Disclaimer: I do not own American Dragon or any of its characters, Disney does…and for that I truly admire them…

Ch 1

"Haley?" Jake's voice was on the phone.

"Jake where have you been", snapped Haley, "School was over half an hour ago!"

"I know I'm sorry", apologized her older brother. "It's just that I got stuck in the middle of an emergency and-"

"Let me guess", intoned Haley, "Am-Drag business". "Don't be like that", chided Jake. "Look I'll be there in a little while just…stay put till I get there okay?"

"Alright Jake", sighed Haley, "But you have 2 minutes". She hung up her dainty little phone and tucked it in her pocket of her jacket over her school uniform. It was a normal day at the NYC, school was out, and everybody was out and left except for Haley Long who was stuck at the entrance with an impatient scowl. People thought that being the sister of Jake Long was cool when in fact it was totally the opposite of what Haley had in mind. You see, he was the American Dragon, his job as the Dragon, to protect magical creatures of all sorts: Mermaids, Unicorns, and Griffins, you name it…He would be there to help them.

She should know since Haley was a dragon herself though inexperienced, she would do all she could to help her big brother even when he's not asking for assistance which drove him off the wall. Lately, he'd become more obsessed with Rose than ever. After the Leprechaun incident, he'd been slacking off his responsibilities once again, like forgetting to pick up his sister from school for example. For all she knew he'd finished that 'emergency' long ago, and probably said it as an excuse to go find Rose and stalk her as usual. At first she was a little sympathetic with his crisis but this was getting ridiculous.

"Come on Jake", she whined. Her wristwatch read a little over 4: 30, "I'm going to miss valuable study time here!"

--

"Hey Rose", sighed the lovesick teen, watching the girl with flowing blond hair checking out hats from the window across the street, unaware that our hero was watching her from the tree branches, balancing with his strong dragon legs. He had been watching from a distance, ways away, thinking about how he was going to talk to her. Oh…how much he missed her smile, her eyes and the way she talked to him…if only it could happen again. "If I could only see you again", he sighed miserably, running a hand through his spiked gel hair. "If only…" he paused and looked up fro the tree branches, Rose was gone.

She must've taken a turn at the corner or gone in the store, either way she was nowhere to be found. "Oh", he moaned. "Why can't I do this?!" he grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled it, "Why can't I just tell her how I feel?!"

"Hey Jake", a familiar voice addressed quietly from behind him, followed by a soft touch on his shoulder, there was only one person with that touch and kind voice. "Rose?" he gulped, afraid to look and shut his eyes tight. How long had she been standing there?

"I saw you following me from the trees", she told him with a smile in her voice. "You always were easy to spot…dragon boy".

There was a slight purr in his nickname, and a slight shiver rippled down his spine when he felt her lips grazing his ear. Her forehead nuzzled the back of his neck. "I've missed you Jake", she whispered into his collar and wrapped her slender arms around him. "Me too", he squeaked, slightly nervous at how close they were but at the same time loving it. "I saw the present you left me in my locker", she brought her hand up from the embrace to slightly stroke his gel spiked hair, "Thank you".

His mind went blank for a moment at her words then remembered during their little switcheroo, Haley had painted a portrait of Rose and left it in her locker addressed it from him to her, he needed to thank that sister of his later with a repayment of his own sometime. "No problem", he gulped with a stuttering smile feeling her breath down his neck. "I…really did miss you Rose".

She gave him a light squeeze on the shoulder before letting him go. "I know you did", she smiled, "I've wanted to see you for some time but..." she looked away, "I've been having trouble getting away from the Huntsman and…it's hard to get any freedom with him around".

Jake carefully turned around so he was properly balanced so he was facing Rose. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. But there was traces of sadness in her eyes where there was once love. "Why did I have to be born a huntsmember?" she squeezed her palm where her dragon mark was sheathed. "Why did you have to be a dragon?"

The words sort of stung him and stared at the ground below him hurt. "I didn't mean it in a bad way", she quickly apologized catching his reaction. "It's just that…everything's so complicated right now, if I mess up, the huntsman will find out and it's…too risky, I don't want to lose you to them". Her eyes showed fear when she looked up at him. "I'm here now", he whispered. Rose gave a tiny nod and didn't stop him when she noticed he was getting close, their lips were almost touching now…

A scream pierced the air, causing the two to pull away from their almost perfect moment, at a distance; a girl was in the air being chased by the Huntsclan's cronies, 88 and 89. "The Huntsclan", Rose backed into the tree trunk. "I shouldn't be here".

"Rose", Jake started to say but she had already jumped down from the tree. "I have to go now", she threw a brief glance at him before taking a few steps back. "Meet me tonight at central Park okay… there's something I have to tell you". And she dashed across the street before Jake could call her back but was interrupted by the scream of the victim in the air followed by the gloating of the Huntsdweebs of 88 and 89.

"Leave me alone!" The girl screamed at them.

"I better go save her", muttered the reluctant Jake. "Dragon up!"

88 and 89 stopped from their flying boards when they caught view of the American Dragon and they panicked. "Dragon!" they shrieked and they retreated, forgetting their main target as they ran like the dickens.

Glaring after them, Jake flew down to where the girl lay, her leg was bleeding and jumped in fright as he approached her. "It's okay I'm a friend", he reassured her when she continued to back away with her injured leg. She whimpered like a puppy.

"Jake", cried the angry voice of Haley as she flew down from the sky and changed into her human form. "You promised you'd pick me up and-"

"Haley..." he silenced her with a claw and she stopped. His sister let out a small gasp when she caught sight of the injured female. "What happened?"

"Those jerks tried to catch her", Jake growled referring to 88 and 89. "We better get her to Grandpa's shop". He slowly appoached her in a gentle nature leting her know that he wasn't going to harm her, and with a reluctant glance, the girl obliged and let him pick her up, she winced when her leg touched his scales.

"Let's go Haley", he told his sis, and flew off into the sky with Haley following him in her dragon form once more. Ways away...Rose was watching them from a distance, in her Huntsgirl uniform, holding her staff.

Huntsmaster was right behind her. "Follow them", he told her. "Yes master", she sighed with an intone though her eyes sparked with worry. "I will not fail you".