(Chapter Three, Pt Five)

Aurora heard knocking on her window. Sitting up, she stretched, yawned. It occurred to her that it was still dark out, and she growled to herself, wondering what the hell was going on. She stood and walked to the window, raising a brow when Jonathan stood there, shuffling his feet, looking torn between anger at himself for even being there, and confusion, like he didn't know what he was doing there exactly.

But the moon illuminated a new bruise, and she groaned, and quietly slid the window open, held out her hand and said quietly, "Shhh. My mama's sleepin. I'll go get you some ice to put on your face." He shook his head and then held a finger to his lips and whispered, "Can I talk to ya?"

"Jonathan?"

"Shut it, let me say this, god damn it." Jon said as he looked at her, his eyes moving over her body slowly before meeting her eyes again, as he raked his hands through his hair. " I..."

"If it's about the kiss, it's okay, Jonathan, I get it. Shhh. Let me go. I need to get you some ice." Aurora said as he shook his head no and then said "No, it.. It is about the kiss, but it's not just about it. It's about somethin else too.. Somethin that makes me so fuckin mad. I didn't want it to happen."

"What?" Aurora asked, her hand going to her dark hair, tangling in it as she stared up at him in confusion. "You okay? Did you take too hard a hit? I wish you'd stop tryin to fight all your mama's no good bastard boyfriends. I.. forget it." Aurora said quietly as she averted her eyes so he couldn't see the way they looked right now, full of worry and fear that one day, he'd stand up and play the bad ass one too many times and wind up with his ass in a sling.

"No, what were ya gonna say?" he asked her as he studied her intently. She shook her head and went to go and grab a rag, some ice and came back, sitting on a chair in front of him, holding the ice filled rag to his cheek gingerly as she winced and bit her lip. "I was gonna say, I was worried when I heard the fightin start over there. About you."

Jon looked at her, blinking. "Why?"

Aurora shrugged and then said "Because.. I don't know why, okay? What were you so damn set on wakin me up to tell me?"

He studied her a minute and muttered, "I fuckin like ya. And it fuckin irritates me, because I can't ... I'm not."

Aurora looked at him and blinked, her turn to be shocked now. She leaned in and kissed his cheek and then said quietly, "You are not some bad guy. Everyone has good in them."

"Not me, Rory."

"Jonathan, don't start that again." Aurora said quietly, as she looked at him, her hand on her hip. "I know how you are. And it's not gonna bother me, change my mind. Because.."

He looked at her, waiting.

"I.. I sorta feel the same way, but it scares me, because I haven't before." Aurora said quietly as she looked down at her hands, backing up a little bit, unsure of what was about to happen next, her heart racing because he wasn't even supposed to be sitting here, in her room, on her bed, but he was.

And the close call she'd had earlier. Now she knew why she'd fought so hard to stay, why it mattered so much to stay. And it scared the living hell out of her. It really did.

"What do ya mean?" he asked, confused as he looked at her.

"I just never really let people get to me." Aurora said quietly, sitting down next to him, keeping a little distance between them, wondering how all this worked, who made what move and when.

Jon moved closer and put his arm around her cautiously as he said quietly, "Same."

They sat there quietly for a little while and then he said "I'm gonna go back to my moms, before she finds out I'm gone, has a fuckin fit." before leaning in to kiss her, as he had earlier in the alley.

Aurora kissed back, her tongue slipping past his lips as he growled a little and pulled her closer and muttered, "I'll wait on ya tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Aurora said as she smiled at him, watched him climb out her window, letting her heart rate return to normal. She flopped back onto her bed, let her mind wrap around every single thing that'd happened in one day.

And tomorrow, she had no clue how anything would work out. Or any day beyond that, and that scared her.

( next morning)

Aurora heard him climbing into her window, and she bit her lip as he walked up behind her in the mirror, smirking. "Yeah.. I thought you said the bus stop?" she asked as she turned and looked up at him, smiled and yawned a little bit, still sleepy.

"Figured I'd meet ya here." Jon said with a smirk as he messed up her hair, earning him a growl from her. "Not cool. But it's sweet you do this. And you say you're not a good guy."

"Cause I'm not. I'm an asshole, Rory." Jon said as he studied her, wary, not sure of how to even attempt what he wanted to, with her, not sure if he'd be any good as somebody's boyfriend.

"And? I don't want a guy who pretends to be something he's not, Jonathan."

"Call me Jon."

"Okay, fine. Jon." Aurora said as she slicked on her lipgloss and studied him a moment before asking, "So.. do you do that fighting thing tonight?"

"Wrestling training you mean?" Jon asked, hiding a snicker as she stuck her tongue out and said "It's fightin."

"No it's a lot different. But yeah, I am.. Why, are ya gonna do that dancin thing again tonight?"

"Yeah.. But I thought I might come down and watch you.. Just to see what this wrestling stuff looks like... If you don't mind?"

"Nah. I don't mind." Jon said as he smirked, then walked to her window, waiting on her. "Ya ready?"

"yeah. Let's go." Aurora said quietly, grabbing her bags. They walked down towards the bus stop and from her grandfather's apartment, the man scowled as he muttered, "She's gonna make a fucking mess of her life too, just like her mom did." as he shut the blinds, shook his head, tried to figure out how to keep that very thing from happening to his granddaughter.