"Prelude to a Kiss"

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Series

by Chelsie

PG-13 (some further scenes/chapters might border on "R")
Author: Chelsie
Email: guitarchic884@aol.com
Disclaimer: I do not know or own any character or actors who portray those in my story. This is just fanfiction and while I am sad to say I cannot be in "Tarzan", I can certainly dream about it.

*Scene 1*

Jane wasn't the type of person to act irrationally, and she knew this. In truth, she always prided herself on being the one who could act levelheaded when a crisis arose. Maybe that was the attraction of being a police officer. Jane was the one who never let her wall down, that is, until recently. While there was no denying she was good at her job and that she loved it, all she could think about lately was John..... and that wasn't okay with her.

Sadly, she couldn't remember another time in her life when she was so enamored with another human being. Even when Michael was alive, she couldn't, for the life of her, recall the need to want to be around him all the time. Jane loved Michael, of course, but she never let herself get lost in that love. The guilt that that thought alone brought, was enough to make her want to hide in her room and never come out again. What kind of a person was she?

Jane looked in the mirror once more and wanted to cry in seeing her reflection. There was pain in her eyes, yet their was hope. It was such an uneasy combination to see in oneself, knowing that an unimaginable tragedy occurred but still seeing that spark of life within your eyes. Although she would never admit it to herself, there was one person that seemed to encompass what that hope stood for.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe to calm the pounding in her ears, she pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail and tried to forget about anything that had to do with John. This was not the place, nor the time. Grabbing her jacket and holster off the bed, she turned and walked towards the bedroom door, but something made her stop and turn around. Walking towards the window at the rear of her bedroom, she said to herself, "I can't believe you're doing this, Jane" before reaching her hand up and unhooking the latch. It was quite possible she was going crazy. Yet, something inside of her, told her it was much deeper than that.

***

From the outside looking in, it was impossible to tell the difference between John Clayton, Jr. and the millions of other people walking around New York City. To the world, he was a good-looking, young man going about his life. What they didn't realize, however, was that underneath, he was an outsider in the truest sense. Raised in the wild, he didn't understand this world which was so different from the one he longed for everyday. He knew that he belonged here, in this concrete jungle, but that didn't stop him from wishing he was never found.

Every night, he walked the rooftops of this city, gazing down into the streets below. There was so much beauty here, but at the same time, so much hate and sorrow. He saw it everywhere; violence, screams, death. Sometimes, he felt like a failure because he could never stop people from hurting one another. Jane didn't understand that..... understand him. All she worried about was rules, but to John, rules were lies. They were protecting those people who hurt others, who hurt Jane.

Even now, staring out at the skyline, the wind blowing his flaxen hair behind his shoulders and the clouds looking like tiny cotton balls against a blue blanket, he tensed up and began to breath faster. Just the thought of Jane lying unconscious was enough to put fire in his eyes. John didn't think he could forgive himself for allowing her to get hurt again. To see her eye's glisten with the promise of tears brought about a pain he had never experienced before. It was like having an arrow shoot straight for your heart. It was at that moment he realized he couldn't leave her. He couldn't escape this city without her being by his side. John was her protector, and she, well she was his everything.

***