Disclaimer: See first chapter for disclaimer.

Rating: T

A/N: Okay, so here's the next part. I hope you enjoy it. And thanks for all the reviews and favourites. Totally blew me away with your reactions. You're all awesome! Hope you like this one as much as you did the first. :D

Recap: Suze is on a one-woman mission to go down to the Mission Academy and have a lil one-on-one girly chat with Heather. Jesse turns up, attempting to change Suze's mind...

Chapter Two...

I had been keeping my eye on Susannah ever since I left her room two days before. I didn't go far, sometimes I sat at the beach and watched the waves, and sometimes I would go sit at the mission in the church and reflect. But I didn't go far after that day I first met Susannah. The day that turned everything around for me and made the after-life, look that much brighter all of a sudden.

Susannah. She really is a mystery to me. And not just because she was able to speak with the deceased and touch their bodies, that aren't really there. But something else I was no closer to understanding than I was two days previous. I still couldn't put my finger on it, other than it was something deeper.

But I kept my eye on her non-the-less. Mostly because of the very angry spirit currently occupying her school grounds, I had been sensing for a few weeks. Heather I believed her name was. I could feel her fury coming off her in waves. Specifically targeted at a certain boy, her attention wouldn't waver from. And she didn't leave it to long before she made her first move towards him.

Targeting a piece of rafter in the breezeway of the school, she had concentrated her power towards it, causing it to accidently fall on the boys head. And that was when Susannah jumped in and involved herself.

She had run at him with speed I didn't think I had ever witnessed a girl reach before, managing to knock the boy out of the way in time of not being crushed by the large wooden block. Sending both of them sprawling across the breezeway with little bits of dust and wood floating and settling around them.

Neither appeared to be hurt by the attempt on the boy's life, which left Heather very unimpressed Susannah had foiled her plan. The same girl, who just that morning on given a rude introduction to Susannah, received a swift punch to the face by said Mediator herself. It was interesting skills she had, that neither I nor the Priest also with Susannah's ability, condoned.

She was going to be trouble. That much was obvious for me to see.

I assumed Susannah had been going about her task of interacting with lost spirits for quite some time. On her own more to the point. Especially considering how surprised Susannah was at finding out the Priest was a mediator too. Not to mention her method of dealing with the vengeful spirit, Heather.

Unfortunately I didn't believe Susannah realized just how dangerous Heather was, or how it was going to get for all people involved.

I knew Susannah had every intention of going out to the school to see Heather on her own. I heard her speaking with Father Dominic about it in his office, the very same afternoon. So I kept a look out for her. Guessing she would wait until much later in the night when the rest of the family would be asleep and all would be quiet at the Mission.

And I made my own appearance known.

I materialised behind Susannah in her room, casually leaning myself up against one of her bed posts. I found her looking at herself in her dressing mirror, primping. She jumped and yelped when her eyes flickered to the glowing shimmer reflected in the mirror where I was leaning, waiting for her to notice.

"Jeez," she cried out, spinning around and looking at me with an expression of angry surprise marring her shadowed face. "Why are you still hanging around? I thought I told you to get lost." She questioned.

I wasn't really surprised by her hostility. It was the first time I had shown myself to her since our first life changing encounter days before, but seemed like a lifetime now. I gave a quick gaze to what she was dressed in. A black hooded zip-up jacket and dark trousers, all the way down to the black boots on her feet. The hood was up on her jacket, covering her long brown hair. "It's a little late to be going out, don't you think, Susannah?" I asked conversationally, returning my eyes to hers. Pretending I didn't already know where she was going at such a late hour.

"Uh," she replied, sliding the hood of her jacket down to reveal her hair pulled and tied back. "Look, no offense, Jesse, but this is my room. How about you try getting out of it? And my business, too, please?"

I stayed exactly where I was leaning. It was going to take a lot more than that to get rid of me a second time around. Not when I knew she was walking into danger and violence so readily. So I pulled a different tact with her. Hoping maybe the use of her mother and the threat of her not liking what her daughter was up to, would shake her up a bit. I knew my mother would be extremely worried and upset, if she found one of my sisters was missing and not where she thought they were to be.

"Your mother won't like you going out so late at night." I said, hoping it would work.

Susannah instead, glared back up at me. "My mother. What would you know about my mother?" she asked.

The infliction in her tone didn't bother me one bit. "I like your mother very much," I calmly replied. "She is a good woman. You are very lucky to have a mother who loves you so very much. It would upset her, I think, to see you putting your-self in the path of danger."

