***HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE-

If you care, yes, that is a slowed version of "Careless Whisper" in the video above.

And by the way, I'm not a cop, so a lot of the information you read in the next few chapters will be fudged. Let's just say that life's different in Ninjago.***

***(Nya's POV)***

I sit beside Jay in the passenger seat of his parents' car. It's only polite that I let him drive, since it is his parents' vehicle, but he's driving slower than we should at this point. I don't remember much about the police chief's appearance or characteristics, given that I was coming off DM at the time I met him, but I know he was determined to see me fall. I don't just run for no good reason, and when I run, I run fast.

The world around us is now completely dark, the moon and our headlights illuminating the road. We're on one of the many rural highways leading toward Ignacia. Jay stashed both of our phones in a convenience store aisle back in Ninjago City, just in case they were being tracked.

I hate getting him into this much trouble. I wish Jay weren't throwing himself into danger's way just to help me. I've severely doubted his intelligence all day, but this takes the cake. He's forfeiting his whole career for my sake.

I don't know what to think about him anymore. When I met him early this afternoon – was it just today that we met? – I found him really attractive and outgoing.

Then he revealed that he knew my secrets, and he took me back to his apartment. I was wary of him while there, but he was a perfect gentleman. He bandaged my cuts and scrapes from the train incident, respected me when I wanted space, and seemed eager to show me some of the romance novels he'd written.

Once his parents showed up, I realized he was a liar. He apparently had told them he had a fake girlfriend, and I was supposed to play along.

And then I thought he was actually crazy. He up and told me he was in love with me, and that he had been that way for a year and a half. I knew he was a stalker or a pervert or some nutjob when he said that. The whole thing with lying to his parents about our children just confirmed my suspicions.

When he admitted he was wrong to lie and to tell me he loved me so quickly, I was more relieved than anything. And then he just asked if he could help me fix my police problems. I still thought he was crazy, but I couldn't resist his offer of help.

And then on the drive to the diner where we ate, he proved himself to be a really sweet, funny person. Sure, he was nuts, but I knew he could be a great, normal person after he got some counseling.

But we talked at the diner. The way he looked at me and held my hands and listened so intently...I felt comfortable with him. And that's saying a lot – I've been starved for meaningful human interaction for two years. Being able to talk out my past with someone, being able to trust someone with that part of me...it was therapeutic. I knew I would classify Jay as a friend from that moment on, regardless of whether he was crazy or not. I found out that when Jay put all 'I-love-you's' and pushiness to the side, we really connected.

But I fell for the understanding boyfriend act once with Cole, and then he dumped me when things got uncomfortable with the police. I know Jay's not the same guy, but I'm still not going to let something like Jay's skills as a listener persuade me to think of him as any more than a friend. Studies have shown that people are inherently more attractive when you meet them in dangerous situations. I'm not going to be a victim of that.

The hardest thing in determining Jay's character was that he essentially gave up his chances as a cop to drive me to Ignacia and fight for my innocence. I don't know what's wrong with him that he thinks that's a good idea. I'm ruining him, and he's...letting me do it.

I feel really close to him right now. At the same time, it's like we're a million miles apart. How can I simultaneously despise and enjoy a person's company?

I guess too much has happened in one day. I almost died by a train, I had meaningful human interaction for the first time in two years, I pretended to be a pregnant almost-fiancée, I told someone my backstory, I almost got caught by the police.

Gosh. I really need some time to think.

"We're running low on gas," Jay observes, looking down at the gauge. "I guess we'll need to make a quick stop."

I rub under my eyes, feeling weariness overcome my body. "You'll have to pay cash – sorry, but I don't have any. Credit and debit cards leave a trail. We don't want the police finding us prematurely." It could get us both in a lot of trouble.

"I don't carry cash," Jay says sheepishly. "Will you check the glove compartment? My parents typically keep some in there."

I fiddle with the opening under the dashboard until the top pops out and the light flashes on inside.

"You know," I muse, riffling through the contents, "you've told me a lot about your family in just one day. I met your parents, I know about your mom's heart condition, I know you were adopted, I know your birth parents are getting married soon. And now I know where your parents keep a stash of spare money."

"You're not going to steal anything." He sounds sure of himself.

I pull out a wad of bills, locating a twenty and separating it from the rest. "Why do you trust me so much?"

"If you haven't figured out yet, I think being open helps people to like me better and trust me more." He taps his fingers over the steering wheel. "And with you, it's worked pretty well so far."

I raise my eyebrows. "Telling me you loved me two hours after we met does nothing to make me like you better."

"I know. I meant being open with other stuff, like information about my family and my hobbies and what I ate for dinner yesterday. Keeping our relationship casual has really helped – you've opened up a lot." He shoots me a nervous smile in the light from the dash.

I close the compartment, looking down at my lap. "I typically don't do that."

"Do what? Open up?"

"Yeah." I mess with the fibers of my blue jeans.

