Kaylee groaned to herself as she scanned the Gossip GangSTAR. There she was, bold as brass, described as a self-obsessed idiot. And, to be fair, she had been rather too drunk to actually behave herself properly that night. Just her luck to be celebrating on a night when Franco's spies were in the Inn, though. Setting the magazine aside, she stood up, leaving a tip with her empty coffee mug, and let herself out of the little coffee shop, pressing her hands deep into her pockets as she shivered in the chilly air.

Jason carried a bag of groceries in his arms and was leaving the grocery when he spotted Kaylee not too far away. "Kaylee!" He couldn't raise his hands to wave her down, but he could raise his voice to try to get her attention. "Hey Kaylee, wait up!" Hugging the bag to his chest, he began to jog towards her.

Hearing her name called out, she frowned, not recognising the voice. Pausing in her tracks, Kaylee turned, looking up and down the street curiously. It was a moment before she equated the yelling with Jason, running straight for her. Her eyes widened in vague alarm. "Jason?"

"Hey," he caught up to her and shifted the bag from one arm to another. "How're you doing?" He smiled, though she did look startled. "Guess who got his voice back" Now we can sing duets and publish your own songs instead of somebody covering them for you." Oh yes, he'd read the gossip rag, too.

To say she was startled by his grasp of the current gossip was a bit of an understatement. "Oh," she managed after a moment, swallowing to buy time as her mind raced. "But I thought you didn't want to see me anymore. After ....you know." Her head twitched awkwardly.

Jason just shrugged and shifted his weight between his feet. "Of course I'd love to see more of you. But when you up and disappeared, I thought that was it. I'm just glad we ran into each other."

Kaylee shrugged with him, looking down at her wet boots as her feet twisted uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to just disappear," she apologised quietly. "I just ....things got really complicated, and I didn't want to make them worse, so I went to live with Ollie for a while. So, uh, your voice is back?" Oh, now, that was a stupid question. She blushed, laughing at herself. "Of course it's back, sorry."

Jason just nodded as she spoke. He could understand that mentality. "Yeah, it came back a couple of days after we..." he shrugged a bit and the flush to his cheeks was more than the cold. "And now my throat doesn't even hurt any more. It's like it never went away." He glanced away, then back to her. "You look good. Is this Ollie guy treating you right?" There was a bit of jealousy there. Why wasn't Jason good enough' Who was this Ollie guy, anyway"

She blinked, slightly confused by the jealousy she heard in his voice. It never occurred to her that Jason wouldn't know who Ollie was. "Uh, yeah, he's been great," she assured him. "It took a bit of convincing to make him stop trying to give me the bed to sleep in, but we're all packed into his loft pretty cosy now. I'm glad your voice is back, Jason." A small smile appeared on her lips. "Do you want a hand with those?" She glanced down at the grocery bags.

"No, I'm good. Just one bag." He turned and started to walk. "It's not safe out here at night, can I walk you home" I'm sure Ollie would appreciate your being safe and sound." He stopped when he was a few feet away, waiting for her response.

She laughed softly. "He'd go nuts if I wasn't home when he got back, that's a good point," she smiled. Thinking it over, she paused a moment, looking up at Jason. "I can call him, say I'm going to be late. That is, if you want to hang out some. If you don't, that's totally cool; I know I kinda burned my bridges, and we didn't exactly come out of it all lookin' peachy, so it'd be no problem if this is just hello, goodbye."

Jason stopped and gave her an incredulous look. "You'd call your boyfriend to tell him you're going to hang out with another guy' You really are heartless, aren't you?" He laughed then and turned. "Part of your charm, Black Widow."

"My - what?" Kaylee burst out laughing, sagging back against the wall behind her as she giggled hysterically at the thought of Ollie ever being mistaken for her boyfriend. But the humour didn't last long. She sobered fast enough when she realised just what he thought of her, and what he'd called her. "Ollie's my cousin," she said quietly, not moving to follow him as he walked away. "Thanks for making it clear." Red in the face with shame at the way he now thought of her, Kaylee turned to walk in the other direction.

"Your cousin?" Jason turned to look at her back now that she was walking away. "Hey, I'm sorry Kaylee. I didn't know. I just know what happened between us and it didn't feel so good to know that you can't be tied down and that's all I wanted was to be with you."

She turned to look back at him. "Would it make you feel better to know that I haven't slept with anyone since I last saw you?" she asked sharply. "How about the fact that I haven't even really been out of the loft in weeks, and the one night I am out to enjoy myself, it's splashed across the gossip rags so that everyone who might possibly think kindly of me won't. I've spent a long time not feeling what I'm meant to be feeling, Jason, and now I finally get around to just being me, people I thought were my friends are dropping me at every turn. So don't worry, alright' I'm used to it by now. You don't want to be with me, you want to be with who I was pretending to be. And ....I don't want to be that person anymore."

"Why are you so angry with me if you want the same thing I do?" He didn't understand. "I didn't want the girl who used me and then went on to some other guy. I didn't want the girl who told me that it was only going to be casual. I want the girl that stood up and sang that night. I want the girl that spent time in the hot spring with me. I don't and didn't want a one night stand. So if that's what you think I'm after, then maybe it's best you walk away. Because you don't know a damn thing about me."

"See, this is the problem," she burst out, stamping her foot against the icy stones beneath her. "I never went on to another guy. You just made the assumption, and you totally disregarded my honest explanation. You still think I'm that callous and cold, don't you? And don't you dare say that you didn't want me as I was, because you were only too glad to come over when Correy called you, or to get a room when you were so mad at me all you wanted to do was mark me as yours. I used you that first time, I know, and I've apologised for it. I don't know how else to say it. But don't you ever tell me I'm not allowed to be angry with you. I may be a sinner, but you aren't a saint yourself."

