Tears of the Dragon

by thegeekykitty

After learning about Rose's true identity as Huntsgirl, Jake struggles with some difficult emotions. Set during the aftermath of the episode "The Ski Trip".

Tears of the Dragon

"Is this seat taken?"

Jake looked into Rose's eyes, which were pleading with him to let her sit next to him on the bus.

A heavy feeling welled up in Jake's chest as he began to feel very indecisive about what he should do. He knew the awful truth about his beloved Rose now. That she was his sworn enemy, the Huntsgirl. There was no way that he could in good conscience pursue a relationship with, let alone reveal his true dragon identity to, a girl whose apparent destiny was to slay dragons. However, he still loved her in a way. They had such a great thing going on between them for these past few months. He didn't want to just end it now.

The longer Jake looked Rose in her eyes, the more he started to be hit with every single fond memory he had with Rose. The time they first met when Jake accidentally knocked into her while skateboarding backwards. The time they danced at the Fall Dance. The time they were practicing for Antony and Cleopatra. The time he saved her from falling down the stairs. Finally, he pictured the most recent memory of where the two of them almost kissed following them putting together a snowman.

A small lump began to form in Jake's throat as each memory he had of his time with Rose hit his brain like a ton of bricks. He felt like breaking down crying right then and there. However, that was the last thing that he wanted to do while on a bus full of people. So, he held in his surging feeling of sorrow.

Jake was about to consider letting Rose sit next to him like she wanted. However, before he could utter a word to her, another memory hit his brain. A memory that he really wished had only been just a horrible nightmare but was sadly a reality. In his mind, he saw the image of Huntsgirl with her right hand uncovered. On her hand was Rose's distinct red birthmark that resembled a serpentine dragon.

"It's the mark of the Huntsclan! It assures me that I was born to do one thing: slay dragons!" Those were Huntsgirl's words to Jake. No, those were Rose's words to him.

Jake's previous sorrow and reluctance quickly transformed into anger. All of those happy memories he had with Rose previously now were poison for him. They were tainted by the knowledge that the girl he had poured out his heart and soul for was also a murderess. Not just any murderess, however. The kind that would surely kill him if she knew what he was.

Jake frowned and turned his head slightly to the side.

"Sorry... it is..." Jake said, coldly.

Rose's previous smile dropped to a stunned frown. She hadn't expected to hear him say that. However, she didn't question him on it. She could tell that he was obviously upset with her for whatever reason. With that, Rose walked in the other direction. As she walked away, Jake could see her hurt expression. He sort of felt bad for turning her away like that. However, he couldn't let that cloud his judgment. After all, a dragon like him didn't need to allow a dragon slayer like her into his life for his own safety.

After about 10 or so minutes, the school bus was en route back to New York City. Before then, Jake and Trixie had to go out looking for Spud before they left. He hadn't been on the bus moments earlier because he was still having his "relationship" with the ski lift. They found him lying on his back in the snow after having fallen off the ski lift. After helping him up, they let him know that they were going to leave soon so he had better hurry up. Luckily, Spud had "broken up with" the ski lift, and so he was more than willing to go back with them on the bus.

Throughout the trip back home, Jake sat quietly in his seat. He kept glancing in the direction of where Rose was seated. He could see her blonde hair over the bus seat just a few rows ahead of him. She was sat next to the same brown-haired girl that she often talked to around school.

Jake tried not to look in Rose's direction. He was done with her, so what good was it to continue obsessing over her? Unfortunately, within Jake, there still lingered that part of him that yearned for her.

Jake just couldn't wrap his mind around how such a sweet and friendly girl like Rose could be a part of a group as despicable as The Huntsclan. The way that Rose acted was vastly different from the way that Huntsgirl acted. The Huntsgirl Jake knew was a cold, heartless killer who remorselessly killed magical creatures without a second thought. Rose, meanwhile, was one of the kindest souls that Jake had ever known. Jake's friends had often tried to drum into his head that there's no way a girl like Rose could ever want a guy like him. After all, she was super pretty and popular; way out of his league so he'd been told. However, that had been far from the truth. Rose did indeed return Jake's feelings. She didn't care how awkward Jake was when he tried to talk to her, nor was she bothered by his incessant use of street slang. She saw that he had a kind heart and was very charming, and that was enough to let her know that Jake was the right guy for her.

Another lump started to form in Jake's throat. Additionally, the heavy feeling in his chest only got stronger. It was like his heart was ripping into two all over again. He had previously experienced this sensation last night when he pulled off Huntsgirl's glove and saw her birthmark. He thought he would be past having these feelings already. Unfortunately, they stung just as strongly as they did last night. It had only been at least 12 hours since the revelation, after all. Emotional wounds don't just subside within such a short period of time.

