Disclaimer: I do not own Drake & Josh, nor am I affiliated with Nickelodeon, Teen Nick, or wherever else they show the television program nowadays, hehe. But I do own the original characters featured in the story.

Author's Note: The long anticipated sequel to 'Sweet Sacrifice', this story is rated M for language and mature themes. Why else?

2/

The final bell rang and the students jumped out of their seats and rushed to their lockers to get their belongings before heading home for the day. Drake slammed his locker door and started for the stairs, heading for the main door. He looked ahead and noticed Jesse with his hood up, kissing another boy with straight, black hair, the two walking toward the door, no one paying them any mind.

Drake exhaled, tears building up in his eyes. As he neared the door, he saw them sit on the bench closest to the doors and looked at each other. Drake slammed the door open in an attempt to get their attention. Both boys looked at him with accomplished looks. The boy Jesse was kissing had what some would call "scene" hair, most of it covering part of his face. Jesse smiled a little, but a smile that showed he knew what he did and he was proud of it.

Giving him a 'how could you' look, Drake continued walking toward the parking lot, pulling his hood over his head. It was like he somehow knew that was going to happen. As distraught as he was, not a single tear fell from his eye yet. He sat on the stone platform near some trees and looked to where Jesse and the other boy was and caught their gaze. Looking away, Drake put his head in his hand, and out of his peripheral vision, saw them coming toward him. He saw them get close and looked up. Catching Jesse's gaze, he couldn't even look at him despite how much he wanted to.

Jesse leaned in to kiss Drake, but Drake moved so the kiss landed on his forehead instead of his lips, regardless of where he wanted the kiss to really land. "What's the matter Drake?", Jesse asked, "Jealous that I found someone else?"

Drake looked up and noticed the other boy looking at him, smiling wickedly.

--

Drake's eyes shot open and he instantly sat up in his bed. Breathing heavily, he wiped a few tears from his eyes, sniffling greatly. He coughed a little and started crying uncontrollably. When he finally stopped, he laid back and stared at the wall. "It was just a dream. It was just a dream", he assured himself.

Sitting back up, he sniffled a little more, wiping more tears. Jesse woke up and rubbed Drake's arm. "Are you okay, Drake? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

The brunette nodded, his head resting against the other boy's shoulder. "Jesse, you love me, right?"

"Drake, of course I do", Jesse replied, his arms around Drake protectively, "Is that what you dreamt of? That I stopped loving you?"

He nodded. "I dreamt that you found someone else and you didn't care that it hurt me."

"Oh Drake, you know that would never happen, and I would never stop caring about you."

Drake nodded and rubbed his forehead. Jesse pulled the sheets off them and climbed out of bed. "Come on, we'd better get dressed."

"What, why?"

"Because it's well…", Jesse looked at the clock, "6:13am; school starts in less than an hour."

Drake forgot it was Monday. That damn dream messed up his head. He knew that was something he'd think about all day. Sure enough, he was right. He could barely focus in class - all he worried about was Jesse and that other boy. He had no idea who he was, or if he even existed. Maybe it was just Drake's imagination that conjured up a new boy.

Sighing, he checked the time; 2:54pm. 'Thank God', he thought. The final bell rang, and Drake hurried to his locker and his car. He turned the engine on and waited for Jesse. A few minutes later, the blonde slid into the passenger seat of the dark blue, 2007 Nissan Sentra. "Hey, feeling better?"

Drake shook his head negatively. "Drake, it was just a dream. You know me better than that". Noticing he wasn't getting anywhere, Jesse tried a different approach. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Drake pulled the gear shift into drive and pulled out of the parking lot and onward to Jesse's house. Pulling into the driveway behind Jesse's black 2004 Lincoln LS. "You want to come in?", Jesse asked.

Drake shrugged and shut the car off. Opening his door, he was out of the car before the blonde. Entering the house, the two realized they were home alone. "Where's your parents?", Drake asked.

"My mom's still at work. She's working a few hours later than usual and my dad's on a business trip. He won't be home until the day after we get out for Christmas break."