Jay reaches over the console to place his fingers over one of my fidgeting hands. "I like seeing you open up. I think it's one of the greatest joys in life to be the kind of person others can be themselves around."

I smile vaguely. "You're something else."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment here." He signals to exit the freeway, even though there's no one around.

"I don't know whether it was a compliment or not," I confess. "This day is just one big, confusing mess."

"I agree." He takes the exit ramp until we reach a stop sign, then makes a right toward a blinking gas station sign. It's not supposed to be blinking, but it's old and worn down.

Jay parks us next to one of the two gas pumps, then takes the twenty I retrieved from the dash. "I'll be back in a sec, okay?" he smiles. He pushes open his door, causing the overhead light to flash on and illuminate his tired features.

I guess the light must also reveal the concern etched on my face, because Jay gives me a sympathetic smile, pausing in the middle of unbuckling his seatbelt. "Don't worry, Nya. We'll get this all worked out soon, and then you'll only be charged for drug abuse and petty theft. We'll find proof that you were on Dark Matter during the armed robbery, and because you were running from the threats of the Ignacian police chief, you won't be charged for evading arrest. The courts will probably have mercy on you because of the age at which you started taking drugs and because of your parents' deaths at the time. You've been a law-abiding citizen the past two years – except for evading arrest, of course, but that's with reason."

"Yeah. After two years of running, though, I'm wondering if it'll ever stop." I study his eyes, concerned.

"It stops with me," he says softly, removing his gaze from mine for a moment to examine the mole on my right cheek. He brushes his thumb over it gently, as though he loves even the most physically unattractive part of me.

I feel an urge inside to lean closer, and it dawns on me at that moment that I...kind of like Jay, in a weird way. I guess fragments of the attraction I felt earlier must still remain in me somewhere.

See, I know I shouldn't like Jay romantically, though. I'm not even sure what my feelings are toward his character anymore. My mind is so muddled with the events of the day and looming confrontation of the Ignacian police chief.

One thing is clear, though: I feel the strangest urge to kiss him.

Which is nuts. I'm not okay with a first kiss until I've been romantically involved with someone for at least three months. Make it two months, if I was friends with the person before going out with him. But on the first day I've talked to a guy?

Against all my better judgment, I feel myself lean toward Jay's pale pink lips. My heart beats rapidly in my chest, and my eyes are stayed on his mouth like a radar on its target.

What am I doing? The only reason I'm attracted to Jay is that he's the first person I've really connected with in two years. Or maybe it's that 'fine line between love and hate' thing. The fine line of passion is giving me the unfounded urge to kiss him after I've wanted to punch him in the gut all day.

Jay's eyes, open and caring, suddenly gain a new thread of depth to them. It's as though he understands what's happening in this moment – the conflict within me, the unreasonableness of kissing him, the incessant desire to do it anyway.

"What am I supposed to do here?" he whispers, his voice nothing but a vapor between us. His gaze flicks down to my lips, his eyes now revealing a hunger of their own.

"Nothing," I murmur. I want to look away so badly and break this trance, but I want it to never end even more. I inch toward his face just a little more.

He moves his thumb from my cheek to palm one side of my face, and I feel my eyes flutter closed in pleasure. I lean into the gesture, raising my own hand to keep his there.

"You're giving me a lot of mixed signals," he says gruffly, bringing his other hand around to cup the back of my head. He gently tilts my face toward his, just barely applying pressure. It's probably his way of giving me a way out, should I want to use it.

I don't.

He inclines his head so we're nose to nose. I can feel his warm breath on my face, scented like our dessert at the diner earlier, and it makes me just want to get closer. His hand that once caressed my cheek vanishes as he wraps his arm around my waist, tugging me against his chest.

I'm being...held.

I never realized I needed relationships so much until they were gone. I should've treated Kai and the neighbors better. I should never have stolen from those family friends who brought us meals after my parents died. I –

The looming talk with the police commissioner blares in my mind just as Jay's lips brush mine, and I use my arms – which have somehow come to loop around his neck – to push him away. "Jay, we need to get on the road!" How could I be so stupid as to forget that the police are after us?!

"Holy moley!" He drops me like a hot potato, blushing madly. "I'm going to go pay, for, um, the fuel! Be back in a sec!" He scrambles out of the car, forgetting to un-belt himself the first time he tries to climb out. After fixing that mistake, he makes a run for the gas station's attached convenience store, slamming his car door shut behind him.

I blink, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. Did I...almost kiss Jay?

Gosh, I'm losing it. I need a week to myself to detox from this messed up day.

That's when I feel something cold and metal and spine-chilling touch my neck under the headrest.

"Now's as good a time as any to talk, don't you think?" asks a somewhat familiar voice. I immediately know who it is, but it comes to me from a foggy place in my mind.

***I love Cliff Gordon-hangers.

Also, I love almost-kisses. See, it takes me a LOT of work to write actual kisses. But almost-kisses? All you have to do is write tension between two people 😏***