Jono stared at his hands. They looked just the same as they always did. Square backed, long, blunt fingers, slightly prominent knuckles, short ridged nails, and a light dusting of coarse brown hairs on the backs of the fingers. He turned them over. Big, square palms. Calloused fingers. Musician's hands.

He wanted Jubilee to be here now.

"Jonothon?" Emma said softly, sympathetically. "Are you all right?"

He shook his head fractionally. Don't move. Don't speak. Then it can't get any worse. The tiny sphere of numbness will not shatter if you don't move or speak. No thinking, either. Just looking at the hands.

He really wanted Jubilee now, please.

"I'll call her," Emma said gently. Jono didn't move, just sat there looking at his hands. Not moving. Not speaking. He stayed that way until slender arms slid around his shoulders and a soft cheek rested against the top of his head. Emma's eyes slid up, presumably to meet Jubilee's, and her lips tightened a little. "Jono received a... missive from home this afternoon," she said slowly, reluctantly. She sounded as if she wanted Jono to tell it... but of course he couldn't. That would mean talking. Talking meant no little sphere of numbness. "It was... bad news," Emma continued quietly. "His parents were killed in a car accident a few hours ago."

Jubilee made a little shocked sound, then her arms tightened around him. "Oh my god...Jono..."

He relaxed slowly against her, laying his head against her stomach. His arms inched around her and he let the cool, gentle comfort of her presence fill him. She would make him feel better. She always made him feel better.

Then the carefully nurtured numbness cracked and he started to shake, burying his face against her as his arms tightened, clinging desperately to the one person he knew could make the pain easier, would hold him and soothe him until the worst was over. Jubilee's eyes filled with tears and she held him close, cradling his head in gentle arms as she crooned softly to him. With unusual tact and kindliness, Emma slipped away to leave the two alone.

A long time later, the two sat silent on the rug, his face burrowed into her neck, her small hand stroking his hair gently as the other arm held him tightly to her. <*I didn't... They... I didn't know this was going to happen,*> he said, almost inaudibly.

"How could you?" she asked gently, still holding him close. The bone-deep shudders that had racked him were fading now, at last, but he was still as tensely wound as a spring. "You couldn't have known, Jon, there wasn't any way you could."

<*But I didn't get to say anything to them.*> He hugged her tightly, almost crushing her small ribs in his ferocious grasp. <*I was so mad at them and I didn't even get to tell them about it.*> His psionic voice didn't falter, didn't catch the way a physical voice might have, and the brown eyes showed no trace of tears, but the bewildered pain in both eyes and voice tore at her heart.

"I know," she whispered, slim fingers twining gently in his chestnut hair. "Believe me, I know how it feels." And that there was nothing to say that would make it better. All she could do was be there.

Fortunately, that was something she could do.

* * *

"You really have to go?" Angleo rested a bristly chin in his palm.

<*Yeh.*> Jono stuffed another handful of t-shirts into a battered duffel-bag. <*There's a bunch of legal stuff I gotta deal with.*>

Angelo frowned. "I thought you got disowned. How much can there be to do?"

Jono sat down on the edge of his bed, looking at the shirt in his hands with a rather lost expression. <*I was, but not legally. Still inherited everything.*> He shrugged, a rueful glint in his eyes. <*Anyway, the estate's entailed. I *have* to inherit.*>

There was a moment's pause.

"Estate?"

<*You know... big 'ouse, grounds, pots of money...*> Yup, definite glint.

"Money?"

<*Well, stocks an' the like, mostly... Da wasn't one to let money sit around not earnin' its keep.*> Jono's 'voice' was harsh, and he went back to packing, perhaps a little more energetically than usual. <*Or sons, either.*>

Angelo was still a sentence or two behind. "You're *rich*?!"

<*Stinking.*>

"Why didn't you tell us?" Angelo blinked. "Why didn't you tell *Paige*?! You could've beaten Rat Boy out once and for all!"

Jono's shoulders dropped in a silent sigh. <*Didn't tell anyone because I didn't want anyone t' know. Wanted t' make it on my own for once, not just coast through because I was J. E. Starsmore Junior, Professional Rich Brat.*> He lifted one shoulder. <*T' be honest, I didn't want to know 'ow she'd react. Long as she didn't, I could let meself pretend she really liked Tristan for the emptiness between 'is ears.*>

Angelo snickered. "Can't blame you there, I guess."