"Jakey? You ok?"

Jake snapped out of his thoughts. He turned to see Trixie looking at him in concern and had a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah..." Jake said sullenly. "I'm fine..."

Trixie frowned as Jake turned around. Trixie sighed and removed her hand from Jake's shoulder before slumping back into her seat.

Trixie knew that Jake was most certainly not fine. Up until now, Jake had not said a word throughout the whole trip. Usually, he would be shooting the breeze with her and Spud. However, right now, his mind was off in Lalaland. Trixie understood that Jake was likely still processing what had happened last night with Huntsgirl and learning the truth about Rose.

Trixie had always thought there was something off about Rose from the get-go. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about Rose that Trixie just didn't like. Deep down, it was because Trixie just knew that Rose would be the kind of girl who would end up breaking Jake's heart. Jake was like a brother to her, and the last thing she wanted was for some girl to break his heart.

Trixie wasn't at all surprised that she turned out to be right in her assumptions. However, she never imagined that it would be like this. She always thought Rose would turn out to simply be a shallow girl who led guys like Jake on. However, the situation turned out to be much worse than she thought. Rose turned out to be a genuinely dangerous person who, if she knew the truth about what Jake was, would surely kill him on sight and mount his corpse on the wall like some kind of sick trophy. Regardless of the circumstances, Trixie was glad that Jake was finally seeing things clearly and not through his love goggles.

Trixie glanced at Spud knowingly, to which he frowned in concern as well.

"Whata we going to do about him, Spud?" Trixie asked. Spud shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in the seat.

"Just let 'em work it out, Trix. He's got this." Spud said.

Trixie just frowned. She hoped that Spud would be right, but she wasn't so sure. From where she was looking, things didn't exactly seem very good.

Eventually, the bus reached New York City. It was around 6:30 in the evening when they crossed into NYC city limits. By that time, the sky was pitch black. It was during the wintertime, and so this meant that it got dark early around this time.

One by one, each of the kids were dropped off at their homes. The bus stopped at Trixie's apartment on the fifth stop. As Trixie exited the bus, she turned back toward Jake. A sympathetic frown was across her face. She hoped that Jake would be ok soon. She knew how much her friend was hurting deep down, but she didn't want to press on it too much. Like Spud had told her earlier, it was probably best to let him have a little space during this difficult time.

At the tenth stop, the bus finally reached Jake's house. At this time, Jake was still lost within his own head. He didn't even notice that they were stopped in front of his home. He was too busy staring in the direction of Rose. When she caught notice of him in her peripheral vision, however, Jake quickly looked away from her. That's when he noticed his house outside the windows.

Immediately, Jake's focus was unblocked. He got up from his seat and gathered up his belongings.

"See ya', Spud." Jake said sadly.

"See ya, dude." Spud replied. "You doin' ok, man? How ya' holdin' up?"

Jake was about to walk away when Spud asked that question. At first, Jake didn't answer. However, he didn't want to worry Spud too much.

"I'm fine." Jake said. "See ya' tomorrow."

With that, Jake took his belongings and made his way across the bus toward the sliding double doors. As Jake got closer and closer to Rose's seat, he felt his heart start to race quicker and quicker like it was going to explode in his chest. Rose was the last person he wanted to pass by at this moment. She was the cause of his troubled thoughts, and catching a passing glance of her was only going to make things worse. If only the bus could've stopped at her place before his own. This way, he wouldn't have to be racked with nerves right now.

Jake eventually reached Rose's seat. As he passed her by, he tried to keep his eyes front and center to completely ignore her. However, in his peripheral vision, Jake caught a glimpse of Rose's big blue eyes looking sadly in his direction. For a brief moment, Jake's gaze met Rose's. He could see the hurt and the confusion in her eyes. He even felt a little bad for her. However, that was quickly shattered when Jake remembered that he was looking into the eyes of a cold-blooded killer.

Jake shook his head and turned away from Rose. He couldn't bear to look at her anymore. The longer he did, the more he saw Huntsgirl's image rather than Rose's image. It was making him feel sick to his stomach. He had to get off that bus right now if he hoped to get these troubling thoughts under control soon.

Quickly, Jake darted out the doors of the bus and toward his front porch.

Once he was outside the bus, Jake was immediately hit by a blast of ice-cold air. He shivered and hugged himself tightly to stave off the cold. If his dragon fire wasn't nullified by the cold air and falling snow, he could've probably used it to help warm himself up. However, that idea was moot anyway, given that he was 2 feet away from his front door. The better option was obviously to get inside the house.

