A/N: Say hello to Chapter 5, part deux! And not really a cliffhanger, either (after all, the readers know the answer to the end question). I hope everyone likes this! I just wrote a really funny chapter, if that's any…consolation? (well, that's not the right word.) but of course, I'm like a billion chapters ahead. But just so you know…it's pretty damn funny.

I blame my incoherence on the time (EST).

…kbye!

Disclaimer: Don't own it!

"Hi to you too, Dad," she said, aiming for normal conversation while she thought up a nice lie to cover where she has been all day.

"We just got home and we expected you to be there to greet us," Stuart said amicably and Jude let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Her dad didn't sound upset, if anything, he sounded downright cheery.

"Oh, about that – movie fest at Jaaaaaa-Jessica's tonight," Jude bit her lip, hoping her dad didn't catch her slip. She almost said Jamie's name, but then realized that using the neighbor and ex-boyfriend was probably not the most foolproof plan there was.

"Oh, who's Jessica?" Her father sounded distracted, and Jude thought she heard him talking to Sadie while waiting for her answer.

"Just a friend," she answered cryptically, knowing that under normal circumstances, her father wouldn't accept that as an answer.

"Oh, that's nice, sweetie," he said distractedly. There was a shuffle, and then Sadie's voice came on the line.

"Jude, are you almost done? We found a really great venue, that even had an opening for the 5th! But now I have lots of color swatches to go through for the table décor and stuff. I was hoping you could go through them with me. I only have about….80 or so."

To Sadie, color swatches meant dreams were coming true. To Jude, it meant a waste of a Friday night, and possible suicide watch. That much time with that much crazy Sadie? Not going to happen in any not-so-distant future that Jude's involved in.

"You know, Sadie, things are sort of just picking up around here," she turned the music up on the TV as a movie trailer with a party scene came on. Faux screams and hollers echoed through Tommy's apartment. "I'm sure you remember what a party was, right?"

Jude knew she was pushing Sadie's buttons, but that was Sadie's biggest fear: getting married, growing up, and forgetting how awesome her younger self was. Vain? Maybe. Sadie-like? Definitely.

"Of course, silly!" Sadie's voice all of a sudden was perky and slightly conspiratorial. "Make sure you have tons of juicy stories to tell me when you get back!"

If only she knew, Jude thought wryly.

"Okay," Jude stage whispered back. "I'm going to go flirt with a cute boy, so I'll talk to you later." Jude rolled her eyes at herself.

"Aw, okay!" Sadie lowered her voice to a whisper as well. "I'll cover for you with Dad. Don't worry about coming home tonight, just have tons of fun, okay?"

"…'kay." Jude ignored the fact that she was over 18 and didn't actually need to clear her schedule through her father anymore.

Just what Jude wanted – her sister to live vicariously through her crazy, chaotic life. She hung up and heaved a sigh.

Guess it's one more night in the Casa de Quincy.

- - - -

Jude spent the rest of the evening finishing up the Bourne series and managing to get through all of The Fellowship of the Ring and partly through The Two Towers before she had to accept defeat and make her way to Tommy's bed.

She felt sort of bittersweet about the entire ordeal. It was weird being at Tommy's place – weird, but nice. She felt at home there, surrounded by his scent and his belongings and his personality. But she felt somewhat guilty for being there without him there, and more than a little sad that her first time seeing his place involved her hiding out there, and not even being invited. She had always thought that when she saw Tommy's place, it'd be because he wanted her to. It was opening up an entirely different side of him, and she wanted him to be the one that initiated that. Showing her his home signified trust and friendship, and it wasn't as if their relationship lacked that, it was just…

Ugh, Jude thought, I need to go to bed and stop overanalyzing Tommy and I. There aren't words needed. We can't be described. We are one thing, and one thing only: Jude and Tommy. Leave it at that, Harrison, and no one gets hurt.

After silently reprimanding herself, she abashedly sprayed a shot of his cologne on his pillow, refreshing it in her mind, although she was sure she'd smell him for weeks following this, and told herself to go to bed, because tomorrow morning she would have to leave.

3:17 A.M.

That's what the digital bedside clock read when Jude opened her eyes.

Why am I awake? She wondered blearily.

"Well, this is interesting."

Jude sat up stock straight in bed, looking at a tired, but albeit amused, Tommy Quincy.

"Tommy," her voice was husky from sleep and he cocked an eyebrow at her. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Tommy, what are you doing here?"

"I…live here. Alone, or at least I thought." His face wasn't giving away any emotions, but he didn't seem too angry…yet.

"About that, yeah…" Jude fumbled for words in her hazy mind, trying to comprehend the entire situation, but failing spectacularly.

"And you are…?" He waited patiently for an answer.

"I'm, uh. Hmmm. I'm just, uh. Well, you see, I'm…" Jude squinched her eyes shut, hoping for the right words to just come to her.

"Just here playing Goldilocks?"

One eye popped open.

"You talked to Chaz."

Tommy nodded, a smile playing on his lips.

"When?" She asked curiously. She realized she wasn't exactly in a position to be asking questions, but she had to know if he knew he'd be coming home to her in his bed.

"About 10 minutes ago, when I found you. In my bed." As if Jude missed that. "I asked what you were doing and all he told me was, 'Oh, that's Goldilocks. She'll explain her crazy shit.'" Jude laughed out loud at Tommy's impersonation of a sleepy and/or drunk Chaz. It was spot on.

"It is pretty crazy," she said in a small voice, hoping to alleviate any anger Tommy felt towards her invading his personal space.

