"You asked me to define beauty, Jace. You wanted to know what it meant to me," Liliana scratched on the paper. It should be a simple question, answered with an idiom that was over worn. Liliana took a deep breath, and looked at the disparagingly blank page before her.

"Beauty is Nova's eyes when she laughs, beauty is the blush you don't say you have, beauty is the way your eyes crinkle and your smile forms. Beauty is pulling my brother's ponytail like I have since I was very small. Beauty is the fact that i'll always have my mother's eyes. Beauty is my father's chubby cheeks; the ones he gave me. Beauty is being part of a family that loves. Like many things, it's relative, but beauty has one constant. Beauty isn't fire or destruction, beauty is creation."

Liliana capped the pen and shut the binder, loudly. She was unsure if she wanted to draw or work on something else. It seemed the few lines had sapped her of her creative energy. She need to work on the piece she had to play for musical theory, but right now she felt so out of touch that she didn't want to make the ten minute drive home. She missed Josu, she missed her dad and Kaalia and Nova. This week had been difficult, it was something she hadn't expected. Things usually weren't difficult for her. What made it worse was that Karen had fallen into something that seemed easy, and that was what Liliana craved more than anything. Her phone dinged, the sound seemed hard against the quiet night.

Silver. He wanted to see Liliana. Five years her senior, Josu's best friend, Karen's brother, and Liliana's worst decision to date.

Come home.

I am home, Silver. At least for now.

Still having a hard time Lili Belle? Miss me too much?

Told Josu yet?

Liliana…

No, Silver. No. I refuse to be your secret anymore. You don't get to love me at night anymore. You don't get to do that!

Liliana ignored the stabbing feeling that she got whenever Silver texted her, he was bad for her, she knew it, but she'd sworn to Karen, and more importantly, to herself, that she was starting over. She'd quit him if it was the last thing that she did. She put her phone on do not disturb, rolled over, and tried not to think. Her back hurt, but it wasn't bad enough to warrant anything other than a naproxen, maybe.

Her body was in complete revolt, demanding sleep, but she was unwilling to give it. Her phone vibrated, which meant someone was calling repeatedly. Angry at Silver, she turned over, ready to let him have it. But- it was her brother, and he was at the door of her dorm.

The stabbing pains in her back gone, she quickly rushed to the door and let him in. Josu, in every sense of the word, was Liliana's person, the person who got her when no one else did, her protector, her very best friend. They had the same infectious smile and the same long black hair, and when she saw his green eyes bear into her blue ones, it came crashing down how much she'd really missed her big brother.

He wrapped her in one of his bone crushing, hugs, one of those hugs that you thought had the power to glue you back together. He dwarfed her by almost a foot, even though she was tall for a girl, and she never felt safer in the world than when Josu was around.

"I'm here to take you to lunch, I haven't seen you and that's not what we do," Josu said, gruff. "Want to drive into downtown so we can grab something to eat?"

"Ooh, yes, this place is killing me, just let me grab my bag." Liliana turned back into her room, quickly threw her messy hair up into a bun, tossed her bag over her shoulder and went back to her brother. She put her head on his shoulder and smiled, even if nothing was okay in the world, everything was okay when she was with Su. Su had the power to make everything okay.

"Where's Nova?" Liliana inquired.

"She's with Lia, she's going to lunch with a friend too." Josu said.

"I didn't want to see them anyway," Liliana grumped to herself.

Josu smiled. He was so happy that Kaalia had found such a sister and a friend in Liliana, even though they had such large age difference. They had always adored each other.

Josu's phone vibrated and it was Lia, asking if they could meet for lunch. Josu hadn't seen Jace in a while either, so he told them it was okay.

"We're going to meet them for lunch, Lilibelle," Josu said. Liliana just shrugged. Most of Kaalia and Josu's friends were far away, so they were probably just in town for a bit. She rarely saw them anyways, so it would just be a meeting in passing. As they drove off campus and into Greenville, Liliana breathed in the familiar scent of Josu's car, which made her breathe easier. This was right. This was easy.

"How are your classes going? Is that teacher any better?" He inquired.

"He actually relinquished the class, we have a new professor now." Liliana smiled, and her cheeks pinked at the thought of Jace, but she hoped Su didn't notice.

Josu did, though. He watched Liliana like a hawk whenever they were together. Josu also knew that it would be right in Liliana's wheelhouse to fall for a wholly inappropriate man, one where there was a significant power imbalance. Josu breathed in sharply and vowed to put a stop to it if he could.

