A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first proper 'story', so be gentle! Please let me know what you think about this one. If you want me to continue it, then review, review, review! Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Love Alanna
xx

6 MONTHS LATER

"Susannah." Jesse's deep voice called to me, softly. His eyes gazed into mine, and I felt my body go weak. I leant against him, and he grinned. "Jesse, I-" I didn't get to finish, however, as he cupped my face in his hands and gently kissed me on the lips. I kissed him back and wrapped my arms around him. Then all of a sudden, an iron grip seized the back of my t-shirt and pulled me away. I looked around for my attacker: Paul. I was filled with hatred. "What are you doing here?" I snarled. He just smiled. "Suze, Suze, Suze. You'll never get it, will you?" His smile turned into a look of impatience, frustration. "You and Jesse are not meant to be together. He is a ghost, you are a live human being. The two do not mix."

"And how, Slater, do you know that?" Jesse sounded as if he was close to losing his cool.

"I just know," was all he had to say. "And anyway, if my competition is eliminated, then she has no choice, do you Suze?" With an evil grin at me, he grabbed Jesse and shoved him through the closest door in that endless corridor. All I could do was stare in shock. The person I loved with all my heart, and had loved me back, was gone. Forever.

I woke with a start, and found that I was shaking and sweating. I went to the bathroom and rinsed my face with cold water. I could see, even by the dim moonlight streaming into my room, that my pale skin was even paler than usual. I wondered if I should call Jesse, although I don't think he would appreciate being woken up at four in the morning because of a scary dream. Also, it was a lot harder now that he was alive as I could not think of him and he would instantly materialize in front of me. I eventually went back to bed, but spent the rest of the night tossing and turning.

That morning, I dressed carefully, knowing that I would be meeting Jesse for breakfast at his new apartment. I chose a pair of Bettina Liano jeans, a printed white tee and a grey trench coat. I also wore my new Prada heels, purchased at 70 off, thanks to e-Bay. After glancing in the mirror and deciding I looked passable, I drove (that's right, drove) to Jesse's apartment block and parked outside.

I arrived at the third floor, 12B, and knocked. The door opened, and there stood Jesse. I was so relieved to see him that I nearly knocked him over with the force of my hug. "Queirda." He greeted me, kissing the top of my head. "I'm so glad to see you, Jesse. You see, last night I woke up really early, like four or something, cos I had the worst dream. You and me and Paul were in it and he-" Jesse grinned. I was babbling. Again.

"Why don't you come in, querida? I see you have a lot on your mind."

"Okay," was all I could manage.

I was met by an amazing smell. "It's not quite ready yet," he said, "so why don't you tell me what it was you were saying before?" I nodded and we walked over to the couch. "Slowly, this time." He reminded me with a grin.

"Well, I had this dream last night, and we – that is, you and me – were in that weird spiritual place, you know the one with lots of doors? We were, um, well, we were kissing, and then Paul comes and pulls me away from you and then shoves you through one of those doors and then you disappear. Leave. Gone, forever." This explanation is met by a slightly confused look on Jesse's part. "Susannah, you told me you had stopped dreaming of that place."

"I had!" I whined. "But all of a sudden, BAM! Out of nowhere! I have a really bad feeling about this, Jesse. Something is not right here. I mean, I know Paul's not quite normal in the head, but….. I just have a bad feeling about this." Jesse smiled, but it was devoid of humour. "Susannah, we have been through this before. Paul Slater is pure evil and there is nothing we can do to fix it." Suddenly, he frowned. "I thought everything was okay between you and Paul?" The frown deepened. "Did he…..do anything to you, Susannah?"

"No, he -" I started to reply, but got cut off by the shrill beeping of my mobile phone. "Hold that thought." I said. I retrieved my phone from my Kate Spade handbag and flicked it open. "Susannah Simon," I said professionally. Jesse, sweet thing he is, left the room to give me some privacy. "Suze, oh my god, Susie… are you okay?" I could hear the alarm in my mother's voice and had a sense of foreboding. "Mum, calm down. I'm fine. What's wrong?" My mother's sigh of relief was followed by a murmur of, "Oh, thank god, she's okay. She's okay!" I hear her talk to someone on the other end of the phone. I also heard sobbing and grew more and more alarmed. "Mum! MUM!" I yelled. Jesse looked at me with alarm. "MUM ARE YOU HEARING ME?!"

