Okay – thank you all for the wonderful reviews. Sky likes reviews, don't you Sky. Yep, sky likes reviews. Okay – time for some Q and A –

Allimba- its kind of a mix – both Jesse and Suze and Paul and Suze – it will switch through out the story – u'll see what I mean, but it should mainly be a Jesse/Suze story, I hope, but my mind takes me as I go, so you can never know.

Nice Hayley- umm today for them would be exactly 10 years after Paul went into his coma. (ten years and about two months after haunted) so that would be, what, year 2010, 2011?

Well that was all the questions I got – so on with the chapie :D

Chapter 2

Oh, thank god! I thought as I glanced over at the digital clock on the cash register, only forty minuets until closing time. Normally I liked being at work. When I wasn't in the back working on new designs, I was out front working with the customers, and giving them suggestions on what would go with what best. But today was different. I know that I shouldn't be worried, but there was something different about today that I couldn't shake off, and it wasn't just the fact that today will have been exactly 10 years since, well, you know.

I pushed my feelings aside and focused on my work. Since it was Sunday, we closed at three, leaving me to get home at around three thirty, leaving me an hour and half before I was due over at my parent's house. Through all of our busy schedules the Ackerman/De Silvafamily still managed to get together at least once a month. Although Jake and his family couldn't make it out to often, they would be there tonight, seeing that the dinner/party that was in honor of his son's first birthday.

"I still can't believe that I'm going out with Alex Sharp. He has to be like one of the most popular boys in school" Natasha McBride, you typical blond, had been talking about Alex ever since the beginning of the school year, when he had moved here from Jackson, Wyoming. It was kind of scary how much Tasha reminded me of Heather Prescott and all her friends.

"Well let's see if I remember right," I said in my best western accent. "Tall handsome cowboy, with dark curly hair, and eyes such perty hazel that it would git even the fella's swoonin over?" I finished ringing up the blue top and beige mini skirt that Tasha was buying as she went into a giggling fit. I hope I wasn't that bad at that age.

"That would be him Mrs. De Silva" Tasha said with another giggle, and I knew she was remembering something that had happened on their date, I had seen that look way to many times to not know.

"So I take it your date went well than?" I asked as she paid for her knew clothes.

"It sure did. Tell Mr. De Silva I said hi, and to lay of the homework." She said as she was leaving the store. "Not that you do it any way." I yelled back at her with a laugh.

It was as I was closing the cash register that I heard a low tone voice say "hand over all your money or I'll shoot." My heart dropped. You have to be kidding me. Of all things that could happen today, it had to be getting robed, just my luck.

I slowly raised my head, afraid that any sudden movements might make him pull the trigger, but what I saw, made me even madder. A very familiar face smiling down at me, I should have known.

"Gina! My god, aren't you a little old for that? I thought you were the mature one." I yelled at my best friend.

"I got you, didn't I?" Gina said, her voice now back to normal, despite the fact that she was trying her best to retain all her laughter. I started looking around at the customers in the shop, all of whom were staring, making sure that all was safe.

"I apologize about my friend here." I said out loud so that everyone could hear me. "She doesn't always know how far is too far, but assure you, you are perfectly safe from-" I was about to say harm, but all the sudden the ground started shacking. And I mean really shacking. In all the twelve years that I had lived here in California, I had gone through a few minor earthquakes, but those were basically nothing, a little shake, that was all. It took me a second to figure out what was going on, but when I did, I did what they had taught us to do in all the earthquake drills at the academy.

"Duck and cover! Duck and cover!" I yelled pulling my self and Gina down to the ground. I pushed Gina towards the other side of the check out counter, so she could hide under there and protect herself from falling debris, than rolled up into a ball and prayed that no one would get hurt. I don't know how long the quake lasted, but I know it was a big one, a seven pointer at least. At first I felt like I was on some sort of wave, than the feeling shifted to a jerky sensation and I actually had to grab on to the counter to prevent being flown to some other part of the shop.

