A/N: I apologize that this chapter may be a little shorter than the others, but the next one is longer and I didn't think I should combine them. Besides, the "interesting-ness" of this chap makes up for its lack of length!
"You did what?!" Miles demanded, looking at Jesse in outrage.
"I said yes," he replied in a small voice. They were at the Tuck's house, and Jesse had just told them all about his meeting with Beth, and the invitation extended to him afterwards. "I couldn't refuse. They're so nice, and it would have been rude."
"We don't know how much Winnie told them," Miles stated. "If she told them our names, then what? We're all named after our great-grandparents? Something tells me that won't work."
"We don't have to use our real names," Jesse replied. "Well, you guys don't. And we have to go. I don't want to go back and tell them no." He looked at his father hopefully.
Angus nodded. "We can't back out now that he told them yes," he decided.
"I'm not going," Miles said firmly. "We'll probably talk about her the entire time, anyway."
"You need to come," Mae answered. "We wouldn't want to go without you. Or, at least, I wouldn't."
"Then dad and Jesse can go together."
"I'm not sure I want to go either, Miles," Angus said. "But we are all going to go tomorrow anyway, and that's that."
Jesse showed a small smile in defeat, but said nothing else to Miles. Later, his older brother would be grateful he came.
~*~
Jesse sat at the spring, unmoving. He was thinking about Winnie again, and when he first met her. Where had her tombstone gone? It wasn't in front of him. But in reality, he didn't even really care. He knew it was missing, but it was irrelevant. All that mattered was him and Winnie, and now she was forever gone.
"Jesse," he heard a voice say behind him. It was a female voice, and somewhat familiar. Was it Sarah, maybe?
He turned and stopped breathing for a minute in shock, joy, and wonder. There Winnie stood, still fifteen.
Jesse leapt to his feet and ran up to her. There, he threw his arms around her and wept of joy.
"Winnie, Winnie, Winnie!" he cried. "I'm so glad to see you… here and unchanged. I love you and I've missed you so much!" After his rush of words he noticed that she was not holding him and he let go to look at her face. "Winnie," he said. "What's wrong."
Her eyes were wet and red. "I'm not here," she whispered softly, regretfully. "I want so much to be with you again, but I'm not here. I only came back like this to tell you not to worry about me and what happened after you left. And, also to ask you for your forgiveness."
"What did you do?" he asked. "I can't imagine something so great and terrible that I wouldn't forgive you for."
"I fell in love. I didn't want to, Jesse, but if our meeting was any indication, you should know that love does not come intentionally."
"I could never hold that against you," he answered, putting her hair behind her ear. "Not in my life. But… the only think I wonder is, why did you choose to die?"
Winnie looked helplessly at Jesse and bit her lip. Then, in a sad voice, told him, "I wasn't afraid."
Jesse sat up in his bed and looked sadly at the empty walls. It had all been a dream. His first thought was that none of it mattered, it was only his imagination running away while he slept, but then he remembered Winnie telling him "I'm not here" and he suddenly knew that this was her way of communicating with him. Through dreams. He knew then that she was still there watching him… in spirit, anyway. A single tear flowed down his cheek, but he refused to break down the dam that would unleash them all. No, instead he shed one tear for her, then went back to sleep.
A/N: Miles was in this chapter! OK, in all honesty, he's probably gonna turn out to be the main character, but I need to focus on Jesse at the moment because Miles is just kinda boring right now. But trust me, he'll have a more involved part probably starting next chapter, if not then soon after. I'm trying to update as much as I can, but I usually make up my stories as I go along and sometimes that makes it harder to write quickly. I promise I'll update as often as possible, hopefully every other day. Please review!
