Jennifer hadn't felt someone touch her in this way for very long. Her mind was racing, he asked too many questions which she didn't know how to answer. As he came near to her erogenous zones she responded with an immediate shiver and felt a familiar heat rising up from deep within her.

She turned around and traced her fingers across his muscled chest. Her mind entered a hazy state and she could barely control herself.

"I... I... can't...", she stammered helplessly her heartbeat increasing with every breath she took. She craned her neck waiting for him to kiss her.

"I don't know... how... I'm... James... I...", for a faint moment James could see a violet flash in Jennifers eyes. Her body trembled with anticipation.

James put one hand behind her head and said,

"It's OK..." and kissed her deeply. With his other hand he "soaped" her breast then cupped it with his thumb rubbing back and forth over her erect nipple.

Jennifer moaned as James kissed her and tensed like she was hit by a lightning when he rubbed her nipple. She wanted to embrace him and never let go but her body failed to respond. Instead she felt a constriction running down her spine a feeling of both pleasure and fear. Jennifer gasped for air releasing herself forcefully from the kiss. She looked down at the floor and saw water running through the drain but she barely heard anything but the beating of her own heart.
Just let go, Jennifer... trust me Violets voice sounded huskily and seductive.

"NO!!!", screamed Jennifer and ran away as fast as she could. She fought down her arousal and started to cry, she didn't want to change into Violet... not this time. Half blind she crashed into a chair in her room and tripped over it falling down to the floor. She couldn't bring up the strength to stand up and curled into a fetal position as she cried bitterly holding her head with her hands.

*Um...*

James stood in the shower for a moment and then turned it off and walked out. James picked up both towels and draped one over Jennifer like a blanket. The other he put over himself like a toga. Kneeling next to her he used her towel to dry her in what he hoped was a non-sexual manner and made soothing non-sense noises.

"There there. It will be ok. There there."

Under sobs Jennifer slowly calmed down. She managed to lift herself into a sitting position with James' help and tried to hug him.

"I'm... so sorry... I *sob* wanted it so much... but I... can't... she won't let me.", Jennifer tried hard to keep her embarassment in check.
You're so pathetic, Jennifer. Why didn't you let me?

"She's too strong and I can't keep in control.", she said disappointed of herself. "I didn't mean to... oh my god, I'm so pathetic...". She swallowed down a small outburst of tears and calmed down only sobbing a little.

Sometimes I hate you

Be careful what you wish for, Jennifer. You need me and you know it. And I know for a fact that you've been enjoying being me very much. You just can't cope with the truth. Now get yourself together before he leaves us.

Jennifer nodded at herself, as if she was listening to an inner dialogue. "I'm sorry", she whispered, unclear if she meant James or someone else.

James stomach growled again. Continuing to towel her dry he stated,

"Let me tell you a story. My first couple of years in high school were pretty bad. I was painfully gullible. I also wasn't smart enough to hang out with the nerds or athletic enough to hang with the jocks or handsome or charismatic enough to be popular. But the gullible part was the worst, some of the other students figured that out and I got bullied. Pretty pathetic I guess."

James voice is pretty even, this is painful but it's an old and worn out pain that he's come to terms with. He continues,

"Then one summer I stumbled on a solution. I started lifting weights. It didn't make me any smarter or less guliable but it did let me beat up people pointing it out. And of course since I could do that I didn't need to any more. Most of these muscles aren't from going nova, I did the body building circuit for a bit. Failed at it, but that's a different story."

"The point is that situations change. Life moves on. Some day you'll come to terms with yourself and this will just be a bad memory that only has power over you if you let it."

James thinks,

*Old first responders trick. Get you to think about something else.*

He continues,

"There. Now you're dry. In the meantime, I'm still hungry, and I'll bet you are too. So let's finish getting dressed and go find some food."

James gets up and goes back to Violet's bed room to find his clothes and put them on.

Jennifer looked up at James through tearfilled eyes and smiled bravely. "You are not disgusted of me?", she got up herself and still felt very lost.

