Description: When the attraction between Jessica and Toby becomes so obvious that even Razzle notices it, Nick and Lucas realize that the love between their friends was inevitable.
AN: Whoa, this is long and romantic 0_o ^^.
It was abnormally quiet in the Primal Pad. The only sounds that could be heard was the rustling of pages as someone scanned a tome for information. Lucas stood with his arms folded as Nick lectured on the importance of having the tomes stored in the correct places. He felt clawed feet on his shoulder and grinned down at their dinosaur companion.
"Hey, Razzle." he greeted. "Do you know if Toby and Jessica have found anything?" The situation in Gorm was that the land in the Earth Nation was turning into quicksand so the four friends were trying to find something that could counter whatever was causing it .
The small dinosaur shook his head. "I don't know but I can check for you." he offered before scampering off. Lucas sighed before turning toward the huge shelf of books behind him which, so far, had failed to yield any relevant information. He hoped that his friends had had more luck.
Meanwhile, farther down in the Primal Pad, Jessica was on the very tips of her toes reaching for a tome that looked very promising. However her fingers could barely reach the bottom of the shelf. She cursed her height and wished for some help.
Almost as though he had heard her mental plea, Toby appeared behind her. "Need some help?" he asked. Jessica nodded and pointed to the unreachable shelf.
"I can't reach it." she sighed. "There's a tome up there, the thick leather bound one between the two thin blue ones, that I think may be useful."
"Fear not, fair maiden!" Toby yelled theatrically. "For I am Sir Toby, Lord of the Water Nation, saviour of stranded leather books upon the shelved scoundrel!" He moved toward the shelf, yelling, "Don't worry, I'll save the day!" before easily taking down the book and holding it up in triumph. "Victory is mine!"
Jessica covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to hide her smile at Toby's boredom-induced behavior, though it was nothing compared to the time when he had spoken in different accents for a whole day (his Irish accent had been particularly amusing). She reached out her other hand to take the tome from him but he held it tantalizingly out of reach. "Toby!" she whined, stretching her hand out as far as she could so she could grab it. "Give me the tome!"
"Nuh-uh." he said condescendingly, wagging his finger at her. "Where are your manners, Jessica? I can't give you the tome if you don't say "Please", you know."
"This is ridiculous!" Jessica sighed, frustrated, redoubling her efforts to try and claim the tome. To her annoyance, Toby kept waving it at her teasingly and laughing at her attempts to take it from him. "Please can I have the tome?"
"Here you go." Toby said, holding it out to her. She took it from him but, as she did so, her fingers accidentally brushed against his, causing a surge of electricity to pass between them. "Well, don't I get a "Thank you", then?"
"What?" Jessica asked incredulously, turning on her heel to face him. However her foot slipped on a loose stone and she started to fall until Toby shot his arm out and grabbed hold of her, holding her to him. "Um, Toby," she began, when he didn't let her go immediately but continued holding her."I think you can let go now."
"Actually I don't think I will." Toby said, before putting his other arm around her in a hug. Jessica noticed that hugging Toby wasn't awkward at all, in fact it was kind of nice. She found herself resting her head against him as they stood, wrapped in each other's arms.
All of a sudden, Toby pulled back to look at her, his eyes staring into her own with an intensity she had never seen before. Jessica's breath caught in her throat as he slowly leaned down toward her. Her mind filled with anticipation, so much so, that when he shook his head and resumed hugging her, she actually let out a tiny sigh.
To tell the truth, Jessica was confused. Unless she had been misreading the situation, she could have sworn Toby was about to kiss her. He had pulled back though and, to her growing confusion, it had made her feel...disappointed. Wait! Did that mean she had wanted him to kiss her? Letting out another sigh, she chanced a glance at him, wondering if he felt just as conflicted as she did.
Toby leaned against the shelf and ran his hands through his hair. It had taken all of his strength to pull away from her. He had wanted to kiss her so badly, the desire had been growing for a while. The truth was, though, that he was afraid, afraid of ruining their friendship. He was sure he was in love with her, but how could she ever feel the same way?
"Come on," he said, not looking at her. He didn't want to see the sad look on her face or risk putting himself back in that situation, as he did whenever he so much as looked at her. "We'd better take this to the others."
"Okay." Jessica mumbled, as though she hadn't wanted to be heard. Toby caught the sad tone in her voice and his heart ached. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms again and tell her that he would always be there. He wanted the indecision raging around in his mind to disappear. He just wanted her.
