Author's note: I am in no way connected to L.J. Smith. This is not meant to infringe on any copyrighted material. The characters herein belong solely to her and whatever publishing entity claims them.

Spoilers: This is a Forbidden Game fic and takes place after FG3. If you have not read any of the trilogy this will not make any sense.

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Jenny leaned her head against the glass of the cab's window, letting the coolness wash through her. She focused on the feeling, allowing herself to follow its path and take comfort in the peace that it brought. Her eyes drifted over to her fellow passengers and she smiled as she took in the sight before her.

Michael had his arm around Audrey, whose head rested on his shoulder. Audrey's hand rested on his stomach and Michael's other hand covered it, their fingers entwined. His cheek lay on top of her head and they were both asleep. Next to them were Zach and Summer, also sleeping. Summer's head was nestled on Zach's shoulder and Jenny grinned at the thought of how Zach would react if he were awake to notice.

Sitting next to Jenny was Tom, and next to him was Dee. Jenny could tell that Dee was sound asleep, and that by the looks of things her head was going to end up on Tom's shoulder
before too long. The only thing Jenny couldn't tell was if Tom was actually asleep or just pretending to. She acknowledged to herself that it didn't matter, she was just grateful for the
silence it afforded. Although she hadn't broken down for a while she was glad that she had a temporary reprieve from the scene that awaited her.

None of her friends had commented on how Jenny had acted in the moments leading up to Julian's death but Jenny knew it was only a matter of time. The tears welled up as she thought
of Julian but she refused to give in to them…yet. Once she was alone she could give free rein to her emotions and let everything out, but for now she needed to stay strong for what lie ahead.
Her eyelids drooped and she allowed herself to drift off, her last thoughts being of Julian.

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Next to Jenny Tom sat still as stone, an anger unlike any he'd known burning inside him. His mind just kept replaying everything, all the events the group had been through, but it most often returned to Jenny-specifically how Jenny had responded to Julian. And responded she had, try as she might to deny it. It would be foolish to try to tell himself that Julian meant nothing to Jenny, because all anyone had to do was put Jenny and Julian together and it happened. Tom didn't know how to describe it. Jenny just changed.

And what made Tom angry was that she had changed for the better. She was assertive, tough, confident, and well, what was the word? Self-reliant. It's not that Tom minded the changes, just the opposite was true in fact. Well, if he was being honest with himself he minded a little. One of the things he loved about Jenny was the fact that she needed him, or at least she had before. He felt guilty thinking about her like that, because it made it sound like Jenny was too dependent on Tom in a way. But he had to admit that he liked being needed, the way it made him feel about himself. In the past weeks Jenny had transformed into an amazing person, and it was all because of Julian.

That's the part that upset Tom the most. He found it was hard to accept that Julian was the one to bring about those changes. But what was even harder to accept, let alone believe, was
that he and Jenny weren't going to be together anymore. He let his mind go blank and willed himself to sleep. He needed to conserve his strength for what lay ahead.

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