A/N: Sorry this took so long. I have been really busy with school and stuff. Also, for the two or three people that actually read 'Law of Attraction', I am working on it probably as you're reading this.

Jessie looks up at Katie with an amused expression on her face. "Okay Hercules, carry me," she smirks while holding her arms open.

Katie takes one more glance toward the stairs before looking down at Jessie with a mischievous look on her face. She picks Jessie up in her arms with a grunt. "Alright, her we go," she breathes out as she tries not to drop Jessie. Slowly, Katie makes her way up to Jessie's room with Jessie in her arms, trying not to laugh.

When they finally get up to her room, Katie unceremoniously drops Jessie on the bed before plopping herself next to her. "Good job. Next time, try not to take so long though," Jessie jokes as she crawls under the covers.

"What makes you think there'll even be a next time?" Katie asks with an incredulous smirk. Jessie raises her eyebrows challengingly. "I'll try to keep that in mind," Katie chuckles as she gets in next to Jessie.

"I'm going to hold you to that too," Jessie says as she snuggles up to Katie, trying to get comfortable. "Sleep good," she says with a yawn.

"You too," Katie replies, smiling down fondly at Jessie, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

Thursday, December 26

Katie blinks her eyes in the morning sun that refuses to let her keep sleeping. She braves opening her eyes all the way only to find herself alone. The few moments of early morning confusion are soon blinked away as Katie realizes that Jessie probably woke up and didn't want to wake her, so she decides to venture downstairs.

"Morning Mrs. Sammler," Katie yawns as she enters the kitchen.

Karen looks up from her coffee, startled. "Oh, hey Katie. I didn't hear you come down," she smiles nervously at her. A minute of awkward silence follows. "So, um, is Jessie still asleep?" She asks, if only to break the tension.

"No, I thought she was down here. I woke up and she was gone. I thought she already came down," Katie says, beginning to panic.

Karen looks at her, mirroring her own panic. "She'll probably be back soon. She probably just went out for a walk or something," she says, trying to comfort them both

"I am and I did," Jessie says as she walks into the kitchen as she shakes off some of the snow. "And I thought I was paranoid," Jessie mumbles under her breath.

"Did you do a lot of deep spiritual thinking and meditation?" Katie jokes. "Did you reach enlightenment? Are you the next Buddha? Can I be one of your disciples?" She continues, thoroughly amusing herself.

"Katie, I need to talk to you," Jessie says softly, pleadingly. Katie stops her laughing and gives Jessie a blank expression. "Please, it's important," she says, almost begging.

"Um, yeah," Katie responds reluctantly, getting up. She looks over her shoulder at Karen, who gives Katie a worried expression. They step out into the living room and Jessie turns to look at Katie. "What's wrong?" She asks with trepidation.

"How long are you going to be in Chicago?" Jessie asks.

"I'm not sure. I applied for a job at the Chicago Tribune, so, I don't know for how long. Why?" Katie asks cautiously.

"So, you're staying here and I'm going to go back to New York," Jessie says with disappointment. "By the end of the week we're both going back to our lives," she states.

All the pieces fall into place. "Jessie, our relationship isn't going to be over by the end of the week. Don't worry about it," Katie assures her.

"I beg to differ. I'll be in New York and you'll be here. That counts as 'over' in my book," Jessie points out.

"We can do the long distance thing," Katie suggests.

"You know that they hardly ever work out Katie," Jessie says weakly as she leans her head on Katie's shoulder.

"We'll be one of those lucky couples that it does work for. You know what they say, 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'," Katie smirks.

"Are these the same people that say 'out of sight, out of mind'?" Jessie retorts with a sigh.

"No," Katie says simply as she holds onto Jessie. "It'll work out. Don't worry," she says. I'll do the worrying for us both. She sighs heavily.

Manning Manor:

"Grace, can I talk to you really quick?" Katie asks softly as she walks into the house. Grace gives her a questioning look. "It's really important."

"Uh, okay. Let's go up to my room," she says, nodding her head toward the stairs. "Katie and I will be up in my room," she calls to her Lily.

"Grace, you're 23 years old, you don't need to tell me where you are at every minute of the day," Lily retorts with a grin and Grace snorts at her in reply.

They go up and Grace shuts the door. "What's on your mind?" She asks. "Is it about Jessie?" She asks trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yeah. It is actually," Katie admits softly.

"I knew it. What did she do this time?" Grace asks with a small frown on her face.

"Well, she and I were talking this morning. She brought up the subject of what we do at the end of the week. Now we don't know what's going to happen and she's really worried," Katie spews out in one breath.

"Oh, she thinks that your relationship will be over by the end of the week because she goes back to work and you go back to whatever it is that you do," Grace says, mostly to herself.

"Yeah. Exactly," Katie sighs as she flops down on Grace's bed.

"Katie," Grace says soothingly, sitting down next to her. "The thing with Jessie is that when something good happens, she can never enjoy it because she'll be waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know how paranoid she is," she says.

"Yeah. I don't want her to think that this will be over again just as soon as it got started. I don't know what to do," Katie sighs again in frustration.

"So you came to me for advice?" Grace asks incredulously and Katie nods slowly. "That's funny. As I recall, last time I gave you advice, you and Jessie ended up not talking for a little over, what was it? Oh, yeah. Six years you spent not talking to one another. If you don't mind, I think I'll stay out of this one," Grace says, standing up.

"I just wish I knew what to do about Jessie," she groans.

"Don't worry. You're a smart girl, sometimes, you'll figure something out," Grace says trying to reassure her friend.

"Yeah. I'm think I'm going to go and try and figure something else. I mean, I've got a couple of days right? Jessie doesn't leave until Sunday. Plenty of time," she mumbles as she waves a goodbye to Grace.

"These are going to be the longest three days of our lives," Grace groans as she walks downstairs.

"What was that honey?" Lily asks as her mumbling daughter wanders into the kitchen. "Where's Katie?"

"Katie is off trying to solve a Jessie crisis and I am musing about how exciting that is going to be," Grace says as she rolls her eyes.

"A Jessie crisis so soon?" Lily smirks. "What's the problem?"

"Oh, nothing much. Jessie is just all upset that she and Katie will break up soon because they'll be so far from each other," Grace says as she sits down.

"What's Katie going to do?" Lily wonders.

"Who knows? I didn't want to suggest anything that could cause her even more problems," Grace shrugs. "Katie will figure something out. She has a couple of days to get a battle plan," she smirks.

"That's true. Are you going to help with dinner or do I have to beg?" Lily asks.

"Would it be wrong to ask you to beg?" Grace asks with an innocent grin and lily throws a towel at her.

"No Eli!" Jessie yells as she tries to walk away.

"Please. Pretty, pretty please," Eli begs, dropping to his knees. "If you tell me then I'll leave you alone for ever," he bargains.

"That is so sad. A grown man begging his little sister for something," Katie says fondly. "It's very endearing Eli. It's very cute," she smiles.

"Ha ha," Eli says, rolling his eyes at her before turning his attention back to his sister. "Jessie, come on. Tell me," he asks again as he stands up.

"No Eli! There's nothing to tell. Just leave me alone," Jessie huffs.

"What is Eli whining about Jess?" Karen asks, finally giving in to her curiosity.

Eli's face turns a bright crimson and Jessie smirks as she looks at him. "Eli wants me to give him tips in picking up chicks," she says, her irritation turning to amusement as she looks at her mortified brother. Karen and Katie burst into laughter.

"I didn't say it like that," he says, trying to recover his dignity and forge a sense of manliness after everyone stopped laughing.

tbc