A/N: Okay, this was my entry in the "Heartbreak" writing competition thing on MCBC. For the moment it's just a one-shot. I don't know yet if I want to continue. So, yeah. Read. Review. Tell me if I should continue or not. That sort of thing. lol.

One Love

Jesse sat in the window seat in Susannah's bedroom, watching as she slept peacefully. He smiled a little. It was hard to imagine that she could look so peaceful in sleep considering how she acted while she was awake.

He wasn't supposed to be there, he knew that. He should have been down at the rectory. Susannah didn't need him there just then, she didn't even know he was with her. Nonetheless, it made him feel better to be near her. On most nights it kept the haunting memories at bay.

Unfortunately, tonight would not be one of those nights. As Jesse watched her, his mind floated back over the years. Closing his eyes, he could still see her face as it had been the last time he'd seen her. She'd smiled up at him, and looked sweeter than anything he'd ever seen before.

She laid her head on his chest, smiling. "Are you going to miss me?"

He laughed, linking his arms around her waist. "It's only for a week, querida."

She pulled back a little and fake glared at him. "So? That doesn't mean you can't miss me, does it."

Jesse laughed again and leaned down, brushing a kiss against her lips. "Of course I'll miss you. I won't be able to think of anything else."

Jesse opened his eyes, sighing. It had been the last time he'd seen her alive. When he had found her a week later, it had been too late to save her, she was already dead.

He'd found her again. He found her after he himself had died. But she never even knew he was there. She had a new life, one that didn't include him or any memory of him at all. But the man--the one who had taken her from him in the first place--had found her, too, and Jesse thought it was fairly safe to say that the man's only purpose in life--in all the lives he had had--was to punish her in the cruelest ways possible.

Punish her for loving Jesse, all those years ago.

Jesse knew that was why she died each time, despite his attempts to save her. She never saw him, never knew he was there, and each time he found her, the man had already found her first.

Jesse looked at Susannah again. She never saw him, was never aware of him at all. Never had anyway of being warned of the danger she was in.

Until now.