Title: Stronger Than Fear
Author: Kimmy* (Jay's Baby Kitty)
Feedback/E-mail: babykittykimmy13@yahoo.com 
Summary/Pairing: 
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this...Kevin
Smith, Miramax, other various godlike entities
own all rights. As an interesting side note,
Kevin Smith also has my soul. *smile*
Distribution: Ask me first if you wanna.
Archive: Go ahead. *smile* However...mention it
to me beforehand, please.
Author's Note: sorry this took so long! hope
you like.

Jay continued dialing every number he had found. 
Many responded the same way as the first
airheaded girl, some numbers had been
disconnected, hell, some people said they didn't
know who the hell Silent Bob was. Considering
some of the company he and Bob had kept, however,
Jay wasn't too surprised by this. He was getting
more frustrated after every failed effort; every
person got a little more of Jay's colorful
insults and general rudeness. Jay wasn't ready
to give up, however...not by a long shot. He'd
walk all over Jersey yelling Bob's name down
every street until he found him if he had to. 
Bob's leaving had awakened Jay to a lot of
things...particularly to how singlemindedly
devoted he could be to a person that he truly
loved. So Jay looked down at the book, found the
next number, and dialed quickly.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hi. Is Silent Bob there?" Jay had figured
out that it was easier to say Silent Bob the
first time than to waste time answering the
question "Bob who?".

"Yeah, hold on..." Jay's pulse raced. Yes? He
had dialed the right place? Bob was about to
talk to him?

"Hello?" Bob. This was Bob. Bob was on the
phone, waiting for Jay to speak. And for the
second time in the recent past, Jay couldn't
think of a single word to say...

"Uh...um..." Jay couldn't think. At all. He
heard Bob's breathing over the phone, was
panicked by the thought that he would certainly
be hanging up in a matter of seconds, and let out
a small yelp before hanging up the phone.

"WHAT THE *FUCK* DID I JUST DO?!?!?!" Jay
screamed at the empty apartment. He could almost
hear his words echoing through the quiet.

He had just had his chance to talk to Bob, to try
and get things right again, and he couldn't think
of one fucking word to say? If God existed, he
was laughing at him somewhere, Jay just fucking
knew it. Hell, if it wasn't his own stupidity,
Jay'd be laughing too. As it stood, he was
closer to crying than anything else. God, he was
such a fucking idiot.

'Okay, Jay...gotta get this right. He's still
there, just get your shit together and call
back.'

"Well, he's gotta know it was me, he'll call
back, right?" Jay said this out loud, and in
listening to his own words, realized that now
wasn't the time to wait on what Bob may or may
not do. Especially since he knew that if Bob had
been pissed enough to leave in the first place,
than he was definitely pissed enough to pretend
he didn't know or care that Jay had called. Fuck
being tough and shit...some things were just more
important than that. And Bob was most definitely
one of them.

Jay picked up the phone again, pressed redial,
and waited. It rang a few more times than
before, then he heard the sound of the phone
being picked up.

"Hello?" Okay, this was Bob...no waiting around,
Jay. Talk.

"Hey Lunchbox...it's me, Jay."

"Oh. Hi, Jay." This was a good sign...hadn't
been hung up on yet.

"Sorry about before, yanno, when I called a
minute ago. I kinda...couldn't think of what I
wanted to say."

Bob said nothing, just seemed to be waiting on
what Jay had come up with this time.

"But now I kinda got myself together a little
better, and I got some stuff I gotta tell ya."

Bob just kept waiting as Jay thought out what
exactly he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry." 

Whoa, first big thing right off the bat. Bob was
shocked...he figured he'd have to listen to Jay
try and weasel his way of having to say it for a
while. Bob still didn't say a word.

"I'm sorry about being an asshole that day...and
a whole lotta other days. I'm sorry I didn't
just let you say it...I was fuckin scared, yanno,
and I didn't wanna think about that shit. But
when I read that note you left, I couldn't help
but start to figure everything out."

Bob waited. He was settling for nothing less
than the biggest thing Jay could admit to him. 
If he couldn't bring himself to say it...well Bob
didn't know what he'd do, but he certainly
wouldn't go running back to Jay. Much as he
loved Jay, and it'd kill him to leave forever, he
had to hear the words. It would be the final
proof that Jay was ready for whatever they could
have together.

"I need ya around, Lunchbox. Even though you
haven't been gone that long, it doesn't feel
right here. I miss you. And...geez, I don't
even know how to say this...never thought I'd
have to..."

Bob listened more attentively, wondering what Jay
was going to say next.

"It's like this. I never even let myself believe
that it was possible before, but with all this,
I've realized something..." Jay paused for a
minute, making sure he'd say the right thing. He
found that there was really only one thing to
say. "I love you."

Bob finally spoke. "Jay...are you sure?" He
didn't want to ask, but he couldn't be sure that
Jay really knew what those words meant to him.

"Yeah...I really am. There's never been anybody
who cares about me like you do, and you put up
with all my shit forever, and you're like,
everything I needed and didn't even know it. I
love you, Bob."

"Jay...I love you too. I'm not too far from
home, I'll be there in a couple hours."

"Kay, Lunchbox...see you then."

"Bye."

Jay hung up the phone and let out a sigh of
relief. Then he thought about what all this
meant, and what he had just said, and how he knew
that it was the truest thing he had ever said. 
And Bob was coming home. And he loved him. And
Jay nearly cried, because he knew he'd never been
quite so happy before. He had finally really
gotten something right. With all Jay's walls
broken down, nothing was stronger than love
anymore.

THE END!