Jono nodded, then he looked down at his hands. <*I told Jubilee, though. Few weeks ago. We were... talkin' about family.*>

Angelo bit his lip. "She knows you're leaving?"

<*O' course,*> Jono said, looking a little surprised. <*She was th' first person I told.*>

"Well... good. How's she taking it?"

<*That I don't know yet. Gonna go talk to 'er when I'm done packing.*> Jono sighed, picking up his only picture of her, nestled in a plain wooden frame. <*Ange... be here for her, okay?*> Angelo nodded silently, reaching out to lay a thin hand on his friend's arm. Jono closed his eyes for a moment, laying his own hand on Angelo's, then his shoulders dropped again, and he tucked the picture carefully among his clothes.

* * *

Jubilee closed her eyes, savouring the scent of warm leather and freshly washed cotton. "I'm going to miss you," she whispered into his t-shirt. "I'm gonna miss you so, so much..."

<*Gonna miss you too, luv,*> he murmured, stroking her hair. She felt so small and fragile in his arms, so warm...

She lifted her head, blue eyes swimming with tears. "Promise you'll look after yourself, okay?" Small hands fisted in his shirt. "I'm gonna worry myself sick if you don't."

<*I will,*> he promised, cupping her cheek gently in his palm. <*You too, all right? I want to know that at least one person I care about is okay.*>

"Deal," she agreed with a tiny sniff. He rested his forehead gently against hers and their eyes drifted closed for a long moment, as both savoured the sweet, gentle comfort of the other's presence. Slowly, Jubilee let her hands relax from their tight grip and she took a shaky breath. "Jono... you know I care about you a lot, right?"

<*Right.*> He didn't move, eyes closed, as he held her gently in the crook of his long arm. <*And I care about you too, gel. But...*>

"Hand-holding and fuzzies doesn't work long-distance," she finished softly. "And you're gonna be gone a long time. I just... wanted you to know that that doesn't mean I don't really care, I do..."

<*This is weird,*> he murmured, stroking his thumb lightly over her cheek. <*I'm gettin' the 'let's be friends' speech and it's not making me feel bad.*>

She smiled a little at that. "That's because you know it's actually true. I'll always be here for you if you need me."

He hugged her gently. <*Same. Yer one of the most important people in the world to me, luv, and you always will be.*>

She returned the hug. "I'm just... not ready for anything else yet."

<*Me neither. Not... right now.*>

"Love you," Jubilee said softly. "In the best, friendliest way."

<*Love yer too.*> The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he pressed his fingertips against her forehead gently. <*I told Angelo t' look after you, so let him. It'll make him feel... useful. Better.*>

"Kay." She stood on tiptoe to kiss the tip of his nose. "And remember you promised to take care of yourself."

He chuckled silently. <*Yeh, yeh... bloody nag, you are...*>

* * *

Dear Jono

I miss you. I miss you a lot. (a little sad face with spiky hair). I wish I could be there to help you, but I know I can't. And I'm failing geometry, too. Stupid finals.... anyway, nothing much has changed here... oh, except that Rat Boy sooooomehow got himself caught by a TOtally immature rigged-camera booby-trap while he was in the shower, would you believe, and then the emotional trainwreck who perpetrated this horrible excuse for a joke actually distributed copies of the pictures around the school AND posted them on the 'Net (http://www.nudepix.net/newpix/amateurRatBoy.jpg), exposing the Rat's teeny-weinerness to the whole world. Some people just have no dignity. Angelo says hi. (picture of a little grinning face with a long nose).

* * *

Dear Jubilee

I miss you too, always. I'm all on my own here except for this shriveled up old git who was a lawyer before his current incarnation as a slightly mobile cadaver. At least everything's in pretty good nick... except the stable. The stable would make Hercules himself burst into tears. (You remember, in the legend he was supposed to have cleaned out a stable using a whole river.) I know you don't like horses, but you'd have felt sorry for them.

* * *

Dear Jono...

Dear Jubilee...

I miss you...

I miss you...

I miss you.

But we'll always be friends.

Always.

The End.