Shivering, Jake opened up the front door of his house and went inside. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Finally, he was back home. Now he could just decompress from all of the stress he was feeling.

Inside, Jake's dad, Jonathan, was in the living room watching TV. The sound of Jake coming in the front door caught his attention.

"Oh, hey there, Jake-a-rooni. Welcome back." Jonathan happily greeted his son.

"Hey, Dad." Jake greeted his father blandly.

"How was the ski trip? Did ya' have fun?" Jonathan asked.

Jake frowned and stared blankly at the stairs for a moment. He didn't want to talk about the ski trip right now. He much preferred to just forget all about the ski trip and just go up to his room. But if his dad insisted.

"It was ok." Jake said.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

"Just ok?" said Jonathan.

"Yeah. It was just ok."

Jonathan noticed the troubled look on his son's face. Something was bothering him; he just knew it.

"Are you ok, Jake?" asked Jonathan, pushing up his glasses. "You're acting more like you came back from a funeral rather than a fun school trip." Jonathan's expression suddenly changed to a more concerned one. "Did something bad happen on the ski trip?"

Jake was at a loss for words. He couldn't exactly tell his father what was on his mind. Everything about Jake's dilemma was tied to his secret identity as the American Dragon. With his father not being in the know, it only made it difficult for Jake to express his issues with him.

"It's nothing." Jake answered. "I'm just really tired, that's all."

Jonathan stared a little skeptically at his son. It was plain to see that there was something that happened on the ski trip that Jake clearly didn't want to discuss with him. At this point, Jonathan was used to Jake being resistant to opening up to him. He had been this way ever since he turned 13. He assumed that it was just a normal teenage boy thing. Still, Jonathan couldn't help but be a little curious about what was going on in his son's mind. Something about Jake's demeanor was more troubling than usual.

"If that's all it is, then ok." Jonathan replied, shrugging.

Jake stared down at his feet for a moment before making his way up the stairs slowly with his skiing and snowboarding equipment in tow.

"Dinner's in about 5 minutes, just so you know, Jakey." Jonathan called up to Jake.

"Cool." Jake said in the most robotic and unenthused tone he'd ever used.

Jake wasn't all that hungry, however. The only thing that he really wanted to do was lay down on his bed and decompress from everything he had just experienced in the last 24 hours. However, because his mother tended to be on his butt about making sure he was eating when he was supposed to, he had to go down to dinner. One didn't simply say no to his mom in that house.

Later, the Long family sat around the dining room table, which was jam-packed with lots of tasty foods. For dinner, they were having lasagna, complete with salad, soup, and rolls to help wash it down.

While everyone else was happily enjoying their food, Jake was only despondently staring and picking at his own. If he thought he wasn't hungry before, his appetite was practically non-existent here. The only thing on Jake's mind was last night. No matter how much he tried not to think about last night, the thoughts would only get stronger. The only thing that rang through his mind was the image of Huntsgirl proudly showing off her Huntsclan birthmark to him. That wretched image was forever burned into Jake's mind. Now anytime he tried to envision Rose as just herself, it would quickly get juxtaposed with the image of Huntsgirl.

Across the table from Jake sat his mother, Susan. She noticed that he had not eaten a morsel since he came down. Normally, Jake would've been at least halfway done with his food by now. He was a teenage boy whose metabolism was on fire, so he was very prone to gobbling up whatever was in front of him. The fact that Jake didn't seem all that interested in his supper was quite alarming.

"Everything ok, Jake?" Susan asked.

Jake, however, didn't seem to hear her. His mind was still locked into wandering mode.

"Jake?" she asked again.

"Huh?"

Jake startled out of his thoughts. He looked over to see his mother looking at him as though he were drowning.

"Are you ok? You've hardly touched any of your food tonight. Something bothering you?"

Jake looked downward, not wanting to talk about his problem.

"I'm not hungry." said Jake.

Susan stared in disbelief at her son. Those were 3 words she never thought would come out of Jake's mouth. The boy had an appetite the size of the Empire State Building. How could he possibly not be hungry tonight?

"What's wrong? Do you feel sick, honey?" Susan asked. She frowned as she remembered how a few months ago, Jake had fallen ill with an E. coli infection and had likewise lost his appetite. That wasn't happening again, was it? She hoped that wasn't what was happening right now.

"I'm fine, alright!" Jake snapped, sort of slamming his hands on the table. He was getting fed up with his family prying into his business. Was it really too much to ask that he be allowed to brood in peace?

The family sat shocked in their seats by Jake's outburst. However, the shock quickly turned into disappointment.

