Title: Life Itself
Author: Sara n Lizzie
Disclaimer: Meg is God.
Rating: PG-13, possibly changing
Summary: Post Haunted. A whole new catastrophe arises. Jesse and Suze have got to trust Paul to survive, and nothing is as it seems.
Author's Note:
"You know if you try to put your lips anywhere near mine, you'll be killed twice." I say defensively as Paul and I walk to his car.
"Geez Simon, keep your pants on."
"Don't worry Paul, I will." I said. I had agreed to shifting lessons, not to suffer mercilessly at his constant innuendo.
We reached his BMW and climbed in, me keeping as far away from him as humanly possible. He must have sensed this -or seen me sitting the door I was practically falling out of the car- so he looked over at me and said "Suze, seriously, I wont try anything."
I eyed him, and he looked serious enough, so I moved myself to the middle of the seat, and watched Paul as he started the ignition. This guy was such a mystery. Sometimes I saw this malicious, terrible monster, while other time, like now, I just saw a boy, who was maybe confused and vulnerable.
But I'll never figure it out with him. I mused these thoughts until he broke the silence. "What are you thinking about?"
"Jesse."
"Liar. You're not grinning like an idiot."
Damn. Paul was not lacking in the brains department. "Ok, so I was thinking about shifting and stuff." I sort of admitted. I definitely did not want to tell Paul I had been thinking about his complexities, so I lied. He seemed to buy my answer, and it was silent until we reached his house.
He led me into the kitchen and wordlessly handed me a bottle of water. Then he turned around and started walking. I followed him, not into his bedroom, as I suspected but into a large room that looked like our family room, only about ten times bigger. We sat on the couch, and to my surprise, he did not sit extremely close to me, or invade my space at all.
It was like a reformed Paul Slater. And I didn't buy the act at all. I wanted to, but it was Paul. He had to have some ulterior motive, he always did. The thing that made me nervous was I didn't know what the motive was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He didn't ask me to go to the Shadowland. Thank God. I hate that place. All he did was tell me stuff about shifting. Stuff about what I could do, and different ways to mediate. He was helping me. And I wasn't, as far as I knew, hallucinating.
And then the most amazing thing happened. We had a normal conversation. About Kelly Prescott no less. And this somehow, led to Maria.
"So you saw her?" I asked.
"Yea. I thought she might have needed help you know? And when she got that I was a mediator, she asked about you."
"So you told Father Dom?"
"Yea. Why do you sound so shocked?"
"I figured you'd draw her a map to my front door."
"I care about you Suze. Even if you cant see past Jesse."
"Paul, please don't do this. I know you care, but I love Jesse." And he looked at me with these sad looking eyes and smiled this sad looking smile.
"I'll take you home Suze."
He got up again, and grabbed his keys, and I followed him out to the car. He drove without talking, and didn't once stop staring at the road. I fiddled with the radio in his car like I owned it until I couldn't stand it.
"Paul?" I asked cautiously. "Is something wrong? Did I do something?"
HE looked at me. "Suze, you never did anything wrong."
"Paul, I can tell something is bothering you."
"Isn't obvious Suze?"
Now quite clearly, if it was obvious, I wouldn't have had to ask him would I?
He sighed. "I can't stand that I can't have you Suze. Because every time I see you, I fall for you more. And you love Jesse."
IT was about this time that my mouth dropped open. I began to, for the first time, see Paul Slater as a human. I mean I knew he liked me, or at least knew he liked kissing me, but I had no idea he actually cared about me.
"Paul," I began, trying to think of something reassuring to say to the guy that I had, up until today, considered inhuman, but I didn't get the chance, because I noticed Maria had materialized in the backseat, and was busy ringing her hands around Paul's neck.
Thankfully, I reacted fast, and grabbed the wheel, steering the BMW through the streets, desperately trying not a) crash, or b) hit someone, especially young children or old ladies. Paul kept his foot on the gas as he tried to pry Maria off him. HE managed to dislodge one of her hands from around his neck.
This was getting seriously dangerous. So I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed Maria's dress, and pictured that place, and in no time, we were surrounded by shadows. She stared at me and smiled.
