This may seem a strange fit for the Innocence Challenge, but what I love about J.Q. is that no matter how bad things get, how dirty his hands are or what kind of debauchery he's engaging in, there's a spark of hope in him, an idealism that no one, not even his mother, has ever been able to quench.  Of all my characters, he might have the purest heart, in that his love is automatically extended to anyone as long as they don't give him reason to feel otherwise. He's trusting and loving when he has no reason to be, and although his tactical training and life experience gives him the street smarts he needs to survive, he's not jaded.  Not yet.  I think this story illustrates that somehow.