It felt nice, strolling easily into a room where a colourful high school party was going on, with the promise of some kid's house being trashed into oblivion by the end of the night lingering in the air. It felt nice because Jackson could feel all the eyes on him, all the easy smiles given by the pretty girls, all the approving nods by his new male friends, all the hey my man's and the glad you showed up, dude's. Being the star of the school soccer team that – now that he's playing in it – finally started its winning streak, helped. Having good grades in school helped. Having some cash in his pocket thanks to his job (and the hundred-dollar bill slipped by mom here and there) helped. And the flashy vintage car that daddy surprised him with just a few weeks ago (It's ok now when all the brain tissue was wiped away from the back seat, junior. Just don't cross any state lines in it.) sealed the deal. Jackson is now formally and officially popular.

More than ever, his eyes search for her. Now he feels he earned her.

But he knows that that particular game is still in progress, and he intends to play it carefully until the hopefully very sweet end. Images of her wrapping herself around him invade his mind and he stops for a second to collect himself. Ever since he heard a rumour from a very reliable source that her boyfriend is in fact uninterested in girls, and she, she's a virgin, collecting himself has become a difficult task. He doesn't know why, but that information has touched some deeply primitive part of him, settled deep within his core. He was actually crazy and intrigued enough by this to explain this situation to none other than his dad and sought his opinion on this, but Jack just hm'ed and ahh'ed through most of the conversation, ending it with a strong pat on Jackson's shoulder and something like "go get her". Come to think of it, just a few days later, the car arrived.

He snaps back to reality as soon as he feels hr eyes on himself. He cannot say how he knows it's her looking at him in a crowded room, but his eyes meet hers, and she averts her eyes instantly. His legs move into action before he decided to go to her; he is by her side in less than a minute.

"Hey there, Jasmine", he smiles at her obvious attempt to look surprised and/or annoyed.

"What, I'm not 'girlie' anymore?", she tries to brush him off.

"Yeah, I decided to let that go. It sounds stupid. As if you're not your own person, you know? So, anyway, sorry about that.", he tells her honestly, all the while standing close to her, just a inch too close, on purpose, invading and hunting.

"…hm. Ok. Whatever.", his outburst of honesty and sincerity laced with a heavy dose of something else that she just could not put a finger on, confused her and robber her of clever comebacks.

"..so your mom's fine, right?", he quickly asked, saving them both second of embarrassing silence, "Haven't seen her in the shop for a while."

"She's due in a few weeks, so..", Jasmine couldn't find her words. He stands so close to me, is he hugging me or what is going on? He smells fantastic, though.

"I'm sure she'll do great.", he smiles again down at her, enjoying the fact that he's basically towering over her, "See you around, ok?"

And then she quickly leaves her side, just knowing he confused her and irritated her by doing this, which will make her think about him and follow him for the rest of the night.

And he is right. He mildly flirts with girls, and feels her flaming looks on his back. He dances with a girl, and there Jasmine is, in the background, trying to look unimpressed. Her own boyfriend is a no-show, again, doing homework with a friend – on a Saturday night?! Nobody tries to flirt with her – they all know she's taken. And for the first time, this really bugs her. Her anger flares up as she sees Jackson's dance partner smiling sweetly at him, obviously inviting him for a kiss, and as he slowly leans in down to that girl, although it doesn't seem he's about to kiss her, Jasmine has had it, and she furiously makes her way out of the room. Not in a million years would it be her fault that the only possible way out through that rather large room is by going right in between Jackson and the girl – right? What a coincidence! And since it was so crowded, she accidentally – cross my heart and hope to die! – elbowed the girl. And this made Jasmine stumble a bit, and of course off all the people in the room, Jackson was the only one she could have grabbed in that moment in order to catch her balance. And by grabbed, she meant pulling him by the arm and dragging him out of the room with him in tow.

Which he did not object to.

She turned around abruptly, facing him, wanting to tell him off, although she did not know what for, since he was perfectly innocent tonight, right? He was, wasn't he? So perfect in the last few weeks, turning up just everywhere and impressing her and everyone else by everything he did and said and the way he looked and the way he just walked…

Her mind was buzzing a bit from all the confusing thoughts, and just as she started coming to the idea that he somehow staged all of this…his warm palm caressed her cheek and her eyes immediately darted up to meet his. He smiled so warmly and kindly at her, as if he could read her like and open book.

"Jasmine", he quietly said to her. She just blinked, not knowing what to say, just knowing that she was done with just looking at him.

"Kiss me, Jasmine", he told her softly as he leaned in a bit.

