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.) I may not own the fact that Jesse has five sisters (ages 6-16 when he died), but I do own who the five girls are – i.e. their personalities and names. In short, I also own Juanita "Nita" De Silva, Estefana De Silva, Felicidad "Felly" De Silva, Dolores "Dolly" De Silva, and most of all Carmen De Silva.
To Alda Rethe: Er… I almost forgot about Eve. She'll be back though. And now that Jesse's back he can help Suze deal with her… ^_-
I've already posted the story about Carmen, Jesse, and the rest of the De Silvas. It's called "Confessions of the Five De Silva Girls." It should be my next big project. ^__^ Thank you for reviewing once again!
To missixty: Jesse's my favorite Mediator character as well. ^_- Thanks for the review.
To Arda Silverlace: Nah, I won't kill off Paul. I may beat him to a bloody pulp a few times, but I won't kill him. ^_^
I had fun creating Pase and Tahemet. The names are actual Egyptian names I came across in researching for another story. His sisters were fun to imagine as well. I'll be going into greater detail on how they interacted with Jesse and how they felt after his disappearance/death in my new fanfic "Confessions of the Five De Silva Girls."
Anyhow, thanks so much for all the compliments and comments! ^__^
To Clavel: I'd really, really, really prefer if you used different names. I get so attached to my characters you see. I'm so glad you asked, but please no. If I read your story I'm just going to compare them to my versions of them, and I'd really rather not do that. I don't know if the link will show up on ff.net, but here's a link to a site with hundreds of names to chose from and their origins (it's where I get most of my character names):
h t t p: / /ww w. geo cities . c o m /edgarbook / names/ names1. h t m l
(Just take out the spaces I added so it would show up.) The names don't even have to be Spanish. I mean, look at Jesse's real name: Hector.
Chapter 11: The Rebirth of Her World
"Hey, Mom?"
"Yeah, Susie?"
"Did Dad's ancestors ever live in Boston?"
"Umm…Oh! Yeah. Ages ago, I think. Why?"
"No reason," I replied. I couldn't help but grin. So I did get my green eyes from Angelina and my last name from Gabriel. Oh, the things you learn when you travel back in time. Like info on your family.
"What was the purpose of that?" Jesse asked a few minutes later.
"I met some of the ancient Simons when I was in your time," I explained with a grin.
"Ancient?" Jesse repeated. "How old does that mean I am to you?"
"Ancient, but you look good for your age," I teased.
Jesse sighed. "Susannah…" he muttered, shaking his head and making me grin.
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The next day – to my disappointment – was a school day. It seemed like ages since I'd last been there. Okay, it was only two days, but still! It felt like an eternity.
I left my room with Jesse sitting on the window seat absorbed in reading A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson. I checked out how many pages it has, and there's five hundred and sixty! What kind of short history is that?
I have long given up on figuring out what Jesse sees in books like that. I mean, compare those books to me and you get nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
"Mom, I swear I didn't fall asleep in health class!"
"This note from your teacher says you did!"
"How would he know? He was yelling at Adam for making comments on Sister Ernestine's anatomy in between talking about puberty!"
"Susie…"
I so didn't fall asleep. I just was trying so hard to keep from laughing at Adam's jokes that I fell off my chair. Big deal.
AND WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING MY NAME LIKE THAT? Like they're exasperated with my behavior, I mean. Even CeeCee did it to me at lunch!
I asked Jesse why he thought everyone – including him – was doing this, and he just looked at me with his scarred eyebrow raised. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered.
As I was tramping through my room in a huff, I noticed the rose sitting on my desk. I'd forgotten to bring it to the Mission. Nice one, Suze. You really are losing it. No wonder people keep looking at you strangely.
Now I had two choices:
1) Go back to school via a bike. (Distance: Two miles) (Pleasure Factor: Probably none)
2) Just stay at home with Jesse. (Distance: Zero miles) (Pleasure Factor: Priceless. I mean, one word – JESSE!)
That settled that. I'd go tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn't have put it off though. After all, then I would've been that much closer to getting my surprise.
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"Susannah, haven't you noticed something strange about the rose that woman gave you?" Jesse asked a little while later as I did my homework at my desk.
"Huh?" I mumbled, looking up from my math homework. Sure enough, Jesse was right. Not only was the rose sitting on the corner of the dresser still alive without roots or water, it wasn't red anymore. It was white. "What the heck?" I said – except I didn't say heck.
I picked it up and examined the flower's stem and petals. The thorns were gone, but how? And, for that matter, why? Just as strange was the tinkling, throbbing sensation the rose was giving off. It was like a current flowing through me. I dropped the rose like it was on fire and glanced at it. I caught sight of a hint of red and green out of the corner of my eyes. My feet. Spread across my ankle was a little tattoo-like imprint of a red rose – complete with two thick green leaves and thorns.
My eyes widened as I bent down to touch the mark. It was definitely a rose. But how'd it get there? I glanced at the rose. Its stem was white now too. It was like the more the color bled away, the more inked onto my skin. The rose at my ankle was definitely getting darker.
What the heck was going on?
"Susannah?" Jesse asked, standing up. "Is something wrong?"
