Instant Star 1. Far Away: T

Author's Note: I debated on which one to post for the opening chapter of Twilight Tales. Two competed for my attention, but this one won out. Only because the second story was something I'd never tried before and I want it to be good before posting it. Some call it the writing process, I call it OCD. I wasn't sure the ending was that good, but I hope it'll do...it satisfied me enough.

Background Info: This is set after Season Two's finale, and mostly in Tommy's perspective. Reviews are more than appreciated.

Far Away

Rating: T

_This time this place, Misused, Mistakes_

_Too long, too late. Who was I to make you wait?_

The engine roared down the main street of Toronto, headed for the one place he'd dreaded coming to for the last months he was in Montana. Darius' precious package was in the backseat, snoozing lightly as he maneuvered his way through traffic without so much as a jerk of the car. Jude's latest song, "Tattoo", played on the radio and he furrowed his eyebrows trying to decipher what she meant by it. He was sure it was about him, though he could never be sure. The time he'd had in Montana he thought about them constantly; them as a couple, not the producer-artist relationship. He realized he'd made a lot of mistakes and all of the time that he could've used to make it up to her, he misused. Always off partying, trying to avoid the problem at hand. He realized that she pushed a lot under the rug for him, and he should've appreciated that someway. Not string her along, making her wait for an absolution that wouldn't come…until now.

Ten minutes later he stopped in front of the bright orange building that haunted his dreams like a plague. He slowly released his belt, and got out of the car walking around the front to get the sleeping toddler in the backseat. As he gently lifted her from the car seat she stirred but didn't wake up, and he nudged the door shut with his foot before walking into G-major. His first stop was Darius' office to drop his daughter off then to find Jude and make things right again. No doubt they'd be strained, argumentative, and tears would be present, but he didn't mind as long as he got her back it would be fine.

_Just one chance, just one breath_

_Just in case there's just one left_

Tentatively he walked down the corridor that led to Studio A, his hand trailing against the painted wall. Memories seeped from between the cracks, filling his memory like a glass. Tears prickled at the back of his eyes, but like every other time he just pushed them back down. He stopped short of the glass double doors, seeing Jude, now with short red hair; sit in the middle of the studio with her guitar in her lap writing a song. From behind the glass partition, in the sound booth Kwest and an unknown man sat behind the glass as if discussing something or someone, more namely Jude. As his hand reached out for the doorknob he knew that she might just blow up at him and never speak to him again, but that was a chance he was willing to take. He did have feelings for her after all. A deep breath was sucked between his pink lips as he pulled the door open and took a step inside.

Jude's eyes lifted from her notebook to the doorway, widening as she saw the figure that filled the doorway. "Tommy…" escaped her lips in a whisper, pencil dropping from her fingers. He let his eyes drift over her, taking in her appearance. The clothes she wore were slightly baggy on her body, her normal blue eyes that shone even in the dark were dull…lifeless, and the usual make up she wore was absent from her face. Not even a shimmer of lip gloss stained her lips. It pained him to see her like this, and it pained him even more to know that he was probably the cause of it all. He swallowed thickly, shutting the door behind him and approaching her slowly. He wasn't sure how she'd take him showing back up after fourteen months of being incognito, in the pit of his stomach he felt that his chances were up. That there was no going back to what they were before and it was something he so desperately wanted. "What are you doing here Tommy?" she said, her voice hoarse and eyebrows furrowed.

Her voice knocked him from his reverie, and he gazed at her a pained look in his eye. "I came back…for you." He said in an inaudible whisper, his instincts fighting to take over and embrace her in his arms, but his mentality won out his feet staying in place, feet from her. Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, and emotion showed behind her eyes. From inside the sound booth, Kwest switched off the mic that was connected to the recording booth. The replacement producer, Jake, looked at him confused and gestured towards the switch shaking his head.

"It's gonna get bad…it's better to just watch." He said leaning back in the chair he sat in.

"What? You thought you were just going to come back and I'd fall at your feet? Crying and telling you how much I missed you, how I cried for nights on end and nearly had my cell phone bill canceled from all the use?" she said, her voice rising as she did from the floor. "How it took my sister, your best friend, and a gay man to help me get myself onto my feet again because I worried myself sick when you didn't call??"

Tommy's head fell, it shaking side to side slightly. "No…not at all. I want to explain Jude, if you just let me I will."

_'Cause you know,_

_You know, you know_

"Give me one," she swallowed thickly, setting her guitar aside and crossing her arms over her chest. "Legitimate reason and I'll let you…explain."

Tommy sighed; finally a breakthrough, though that one reason wouldn't come off the tip of his tongue. "Because…" he whispered as he stepped closer, his hands tucked in his pockets. "I love you." He stated bluntly, staring into her eyes.

_That I love you, I have loved you all along_

_And I miss you been far away for far too long_

Her eyes widened at his confession, in shock and disbelief. Tommy Q…loves her? She couldn't begin to list the reasons because within seconds his lips were covering hers in a warm, passionate kiss. Her knees immediately went weak, and he sensing this wrapped an arm around her lower back to keep her standing. When they were both in need of air they pulled apart, faces inches from each other. "God, you don't how much I've missed you…" he whispered, stroking the side of her face with his free hand.

_I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go_

"I can say the same for you, Quincy." She said, leaning into his touch. It was the best thing she'd felt in months, but a voice inside her head was doing a warning call – telling her that letting him back in her life would cause nothing but more pain and heartache, and truthfully she couldn't deal with any more pain.

