting some of the things they'd just spent two hours arguing over before she agreed. Their first night together after her return had gone by all too quickly for him as had this day, full of artistic arguments. Silently he's spent the time reminding himself that if she reacts to her father's news tonight the way he hopes she will they'll have plenty of time together.

Out of the corner of his eye he notices Stuart walking towards Studio A from the lobby so he leans forward from his lazy position in his chair to push the communication button speaking gently into the mic, "Your dad's here Jude." He's just releasing the button and leaning back again when Stuart walks in. He nods towards him.

"Hey Tom, how are things in the studio today?" Stuart greets Tom as he sits down on the plush red sofa behind the soundboard.

"Oh the usual, she's amazing but we've had some artistic differences and at times I thought we were going to throttle each other. Think she's going to take it well?"

"I can only hope." He shifts as he hears the glass door open and the slight squeak of Jude's converse as she walks into the room. He steps towards her hugging his daughter. "Hey kiddo, you ready?"

"For food? Always!" She laughs softly glancing towards Tommy out of the corner of her eyes and noting his nervous expression before turning her gaze fully on him. "See you later tonight? Are you picking me up or staying over?"

"How about you decided when I get there tonight? Have fun babe." He kisses the top of her head.

"See you tonight." She rises on her toes to kiss his cheek before walking out of the studio with her father.

As soon as Jude is out of the building off to have the talk both he and Kwest already know everything about he looks towards his best friend and engineer with a shrug of his shoulders. "I say we call it a day. D doesn't have either of us assigned to anyone else. Besides, I have a phone call to return." The last part he says between clenched teeth dripping with venom.

Kwest of course knows not to push any issue that causes Tom's jaw to clench like that, it usually means it involves his family and the only person who can talk to him about his family is Jude. Even when Portia was married to him that was a piece of his life he didn't share, at least not with her. So instead he asks, "How's therapy going man?"

"It's going. I still prefer talking to Jude." He shrugs indifferently.

"Do you? Talk to Jude I mean."

"Some things yes. Others… I mean she's so old for her sixteen years but there's just a lot in my head I'm afraid to tell her. I don't know how she'd take it or handle it or if it's too much for someone her age."

"She loves you man, nothing short of death will change that."

"Don't even suggest that." He glares at Kwest for even mentioning such a taboo concept. The idea of losing her so completely like that is something that still gives him nightmares, especially after Angie's death.

He holds his hands up in surrender, "Easy man. I didn't mean it like that. Look if she agrees to her dad's plan we'll both be with her pretty much 24/7 except when she's in school so she'll be the safest sixteen year old on the planet. Her neighbor on the other hand is going to be the most depressed sixteen year old."

He arches a quizzical brow as he asks, "Why would Andrews be the most depressed kid on the planet?"

"Are you kidding me?! T man he is absolutely in love with your girl. That's why he gives you death glares, or his version of them, whenever you two are in the same room."

"Hm, I've never noticed. Then again I'm not often around the geeky little kid. Look man I'm going to head to the apartment; I'll call when I hear from her about the living arrangements." He stands patting Kwest on the shoulder before walking out of the studio and heading home to his penthouse apartment.

--

Tom is home for barely an hour when his phone rings and a Darius' picture shows up on the caller ID. He rolls his eyes and answers in an obviously annoyed tone. "What is it D? Jude's gone for the day and I'm not currently needed by any other artist…" He's cut off by Darius who's booming voice makes a demand leaving Tom no room to object, though he voices his annoyance just the same. "She's going to be calling me very soon to tell me to come get her and you're asking me to leave? Are you trying to piss me off?" Once again he rolls his eyes as he listens to his boss's instructions before sighing deeply. "Fine, do I at least get to let her know before I disappear? How much time do I have? How much can I tell her?"

He snaps his phone shut roughly nearly to the point of breaking it with the sheer force of the action in his muted frustration. No sooner has he done this though does it ring again. This time it's Jude's picture that shows up on his caller ID and he breaths an audible sigh of relief. He flips it open answering without hesitation. "Harrison, what's the verdict?" He nods for his own benefit knowing full well no one can see him at the moment. "I'll be there soon girl."

As soon as he hangs up the phone he walks out of his apartment locking up and going down to the garage to his precious Viper. He climbs in revving the engine before pulling out and speeding down the road towards her house. He takes a deep breath trying to calm his nerves as he knows the upcoming conversation isn't going to go over well with her. Then again he's not happy that he has to leave her for an undetermined amount of time so close to when her own father would be moving away. Sure she'd have Kwest looking out for her while he's away but that's not really good enough to either of them. Sadly however Darius is his boss so he's stuck doing the favor for him whether he likes it or not.

When he pulls up to the Harrison house, a place that will very soon become his home more literally than it's ever been, he sees Jude sitting on the porch with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms around them lazily with Jamie Andrews seated beside her. He cuts the engine climbing out in a pair of his car in faded jeans a navy blue t-shirt and his beat up jean jacket, he slides his hands into his pockets as he walks up the walk towards them. His sunglasses are fully in place he nods his head once in a polite greeting towards Jamie his voice thick and rough, "Andrews."

Jamie glares at Tom narrows his eyes, his voice thick with disdain, "Tommy Q."

Jude simply rolls her eyes in Jamie's direction before looking up at Tommy. "Hey, Dad's inside deciding the arrangements."