The brunette nodded. "I still wish it would snow around here."

"Me too", Jesse agreed. Setting his backpack down next to the living room couch, he sat at the computer and turned it on, the plasma screen roaring to life. He logged onto the internet and checked out the news on his homepage. The top article of the day was a study that told readers what could cause bad dreams and what they could do to avoid them. Ironic indeed. "Hey Drake, take a look at this."

He got up so Drake could sit and look at what he was talking about. "Read that and tell me what you think."

Drake read the article and turned back to Jesse. "I did eat some pepperoni before I went to bed, didn't I?", Drake said, the article having told him that spicy food before bed may cause bad dreams.

Jesse nodded. "See? That stupid dream was caused by some fucking stupid pepperoni, and because of the damned Italian meat, you think I'm going to stop loving you."

"Jesse, I didn't say that I thought you were going to stop loving me. I just can't bear the thought."

The blonde crouched by the brunette's side and put his arms on his legs. "Drake, listen to me. I love you so much, more than my parents. I would do anything for you. Anything. No matter how stupid, dangerous, life threatening, embarrassing, or funny it may be. I would die for you. If some magic wizard or something came up to you and told you he made it so your life would be miserable unless I die, I would kill myself just so you could live a happy life."

Drake started crying a little and protested to Jesse's devotion, but the blonde paid his protest no mind. "Jesse please, stop--"

"Listen to me, Drake!", he argued. "I love you so much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and if it can't be you, it'll be with no one. I love you, Drake Parker."

Jesse kissed Drake passionately, sealing the outpour of endless loving words. Drake stood up, bringing Jesse with him, the kiss still in effect. Drake's arms went around Jesse's neck, the blonde's arms going around the brunette's waist. Jesse broke the kiss once to breathe, but resumed, their tongues dancing with each other.

Letting go, Jesse looked Drake in the eyes and took his hands in his. "I love you, Drake."

"I love you too, Jesse."

.:Drake & Josh:.

Christmas vacation, finally. The school day ended with a half day, the students getting out at 11:00am. The two boys headed to Drake's house, surprised to see Josh already there. "What are you doing home early?", Drake asked.

"I had a dentist appointment and figured there was no point in going back to school for five minutes."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you supposed to wait like, forty-five minutes before eating or drinking anything? You know, that whole fluoride thing?"

Josh gazed at his glass of cranberry juice before chuckling. "Like I care what my dentist tells me; I don't see how drinking pure juice is going to mess up my teeth."

Drake and Jesse laughed a little and headed upstairs. They tossed their backpacks near the desk and Jesse climbed up onto Drake's bed, looking down on him as he logged onto the computer. "Password; Jesse's cock is huge."

Drake laughed and pretended to go and punch him, making him flinch. "You wouldn't hit me."

"No, I wouldn't."

Jesse smiled and jumped down to the floor. "Hey, let's go to the mall!"

"Why?"

"It's Friday, and there might be a lot of people from school there."

"Yeah, later tonight."

"That's what I meant."

Drake nodded and smiled. "Okay."

--

As expected, the mall was packed with people, most of them grazing in the food court. Jesse shook his head and clucked his tongue. "It's like feeding time at the zoo."

Drake laughed and looked at the mannequins in the windows of some shops. He recognized a few people from school. No surprise there. It was 7:17pm - that's when most of them got there to hang out. The scene kids, mostly freshmen were walking about, the rent-a-cops following them since they looked like trouble. That's the thing about freshmen - they feel the need to reinvent themselves and act all 'epic' for high school. No one cares. They didn't get it.

Shaking his head this time, Drake nudged Jesse and nodded his head in the direction of the freshmen. "Recognize them?"

"Yeah. Those stupid annoying kids who are insanely loud at lunch."

Jesse pulled Drake into the video game store with him to look at the new releases. Drake went to go play the game demos as Jesse looked around to see if anything was worth buying. He picked up a copy of a popular war game that takes place in World War II. "You should get that one. I have it and it's really good."