"Jacob Luke Long!" Susan snapped at her son. "How dare you use that tone with me!"

"Whatever issue you got, young man, don't take it out on your family. Alright?" Jonathan chimed in.

Jake looked dead in his parents' faces as they glared at him.

'Great. Just great.' Jake thought to himself. He didn't mean to be so snappish with his parents. He was just not in the mood to be pried right now. The only thing he wanted was to just sort out his thoughts so that he could move forward with his life. Unfortunately, his family prying wasn't helping him.

"I'm sorry..." Jake said, looking downward. "I'm just really not in the mood tonight."

Jonathan and Susan looked at their son disconcertedly.

"Teenage hormones. They're so unpredictable." Haley chimed in before taking another roll from the serving tray.

Jake rolled his eyes at his little sister. 'Shut up, Haley' is what he thought to himself. However, he held his tongue from verbalizing those words. His parents already got on to him once, he didn't want to push his luck even further.

Suddenly, Jonathan's face lit up with realization.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Jonathan got up from his seat. He looked over toward his wife with a big smile on his face. "Wait right here, hun, I got something special for you."

Jonathan giddily made his way over toward the living room and then over toward the staircase.

Jake and Haley watched their father in confusion.

"What's Daddy doing?" Haley asked her mother.

Susan merely shrugged. She had no idea what her husband was possibly up to tonight. Apparently, he had some kind of surprise for her.

After about 3 minutes, Jonathan came bounding back down the stairs toward the dining room. He was holding something large behind his back and he had the biggest and most enthusiastic grin on his face.

"Hey Heydee Ho, sweetheart. Look what I got for you this night." Jonathan said. From behind his back, Jonathan pulled out a large bouquet that contained an assortment of roses with varying colors.

"I got you this lovely bouquet of many different kinds of roses."

Jake froze right there in his seat. His whole face lit up with shock and dismay.

'He didn't.' Jake thought to himself.

Susan's jaw dropped when she saw the large bouquet being presented to her, with her expression quickly turning to one of joy.

"Oh, Jonathan..." Susan said dreamily, taking the bouquet from her husband. "They're beautiful". Susan's eyes twinkled as she looked over the lovely bouquet. Haley was also just as enamored with the flowers as much as her mother was.

"Wow, Daddy! Those roses are so gorgeous!" Haley exclaimed.

Jonathan beamed a big proud grin. "Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet."

Susan smiled warmly at her husband. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too, dear." Susan leaned in and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, to which he blushed and chuckled modestly.

Meanwhile, Jake had bowed his head sorrowfully. The familiar painful sensation in his chest that plagued him last night and earlier this morning had returned with a vengeance. However, the pain felt even worse than it did before. Jake felt like his heart wasn't just being ripped into two, he felt like it was being ripped out of his chest and then shot with a gun. It was bad enough that Jake was going through these difficult emotions regarding Rose, but then his dad had to go and do this to him. He had to remind him of his pain by buying his mom a bouquet filled with the very thing whose namesake was causing him so much pain. On top of that, Jake was being reminded that it was Valentine's Day. Jake didn't want to think about Valentine's Day. Why would he want anything to do with a holiday that celebrated the emotion that was hurting him right now? With the way things were now, it seemed like the universe was out to further traumatize him.

Tears were starting to form in Jake's eyes. One had even already started to fall down his cheek. He couldn't take this anymore. He wanted to be alone right now.

Jake's family noticed that Jake was looking away from them. Once again, they stared at him as though he were struggling for dear life.

"Jake...?" Jonathan asked. "Are you ok?"

"Jakey?" Susan added.

Jake shook his head.

"Sorry..." Jake said, his voice starting to shake. He got up from his chair and darted out of the dining room.

"Jake! Where are you going?! Come back!" Susan called after him. However, he was already up the stairs and had slammed his bedroom door behind him.

Jonathan and Susan looked at each other with concern.

"Was it something I said?" Jonathan asked, shrugging.

Up in Jake's room, he had locked the door so that no one could come in and bother him. He didn't want to be disturbed any further. He needed to decompress once and for all.

Jake got undressed out of his day clothes and into his pajamas. The best way that he could do his decompression was by going to bed early that night. He didn't care that it was only 7:30. He didn't want to do anything else tonight. All he wanted was to go to bed and not be bothered.

The whole time Jake changed clothes, the tears in his eyes were blurring his vision to where everything around him looked so distorted. It was almost like he was walking around in a kaleidoscope. Quickly, he wiped the tears away so that he could see properly.

After he was in his pajamas, Jake flipped off the lights in his room. Finally, he flopped down onto his bed, diving face first into his pillow.

