A/N: Lets recap for once, shall we? Tessa worked up the courage to tell Jake she loved him and he retured the favor. They have their first kiss and during Jake brakes her dogtag necklace. Tessa explains her brother was killed in the war and runs out.

To everyone who understood, commented, and favorited my story - I love you very much.

So... Shall we?

I run. I can't change or they will hear my thoughts and find me. I never thought I was this fast, but as the wind lifts my strands of gnarled hair I realize I am. Jake's voice fades behind me as I get deeper in the forest. Nick fills my head in a way that he hasn't in the last few months. His grey eyes and sandy hair. His laugh, how he would snort then have the good grace to look embarrassed. The film he sent me from Afghanistan. The pictures of his friends and then the pictures of the people he had tried to save. The sad look on his face as he was handed his gun. Pressing his lips to my forehead.

"I'll be back," he whispered.

Branches slash against my face. I'm sure I'm bleeding now, but I don't stop running. I can't. The ground hurts my feet and causes them to bleed, but the werewolf gene healed them soon enough. Tears were streaking down my face, making my skin sticky. The dress catches on a fallen log and tears.

"Don't go, please." I begged my nails sinking into the skin on his forearm.

I can't run anymore.

His face swirled, "I'll come home Tessie. You know I will do everything to come home."

I fall to the ground and feel myself curl in on me. My legs tucked against my chest and the dirt and mud mixing in my hair. My brain is shutting off. I can feel it in my veins. Am I dying? I force my eyes open and see nothing, but the dark shapes the trees make when it starts ti become dark. Freezing air makes me frigid with cold for the first time since I changed. My dress has leaves clinging to the fabric and my feet feel like someone chopped them off. Maybe I got frost-bite. Panic fills the space in my head.

"What if you don't come home Nick?"

Sadness leaks into my heart like posin. It makes me feel sick to my stomach and have a headache at the same time. The burn is hot against my skin and I can feel myself fading. Something crosses my mind as darkness slips around me. I think I crossed the border that divides us from the leeches. I should check, I should... but I'm so tired.

He smiles and hugs me tight, "I will always be there."

I want to scream. I want to scream as loud as I can and let the pain out, but I can't. My breathing catches and I huff. The cold is getting to me and I can't open my eyes anymore because I am so weak. I've never felt so weak or helpless like I was some damsel in distress. I want to crawl to safety and gorilla glue myself together again. Humpty dumpty, I thought vaguely feeling delirious. Humpty dumpty, sat on a wall... I couldn't remember the rest. I tried to shake my head to clear it, but my fingers were like icicles and I wondered where in the sam heck were my shoes. I liked those shoes. If I could I would've laughed at my current thoughts, at how ridiculous I sounded.

"What if-"

I can't breathe. I force my lungs to work. It's easy, I think, in and out. In and out. In and out.

He cuts me off, "I'll be there Tessie, always."

The bark under my head is rough and I feel sick. My feet hurt and my chest ached from crying.

"Tessa?" I heard Jake call my name, but I leaned against the nearby tree. Pain overwhelmed me, I had cried too hard now I was going to die. Darkness closed around me and it was too late to scream. I was vaguely aware of icy cold arms underneath me and the fact that I was moving. Quickly. My head was slamming against iron and I moaned. Everything hurt. My heart especially. Jake? I wanted to scream for Jake.

The person holding me murmured something along the lines of, "He's coming. Don't worry." I snorted, he couldn't answer my thoughts. I was imagining it. I was imagining this whole thing. I was back in California tucked under my orange comforter sleeping, but in some part of my mind I knew I wasn't. I knew I was here being carried by some strange man who could kill me. I sigh and try to move, but everything hurts and aches.

Nick smiles and its a really beautiful smile with dimples and white teeth. A thousand memories of him flash through my mind. He waves goodbye and tries to hide the red-rimming of his eyes. Dad couldn't come and mom was gone. He was the only thing I had left. Tears streaked down my face.

I look and see his silver ring lying on the floor of the airport. "Nick!" I screamed, "Wait!" The tears came harder now under my entire body was wracking with sobs that were soundless. He was already gone. A man from across the airport soluted me, claping his own son on his back.

I remember his son now, he was in some of the pictures Nick sent me. He had gold hair and warm eyes, his name was Zachary. Nick said he was a medic and glued people back together. Zachary died. Everyone died. I close my eyes and wait to join them.

"Tess," dad yells from inside the kitchen, "can you grab the door?"

I rolled my eyes, dad was too lazy for his own good sometimes, "Yeah, yeah." I prance over to the door and unlock the deadbolt, swinging it open to reveal two men in army uniform.

"Miss Wright?" One asks, he has a buzzed head and black eyes.

I nod slowly as if I didn't hear him, "No," I whisper, "no!"

The other one with slightly longer hair turns their head, "We are sorry to inform you that Nicholas-"

I scream, "Stop!" I clasp my shaking hand over my ears, "You are lying, your lying!" They shake their heads and the one with the buzzed head leans against the door frame like my own pain is causing him to loose strength. I unclasp my ears and in a weak voice say, "How?"

The one with the longer hair starts to ask me what mean, but the buzzed hair one answers first, "Humvee explosion. Died instantly." I cried then, real tears that made no sound at all. Dad came in, saw me, then went back. He knew. I knew. They knew.

I tuck my hair behind my ear, "Can I have his things?" The longer haired man extends a box and I open it slowly. Its filled with his dogtags and pictures, letters from me. My smiling face waves at the camera in the one on top.

I pick it up and look at the creases, "Was this in his pocket?" The edges of the picture are singed and it looks red. I can't think, but when they don't answer, I know. I shake my head and clutch the picture against my heart.

The buzzed haired man clears his throat, "It was in his hands, Miss. His will says that he left you everything." He hands me a paper and a folded flag. I can't speak anymore so I just nod again. He clears his throat and as the long haired man walks down the walk, the buzzed one squeezes his eyes shut.

"I knew Nick, we were friends. We were in the same unit. On the same plane. We played checkers every night and cards, Old Maid was his favorite. I think it was the only one he knew," he drew a pack of cards from his pocket, "Here. These are his. He asked me to give it to you. Theres a note inside. You have to understand that we all wrote notes incase something happened and passed them around to our buddies to keep in-case."

I take it with shaking hands, "Thank you..."

"Rob," he supplies then smiles a crooked smile, "I deploy again tomorrow in Iraq. I think i'm going to die this time."

I hug him tightly, "Good luck," I hesitate then hold out my hand, "I'll keep a note for you."

He fishes a paper out of is pocket that is already in an envelope with black ink writing, "It's for my girl Sara. Thank you, Tessie, he talked about you a lot."

Tears stream at the nickname, "I'll pray Rob."

He walks down the walk backwards and smiles, "Those don't do anything anymore." Ten weeks later I got a notice from the Marines that Rob was killed in battle. I sent the letter thinking, we all die don't we?

It wasn't until today that that meaning meant anything.

Next Chapter Sneak Preview:

I'm dead. I know I am, but the light shines in my eyes. I'm in heaven I realize faintly.

"Tessa?" Someone said as the light vanished. "We won't hurt you."

A/N: A lot of fluff and explanation. Sorry! :) Tessa is being carried, but by whom? And where is she? Who knows (I do, but not the point)?

Read and review if you love me!

xo - ggbrownie