Hopping into the Tuck Everlasting world of fanfiction to bring you this story. It was demanded by some of my fellow Newsies Pringles, the most prominent fan of the idea being Ezra.

Now here it is! Seeing the light of day: the story we all needed, and the story that's probably been done before, but not quite the way I'm planning on doing it.

What if Winnie Foster drank the water?

Today was the day. Jesse had been waiting for what felt like forever (and he knew what forever felt like). This had been the longest six years of his life, but now the waiting was over. It was the sixth day of November 1898. Winnie Foster's 17th birthday.

Jesse was going back to Treegap multiple years earlier than he'd normally go back. He received many weird looks on the train he was on, but he couldn't help occasionally giggling and bouncing up and down in his seat. This was the best day of his life, and he'd lived a long one of those. There was nothing better than knowing that the feeling of something being missing would be gone. His partner in crime was finally going to step into that title. The one man operation game was over. Now it was going to be Jesse Tuck and Winnie Foster, sharing the world and enjoying living together forever.

"Where are you headed, son?" a man in a seat close to Jesse asked after another combust of silent giggles hit Jesse.

"New Hampshire," Jesse grinned.

"You seem excited," the man chuckled. "What's in New Hampshire?"

"My friend. My best one! I haven't seen her in six years!"

The man frowned in quite an amused manner, as if Jesse had told him a strange joke. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen!"

Directly after saying it, Jesse realized why his previous statement had made the man frown. He quickly added: "We're childhood friends."

"Have you got your parents somewhere on tha train?"

"They're in New Hampshire too."

Again, Jesse said something that he would quickly need to make up an explanation for. "I was in New York to get work experience."

"Huh," the man nodded, smiling at the 17-year-old's explanation of his situation. "Then I bet you're looking forward ta seeing them again."

"I'm more excited to see my friend, to be honest. My family's great, but they don't... they don't get me like she does... And you sir? Where are you going?" Jesse quickly changed the subject.

"Burlington. It's a thing for my job, but then I'm also gonna get a gift for my wife," the man answered.

"I bet she's gonna love it," Jesse beamed his smile at the man.

"Thank ya, kid," he nodded at Jesse again, a tiny huff of air finding its way out of his nose. "You seem bright for your age."

Jesse chuckled. "I guess you could say I've had a lot of experience!"

Of course it was impossible for this random stranger on the train to know exactly how much experience of life Jesse had had. When one meets a teenager on a train, their initial thought does not tend to be "Is this kid immortal?"

Instead of jumping to the conclusion that the gleeful 17-year-old next to him had lived since 1789, and therefore had 109 years of life experience behind him, the man nodded, which appeared to be a thing he did a lot.

"Well, I wish you luck meeting your family and that friend again!" he said, patting Jesse's arm.

"And I wish you luck with work and finding something your wife!"

The smile on the man's face lingered as he dove back into the newspaper he had been reading before striking up the conversation with Jesse. The smile on Jesse's face lasted way longer. In fact, it was already a lasting smile, only being boosted more and more by the minute. It had been present since the second he woke up, and hadn't withered one bit. It shone as bright as ever as he looked out on the charming hills and mighty forests passing by outside the window. He was probably just imagining it, but things appeared to become even prettier when they entered New Hampshire. The grass was greener, the trees were fuller, the sky was clearer... This was the most beautiful place in the world.

It became apparent to Jesse that he had lost himself in the beauty of the nature when the conductor's voice echoed through the train, saying one special word. Jesse had to look up and sharpen his ears to hear him repeat the phrase.

"Next stop: Treegap. Arriving in Treegap in five minutes.

A sense of euphoria he'd basically never felt before rushed through him, and five minutes later it blossomed into something even bigger.

Stepping off the train at the teeny Treegap train station was a thing he'd done many times, but now it was a completely different space. Had he had the time, he would have hung around there longer, simply for the feeling. But he had places to be. He had a place to be.

The Fosters' wood.

This chapter and the next one will be pretty much shorter than the rest of them, as they're simply introductions. But I hope you enjoyed the start of this story anyway!

I'd be delighted if you were to follow and/or favorite this, and even happier if you left a review!

Have a good day, folks!