Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the wonderful Instant Star.

A/N: This is my first fic. Just got some inspiration while I was rewatching the second season of Instant Star, wrote it up, and we'll see where it goes from here if you guys like it. Soo, here we go.

The Look You Save for Me

Jude was wearing blue pajama pants with a white tank top and a black hoodie, her hair pulled back into a careless ponytail. She was sitting in front of G-Major, her arms crossed over her knees, waiting for Tommy. Her guitar and bag were on the ground on either side of her. It was cold and dark. Tommy better get there soon. She was feeling inspired, but she didn't want to let it out and onto paper until they were inside, where she could let all of her emotions flow freely and without interruption.

When he finally did pull into the parking lot, Jude stood up and crossed her arms over her chest for warmth. She watched him get out of his car and almost laughed out loud.

"So that's what your hair looks like without all that gel... Huh." She said as he came closer, standing up on her toes as he walked by so she could see his hair better.

"Let's just get to work," he said tiredly. Once his back was turned, he let his lips turn upward in a slight smile.

She continued as if he hadn't said anything, grinning. "What is this weird thing..." she reached up to touch his hair but he pulled away as soon as he felt her hand. "There's-" she fake gasped, "oh my goodness, there's a hair sticking up! Are you okay? A hair out of place for Tom Quincy is like-"

"You're the one who woke me up. And your hair isn't exactly picture-perfect." Tommy unlocked the front door and pushed it open.

"Cheer up, Tommy. I brought you Twizzlers," she said with a grin, digging into her bag and pulling out an unopened bag of his favorite candy. She tossed it to him and he caught it casually, looking down at them. He finally cracked and she saw him smile. "Ohh, see, I knew I could get you to stop being grouchy. Making you leave your house without perfectly gelled hair is now officially worth it."

Tommy looked up at her and then nodded his head in the direction of the open room to his left. "So, Harrison. We have all of G-Major to ourselves. Which studio do you want to use?"

Tommy held the door open for Jude. She stepped in, glancing at his hair and giggling one last time as she passed by him. When she turned around, she was all business. "None of them." Tommy didn't move from the doorway as he stared at her, waiting for her to give an explanation.

"Uh, it's midnight and you woke me up just to play around in G-Major?"

"It's midnight and I woke you up so that you could help me write a song," she pulled him inside by the hand and released it when the door shut behind him. "I need – ah, no," she said as he moved to turn on the lights. "No lights." She held up her bag. "I brought candles."

He froze with his hand outstretched to the light switches and turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "And we are going old-fashioned all of a sudden because...?"

"I just... need something new – different – for my album. I'm tired of the same sounds and words and feelings. And, in order to change my songs, I have to change my inspiration. So I need new inspiration." She paused, seeing Tommy's face. "Well, either that, or I hold us in here until I finish a new song that I'm happy with." She set her guitar case down on the floor and pulled out a few candles from her bag. Tommy slowly followed Jude farther into G-Major while she put candles down on different surfaces and lit them.

They were both quiet for a minute. Tommy was the first to break the silence. "So... why here, without lights and with me, for a change of inspiration?" He opened the bag of Twizzlers and pulled one out.

"I don't know," she replied, moving up the stairs. "It just felt right."

"Glad to know you really thought this through before you called," he said sarcastically. He stopped following her to make his way through the dark to the kitchen for a drink.

"My plan's already working, Quincy. I have an idea for this new song!" she yelled after him, not turning around. She went into the sound booth nearest her and felt around to find her journal in the corner where she left it earlier that night. Journal and bag in hand, she carefully made her way back downstairs. When she didn't see Tommy anywhere, she called, "Marco?"

"I'm in the kitchen," came the tired response.

"The correct response is "Polo," Quincy. Though I'm not surprised that you don't know how to play games..."

"Well shucks," he glanced at Jude as she came closer, "you found me, so I guess I can't say it now." He handed her one of the two glasses he was holding.

"Why thank you." They clinked their glasses together and each took a sip.

"So Harrison, tell me about this song of yours," he said after he swallowed.

"Nope," she said, turning around. "I want it to be a surprise."

Tommy followed her closely, his hands in the air at his side. "Why exactly am I here then?"

"If I told you, your ego would leave no room for me to work." She turned around briefly and, seeing the look on his face, said, "You'll see soon enough. Keep your pants on, Quincy."

Jude was taking turns scribbling and crossing out lines in her journal. For the past hour, she'd been doing more crossing out than scribbling and she was in need of a break. The idea that she'd gotten while sitting in front of G-Major had turned into several full journal pages, but she still needed a few more lines before her song was complete. She sighed, gave the journal a final tap with the tip of her pen before placing it between the two open pages, and glanced over at Tommy.