"I've dreamt about you, for nights on end. There was never a morning when I didn't wake up frowning because you weren't beside me." He murmured, twirling the end of her hair around the smell of her vanilla shampoo filling his senses.

She went still in his arms, once molded together – they were now two bodies seemingly pressed together. "Then why couldn't – or wouldn't – you answer my calls? This isn't the prehistoric age Tommy." She said, taking a step back from his embrace. Coldness wrapped itself around his body, making him feel as if he was standing in the pouring rain. "You could've at least picked up a phone…"

"I'm sorry." He said, staring at her helplessly. Emotions flooded his body as he stood there, his pulse thumping.

_Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore_

"That's not going to fix anything Tommy, sorry doesn't fix everything." She said, shaking her head. "And we seem to be one of them. We end up in a situation and I, like the fool that I am, always believe that this time things will be different when in reality – they won't be." She shook her head. "Just let us go."

His breath caught in his throat at that, like someone just pinned him against the wall and he shook his head from side to side slightly. "No…I won't. – I…I can't." he stumbled over his words, eyebrows knit together and his stomach flopping. "I need you."

_On my knees, I'll ask_

_Last chance for one last dance_

The realization of what he'd just said crossed him and he wasn't used to being the vulnerable one. He wasn't sure how to act, or what her reaction would be. She stood motionless, staring ahead. Minutes slowly and quietly ticked by, and Tommy's impatience got the better of him. He stood in front of her and took her hands in his.

"Jude…I know that I haven't been the…best person towards you, and I haven't always treated you right but being with you…it makes me feel like I can be the man that I'm supposed to be." He said, getting on his knees making himself as small as he felt at that moment. "That night that I left, I wanted to take you with me, but I couldn't and it hurt me just as much as it hurt you. There was nothing that I could do. Just…let me in again. I want to be with you."

She turned her head from him, but he stood up and put his finger under her chin making him look at her. "If I could take back anything and everything I've ever done to hurt you…even in the slightest way I would, in a New York minute." He murmured, searching her eyes for some sort of recognition.

_Cause with you I'd withstand  
All of hell to hold your hand._

She shook her head, her eyes glassy with tears. "What do you want me to do Jude? I'll do anything, even if it means enduring hell, for you to look at me like you used to." He said, stroking the apple of her cheek while she still shook her head. "I know you felt the same thing, why deny it now?"

"No…I won't let you in again. Things changed, I…changed." She said pushing his hand away, but making no move away from him. With a rigid body, she stood her ground hoping he'd take that for an answer. She didn't have the energy to fight, or push people away. She'd been doing that for too long. "Just give it up, Tommy."

_I'd give it all, I'd give for us.  
Give anything, but I won't give up._

He shook his head furtively, swallowing thickly. "No, that is the one thing I will not do." He said strongly. "I will not give up…not on you…not on us."

Jude choked out a sob; this was harder than she thought. "No…no. no. no." she said, pushing him away. "You do not get to say that. You don't get to say that you won't give up…because I have…a while ago. When I realized you weren't coming back, I shut every emotion off. Ask Sadie…Darius, hell even ask Kwest!" she gestured towards the sound booth. "You hurt me Tommy. Don't you get that?"

She stepped forward, getting close to his ear. "You don't get back what you threw away…" she said, quoting L.P.'s song she'd been listening to so frequently.

_Cause you know, you know  
I love you, I loved you all along._

As she pulled back he slid his hand to cup the back of her neck and pulled her into a bruising kiss. She was still at first, not budging as his lips moved against hers, but before too long she melted into his hold kissing him back with as much as passion as he was giving her. Her heart sped up and slowed down at the same time, not knowing how to act as his tongue slid across her bottom lip. She granted access, opening her mouth to massage his tongue against hers. Her arms latched themselves around his neck, making sure he wasn't going anywhere.

_And I miss you, been far away for far too long_

_I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go  
Stop breathin' if I don't see you anymore…_

As they kissed, the two in the sound booth quietly slipped out into hospitality where there was a growing crowd watching the two bicker and make up then go around in the same circle. Every one of them knew how much she'd been missing him, how she lost a piece of herself when he left. They never said anything, hoping it was respectful that they didn't and in doing so, things seemed to fall into place.

Inside the recording booth, she ran her hands along his face reluctant to pull away from his lips – afraid that if she did he'd disappear. She wasn't sure if this was a dream or not, she dreamed of him so frequently and the things they'd do that if he was really here in front of her, with her, telling her his feelings so openly she knew she had finally fell upon luck. Not that Tommy Quincy was luck, he surely wasn't. She liked to think it was a gift God gave her, even if she wasn't religious; Sadie got blessed with the beauty and brains – Jude got blessed with her voice and Tommy Quincy of course.

_So far away_

_Been far away for far too long_

He closed his eyes as they pulled apart, reveling in the touch of her hands upon his face, tracing his features; from his eyebrows to his lips, across his eyes and down his nose before kissing him softly again. She pulled away softly, leaving inches between their faces. "You're really here?" she asked leaning her head to the side, feeling a bit childish in asking that question. Tommy's eyes opened up, his soft gaze settling on her. He brushed her red hair from her face, his heart going nuts in his chest. "Yes, I am here…" he placed both hands on her cheeks, resting his forehead against hers. "And I'm not going anywhere…"

_So far away, been far away for far too long_

_But you know, you know, you know_

_I wanted, I wanted you to stay_

_'Cause I needed…I need to hear you say_

She sighed softly, smiling as he spoke the words that made her heart soar. "Why'd you leave?" she said softly looking up into his eyes. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, kissing her again before answering her. "I was made to pick up Darius' daughter, Madelynn, from Montana. Her mother, his ex-wife, had fallen back into old habits. It wasn't safe for her…why he made me go I have no idea. Picking up the phone wasn't an option…Darius cut it off for protection reasons, but Jude don't doubt for one moment that any of this had to deal with you. If I had it my way I would've never left, I love you Jude…the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you."

