Inevitable outtake -- Falling From Grace (Jason POV)

[mhalachai]

Falling From Grace
An Inevitable missing scene

Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. JK Rowling owns all things Harry Potter. Inevitable is mine, however.
Rating: PG
Note: A missing scene for my awesome readers. Takes place during chapter 64, just after Anita took off from Jason's room, and before Nathaniel goes to see her. As per the winner in the poll, this one is in Jason's POV
Spoilers: Spoilers for Inevitable up to chapter 64. Is that really a spoiler? Maybe.

~~~~~

Nathaniel's shoulders stiffened, then slowly he turned around, arms crossed over his chest. "No, nothing's wrong," he said flippantly, tossing his head to get his hair out of his eyes. The stare he was giving me was cold, unlike anything I'd ever seen from him before. "Nothing at all."

Anita, Chapter 64 of Inevitable

~~~~~

Jason pushed his door shut and whirled on Nathaniel. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "She was just--"

Nathaniel shook his head, then, to Jason's surprise, dropped to a crouch and curled his arms around his legs. Distress radiated from the young wereleopard.

Swearing under his breath, Jason went down to his knees beside his friend. "What's going on?" he asked, putting one hand on Nathaniel's back. "Anita wanted to see how you were, if she could help. You know she's like that. She's really worried."

Nathaniel shook his head against his knees.

Jason restrained the urge to start shouting. The only thing shouting at Nathaniel ever got him was accusing looks from the other pard members and a smack-down from Anita. "Why do you keep pushing her away?"

Slowly, Nathaniel uncurled and crawled over to the bed. Jason watched as he sat on the bed and put his elbows on his knees, an oddly graceless move. Nathaniel's shortened hair swung in front of his eyes. Stephen had trimmed the ends of his hair, to make it look less horrible, but it was still so strange to see Nathaniel without his cape of auburn hair, almost like he was unfinished.

Jason sat beside Nathaniel, wrapping his arm around Nathaniel's shoulders. "Do you want any help reworking your sets at the club?" Jason offered.

Nathaniel turned his head. "What?"

"Most of your sets used your hair as a prop," Jason said, voice faltering as Nathaniel stared at him. "If you want some help, you know..."

"You don't have to do that," Nathaniel muttered, dropping his head.

Helpless, Jason sat there, wishing he knew what do to. He hated seeing his friend in such distress. And why was he pushing Anita away? Anyone could see that Anita was incredibly worried about Nathaniel. Not for the first time, Jason wondered what it would be like to have a woman love him like Anita loved Nathaniel. He'd give almost anything to find a woman like that.

A prickling power trickled into the room, like a million tiny ants walking over Jason's skin. He shot to his feet and tried to shake the sensation off, but the power only grew.

Moments later, the door crashed open and Jean-Claude stalked into the room. Powerful anger oozed off him. Jean-Claude stopped in front of Nathaniel, glaring down at the young wereleopard. Nathaniel curled over, trying to make himself as small as possible in the face of such anger.

"For years, I chased ma petite," Jean-Claude said, his voice harsh as a freezing lash. "For years, I sought her love, sought to be anything she needed me to be, if only she would love me in return. Now she does."

The vampire grabbed a handful of Nathaniel's hair, pulling the wereleopard's head back, exposing his neck. Nathaniel seemed frozen.

"When I see her in pain, I seek to end that pain." Jean-Claude roughly let go of Nathaniel. "You spent years worming your way into her life, making her love you, making her desire to protect you. You succeed perfectly. She now loves you with more emotion than reason. And you reject that!"

"You don't..." Nathaniel tried to say, but his voice failed him.

"She lies alone, in my bed," Jean-Claude went on. "Every time you have rejected her this week is not different than if you were to raise your hand to her in violence." The vampire went to the door, but stopped before leaving. "I do know her, and I know this: If you keep pushing her away, one day she will stop coming to you. You will have destroyed the love she has for you, and it will be no one's fault but your own."

"No, it won't!" Nathaniel exclaimed, his eyes wild. "She won't!"

Jean-Claude gripped the edge of the door so hard that the wood creaked. "I love her more than anything else in this world. If you drive her away, the guilt and the pain will kill a small part of her, and I will not allow that to happen." He glanced over his shoulder at Nathaniel. "She is in my room."