"Clever, Susannah, very clever." She said in that chilling voice of hers. "But it will not deter me from Jesse for long."
Oh that was crossing a line. No girl even talks about putting her hands on Jesse. I prepared to let her have it good in the face, but she caught my arm and almost knocked me over. I realized that this was a bad situation, and as soon as I got out of her grip, I hightailed my spirit back to Paul's car, which was now parked in the parking lot of a Blockbuster.
"Suze! Are you ok?"
"Yea, just had to do a little life saving shiftage."
"I figured."
"God." I said, rubbing the spot where she'd grabbed my wrist. "What a bitch."
"I couldn't agree more." Said Paul starting the car. ~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~**~*~*~*~*~
Jesse's POV
I watched from her window as the car pulled up the driveway and Susannah hopped out, actually pausing to converse with Paul Slater before slamming the door. I turned away. There were few things I hated more than the thought of Susannah alone with him.
I listened to her exchange greeting with various other members of the Ackerman household, and bound up the stairs. But when she crossed the threshold into her bedroom, she looked worried.
"Has Maria been here?" she asked me, throwing down her books.
"No. Susannah she hasn't been here. Why?"
"Oh, because she paid me and Paul a little visit." I stopped moving towards her. It struck me like a fist, the way she said 'me and Paul' so casually. "Oh God, I'm sorry Jesse, you know I didn't mean me and Paul like that."
"I know querida. Now tell me what happened."
"We were driving home, and she materialized in the backseat. And then, she choked Paul, but he was driving, so I grabbed her and shifted into Shadowland, and then she said she would get you no matter what, and I tried to punch her, but she completely overpowered me, so I just shifted back." Susannah said, all in a frightened rush.
I put my arms around her. "I'm really scared Jesse." She whispered. "She's strong. So much stronger than the last time and I just don't know what we're going to do."
I hated to hear her talk like this, but she was right, Maria was very powerful. However this was my Susannah and we would make it through this. So I kept up my strong demeanor. "Susannah, we can do this together. I know we can."
And at least for now, she seemed to believe it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Longer chapter. Not too long, but I'm making progress. Review!
"
Author: Sara n Lizzie
Disclaimer: Meg is God.
Rating: PG-13, possibly changing
Summary: Post Haunted. A whole new catastrophe arises. Jesse and Suze have got to trust Paul to survive, and nothing is as it seems.
Author's Note:
"You know if you try to put your lips anywhere near mine, you'll be killed twice." I say defensively as Paul and I walk to his car.
"Geez Simon, keep your pants on."
"Don't worry Paul, I will." I said. I had agreed to shifting lessons, not to suffer mercilessly at his constant innuendo.
We reached his BMW and climbed in, me keeping as far away from him as humanly possible. He must have sensed this -or seen me sitting the door I was practically falling out of the car- so he looked over at me and said "Suze, seriously, I wont try anything."
I eyed him, and he looked serious enough, so I moved myself to the middle of the seat, and watched Paul as he started the ignition. This guy was such a mystery. Sometimes I saw this malicious, terrible monster, while other time, like now, I just saw a boy, who was maybe confused and vulnerable.
But I'll never figure it out with him. I mused these thoughts until he broke the silence. "What are you thinking about?"
"Jesse."
"Liar. You're not grinning like an idiot."
Damn. Paul was not lacking in the brains department. "Ok, so I was thinking about shifting and stuff." I sort of admitted. I definitely did not want to tell Paul I had been thinking about his complexities, so I lied. He seemed to buy my answer, and it was silent until we reached his house.
He led me into the kitchen and wordlessly handed me a bottle of water. Then he turned around and started walking. I followed him, not into his bedroom, as I suspected but into a large room that looked like our family room, only about ten times bigger. We sat on the couch, and to my surprise, he did not sit extremely close to me, or invade my space at all.
It was like a reformed Paul Slater. And I didn't buy the act at all. I wanted to, but it was Paul. He had to have some ulterior motive, he always did. The thing that made me nervous was I didn't know what the motive was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He didn't ask me to go to the Shadowland. Thank God. I hate that place. All he did was tell me stuff about shifting. Stuff about what I could do, and different ways to mediate. He was helping me. And I wasn't, as far as I knew, hallucinating.
