Suze's POV:

I was dropping John off at his preschool. I was just talking to him, telling him that I'd be back later, to be a good boy, and to have fun.

I had picked him up to hug him goodbye.

I almost dropped him when I saw someone from my past who I wasn't expecting to see.

Paul.

"Suze," he said, gently.

"Hi, Paul," I said nervously. "What are you doing here?" At first I thought he'd followed me, or something.

But then, he picked up a little girl who appeared to be John's friend.

"This one's mine," he said.

"Really?" I was surprised. "So you found your soul mate after all."

"Yeah," he said, grinning. Suddenly, he put the girl down, and he had grabbed my hand. My instinct was to pull away, but I didn't.

"Suze," he said, looking at me intently. "I want to thank you." Well! That wasn't something I was expecting.

"For what?" I asked, thoroughly engrossed in the conversation now.

"For telling me to go away. For making me know that you and I…we were never meant to be. I have you to thank that I have Katherine here today. And a lovely wife."

"Oh, really? Congratulations!"

"Thanks," he said, blushing. "So which one's yours?"

"This one." I ruffled John's dark hair. "His name's John. John de Silva."

"Oh? What's his middle name?"

This was the question I had been wanting to avoid. "Uhm…" I sighed. "Paul."

"What?"

"That's his middle name."

"Oh." Then it seemed to make sense. "Suze, I'm touched."

"Well," I said, going deep red, too. "I guess that'd be my thanks to you."

He scowled. "The only thing I ever did to or for you was try to get you in bed."

"Paul, if you hadn't been here, Jesse would still be a ghost. You may not have meant it at the time, but you gave him a second shot at life, and I got to be a part of that life. So what's Katherine's middle name?"

"Oh," Paul said quietly. "Susannah."

"Really?" I laughed. "How queer. We named both of our kids after each other…in a sense."

"Yeah," he said. "In a sense."

John started whining. I realized I had picked him up. I put him down, gave him a pat on the head, and let him go run around with Katherine and a boy named Zachary.

I looked at my watch. "Listen, I gotta run. My class starts in…20 minutes."

"Okay," he said. "See you around."

I was almost to the door when Paul said, "Suze!"

I turned around. "Yeah?"
"Listen, I've been stupid over the years. I shouldn't have tried to get you if you didn't want me. I realize that. But I also shouldn't have walked out that time a year ago. I should have stayed. Because I would never want to throw away a good friendship and keep feeling hostile towards you for the rest of my life. So…friends? I mean, I can understand if you don't want to, seeing the way I've treated you, but…"

I cut him off. "Yeah. Friends." I shook his hand, and then walked out the door.

Jesse's POV:

I had just put John to sleep. I came back to find her painting her toenails.

"So guess who I saw today?" she asked, while bending over the nail she was currently painting.

"Who? CeeCee? Adam? Brad?"

"No, no, and no. Paul."

I had taken a sip of orange juice. I nearly choked on it. "What?"