He sighed as he took in the sweet and soft surface of his pillow, the only thing in his room that would possibly provide him with any kind of comfort. It was also nice to be back in his own bed after a couple of days. After sleeping on a rubber dormitory style mattress back at the ski lodge, it felt nice to sleep on a soft mattress that dipped whenever he laid in it and was filled with feathers.

As Jake lay there on the mattress and his face in his pillow, that's when the tears began to flow freely. Jake wept silently to himself, with his pillow catching his tears. It felt like such a cleansing relief for Jake to finally let out his emotions. He had been holding in his tears since last night. Unfortunately, he had not been able to have a good cry while back at the ski lodge. He had the misfortune of having Brad as his roommate for the weekend. Obviously, Jake could not let Brad see him cry. That guy already enjoyed bullying him at any given opportunity; the last thing that Jake needed was to give Brad ammunition for bullying him. In general, Jake really didn't want to cry in front of anyone he would've had as his ski lodge roommate. He wasn't really the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. However, it was Brad that he especially didn't want to show his tears to. He couldn't imagine the kind of cruel nicknames that Brad would've hurled at him in the hallways at school afterward.

Remembering how he came dangerously close to crying on the bus, Jake thought about what a relief it was that his feelings of grief were overridden by his anger at Rose being Huntsgirl. If he had cried while on the bus, he would've cried in front of most of the student body and not just Brad. Now that it was just him and his pillow, Jake could freely let out his hurt feelings without fear of judgment.

Pretty soon, Jake's quiet weeping started to morph into gasping sobs. Once again, Jake's mind was being assaulted with all of the fond memories of his time with Rose. All of the memories from before that had penetrated his mind while on the bus were back with full force. In those memories, Jake saw Rose's sweet face. Her billowing blonde hair, her beautiful blue eyes and her sweet smile. Everything about her image haunted Jake. She was so beautiful and so pure to him. To let all of that go was simply a crime, a crime against his own heart. However, just like earlier today, Jake's happy memories with Rose were ruined when the image of Huntsgirl with her birthmark visible burned right through all of them.

"It's the mark of the Huntsclan! It assures me that I was born to do one thing: slay dragons!"

"Slay dragons!"

"Slay dragons!"

"Slay dragons!"

Those last two words echoed throughout Jake's mind. He wished that he could've just been an ordinary human instead of a dragon. If he was just Jake Long instead of the American Dragon, he and Rose could live happily ever after with no dragon and Huntsclan business coming between them. But instead, Jake had to be the first dragon born in America, and he just so happened to fall in love with a dragon slayer. That was the hand he was dealt.

Jake sobbed heavily at this point. So much so that he could feel his pillow starting to get wet. However, he was unable to stop himself. The proverbial dam within him that blocked off his tears had burst open. This needed to happen, however. His heart needed to cleanse itself of his repressed emotions. If he held onto them any longer, he would be in danger of possibly expressing his hurt in more violent ways. His outburst at the dinner table was proof of that. This way by tears was much healthier for him; no one was hurt this way.

After about an hour of crying, Jake fell asleep. Tears were still falling from his eyes as he faded out of consciousness. For the first time in his short life, Jake had actually cried himself to sleep.

Hours later, Jake found himself waking up. He was in such a horrible daze. His head felt like it was stuffed with gunk, his eyes were unfocused and heavy, and his whole body just felt numb. Given the state he had fallen asleep in, it wasn't too surprising.

Jake moaned as his eyes opened up to the blackness that was his bedroom. His eyes glanced over toward his alarm clock, which read 1:50 AM. Seeing that order of numbers made Jake's eyes open completely. He was shocked that he had been asleep for that long. That was truly a testament to how emotionally exhausted he was.

Turning over, Jake felt up his pillow. Unsurprisingly, the pillow was quite damp. He had just cried buckets hours before and possibly while he was sleeping. Of course, Jake didn't expect his pillow would feel like it had been dipped in a fish tank.

Jake turned over once more. This time, he stared blankly up at the ceiling, which was covered in the glow of the streetlights emanating from outside his window. He turned to the window to see tiny snowflakes still falling from the sky and touching down on the glass. Rather than finding this sight beautiful, however, Jake simply sighed. Snow was yet another thing that had been ruined for Jake, as it was yet another reminder that he knew that Rose was Huntsgirl.

In disgust, Jake turned away and simply stared at the glowing face of his alarm clock. He lay there trying to fall back asleep. Unfortunately, it was no good. Each time he closed his eyes, they would just pop back open again. It was like his body was now resisting sleep.