"Most guys would've dumped me... you're not doing this because of Violet?", Jennifers asked with a tone of hope in her voice.

Of course he does, even if he doesn't admit it. You heard it yourself, I'm probably the most beautiful woman in the world. No real man in his right mind would dump me.

Does that mean that you will never give me a chance?

Somehow managing to stay decent with just his towel, James turns and kneels so he can look in Jennifer's eyes. He says,

"Disgusted? Hardly. You're hung up on sex? Well, welcome to the world. Just about everyone else is too, including me. There are things that would seriously upset me, this is NOT one of them."

"If and when you're willing, we'll work on this. I'm more than willing, and if we can't be lovers then we'll be friends."

*And when I get frustrated I'm sure Violet will let me take out my frustrations on her.*

"It's not like you're skin is turning green and you're running around leveling cities."

James stomach speaks again.

Jennifer laughed at James' witty remark. "Yeah, right.", she agreed.

She relaxed visibly and felt more comfortable around James. "You are really special, James. Thank you..."

Jennifer went to her wardrobe and got herself some nice lingerie and a beautiful evening dress for dinner. If she couldn't have sex with James, she could at least give him something nice to look at and to enjoy on a mental level.

You are so lucky, Jennifer. Its a shame you don't realize how much. And remember whom you owe this... always

"You prefer black or red?", she offered two low cut evening gowns with elaborated applications. They looked like something an actress would wear to the Oscars.

James says easily,

"You're welcome."

James thinks,

*It just goes to show that a man really is able to be just friends with a beautiful woman... provided he's just had sex 20 or 30 times with her sister.*


James mentally flips a coin, then says,

"The Black."

"I knew you would pick the black one.", answered Jennifer and hung the red dress back into the wardrobe.

"Just relax, I will prepare everything else.", Jennifer hung the black dress on the door of the wardrobe and quickly put on a bathrobe. Then she went to the table and lit a candle on. She offered James one of the chairs and smiled at him.

"I'll be right back, just want to mix up something edible Violet managed to stash for me. I hope you like pasta?", Jennifer went to a corner of the room that looked like a makeshift kitchen and started to open a few cans and unloaded its content into a large cooking pot while she hummed a little melody to herself.

"I'm not a gourmet cook, but I make a delicious pasta."

James finishes dressing and says,

"Pasta would be wonderful. I'm afraid I'm blessed with the nova appetite. How about you? How much do you eat? And were you this attractive before you went nova?"

Jennifer added some spices to the pasta and answered from the corner.

"I eat as usual, very little to be precise. I used to be a bit on the heavier side... during high school. And I'm short sighted, too. Then I wanted to become a model and started to workout and change my diet. What you see is who I was before I changed. But no one has actually told me that I was attractive before. I guess I met the wrong people...", Jennifers voice got a bit lower and she didn't finish the sentence.

"Voila! Ready or not, here comes the pasta.", Jennifer announced happily.

"Would you mind preparing our plates? I could slip into my dress in the meantime."

James says,

"Interesting... and I'd be glad too."

James moves around the kitchen and searches for plates and silverware and sets the table. He also briefly ogles Jennifer as she's changing, but isn't sure if she notices. He comments,

"So you were a model? Did you go nova before Z-day? I got that impression talking to... ah... earlier."

Jennifer sighed a little and answered, "I was about to start modelling and had a few minor contracts, all local only until I got a special offer for a 'Sports Illustrated' shooting. I should've known they weren't for real. The swimwear was very... revealing - to a point of being skimpy and the studio wasn't what I expected...", Jennifer stopped in midsentence.

"I'm starving, lets eat first, ok?", she sat quickly down and smiled at James. It was clear that she tried to change the subject.

"And you've been a fireman? It's hard to imagine you as a 90 pound weakling in your high school time.", she laughed at him openly.