That was when the rose started to disappear from the stem upwards. I snatched it up and said, "I'll be right back, Jesse." I ran out the door and was out of the house and with a bike faster than ever before.
I was at the Mission in record-breaking time and out into the graveyard. I knew I had to place the rose on Jesse's grave before it disappeared or something awful would happen. The strange feeling ran through my body as I set down the half-gone rose on the protruding stone ledge connecting Jesse's grave with the earth.
With a flash of light, the rose was gone.
I stared at the spot it had vanished for some time…just waiting.
And then I saw her. A short woman with fierce dark eyes and waist-length brown hair coming towards Jesse's grave. Her skin was tan and she looked weather-beaten from the creases on her forehead – right down past her frayed green gown – and down to her bare toes. She couldn't have been more than twenty-five in appearance despite her battered look, but her eyes said she was far older.
It was like meeting Pase and the gladiator-guy, but…different somehow. This woman was strong-minded, not aloof like the other two. She'd been a real person at one time.
She stopped walking on the opposite side of the grave and said, "Susannah Simon." It definitely wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway.
She glanced down over the grave at my feet – no. At the mark on my ankle. "Ah, so it did mark you as well," she whispered. Then she stuck out her bare right ankle from behind the gravestone and I could see the exact same rose pattern there.
"I was marked as the messenger," she continued. "You as the receiver."
She smiled then and said, "Dios! This solemn attitude doesn't suit me…or you for that matter." The way she had yelled "Dios" reminded me of Jesse and how he said "Nombre de Dios" so often. Come to think of it, she was a lot like Jesse.
"Don't you remember me?" she asked, smirking. "Makes sense though. You only noticed my more innocent form."
"Who-" I began. I wet my dry lips and tried again, "Who are you?"
"My name's Carmen. Carmen De Silva Fiero," replied the woman.
"Carmen?" I squeaked. She did look like the little girl, but taller and braid-less and with more chiseled features.
Pase did say something special would occur.
"Surprised? I am a mediator as well you know," Carmen said. "Although, I didn't know what to really call myself 'til I was as old and gray as my Abuela was when she dubbed me a spirit shaman."
"How?" I gasped. I could barely talk I was so shocked.
"When I was twenty-five, I learned of the ability to save someone from dying, and, as such, I traveled back in time to save my brother's life. I was sure everything would be better if Felix Diego had not killed him," Carmen explained.
"How'd you know Diego killed Jesse?" I croaked.
"William, a ghost I was helping at the time – and my future husband for that matter – saw Diego kill Jesse," Carmen replied.
"Oh," I muttered.
"So along the way back in time, I met Pase and Tahemet," Carmen continued. "Pase told me to be wary and decide by careful observation if I really should save Jesse." She looked at me meaningfully then. "She gave me a rose like the one you had and told me to look for another time-traveler like me. Then, she gave me your name. 'Said you would show me the answer to my questions."
She smiled ruefully. "You did. I saw what you were doing. Why you were doing it actually, and I knew I couldn't take Jesse from you. You needed him more than my family. So I returned to Pase and told her what I'd seen. Pase made me a deal. She told me if after I died I'd give ya the message I'm gonna give ya, then she'd let me see Jesse one last time. After all, I was only six when he died, and, even though I was a mediator, I didn't see him that often after he died."
She sighed and said, "So here's the message: Now that thou hast greater fortune, thou may acquire thine heart's desire. Just prove thy love thrice over, and thy love shall receive the gift of life's touch."
She cleared her throat and said, "I don't see why Pase couldn't've given that message to ya herself, but I'm not complaining. After all, now I can see Jesse again."
"Carmen," I said, as she turned away.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you…for not saving Jesse. I know how much he loved you guys," I said. My voice was cracking after every word.
"Don't mention it," said Carmen. "I knew he was needed here more. Besides, soon he'll have a new life to live fully with you."
She winked and dematerialized as I tried to say something else.
"Now that thou hast greater fortune, thou may acquire thine heart's desire. Just prove thy love thrice over, and thy love shall receive the gift of life's touch."
Hmm, well, my heart's desire is…to be with Jesse for good. That would mean he would be alive again. So all I had to do was prove my love three times, right? How many times so far? Oh yea:
#1 – When I told him not to come to the exorcism at the Mission I was having for Heather. In the end, he rescued me by having Sleepy and Doc rescue me, so I guess that doesn't count… Besides, I wasn't totally in love with him yet. Atleast I hadn't admitted it to myself yet.
Real #1 – When I exorcised myself. (That has to count for something. I mean – as Jesse pointed out to me – I killed myself.)
#2 – When I took shifter lessons with Paul so he wouldn't exorcise Jesse. (I hate Paul, so this one is another definite.)
#3 – I've done a lot of over things with Jesse, but nothing really totally love proving. So there's no #3…yet.
But I do know something that's not life threatening – yet will definitely prove my love for the third – thrice – time.
Three little, powerful, meaningful words.
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A/N: Mwhahaha. Sorry I left you all with a bad cliffhanger. I couldn't help it. *laughs* But next chapter expect fluffy goodness.
A/N 2: REVIEW! ^__- 'Til next time, guys!