"Oh, sorry sweetheart. I'm sorry, but….something terrible has happened." She broke off with a sob.

"Mum, you're scaring me. Please, tell me what's wrong." My hands were shaking slightly, and trust me, I don't scare easily. There was something in my mum's voice that was haunting me. A kind of….helplessness.

"David was involved in an accident." She finally managed to say. My breath caught in my throat. "How….how serious is it?" I asked, afraid of the answer. There was a pause on my mum's end of the phone. "M-mum?" I stammered.

"It was fatal," she whispered. My blood froze. "You mean-"

"Yes!" She said hysterically. "He's….dead!" I dropped the phone. Realising this, I bent to pick it up and saw how heavily my hands were shaking. "Mum, where are you?"

"A-at the Carmel Hospital."

"I'll be right there." I snapped the phone shut, thrust it quickly in my bag and collapsed on the couch. Jesse had, at some point, walked over to me and was standing next to me. "Querida? Is everything alright?" I found I could not answer, just made a strange rasping noise. "What happened? Was that your mother? What did she tell you?" The concern in his voice was evident. My legs started shaking violently. I grabbed Jesse's arm for support. "I have to go," I said firmly. "My brother…." I trailed off. Jesse's grip tightened and he suddenly got professional. "Where? Where is he?"

"At the Carmel Hospital," I said. I turned to go, and found Jesse close behind me. "I'm driving," he said. Thoughts were running through my head. I stared blankly out the window. "Querida?" He said gently. I turned to look at him and realised that he was holding the door for me. The car was stopped, and we were already at the hospital. I quickly undid my seatbelt and got out. "Jesse-" I began. I couldn't speak. The words were trapped in my throat. Jesse gently took my hand and stroked it with that calloused thumb of his. "It's okay, querida. Everything will be okay." I guess it was the tenderness of the moment, because I felt my eyes welling. It blurted out before I could stop it. "Doc was in an accident." He didn't look surprised. I tried again to explain. "It was fatal. He…. he died!" I sucked in some air. I was feeling a bit dizzy. Now he looked surprised. "David is dead?" he inquired.

"Yes!" I said impatiently. "Quick, we have to go." I started running towards to entrance. "David Ackerman?" I asked the receptionist urgently. She gave me a sad look. "Red hair, glasses?" I nodded. "First door to the left on the eighth floor." I nodded again and took off, vaguely aware of Jesse's echoing footsteps. It was not until I was trapped in a confined elevator that I realised how fidgety I was. I tapped my foot until Jesse came over and took my hands in his. "Relax," he commanded and looked me in the eye. It calmed me immediately. I didn't quite know why I wanted to get there so quickly. It wasn't like I could talk to him one last time before he died. There was no more time for that. The lift door opened and I walked out. I made my way to the left and saw my mother standing outside a closed door, her head in her hands. I barged past and opened it. Her head snapped up. "No, Susie!" I ignored her and went in the room. She grabbed my arm at the same time I gasped. She pulled me back but it was too late. I had seen. David was lying on a hospital bed, his face whiter than the sheet he was lying on. He looked the same as usual except for one thing; his head was separate from his body. I couldn't look away. My feet were super glued to the bleached hospital floor. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I jumped. There was no need to look; I knew it would be Jesse. All of a sudden I felt trapped. The corridor was endless, but I felt like I couldn't escape. So I ran.

The sand in my toes was irritating. I was vaguely aware of this, and other facts, such as the deafening waves and salty aroma. The main thing on my mind was my poor brother. Step-brother, actually. Doc. I loved that kid. No longer will he interrogate me on my mother's orders, or conduct experiments, or give me lectures……. The tears came out of the blue. I had been sitting on the beach for three or four hours. My cell kept ringing, but I ignored it. I ran so fast that even Jesse had lost me. He will be so worried. I had better go back. These thoughts were distant, but quickly became more prominent when I heard a siren. 'Surely my mum wouldn't send the cops for me?' I thought to myself. 'Actually, she has before.' I slowly started to rise and began the slow walk home.