_That I love you…I have loved you all along_

_And I forgive you…for being away for far too long…_

She turned her head slightly, kissing his palm and looked back into his eyes. What he told her seeped into her mind, processing and making do of it. The soft sound of their breathing was the only thing that could be heard, but Jude swore her heart could be heard probably miles away. "I love you too…" she said ever so quietly, so quietly that if he'd not been looking at her he would've never heard her. "And as far as leaving goes, I forgive you…but you have a lot of making up to do." She poked him in the chest, a smirk evading her serious expression.

_So keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore_

_Believe it, hold on to me, and never let me go_

He pulled her in tightly, smiling widely and kissed her cheek. "I'll do whatever, Jude…" he said into her hair. He held onto her, his fingers tracing circles on her lower back, and inhaled the sweet scent of her shampoo and perfume mixing. She sighed pleasurably, finding it hard to believe that being in someone's arms could bring to much happiness and desire. She thought that that'd be left for the bedroom.

_Keep breathing 'cause I'm not leaving you anymore_

_Believe it, hold on to me and, never let me go_

_Keep breathing hold on to me and never let me go_

_Keep breathing hold on to me and never let me go_

She clung to him, her arms locked tightly around him as they stood embraced for what seemed like minutes on end. The only thing that could be heard was their soft breathing and the occasional sniffle from Jude. He pulled back, leaning his head to the side to look her in the face. He no longer seen the sadness and hopelessness he'd surely seen earlier, her face now reflected happiness and joy, something that he himself changed. He reached up, taking her hands from around his neck and held it between them. "C'mon girl," he murmured. "Let me take you out…"

-Finito!-


	2. Past the Point of No Return: M

Author's Note: Here's the second installment. (Please note I've changed the rating.) I totally love Phantom Of the Opera and I was listening to this the other day and thought of this. Nastier than my usual writing, but who doesn't love a side of smut? Especially if it's the Jommy sort. ;) Enjoy folks! Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own jack, so yeah...

Background Info: Set sometime after 'Unsweet Sixteen'. Uh...I guess that's all I need to say...

* * *

Past The Point Of No Return  
Rated: M  
By Miss Massacre

**"You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge,****  
In pursuit of that wish, which till now has been silent.  
Silent...****  
I have brought you, that our passions may ****fuse and merge -****  
in your mind you've already succumbed to me****  
dropped all defenses completely succumbed to me -  
****now you are here with me:  
no second thoughts, you've decided.  
Decided..."**

**-Don Juan (Erik);**

Nothing could end with just a passionate kiss. It was never that easy, Jude knew it and Tommy knew it, even if he wouldn't admit it. How she ended up in front of Tommy's apartment building at two in the morning with the rain falling in sheets - she'll never know, but truthfully, she didn't give a damn. She had school in a few hours, yet she still left her warm bed to walk two miles. The past few days following her bittersweet sixteenth birthday were tense and she was here to relieve that. She pulled up her red hair into a bun and slowly walked into his apartment building. It was quiet and high end. A self-tanning abuser sat at the receptionist desk, reading a People magazine. Quietly she slipped past her, taking the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. She dug in her memory and remembered Tommy mentioning he lived on the tenth floor before.

Within seconds she was standing in front of a robin blue door, gold plated numbers reading the numbers 1016. Before she lost her nerve, her bent knuckles met the door in three quick raps. As she was about to knock again, the door swung open and there stood Tommy in all his glory. Messed up hair, minimal clothing, and a slight detatched look to his glassy eyes. She wished she could see him like that all time, he had a natural sexiness to him.

_Past the point of no return.  
No backward glances, our games of make believe are at an end._

"Jude?" The sound of her name rolling off his lips made her heart beat erratically. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, her throat was dry. "I don't know." She said shaking her head as she suddenly realized that her purple t-shirt was soaking wet and clinging to her braless chest. She crossed her arms over her erect nipples, licking her lips. "I - I was just thinking about you..."

His eyes softened and a smile spread across his perfect lips. "I was just dreaming about you..." Suddenly he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside his apartment, slamming the door behind her. He pinned her to the door, hips to hips, chest to chest. Before any words were uttered, their lips were molding together in a passionate kiss. Hot as, if not hotter than, their kiss in the alleyway a few days ago.

_Past a thought of "if" or "when".  
No use resisting - abandon thoughts and let the dream descend_

He knew it was wrong, she knew it was wrong, but they did nothing to stop it. They couldn't deny it now, they were both in too deep now. Her arms quickly wound around his neck, pulling him closer to her if possible. His fingers skimmed beneath her shirt, the trail he left igniting a fire inside of her she never felt before. As his tongue drug across her bottom lip, all her thoughts ceased. All she could focus on was his touch, the feeling of his lips on hers, and how good it felt for them to finally be together. It was hard to sit in the studio and stare at him through the glass when she knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Finally he pulled away, his lungs begging for air. Her leg was wrapped around his waist and she could feel his erection poking at her through her purple plaid pajama pants. Their chest heaved together and he chuckled. Swiftly he picked up her other leg and wrapped it around his waist, carrying her to the couch. He tossed her into the overstuffed couch, crawling between her legs. He started kissing at the waistband of her pants, pushing her shirt up as his kisses got higher.