Perhaps it was because he had already slept a good 6 hours that he wasn't able to sleep again. He had gone to sleep early. Still, it was nearly 2:00 am and he couldn't exactly do anything else besides sleep. Whatever he did would probably wake up his family, and that wouldn't be a very fun time. His mother was pretty terrifying whenever her sleep was disturbed.

Jake tried once more to fall back asleep. This time, he seemed to succeed. He breathed slowly and calmly in order to get himself winded down. However, other sensations started to wreak havoc on Jake's body.

A dry feeling was making its presence known in Jake's throat and his lips felt like they were cracking.

These signs could only mean one thing.

"Thirsty." Jake whispered to himself.

He sat up in his bed, though not before being assaulted by a dizzy feeling in his head. As he got out of his bed, Jake felt yet another sensation hit his body. His stomach was growling rather noisily and was experiencing uncomfortable amounts of hunger pangs. No surprise considering that he didn't eat a thing at dinner.

Jake rubbed his stomach and sighed.

"Ok, fine." he groaned. "I'll feed you too."

Jake made his way out of his bedroom and then went down the dark hallway. Using his "eye of the dragon", Jake navigated his way all the way down to the kitchen. To ensure he didn't make too much noise, he quietly tiptoed across the hallway and down the stairs.

Upon entering the kitchen, Jake flipped on the light switch. The sudden shift from dark to light made Jake squint and groan as his eyes needed time to adjust to the light. He hated it when that happened.

Eyeing the fridge, Jake made his way over. His hunger pangs were very strong at this point and his dry throat was starting to feel like a desert. Time to get these cravings taken care of.

Inside the fridge, Jake saw his dinner plate from earlier that evening. It was wrapped up in plastic wrap, perfectly preserved for satisfying Jake's hungry belly.

He took the plate over to the kitchen table and took off the plastic wrap. Jake frowned a little upon feeling the lasagna's cold texture from being in the fridge for 6 hours. Unfortunately, he couldn't just heat it up in the microwave. The sounds would alert his family that he was down in the kitchen. He couldn't use his dragon fire either; the lasagna would just burn to a crisp. Not to mention that the fire would set off the smoke alarm. He didn't need to wake his family that way either. Most definitely not that way.

Sighing, Jake decided that he had no choice but to eat the thing cold.

He grabbed a fork out from the drawers and then grabbed a glass from the cupboards, drawing some water out from the tap. Now he was all ready to enjoy a delicious late-night supper and quench his thirst.

Jake hungrily ate up the lasagna like a ravenous buzzard. Surprisingly, the lasagna's cold texture didn't seem to affect the quality of it at all. In fact, it was quite delicious this way. But of course, Jake was very hungry. Anything is good when you're hungry. The cold glass of water helped wash down the lasagna as well, making his serving the perfect combo.

After Jake was finished, he sat back in the chair. He sighed and rubbed his full stomach, feeling so much better now that he had taken care of his needs.

"Great job, Mom." Jake said to himself, wiping off some sauce and crumbs from his face.

Jake took his empty plate and glass and walked over toward the sink to place them there for washing later on.

"Jake?"

Jake jumped out of his skin upon hearing a voice behind him. His heart was practically in his throat.

He turned around and he saw his father standing in the doorway.

"Da-dad." Jake said coyly.

Jonathan approached Jake looking so confused and concerned.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" he asked.

Jake quickly scrambled for an answer.

"Uh... I was... I was..." Jake stammered.

Jonathan looked down into the sink to see Jake's lasagna plate, still covered in tomato sauce and melted cheese along with the glass he had previously drank water out of.

"Got the midnight munchies tonight?" said Jonathan.

Jake blushed and looked away, chuckling with embarrassment.

Jonathan smiled good-naturedly.

"It's ok. I understand. We sometimes get hungry in the middle of the night. This even includes myself."

Jake smiled, feeling his body relax a bit. He thought for sure that his dad was gonna be angry at him for being up so late. Then he remembered that his dad tended to be a bit of a space case at times.

"How did you know I was in here?" Jake asked.

Jonathan pressed his glasses up his nose. "I woke up to use the bathroom when I heard little noises downstairs."

Jake grimaced. "You did?"

'Dang! I thought I was being stealthy. Guess not.' Jake grumbled to himself in his head.

"Yeah. I worried for a moment that someone had broken into the house. Then I saw your bedroom door open and you weren't in your room. That's when I realized that it was probably you downstairs."

Jake rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah. I-I couldn't sleep."

Upon getting a closer look at Jake, Jonathan's previously bemused expression defaulted down to a concerned frown when he noticed that Jake's eyes were red and puffy. He also noticed that Jake's voice sounded more hoarse than usual.

