.AN at the conclusion of the chapter.

Son's Gonna Rise

Rollin' down the highway
Like a rocket
God, I'm headed to town now
You can't stop it
Got wheel in my hand
As I stand
On the floor
Of the board
Of this car
On the road
Got this woman in the back seat
Yeah she's my wifey
In the middle of the delivery
Man she saves me
To this day I don't know why
She picked me up
When i was down on the road
With the wind when it blowed
Well a son's gonna rise in a mile
In a mile
You'll be feeling fine
In a mile you will see
After me
You'll be out of the dark, yeah
You'll get your shot
- Citizen Cope

"You're telling me," Jude replied. "What exactly happened, Sadie?"

"Tommy went postal on Liam. Apparently, Liam has a thing for Samantha. I am not 100 sure. I know that Liam and Sam have a history. Portia filled me in on that this morning. Tommy didn't know. From what I heard, Liam was talking to Sam and it sent Tommy off. He flew out of the studio."

"Tommy and that temper," Jude muttered.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on break," Sadie asked, changing the subject.

"Darius called. He wants me to re-record How Strong Do You Think I Am for the single and video shoot. You know what, Sad, I will talk to you later. I just saw the person I wanted to talk to," Jude trailed off and hurried down the hall and out the roof entrance.

" You need to cool it. This isn't like you, Liam. You're calm and collected, always put together. You don't attack Little Tommy
Q in the middle of hospitality!" Jamie scolded.

Liam paced the space of Jamie's whole in the wall.

"He hit me."

"And you were hitting on his wife. I know it sucks to loose out to Tommy Q, been there, done that. I wrote the music. But you cannot go off like that. It's not you!"

"I am aware of that, Mr. Andrews," Liam responded through clenched teeth.

"So you and Sam, eh?"

"Shut up, Mr. Andrews. I am not about to share my personal life with you."

"I didn't even know you had a personal life."

Jude attempted to keep the door from slamming. Alas, there was no success. She cringed at the loud slam. She slowly walked behind the person sitting on the edge of the roof.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Shouldn't you be comforting my husband?" Samantha spat.

"I figured you would need someone to talk to."

Samantha rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here, Jude?"

Jude shrugged. "When Tommy first came back, he told me that he thought we would make good friends. I want to make amends, Sam. We got off to a really rocky start."

Jude joined Sam on the edge. Sam scrutinized Jude. She pushed her hair behind her ears and returned her gaze to the city.

"I dated Liam when I was 16," Sam confessed. " He was twenty -two. I went to boarding school just outside of London. I spent an awful lot of time checking out the music scene. That's were I met Liam and Wes. Liam was an up n coming A&R guy at some indie record label there. We dated until he found out exactly how old I was. It ended after 5 months. We did keep in contact casually. I eventually moved back to the states, we put the band together and I met Tom. After we broke up, I went back to London to work on the bands sophomore album. We were able to establish a solid following there. Liam had come out to one of our shows. I used him. He told me that he loved me and I used him. I broke it off with him a few months later. I hadn't spoken to him until Darius and I signed all the contracts. He was so upset when I told him I was engaged to Tommy. That Irish temper of his flared up. He told me I would regret it. That was the end of our friendly interaction until Tommy left. I kept him at arms difference. Despite everything, Liam has always been a really good listener."

"So, you and Liam are done?"

"Jude, Liam and I have been done for years. I don't love him in that way. I love the moron we call Quincy."

"He certainly is a moron."

"Do you think if Tommy didn't exists you and Liam would be.."

Sam shot Jude a look. " Liam is my Jamie. He was the guy that was too old. Then he was the guy that wasn't right. He fit for that time, but it would never have lasted for forever. We've never been on the same page. I don't think we ever will. Its hard to catch up to someone when you are reading different books."

Jude processed Samantha's words.

"How do you do it?"

Sam looked at Jude confused.

"How do you stay so together? How do you keep so in check when Tommy is such a train crash?"

"Therapy, Jude. Lots and lots of therapy. I have people in my life that keep me sane. I wasn't always like this. I was about as worse as Tommy after we had broken up. I drank. I partied. I made a lot of mistakes. I am still making a lot of mistakes, but I'll be okay. I will always be okay. I just have to keep telling myself that."

"Why did you take him back? I don't think I could ever do that."

"When you love someone, if you let them go and they come back to you, then you know you have something good… Or something like that. Where is Cristina to sing that part of that song?"

Jude chuckled at Sam's lame attempt at a joke.

"Yeah, lame. I know. No need to remind me. Life is complicated, Jude. Sometimes you just have to follow your instincts. Your decisions won't always make sense, but if you feel its right. Go with it."

"What have I told you about bringing your personal drama to work! I don't care if she is the boss. You keep your problems home where they belong!" Darius shouted at Tommy.

Tommy crossed his arms over his chest and pouted like a obstinate child.

Kwest leaned against the wall, observing the argument. He applied pressure to the bridge of his nose. He and Portia would never have to have kids. They had Tommy.

"He was touching my wife!"

"How was he touching her, Quincy?"

"He had his hand on her shoulder."

"I've put my hand on her shoulder hundreds of times. It doesn't mean anything."

"You aren't in love with her like the arrogant, pompous ass head."

Darius rolled his eyes. What the hell did Sam and Portia see in this man?

"Grow up, Quincy. If you don't stay in line, I will fire your ass. I don't care if my associate is your wife-."

"I'll sign it off for you, D," Sam interrupted. The three men turned their gaze to the woman in the door way.

"Kwest, why don't you set Jude up in the studio. I'll be over to work with Jude on the ideas we discussed."

"Thank you," Kwest breathed. He pressed his lips to Sam's cheek in a brotherly fashion and hurried out, yanking Jude behind him.

Tommy let out a repressed sound. "What? Are you going to beat up Kwest now?" Samantha said. " D, I'll finish him off. You're going to miss your flight."

"You're in trouble now!" Darius declared. He picked up his blazer and bag. He purposely gave Sam a kiss on the cheek. Sam swatted at him.

"Give Shay my best!"

Darius waved his hand and closed the door.

Tommy continued to glare at his wife.

" I dated Liam before I dated you."

"Did you sleep with him?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Answer the question."

"Do I ask you about the girls you slept with?"

"No, but you did threaten bodily harm."

Sam sat on to the couch next to him.

"I did not sleep with Liam, not until after we had broken up. It was a long time ago, Tommy. I don't hold the fact that you slept with one of my best friends and our receptionist against you."

Tommy sighed and closed his eyes. "We have a lot of stuff to work out don't we?"

"We need Dr. Phil."

Tommy allowed himself to chuckle. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. Sam laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm possessive."

"Oh, really? Could have fooled me."

"Shut up, Sam."

"You wish."

"Don't I?"

Jude could not stop her eyes from wandering to the door of Tommy's office. She sincerely hoped they were okay. Jude was proud of herself for the progress she had made. She wasn't sure if she would ever be over Tom Quincy, but she was sure that she would be happy without him.

"Ready to record the acoustic?" Kwest inquir

ed.

"I'm ready for anything." And she meant it…

I would also like to thank Mel, Rach,Bailey, and Diana for being soundboards.You girls have been great!

Look for the sequel, it should be out within a week or two! I hope you all will stick around for it!

-S