AN: Hi y'all, thanks for such lovely reviews, they are a pleasure to read! Chapter 5 guys! We are a quarter of the way there!

Sadly I have yet another excuse here: I'm not updating this story as regularly as I want to (ideally i'd be doing this twice a week) but it seems like luck has not been on my side… My wifi connection is not working at my place for some reason so i've had to wait to post this chapter until I could manage to trek over to Starbucks/McDonalds with my laptop and use their free wifi! I'm getting a guy to come out and have a look at the problem in a few days and I've already nearly finished the next chapter so hopefully there wont be too much of a delay.

This chapter is set after 'Samurai Surprise' so there's been a slight jump in time between the last chapter and this one. Safe to say, Jake and Gia are very confused in this chapter.

Jake was confused and once again the source of said confusion was the mysterious Gia. This was becoming a regular occurrence for the ranger, she could trap him inside a perpetual state of mental torment just by looking at him and it was driving him crazy. One look, one smile would send his mind into a frenzy so the fact that she had spent the night in his bedroom - in his bed - with him was enough for his brain to shut down. Gia Moran was a mystery that he desperately needed to get to the bottom of.

He groaned and placed his head in his hands. He was sitting at his desk after finishing a paper for his history class which meant that he no longer had a distraction to keep his mind from spiralling into sentimental but frustrating thoughts about Gia. Well that was a lie, he could be doing his algebra homework (although he probably wouldn't be doing that anyway) or playing the latest violent video game alone but the Gia funk had made even that undesirable. When he had gotten the history assignment that morning, he was overjoyed. Jake loved history, it was the only subject he was good enough to be in AP for and he enjoyed it - if it wasn't for his dad pushing him towards economics and business he would happily major in history at college. So he started the project as soon as he got home, breaking only for dinner, as he knew it could successfully keep him from thinking about a certain blond. But now, with nothing to distract him, he was left to think.

He remembered that morning. The morning he had woken up before her, head still banging but he was feeling content as throughout the night she had ended up in his arms. It felt good. What felt even better was the arms that he had wrapped around her were covered by her own. It felt natural, liked they belonged together. He recalled how he had pulled her in closer before attempting to fall back to sleep, savouring the feeling of her there in his arms. In retrospect, this freaked Jake out. Now that he had recovered from having a constant migraine (turns out they weren't flu induced but down to stress) he realised the extent to what had happened. The line had been crossed between them. Things had changed.

And things had changed. Yet Jake couldn't pinpoint whether this change was a good one or a bad one. On one hand, the two were ignoring each other as much as two teammates could without raising suspicions."Do not mention this again" were the only words spoken by her that morning before she left just as mysteriously as she came. Since then, they had been dancing around each other, stealing glances when the other one wasn't looking, blushing when eye contact was occasionally made, and their conversations had been kept to a minimum. But on the other hand, things were different, it was like their relationship had been kicked up a notch. It was no longer just glances or touches, there was meaning behind them, romance. Jake was pretty sure this feeling was mutual, he only had a small string of awkward ex girlfriends to go on but he felt he knew enough about girls to know whenever he caught Gia looking at him in class, it wasn't random.

Groaning for what seemed like the millionth time that night, he pulled out his phone deciding to do something about the situation. His first thought was to text Emma - it was what Jake was used to, awkward and childish relationships that lasted at the most four months - but he decided to take a different approach this time. He was going straight to the source. Something about Gia made him want to do things differently, which scared him deeply.

To Gia Moran: Hey (08:13)

Great start Jake. He sighed at his lack of communication skills and racked his brain for an excuse he can give to talk to her. He knew Gia enough to know that stating outright what he wanted would make her a deer in the headlights and would push away from him. He needed to ease her in. Part of him contemplated that he shouldn't be pushing his feelings on her but he quickly reminded himself that he wasn't, he just needed to know what was going on between them so he could stop assuming, all this confusion was bad for the team - and them.

Gia Moran: hey? (08:14)

Shit. Panic had begun to set in. He had no clue where to go from here. He decided to go with the first idea that came to the forefront of his brain.

To Gia Moran: Do you take Algebra? (08:16)

Wow. Smooth Jake, real smooth.

Gia Moran: …yeah, we are in the same class? Are you okay? (08:17)

He groan again at his stupidness - groaning had become a regular thing for him thanks to Gia (and not in a good way).

To Gia Moran: Not really, do you think you could help me on the homework, please? :) (08:18)

Jake was proud of himself that he managed to bring the conversation back onto the task at hand.

Gia Moran: I guess. Only if you bring some vanilla ice cream. ;) (08:19)

He was surprised at how easy it was to get her to agree to meet up. Jake presumed she was just as eager to continue their nightly conversations routine as he was.

Gia Moran: My window will be the only one open. (08:20)

He needn't think how to respond.

