A/N: This is my first Jak and Daxter fic; I just typed it up last night. Any ideas are welcome because I have no idea where this is going. Rated T to be safe, because I might have used some mild language. Um, I messed up the plot, and Errol isn't evil (gasp). He, Torn, and Tess are Keira's friends.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Naughty Dog.

Chapter 1

O

Keira sighed sadly as she twisted a fender off of the zoomer she was fixing. She often found herself lost in nostalgic memories of her and her childhood sweetheart, Jak. It had been so long…four years, in fact. His face and voice had faded away, and the knowledge that she had forgotten him twisted cruelly at her heart. A tear rolled down her cheek, smearing at the dirt and grease that came with an occupation as a mechanic. The pain of losing Jak was still fresh in her heart. She heard a knock at the door, and hastily wiped her tears away and got up to answer the door.

"Who is it?" Keira asked suspiciously. You could never be too trusting in this part of Haven City.

"It's Tess and the two asses, silly! Don't you remember? It's your birthday!" Keira gasped. She totally forgot!

"Oh! Hey, come in! Thanks for stopping by!" Keira exclaimed, opening the door. Tess stood there beaming, holding a rather squashed looking birthday cake with pink frosting. Torn stood next to her, with Erol in a headlock. Tess frowned at them.

"Erol sat on the cake. Don't ask how it happened," Tess said, glaring at him. Erol just grinned sheepishly.

"Happy birthday, Keira," he said, blushing a bit. Keira giggled.

"Come in!" she said. Then she noticed Torn holding a rather badly wrapped present, covered in a year's worth of tape.

"Oh Torn, you didn't have to!" Keira said. She dragged the three of them into her apartment.

"Excuse the mess," she said, frowning at the zoomer parts and tools scattered on the cement floor. Tess smiled and gave her a small, crisp white envelope.

"Open it, Keira!" she said eagerly. Keira careful lifted the lid and pulled out a hot pink gift certificate for the Haven City Mall.

"Oh…thanks a lot, Tess," Keira said weakly. She knew quite well that this was just an excuse for Tess to drag her clothes shopping, a hobby Keira was highly unfond of. They all sat down at Keira's broken table, and Torn handed her the present. Keira attempted to open it, but she couldn't rip off all of the tape.

"See, Erol," growled Torn, "that is the absolute last time I allow you to wrap a present. Next time, you let me do it!" Erol huffed.

"It's not like you do a spectacular job either," he mumbled. Torn drew out his knife, and Erol flinched in alarm. However, Torn just handed it to Keira. After a rather long struggle, she managed to open it. Tess, who had been fiddling with her nails in a bored fashion, looked up eagerly. Keira unwrapped a fine, top quality steel wrench from a fan of aquamarine tissue paper. Her sea-green eyes lit up in delight.

"Oh, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" she squealed, getting up and hugging all of them. Her friends certainly knew how to cheer her up. Torn grinned.

"I picked out the present," he said in his gruff voice. "You wouldn't believe what Erol wanted to get you. It was-" Tess cleared her throat.

"Let's have some cake", she cut over him. "I swear Keira, you know I'm a good baker, this cake looked absolutely fab before someone sat on it!" Keira smiled.

"Of course, Tess," she said, watching Tess go over to the cupboard and get some candles and matches. Tess turned off the lights and lit the cake.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!" Tess sang, with Erol mumbling along with her. Torn flat-out refused to sing ("But don't take it personally, Keira"). Keira blew out her candles, and made her wish:

'Come back, Jak, please come back to me…I miss you so much. I know we'll find each other some day…but let it be soon.'

"So Keira, what did you wish for?" Erol asked slyly. Keira blushed.

"I'm not supposed to tell, Erol! It's bad luck!" Erol grinned. He had a pretty good idea of what she wished for. He had had his share of Keira going on about Sandover Village…and Jak. Okay, he admitted it to himself; he was maybe a teensy bit jealous.

"You wished for Ja-" Torn kicked his leg under the table. Hard. Keira felt her heart clench.

"Let's not talk about it today," she murmured softly. Tess shot Erol a nasty glare.

"I'm sorry, Keira," she said. "Try some of that cake; it'll make you feel better. And don't worry; it was plastic wrapped when Erol sat on it." Erol blushed again.

"Well Tess," he said, defending himself, "your placement of baked goods isn't exactly ingenious!" Before Tess could retort, Keira interrupted.

