Title: Learning To Hunt
Chapter: Section 16
Fandom: The Tribe
Author: PinkTribeChick
Summary: Sometimes, love is just right under your nose . . .
Extended Summary: An alternate-universe Series 4 romance story, from the point of view of Pride, Jack, and an original female character.

Rating: Teen
Pairing: Jack-Original Female Fiction Character, Pride-Original Female Fiction Character, Jack-Ellie, and Bray-Amber, with a few mentions of other pairings.
Author's Notes: Massive thanks to Ariannya and Whit for their thoughts and proofreading on various sections over the years! Enjoy, and please review! Feedback is much appreciated!

Disclaimer: All characters, situations, and song lyrics remain the property of their respective owners. Any original characters are sole property of me, PinkTribeChick.

Learning To Hunt

Section 16

Liliana sat in the window seat in her room, sipping on a cup of hot chicken broth. She watched the wind as it rippled through the lush, tall grass of the meadow that was next to the Gaian cabin. The Gaian cabin was situated in an unusual part of the woods, the cabin and the meadow both being completely shrouded from the outside by trees and other greenery. To the naked eye, it could not be easily found. But to someone who knew it was there - it was obvious. It made for a safe home for the tribe, and they'd finally been able to stop moving from place to place all the time.

Trudy had offered to take care of Samuel for the night, let him have a play with Brady, and Liliana had readily agreed, even though she suspected Amber had asked Trudy to do it. She was tired and cross, and she just plain needed a little time to herself. Her revelations about Samuel and Pride earlier had left her emotionally drained and feeling somewhat numb. She was in no mood to speak with anyone, let alone take care of her son.

As Liliana sipped on the broth, thoughts of her angry outburst toward Amber filled her mind. She felt bad about it. Amber was just trying to help, as she always did. Liliana had just been living alone with her secrets for so long, she didn't think anyone would ever understand them. It was a complicated situation, and one that made little sense to her anyway. Why had Pride said the things he'd said to her that night? Had he really meant them? Or had it just been the alcohol talking? He'd said "I love you" to her so many times that night, she had just assumed it was true. And that he would remember what had happened. But he hadn't - and that stung. "I had a great time with you at the party Saturday. A really great time," she'd said to him a few days later, hoping that maybe would get him talking about what had transpired between them. He'd just looked at her like she was an alien.

What had never really made any sense to her was why her parents had sent her away when they found out she was pregnant. It was as though they were living back in the Fifties, and an unmarried girl getting pregnant was still uncommon and taboo, some dark secret to hide away from the world. Her parents had treated her like a leper after that - they wouldn't touch her or hug her, they seldomly spoke to her, and they wouldn't let her out of the house alone or have any visitors. She'd been so angry, yet relieved at the same time, when they shipped her off to her grandmother's, under the falsehood that she going to be a foreign exchange student for two school terms. Atleast at her grandmother's she was free, and Ge-ge was totally understanding. Ge-ge loved her anyway - baby or no baby. It had been nice.

The wind started to blow a little harder as the skies grew dark outside. Rain was coming. Liliana had always liked rain. There was something comforting in the sound of rain on the roof. It reminded Liliana of . . .

Liliana's train of thought was broken as someone knocked on the closed door to her room. Gently putting down her cup, she got up from her seat at the window and walked over to the door. She opened the door about a fourth of the way, looking out into the hall to see Jack pacing nervously. She rolled her eyes and laughed silently a little. Jack looked up to see her staring at him with an amused twinkle in her eye. He grinned and ran a hand through his hair, unable to speak, though he'd been planning his speech to her all day long. Thunder rumbled in the distance, causing a flash of light through the windows in Liliana's room.

"Hi," she said finally, after what seemed like forever to him. Her voice was soft and vulnerable sounding. She was wearing a white cotton nightgown and had a blanket around her shoulders, making her look tired and weak, but simply beautiful. She was barefoot and her hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders. She opened the door a little more, leaning against the doorframe as they watched each other carefully.

"Hi," he managed to squeak out, with a little wave of his hand. Then he ran it through his hair again, drawing a shaky breath. He started to pace again, the butterflies in his stomach feeling more like large winged dragons thrashing about. He ultimately decided to just lay it on the line and spit it out. "Look . . . Liliana . . ."

"Yes?" she said in her quiet tone. He stopped pacing and gazed at her. She was looking at him attentively. He spoke again.

"The thing is . . . I really like you. I mean . . . really, really like you," he began, speaking quickly, afraid that she might slam the door in his face. "And I'm sorry if I said something to offend you last night, 'cause I didn't mean to. It's just . . . you always seem like something's bothering you . . . like you've got some deep, dark secret you're hiding, and you're scared no one would ever love you if they knew your secret. And that's just it - I don't really care what your secret is or what your past is . . . nothing like that matters to me. I know it's important to you, and you'll tell me what you want me to know, but I'm not going to push. And I'll care about you no matter what you tell me. You can trust me, Liliana. I won't go blab to anyone else or think any less of you for the things you've done in the past. You can always trust me. And I just . . . really wanted you to know that." He was out of breath now. She just stared at him silently, looking somewhat bewildered. "I'll leave you alone now that I've made a total jackass of myself." He turned and moved to leave. Tears filled Liliana's eyes as she opened the door completely and stepped out into the hallway.

"Jack . . . I do trust you. I never said I didn't," she responded, her voice cracking. Jack stopped and turned to face her again, astonished. "And I wasn't angry with you. You didn't say anything wrong. I was just embarrassed by how I behaved last night. I've just . . . been living with my secrets for so long, not telling anyone, that I was having a little trouble opening up to you. It was nothing to do with you really - I would have had trouble opening up about it all to anyone. You just happened to be the first one to ever take the time to ask or understand." She shuffled over to Jack and put her arms around him, burying her head in his chest as though she were a young child afraid of the dark and longing to cling to their mother or father. Jack smiled, accepting her embrace and holding her close to him as she cried. He smoothed the hair on the top of her head gently, then kissed it.

"I meant what I said, Lili. I really do like you a lot. And you can trust me," he told her soothingly. She looked up at him, smiling slightly.

"I like you a lot, too, Jack," she said. She put a hand to his cheek, and leaning up on tiptoe, she kissed him gently. Jack kissed her back, pulling her a little closer to him. Her hand moved to the back of his neck as they continued to kiss.

That's all for now, folks! Thanks again for reading, now please go and tell me what you thought of what you read! I love reviews – they keep me going! Toodles until later . . .