To Gia Moran: On my way. (08:20)

He called down to his mother that he was going to go to sleep and that no, he wasn't ill, just tired. He packed his Algebra homework into his bag before moving over to his sister's room and payed her $10 to stay out of his room for the night feigning that he was super tired. He knew she saw through his act but she was content enough with the money to let it slide. He moved back into his room and begun to make the decent down to his lawn below. Despite the fact he hadn't taken this route in a few years, he remembered the correct way to tackle it with ease.

Jake, once he had found Gia's open window, praised Gia's parents for buying a one storey house which meant he didn't have to come up with a complicated route up to her room. Prior to knocking on the window and alerting Gia of his presence there, he took a moment to survey what was about to happen, he had to some how steer the conversation over to them without making Gia uncomfortable and he also had to mentally prepare himself at the thought of being in Gia's room with her. But all that worry went away as soon as he saw the ever so beautiful Gia Moran beaming down at before beckoning him into her room. As per the usual cycle of thoughts that went through his mind when around her, he immediately became confused at how happy and welcoming she was being, a few hours ago they were almost certainly avoiding the other.

He climbed into the room anyway, complimenting himself that he managed to do so without making a fool out of himself. Immediately he was overwhelmed by how… lemon the room was. He was expecting Gia's room to be slightly more subtle than his when it came to their ranger colours but even her desk had a yellow undertone to it. He awkwardly removed the ice cream from his bag that he had just bought from the store in an attempt to avoid being rude and just staring at her room, taking in all her personal items.

"Erm here you go," He timidly, handing over the ice cream while subconsciously checking her out. "Do you have any spoons?"

"Spoons? Who said you were having any?" She teased as she took the container from him. Flirty Gia was back which instinctively sent Jake's thoughts spinning again. He was going to have to by a 'Gia Moran For Dummies' book at this rate because he was totally lost in the labyrinth that was her.

He stiffly ran his hand through his hair in the attempt to find something to do with it, "Well, I did buy it." If she was going to start this game, he was obviously going to play it with her.

"Well you buy Froyos all the time that you never eat so you should be used to it by now." She smirked, raising her eyebrow at him and crossing to the other side of the room leaving him hoovering by her window, unsure what to do with himself.

"Speaking of Froyos, I don't know whether you have to buy them for a week or not…" The strength of his voice and the ease at which it came out startled Jake. In that moment, standing in her room like a terrified mouse, he was so uncomfortable that he had even become self conscious at the rate of his breathing. So naturally it was a surprise to him that he managed to string together a sentence let alone speak it so clearly.

"On second thought, maybe you do need a spoon too." She turned away from him and picked up the two spoons she had early retrieved from the kitchen. Sitting down on the bed, she opened the box and motioned for Jake to join her.

"Didn't your parents get suspicious about the spoons or do you just keep them in your room?" He tried to joke but the intimidation he felt from being in her personal space didn't make it very effective. He took the other spoon off of her and then sat on her bed.

"My mom's away for a case and my dad had an early shift so he's sleeping like a log right now, so there was no one around to see it…this ice cream is great by the way." She motioned for him to delve into it also which he did. "So how was 'the talk' with your dad."

"Well, it went alright I guess?" He sighed, scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and savoured the taste. Gia was observing him the whole time which made his blood rush to his cheeks. "I mean, he has apologised for just assuming that I was going to follow in his footsteps and he is even looking into different majors and colleges."

"…but?" She prompted him on, nervous about the other part of the story.

"But he seems to still be adamant that my future is all about business." He bravely looked up from the food to meet her gaze.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well at least you got somewhere." She said optimistically in the hope to give some moral support.

She shifted on the bed so that she had her head against the headboard and stretched her legs out in front of her. She was wearing shorts. Jake had noticed it the second he had gotten into the room (of course he would have, he was a hormonal teenager and she was THE Gia Moran) but her actions gave him a good view of their greatness which Jake regrettably spent a little too long staring at. He swore she was doing it on purpose but that could just be his imagination and him possibly being a total sleaze. Yet with the flirting and inviting him over was making it a possibility. Safe to say, he could not wrap his head around her.

When she realised what had kept Jake quite for a while so spoke up to bring her teammate back to reality, "So I think it's only fair to say that either we have both lost and therefore we have to do both punishments or we both win and we do nothing. What do you think?"

Finally getting over the fact he was on Gia Moran's bed with her, he had begun to warm up to the conversation on got back to his usual flirty self (no doubt her shorts had something to do with that). "Oh definitely we both win, a week carrying your books would mean that I actually had to see you - which is awful." He moved up the bed to join her skilfully creating a facade that it was for better ice cream access but in fact he just wanted to be closer to her.

"That would be awful!" She returned sarcastically and flashed him a smirk.

"Although I would kinda like to save money, it's not like my dad is uber rich and I can spare it." He shifted closer to her, brushing their shoulders together and the funny feeling created from the touch was noticed by both of them.

"True. You do make a good argument. Maybe you will just have to put up with me for a week." She said turning to look at him with only slight hints of amusement in her face. He admired how she could be so deadpan in this situation, he on the other hand was grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah maybe…" He snuck a glance at her lips debating whether or not to make a move.