As they left to rejoin Nick and Lucas, neither of them noticed a small pair of eyes watching them. Razzle shifted to get a better view. Hmm, interesting, he thought, upon seeing their dejected expressions and sad demeanors.
Later on, the four friends sat in the main area of the Primal Pad and discussed what they had learned from the tomes. All too soon, it became apparent that neither Toby or Jessica were paying any attention to the conversation. In fact, they seemed more concerned with staring at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. After five minutes of this, Nick, who had been trying unsuccessfully to get their attention, yelled, "Can you two quit staring at each other and tell us what you found? Some of us have more important things to do!"
Their heads both snapped up as they came out of, what could only be described as, their trances. Jessica showed Nick the tome she had found, stammering, "I-I thought this looked useful." It was obvious that her mind was elsewhere.
They all decided to head back up into the house to allow their orbs to charge fully. As Nick and Lucas were about to leave, however, Razzle suddenly stopped them. "Toby and Jessica were acting very strangely earlier." he commented, climbing onto Lucas' shoulder.
"Yeah, they seemed more worried about staring at each other than helping out." Lucas mused thoughtfully.
"True, but, earlier on, well, I can't say for sure but I could have sworn they almost kissed." Razzle informed them casually.
There was a stunned pause before they both yelled, "What?" Their eyes widened in shock as they gave each other disbelieving glances.
"Wait a second...almost kissed?" Nick questioned the small dinosaur.
Razzle nodded. "I'm not sure why, but Toby pulled back. He didn't look too happy about it, though. Neither did Jessica, if I'm honest."
The two boys looked at each other, feeling incredibly stupid. Now that they came to think about it, the likelihood of Toby and Jessica being in love seemed increasingly likely. They both wondered how they could have missed the signs.
Elsewhere, Jessica couldn't stop thinking about how she had almost been kissed. Frighteningly, she wanted it so badly that it caused an ache in her chest. She remembered a time when she had asked Gina for advice about her perfect guy and her friend told her she had already found him but refused to say who. I know who my perfect guy is now. It's just a shame he doesn't feel the same way, she thought miserably.
Toby sat, some distance from her, his eyes never leaving her. He remembered a time when Nick and Lucas had teased him about being in love with Jessica and just not having realized it. I know how I feel about you now. I just wish I knew how you felt about me, he thought sadly.
Before either of them was aware of what they were doing, they found themselves moving toward each other as though they were magnets attracting one another. They didn't know why they suddenly felt the urge to move but they did so anyway.
In no time at all, they stood in front of each other, their gazes locked. Jessica looked at him, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. As Toby opened his mouth to say something, she gathered all her courage and kissed him. Yes, she kissed him. It happened so suddenly that all he could do was stand there, stunned, thoughts of her rushing around in his head. After a few moments, she started to pull back, noticing that he was not reciprocating.
It took a while but Toby finally managed to get his body to cooperate with his want. As she started to move away, he reached out and grabbed hold of her, pulling her toward him, before kissing her back, no longer restrained by the doubt of not knowing how she felt. Jessica noted that he was just as good at kissing as he was at hugging; the kiss was loving, passionate, gentle and breathtaking all at once and she wished it would never end.
After what seemed like an eternity but, in reality, was only a few minutes, they broke apart, smiling giddily. Toby was the first to speak. "I don't know why I waited so long to tell you this but I love you, Jess." he confessed.
Jessica bounced up and down with excitement, feeling as though she couldn't be happier. "I love you too. I would have told you sooner but I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same!"
Toby moved forward and hugged her again. "That's exactly what I was afraid of!" She hugged him back, leaning her head against him, and they both knew they didn't need to be afraid anymore. They knew they had each other and, at that moment, that was all that mattered.
Neither of them noticed that Nick, Lucas and Razzle were carefully hidden in the doorway and had seen/heard the whole thing. "About time, don't you think?" Lucas whispered.
"I guess it was only inevitable." Nick whispered back, smiling at the young couple. He was pleased that they had finally found happiness, even if it had taken them a while to admit it. "We both knew it would happen eventually."
Toby and Jessica continued to hold each other, completely oblivious to their audience. From the moment they had met, they knew that it was inevitable that something would happen between them. They realized now that their love had been inevitable and they wanted to stay by each other's sides as long as they both lived.