The blonde turned around to become face to face with a guy a little taller than him with light brown hair, in one of those skater hairstyles that no one really knows what to call. His eyes, an interesting shade of gray and a little blue mixed in sparkled in the lighting. He wore a tight-fit black shirt with a white long-sleeved shirt under it, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The black shirt was tucked in a little on the side to show the belt buckle of his white studded belt. He wore dark blue skinny jeans and black and white Adidas Ecstasy sneakers.

Jesse exhaled and breathed the boy's name. "Alec?"

"Hi Jesse."

The blonde acted as if he couldn't believe he was seeing this guy. "Hi. Uhm, what are you doing here?"

"I convinced my parents to let us come back to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. I lied and said we should visit our family here but I came back to see you."

"I can't believe it. I haven't talked to you in ages."

"I know", he sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch often. I just, well there's no excuse for it."

Jesse nodded, his emotions indescribable. He felt upset, yet happy at the same time. Alec held his hand out and smiled, "Come on, let's go get some ice cream and we'll talk."

The blonde shook his head, "I can't, I'm here with someone."

"So? They can come too."

"No, you don't get it…I'm here with my…boyfriend."

Alec's smile turned to frown, his forehead wrinkling. "What do you mean?"

"Well Alec, you left the country and you know I hate long distance relationships, and we broke up anyway. I mean, I didn't think I was ever going to see you again; what did you want me to do?"

"Who is he?"

Jesse pointed to Drake who was playing a snowboarding game on one of the next generation gaming consoles. Alec turned back to Jesse and sighed. "Well, you can't leave for like, a minute?"

The blonde sighed. "Okay, hold on". He went over to Drake and told him he'd be back, but if he wasn't by the time Drake was finished, just wait for him at the car and gave him the keys, and left the game store, Alec following him. The two went to the food court and bought ice cream and walked back to Alec's car.

They finished the frozen treats and sat in the car and talked about what they've been doing in the time they've been apart. "So you're telling me you didn't even think about dating anyone else?", Jesse asked.

"No", Alec shook his head, "I hoped someday we'd see each other again. I guess you didn't think so."

Jesse sighed, "Alec, you moved to Canberra! You know, across the world?!"

"I know, but there's still hope."

The blonde lowered his head and rubbed it gently. He looked out the window, afraid of looking Alec in the eyes. A tear fell from his left eye and Alec watched it drop off his face. "Jesse you loved me. We loved each other so much. I still do."

"Alec, I--"

"Look at me", Alec whispered. Jesse didn't move. "You can't, can you? You know you'll fall in love with me again."

Jesse sniffled a little and made himself look at Alec, right in the eyes. The two grayish blue diamonds caught onto Jesse's eyes and just whispered words of love. The blonde's eyes stopped shedding tears and dried up. Alec leaned in and pressed his lips to Jesse's, and they both felt those same sparks they felt all that time ago. They started kissing harder and wilder, Alec's hand going behind Jesse's neck, pulling him closer. The blonde climbed over the gearshift and straddled Alec's waist, his arms going around his neck.

Luckily, Alec parked in the back of the lot so they were out of the sight of any passersby. It was like Jesse was under a spell of some sort but the second he heard Alec's pants zipper come undone, a bell in his mind went off and he stopped almost instantly.

He lowered his head and sighed, "Alec, I'm sorry, I can't."

The brunette nodded and exhaled. "I'd better go then."

Jesse climbed off him and got out of the car. Closing the door, he turned back and reached his arm through the open window of the passenger's side door. Alec took Jesse's hand and looked in his eyes. Jesse swallowed. "I still love you Alec."

The blonde walked away, heading for his car to see if Drake was there yet. Alec sat in his car and sighed. Turning the engine over, he looked at Jesse walking away one last time. "I love you too", he whispered. He wiped a tear from his eye and pulled out of the parking lot. A moment later and the crimson red BMW was out of sight.

Yeah, a little sad, I know. I thought it was time for some epic interjections in the storyline that may be a little foreshadowing for future complications. In other words, just review and hang onto your seat for what happens next, hehe! Chapter Three is coming soon.