The vampire vanished.

Nathaniel gripped the side of the bed, shaking. Jason edged over. "She wouldn't... hate me, would she?" Nathaniel whispered.

In a tiny, private portion of his mind, Jason cursed Jean-Claude for his intervention. Yes, Nathaniel and Anita needed to work things out, but terrifying Nathaniel like this wasn't helping anyone. "I think that Anita loves you and wants to help," Jason said carefully.

"But you don't understand!" Nathaniel exclaimed. "Once she starts thinking about what happened, she's going to make me leave and I can't--" His voice broke. "I can't live without her. I can't sit there and have her tell me to get out of her life."

"She's not going to make you leave!" Jason said quickly. "What are you talking about?"

Nathaniel shook his head.

Jason wanted to scream. "Go talk to Anita, she'll tell you that you're crazy!"

"If I talk to her, she's going to realize that I'm right." Nathaniel rubbed his thumb over the back of his hand, the one that Jason heard had been cut off by that psychopath.

"No, if you talk to her, she'll set you straight!" Jason put his arm around Nathaniel and bodily hauled him up into a standing position. "Anita's not like any woman I've ever met. Once she loves someone, that's for always. She'll do anything to make it work. Just go talk to her!"

Nathaniel didn't move. "If she kicks me out, I'll have nowhere to go."

"You can come back here," Jason said quickly. "But she's not going to kick you out. I promise."

Still, Nathaniel stayed frozen. Jason knew better than to push. He stayed with Nathaniel for several very long minutes, his arm around the wereleopard, feeling his vibrating hesitation.

Finally, Nathaniel took a step toward the door, then another. He stopped, and looked over his shoulder at Jason. Jason tried to smile encouragingly. "Have faith in Anita," he said. "She loves you ."

Nathaniel squared his shoulders. "She should be smarter than that," he muttered before he walked out the door.

Jason was left alone in his room, wondering what the hell Nathaniel meant.

--fin

Comments

[oportunemoments.livejournal.com]

... ::beams:: I like it.

:D

[spoonfuloftears.livejournal.com]

Woho! Go Jean-Claude

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

Nathaniel without his cape of auburn hair, almost like he was unfinished. My favorite line.

I liked this a lot. I think it clears up a lot of the confusion that Nathaniel's actions had on Anita. I realize that we now understand those actions but this is a different kind of intimate conversation. Jean-Claude's anger was interesting. Very palpable. It strikes me how willing he is to believe that Anita has an endless capacity for love, that he doesn't have to be the only one. Not if it means hurting her.

Great out-take. Thanks!

[sorceress-death.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, I like it. I love it when we get stories from Jason's POV. He's so silly most of the time, but it's his own mask. I love that blonde, it's a shame he's so short. ^^

[shopteacher-guy.livejournal.com]

wow, Jason can be all grown up when he has to..

I like that, makes him a deeper character, not just comic relief

way to go!

[morgie.livejournal.com]

Typo first!

"I lover her more than anything else in this world. If you drive her away, the guilt and the pain will kill a small part of her, and I will not allow that to happen."

That being said... damnit, Jason is like everyone's shoulder to lean against. Depend on him to lighten the atmosphere, break tension, point out the facts...

[susie-tx.livejournal.com]

Wow! It's like watching the deleted scenes on a DVD. Wonderful!! This wasn't in the chapter you posted on PDS was it?

Susie aka luv-micah

[uforeah.livejournal.com]

That was perfect.

Will we find out what Nate meant by that last comment? I hope so.

Jean-Claude, I could so see him acting like when it comes to Anita. So protective when she isn't there to stop him. Wonderful.

I can't wait for more.

[firefox1490.livejournal.com]

*Sniff* Poor 'thananiel. He's so sad I just want to hug him sometimes. Why is he so sad? I mean yeah I know why but why does he think 'nita would kick him out?

[penyn-1600.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I loved that Jean Claude gave Nathaniel that kick in the pants.

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

Good for Jean-Claude!

[alydhe.livejournal.com]

Excellent! You are giving me a real fondness for Jason, ya know?