"You've been crying, haven't you?" said Jonathan.

Jake froze in place as his eyes nearly popped from his skull. He felt like he had been caught in quicksand.

"Uh… What do you mean?" Jake replied, trying to be nonchalant.

Jonathan placed a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm your father, I know these things. I can tell by lookin' at ya'."

Jake gritted his teeth. He turned and looked over toward a mirror that was hanging on the wall. In the reflection, he saw his eyes were puffy and bloodshot.

"Oh..." Jake grimaced.

Jonathan gestured Jake over toward the kitchen table.

"You wanna talk about what's got you upset?" Jonathan asked.

Jake froze, staying silent and then swallowing.

'What do I say?' Jake thought. 'How do I explain everything?'

"I don't know if I can, Dad."

"Talking might help you feel better."

Jake sighed. The last thing that Jake wanted to do was talk about his dilemma. It would only force him to have to relive everything all over again. Plus, there were details that he couldn't reveal to his dad. They involved his American Dragon life, something his dad had no clue about. This was truly like a case of Scylla and Charybdis, and Jake knew what that was like because he dealt with both of those creatures before.

"Ok..." Jake said softly. "The jig is up, I guess."

Jake went over to the kitchen table, as did his father. For a few seconds, Jake just stared despondently down at the table surface as he thought over what exactly he would say that wouldn't reveal too much.

Taking a deep breath, Jake began to open up.

"During the ski trip, I... ended things with Rose."

Jonathan's eyes widened.

"You did?"

Jake nodded his head. Jonathan pressed on the bridge of his glasses.

"But why? I thought things between you two were going great." said Jonathan.

Jake looked away, dejected. "I thought so too."

Jonathan frowned sympathetically, hearing the hurt in his son's voice.

"What happened between you and Rose that you broke up?"

Jake paused. Once again, he was scrambling for something to say. "Well... I went out to go snowboarding in the mountains a few miles away from the ski lodge. That's when I found out..."

"Found out what?" Jonathan asked.

Jake glowered and tightened his fist under the table. He thought about the events of the previous night, when he had chased down Huntsgirl through the mountain on a makeshift snowboard. He had eventually cornered her long enough for him to learn the truth. He relived in his mind that exact moment when he pulled off Huntsgirl's glove and saw that familiar red birthmark. He could've simply removed her mask; that would've been a good way to reveal the truth. However, he was unable to handle seeing the truth that directly. So, he had decided to go for the next best thing, removing her glove on her right hand to see if she had the same birthmark.

"I found Rose out there in the mountains too. She... she was..." Jake paused for a while, thinking over what to say. "She was making out with another guy..." Jake blurted out. He sighed, satisfied that he had come up with a good cover story. This one sounded believable enough.

"Oh..." Jonathan said, completely stunned.

"Yeah. She and that other guy were completely up in each other's business. It was disgusting." Jake said in an almost venomous tone.

Jonathan went from alarmed to just plain pissed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His beloved son had actually gotten his heart broken by a girl he really loved. If there was one thing that Jonathan did not stand for, it was his kids getting hurt in any way. It didn't matter if it was physical or emotional.

"Now why on Earth would any girl wanna cheat on my boy for? That's just unbelievable!" Jonathan cried. "And to think I thought that Rose girl was a good one for ya'".

Jake smiled sheepishly a little. However, he defaulted back to a frown. He stared down at the table surface and rested his chin in his hand, letting out a disappointed sigh.

"Sometimes, people don't turn out to be who you thought they were." Jake said. His voice was starting to wobble.

Jonathan put a hand on his son's back and began giving Jake gentle rubs. "That's very true, son. And it's very unfortunate when that happens."

Tears started to form in Jake's eyes again, much to his surprise. He thought that he had cried himself out hours ago. However, it seemed that he was dead wrong. There was still some pain left within his heart that hadn't been resolved. Talking about his emotions with his dad appeared to be snuffing out these leftover tears.

Jonathan drew closer to Jake's face and saw the tears that were now running down his cheeks. His eyes grew to the size of pies when he saw that. It had been a long time since Jonathan had seen Jake cry. The last time he had seen that was when Jake was small. This was something so unexpected, as he had gotten accustomed to Jake being such a tough and independent 13-year-old. Nonetheless, with a heavy heart, Jonathan moved his chair closer to Jake's.

"Aww, come here." Jonathan murmured. He wrapped his arms around his weeping son and pulled him into a hug.

Feeling himself up against a body, Jake looked up into his dad's eyes before burying his face into his dad's chest. From there, Jake completely gave way to his tears, sobbing as though he were a newborn baby.