James laughed with her and held up both arms and flexed them. Even through his shirt they looked big. He said,

"Yep and Yep. I really did weigh 90 pounds, I've got photos... back home." There was an awkward pause, 'home' brought some grim memories, but James pushed on,

"OK, so I don't have photos anymore. But hey, I was 13. I grew up as well as out. After high school I found out there's one big problem with body building, there's no money in it. You've got to be Arnold to really make it, and most of his money came as an actor."

"So, I had an uncle who'd been a fireman, and that was that. How about you? Why modeling? What did your parents think?"

Jennifer was really starting to enjoy herself. James was a gentleman, one of the rare kind as she could recall.

Still with a grin on her face she said, "My parents didn't dig that idea too much. Especially my father. I'm half Italian and my father has always been very protective of me. Still with the help of my mom I managed to get 'into business'. I won two local beauty contests, one of which was a regional competition. As soon as I earned my own money I rented my own appartement and for a moment I thought that was what freedom tasted like. But that didn't last too long...", Jennifer looked at her empty plate and paused.

She looked back up at James and said with a more serious tone in her voice, "I 'became' during that shooting I mentioned earlier... when I refused to do some topless shots one of the so called 'managers' tried to force himself on me... he almost raped me... and then I lost kinda track of time. I can only tell that she saved my life - she killed them all.", Jennifer swallowed down a knot that was constricting her throat.

"That was about a month before Z-Day... but I swear those guys acted just the same, maybe even worse."

James gets serious and says,

"They were worse. They should know better. Jennifer, you did what you had to. I've... had to do similar things. All I've run into are your average citizens but Z-day brought out the best and the worst in us."

James gives Jennifer with a considering look and then says,

"My best friend's brother was infected, so I killed him. That doesn't sound like a big deal now, but the rules weren't clear then. I left at gun point over that one. More recently we had to deal with a guy who insisted on being dangerous."

"It was obvious he was going to go after JoAnna. She though he was pretty creepy, I had to agree... although the sex imbalance between guys and gals didn't help. Anyway I made it clear I wasn't sharing, that she was mine and he should behave. He just didn't intimidate. He had this passive aggressive thing where he'd go right up to the line without going over."

"Waiting for him to make his move got old so I... acted." James waits to see how Jennifer will take this news.

Jennifer looked at James and slowly nodded, "I believe I understand now what JoAnna meant. She talked with Violet about such things. About you... and how you would be always around to protect her and her sister.", she reached out with one hand to touch his cheek and caressed it gently.

"Its a fucked up world we live in, James - and I'm glad that I've met you... we both are.", Jennifer smiled at him sincerely.

Consider us both lucky then, Jennifer... there was a hint of apology in Violets voice.

James put his hand over her own and replied,

"Thank you. I'm glad too... and that's for both of you too."

James considered,

*I could mention that IMHO the world is going to get worse before it gets better. Or that the plan is ultimately to find/make a safe place for our children... nah. Let's quit while we're ahead and not spoil the mood.*

...I'm missing something here. Wait, she killed them all? Violet has a combat power. Well, good for her. I'll probe her secrets some more another time. Interesting that she went nova before Z-Day. Not sure what to think about that. So... now what?*

James came to a decision and said,

"Jennifer... it's getting late and both of us have a very early mission tomorrow. I suggest we clean up and then go put that bed to it's intended use... i.e. let's get some sleep."

"You mean, just sleep? Cuddle maybe? Are you sure you can do that without...?", she raised her voice a tiny bit.

James thought, *Considering we've already had sex 20+ times the world will never find out... but let's phrase that a little better. This is a trust building exercise.*

James replied,

"I'm sure. You're not up for sex right now and I need the sleep more than sex."

James held up his hand and continued,

"Scout's honor."

Jennifer smiled at him and stood up offering her hand to James,"Let Violet do the dishes and go straight to bed. I'm feeling tired, too. Haven't felt like this in ages. It would be nice to be just me for a little while longer. Thank you, James."

It sounded a bit strange hearing Jennifer talk about herself and Violet this way. It seemed as if Jennifer wasn't getting too much time to be just herself... just Jennifer.

(ooc: finis this scene)