When the quake finally ended a couple of minuets latter, I was the first person to regain themselves. "Is everyone all right?" I asked getting up to my feet? Glancing around, I saw the other girls in the shop doing the same. Everyone slowly yelled back an okay, and than scrambled out of the shop muttering things about going home to check on their families.

"hey, Kate, you can go home too, I doubt we will get any more customers this afternoon." I said to one of my employees that came in on Sundays. I fallowed her to the door, and made sure that it was locked after she left, and flipped on the closed sign.

I walked back over to Gina, who was still underneath the check out counter. Her face was pale and I noticed that she was shacking a little. "Gina? Are you all right?"

She looked over to me, her eyes wide "Are they always like that?" I couldn't help but laugh, although inside I as just as shaken up as she was, "no, there usually a lot milder. I'm going to straighten things up; you can sit here if you want or you can go in back and wait for me. What ever, It's your choice."

Gina crawled out from underneath the counter, than plopped herself on top of it. She watched as I started picking up manikins, racks and fallen clothes and put them where they belonged.

"So, when did you get into town?" I asked trying to get Gina back to her normal self.

"Huh? Oh, this afternoon, I came here first because I thought I could surprise you at work." she said, as I slowly noticed Gina going back to her normal self.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? It's not exactly like you." I asked, noting that when I did, her face sort of fell.

"It was sort of last minuet." Gina paused, and than continued as if deciding I would find out any ways, "Daniel and I broke up."

"Oh Gina, I'm so sorry. What happened? Do I need to fly over to New York and kick some Cartwright ass?" I asked, pounding my right fist into my left hand.

"No, it's okay; I was the one that broke it off. Not Daniel."

"Well what happened? I was sure that he was the one for you. I mean you two have been dating for what? Two years now?" I asked

"Yeah, I guess I thought he was just, well rushing things." Rushing things? Had I heard her right I mean two years was rushing things? "Gina, what happened?" I asked in a stern voice that I knew she couldn't back down from.

"Well, he sort of proposed to me." She said with her head bowed down. "And that's why you broke it off? Because he proposed to you? Gina are you crazy?" She got up and started putting things in their rightful spots. "this place is a mess, we should start cleaning or we'll never get out of here."

I didn't want to push her so the two of us cleaned up the place. It was about when we were finished that it dawned on me. "oh my god, Gina." She turned toward me thinking something was wrong. "your scared of commitment, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Gina said, her face going a little to the redder side.

"Think about it, Gina, before you started dating Daniel, you had never had a boyfriend longer than eight months. You've been through more boyfriends than Britney Spears and Madonna put together."

"How dare you compare me to a sixty year old who still goes around making out with people on stage, and don't even get me started with Britney." She said in a warning voice. I knew that comment would get her. Especially after this years academy award stunt that the two of them pulled. I mean, if the two of them had done that ten years ago, well, let's just say it probably would have started world war three, which might I add still hasn't happened yet, between the music industry and the public.

"I really thought Daniel would be the one for you. You two look perfect together. I mean, two years Gina, what do you expect him to do after two years?"

"You and Jesse didn't get married until after seven years of dating." Gina said in a dull look who's talking voice. "Need I remind you that we moved in together after two years of dating? We would have gotten married sooner, but we thought it would be best if we waited until we both had steady jobs. And why am I telling you what you already know?"

"I still think he's rushing things." Gina said, not willing to loose the battle. "Gina, just think about what I said, okay, and while your doing that, think about how happy you two were together." That got her to shut up. We finished cleaning up, and I went to the back office to call my mom to see if everyone over there was alright and to ask her if Gina could come to dinner tonight. Of course I knew it would be al right, since Andy loves to cook for people, and that's exactly how my mom replied.

When I came out of the office I saw Gina sitting on the counter, her head bowed as if in deep thought. "Do you really think I'm afraid of commitment?" she asked when she noticed that I had come back into the room.

I nodded my head, "and I also think that you owe Daniel an apology. He's a good guy, Gina. He won't hurt you, and I think he's someone who you can trust to be there for you." Okay, okay, so I knew a little bit more about Daniel Cartwright than Gina did. I hadn't exactly intended to find out what I did.