Jonathan hugged his son tightly, gently rocking him back and forth and rubbing on his back.

"Shhh... There there, Jakey. It's gonna be ok." Jonathan said softly.

"It hurts so much, Dad!" Jake said, muffled by his dad's chest.

"I know it does, son. It always hurts when the ones you love betray your trust. But you'll get through this. As clichéd as it sounds, only through time will your heart heal from this."

Jonathan began to run his fingers through Jake's hair. "I hope this doesn't make you give up on love, Jakey. Don't let one moment of heartbreak keep you from loving again. I just know that you'll find someone who will truly love and appreciate you. For now, just let it all out."

For the next 10 minutes or so, Jake cried his heart out on his father's chest as Jonathan continued to stroke his hair and back in order to soothe him. During that time, Jonathan thought back to previous times he had comforted Jake when he had burst into tears as a small child. Those times, it was for the usual things that little kids fuss about, such as getting an owie or being afraid of the dark. After Jake got to his teenage years, the times Jonathan comforted him pretty much stopped. Afterwards, Jake developed the attitude of his parents cramping his style and acted as though he were so confident in himself. Tonight, however, that same confident young man was willing to show his father his vulnerable side. It made Jonathan happy to know that his son still trusted him enough to let him see his vulnerable side and to be the one to comfort him. Anything Jake needed; he would be there for him.

After 10 minutes, Jake finally was able to stop crying.

"You ready to come up for some air now, Jakey?" Jonathan asked.

Sniffling, Jake lifted his face up from his dad's chest. When Jonathan saw Jake's flushed and tear-stained face, his heart broke. Jake looked like a lost little boy rather than the confident and spirited young man he had grown into.

Jonathan couldn't help but remember his own experience with teenage heartbreak as well. He recalled how he got through it with his parents' help. His own father had told him the exact same thing that he had just told Jake, "Don't let one moment of heartbreak stop you from loving again". No matter the generation, parents are always there for their kids when they've had their hearts broken.

Jonathan grabbed some tissues from a nearby tissue box and handed them to Jake. He promptly took them, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose.

"Feel better now?" Jonathan asked.

Jake sniffled a little and nodded his head, giving a tiny, sheepish smile. He felt a little embarrassed that he had actually cried on his dad's chest like that. It was like he was a little kid again, and that wasn't a good look for his street cred. Nonetheless, talking to his dad about his emotions did him some good. He no longer felt such a heaviness in his chest. It was like a weight was lifted off of him.

"Yeah, actually." said Jake.

Jonathan smiled warmly and patted Jake on the shoulder.

"That's good to hear. We can't have ya' hurtin' on my watch, ya'know." Jonathan chuckled good-naturedly. Jake chuckled in response as well.

"I hope you remember what I said, though. Don't let what Rose did to ya' turn your back on love. There's lots of wonderful girls out there, and one of them is bound to love you and never let you go."

Jake smiled and hugged his dad.

"Thanks, Dad."

Jonathan hugged Jake back. "No problem, son."

Jake then got up from the table and headed toward the living room.

"I'm gonna go back upstairs and crash. All of that crying has gotten me tired." said Jake, yawning. Indeed, Jake's body felt like a deflated balloon that had just had all of the air forcefully pushed out of it.

"I get ya'." Jonathan got up from his chair. "I feel like headin' back to bed myself. Gotta make sure the ol' gray matter upstairs is workin' fine in the AM." Jonathan gestured to his temple as a demonstration.

"Good night, Dad."

"Good night, Jake."

Jake smiled and then started walking.

"Love ya'." Jonathan said.

Jake paused and then turned to his father.

"Love you too, Dad." Jake said warmly before finally making his way back upstairs.

Once he was back in his room, Jake flopped down on his bed. He let out the biggest sigh of relief ever. He felt like he had just been rescued from underneath a rockslide. While it may have been really embarrassing for him, Jake was glad that he talked things over with his dad and had a good cry with him. His dad may be a big doofus at times, but he was a good man. He always had the right things to say whenever Jake was feeling blue. Of course, it would've been nice if Jake didn't have to lie to his dad's face about what was really going on. Unfortunately, Jake wasn't able to let his dad in on his life as the American Dragon. Who knew how Jonathan would respond to his son being a magical reptile who put his life in danger to protect unicorns and leprechauns on a regular basis.

Looking at the clock once more, Jake saw that the time read 2:30 AM.

"Now time to just sleep." Jake said, sounding so sleepy.

He positioned himself on his pillow until he was comfortable. His eyes closed and before long, Jake had fallen fast asleep. With his heart and mind clear of his repressed emotions, Jake slept like a baby.