A low moan rose from her throat as he exposed her left breast, immediately taking her nipple in his warm mouth. His tongue swirled around as his hand found the other, rubbing her taut nipple between his two fingers. She whimpered as his mouth left her chest and hovered above her. "Never in a million years did I expect to end up here with you on my couch..." He whispered, his voice husky with lust. His eyes traveled down her exposed abdomen. "God, you're so beautiful."

_What raging fires shall flood the soul?_  
_What rich desire unlocks it's door?  
What sweet seduction lies before us?_

His hand trailed down her side to her waist band, exposing her hip. He lowered himself to kiss her bare skin trailing kisses across her waist, a chuckle rising from his throat and reverberating against her causing a tingle to trail down her back that ended at her core. He continued pulling down those pajama pants until he revealed a perfect pink pussy donned with a small tuft of red curls. "Carpets match the drapes, huh?" He murmured before sliding her pants along with her panties the rest of the way off.

She felt nothing until something warm and wet slide between her southern lips, finding her entrance and making itself comfortable. It was like nothing she ever felt before. Sure, she'd tried her hand at masturbating, but nothing had ever felt this exhilarating...this mind blowing. If there was an inkling of thought in her mind before it shattered at that moment. An orgasm quickly hit her like a Tonka truck, a loud moan escaped her lips and she gripped the sides of his head.

"Mmm...jesus." She whispered to herself as he licked her clean. Within moments he was hovering above her, a seductive smile on his face. He covered her lips with his own her cum, still wet on his lips, mixed with their spit and she felt another orgasm building up. Somehow she knew it was only going to be the second of the many she'd be having that night.

"You've got a tattoo on your hip?" He asked with a smile, his lips inches away from hers.

_Past the point of no return, the final threshold -  
what warm, unspoken secrets will we learn?  
Beyond the point of no return . . ._

She giggled and nodded her head, remembering after she'd gotten the 'J' on her leg she and Jamie decided to drink some of the wine coolers his Nana had in their fridge. After drinking a few she'd decided to go back and get a playboy bunny on her hip. She did it to spite Sadie, who'd always told her she was too homely to do anything, or be anyone, like that. Jamie tried with all his might to stop her, but no one could stop a drunk and determined Jude Harrison.

His smile grew wider and he kissed her lips sweetly before pulling back again. "It's sexy..." He told her and even though he couldn't see her that well, he knew she blushed. He kissed each of her cheeks, moving down to her neck and beginning to suck. It wasn't too long until there was a hickey, red and flushed, standing out against her porcelain skin. Her hands traveled down his sides to the drawstring of his pajama pants and, with more courage than she thought she had at that moment, pulled them down. His erection sprung from it's hold, brushing against her stomach, and with her feet, she slid the pants down to his ankles.

_You have brought me to that moment__  
where words run dry, to that moment__  
where speech disappears into silence,  
silence . . ._

He quickly stripped her of her shirt and soon they were pressed together, skin to skin, their body heat warm enough to heat up the whole room. "Is this your first time, Jude?" She nodded, licking her lips.

"Are you sure you want to do this...?" He asked, and she looked at him incredulously. When she first came here, she didn't have an idea of why she was there, only that she knew she should be - **had** to be. She'd imagined this a million times before, it may've not been on the couch or with her soaking wet from the rain, but sex was sex.

She nodded her head quickly, biting her bottom lip. "Oh God, yes." She breathed, rubbing the inside of her thigh against his hip.

_I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why...__  
In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining__  
defenseless and silent -  
and now I am here with you: no second thoughts I've decided...  
decided..._

He disappeared for a moment only to return to his spot in between her legs, ripping a foil packet with his teeth. She didn't need to ask what it was - she knew it was the _fifty cents insurance policy_ - and took the condom from his hands. As sensually as she could, she slid the rubber down his shaft to the base. When she was done, he took her hands and pinned them above her head. They exchanged looks as only lovers could and with a nod of her head, he slowly pushed himself inside her.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been dreaming of this moment. The moment of when they'd finally push past their walls, put their games on pause and finally indulge a little. Before G-Major, she thought that being a teen would give her more freedom, but since meeting Tommy Quincy that thought had been thrown out of the window. Never, in her lifetime had something, so tempting and sexy, metaphorically called her name. It was so wrong, but at the same time...it was so right.

_Past the point of no return -__ no going back now:  
our passion-play__ has now, at last, begun...__  
Past all thought of right or wrong -__ one final question:  
how long should we two wait, before we're one...?_

Before he reached her barrier, he withdrew only to slam himself back inside of her, this time turning her from a girl to a woman. Her thighs tightened around him and her eyes closed as a cry, laced with pain and pleasure, escaped from her rosy lips. He kissed her fully, his thrust starting soft but once her hips raised to meet his, they became harder and more insistent. She writhed beneath him, arching her back and biting his lip.