I knocked twice. The door was immediately flung open and a hopeful-looking Jesse appeared. "Susannah," he murmured, an intense look of relief sweeping across his face. "She's here!" he yelled into the room behind him. I wondered who was there. However, my thoughts were interrupted when he pulled me into a hug. "I don't suppose you stopped to think about how worried we'd be, did you?" He sighed heavily. He appeared to be quite angry.

"Sorry." I managed to choke out. His face softened immediately, and he kissed me gently on the forehead. "I'm sorry for your loss, Querida." My mum came over to us.

"Susie!" she cried. Jesse reluctantly let go of me and my mum hugged me extremely tightly. Her phone rang just as my ribs were about to shatter. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Hello?" she looked annoyed at the interruption. "Where are you, Brad?"

"I'll be there soon. Bye." She hung up the phone. "Will you be okay here, Susie?" I nodded. She looked unsure. "I'll be fine," I said.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll take good care of her," Jesse said, smiling warmly at my mother. "Well, if you're sure-" she trailed off.

"Mum, I practically live here."

"Well, okay." She hugged me one last time, and finally left. I sat on the couch. "Querida, would you like a drink? Something to eat, perhaps?"

"Sure, thanks." I smiled at him. It was only a small one, but still a smile. He smiled back, obviously relieved. I got up and went to help him. "Hey, can I stay tonight? I don't really want to go back home tonight." I hugged him, for good measure.

"Of course."

"Thanks." Jesse put some of the breakfast he had so lovingly prepared for me into the microwave and poured us both some hot coffee. We took our drinks back to the coffee table and turned the TV on. I sipped it, enjoyed the warmth it spread throughout me. I put the mug down and curled up against Jesse's shoulder. "Jesse?" I asked, tentatively.

"Yes, Querida?"

"Thanks."

"For what?" he sounded confused.

"For everything, I guess. For taking me to the hospital, for making me a drink, letting me stay here….. You never ask me for anything, but I always ask you for everything." Oh great, I could feel the tears coming on. "I'm really sorry I ran off today. I shouldn't have done it, I was just-"

"Querida," he cut me off. "Don't worry about it." I opened my mouth to say something, but he kissed me forehead. I felt adoration for Jesse run through me. I kissed him on the lips. Electricity ran through me and I pressed myself closer, linking my arms around his neck. I eventually came up for air, panting. "Jesse, I've been meaning to tell you something…." He looked at me and held my hands tenderly. I was nervous, because I had never said it before. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He stroked my hand, and I felt a rush of courage. "I love you." He looked at me with more emotion than I could ever have imaged. "I love you, too." I had not expected that. "You do? Really?" he grinned at me.

"Of course I do." I smiled at him and kissed him gently on the lips. "More than you could possibly imagine." The kiss deepened, and I gently pushed him back onto the couch; transferring most of my body weight onto him. I felt my heart rate quicken as his hands stroked my sides. I moaned softly in pleasure. Jesse pulled away and started kissing my collarbone and neck; something he knew I loved. My own hands were doing some roaming of their own. I stroked the front of Jesse's pants, and the sound that he made nearly made me have an orgasm right then and there. Unfortunately, however, the microwave started beeping and Jesse rolled off me to stop the incessant noise. I was disappointed, as usual, by the fact that I had to stop kissing Jesse just as it was getting hot. This thought was quickly overshadow by a sharp stab of grief, which made me gasp in pain. I clutched my chest, but the pain disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Jesse, with his perceptive sight and hearing, came over, noticing something was not quite. "Susannah?" He asked worriedly, sitting beside me on the couch. I looked up at him sadly. "Jesse –" My voice caught on a sob, and suddenly I was blabbering. "I feel so guilty, Jesse! Just before I was thinking about how hot I was for you and then you got off me and I was disappointed like usual and I shouldn't be thinking about kissing you, I should be mourning the d-d-death," my voice was becoming less and less confident, "of my brother; I mean, step-b-brother," I trailed off, finally breaking down in Jesse's arms, my tears soaking through his shirt. He rocked me back and forth, murmuring Spanish into my hair, his arms holding me with love and care while I grieved for my sweet, red-haired younger brother.