"Sounds fun, I'll see you inside then?"

"Yeah, give me like five minutes?"

He nods before resting one foot on the step next to her his arm draped over it as he leans down curling his index finger under her chin and tilting it up as his lips captures hers in a slow tender kiss that's some how full of fire before he straightens and walks inside of the house leaving an extremely happy Jude and highly agitated Jamie in his wake.

As soon as Tommy walks into the house Jamie protests, "Are you seriously dating him Harrison? He's old!"

Jude turns her attention towards him glaring, her tone harsh when she answers him. "Yes I am. You have two choices Andrews, you can either accept it and treat him cordially or you can get out of my life. I'm not kidding either. He's going to be around a lot more in a few weeks."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"Dad got a promotion so he's moving to Montreal and leaving me here. He asked Kwest and Tom to take over legal rights over me and the house."

"You're dad is seriously leaving you alone with him?! Is he insane?!"

She grits her teeth punching his shoulder rather hard causing him to rub the place she'd struck as she continues almost seething, "He is the best person for dad to entrust with my life. He loves me. I don't care what you say Jamie Andrews, I know him better than probably anyone on this earth. You know what; I don't want to talk to you right now." She stands up turning away from him and walking abruptly into the house slamming the door behind her.

When she walks into the living room the expressions she sees on the faces of Tommy and her father give her pause. Her steps change from angry to cautious as she nears them, walking up beside Tommy and letting her hip lean against the arm of the recliner he's seated in. "What's going on? Dad? Tommy?" She looks back and forth between the two of them waiting for one of them to speak.

Stuart's the first to speak, "Nothing to worry about kiddo. I'm going to head on up to bed and let you two kids have some time together, try not to be up too late." He pats Tom's shoulder gently disappearing up the stairs.

"Come here." Tom pats his lap twice before opening his arms to her as she walks around the side of the chair and sits across his lap. He wraps his arms around her waist letting his forehead rest on her shoulder lightly for a moment before pulling back to look up into her worried electric blue eyes. "Your dad and I were just talking about a way to speed up the process of the paperwork for you and the house. I have to go away for a while on an errand for D in a couple of days and I may not be back before your dad leaves. I really hate to do this to you baby but he isn't really giving me a choice. I promise you though I am coming back, and when I do I'll be moving in here with you and Kwest. Please don't be angry with me girl."

Her eyes are wide as she listens to him and the panic in his voice. When he first stops speaking his beautiful blue eyes looking up at her filled with panic and worry, she can't find her voice. She's not angry, just so very stunned that Darius would ask this of Tom right now. "Will you call me? Text me?" Her voice is so small when she speaks if she were not seated on his lap he'd have no hope of hearing her tiny questions.

"Of course! I'm not sure how often, but I'll contact you as much as I can I swear. Is there anything I can do or leave you with to make this better? So you know I'll be coming home to you?"

She shakes her head at first before a mischievous look crosses her delicate features. She has an idea of something that would at least let the rest of the free world know that she was important to him and he would be coming home to her, but she wasn't sure he'd do it even for her.

"Tell me girl, I want to know," He pokes her side lightly.

"Take me in the Viper to get my license before you go?"

He laughs, all of his panic seeming to melt away at her silly request. "You want to get your license in the Viper? That's all?"

"Well… and maybe let me drive it while you're away…" She tilts her head slightly lowering her eye lids so that her long fiery red lashes fan over her bright blue eyes softly as she bats them, her plump lower lip jutting out to add to the pleading look.

"Jude, you have your own copy of the keys already. As long as you're careful I don't care if you drive her while I'm gone. Is that seriously all you want to hold onto while I'm gone?"

"Of course, she's the most precious thing in your life. Everyone knows the value you place on that car," Her voice coming out a little more jealous than she intended.

"Jude…" He tightens his grip on her waist with one arm his other hand lifting to curl against her cheek and pull her face down to meet his own. His lips capture hers in a tender kiss for a brief moment, before he's speaking again. "You are the most important thing in my life. You mean more to me than any material possession. Don't you know that by now?"

"I guess… But everyone knows how much you love that car…" She lets her forehead rest against his as her fingers toy with strands of his hair.

"Baby they also know you mean more to me than anything. I don't mind you keeping the car while I'm away, but please don't do it because you're trying to prove something. All the gifts I've given you should be physical proof of that to the entire world. You know you're still the only person I ever buy for personally. That I literally put in more hours shopping for than even Sadie can clock for one person."

"I know, and you know I love every single one of them. It's just so hard when you're away. Even before we got together it was always like I had this big piece of me missing."

"I know, it's the same for me Jude. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. Kwest will be here with you after your dad moves. Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble and you'll work hard in school?"

She groans at the mention of school, shifting so she can rest her head on his shoulder. "Can't I just have a tutor Tommy?"

"No way, we both know what having a tutor did for me. I don't want you repeating my mistakes Jude. You need to finish school; it's your senior year. If you don't do this you'll spend the rest of your life regretting it. So please, do this for yourself and for me?"

"Ugh! Fine!" She groans before shifting again to climb out of his lap and stand up. "Let's get to bed then, school comes way too early in the morning."

"Good idea. I promise though, right after school tomorrow I will take you to do your driving test. I know you'll pass on the first try." He stands up taking her by the hand as they ascend the stairs to her room to call it a night.