Her senses were ignited, everything on edge. She'd never felt this...satisfied. One hand maneuvered between them, flicking her engorged clitoris, causing her to hit a new note as she came just as forcefully as the first time, this time her walls clenching around his member. He groaned her name as her nails dug a track down his back, feeling his own orgasm building up inside of him. He lifted her leg, his thrusts becoming more erratic each time their hips collided.

_When will the blood begin to race,  
the sleeping bud burst into bloom?  
When will the flames, at last, consume us...?_

Her hand flew out and gripped the back of the couch as her toes curled under. "God...yes!" She cried as her walls tightened around him in orgasm, again.

Tommy's nails dug into her hips as he thrust inside of her once more, finding his own release. "Jude!" He called out, nuzzling his face in her neck. He slumped over her, balancing his weight so as to not squish her, their breathing out of their control. Her hand reached up to wipe the sweat covering his forehead and he smiled warmly, kissing her nose, before turning so she was laying atop him.

_Past the point of no return, the final threshold -  
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn..._

They'd come together that night like never before. As they lay there together, in their after-sex euphoria, Tommy knew things would never be the same between them again. Work wouldn't be the same, talking about her wouldn't be the same, hell his life probably wouldn't be the same. The first time he saw her, he knew she'd be the girl to change his life. To make him mature up. Never in his life did he believe that a sixteen year old contest winner would the girl to do that. He wouldn't regret it though, no way would he regret this. And there was no way he could make her forget this because for once in his life, he felt whole. And nothing, not any amount of money, not any fantasy girl of his - nothing would, or could, ever contend with that feeling.

_We've passed the point of no return..._


	3. Concrete Angel: M

Author's Note: Finished in the span of my own day. I feel so proud. Not really a mushy kind of thing, the darkest thing I've done since 'Monster'. I don't like the ending much, but that's all I could come up with. Read and review, please!

Background Info: Jude, 6. Tommy, 6. Sadie, 12. Total AU.  
Rated: M for child abuse, mention of manslaughter, death, suicide.  
Couple: Undertones of Jommy.

* * *

"I see a light; hope. I feel a breeze; strength. I hear a song; relief. Let them through for they are the welcome ones."  
-Ivan Rogers

* * *

Jude's pace was sluggish as she walked to her first grade class that morning. She tried her best to keep her tears at bay as she seen the other kids walking happily with their mom's. Her only wish in the world, and it wasn't for a pony or big sister like most little girls were but it was to have her mom walk to school with her. Or at least pick her up for school. She'd love to tell someone besides Kurt, her stuffed bear, about her day in school. Then again, her mom never wanted to hear what she had to say...ever.

She clutched the brown paper bag that contained her poorly packed lunch, done all by herself, as she raced across the street. Her heart raced as she heard a car coming, but her skinny legs carried her to the corner before it hit her. She stopped for a moment, to catch her breath, but when she did someone spotted her.

**She walks to school with the lunch that she packed**

"Jude!" Tommy, her next door neighbor, called from across the street with his very-pregnant mother in tow. With his khaki's and polo on, he looked like a miniature man instead of a six year old boy. Her head whipped up to see him crossing the same crosswalk that she'd just crossed, while holding his mother's hand. A dull ache could be felt in her heart, but she just straightened up pushing it away. Sometmes, with her emotions and thoughts, she felt like an adult stuck in a seven year olds body.

"Hey, Mrs. Quincy." Jude said politely, a warm smile that she'd been practicing spread across her face. It hurt for her skin to stretch across her bruised cheekbone, inately disguised by her older sister's concealer, but she had to keep up the act. No need to worry anyone.

"Hello, Jude." Eliana Quincy said, her soprano voice laced with worry as she raked her eyes over Jude's dress. "Didn't you wear that yesterday, dear?" She gestured to the dress and a panicked expression passed over Jude's face as she quickly thought of a lie.

**Nobody knows what she's holdin' back**

"My mother...she's, uh, doing laundry today." She said, her voice soft as she tugged on the end of one of her red, braided pigtails in nervousness.

"Is that why she's not walking with you?" Eliana asked placing her hand lightly on Jude's back, but it was enough to draw a wince from her. Jude tried to cover it with a cough, but she was sure Eliana had noticed.

"No," Jude kept tugging on the end of her braid until Eliana grabbed her hand as they began to walk towards the school. "She just doesn't want to walk with me...I don't know why. I know how to get to school though, so it's no worry for her."

Eliana looked to her left, at Tommy - her heart and her world wrapped into one. Deep down she knew something was happening to the younger Harrison girl, but she didn't want to pry. Not if meant to break up a family.

**Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday**

Stuart Harrison was a middle aged man, working unhappily as an accountant downtown. He was never seen unless going to, or coming home, from work. He was very omnious in his prescense, but there were times she was sure she heard him leaving late at night and not returning until before dawn sometimes. Victoria Harrison, on the other hand, was a young, bitter thing. She was maybe just thirty-two, but could easily pass as twenty. She thought when she married Stuart, that she'd be marrying into money, but since Stuart's father's bankrupcy surprise - it was just the opposite.

It wasn't so much that she had to get a job working as a waitress, but it was that she had to get a second job as a store clerk that bothered her. She was raised to never raise a finger, so why should she start now. Then the children came, two within two years. It was too much for her and in the spare time she did have, she began drinking. And the anger she had towards Stuart, turned into anger against her daughters. Jude experienced most of the anger, the evidence of that found under her dress. Purple, black, and green patches covered her back, abdomen, and the tops of her thighs. Her mother bought all the right dresses to cover them, to make sure no one could see enough to ask questions...

