Timeout
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Carroll, including Jesse (*cough*darn*cough*), Suze, Paul, Father D, CeeCee, Adam, etc.
Claimer: I own Miss Evelyn "Eve" Gemma and the plot. (I still wish I owned Jesse instead of Eve.)
To Corcra: Ah. You caught something I was originally going to explain in my summary, but decided not to. I didn't want to give away too much info you see. Everyone will forget… except mediators… *laughs*
I suppose you're right about Rob not being a bad guy. Tough guy does sound more accurate. He's a tough guy with a record. ^_^ I want to know what he got arrested for though, don't you? Hehe. I love how he's always predicting what Jess is going to say, and usually guesses correctly.
Anyhow, thanks again!
To allie: *blinks* Ummm… well, what can I say to that? *laughs* You mean sad as in gloomy or sad as in – er – messed up? Either way, thanks for the extremely brief review.
To Mags: Yes, Jesse will come back…eventually. I'd go through withdrawal if he didn't. ^_^ The story just wouldn't be the same with out him. He makes a tiny appearance in this chapter though. ^__- Thank you for reviewing!
To Alexis De Silva: You mean conniption, right? Either way, thank you so much for reviewing! ^__^
To Clavel: *laughs* I love Jesse too. What's not to love? Even his "ancient manners" are lovable. ^__^ Thanks for the review!
To PantherKat13: ^__^ Ah. It's always nice to hear I'm writing in character. Hehe. ^__^ Thanks for reviewing!
A/N: If you must know, this chapter gave me some trouble getting off the ground at first. Here it is nonetheless…
Chapter 5: Living In a Daze
To say things got better for me would've been totally wrong. Oh, sure, I wasn't bawling my eyes out anymore, but I wasn't really "normal" either. I mean, "normal" for me anyway. I was just kept going, living through a lifeless pattern in a daze. A bland, Jesse-less daze.
The only people who seemed to notice were Father D and Sleepy though. My mom and Andy were running about getting ready for our "big" trip to the rest of the Ackerman family in Chicago for Thanksgiving. Why we were preparing for three days in the windy city a half-month in advance was beyond me, but Andy insisted.
But my oldest stepbrother, Sleepy, really did notice. I think he was worried I was taking drugs – because he still thought I was in a gang no matter what I said otherwise. He confronted me the week after Paul changed the past.
"Admit it," he said. "You're on something." He was actually quite awake to my surprise.
I gave him a skeptical look – one eyebrow raised – and said, "You have to be kidding me. How many times do I have to tell you I'm not in a gang and I'm not high on something, Jake?" Jake is Sleepy's real name.
"Then why do you act like that?" Sleepy accused, turning that dubious gaze right back at me.
"Because – as Mom's psychiatrist always hinted at – I'm a teenager from Brooklyn prone to violence!" I almost yelled. Instead, I said it with my teeth gritted and stormed away.
After that, Sleepy just went back to being, well, sleepy – which was fine with me. I didn't need him on my back. I had enough of that from Father D – who seemed to think I was going to rush off and change Jesse's past at any moment.
Not to mention Eve.
Yeah, she was back. And I was so going to kick her butt if she didn't move on soon. I was doing my homework when she materialized at my shoulder. I had been twirling my pencil between two fingers and eyeing a math problem darkly. Now, I was aiming the piece of wood like it was I stake. The unlikely vampire – er – ghost, I mean, grunted and said, "Still alive and spunky I see. Don't you mediators ever die?"
Mediators. As in the plural. "You've seen other mediators?" I asked cautiously – still pointing the pencil at Eve.
"I went to that old priest a few minutes ago," Eve explained. "He was as much help as you though. Maybe even less, and that's saying something."
Ah oh. That didn't sound right to me…
"What did you do to Father Dom?" I accused, narrowing my eyes.
"I didn't push him off a cliff. Once is enough for me," replied Eve with a twirl of her red hair around her index finger.
"Eve…" I warned her with a jab of my pencil point to her black sweater. She was as tall as me in her high heels, so we were eyeing each other evenly.
"He'll live," Eve said with a smirk. I made a grab for her sleeve, but she'd dematerialized by then.
No one answered when I phoned the Mission or the rectory. Usually the secretary would if she hadn't already gone home or Father D…
But no one answered, so I hurried downstairs and was at the Mission quicker than usual. Just because Eve thought whatever she'd done to Father Dominic wasn't life-threatening, didn't mean it wasn't.
I found Father Dom sitting in a pew in the church, dabbing the cut on his forehead with his sleeve and a little out of it. He had a concussion that – from the looks of his surroundings – had been caused by being beaned in the head with a bible. A thick black one with gold lettering on the cover. Ouch. An altar was lying on the floor nearby as well.
"Father Dom, you okay?"
"Ah, Susannah. I'll be fine. Can you get me something to wipe the blood up?" Father Dom queried with a weary smile.
