A/N: OMG I am sooooo sorry it took me so long to update. I've just been so busy with my junior year. So much homework, tons of tests, you know. Anyway, here's a really short chapter that I've actually had written for like two weeks...Sorry, guys.

Anyway, let me know how it is please.

D

Disclaimer: NOT MINE!!!!!!!

A Second Chance

Chapter 14: Hot Soup

Everything was dark, and at first I thought that maybe I hadn't made it out in time. Was I in the afterlife? I hadn't imagined it to be this…dark. Dark and quiet. It was almost worse than being stuck in Shadowland. Here I felt removed from the world, as if there were no one around for miles and miles.

It felt as if a cotton ball was wedged into my ear, so when I finally did hear a noise, it was distant and I couldn't figure out what it was. My eyes, previously half-open, widened, hoping to discover something besides darkness.

As consciousness returned to me, I became aware of another presence. Strong arms encircled me, holding me tightly to a broad, muscular chest. I wasn't sure how long those arms had held me. They were squeezing me so tightly that I couldn't possibly have not felt them before.

I heard the noise again. It was quiet, but it sounded very close.

I was surprised to discover that the noise was more of a sniveling sound, as if someone were crying. But who could be crying? This was the afterlife. Everyone was supposed to be happy and care-free, weren't they?

Or maybe this wasn't the normal afterlife. I remembered the Gatekeeper telling me about the parallel universe I'd be stuck in if I happened to jump through the wrong door. Had I picked the wrong one? It hadn't seemed like it at the time, but maybe I was mistaken.

The arms were holding me too tightly. I could barely breath. I struggled slightly, trying to release my esophagus from the chokehold. There was a gasp and the arms recoiled completely, leaving me lying on the cold, hard floor.

"Susannah?" whispered a male voice. It sounded as if he'd been crying.

I groaned loudly as I turned onto my back. "Jesse?" I wondered. I couldn't see his face. My hands searched for him but couldn't quite reach.

"Yes, I'm here, querida," the same comforting voice whispered. His arms found me again and he lifted me into a sitting position and placed me on his lap. I allowed my head to relax on his chest and my eyes to close. I was exhausted.

Wait. If this was the afterlife then…

But Jesse…

No.

"Susannah, are you alright?" His voice sounded worried.

I realized I was shaking. Why was Jesse here? HERE?

Paul.

I was going to kill him!

No one exercises my would-be boyfriend and gets away with it!

I tried to voice these thoughts, but my body was weak and weary. "J—Jesse," I stuttered. "Where are we?" My voice sounded raspy and weak, as if I'd just woken up from a long sleep.

His hand brushed my hair back gently as he explained. "We're at the Sea Mist Café, Susannah. Do you remember why we came here?"

At first I couldn't remember. Did I have amnesia? Jesse seemed to think so. "Diego," I remembered suddenly. So this wasn't the afterlife. That must mean that I'd made it out in time. I wasn't dead.

I felt Jesse nod slowly and his cheek brushed against my hair. Suddenly my eyelids felt too heavy. I yawned widely and started to drift to sleep, my head still on Jesse's chest.

"Susannah." Jesse was shaking my shoulder, keeping me awake.

"Wha'?" I muttered unhappily, half-asleep.

"Susannah, you can't sleep now," he told me. "You might have a concussion."

"Ssso?" My speech was slurred from sleep.

"So, you're not supposed to let someone sleep if they have a concussion. They may never wake up again…" he trailed off, probably trying not to think about it. "Now come on." He pulled me up by the arm. "Let's go."

"Mmmm…" I mumbled, still drifting off into sleep. My eyes stayed shut even though I tried to lift the lids.

"Come on, querida," Jesse said, shaking me gently. But it did nothing to lessen the fatigue plaguing my muscles.