Not caring about the people at the party who could witness this, she just stood on her tiptoes, her hand slipping up from his chest and around his neck. Her lips softly met his, and she closed her eyes. It lasted just for a few seconds, but it was so warm, so sweet, so fulfilling.

"Come on, it's getting late, I'll drive you home", he said as he pulled from the kiss.

"Ok", she said, but she didn't want to go home. She wanted to stay just there and kiss with him-for as long as possible.

They walked to the car in silence, not even holding hands. He politely opened the car door for her and asked for her address. She realized he was really about to just drop her off, and it made her miserable. To her great shame, she realised that she was the one who wanted to continue making out, and he was the one rejecting her.

"Why did you kiss me?", she asked after a while, doing her best to control her voice as to not reveal the feelings that were roaring inside her.

"You seemed like you needed a kiss. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, I'm sorry.", he gave her one of his easy and confident smiles.

"What does that even mean?", she said, and irritation was now clearly audible in her voice.

"It was perfectly innocent. I'm sorry, I know you have a boyfriend – I can explain everything to him and apologize if you would like that..", Jackson played the game mercilessly.

"So you don't even.." she stopped herself before she could continue with "like me?", because this was embarrassing enough as it is, "I mean, you really shouldn't have done that!"

"Yeah, sorry again", he had the audacity to laugh a bit, "Although, you actually kissed me, not the other way around, and it was you who dragged me out of the room!"

"OHMYGOD! I can't believe you!", she screeched.

"What, am I wrong?", he now busted out laughing, which drove her positively livid.

"You know what, I HATE YOU, I can't believe I let you kiss me! You are such a piece of work, you really are – who do you think you are? I JUST HATE YOU SO MUCH. Stop this car right now, I don't want to see your face, like, EVER AGAIN!

"We're already in front of your house", Jackson smiled.

"FUCK YOU.", she slammed the door.

"Jasmine?", he called after her, and she turned around in her driveway, looking at him with murder in her eyes, "Do me a favour. When you calm down, replay this conversation in your mind, ok?"

"As if I'm going to waste my time thinking about you, YOU ASSHOLE.", she hammered back, "And would you stop talking in riddles, you don't seem mysterious or sexy because of it, just annoying. If you have something to say to me, man up and say it to my face, you coward!"

"OK", he suddenly grew serious, not expecting her to fight back like that, "Ok, I just wanted you to realise that I never actually said that I didn't like you."

She grew silent at that, hating herself for the pang of happiness that washed over her body. He mercifully sat back in his car and drove away after giving her one last dark and passionate look, and she forced her body to comply and get into her house.

….

"I don't want you to do this anymore", Sonja said out of nowhere.

Jack and her were having a quiet evening. He came back home early, but still she spotted the blood on his trousers. She didn't comment on it, and he pretended as if he didn't notice her noticing, but deep down he knew this would probably lead to something unpleasant. And here we are.

"What do you mean, sweetheart?", he patted her shoulder lightly. They were laying in bed, but this night she just did not fall asleep as easily as usual. That was a bad sign, he figured.

"You know what I mean", she answered in a somber voice.

"We're not having this conversation", he quietly said after a minute of tense silence. He could have thrown a grenade all the same, the reaction from Sonja would be possibly better than the one he was getting right now.

"OH YES WE ARE", she jumped up in bed with a speed that was pretty amazing for a heavily pregnant woman.

"Calm down, think of the baby", he said as calmly as he could, thinking about what she told him after the last ultrasound examination. Her blood pressure was too high, she was bound to take it easy. Any stress could cause premature birth.

"NO YOU THINK OF THE BABY!", she screamed, "Think about your baby when you lay in some dumpster, shot and dead. Bloodied and beaten! Arrested, in jail, or in Arkham! Think about your baby girl, and about your fiancée, and about your son!"

"Jesus Christ, Sonja, your hormones are really making you insane", he said and instantly received a heavy slap right in his face. He grabbed her arms, but she kept to wrestle him wildly.

"Calm down, you crazy bitch", he panted, trying to make her just stop.

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH!", she yelled.

"Calm down, you crazy bitch", he repeated, and then, to his surprise, she complied.

"There you go", he let off her, and then froze as her body just fell heavily back on the bed.

"Sonja?", he blinked in horror, "SONJA?!"

A/N: TO MY ETERNAL SHAME, I WILL JUST COPY&PASTE MY A/N FROM THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER (POSTED MORE THAN HALF A YEAR AGO!) SINCE I STILL HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY:

Hey there, I'm sorry for not updating sooner. It was a very nasty combination of lack of time and - what's even worse - lack of inspiration. I hope I'll do better from now on.