"Whatever it is," Tommy said as he dropped a duffel bag in his hands and started pulling off his jacket and t-shirt. "It can wait 'til morning."

Jude sat in the bed, unmoving, as Tommy moved around his room with ease. She felt incredibly self-conscious and wished she hadn't foregone the sweat pants tonight. She couldn't help it though – Tommy had like, a thousand-thread count sheets. They were amazing. Tommy pulled off his pants, leaving himself in plain black boxers and he proceeded to crawl into the bed, the moonlight creating the only light in the room, casting a soft glow on Jude's milky skin.

"Tommy?" Jude was still sitting up as Tommy was shifting around under the covers right next to her, his legs touching her bare ones more than once.

"Jude, it's 3 a.m. I haven't gotten more than 4 hours of sleep in the past 2 days. I'm tired, you're tired, and, once more, it's 3 a.m. You can tell me about your escapades in the morning. Right now, let's just sleep."

"It's not an esca-" Jude bit her lip mid-sentence. She closed her eyes.

You can do this, Harrison. Just lie down, and go to bed, feeling all safe and contented like you did last night, and were doing previously. Just pretend he's not there.

"Okay," she whispered, lying back down next to Tommy. She could practically feel the heat radiating off his skin. She lay there, stiff as a board, as Tommy fidgeted.

"I thought you were tired?" She whispered in the dark after three more minutes of constant motion from the man next to her.

"I am," he sighed sleepily. "I'm just not used to sleeping on this side is all."

"I can sleep on the couch-" Jude suggested as she got up to leave the bed.

"Stay, Harrison," he gruffly commanded as he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back to the bed. "Stay."

And Tommy stopped fidgeting and fell asleep in no time with an arm securely pinning Jude to the bed. Jude was awake a little longer, thinking of little else but his arm across her abdomen, his fingers splayed on her hip bone, the t-shirt riding up dangerously.

Finally, she slid over two inches closer to Tommy (after all, he had claimed the cologne-sprayed pillow) and took a deep breath. Willing herself to go to sleep, she closed her eyes and let exhaustion claim her.

- - - -

Jude lay awake in the morning for close to an hour without waking Tommy. Later, she would claim that this was because she didn't know how to handle the questions he would ask, or she was afraid he'd be mad at him. However, at that moment, Jude just basked in the feelings she was experiencing.

Sunlight warmed the foot of the bed, creeping up slowly. Both Jude and Tommy lay on their stomachs, although no space separated them in the clear light of day. Half of Tommy's body lay practically atop Jude, her shoulder tucked underneath his body and their legs entwined. Jude's shirt had ridden up to just under her chest, and Tommy's hand was splayed high on her side – if he just wiggled his fingers an inch or so, he'd get to first base. Jude felt warm and contented, and had to laugh at the thought of Tommy being such a sleep snuggler. That and the fact that they only took up approximately one fifth of his king size bed.

So she lay there, enjoying herself. Trying not to think of anything, except the sensations he was eliciting in her. She'd tamp them down later, but with Tommy asleep and none the wiser, she would allow herself that.

She knew the moment Tommy woke up. It was gradual, a soft shift in breathing first, then a slight stretch of his arm, then the rigid halt of him noticing that his hand was on her soft skin.

Jude expected him to jerk back or fall off the bed (okay, so maybe she was hoping for the latter), but she was pleasantly surprised when she felt him leisurely slide his hand across her back, rubbing gently.

"Morning," his gruff voice came from above her head.

"Mmm," Jude mumbled, rolling onto her back away from him, mourning the loss of his warmth.

"Not how I pictured my first morning back, but this is good," Tommy smirked at Jude, his rough voice causing her insides to melt.

"Well, it isn't how I pictured my morning, either. You scared the crap out of me last night," Jude said, trying to cover the arousal she was feeling.

"Yeah, 'cause coming home to beautiful blondes in my bed is the norm for me, too," Tommy shot back somewhat sarcastically. He waited for a smartass comeback from Jude but all he saw was her looking at his sheets somewhat nervously.

"I wasn't serious!" He cried incredulously when he realized what she was thinking. "In fact, girl, you're the only woman who's even been up here."

"Yeah, right, Tommy," Jude said, but she did relax back into the sheets, burrowing in.

"I'm serious," Tommy insisted, propping his head up on his hand, "I haven't lived here for that long, but you're the only woman that has seen the inside of this place."

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you lived here?" Jude clarified.

"Oh, about a year or so," Tommy flopped onto his back, too, the space between them becoming sparse.

"I'm sorry," Jude said quietly after a minute of silence.

"For what?" He asked, just as quiet.

"For coming here."

"What? Why?" He felt panic race through his veins for unknown reasons. What does that mean, he thought worriedly.

"I just mean obviously you want your privacy, and I completely disregarded that for my own…needs. And I'm sorry." Tommy was looking at her with a confused and somewhat hurt look, and Jude felt the need to justify her words. "I mean, it's not like you invited me or anything."

"Girl, I would've invited you sooner or later. I'm not mad that you're here, and you shouldn't be, either. But I would like to know why you're here."

Jude sat up slowly at this, and Tommy followed suit. She pushed herself up against the backboard, in front of Tommy as he turned to look at her.

"Don't be mad at me," she forewarned.

"Girl," Tommy sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Did you get yourself into trouble?"

"Well…not so much trouble, but let's just say I didn't take my spidey sense seriously."

Tommy's hand fell to the bed and he was looking at Jude with a concerned look plastered across his face.

"What happened?"