BTW, are you ever going to update Magnolia? I hate to be so greedy but I'm dying to know what vampires want with weed. ^_~

[ansku]

Awww, Nathaniel is so adorable even when he's being irrational :)

[thekams.livejournal.com]

I love Jason, I really do. If no one else wanta him, I'll take him. Heh

He can really be mature when he needs to be, and he does so much for Anita and her little family than I think anyone realizes. Jason needs some lovin'; almost everyone around him are with Anita...Oh! Maybe you can shove him in with Harry/Luna/Ginny! that would be awesome, LoL.

Jean-Claude's anger was perfect, I had been wondering what got Nathaniel to go see Anita, since really, he probably wouldn't have gone on his own, and even though Jason's all mature and what not, I don't think he would have pushed Nathaniel to go. I just love see JC's love for Anita come through...and Nathaniel's. This was great, I love the outtakes you write...they help flesh out the story. ♥

[cissasghost.livejournal.com]

I realize he was not the focus of this piece, but I still love and adore your Jean-Claude. And I've been a bad little fangirl lately and haven't been reviewing everything you post .. I hope it'll suffice to say it's all been awesome as usual, there's just been so danged MUCH of it so rapidly I've run out of ways to phrase "damn, that rocked". But damn, it all rocks. Keep it up. ;)

Inevitable!!

[whatseeds.livejournal.com]

Hi there! I just stumbled my way onto your fic (i.e. I read Black Magic by Moonlight, and just absolutely had to find more HP/AB x-over fic, so I went on a quest!) Boy am I glad I found you - Inevitable is my all-time favorite fic now, and I pretty much stopped eating, sleeping, speaking, etc. for the two days it took me to read through it to the current chapter. :) I can't get enough of your characters - especially your Harry - he's just the right mix of tough-hero, insecure boy-transitioning-to-manhood. He's compassionate, quick-tempered, etc. It's hard to find fic where he's so well-crafted. I also love how believable you made the blending of the two universes. Before Black Magic and then Inevitable, I had never read a crossover past the first chapter or so - the ones I stumbled onto on fanfiction dot net were cliched and of the 'let's drop harry into the LOTR quest!' variety. You opened my eyes to how awesome a crossover can be (cuz isn't it just satisfying to see harry finding a home with people who don't have so many preconcieved notions about him??), and if you know of any other well-done ones, I'd love to hear your recommendations.

Back to Inevitable, it's also amazing how well you have managed to mature harry a bit, and work him back into the hogwarts world. I love how you kept Ron true to form (prejudiced to start, not particularly considerate of harry's or others' feelings), and used him to show harry's struggles re-integrating himself in his old life... but you kept Ron loyal to Harry, and kept the trio's friendship strong, which was an important balance to create. Wow, there are really about a million more things I'd like to add here - little details that make your fic so awesome, but I think you're going to smack me if I keep up my rambling praises much longer, so I'll stop for now! :)

Oh, here's a question. I read the story over at that archive, and then just now found your livejournal with these outtakes. I remember Richard telling Dumbledore about new shifters possibly injuring their partners during sex, and Richard said he'd 'have the talk with harry before he goes to England'. That talk sounds like it would have been quite amusing to read (poor little prudish harry!), and so I was wondering if you had done an outtake of it, since I don't think it took place in the main storyline. Or maybe Richard never got around to it, and this will be a plot point later on, if Harry's relationship with Ginny (hehe, or Ginny and Luna together!) progresses? I haven't read the Anita books, so perhaps the talk was never needed, since Harry didn't actually shift? Since the beast is a part of him, would it make him more aggressively sexual - or at least just a bit harder to control himself - even if he isn't a true werewolf? Or would Richard have warned him that it might be a possibility?

Anyway, I can't wait for more of the story! I'm looking forward to learning more about the attack on Reece (perhaps I'll speculate a bit about this in another review... you sure have me curious), and I'm really really looking forward to Harry going back to St. Louis for Xmas!! :)

[jaydeyn-sitari.livejournal.com]

I feel all, repetetive and... incredibly redundant. (Yeah, I know :)

That was really powerful and perfect for Jason. Poor guy being caught in the middle there. And JC can be a tad scary, can't he?

How do I say I love this without repeating myself ad nauseum? Isn't happening? oh well... I love it! :)

:)
Jaydeyn