Her mother always knew.

**She hides the bruises with the linen and lace oh**

"Bye, Mom." Tommy said to his mother as he stood up on his tip toes to kiss his already bent over mother, her belly mostly getting in the way.

"Good-bye, Thomas." She murmured, kissing his lips lightly and smooth his hair. Jude stood awkwardly at the double doors, not wanting to be around to experience the love the two shared. It only made her more jealous. Normally she wouldn't have waited; she would've been in class already, beginning her work, but Tommy had asked and she felt it only right to wait.

As she looked at the green grass swaying lightly in the wind, the previous night replayed in her head.

_Victoria swayed slightly as she stood in the kitchen, watching as Jude pulled the gallon of milk from the kitchen, not saying a word. It was just before nine p.m. and she'd wanted a snack. The smell of vodka that rolled off of Victoria could be smelled from across the room and as soon as it hit Jude's senses, she froze in mid-air. "What do you think you're doing?" Victoria asked, approaching Jude and snatching the jug of milk from her tiny palms._

_"I - I just wanted - " She never got to finish her sentence because her mother had slapped her violently across the face._

_"Do not talk back to me, young lady!" She yelled and from down the hall of their one floor house, her younger sister, Sadie, could hear the commotion. She peeked from out the door and tip toed across the rose carpeting. She hated seeing her baby sister treated like that. "You _do not_ just grab the milk from the refrigerator! Did you even ask someone?! I don't see your father here and I didn't hear you ask me!"_

_Jude backed into the sea foam green cabinets, her face crumpling as her mother towered over her shaking the jug in her face. "I - I'm sorry, Mommy." She said, trying to hold in the tears, but she could feel them, hot and wet, already rolling down her cheeks._

_With the sight of Jude's tears, Victoria burst. She picked up Jude by her ponytail and starting for her room. Sadie scurried to her room, knowing what was coming. She knew all-too-well the price of tears. The tiny click was barely heard against Jude and Victoria's screams._

"Jude..." Tommy said, waving his hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

Jude shook her head, hoping to clear it and focused her sight on Tommy. She could feel the tears starting, but she swallowed them back. "Yeah, I am." She nodded and Tommy took her hand, pulling her towards their class.

Mrs. Cullen watched as the last two, always the last two, students in her class raced up the hallway. Her arms crossed in front of her chest in mock annoyance, but a smile played across her lips. "You two..." She shook her head as they waved simultaneously before walking into the classroom.

**The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask**

All too easily, she recognized the dress Jude wore as the one she wore the previous day and she swore she seen cover-up on the young girls face. She wanted to ask, but who was she to invade? Maybe she was just playing with her mother's make up and it was laundry day. Plenty of kid's repeated clothes during the week, why should this be any different?

Despite reassuring herself over and over again, she couldn't help but feel it was.  
**  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask**

Jude could see the question in her teacher's eyes. For a young girl, she was pretty observant. Sometimes she just wished they'd ask...hint towards it, something. She'd been living with it for so long, that she was sure she would tell someone by now. It hurt to bad to keep it inside. Before she'd heard her sister talking about suicide. She didn't know what it was at the time, but that night after her mother had passed out in a drunken stupor, Jude googled it. She found out that it was something she already knew about, something she'd been wishing for for so long, but she didn't know they had a name for it.

**Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born**

After school that day, Jude sat in her room doing her homework when she heard her mother crash through the door. She jumped at the sound of glass meeting their linoleum floor and she sat motionless on her bed as Victoria stumbled through the hallway towards Jude's room. She could hear her mother approaching, she could practically smell her mother's anger, but yet she made no move to get out. She could've easily hopped out of the window, it wasn't the far of a fall for her fairly long body.

"Jude Elizabeth - !" She threw the young girl's pressed wood door open, her face red. With no words she snatched up Jude by her small arms, a tank top revealing the bruises that decorated the tops of her arms. It took all of Jude's might to shut her mother out, the sound of pure bliss - which was Beethoven to her - flooded her ears and she closed her eyes as her mother went on yelling at her. She closed her eyes, wishing herself away, but as her mother shook her violently before throwing her into her pink dresser she knew she couldn't escape.

The tears that Jude wanted so badly to cry pushed at her eyes, but she dared not to let them fall. She didn't even let her eyes gloss over. The fact that she did not cry made Victoria even more bitter. Jude wasn't sure how long her mother continued to beat her, but be time she left the sun that had lit Jude's light yellow room had set behind the hills.

**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above**

The last thing she heard before her mother slammed the door shut was, "...no dinner!"

And as soon as the door closed, she buried her face in a nearby stuffed animal and wailed her heart out. She cried loudly and sloppily, snot running from her nose and onto it's faux fur. Her tears burned her eyes as she squinched them shut and opened them as she sobbed. She cried and cried and cried until, with shaky breaths, she fell asleep. In her dreams she was with a large, loving family and it wasn't until she noticed herself holding the youngest, an infant boy, did she notice it was her own family - in the future. A smile spread across her dreamy face and she brought her rosy lips to the brown hair of her son that oddly resembled Tommy Quincy.

**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel**

And as her eyes watched the painted scenes behind her lids, trouble began brewing. A smile graced her face as she slept and in her subconcious, she wished to never wake up. Out in the conjoined living room and kitchen, the phone rang. Still drinking though the late evening hour, Victoria picked up the phone. In her room Sadie could hear the murmurs and angry retorts from her mother. She jerked at her mother screeching at the innocent Mrs. Cullen on the other line. She'd talked to Sadie before, never on teh subject for which she was calling now, but she seemed sweet and innocent enough.

