Sparrow had to pour herself into her work. There were so many things to do, that she felt sick just thinking about how these past two years had been. First there was Orion. His insistence that she killed their children during her miscarriage and he left her. When she wanted to move on with an old flame, he passed her aside for someone new. Sparrow was sick and tired of being passed up. Of being told that she wasn't good enough. These men who were supposed to love her, who were supposed to protect her and love her, they destroyed her. They tore out her heart right when she was sure that she could trust again. They left her cold and broken, a shell of who she had been in the past.

She heard a knock at the door, one of her maids in a uniform and a blush on her cheeks.
"There is a man looking for you, a really cute man." Sparrow was sure that it was someone she knew. Hell, for all she knew, the maid could be talking about her twin brother for all she knew, but she still stood up and pushed her chair into her desk. If it was Killian, she would ask him to leave. She never expected to see Orion again, and that suited her just fine. If she saw him again she would probably go insane from it. Punch, scream, kick the man who left her so heartbroken and numb. Sparrow tucked some of her bright red hair behind her ear and walked down to the bar area to see who it was.

Scanning the area for a familiar face, she froze when she spotted the most familiar.
"Jade!" She shouted, sprinting through the area between her and her muscular best friend. Sparrow knew that she would be able to jump into his arms with no problems. He was strong and this was a typical welcome between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"I've missed you." Kisses were common between them. Harmless pecks, sweet nuzzles, sharing a bed to cuddle, it was all they had between each other. Until exceptionally lonely nights. When they didn't have anyone else and just a smirk or a touch would make them fall together. She would always love him. She would always do anything for him.

"What are you doing here?"

She knew how hard it was for Jade to be away from her when her life was going to hell. He was stuck in India while she dealt with her miscarriage and writing to him had been one of the most painful things in her life. When she was sixteen and slept with Jade, she always thought deep down that he would be the man who she married. He would be the one to give her children and he would be the one who she loved forever and ever. When they grew up, made their own relationships, they were the ones that always came back together. Who couldn't quite help but have that time together no matter how much she told herself they were just friends.

From her experience though, friends didn't usually end up in bed together. Friends didn't always look at each other the way that they did. She wouldn't change it for anything in the world. She knew that one day he would meet a woman who he wanted to settle down with. Someone who would want to keep him all to herself and she knew that if that day came she would have to be alright with it. He was accepting when she was going to marry Orion, so it as only fair.

Even if anyone who wanted to be with Jade would have to pass her inspection.

She smiled when he held her close, and of course he kissed her back. She ran her fingers over his face, smiling at the blond scruff on his face. She loved it. Jade was someone who understood all of her history and her family without the judgement. Someone who knew that she had to leave her family in New York behind if she ever wanted to be able to take care of herself and be a full adult. Sure that life was fine for her brother, but she couldn't do it for herself.

Sparrow loved that her feet were still not on the ground. She always had to be careful in case Jade got one of his famous cases of vertigo. She was impossibly protective over her best friend and she never wanted to see him hurt. When they were kids and he was still learning how to sign, she learned right along with him. When someone wanted to make fun of him for yelling or whispering, she was swift with a punch to the face.
"How long are you mine for?" She asked with a nuzzle against his neck.

The holidays with him? Was that even possible? She couldn't stop smiling and gave her friend a tight hug. The year prior, she had told Orion about their babies and he proposed to her. Only a few weeks after that she lost her children and the man. This year had been horrible, but Jade helped her get through it. When they would write each other, when they would call each other and just catch up. Even when he would come to visit her and stay in bed with her for days while she talked to him about everything that hurt.

"I've been missing you, my love. This winter had been dreadfully boring without you." She smiled and took a sip from his beer. Her bartender should know better than to charge anyone who Sparrow was with, and from her regal place on his lap, it should be even more obvious.
"How about you? How is the world running without you?"

Sparrow knew that there were plenty of women becoming heartbroken in her bar right now. Ones who fell in love with her beloved the second that he walked into the room. He was stunning, he always was and had Beene. When he was fifteen and developed muscles and an extra six inches of height, she had to keep girls away from her friend. She had been jealous of their lust for him, she had been jealous of how he seemed to be more interested in them than her. When she turned sixteen, they realized what they meant to eac h other. How much they loved the other and how no amount of other people in their lives that they would always love each other.

"You have no idea how happy you make me, Jade." She smiled at him and hoped that he would always know that she was grateful for any time they could spend together. He had his life, his thousands of things that he had to do all over the world and she had her bar and tattooing. They never seemed to have the best timing for each other, but they did have their time together. If it was a week, or just a night. It had been a while since she was with him. Right after her breakup with Orion, they stayed in bed together for days, keeping their modesty with each other but their arms around each other. She cried in his arms, she mourned her loss, he did everything to make her feel better. She was sure she wouldn't have survived the whole ordeal without him.

"I hope you can fix it, I'm hoping to completely monopolize you while you're here." She had been hoping to go back go New York City for Christmas. Her new apartment in Brooklyn was just so lonely and it needed the decorating touch. She was sure that Jade would be more than willing to help her with that. A Christmas dinner, hot chocolate and hot cider, stolen kisses under a mistletoe and watching the snow out of her windows. It would be perfect.

"Maybe even head to the city, unless you're trying to avoid your parents?" The bar was loud, so she untangled her fingers from his hair do she could sign along with her words. She always wanted to make sure that Jade could fully understand what she was saying. She never wanted him to feel left out of her life, or out of anything. He was too wonderful and amazing to be left out of anything.