Su also knew how next to impossible that would be. Liliana didn't live with them anymore, she didn't live with their father anymore, she was essentially on her own, Josu, Kaalia and Nicolai too far to supervise her day to day holdings. He didn't think she'd ever learn. Silver had been to old for her, too tattooed, to promiscuous. But she'd fallen anyway. The only reason that Liliana didn't let things go farther was that Josu was quite literally always around. As much as he didn't like it, his best friend was scared of him- and that's why Silver didn't act on what he wanted.

Josu knew how men viewed his sister, a constant source of ire in his heart. She was more, she was so much more than what she was on the outside.

"Do you like him?" Josu pressed.

"Yes," Liliana said, scared that if she said anymore that she would reveal too much to him. JOsu just narrowed his eyes and parked outside Smoke on the Water. He walked around and opened Liliana's door, and when he did, Liliana's heart felt like it fell and leapt at the same time, a sensation that she was not familiar with, and she didn't know if she liked. Because there, standing next to Kaalia and holding her niece, was Jace Beleren.

Jace's heart skipped a beat when he saw her- this was impossible. Josu's sister was still young, a child! But here was the girl- the woman that had haunted nearly every waking thought that he had had for the past two weeks, standing next to a man that he loved and respected nearly above all others.

"Josu's sister is still a kid isn't she?" Jace hissed at Lia before they got too close.

"Not anymore-Why?" Kaalia looked at her best friend, and she knew.

"Jace. No! Are you kidding me? She's the girl that you've been texting me about? The student? You can't be serious right now!" Kaalia whispered back.

"Kaalia," he said miserably. "Please don't tell Su. I'm begging you. Let it run its course," he finished.

Kaalia nodded, and Nova nearly leapt out of Jace's arms when she saw her aunt. Liliana caught her, and Jace's skin at the same time. He couldn't look at her. He avoided her eyes, and Josu's.

Jace flashed back to nearly ten years ago, when they all sat at the same lunch table, Kaalia in Su's arms, both of them exhausted.

"He's done it again. I come home from baseball practice and he's passed out drunk on our kitchen floor, Liliana sobbing, starving and cold," Josu growled.

Their mother had died nearly a year previously, Liliana sustaining some pretty serious burns herself. Josu had had to repeat his senior year of highschool because he was back and forth from Emory and the burn center, where his father and sister were. There was an accident that started a fire; his mother had died trying to get eight year Liliana out. Their father had been at Emory for a surgery when all this had happened, and Josu had come home from Atlanta to see that the house was nearly in cinders, his mother was dead, and his baby sister, the light of his life, was circling the drain herself.

He'd gotten the call from Kaalia anyway, who had planned on taking Liliana to the park- had come to see their house set ablaze.

Everything, and that means everything, had changed that day.

"He's done it again. I'm going to take her away." Josu fumed. "I have to."

Jace was unsure how he hadn't put two and two together at this point. He had been so utterly enamored with her that nothing else had mattered, but this seemed like another hurdle that was telling them not to do this.

But then their eyes met. They met, and in that moment, Jace felt the fight leave his body. He wasn't sure of anything, nothing actually, but he felt every ounce of fight leave him. Whatever would be, would be.

Josu watched this exchange. He knew Liliana, he knew Jace, and he knew Kaalia. And because of this, Josu knew. Funnily enough, his body relaxed. He knew that regardless of circumstances-Jace was good. If nothing else, Jace Beleren was a good man. So with Nova, they all squished into one booth. Jace nor Liliana had spoken to each other, not even a wave, which in and of itself was unnatural.

Liliana ordered a coke, the adults ordered drinks, and everyone acted like Nova was the only person at the table. Josu caught eye contact with his friend, someone he'd known for the better part of ten years, someone that was a groomsman in his wedding, and nodded. Jace felt his stomach drop, sure that everything was going to fall apart right now, that he was going to cause a rift between Liliana and Josu, that he was going to lose his friends, that it was all going to come crashing down.

"So," Josu said through a mouthful of bread. "How did you two meet?"

Liliana looked scared and shocked. She knew that there was no good in lying to Josu, she could never get away with it. She was wedged next to Jace in this booth, Josu staring at her, expecting an answer. But then something she didn't expect happen, something that not even Jace expected, he didn't know that he was going to do it until he did. Under the table, he laced his fingers through hers.

"Um, Tinder?" Liliana said, Jace, though poised to go with it, saw Josu's reaction.

"Try again," and Liliana turned her head toward Jace. "And you know not to lie to me, Liliana Claire."

"Office hours-" Jace said. There was no point in hiding it anymore.