Quietly, Sadie slipped out of her room and tip toed, with speed, to Jude's room. She shut the door with a click, made it to a sleeping Jude on the floor in three long paces. "Jude!" she whispered, shaking her sleeping sister. "Wake up! Mother's coming!"

Groggily, Jude whimpered and wiped her eyes before opening them. Her eyes immediately landed on Sadie's panicked face and she couldn't help but feel a bit panicky herself. "What? What happened? I didn't do anything!" Jude whispered helplessly, her eyes switching from Sadie's face to the door that led to the hallway.

Sadie felt the tears building, knowing something bad may happen tonight. Something that would change the rest of them forever. "I know, sweetie." She murmured, stroking Jude's face. "Mrs. Cullen called...Mother's talking to her right now." Jude's face dropped in horror and she could hear the phone meeting the cradle violently. Her eyes flashed to Sadie's. "I love you, Jude. I do, even if you don't believe anyone else does."

She threw her arms around Jude protectively, hearing her mother's footsteps "I love you too, Sades." She replied, wrapping her arms around her sister and despite her holding back, the tears began falling as soon as the door was thrown open. Victoria ripped Jude from Sadie's hold and Jude cried as she was thrown onto the floor.

"What did you tell your teacher?!" She yelled, towering over the young girl. "Did you tell her to call here?!"

Jude tried to push herself up, but the bruises already battering her body were making it difficult. Silently, tears fell from her bent head and before she could push herself up on her knees. Victoria kicked Jude back down. "Well?" She yelled, pushing the young girl over on her back. "Did you?!"

**Somebody cries in the middle of the night**

Jude shook her head, sniffling. "No..." She said, her voice hoarse. "I didn't say anything..."

Victoria grabbed Jude by her red hair, pulling her up to her knees. "Don't. Lie. To. Me." She said slowly, the rum she'd been drinking dilluted her breath and made Jude queasy as it invaded her nostrils. Behind her, Sadie quivered in the corner near Jude's toybox. She wished to help her sister, but doing so would only put more danger on Jude and danger on herself. She felt so guilty to just sit by and watch or listen and not help, but she'd endured it as well. It would only be a matter of time before her mother stopped. Everything would stop and go back to normal. Or so she told herself.

Next door at the Quincy house, Eliana sat on the edge of her bed listening with wide eyes to the commotion at the Harrison's house. Protectively she stroked her belly, her hand in straight reach of the phone. She wanted so badly to call; it disturbed her that those innocent girls endured such horror. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right. Her husband, Branden, grabbed the phone before she could reach for it. "Eli," He said softly, knowing how terrified she was for those girls. "It's not our place to intrude...if their disciplining...then let them. We can't judge everyone's parenting..."

"I know, but it just hurts to hear those girls scream like that..." She trailed off her brown curls bouncing as she shook her head, not bothering to mention how Jude had looked to her this morning. She could rememer a time when the Harrison girl's had bright eyes and rosy cheeks; that was a time of cook outs and car pools. Now Victoria and Stuart stayed to themselves, barely showing their faces or speaking a word to any of the surrounding neighbors. Jude had dim eyes now, as if scared hollow, and her cheekbones were beginning to show. If only Eliana could do something, but, instead, she leaned over and turned off the bedside lamp and laid down beside her husband. She tried to close her eyes to sleep, but as the screams and yelling went on only two hundred feet away from them, the tears fell from her crystal blue eyes.

**The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights**

"Mom!" Sadie cried next door, finally throwing her senses aside as her mother kicked her younger sister. "Stop it! She didn't _do_ anything!"

Her mother turned to look over her shoulder, her hazel eyes set on Sadie. "You know it! Stop hurting her! She doesn't deserve it!" Sadie reinforced, standing up straight but staying against the wall. Victoria forgot about Jude, and approached Sadie, drawing her hand back and slapping her.

"You do not raise your voice at me, young lady!" She seethed as Sadie held a hand over the reddening cheek. "And Jude deserves it all! She needs to learn a lesson! She needs to stop defying and lying to me! Maybe if she stopped, then we'd get somewhere."

From the floor, Jude shook and whimpered. Tonight would be the turning point of something else. Her mother had went over the edge and there was no stopping her. "And if you don't want some of what she's having...I suggest you listen to me." Victoria said nastily, jerking Sadie up by the collar of her nightgown. Though she didn't want to, she nodded her head. Sadie's wind was knocked from her as Victoria slammed her into the wall and turned to Jude again.

This time, she picked Jude up by her shoulders. Because of her scanty eating, Victoria as able to lift her to eye level. "Why do you constantly lie to me?! Why do you insist on disrespecting and going against me?!" She shook the girl, looking in her eyes. "Huh?!"

**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above**

Jude had cried herself out and could do nothing but stare at her mother because she knew as soon as she opened her mouth, it'd be shut by a reinforced slap. Victoria was even more angered when she wouldn't listen. "Sadie!" She screeched, turning towards the cowering blonde. "Get the bleach from the bathroom!"

When Jude had registered what her mother said, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. "No! No! No!" She cried as her mother set her on the floor and drug her out to the living room, knocking her into the walls along the way. Stuart was oblivious to what was happening as he sat with his eyes glued on the television. Snatching her half filled rum bottle from the dining room table, she drug Jude back to the bathroom. There Sadie was waiting with shaking hands and tears, holding onto the bleach bottle as if her life depended on it. This was supposed to be their mother - the one person who loved and adored them - so why was she doing this?

