A/N: So this is the second to last chapter. Both these chapters will take place several months later. Jem will make his final appearance in this chapter and I think you fellow fans will be satisfied with why he showed up on this particular night of all nights!

It was ten o'clock at night and I was wide awake but going to bed anyway; I was getting married in the morning. Autumn always comes late in Maycomb County and this year was no exception. The wind blew strong and cold as I opened my bedroom window and I found it comforting. The ghosts of this Halloween night couldn't haunt me if they wanted to. Spirits always mean something different after you've gone through the grieving process of a loved one because you realize that spirit is the thing you run on; the one thing that keeps you alive.

I snuggled up in the fetal position as the wind flew into my bedroom. The thought of my sweet brother and the rythym of my curtains blowing helped guide me to sleep. That warm, welcoming space when you are aware that you are leaving your body and going somewhere else. I will always pray that this how Jem felt when he left this world...

The cold air gave way to humidity and the sound of water crept into my consciousness. That new noise alerted me and I opened my eyes to find that familiar old landscape that belongs to Finch's eyes were drawn to the darkness and black water. I peered into the water as the moonlight illuminated my reflection. I smiled back at myself once I noticed I was wearing my wedding dress.

"Scout," a lady's voice rang out into the night, causing me to jolt.

"Who's calling me?" I asked as I got up on my feet. "Where are you?"

"Look up," the lady said.

"Okay," I obeyed. "Where am I supposed to look though? I can't see you. You must be a spirit."

"I am a spirit, honey and so are you."

"Well, I give up because I can't see you."

"You saw me. When you were looking at yourself you were looking at the moon, too."

"The moon? You're on the moon?"

The moon wasn't full; it was a cresent. I looked at the moon again and squinted hard. It took me a while but there she was swinging on the bottom half with her brown curls flowing in the night air and her white dress shining as bright as the moon she was sitting on. A lightbulb went off in my head; a memory that I didn't think I had occured to me: this was the way my mother looked in her casket. Her youthful looks made us seem like we could have been the same age and that thought made me cry. The reality of how young she was when she died never occured to me until now.

"Hey, mama," I said with tears in my eyes.

"Hey, baby," she said as she came closer and closer into focus. "You're beautiful."

"You're beautiful, too."

"Scout," Jem called out for me next.

"And where are you?" I asked him as I turned my back from the moon.

Just like magic, he appeared out of the seafoam of the water. He came out as I first recall him to look at six years old, then he walked closer to me and then he was ten, thirteen, and until I was in his arms again, he was thirty. He had gone through his whole personal evolution in front of my eyes and it left me speechless. I turned myself around to face the moon and began to cry at the fact mama wasn't there to see that.

"What are you crying for?" Jem asked.

"Mama left," I replied, sobbing.

"No, no, she didn't leave," he assured me as he took me by the hands. "Do you trust me?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Because we're going to go find mama."

"Where?"

I barely had time to get that question asked before he dragged me into the water with him. The water was dark and deep and I was afraid of the water swelling into my lungs. Jem was already swimming a mile down from me but it didn't take him long to realize I wasn't beside him.

"You told me you trusted me," he said, clear as a bell.

"I do," I replied, amazed I could talk underwater as well as he could.

"Well, come on! If you don't go deep enough you'll never find her."

He wasn't going to stall and talk to me anymore. He was on a mission to go get mama with or without me and I had the choice to go with him or not. I chose to follow my brother and I began to swim as fast as I knew how. A dark hole blocked my way but I swam through it with a mighty crash and felt the pressure afterwards. Once that was broken, I saw mama laying on the bottom of the sea looking the same as she did on the moon. Jem was back in my sight and he was standing over mama with a smile on his face.

"Pick her up," he told me.

"What if I hurt her?"

"You won't. Pick her up and swim her to shore. You got her."

His words of encouragement gave me confidence. I picked mama up in my arms and kissed her as I pumped my feet up to bring her back to shore. It was easy to get back up but getting across was a whole other thing: the water was more rough than I remembered and it had started to rain. I looked at mama who was still laying there unconscious and knew that I would go through with this; I would do it for her. I held her close to me and kicked and did the breaststroke the best I could with one free hand.

"I love you," mama told me as we got closer and closer to shore. "Keep going. I love you."

The relief that I felt once I got mama to shore was like nothing I had ever felt before. I laid her down on the sand as I let out a sigh of exhaustion. I collapsed next to mama and felt the coldness of her skin against mine. She was cold and she didn't wake up. I drifted off to sleep until sunlight woke me up to find me on the same sandy beach but alone. My wedding dress was clean and dry as a bone which made no sense to me.

"Scout," I heard mama call out for me. I turned around to see her exactly the way she was in the moon and the water. She was vibrant and walking towards me with open arms. I've never felt so welcomed by anyone. "Come here, baby."

"I'm coming, mama," I said as I ran to her. The moment we fell into each other's arms was something else. I don't think I would ever feel that way again.

"I love you, Jean Louise Finch," she whispered in my ear.

"I love you, too, mama."

"Told you that you could go get her if you wanted to," Jem said as he appeared right next to me.

"Thanks for making me believe," I told him as I pulled him into a little group hug. Mama laughed and cried at the fact that both her babies were in her arms again.

The seven o'clock alarm rang and woke me out of my mother's arms. I wept at the sight of my own bed and the window that remained open. A knock on my door didn't stifle my crying. Atticus opened the door and clutched his heart at the sight of me crying like I was. He came over to my side of the bed and kissed my cheek.

"What's the matter, baby?"

"I saw mama last night," I cried into his chest. "I miss her."

He hugged me as he let me cry more. One hand stroked my hair as his other hand stroked my back.

"I see your mama all the time," he confessed as he kissed the top of my head. "I miss her, too."