"Oh, so this was all my fault' I was your pretty boy of the week and this is all my fault' Fine, turn around, walk away, Kaylee. I used to have a crush on you. I thought you were the prettiest girl on Rhydin. Now you're just....I don't know what you are, but you're not who I thought you were. I'm sorry I stopped you to say hi." He turned then and stalked off in the opposite direction.

"No, it isn't all your fault, it's all mine, and I'm sorry I dragged you anywhere near me," she shouted at his back, letting out a squeal of frustrated anger as she turned to kick the wall beside her. "Why, why am I such a monumental screw up?" This was demanded of the sky before she set off in her own turn, heading for the loft and hoping Ollie wouldn't want to talk about her bad mood.

"You want the answer to that?" He called out as he whirled around to stare at her again. By this time, their shouting was starting to gather a crowd. "Because you surround yourself with monumental screw ups!"

"Then why don't you all just go and screw each other and leave me in peace"!" Angry more with herself than him, but not about to admit to it, Kaylee flounced away, turning down the first alley that came to her to be out of sight as quickly as she could.

She wasn't going to get away that easily. Jason dropped the groceries and took off in a run after her. "Do you know what I was going to say to you?" The crowd of people snickered and a few even followed him into that alleyway. "I was going to congratulate you on being published and that I didn't believe anything else that rag had to say to you. But you know what? You think I'm some evil dickhead, so why try to ruin your image of me?"

"I do not think you're some evil dickhead, I know you're a good guy who I hurt by being a selfish, pointless walking vagina," Kaylee scowled back, whirling on him with her arms flailing. "I'm the one who hurt you, I'm the one who made you angry and upset, and I don't understand why you don't just leave me to rot in the next gutter I fall into. At least there I won't do anything else to damage you, or anyone else!"

"Because I know you're not a walking vagina. You're a sweet girl with a big heart. And if you lay in the gutter, I'll drag your skinny ass out of there because it's freezing and you'd die of hypothermia."

"Why?" she demanded in disbelief. "There is nothing about me that could make you even remotely want to be anywhere near me. I treated you like shit, and you keep coming back, even though by your own admission I'm a liar, a cheat, and a slut. I'm not arguing with the slut part, but I have enough pride in myself to be hurt when I'm accused of lying and cheating on anyone, least of all a sweet, stupid guy like you."

"Because this stupid guy has been in love with you since we were ten and you let me carry your books home from school." He closed his eyes, not believing he just said that.

Well, that shut her up. Kaylee stared at him, wide-eyed and silent for a long moment. There was a rustle from behind him, and her gaze tore away to see a little old man offering over the grocery bag Jason had dropped in his haste to catch her. Blinking quickly, Kaylee reached out to take the bag without thinking, turning her gaze back to Jason. "C'mon. We need to talk."

He turned when he heard the rustling and watched as the bag was handed over. "Thanks," he offered up to the old man and nodded to Kaylee's request. He put his hand to Kaylee's elbow to lead the way. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dumped that on you."

"No, you ..." She stopped herself from offering a less than truthful platitude to make him feel better. It was trying to please everyone that had ended up with her in such a mess to begin with. She swallowed as they walked along, feeling oddly detached from everything around them. "I really don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. We were in different circles, doing different things in school. But there was a reason I was a virgin when we first had sex." He shrugged then, letting her add it up.

"Gods, Jason ..." She let out a low sigh, feeling the weight of what he felt and had said settle on her shoulders. "You shouldn't have ....If I'd known, I would never have - I don't play with people. I thought Correy would've told you about me and the relationships I've had, and you wouldn't expect anything from me. Oh gods, I've totally screwed you over ..."

"No, he warned me." He shrugged and continued walking along. "I just thought I could change you. That you'd fall madly in love with me and that would be that." He snorted a laugh. "See, stupid boy."

"Jason," she paused, turning to look up at him, her expression stricken. "Please don't waste any more dreams on me. I'm really not worth it, and there are other girls out there who won't take you for a ride the way I did. Gods, I had no idea, I really didn't, I ....there's really nothing I can say, is there?"

"You can shut the fuck up and stop telling me what to feel." he glanced at her cooly. "And who says that I'm still stuck on you? You made it pretty clear what you wanted and what you didn't want. I'm cool with that. I just know that you've got a hell of a fight on your hands if you think that I'm going to just fall down and be a casual fun buddy again."

She bit back her snarl of an answer just before it made itself known. "Fine," she said finally, her voice very quiet, as monotone as she could make it. She handed the grocery bag to him. "I'm not gonna beg for forgiveness, I'm not going to spend hours trying to convince you that I'm not what you've decided I am. So that's it, then." Stepping away, Kaylee didn't even raise a smile in goodbye. "I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations."

Jason took the bag of groceries from her and watched her solemnly as she rose through her little monologue. "You know, me too. Because the Kaylee that imagined you to be is a hell of a lot better person than the real one turned out to be." He turned then and walked away.

"Oh!" he turned around, stopping in his tracks. "Congratulations on getting your song published. I'm sure it'll open a lot more hotel room doors for you." He tipped an imaginary hat, bowed, then walked way. Again.

Her eyes closed as he walked away, her lips tightening as she forced herself not to cry anywhere he could hear or see her. She deserved all of it, everything he'd said, and she didn't have any right to feel upset or angry over having the truth thrown into her face. Kaylee swallowed hard, and very slowly, turned to make her way back toward Ollie's loft. With any luck, she'd be calm again by the time she got there; the last thing her cousin needed was to hear her crying, again.

Jason was right, just as Tony had been right, and Correy, and even Jon to some extent - no matter how much she cared, how hard she tried, there really was nothing about her that was worth more than the price of a cheap motel room.