As Jude was pushed down on the tiled floor, she pushed herself into her dreamscape again. Her own happy family filled with love and adornment. As soon as she could, she would escape. Get away from all of this...maybe even tomorrow. Forget going to school, she take some money...take a bus somewhere far. She'd been studying geography. She knew the area around her.

**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
**

With all that was going on in her mind, she didn't notice as her mother began pouring the bleach in her mouth. She was gagging, but Victoria kept pouring. "Stop!" Jude cried through gurgles of the chemical. Tears were pouring from her eyes and the sound of her gags filled the room. "It burns!"

"Oh, stop lying!" Victoria yelled, holding Jude down by her throat as she took a swig of her rum sitting beside her. "God doesn't like liars!"

Sadie stood paralyzed in horror by the scene playing in front of her. How could she let this go on? She nearly lost her consciousness when she seen Jude's eyes rolling back. Soon her twists of escape turned to twitches of unconciousness. It wasn't long until Jude was motionless under her mother. Her face and lips were of pale coloring and her breathing was shallow. With a flick of her wrist, Jude's head snapped to the side and Victoria got up, taking her bottle along with her. Not until she heard Victoria's bedroom door slam shut did she rush to Jude's side, her hands and eyes in a frenzy. Her heartbeat was shallow and although she knew it was no use, she alternated between CPR and mouth-to-mouth.

The bleach singed her tongue and with every useless push and breath, sobs escaped her lips. When she finally accepted that Jude wasn't coming back she curled up beside her, her arm draped across her protectively. Somewhere along the line she fell asleep...

**Concrete angel**

Three weeks later...

Sadie Nicole Harrison, who was soon to become Sadie Quincy, stood with her head bowed beside Eliana, Branden, and a crying Tommy Quincy. It was the day of Jude Elizabeth Harrison's funeral. Her father and mother were behind bars, being held on the charges of manslaughter, physical child abuse, neglect/failure to provide, and emotional maltreatment. She still relived the morning they took Jude's dead body away every single day. She still couldn't get rid of the pale, chapped lips of Jude or the ludicrous look on her mother's face as they pushed her into the back of the patrol car.

**A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with an upturned face**

Across from her, Mrs. Cullen stood crying into her handkerchief silently. Guilt was invading everyone's concious as soon as the reason for Jude's death was revealed, but no one could feel as bad as Sadie felt or would ever feel. Her eyes raised to the only thing she did get to do, pick her baby sister's headstone. It was an angel, standing with a sheet draped around, what Sadie considered, her waist. A smile graced her perfect features, and her stone ringlets framed her pudgy face. It sort of reminded her of what Jude looked like before the beatings reached out to touch her.

**  
A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot**

They let her choose the inscribing and it pained her to see how close together the birth and death dates were. She dabbed at her eyes and fought back the sob climbing her throat as she read the inscription for what felt like the millionth time. _'Absent in body, but present in spirit - Rest in Peace - Jude Elizabeth Harrison - Born: Nov. 31. 2002 Died: April 16, 2008' _

As they began to lower her casket into the seemingly endless hole, Sadie fell to her knees sobbing. "Oh God, Jude...I'm so sorry..." She sobbed into the grass, her fists beating the moist earth. "I'm so sorry..."

Vaguely, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and she recognized the hold as her adoptive father, Branden. He stroked her straight blonde hair, not caring that her tears were probably ruining his expensive suit because as he held her he could feel the pain she was feeling. "She's in a better place Sadie..." He whispered, presing his cheek against the side of her face as he spoke. "Where she can't feel any pain."

**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above**

The months that followed found Sadie in and out therapy, court, and GED classes. The morning still haunted her and she found it difficult to sleep. When that happened, she'd pretend Jude was beside her and she'd tell her about her day. How much she missed her. Within a month Victoria had been put behind bars, with two consecutive sentences of ten years, and Stuart as well, with a sentence of five years for turning a blind eye towards her doings. She hadn't seen her parents since the trial and was living happily with the Quincy's. Sadie felt quite at home with them and the daughter Eliana had just given birth to, who they'd affectionately named Jude, was beginning to grow on her.

Many days Sadie would sit by Jude's graveside, remembering the scanty childhood memories she had of her sister. In her dreams she still saw her as a young toddler, giggling and running across the park field like she used to. Though Sadie didn't like the fact Jude had died such a despating death, she knew Jude was in a happier place...heaven.

**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved**

_'Sadie...' Jude breathed in shallowly as she tried to open her eyes, only to realize she couldn't. It'd been at least a half an hour since Victoria disappeared inside of room, though neither of the Harrison girls knew how long it actually been. She could feel the end near to her, the bright light at the end of the tunnel. 'I...love...you...okay. Never...forget that.'_

_Sadie, who'd been resting against the cabinet door underneath the sink, lifted her eyes from the tiles to rest on Jude's pale face. 'Don't worry about me, I'm going to a good place...somewhere where the pain won't reach me.' She continued on, squeezing Sadie's fingers ever so lightly. 'I...want. You...to survive...though - make a family, fall in love.' Jude sucked in one of her final breaths. 'I'll be watching over you...always.'_

**  
Concrete angel**


End file.

Instant Star, Romance