Disclaimer: The Mediator does not belong to me, I just like making the characters fall even deeper in love!
Rating: K
Summary: Suze/Jesse fluff. Sometimes the best gifts aren't the ones wrapped in pretty paper and waiting under the tree...
A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for checking out and reading my story. :) I really wanted to write something Christmassy and awesome, but my muse just wasn't co-operating with me. So I settled for writing something sappy in-stead. It could be better, but I wrote it in half hour and wanted to post it tonight. And also to let everyone know who reads my other on-going stories that I haven't forgotten about them, I promise I'll update them in the New Year. :) So I hope you like it and let me know what you think.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, to you all! Much love and hugs. :) xoxox
Somewhere to Belong
Jesse and I must have been the craziest couple in the world right then.
Ok, crazy may have been an over-statement, but I was definitely questioning our sanity myself. And I speak to the dead on a daily basis!
But there was no denying that our 'crazy' moment was also turning out to be one of the most incredible at the same time. It was Jesse's idea to drive out to the most remote far out place possible and just lay on a blanket beneath the stars for as long as we could both stand the cold temperature. I don't really remember how this came about; I just knew I didn't want to leave the safety of Jesse's arms or the spectacular show above me. I don't like the thought of being turned into a sap; but I know I've always had the power for it deep down inside me. I just needed the right man to bring it out in me.
Jesse most definitely is that man.
Sighing contentedly, I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders and snuggled up to Jesse who automatically held me closer than I already was. It felt like Heaven where I was laying. I didn't mind the small rocks digging into my thighs or the sounds of twigs cracking each time I moved. I didn't mind the fact the temperature was beyond cold so that we could see our breaths whisper and disappear off on the slight breeze into the dark, black night. The setting Jesse had chosen was remote, hopefully secret and somewhere I had instantly dubbed as 'ours' the moment I first set eyes on it.
I was starting to think something strange was going on when Jesse had driven off a track leading into some woods and parked the car under some shaded trees in the pitch black of night. He just asked me to trust him as he climbed out of the car with a flashlight and asked me to follow him. I don't question Jesse often; I have absolutely no reason to. But in my head I was wondering if he'd maybe had a bit too much eggnog before we'd come out and it'd gone to his head somehow. I tried to ignore the fact my heart was hammering in my chest a bit too fast and my feet kept tripping over anything and everything in my way. I've trekked to some places for ghosts in my time, but this was a new one on me following Jesse through the trees in the darkness.
I admit I was getting a little nervous.
Jesse must have picked up on it because he turned back to look at me with the flashlight enough for me to see him smile reassuringly at me with a squeeze of my hand. He didn't say anything, just kept on walking. It had seemed like we'd been walking for ages, swerving in and out and steadily climbing an incline. I tried to adjust to the darkness around me, but I was finding it difficult. I hadn't expected to be spending my Christmas Eve doing this though. I would have worn better footwear if I was going for a hike. But eventually we seemed to be getting to where Jesse was leading me, because he kept looking back at me and smiling with excitement.
I wanted to ask where and what we were doing, but I felt like I might break the moment or something, so I kept quiet.
Until I walked out into the clearing he was taking me to, that is.
"Wow," I breathed, slightly breathlessly from the walk. But it was more to do with the fact where I was standing, was incredible!
I let go of Jesse's hand and walked past him slowly as I looked around. I didn't know what to say or do, so I just looked. I was standing in a clearing that seemed to be an overlook of some sort. I didn't need to walk right up to the edge of the ledge to know there was going to be a good twenty foot drop to the ledge down below this one and God knows what beyond, so I stayed as far from it as possible. Massive thick logs had been rolled or somehow moved to the edge as some sort of barrier, not they would have stopped you from falling over the edge. But they were there as a warning none-the-less and I was heeding it.
But it was the trees around the clearing that caught my attention. They were massive! I don't have to study botanist to know they were ancient. They're trunks were so wide, I would have felt like a child trying to wrap my arms around them. I resisted the urge to try and just craned my neck back to try and see the tops of them. But that just made me see something else that took my breath away all over again and almost fall on my back. Jesse quickly steadied me as I blinked rapidly, trying to take the sight in. I looked back at Jesse in pure amazement, silently asking him if what I was seeing was real. I even pinched myself to be sure.
"Yes they are real, querida," Jesse whispered, his warm breath tickling my ear and hair as I stared back up at the sky.
The only other time I had ever seen so many stars was the night I had travelled back in time to 1850 and nearly fell off the porch of my house, because I was so blown away by the sheer brightness, expanse and beauty of the night sky above me. I didn't think it was possible to find a place that would offer that kind of sight again, even though I had secretly hoped there was one. It was what Jesse and I did so much when he was dead. Laid on the roof of my porch and looked at the stars, sometimes until I fell asleep, so relaxed by the peacefulness.
But Jesse had found that place again and he'd given it to me . . . for us.
While I was so awed by the stars, Jesse had laid a blanket down I hadn't realised he'd picked up from the car and sat down on it - patiently waiting for me to join him. I did instantly, letting him wrap another blanket around us both so we were covered, before laying back down, half of my body laying across his. One of the most comfortable spots on Earth, I've found. And it's all mine, until the end of time.
I don't know how long we had lain there, beneath the stars. I made a wish on every star that shot above us, entranced by it all. There's nothing like star-gazing to make you feel so small and insignificant, against something so massive and beautiful and never-ending. It made me appreciate my life and the people I have in it. Made me realize how lucky I am to have Jesse and Father D. That even though there was times when I hated my 'gift' I was dealt sometimes, that I wouldn't change it if I was honest. It brought me Jesse, the best thing to have ever happened to me. I might not have had the chance to be a normal child and teenager as I grew up, and had more responsibility than I wanted. But when it comes down to it, I have something so special with Jesse, so deep and un-comprehending, that it makes me one of the luckiest people on Earth.
Purely because I do have that.
Yes, I might have been cold and not quite able to feel my toes; and yes, we still had to hike back to the car and drive home. But the next day I got to wake up knowing I was given the best Christmas gift anyone has ever given me. A place to go to whenever I felt everything was getting too much, where there was something to show me and help me to put everything into perspective. And Jesse to share it with of course. I didn't need bottles of perfume and fancy jewellery. I've only ever wanted a place to belong and Jesse has given me that, everywhere I go when I'm with him.
More importantly, Jesse has given me the stars.
How many girls can say that?
"Merry Christmas, querida." Jesse whispered, his thumb rubbing my engagement ring absently while we spent the last part of our night, wishing on shooting stars . . .