Jude was laying on her stomach, her elbows propping her up. Tommy was on his back next to her, asleep, with an empty bag of Twizzlers at his other side. He'd been sleeping for the past four hours. They'd been there for four and a half.

In the last few hours, she had wandered through G-Major with the light of her cellphone to guide her, sat in Studio A strumming her guitar, paced in Studio B singing what she'd written so far, and gotten herself something to drink from the kitchen multiple times. In between, she'd sat next to Tommy in various positions until she got restless and needed to move around.

She decided it was time to walk around again.

She smiled widely at Tommy's sleeping form and scooted closer so that she could touch his gelless hair, something she was sure she'd never get the chance to do again. Why not take advantage of it? She was trying not to laugh at the pieces that were sticking up when she smelled the faint cologne he still had on from earlier.

How good he smelled had sobered her up, and made her want to be closer to him. She idly ran her fingers through his hair, her smile fading. He smells so good... After a moment of inner debate, she leaned down to kiss his cheek softly. Shepulled away and bit her bottom lip. Giving a single self-assuring nod, she started to get up from the floor.

Tommy, still half asleep, rolled from his back to his side and wrapped his arm around Jude, pulling her body to him. "Don't leave," he mumbled. She fell next to him and her eyes snapped to his face. His eyes were still closed. He was sleeping. Not knowing what to do, she looked up ahead of her, eyes wide. She'd just wait it out. Eventually he'll just fall back into deep sleep and I'll just get up and leave, and everything will be cool. No weirdness. He won't even know, she thought, trying to stop her inner freak-out.

Tommy woke up as soon as her body touched his, and the first thing he became aware of was her skin under his fingers. He winced, thinking it was another one-night stand who had overstayed her welcome.

But he went to bed alone last night. And that was not a bed he was laying on. And he hadn't taken some groupie slut home in years. Fuck. Remembering last night but hoping he was wrong, he opened one eye just enough to see out of it and saw Jude. Her head was turned away from him, so he couldn't see her face. He quickly shut his eye before she saw him and inwardly groaned. What the hell am I going to do?

His instincts told him to let her know he was awake and just apologize and let it all end, but he couldn't go through another conversation with her about things that should have never happened. He was tired of being the responsible one and her being the one who was always hurt and pissed. It would be better to just avoid the conversation all together.

After a while, Jude felt his breathing slow down and figured he'd fallen completely back to sleep. She awkwardly and carefully shifted her body so she could pull his arm from around her, and he let her, his arm going as limp as he could manage while the rest of his body remained tense. She watched his face carefully as she got up, then stood and ran her fingers through her hair, breathing deeply.

Tommy listened to her footsteps until they faded away, and then let out the air he was holding in, rolling over onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. He ran his hands down his face while he tried to think things through. Despite the sick feeling he had in his stomach, he felt good about his decision to stay "sleeping." Much less messy and much less emotional. And much less dangerous.

He glanced at his watch then stood up and went to find Jude. He saw the door to the alley propped open with a box and her journal on the floor by the doorway. Taking a deep breath, he held the door with one hand, then stepped over the box and went through the opening. He brought his arm up to shield his eyes from the light in the alleyway and saw Jude pacing with one hand in her wet hair. She let her hand fall when she turned and saw Tommy standing there.

Oh boy, Jude thought, slightly panicky. He'd been sleeping. Now he was awake. Why?

Tommy slowly walked towards Jude, his hands in his pockets. He swallowed, trying to play it cool. She was doing the same. "It's raining, Harrison. What are you doing out here?"

She stopped in front of him, leaning one shoulder against the wall. "Just needed to get some air. I can't get the ending to my song right... Everything else is perfect, it's just the ending I'm stuck on."

"So I guess this is where I come in, huh?" Tommy asked, his lips turning up into a half smile.

"Yep, this is why I needed you here. I knew I'd have trouble with some part of this song. Now make yourself useful, Quincy." She smiled up at him as he took another couple of steps towards her. He leaned against the wall right next to her, his back against it. "Plus, you're always the one who comes in and saves me when I'm in trouble."

At this, he slowly turned his head and looked into her eyes. "You don't need saving, Jude. You never have," he shook his head. "You just need someone to help you vocalize what you're feeling. Look inside yourself."

"I've been trying, and I can't come up with anything. Everything that was inside me is on paper... What I need for the ending isn't in me." She took a deep breath then let her head fall back against the wall, her back following. Tommy moved to face her, still leaning against the wall.

"Well, what's the song about?"

