I probably shouldn't be posting this now... But I'm going to do it anyway, even though my buffer isn't as big as I would like. This is a sequel to my two previous stories Honesty and Fidelity. Honesty is available on the archive here and although Fidelity is still being edited for the archive, the TOC is available here . Anyone reading this story should probably read the other two first. Otherwise, you'll end up wondering: "Who are these strange people and what are they doing on the LCfanfic boards?"

This chapter is more of a teaser than anything, but I hope you guys enjoy anyway. I've changed things up a bit from my usual format, so I decided to test drive it on the boards.

Thanks to my two betas, Nancy and Carol, for agreeing to help me out on this!

CHAPTER ONE

*~Jay~*

We tumbled onto the sofa together. Probably a good thing as I wasn’t sure my legs would’ve held out much longer. Our tongues danced together as we teased each other with our touches. Her fingers played up my back, her touch light and delicate, yet each point of contact joined together to create a fiery trail. I was no stranger to kissing girls, but somehow with her… it was different. Breaking our kiss for a moment, I pulled back to look at her. Soft hair tumbled around her face in disarray, and her eyes flashed up at me.

“Get back down here,” she commanded breathlessly. “I’m not done with you yet.” She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back down towards her. I didn’t really have any reason to object.

When I first felt it, I pushed it aside, hoping that it would pass. But then her hard fingers bit into my shoulder once again, and I couldn’t restrain the grunt of pain that squeezed past my lips. There was a blur of motion beneath me, and she was gone. Confused, I sat up and looked around the room, wondering where she had disappeared to. I found her standing at the opposite end of the room, as far away from me as possible.

“It happened again, didn’t it?” she asked frantically, twisting her hands together in knots. “Jay, I am so-”

“Ellie, don’t-”

“I knew we shouldn’t have done this,” she interrupted with frustration. “What did I…” She was afraid to form the words. “Where is… How bad is it this time?”

“I’m fine,” I told her comfortingly. “I’ll maybe have a bit of a bruise tomorrow, but I’ve gone through worse before, trust me.” I rotated my shoulder experimentally. Despite it being a little sore, I was telling the truth when I said it wasn’t too bad. Ellie was watching me with a frozen expression on her face. “Ellie, it’s okay,” I told her, taking a step towards her. “It’s not your fault.”

“Yes,” she snapped, flinching away from me, “it is!”

* * *

*~Ellie~*

Jay’s living room seemed to be twice the size it normally was as I stood awkwardly against the wall.

“I am so sorry,” I spoke quietly, finally daring to break the oppressive silence. But I still wasn’t ready to look at him.

“I’m fine Ellie,” he told me again. “It’s nothing serious.”

I took a step towards him. “Do you mind if I take a look at it?” I asked tentatively.

“Go ahead.” He angled his body so I had a better line of vision, and I moved to sit beside him. Concentrating, I let my eyes slide past his skin and focus on the flesh underneath. I gulped as I saw the mangled blood vessels and damaged muscles.

“I just don’t understand why any of this is happening!” I told him in frustration. “I’ve never had this problem before.”

“Well, we have been pushing things further lately,” he suggested.

“You’re hardly the first guy I’ve made out with before, Jay.”

“Are you telling me that I have competition?” he teased. But I wasn’t in the mood for it tonight.

“I’m going to figure this out,” I promised him. “I should’ve started running tests the first time it happened, but I thought it was just a fluke.”

Jay reached up to stroke my hair. “There’s no rush, Ellie,” he said. “In the meantime, we can just be careful. I can live with that until we have things figured out.”

“But I can’t!” I objected, pushing away his hand. “How are we supposed to be dating if I can’t even touch you without hurting you?”

“There’s more to a relationship than physical contact.”

“But how can you have one without it?”

“C’mon, it’s not like you’re going to crush me every time you lay a finger on me. Like I said before, we’ll just be careful. Not get too carried away.” He reached him hand forward, inviting me to take it. I smiled, and extended my own. But then a brief spasm of pain crossed over his face has he worked his injured arm. He hid it well, but I had seen it immediately.

I stood abruptly. “You know, it’s getting late. I should get going.”

“Wait, Ellie, you don’t have to-”

“I’ll see you later, Jay,” I told him, nearly tripping over the coffee table as I made a quick exit. I raced to remove myself as far as possible from the situation. That was twice now that I had accidentally hurt him. Normally, I was perfectly in control of all my abilities. Yet I hadn’t even noticed that I was gripping too hard until he protested. Was this normal? Unlikely, I told myself. Dad would have mentioned something about it before.

And how was Jay taking this? It isn’t everyday that you get a girlfriend who physically damages you during every make-out session. What a lucky guy.

* * *
*~Jay~*

It had been a rookie mistake. But then again, that’s what we were that one night when we were so young and green and inexperienced when the treacherous moon shone down and betrayed us with the rustling of a branch and the huff of a breath that slid through the air into enemy ears that were close so close too close to miss it when it crept out to our despair and we tried to cover it up but we were too late to protect ourselves and before we knew it I was caught and was faced with the wildness in those dangerous eyes that clawed at my face and tore at my skin and ripped me apart to cold exposure that was filled up with mud in my eyes and mouth and nose and ears as I gasped, choked, wheezed, and felt the pull and stretch of my muscles being pushed to their limit and beyond and of course those soulless hands and feet didn’t care but just kept pushing until I finally was able to breathe in the room with the chair and the door that wasn’t a door but a wicked taunting taste of freedom that I never was to be given but always teased with, tortured with alongside the pain oh the pain that started a gentle massage then grew and grew and grew grew grew until it was all I could see besides that twisted mouth and those evil eyes and that snarling face and I screamed and I screamed and I screamed and then she woke me up.

* * *

*~Ellie~*

I didn’t dare go into the bedroom. There was an invisible barrier marked by the doorway that I couldn’t bring myself to cross. So instead I clung to the frame and watched him toss around in the dark, trying to get his bearings. I saw him squint, attempting to see in what was undoubtedly difficult conditions for him.

“Ellie?” he finally asked, with confusion.

I was suddenly embarrassed at my presence. I had broken into his apartment in the middle of the night and was now standing outside his bedroom. “Yeah, it’s me,” I confirmed. “Sorry. I was just…flying around and I… I heard you and I just wanted to come check and see if you were okay.”

“Oh,” he replied flatly. “Sure, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You were screaming…” I whispered, puncturing his false bravado.

“It was just a dream,” he told me, his eyes shuttered. “Sorry I made you worry.”

“Jay…” I began, not really sure how to help him. Something was obviously disturbing him. He shifted again in bed, and his covers slid down and exposed his chest. A lump grew in my throat as I saw the large purple mark that had blossomed on his shoulder.

I had done that.

“What?” he asked me, and I realized that I had stopped speaking.

“Nothing,” I said hastily, averting my eyes from the bruise. “I’ll um… let you get back to sleep.”

“Okay. Good night, Ellie.”

“Good night, Jay,” I managed to choke out before I flew from the room as fast as I could.