I tried to reason with Susannah, but I was met with steely determination yet again. I could be just as stubborn as she was being and I wasn't giving up. "Yeah, well, newsflash, Jesse. I've been sneaking out at night for a long time, and my mom's never said boo about it before. She knows I can take care of myself."

I still wasn't convinced of this. She was just a young girl and to have such a heavy burden put on her; it wasn't right. "Can you?" I asked dubiously, raising my eyebrow questioningly. Daring her to object me, I chuckled finding slight amusement in her expression of indignation. "I don't think so, querida. Not in this case."

She raised both her hands and responded stiffly. "Okay. Number one; don't call me stuff in Spanish. Number two you don't even know where I'm going, so I suggest you just get off my back." She said, dropping her hands to rest on her hips and expression of triumph on her face. Thinking she had finished the discussion and won the battle of wills between us.

"But I do know where you're going, Susannah. You are going down to the school to talk to the girl who is trying to kill that boy, that boy you seem . . . fond of. But I'm telling you, querida, she is too much for you to handle alone. If you must go, you ought to have the priest with you." Very quickly, I saw the look of triumph leave her face. To be replaced with shock and an incredulous expression, her hands dropping to her sides.

Openly staring at me and speechless for a few seconds, Susannah finally found her voice. "What," she sputtered annoyed. "How could you know all that? Are you . . . are you stalking me?" she asked a definite hint of suspicion lacing her voice. She drew herself back up, her whole body becoming tense and rigid. Folding her arms across her chest, she stood waiting for my answer.

I was going to have to work my way out. From Susannah's posture, I had obviously said the wrong thing. I straightened myself up from leaning on the bed post, trying to salvage what I said. "I don't know what that word means, stalking. All I know is that you are walking into harm's way." I explained, hoping she would understand that I was trying to help.

Susannah couldn't realise how much trouble she was entering. How much risk she was going to be walking straight in to.

"You've been following me," she accused stabbing a finger at me. "Haven't you? God, Jesse, I already have an older brother, thank you very much. I don't need you going around spying – " She shot at me.

I interrupted her, my impatience and frustration getting the better of me. "Oh yes," I replied very sarcastically. "This brother cares for you very much. Almost as much as he cares for his sleep." I bit back. I had observed the way her brothers are. Jake, the eldest did not appear to have a lot of interaction with Susannah. He hardly spoke to her, or bothered with her whereabouts. Except maybe at meal times and to escort Susannah, to and from school.

Brad, the second eldest boy, the same age as Susannah, didn't seem particularly caring of her either. Not really choosing to converse with her, or spend time with Susannah. And David, the youngest seemed to be the only one of the three boys, who had a remote interest in his sister. Enjoying time with and talking to her. He seemed to really look up to Susannah and valued her as a person.

The one who cared the most about her well-being.

It tried my patience to see the way the two eldest were with her. She was new to the family, the town and their lives. But they didn't particularly go out of their way to make her feel anymore welcome than they would any other.

Susannah withdrew her finger and reaffirmed her position with her hands on her hips. "Hey!" She snapped weakly. "He works nights, okay? He's saving up for a Camaro!" She came back with on the defensive again. But even I knew that wasn't a very convincing argument to behold on Jake's behalf.

I came back to the original reason we were standing there, being disagreeable. "You, aren't going anywhere." I told her. I stood tall, waiting for her next move.

"Oh, yeah?" She asked rhetorically and turned to storm towards the bedroom door. "Try and stop me, cadaver breath."

I flinched hearing the remark. Not expecting her to say something so hurtful. I frowned, trying to decide whether to retaliate to her comment. And even, for a split second I thought about just leaving her to deal with the furious ghost on her own, and let her carry on. Wondering if she always spoke to people like that, who were only trying to help; pondering yet again, if it was just something personal towards me.

But I quickly put all my feelings aside however, as I saw her reach towards the door handle. As upset and as painful that disparaging remark was, I still couldn't stand back and watch her get hurt. The sudden sadness and panic that gripped me when I thought about her getting wounded or worse . . . It was a foreign feeling, but one that needed to be heeded none the less.

I quickly used my own power to slide the deadbolt that was on the door, into place. Thus trapping her inside her room with me, her annoyance growing by the second. She tugged on the handle a couple of times, trying to get it to move. Eventually realizing that she wasn't going anywhere, or at least she wasn't going out the bedroom door. Susannah stood there facing it, tense and alert.