"Mmmmm!" I mumbled, slightly irritated now. I wanted to go to sleep. Somehow I had ended up on my feet, but they weren't moving. I would have fallen back down to the ground if it hadn't been for the support of Jesse's arm, wrapped around my waist. I leaned into his shoulder as a substitute for a pillow. He began to propel me forward, out the door and into a car. Could ghosts drive? I didn't see why not. I mean, if they can move objects with their minds, driving should be a piece of cake.

The car hummed to life and then the stereo was turned on. It blasted noisy music, forbidding me to slip off into dreamland. My eyes opened reluctantly but couldn't focus on anything in particular. Objects blurred past my vision as we drove home.

I must have eventually drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew, I was sitting up in bed, kept upright by Jesse's strong embrace. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten there. A slight pressure on my forehead made me open my eyes. Then came Jesse's voice, so close, asking me if it hurt. When I denied it, even though it did hurt a little, he moved on to another spot.

"Does this—"

"OW!" The reaction was involuntary. I hadn't meant to alarm him.

"Sorry, querida."

"Mmkay."

After he'd poked and prodded me, he got off the bed and shined a light in my eye.

"Ahh," I protested. I tried very hard to be a good patient and keep my eyes open, even though they tried to close against the light.

When Jesse had finished his inspection, he gave me the diagnosis.

Headache.

I faked shock and he gave me a look of annoyance.

And then he finally let me sleep. I closed my tired eyes against the bright spots in my vision from where the light had been shone. Without changing or pulling down the sheets, I flopped down onto the soft comforter. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up in the morning I was covered by my comforter. I pulled it closer to my body. It was freezing. Jesse must have tucked me in last night.

My heart thudded with joy. I rose out of bed and my gaze went immediately to my window seat. Sure enough, Jesse sat there, reading a huge dusty old volume. "Good morning," he said when he saw me.

"Morning," I replied brightly.

And then my heart sank as memories of the previous night came back to me. Something wasn't right. Where had Diego gone? He hadn't been there when I'd gotten back from Shadowland.

"Jesse," I asked worriedly, "what happened to Diego? Last night after…" I trailed off.

Jesse's expression was unreadable as he sat down on the bed next to me. "Susannah…" he began and then stopped. I looked up into his face in confusion and saw that he looked sad. I reached up to stroke his cheek comfortingly. "You have to understand, Susannah," he began again. "When you shifted to Shadowland, your body was still there. We thought you'd died." He paused as if he didn't trust himself to go on.

"We?" I said, noticing the use of the plural. He'd thought I was dead. "Jesse, I'm so sorry!" Now I felt bad for causing him agony. I remembered the sobbing I'd heard after I'd come back from Shadowland. It had been Jesse, crying over what he thought was my dead body.

I wrapped my arms around the man in front of me, hugging him tightly. He hugged me back with just as much force.

We sat there like that for a long time, our arms around each other. I breathed in his scent, remembering the old days when I'd been able to do this on a regular basis. Those days seemed so far away now.

We broke apart when we heard heavy footsteps. Someone was coming this way. My mom probably, worrying about me. I looked at the clock. It was 2:00 in the afternoon.

"Suze," said my mother when she walked into the room. Jesse dematerialized to give me some privacy. "You're up."

"Yeah…" I said, wondering what else could be said in a response to such an obvious statement.

"I tried to wake you earlier," she explained. "But you were dead asleep."

I cringed at the word dead. "Sorry, Mom. I didn't sleep well last night."

It wasn't true, of course. As soon as Jesse had let me, I'd fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep. My dreams weren't haunted by piercing red eyes as they had been so often lately.

"Oh. Well, I made soup for lunch if you're hungry." I told her I'd be right down and she left the room.

Groaning, I got out of bed. Every muscle in my body ached with the movement. Hot soup sounded really good.

I forgot about psycho killers, ex-boyfriends, dead best friends, and near death experiences. Soup was the only thing on my mind.

And for now, that was all I wanted.

Read and review please! I really will try to have the next chapter up quickly...if I get 5 reviews of course.