"Up to you, my handsome."

When she agreed to marry Orion, it was because she thought that it was the life she wanted. She thought that she needed to be with the father of her children in order to provide them with the best life possible. When Orion left her with the hollow feeling from losing her children still fresh in her body, she thought she was going to lose her mind. Then there was Jade. Right where she needed him and made everything just a little bit better. He made her able to look at herself in the mirror again, made her able to get back to her life.

After he had to leave, she backslid. Her time with Killian was just because she couldn't face being alone. An old flame was the next best thing to the man who she loved with all of her heart.

All of her life she could have any man or woman that she wanted. Except for one. Jade was the only one who no matter what, she could only have in short times. She could only hold onto him by a thread. Could never take too much, or she could lose him forever. They would have all of their times, even if she wanted more from him.

'Walks through Central Park? Sip hot chocolate and snuggle in front of my fireplace?' Though to be honest, her thoughts were turning a little less than innocent. The fireplace outlining them on the floor tangled up together. The snow falling outside of the window while they spent hours in love. She needed to be with him.

'I can't wait to show you my new place.' Her old apartment had been haunted by the ghosts of Orion and her children. She still had Ryot, her bull dog puppy, probably the only good thing to come out of her relationship with Orion. She had not brought anyone to the apartment yet. She wanted someone special to be the first one who she had there, and there was no one better than Jade.

They were getting older, established in their careers and didn't need to prove themselves to anyone. She tried to be with Orion, a man who even looked a bit like Jade. Though she knew that her best friend would never abandon her like that child did. Then there was Killian, someone older who she knew always lusted after, but it wasn't enough. They didn't have much in common outside of their general appreciation for each other's bodies, and it was a dull relationship. She never had a dull moment with Jade. She ran her hands over his chest, watching his hands move quickly. She understood him when most people would need the help, she could look at him and know what he was thinking, it was perfect. They were just stubborn and dumb. She knew how much he loved his life running around the world. He was able to kick ass, take names. He didn't need to be tied down to Salem with her.

Sparrow knew she would have held him back, and that was just how it was. She was chained to the inn, to her tattoo shop, and to the ashes of her unborn children in the forest, she was too damaged for anyone. Orion and Killian proved that.

'I can't wait to show you, are you set on staying here, or do you want to hear there now?'

She had a little bit more paperwork to do, but it was nothing that her manager couldn't handle. They were always trying to get her out of the inn, insist on her spending time with friends or her brother. Sparrow rarely took their advise and just poured someone another shot.

'Unless I have to get you liquored up for you to come home with me.' She smirked, running her fingers over the short hairs on his neck.

Sparrow laughed when Jade insisted that they should have something to eat together. She was so used to having to squeeze in a lifetime of love and intimacy into an evening. He would have to remind her a few times that they had at least a week together. Might as well bask in it while she could. Once the new year set in she would have to be reminded about what life was like without him. The void in her chest and would fester without him would just grow larger and hurt more and more every day.

It was the worst and she would never be able to grow past it.

Not when she had to keep going on while pretending that their arrangement was fine. That everything they cared about each other was just superficial. That whatever she felt for him was probably just on her end. There were a few times when Jade would get drunk and tell her that he loved her. She wanted to believe that it was more than a platonic love, but once morning would hit and she would ask him, he would laugh it off. He would claim that it was just how two friends were. That he loved her like a best friend. Every time he would get drunk and exclaim his love, then laugh it off in the morning it broke more of her. The thought of loving her as more was comical, it seemed that the whole world was in on the joke except for her.

'Let's get a booth then.' She carefully slid off his lap, her feet touching the floor for the first time in the evening. Sparrow carefully took his hand and led him to the closest empty booth. They had a full kitchen and an excellent chef who would make anything that Jade could crave.

Sparrow slid into the booth and smiled at her friend, trying to shake the thoughts about how much she loved her best friend out of her head. He thought that loving her as more was a laughing matter and she couldn't be with anyone who would think of her as so comical. Not anymore.

Sparrow melted a little bit when he laced their fingers together. When he made her feel like there was something between them that could be absolutely perfect. Of course she wanted wanted to try, she always wanted to risk it all so she would be able to have something more with him. To have a life with her best friend as boyfriend and girlfriend, or even as husband and wife. Would it ever be possible to have that with anyone? She had been so sure that she would have it with Orion or Killian, but it never worked out. They loved her to just sleep with. They cared enough when she was on her knees for them. But nothing more.

Jade was a better man than both of them, but she was still terrified that he would see her in the same light as the others.

She slid across from him and smiled, she knew what she would want, and grinned thankfully when one of her waitresses brought them two beers. Her mind was racing with all of the wonderful things that they could do together in New York.
'We might have to spend some time with Fox on Christmas Day. If you don't mind at least.' She was still unsure how her brother got the nickname of Fox, but it worked out for them. Probably when Sparrow was much younger she couldn't from the word Faust, and Fox came out. Much to her twin's dismay, the name stuck.

'Other than that, he usually sticks to my parents on Christmas Eve.' Christmas Eve with her parents used to be the highlight of her year. Jade and his family would come over, there would be music and food all night. All of New York's upper east side would try to gain one of the coveted invitations. Sparrow, Jade and Booker would steal bottles of egg nog and get drunk of the roof of their building. Every year, Booker would pass out first and Sparrow and Jade would steal kisses from each other while trying to count the stars.