I heard her take a deep breath. Which on release she relaxed her body, let go of the door handle, and slowly turned to face me. I tried not to shift around too much. But it must have been evidently clear to see on my expression and body language, just how uncomfortable I was about my actions.

"Okay," she clarified. "Jesse, this is way un-cool." She stayed by the door, watching the anxieties and conflicting emotions, race across my face. She knew I was uncomfortable and left the anger out of her voice. At least she didn't appear mad, but instead, just looked at me with eyes full of sympathy. This just increased my guilt even more.

"I can't," I said, pleading with her. "Susannah. Don't go. This woman – this girl, Heather. She isn't like other spirits you might have known in the past. She's filled with hate. She'll kill you if she can." I tried once again, desperate to explain and make her understand.

She suddenly broke out into a smile, that I'm sure was supposed to come across as encouraging. But instead only managed to knock my emotions into disarray again. I'm sure if I could have breathed, it would have been whipped out of me the moment she graced me with that action. It was the first time I had ever seen her smile at me. And I hoped that it wouldn't be the last. At least to be directed at me.

It completely lit up her face and knocked me off balance.

I fought not to break out into a smile myself it was that contagious. But fought to get my feelings under control and back to the current situation at hand again. Susannah had a way to make me feel distracted at the worst possible moments, it seemed.

"Then it's up to me to get rid of her, right? Come on. Unlock the door now." She sweetly said, trying to convince me to see it her way.

I hesitated, nearly obliging her and letting Susannah go. But the fear and risk, far outweighed my discomfort at not un-locking the door. I stood my ground, crossing my arms over my chest, standing firm. Trying to hold my resolve that was mocking me in the wake of her smile. She nearly had me doing as she asked. I knew I had to learn immunity to Susannah and quick. Else we would both be in trouble.

Seeing my determination and that I wasn't going to do as she asked, the smile dropped from Susannah's face. And then she was on the move again. "Suit yourself." She breezily replied calmly walking around me, careful not to make eye contact and advanced towards the large bay windows, with the fantastic view of the ocean and Carmel.

I dropped my arms and watched to see what she was doing. She lifted a booted foot onto the window seat and leaned forward to lift the screen in the middle window. She had one leg over the sill, before my mind caught up with what my eyes were processing. I quickly jumped into action, unconsciously leaping forward to grab Susannah around the wrist in a light, but firm grip.

She turned to look at me, green eyes again clashing with dark brown ones. I let her see all the emotions running through them, not holding back while I silently begged her not to go through with her plan. To walk away from the responsibility she should never have had trust upon her the way she had.

"Susannah." I softly pleaded with her. Asking and willing her to heed my advice and just climb back in the window and stay. Just like before, time seemed to come to a slow crawl again, waiting with bated breath for her to make the right decision.

Then she looked down, breaking eye contact with me and severing the connection I felt. I followed her gaze to find my large tanned hand, lightly wrapped around her small wrist. In shock, I quickly let go of her, thus losing the warmth running up my arm and spreading across my chest, heading for my heart. I hadn't even realised I had reached out to her. I blinked a few times, trying to get some focus back.

She quickly used my lapse in attention to her advantage and climbed out of the window and across the porch roof. I watched her for a few moments, trying to decide what to do. Before finally choosing to leave the lonely silent room. If I couldn't stop her, I could at least be around to watch and help.

I didn't stick around to see her climb off the roof. I quickly de-materialised and headed for the Mission. Making sure to stay out of range of Heather's only ghostly senses, so she wouldn't know I was around and no doubt find another target. Being careful to keep my senses out for her in turn, just in case she took me by surprise.

I took the time waiting for Susannah to ponder on everything that had just happened. Again leaving me feeling dazed and confused when it came to my thoughts and feelings towards Susannah. After even two days, I was still unable to process everything. And that encounter, only made it worse for me.

I just didn't know where I stood with her. How to feel or how to act around her. I knew she was going to need my help, for all of her self-assurances that she could take care of her-self; I had yet to see it with my own eyes. And until I saw such a time that she proved otherwise, I wasn't going to give up on her.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of glass being smashed and broken coming from one of the classrooms down the breezeway. Susannah had arrived to start the proceedings. I quickly swept my gaze over the courtyard for any sign of Heather, or if anyone from the rectory noticed the noise. But it was quiet and empty. A contrast to what was soon to enfold.

"Showtime," I murmured despondently.

A/N 2: Yet again, I hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading, please review. Peace and love to ya all!

Coming up in Chapter 3: Jesse and Suze get a certain statues head chasing after them by Heather!