Hey guys, please enjoy!

So as it turned out, Mrs Jock, wasn't Mrs Jock. She was Queen Jock, no she was Her Majesty Jock, Queen of all that it is good and fair. Mara sat on the solid gold, and surprisingly comfortable sofa, with Jerome and Poppy of either side of her.

The tree trunk had taken them into a palace, and Mara had summed everything up, into some sort of hallucination.

"Last time I eat cheese before bed," she hummed to herself

"Unfortunately, it's not all fun and games here my lovlies," Mrs Jock warned as she took a seat opposite them "The nectars, they want war,"

"War?" Poppy exclaimed, "Against you? Again? Mrs Jock-"

"Poppy." Jerome warned, and there was a sense of authority in his voice, one that Mara had only heard when he was ordering Alfie to do something deadly serious. Poppy fell silent without a word. "Mrs Jock, why?"

"They believe I am wasteful of all I have," she sighed, tucking some gray hair behind her ear

"Well, we are sitting on a pure gold sofa," Mara reminded hesitantly. All eyes flashed to her

"Whose side are you going to be fighting on?" Jerome asked, turning so his body was facing hers

"Fighting? I'm not fighting anyone!"

"Not a great time to be neutral Mara, there are people who need you," Poppy spoke wistfully.

"Guys, you're not serious? We're fighting? Fighting who? What if we get killed?"

"A Queen's life doesn't depend on that," Mrs Jock stood.

"A Queens life is meant to be easy! Flowery gowns, big parties, no big responsibilities, you don't see the Queen of England prancing about in a war!"

"I thought you were dating Mara, not Amber," Mrs Jock whispered to Jerome cheekily.

"What?" Mara's cheeks burned, she turned to Jerome "What? How does she know about Amber? About me? Where are we? What is she?"

"She's not normally like this," Poppy tried to exclaim, holding Mara's arm.

"Mara," Jerome began tiredly "Let's face facts, okay? There's a war, and we're fighting in it."

"That's preposterous!"

"Mara." They all said together, Mara looked at each of them carefully, before sighing and slumping her shoulders.

"I guess, but you're all mad."

"Brilliant, Jerome, you would be the main fighter on our team. Here," Mrs Jock handed him a heavy box. Jerome smiled gratefully. They bid their farewells and headed home.

Line Break

"Jerome?" Mara knocked on his door, it was around 10:30pm, and everyone else was in their rooms. She wondered if Jerome was even awake, but he was Jerome. He broke every rule there was, why wouldn't he break this one?

She pushed the door open, not waiting for an answer, that's what everyone else in the house seemed to do anyway.

She stifled a gasp at what she saw. Jerome was standing in front of her, wearing a suit of silver armour. He had a bright sword in its sheath, with a blue bejewelled handle. His face was covered with a mask, but she could make out his eyes.

"Jerome?" she breathed, closing the door quickly so no one would see. The figure removed the mask, showing Jerome's face. He gave her a lop sided smile. "I could have had a heart attack," she accused, moving towards him.

He placed the mask back into the box "What are you doing up so late Jaffrey?"

"Couldn't sleep," she shrugged, sitting on his bed. He sat beside her, armour rustling slightly.

"Me neither," he admitted. Mara turned to him and smiled

"You know, it's not a bad look. You all dressed up," she leaned over and swept his hair over to the side "Not bad at all,"

Jerome laughed lightly "Am I ever a 'bad look'?"

"No," and she kissed him lightly. Normally Jerome would just settle for a light kiss, because he knew that's what Mara would be comfortable with, but he skimmed his tongue against her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth, granting him access. Her hands, wove themselves into his soft hair, before she leaned away. "Sorry," she looked down "Don't be mad,"

"I'm not mad," he leaned over and wrapped and arm around her, watching as she laid her head on his shoulder "I'm still kinda thrilled you let me touch you at all,"

Mara smiled "I'm just not…I want to take things slow,"

"You set the pace,"

"You sure you're not mad?" she asked peeking up at him

"At you Jaffrey? Impossible,"

There was a knock on the door and Mara froze, expecting the worse, she surprised herself by doing a back flip and ducking under the bed.

"One minute," Jerome called shakily, removing the armour quickly, hiding it in his wardrobe, revealing his red pyjama shirt and pale trousers beneath. He sat back on the bed "Come in," he coughed.

John walked into the room slightly flustered "Jerome," he nodded "Mind if I sit?"

"Uh, sure," Jerome moved over and John sat beside him on the bed. It was silent for a moment "So, what is it, you want to talk about?"

"Oh yes," John stuttered "Well, you see," he rubbed the back of his neck "You and Mara, you're pretty serious, aren't you?"

"Yeah.." Jerome trailed off, uncomfortable and even more uncomfortable with the thought that Mara was just under the bed, listening.

"You're always talking about her, how pretty she is, how clever and-"

"Yeah." Jerome cut him short.

"Well, I mean, you're both teenagers and teenagers are-"

"NO!" Jerome yelled standing "Please tell me you are not about to have that talk!"

"Well!" John stood to, clearly uncomfortable "If I don't, then who will?"

"I don't need to know!" Jerome cried

"What about protection?"

"UUGGHH! I know!" Jerome cried, flailing his arms about randomly

"Just checking!"

"Now you know!"

"Well I'll be off then!" and with that John walked out.

Jerome stood for a moment, shocked. Mara crawled out from under the bed, and Jerome cringed awaiting what she would say.

She cleared her throat and Jerome looked down at her "So…you're always talking about me are you?" Jerome breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her tightly

"You sound surprised,"

Mara couldn't help but smile, every time there was actual proof that Jerome really liked her, she couldn't describe the feeling that fluttered through her, but she liked it.

She liked it a lot.

Random, I know, but JARA all the way!

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