It happened about a year ago, when I went over to New York to visit Gina. Daniel came over, and didn't know that I was there. He was waiting for Gina to come down from her bedroom. I came in from the kitchen to say hello, but stopped in my tracks, not wanting to disturb the scene before me.

"-but Mommy feels that it's her fault that I died, because she wasn't watching me like she was supposed to be. I watch her pray to the lord every night to give me back to her. Can you tell her uncle Danni, can you?" the girl couldn't have been more than five years old. She was curled up in Daniel's arms and he was sitting on the couch, looking down at her so I couldn't see his face. The saddest part of the whole scene was that the little girl in Daniel's arms was dead, she was a ghost.

"Tell her what, Little Bella?" Daniel asked, and I could tell through his voice that he was close to tears. "Tell her that it isn't her fault that the evil man took me. And that I'll always be with her here." The girl said, placing her little fist over Daniel's heart.

"I will tell her that, Little Bella, but you have to promise to move on, you have to promise that you will go to the lord." He said, and I could tell that he was crying.

"I will uncle Danni, but don't cry for me, remember, you said I would be in a happy place." Daniel laughed, and pulled Bella into a tight hug. "Right you are, Little Bella, right you are."

"Make sure you tell her, and take care Uncle Danni." She said as she hugged Daniel back. "Goodbye Isabella." Bella pulled away and looked into Daniel's face.

"It's never Goodbye. We'll see each other again someday." She smiled, and than she was gone.

"All the sudden, I'm really glad that you're here for Gina, you have my approval, and that's saying a lot." Daniel looked up at me, and quickly brushed away his tears. I could tell he wasn't one to show anyone his sore spots.

"You could see her?" he asked. After I nodded my head, He said "she was my sister's only child, a couple of weeks ago; she was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Amy hasn't been the same since."

"A loss can do that to someone, especially when you don't know where they are, or if there all right. That's perhaps the only advantage you have of being a mediator." I started back towards the kitchen then stopped and turned around. "Oh, and Daniel, you better treat Gina with the same respect you treat Isabella there, or I promise you'll suffer my wrath." I said with a wink, than walked back into the kitchen before my own tears caught up with me.

"You are passing up a very good opportunity, Gina." I said, coming back into that present. "Maybe I am." I knew she wasn't going to go any farther than that, but hey, that was a big step to just admitting that much.

"Come on, lets get back to my house, we have less than an hour to get ready for diner over at the Ackerman house, and I know how long it takes for you to get ready. Plus, you add Jesse into the mix, we won't be out of that house till tomorrow."

As fate had it, I was right. It was ten minuets till five, and Gina and I still hadn't even changed our clothes yet. Seeing that it took about fifteen minuets to get over there, I was a little panicked.

"Hector De Silva," I yelled, using Jesse's birth name in my fury, "will you shut your mouth and finish getting ready, we're already late, and you know how Andy gets when the food on his table starts to get cold."

Jesse glanced down at the watch on his wrist. "Wow, where does the time go?" e said in a daze as he made his way up the stairs of our three bedroom house.

"History teachers" I said, shaking my head. Gina just laughed and made her way up the stairs herself into the guestroom.

"I'm sorry I yelled honey." I said as I walked into our bedroom and saw Jesse slipping one of his nicer shirts. (A/n – I was going to say Hawaiian, but for some reason, I don't think that would fit Jesse)

"You are forgiven, Querida." He said and gave me kiss reminding me that there would always be more waiting for me. "Hurry up and get ready, I don't want to have to take too much of a blame for being late. Oh, and please try to relax a bit, you're a lot more stressed than usual." That's my Jesse, always looking out for me, I thought as Jesse walked into the joined bathroom to finish getting ready.

I took out a pair of blue khakis and a white t-shirt, than quickly fallowed Jesse into the bathroom to finish getting ready my self.

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As fate had it, we really didn't have to worry about being late, seeing that Brad ended up being forty minuets late himself. Due to the earthquake that had happened earlier this afternoon, many people went to the emergency room for broken bones and stitches from flying debris and being flown around themselves. So Brad had to stay behind a little while longer to help out the next shift. Yes, you heard me right. Brad became a doctor. Can you believe that? I was so shocked the day I heard that Dopey was going to Medical school to become a doctor. I mean, after all, Brad had a new born son at the time.

