I haven't written a multi-chaptered fic in… awhile. And I haven't written for Imogen in forever (since I was doing the oneshots based on the promos, I think?) and I don't think I've ever written for Jake. So, with those credentials, how can this not be a fabulous story (note the sarcasm, but I hope it actually will be good). It's set almost a year after the Grade 12s graduated from Degrassi, in case anyone was wondering. Also, it's AU because obviously Fiona's mom isn't comfortable with her sexuality. And I don't know, this is mostly just a prologue, so on with the show!

Prologue

Imogen Moreno sat outside on the cold steps of her house, a Hello Kitty suitcase on one side of her, and a canvas duffle bag with bright sunflowers on the other. She had been kicked out of her house. She had been thrown out because she told her mom that she wouldn't stop seeing Fiona. It was ridiculous. Imogen thought that things had gotten better between her and her mother, especially after all of the bonding trips with Fiona, but no. Her mother had basically told her that she thought what Imogen was going through was a phase, and a phase she expected her to be out of by this point. Imogen, of course, did what she did best and argued back – it was just so simple. It started with little quips about how her mother had left she and her father and soon it turned into an all-out screaming match, resulting in Imogen losing her home.

The worst part about all of this, besides the fact that she knew her mom still didn't accept her – maybe she hadn't ever since she had come back. Maybe she only stuck around for Imogen's dad, who was getting worse and worse. The worst part about all of this was that she let it affect her. Sitting on the hard, cold, concrete steps, Imogen felt tears pricking into her eyes. She felt silly. It struck her as odd, because she had plenty of ridiculous moments at Degrassi, so many that some other people would cringe, but for the most part, Imogen looked back on her time at Degrassi with fondness. But it was some harsh comments from her mother, a woman she had worked so hard to keep from getting to her, that drove her to her breaking point. She hated it and she hated how she felt.

The brunette looked down at her hands. She had nowhere to go. Fiona was back in New York, interning at some fabulous fashion agency, and while Imogen hadn't told this to her mother, things with she and Fiona had cooled… tremendously. Imogen didn't understand why, but she didn't want to think too hard about it. She knew she loved Fiona and that Fiona loved her. She sighed, knowing that if she called Fiona, the older girl would let her stay in the loft, but it would feel weird being there alone, so she thought against it. That was the problem, though; Fiona was just about the only person at Degrassi Imogen had stayed in touch with. Sure, she talked to Eli from time to time, Bianca even, on rare occasion, but she wasn't close enough to either of them to call them up and ask if she could bunk at their place for an undetermined amount of time.

Letting out a sigh, Imogen continued to go through the contacts on her phone, stopping on one. Jake Martin. The two had been Spanish partners at Degrassi, had even hung out a few times outside of the class. The girl smiled affectionately. She liked Jake, she really did, he was kind to her and easily one of the most laidback people she had ever met. She had heard from Eli (who had heard from Clare) that Jake was out living on his own now, braving the world outside of Degrassi in his own apartment. She wondered, briefly, fleetingly, if he was looking for a roommate. It wouldn't hurt to try, would it? She felt bad about doing it, even considering doing it, but she had run out of options. Besides, it would be better to live with Jake than stay at a shelter or room with someone she didn't know. What did she have to lose, anyway? She already didn't have a place to stay.

Taking a deep breath, Imogen let her finger hover above Jake's name for a few seconds before closing her eyes and pressing the button, moving the phone up to her ear as she heard it ringing. She held the device so tight to her ear that it almost hurt. But she couldn't help it. She was nervous. Nervous and scared and worried that he wouldn't take her in. It wasn't that she expected him to necessarily, but she just hoped and wished and prayed with all her might that he would.

Her heart sank when she heard his voicemail, not him, pick up. For whatever reason, this brought on a fresh round of tears as she saw her only chance slipping away. She thought about hanging up, but she was still just desperate enough to leave a message, pride be damned.

"Jake? Jake, it's Imogen. I-I need you to call me, okay? As soon as you get this. It's super important. Like… life changing important. Just… call me, okay? I need someone."

She hung up the phone and buried her head in her hands, letting more and more tears fall out. She needed to face it. She was going to end up in a shelter. It wasn't so bad, definitely better than being on the streets, and she thought the people who ran them were good people but she just couldn't see herself in one. She continued to sob so hard that her shoulder shook, sobbed like someone who had just lost everything.