"It's great cake, Tess! Where did you get the strawberries?" Tess beamed and began gushing to Keira about the cute salesman at the bazaar. Torn rolled his eyes, and Erol snorted into his slice of cake when Tess started on about "a hot man" she saw in the crowd at the bazaar and how blue his eyes were.

"-the color of the ocean, I tell you, Keira! He stood out a mile! And his hair! Oh Mar, it was sooo sexy! It had green roots and went down in this long golden waterfall down his back!" Keira choked on her cake. The description was…familiar. But it just couldn't be...could it? Tess patted Keira on the back. Torn tried to catch Erol's eye, but he was oblivious to the going-ons around him.

"Well, anyway, Keira, that strangest thing was that he had a rat on his shoulder!" Tess continued. Keira's jaw was slowly dropping. "And get this- it was orange! And it was so cuuuute! I tried to pet it, and you know what happened, Keir? It spoke! 'Hands off, lady! You don't know how long it takes to get this fur into its current condition!' Oh Mar, Keira, I thought I was hallucinating! And then the man turned his head to me, and his eyes locked with mine, they were such a blue! And- Keir? Keira?" Keira suddenly stood up, her chair clattering to the floor. Erol, who had been making puking motions, stopped and looked up. Keira's chest heaved, he eyes wide.

"Tess! Oh, Tess!" Keira breathed in a voice that scared even Torn.

"Keir? Whoa girl, calm down there! What is it?" Tess asked nervously. Torn tried catching Errol's eyes and this time he succeeded. Erol raised an eyebrow. 'Jak' he mouthed silently. Erol just stared at him. Torn growled and assumed Erol couldn't lip-read very well, but a whirlwind of thoughts were zooming behind the red-head's amber eyes. 'No, Jak? This is totally ridiculous! Keira's acting like she's possessed! See, look, she's shaking the living daylights out of Tess! But if Jak is back,and she finds him, then that means…oh no! Crap, this isn't good!'

"We have to find him Tess, we have to! We'll do some inquiries at the Hip Hog, ask around! Tess! TESS, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!" Keira shrieked. There was an awkward silence. For all the years they'd known Keira, none of the three had ever heard her scream, let alone at one of them (except for the time when Erol had a little accident with Keira's welder). Tess shook her head.

"Keira, you need to get some sleep. That man couldn't have been Jak!" Tess told Keira worriedly.

"Oh yeah, Tess? OH YEAH? Well, how many men in Haven have an orange ottsel on their shoulder!" Keira shouted wildly. Torn coughed.

"Well, she does have a point there…" Tess glared at him, and then collapsed into her chair. Keira plopped down on the cold floor also, then surprised them all by sobbing hysterically. Not silent tears running down her cheeks like the few times they had seen her cry, but bawling. She took great shuddering gasps, talking incoherently. Erol hurried over, patting her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Oh dear…" murmured Tess. She too went over and crouched by Keira. "I didn't realize how important this Jak was…" Keira glared up at her through red rimmed eyes. "I mean, if you like, we'll look for him…" Torn interrupted.

"Hey Keira, Erol and I can get the Krimzon Guard on the case. Don't worry, we'll find him. I promise, okay?" Keira nodded.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she hiccupped. "It's just…it's just…"

"Shhhh," cooed Tess. "I understand, Keira. I'll ask around at the Hip Hog, and Erol and Torn will do some searching also. We'll find him, Keir!" Keira looked a bit doubtful, but smiled.

"Thanks so much, you guys," Keira whispered. "It means so much to me."

"No problem, what are friends for?" Tess said. "Now why don't you go and clean up, and we'll go and start looking for Jak, okay?" Keira nodded, and got up and hugged all of them.

"Thanks for the birthday surprise," Keira said, her voice stronger. Then she ducked behind the moth-eaten green curtain, and the sound of running water could be heard.

"Bye guys!" Tess chirped. She grabbed her purse and walked out. Torn and Erol looked at each other. Tess didn't seem particularly disturbed by Keira's outburst.

"I guess we'd better go," muttered Torn. Erol nodded, but looked over his shoulder at the faintly rusting curtains. He could hear faint sobbing noises. Erol bit his lip and followed Torn out the door.

O

Okay, that was it. Sorry it was so short. I don't know if I'll continue it or not…I think I like reading fics more. ;) Reviews would be appreciated!