former challenges - Jarod/Zoe and seasons. odd similarities with the new Dr Who are a product of my warped mind. I swear I didn't use the word 'companions' though.

In the summer he returned for her.

“You said something about a holiday,” he said with a cheeky grin.

For six months he’d been gone; just gone. Six months he wouldn’t speak of, and suddenly he expected her to run off with him?

She opened her mouth to tell him off, or maybe just to get some answers about where he had been and why she had been kidnapped, but he was grinning so disarmingly... Wearing his heart on his sleeve, as her mum would have said.

She smiled back. Answers would come eventually. “Where did you have in mind?”

They took her car and he even let her drive.

In the back was his duffle bag and hers and his silver case. It was all they were taking and the knowledge sang in Zoë’s veins. This was freedom – just her, Jarod, and an open road. They didn’t need ridiculous things like home to make them feel alive.

He still wouldn’t speak of where he’d been, other than a brief “somewhere near Scotland.” It piqued her curiosity but she could wait.

“So… do this often? I mean save a girl from a bad guy and then whisk them away from their lives?”

Jarod laughed. “No,” he said, and stared off into the distance. He was quiet for a while – pensive. “I don’t usually come back.”

Jarod, Zoë realised, didn’t know how not to be a good guy.

In a town they stayed overnight he ended up threatening to dissect a teacher who’d been abusing his students. Watching as Jarod put on glasses and whipped up false papers on his computer was incredible. Even better was doing some ‘pretending’ herself.

No wonder he never took holidays.

As they left the man tied up in his science class Jarod spun her around happily and kissed her. “You can’t save everyone,” he said with a grin. “But you can save some.”

She was so glad he’d saved her.

Eventually, as happens, summer turned into autumn. If only metaphorically.

Their bedroom door was kicked open early one morning while Jarod and Zoë were in bed. The woman who entered was about their age, dark haired, and had a gun.

“Hello, Jarod,” the woman said.

“Hello, Miss Parker,” Jarod returned.

“Who’s the bimbo?”

Jarod’s jaw tightened. “This is Zoë. Leave her out of it.”

Miss Parker looked familiar. Just slightly. Zoë remembered the last time she’d been held at gun point…

“You’re not by any chance related to Mr Lyle, are you?” Zoë asked.

Miss Parker looked shocked and slightly horrified. Jarod laughed, and then, taking hold of her momentary distraction, threw a lamp at her.

“’m unna ill ou arod!” Miss Parker managed to splutter through her gag, making Jarod smile briefly.

Zoë wasn’t smiling. “You have to leave, don’t you?”

Jarod nodded. “I’m not sure how she found me but others can’t be far behind.”

“We could keep going… I could come with you…”

He sighed. “I wish I…” she shushed him with a kiss.

Eventually he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers.

“I’ll miss you,” Zoë said quietly.

He nodded. “Just remember: you were the only one I came back for.”

And after another kiss he was gone. Summer was finally over.