XX

Jake Martin walked into his apartment after his weekly dinner with his dad, Helen, and Clare. It had been a good night. They had chicken and played a couple of board games. It was a wholesome, TV special family thing to do, he realized, but Jake also really liked spending time with them now that he was all moved out and on his own. It was weird, there were times when he had been in the Martin/Edwards house last year and had wanted nothing more than to be out on his own, but now that he was on his own, he was kind of nostalgic for his old life. It was a vicious cycle.

About halfway through dinner, Jake had realized he left his phone at home, but didn't pay any attention to it. The only person he still talked to regularly was Mo, and Mo wouldn't need anything important anyway. There was Katie, too, and they were still trying to make things work, but he knew she had something planned with Maya tonight, so he didn't worry about his phone right away. Instead, he took a shower and pulled on some boxers and a T-shirt before plopping on the beat up couch, turning the TV on, before grabbing the neglected phone.

His eyebrows creased in confusion when he saw that he had a missed call and a voicemail. The confusion continued when he saw that both were from Imogen, his Grade 12 Spanish partner. They had all but fallen out of touch since graduation, and while Jake always thought affectionately of the girl, he couldn't see why she was calling so late at night. He considered just crashing and listening to the message tomorrow – he was beat, after all. Sure, he liked Imogen just fine, she was always so bubbly and independent and never answered to anyone, but he was almost asleep and he had barely been home.

Letting out a sigh, he pressed the playback button on his phone anyway, something inside him telling him to listen to the message. He darted up immediately when the voice on the other end of the phone sounded like it was crying.

"Jake? Jake, it's Imogen. I-I need you to call me, okay? As soon as you get this. It's super important. Like… life changing important. Just… call me, okay? I need someone."

This couldn't be Imogen, could it? The girl on the phone sounded so hopeless and depressed, not at all like the perky brunette he remembered, sitting up, he quickly called her back, hoping he wasn't too late to help her with whatever had been wrong. He tapped his fingers on the back of his couch. "Come on, Imogen," He muttered as the phone continued to ring, "pick up the phone."

XX

Imogen woke to her phone vibrating in her pocket. She had fallen asleep on the porch from crying. Her mind was a little hazy as to why someone would be calling her this late, but she didn't think too much about it, she answered it without so much as looking at the ID. "Hello?" She asked, sadness mixed with the tiredness in her voice.

"Imogen?" She heard the male voice on the other line say, relief clear in his voice. Confusion swept over her momentarily until she remembered. Jake! She had left him that desperate, pleading message and he had called her back. Maybe things were looking up. She had to fight the small bit of hope that had begun to blossom inside her. "Is everything okay?"

She took a deep breath, willing herself not to cry again as she thought about the fight with her mom, how awful it was to have her watching, glaring at her as she packed all of her stuff. By that point, the shock of being kicked out hadn't worn off yet, so she was mostly doing everything robotically, waiting for her mom to tell her to stop being ridiculous and of course she wasn't actually going to kick her out, but of course that didn't come. Closing her eyes, she let out another breath before opening her mouth to speak:

"I got kicked out." She said, flatly, "I got kicked out and I heard that you had your own apartment and I was wondering if you could use a roommate to help you pay for rent. I don't have a job yet, but I can get one. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important, Jake, I promise. But I don't have anywhere else to go."

As she talked, she gained momentum, until the words were practically flying from her mouth. When she finished, she let out another breath and waited. There was silence on the other end of the line. She twirled a loose strand of hair and bit her lip nervously. "Jake?" She asked after a few seconds, not being able to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"You need a place to stay." He said, clearly trying to process everything still. The brunette nodded, before she realized that he couldn't see her.

"Yeah, I do. It'll only be temporary, I promise, just long enough for me to find a place of my own." She reasoned. She paused. "So… what do you think?" She asked, biting her lip again.

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then a sigh, Imogen could practically see the wheels turning in his head, his hand running through his hair as he thought through everything. She just hoped he wouldn't turn her down. She held her breath until she finally heard his answer:

"Okay."

And… that's where I'm gonna stop for now. I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I'm sorry for any OOC moments, like I said, I haven't written for Jake or Imogen much, and I'm rusty to FanFiction in general. And yeah, this starts off as sort of Fimogen/Jatie-ish, but Jimogen is going to be the end game. I don't know how long the story's going to be, I plan on taking my time with it and everything. Future chapters will probably also be longer, but I really just wanted to get the ball rolling. So, yeah. I think that's about it for now. Let me know what you think in a review. Or a favorite is nice too. Both would be great. But honestly, I hope you guys liked this and want to stick around for the rest of the story, because I'm pretty excited about it. I hope you are too.

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi. But one can dream, right?