I grabbed this cloth sitting by this marble pool of water. Hey, I don't know what it's called. I don't go to Mass. I dipped the white fabric in the water and ran back towards Father D.
He took the cloth with a "Thank you, Susannah," and wiped his forehead, while telling me what had happened.
"That Eve certainly is violent," he began. "She was polite at first though. 'Asked me if I could help her in her goal. I told her yes of course and asked her what she required of me."
"'She told you all about her career?" I questioned.
"Yes, and even a little about how little she thought you'd helped her."
"Hey, I tried to help her," I defended myself. She just was too stuck-up to give me enough time.
"I know you did, and I made the mistake of telling her what I thought politely," Father Dom said.
"But she got ticked at you and chucked a bible at your head?" I suggested.
"Exactly," answered Father D, a little resentfully. He stood up and pointed towards the wooden altar lying on the floor. "And that as well."
I nodded. Double ouch.
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I should've suspected that my surroundings weren't just being changed by Jesse's new past. I mean, shouldn't I have noticed that CeeCee wasn't asking about Jesse anymore and Dopey wasn't making comments about my relationship with Jesse? But I didn't put two-and-two together until I was talking to my youngest stepbrother, Doc.
"Suze?" Doc asked, peeking into my room.
"Don't worry Jesse and the cat aren't here," I said without thinking.
"Huh? Whose Jesse, and what cat are you talking about? I was just going to tell you dinner's ready," Doc said.
"What do mean whose Jesse? He's-oh," I broke off. Just as the miniature of Jesse had vanished, so had Doc's memory of ever helping me in finding Jesse's history. "Never mind. I'll be down in a minute."
Doc looked puzzled, but he replied at the same, "All right."
So Doc didn't remember, but Father Dom and I did, and I bet Paul did too… Did that mean only mediators did?
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The whole Doc-doesn't-remember-Jesse thing got me thinking. Was Dopey's Jacuzzi party still trashed by Paul and Jesse even though Jesse hadn't been a ghost in this new version of things? And what about Craig? Would I have still mediated him the same way? Would Heather have killed me, or would the RLS Angels have murdered Michael? I mean, Jesse told Doc to help me at the Mission when I was exorcising Heather and he helped me stop the RLS Angels, so could I have done these alone?
No, probably not. So I decided to check some things out. There were too many what-ifs.
I started with the whole Heather thing. I went to Doc to find my answers:
"David?" I asked him. "Have you ever been to the Mission at night?" Smooth, Simon. Real smooth.
"No, why?" Doc answered. Of course he hadn't. Jesse was the one who'd sent him and Sleepy to help me.
"No reason," I replied, shrugging. "I was just curious about what the Mission looks like in the dark." Now that was stupid, Simon. Get the kid suspicious, why don't you?
"I bet it's eerie," Doc said, turning back to the book he'd been reading – Critical Theory Since Plato. Argh. That reminded me painfully of Jesse.
"Thanks anyway, Doc," I said, sidling towards his bedroom door.
He mumbled something – he was too absorbed in the book to look up – and I stepped out. So I seemed to be alive, meaning MY past hadn't changed, but Doc's had, so how was I okay after the Heather incident?
Okay, no more heavy contemplation for me. It just makes my head hurt. This changing the past thing is messed up.
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I have to be dreaming. This isn't possible. First of all, normally the chances of seeing me in a bonnet are nil. Not to mention a corset. I have to be dreaming.
Besides, in this dream I'm watching Jesse chat with some other guy across the room. Yes, Jesse's in this dream, just like he used to.
Paul's here too, standing in one corner flirting with a trio of girls in hoop skirts, bonnets, and shawls. He's wearing those clothes he had on when he returned from the past and grinning at the girls like a fox.
But it's Jesse I'm paying more attention to than him. Jesse – in all his hot glory – glances at me and turns away. I'm sitting on the side of the dance floor, one ankle tucked behind the other and petticoats all around.
Jeez, girls had so many damn layers of clothing in this time.
Now, Jesse is walking towards me, looking calm. "Buenos noches, senorita," he says.
"Oh, hello," I nervously reply.
"My name is Hector De Silva."
"Susannah Simon." I don't know what possesses me to say my full name, but it sounds right for this era.
Jesse holds out his hand to my gloved one and asked, "May I have this dance, Senorita Simon?"
I nod and say, "Of course." As soon as I take his hand and start to stand up, I look up into his eyes and…
Find myself sitting in my bed, staring up into my canopy. Darn. And that dream was staring to get good too.
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A/N: *takes on a deep announcer voice* Is the dream an omen? If so, a good or bad one? Will Suze change her mind about fixing Jesse's past? Will Eve move on? Find out in the next installment of "Timeout!"
P.S. That was corny… Don't forget to review! Bye! ^__^