And then the most amazing thing happened. We had a normal conversation. About Kelly Prescott no less. And this somehow, led to Maria.
"So you saw her?" I asked.
"Yea. I thought she might have needed help you know? And when she got that I was a mediator, she asked about you."
"So you told Father Dom?"
"Yea. Why do you sound so shocked?"
"I figured you'd draw her a map to my front door."
"I care about you Suze. Even if you cant see past Jesse."
"Paul, please don't do this. I know you care, but I love Jesse." And he looked at me with these sad looking eyes and smiled this sad looking smile.
"I'll take you home Suze."
He got up again, and grabbed his keys, and I followed him out to the car. He drove without talking, and didn't once stop staring at the road. I fiddled with the radio in his car like I owned it until I couldn't stand it.
"Paul?" I asked cautiously. "Is something wrong? Did I do something?"
HE looked at me. "Suze, you never did anything wrong."
"Paul, I can tell something is bothering you."
"Isn't obvious Suze?"
Now quite clearly, if it was obvious, I wouldn't have had to ask him would I?
He sighed. "I can't stand that I can't have you Suze. Because every time I see you, I fall for you more. And you love Jesse."
IT was about this time that my mouth dropped open. I began to, for the first time, see Paul Slater as a human. I mean I knew he liked me, or at least knew he liked kissing me, but I had no idea he actually cared about me.
"Paul," I began, trying to think of something reassuring to say to the guy that I had, up until today, considered inhuman, but I didn't get the chance, because I noticed Maria had materialized in the backseat, and was busy ringing her hands around Paul's neck.
Thankfully, I reacted fast, and grabbed the wheel, steering the BMW through the streets, desperately trying not a) crash, or b) hit someone, especially young children or old ladies. Paul kept his foot on the gas as he tried to pry Maria off him. HE managed to dislodge one of her hands from around his neck.
This was getting seriously dangerous. So I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed Maria's dress, and pictured that place, and in no time, we were surrounded by shadows. She stared at me and smiled.
"Clever, Susannah, very clever." She said in that chilling voice of hers. "But it will not deter me from Jesse for long."
Oh that was crossing a line. No girl even talks about putting her hands on Jesse. I prepared to let her have it good in the face, but she caught my arm and almost knocked me over. I realized that this was a bad situation, and as soon as I got out of her grip, I hightailed my spirit back to Paul's car, which was now parked in the parking lot of a Blockbuster.
"Suze! Are you ok?"
"Yea, just had to do a little life saving shiftage."
"I figured."
"God." I said, rubbing the spot where she'd grabbed my wrist. "What a bitch."
"I couldn't agree more." Said Paul starting the car. ~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~**~*~*~*~*~
Jesse's POV
I watched from her window as the car pulled up the driveway and Susannah hopped out, actually pausing to converse with Paul Slater before slamming the door. I turned away. There were few things I hated more than the thought of Susannah alone with him.
I listened to her exchange greeting with various other members of the Ackerman household, and bound up the stairs. But when she crossed the threshold into her bedroom, she looked worried.
"Has Maria been here?" she asked me, throwing down her books.
"No. Susannah she hasn't been here. Why?"
"Oh, because she paid me and Paul a little visit." I stopped moving towards her. It struck me like a fist, the way she said 'me and Paul' so casually. "Oh God, I'm sorry Jesse, you know I didn't mean me and Paul like that."
"I know querida. Now tell me what happened."
"We were driving home, and she materialized in the backseat. And then, she choked Paul, but he was driving, so I grabbed her and shifted into Shadowland, and then she said she would get you no matter what, and I tried to punch her, but she completely overpowered me, so I just shifted back." Susannah said, all in a frightened rush.
I put my arms around her. "I'm really scared Jesse." She whispered. "She's strong. So much stronger than the last time and I just don't know what we're going to do."
I hated to hear her talk like this, but she was right, Maria was very powerful. However this was my Susannah and we would make it through this. So I kept up my strong demeanor. "Susannah, we can do this together. I know we can."
And at least for now, she seemed to believe it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Longer chapter. Not too long, but I'm making progress. Review!
"