"It's on." She mumbled before moving closer to him. She didn't know what came over her, she couldn't think straight.

Their lips were inches away by that point and Jake swivelled around to get a better angle. She looked back up at him, noticing how close he was and how close they were to crossing a undisclosed line between them. She decided to pull away before that could happen, immediately regretting it when she saw it has disheartened Jake slightly.

"I know you didn't come here for homework help." She placed the long forgotten ice cream and spoons onto her nightstand as she moved on the conversation to keep her from feeling guilty.

"Oh?" Jake couldn't even fathom what was going through his head.

"Yeah, like I said, we are in the same class so I know you are more than capable than that easy piece that was set."

Jake chose to remain silent. He was in awe of how easily she could read him while he himself had such a hard time with her.

"Besides, if you needed help, you would have asked Noah - who is also in our class I should remind you." She joked and looked over to him expecting a grin but all she was met with was his stare, it wasn't an angry 'we nearly kissed and then you pulled away' one, he looked more like he was completely intoxicated by her. This brought a lump to her throat.

"What are you doing here?" She asked nervously, dropping her tone down to the mirror the look he was giving him.

"I missed you." He murmured and sat up completely thus breaking their contact which only made Gia yeah for it to return.

"Oh." Was all Gia could say. Jake puzzled her. Most of the time he was his usual flirty and jokey self but occasionally, like in that moment, there was something serious and deep about him that made her stomach flutter which Gia couldn't quite place her finger on.

"Yeah, one minute we were totally cool and hanging out all the time, things were going great. Then I got sick…and that happened… and now we have been avoiding each other." He sighed and placed his head in his hands.

"We haven't-" She muttered.

"We have."

That stopped her continuing for a second. He was right, she had been avoiding him.

"I don't know." She mumbled, stood up from the bed and crossed to the other side of the room to get as far away from him as possible. It was true - she had no clue what what was happening between them and that scared her. She had no control over their relationship, her feelings were awry and she didn't know whether she enjoyed this lack of power or not which made her fear it even more. She just wanted him gone so she could figure it out alone, but then again she wanted him to stay because being in his presence felt great. She groaned at the confusion she felt.

"Me neither." She heard him reply as he turned his head to look at her with such severity it made her heart race.

She immediately wanted to flee from this situation. She had no idea how to think or act which was unfamiliar territory to Gia. Knowing that she couldn't exactly leave him in her room alone, she settled on getting him to leave.

"Look, you should probably get going so you don't wake my dad…" She quickly walked over to where his bag had been throw on the floor and gave him it in a panic. She frantically stumbled over to her desk and pulled out her already completely algebra homework and practically clumsily there it at him muttering that he should give her it back when he was done. She walked over to the window and opened it further so he had easy access out and then moved out of the way so he could leave. Turning back to look at him, her heart raised again at the sight of him. He was standing up now, bag and her homework clutched to his chest where she had given him it but she was still looking at her like that. That look that she had never seen until that evening in her room.

He walked over to the window without breaking eye contact, she knew that a blush had begun to creep up to her cheeks. He stopped just before the window ledge and looked down at her. There wasn't much of a heigh difference between them but right then she felt tiny under that stare but also comforted at the same time. Her heart was now pounding in her ears, her palms were getting sweaty and she was breathing like she had ran a mile. It amazed her how one look could have suck a powerful effect on her. He needed to go now before she exploded. Or did she actually want to explode?

Her next actions she doubted she would ever manage to understand. As quickly as she had decided to remove him from her room she reach up and pulled his lips to hers, wrapping her hands round his neck as best she could with the bag in between them. She had kissed him with such force and tenacity that he had been caught of guard but after a moment or two he managed to get his brain to reciprocate in the kiss. He managed to free a hand and placed it on her waist, attempting to draw her as near as possible to him as he could manage and increased the pressure of the contact. He was no longer thinking, just acting. All he knew was it felt good and he never wanted to stop.

Therefore it came as a great surprise to him when she pulled away from him looking like a startled bunny. Before he knew it, her hands were on his chest and with a firm push he was outside, on the floor on his backside with his legs aching from where they had collided with her windowsill as he was pushed out. He laid there for a second as Gia closed her window and her curtains in a panic and then got up and immediately left the scene before anyone could see what had just happened. The last thing they needed was neighbourhood gossip.

Gia was freaking out. She hurried over to the forgotten ice-cream and took a huge spoonful of it in the hopes to quell the stampede of thoughts in her brain.

She groaned as she recalled in her head what had happened. What on earth had she just done?

So there you go! They finally kissed! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

As I said in the opening note, I don't think it will be long until my next update. I've nearly finished the chapter so all you really need to wait for is the guy to miraculously fix my internet or for I to stop watching Criminal Minds reruns and to get somewhere with wifi.

Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a review if you have enjoyed :)