Disclaimer: No matter how much I want to, I will never own Jim, Walt Disney and Robert Louis Stevenson do. *sigh* How depressing....
No one reviewed chapter 6 yet. What's up with that?! But I still am kind enough to upload another chapter. Aren't I nice? And by the way you guys get NO COOKIES!!!!!!! Bad peoples! PAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got my first kiss!!!!!!!!!!!! So this chapter is LOOSELY based on that!!!!
Chapter 7
Three months later.
"Zandra?" Jim called. He hadn't seen her since her last shift. The inn was closed now and he was finally on break. The rest of the "family" as Zandra had adopted everyone at the Benbow was already asleep. He wandered toward the hall where Zandra had come to them from. Every night he walked down that hall, thanking an unknown someone for bringing her to him. It had been practically a year since she had came through the wall into his world. As he turned to walk down the hallway, he noticed something, an eerie, iridescent green glow. It looked just like the glow that had lead him to discover Zandra. There was a small figure bathed in the light of the glow. At once he realized it was Zandra. She was walking toward it almost in a trance.
"Zandra? Zandra!" She turned and looked at him, his voice breaking through the trance of the light. At that exact instant the glow disappeared. She spun around toward the wall, and let out a small cry of alarm, as tears started to stream down her cheeks.
"Zan, what is it?" He asked, hurrying to her side.
"It's nothing, Jim." She rushed, as she quickly wiped the tears off of her face with the back of her hand.
"Yes, it is something, Zandra. Otherwise you wouldn't be crying." He tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eye. She trembled under his steady gaze. He was so sweet, and nice, and good, and so...so...wonderful. It hurt so bad that he didn't think about her in the same way. Or so she thought.
"You're right as usual."
"Will you tell me what it is?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you wouldn't understand."
"Try me." She looked up into his eyes, letting him look into her soul. She stared at him for several minutes as she felt her resolves weaken.
"Okay, I'll tell you. But you can't freak out okay?"
"Okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She drew a shaky breath, "I wanted to go back." He felt himself weaken.
"Why?" She smiled inwardly at how pale his face was.
"I don't know. All I ever knew there was pain. My mother used to abuse me, verbally...emotionally...physically, especially physically. That and making me feel like a useless excuse of a human being, were her favorite ways to turn me into a perfect lady. But it never worked, so she beat me up more and more often."
"What about your father?"
"He was always away, I only saw him like, three times a year. That was the only time my mother was ever nice to me." He gently pulled her close to him. "Oh Zan, I'm so, so sorry."
"It's okay, I was doing just fine." Now where had he heard that before?
"No, you weren't."
"Yes, I was."
"What makes you say so?"
"Because now I've got a place where I belong, where I feel loved. You took the pain away and let me have a home." If only she knew how loved she was here.
"If you could would you go back now? Right now?" He looked down into her the big, sea goddess eyes.
She closed her eyes and sank from his arms to the floor for a long time, remembering all the bad things of her old home, remembering the feeling of peace and belong of this place she now called home. She was silent for several minutes. Jim stepped a few paces away, just starring at her. She was trembling and rocking back and forth on her knees. She pressed her hands together and lifted her fingertips to her lips.
*Flashback*
...."Momma, please don't! I didn't mean to. I won't do it again. I promise!"
"But of course you won't, especially after this!"...
*End of that Flashback start of new one*
....She and Jim were washing the lunch dishes after a very long lunch hour.
On impulse she threw a drenched sponge at him when his back was turned. Slowly he turned around and looked at her. He took a few menacing steps toward her. He grabbed the cup he'd just finished cleaning a dunked it in the rinse water. She shrieked and started to dodge, but it was too late. Soon an all out water fight was raging...
*End of Flashback*
She felt the pain she'd felt at her old home started to finally drain away as a feeling of total peace set upon her shoulders. After the long minutes of silence and good and bad memories passed, her eyes flew open.
"A few minutes ago I might have," Jim felt the strength begin to drain out of his legs.
"But now I think, no....I know that I would stay." Jim pulled her to her feet and pressed a feather light kiss on her lips.
"You have no idea how much I wanted to hear you say that."
"I think I've got a good idea," She murmured, leaning into him.