She bit her lip and thought of how to say it. "Well..." she looked over at him, "this guy and this girl, they just click... they get each other. She feels like he's it, you know, he's great, and is more than she could ever hope for." Tommy's heart skipped a beat and his stomach fell. His mind flashed back to his arm around Jude and the feeling of her body against his, and he felt warm for a brief second before her voice pulled him back to reality. He looked away from her. "But they have a problem. And the girl needs to know if he's willing to take it on, or..." she glanced down at the ground. "if he's not. She's ready. She's been ready. But is he?"

She knew that he was aware that the song was about him. The look on his face told her, as if she didn't already know. It was so obvious.

She shifted to face him, the new position putting their faces just inches apart. He instantly turned his head to face her again.

"Maybe," he glanced down at her lips, then forced his eyes back to hers, "this problem is just bigger than the two of them. Maybe he is ready, but he also knows the consequences for both of them if..." He swallowed hard, cutting himself short.

"If what, Tommy?" she asked softly, her voice barely audible.

He shifted his weight but stayed against the wall, face to face with Jude, and cleared his throat before speaking. "If they break the rules. Maybe he feels like he's protecting her."

"The girl, she doesn't need protecting," Jude said, shaking her head. "She just needs him."

Tommy opened his mouth slightly but didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't talk about them as if they were other people anymore. And she couldn't pretend either.

She put her hands on either side of his face gently and looked up into his eyes. Meeting no resistance from Tommy, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. As soon as he felt her lips on his, his arms wrapped around her lower back like before, inside G-Major. Their eyes closed, and they both slowly pulled away from the wall. His tongue slid along her bottom lip, causing her to moan softly against his mouth. Their lips parted, they looked into each other's eyes, and he whispered a, "God..." before gently pushing her back against the wall, the sound she made driving him crazy.

"Tommy..." One of her hands moved to the back of his neck to pull his lips back to hers.

He hadn't pulled away. In fact, he'd put her between himself and the wall and kissed her with all of the feelings for her that he had. This wasn't the ending that she was expecting. She came here tonight knowing – thinking – that she would be rejected, and she was prepared to accept that. She wasn't prepared for this, but she was improvising – quite nicely, if you ask her.

When it came to the girl, the guy just couldn't help giving into her, even if it was only for a few seconds.

He'd let his guard down – again. And he'd loved every second of it. He hadn't ever felt this good. And that's what both scared him and brought him back into reality.

She felt him pulling away slowly, and she could have laughed at how familiar it felt and how unsurprised she was. Making the last few seconds count, she pulled him closer and kissed him with all of the feelings she had for him. She was letting them all go. She was saying goodbye. And with that, she let him pull away, and fell back against the wall as well.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at her face, trying to read it despite being sure of how she felt, but her eyes were still closed and her head was down. She didn't look pained or upset; he wasn't sure exactly how she looked. He inhaled deeply, the unknown being worse than the known. The role he hadn't wanted to play earlier was now forced onto him; he had to be the responsible one. "Jude... We-" He wasn't expecting her to take some of the responsibility off his hands by removing the need for it all together.

"I know the ending to my song now," she said softly, opening her eyes and looking up at him underneath her blonde bangs. "That's all I care about."

Tommy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, taken aback by the feeling of hurt that washed over him. It was hard being on the other end of this conversation. "And us?" Did she still care about them, even if their "us" was nonexistent for now?

"My album is all that I'm choosing to care about." He nodded slowly in understanding. "I've accepted," she looked at the ground, "that you're not going to let me in. And that," she was choosing her words carefully, "you're not going to be anything but my producer, and that after this album, you won't even be that..." Her eyes moved back to his. He was just staring at her, his head tilted to the side, listening. The sick feeling from the earlier awkward situation had carried over to this awkward situation, and he didn't have any words. "Right?"

Whatever his answer would be, she would be prepared. She'd spent the entirety of her tour thinking about it, and knowing that this was the right thing. He would keep pushing her away and pushing her away, and she was better than some girl who would sit there waiting for years for a guy who wasn't ever going to be hers. She had the ending to her song. Now she was looking for the ending to whatever there was between them, whether it was the end of any chance of them or the end of the dance they'd been doing since her sixteenth birthday. She just needed some sort of ending. She knew what it was. But she needed to hear it. From Tommy. Because he was always the one who could put into words what she couldn't. And that's what gave the girl and the guy such a strong connection.

He swallowed and stared into her eyes, setting his jaw. He slowly slid his hands from her lower back to her hips and let them pause there, while he thought just for a moment about kissing her again and telling her she was wrong. But this was his out. All he had to do to put an end to this was tell her she was right. One word. He could do it. Right?

He dropped his hands from her waist and took a step back. At his movement, her fingertips slid down either side of his face until they fell to her sides.

"Right."