Oh, come on, that part shouldn't be as shocking. What else do you expect Brad to do graduation night? Go home and go to sleep? I don't think so. Let's just say that Brad and Debbie Mancuso had a little too much fun that night. You know. The type of fun that left the two with a child.

Brad and Debbie had tried to stay together for awhile after Ryan was born, but it hadn't worked out, and Debbie left one morning saying she could take it anymore. Of course Debbie still came around every once in a while to see Ryan, but other than that, she was out of his life. Poor kid.

When Brad and Ryan finally walked in, we were all sitting around Andrew Jackson Ackerman, seeing who he would walk to next. Upon seeing new faces, AJ raced over into his father's lap, hiding himself from the strangers. "My god, Jake, is that the same little tike that I saw last year?"

"Sure is." Jake said, as he lifted Andrew back up. "AJ, say hi to your Uncle Brad." AJ gave a little squeal, and then turned around, once again hiding against his Father's chest. "He must get that from his father, but Emily, he definitely has your good looks."

"Watch it Brad," Emily said as she wrapped her arms around Jake and her son, "I'm married, remember." Then she leaned over and kissed Jake. David got up out and crossed over to Ryan.

"Watch it you two," he said, covering Ryan's eyes "there are children present."

"Yeah, get a room" Ryan chimed in. Jake and Emily pulled apart, and Jake looked back over to Brad, "I'm surprised you haven't noticed," he said "look to Suze's right."

Brad did so, and then got a huge smile on his face. "Gina, long time no see." Gina surprised me by saying "don't even think about it Ackerman, I'm taken." I guess she had made up her mind about Daniel.

"Wow Daddy. Let down twice in less than five minuets. You must be improving." Ryan said with a smirk on his face.

"Watch it kid" before Brad could do anything more Andy got up and headed for the kitchen. "Now that everyone's here, I vote we start eating."

"I'm with Grandpa." Ryan shouted as he raced to the kitchen to help Andy with the food. Ten minuets later we were all sitting around the table eating one of Andy's fabulous meals. Everything was miniature style, in honor of AJ's birthday.

"So Suze, when are you and Jesse going to give us some grandchildren?" my mom asked. "We've been discussing it" I said simply. I Jesse grabbed my hand to offer comfort. Truth be told, Jesse and I both wanted children really badly. But as fate had it, every time I could conceive a child, a really pissed off ghost would come and well, it usually would end with me miscarrying the child. Jesse and I hadn't told any one about the miscarriages though; we didn't want anyone to get worried or anything.

"Well, feel free to name one of the kids after me." David said I couldn't help but laugh. "yeah," I said "if I ever have a girl, I think I'll name her Davina. Does that sound like a plan, Jesse?"

"What ever you say, Querida." He replied with a laugh. All the sudden I felt my phone start to vibrate in my pocket. That's weird. Who would be calling me now? All my family was at this table, even Gina. The only other people it could be are Cee Cee, Adam, or...

I pulled the phone from my pocket and looked at the caller I.D Jack's Cell Calling. "I got to take this call" I said as I started for the back yard patio.

"Jack?" I said as I closed the door behind me.

"Suze, thank god, I've been trying to reach you for hours, but the phones were busy. You aren't going to believe this." Okay, that could mean one of two things, either Paul had finally woken up from his coma, or he…or he had died. Please let it be the later.

"What?" I asked, scared to know the answer.

"It's Paul," he said, his voice filled with excitement, and fear? Oh no "he's awake." The phone fell from my hands, and I was down on the floor with it.

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Okay – that was the longest chapter I have ever written – hooray for me, 7 pages long, 3703 words – yeah my back hurts

Okay –okay – review people – after that long chapter, I think I disserve it. Plus – if you want me to update – you have to review

Questions, comments, suggestions? Why than go on down and press that little mauve button and review :)

Love ya lots (me not gay – swear it on my ex)

-sky