AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, Acknowledgements will either be up here, or down below. Whichever we prefer. The main authors note will be at the bottom, I think. So look there for a personal thanks. We also thank everyone who took time to play our little poll game, and to everyone who e-mailed either me or CharityGoddess. If you have any concerns or questions, just ask, feel free. As for now, here is chapter one of Imaginary.


Chapter One – Hiccups and News

I woke up with a jolt. A sheet of cold sweat was covered my body and I realized that I was laying on my bed, the bed itself stripped of any sheets it once had and my large, pink throw-rug was screwed up on the floor. I had obviously had a bad dream by the looks of things, a bad dream that I didn't remember.

I shifted my position so I was laying on my back, it was a little more comfortable then laying on my side – as I had done all night.

Sighing, I tried desperately to remember my dream, but all that came to mind was one thing that had a habit of haunting me…

Blue eyes.

And I knew only one person with those steel blue eyes.

Paul Slater.

But it can't be! My mind screamed at me. Paul Slater is back in Seattle and you know it, Suze.

'Calm down Suze!' I whispered urgently to myself, trying to tame my fast-beating heart. It was running on overdrive since I saw the eyes… those eyes… icy azure irises mixed with ebony pupils. Both clashed so well together, if I didn't know Paul Slater was evil, and that I was in love with someone else, Paul would be my number one hottie.

But he wasn't.

Jesse was.

'Susannah?' A voice said from the shadows of my room. I shrieked, startled, and jumped up away from my bed, bolting to the door, ready to open it if anyone came near me.

It was only then I realized who was calling me, I sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that night and clapped, automatically turning on the lights.

Mental note: Thank Andy for the clap-on lights.

'Jesse, you scared me!' I said in an attempt to be serious. I failed, however, and a grin lit up my face.

Jesse's gorgeous face, which had been furrowed in concern and confusion of my actions, visibly relaxed and he smiled warmly at me.

'I'm sorry for scaring you, Susannah.' He said, but didn't sound very sorry at all. I sat on my bed, looking at the single, exposed cover sheet that was the only thing separating me from the mattress underneath.

'That's okay.' I smiled serenely on the outside, but inside I was cussing myself. Why? Why was Jesse so charming? It would be so easy to reject him if he was ugly!

But then it wouldn't be very fun to have an ugly obnoxious guy living in your bedroom.

As I was stuck in the middle of my musings on Jesse's looks, I guess I didn't notice the said object of my thoughts come over to me until he was seated next to me, his smile evident.

'Susannah, I'm sorry I disturbed your nights rest but I have some good news from Father Dominic!' This time when he said sorry, he meant it, but his voice was a little high-pitched at the end. He seemed excited about something, but when I heard him say the words Father Dominic my eyes went from Jesse to the floor, downcast.

Great, I thought sarcastically, more blabbering from Jesse as messenger between me and the good father.

Jesse noticed my sudden disappointment, he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing cutely in a perplexed expression. 'I don't understand, Susannah, Is there something wrong between you and padre?' Padre was Jesse's name for Father Dom, that, or his full name, which he insists on using. Trust me, if you ever meet Jesse and have a seriously embarrassing first name, abbreviate it down because Jesse will continue to persist with it and annoy the shit out of you, like he does with me. 'Did you two have an… argument?'

I rolled my eyes and said, very sardonically, 'Oh Jesse, you are so clueless, everyone knows about the torrid love affair between me and Father Dominic.' My voice was dripping with the stuff. Sarcasm, I mean. Actually, no, it wasn't dripping with it, it was reeking with it.

I should have known. Jesse tends to… uh… ignore my sarcasm. I said the sarcasm, he ignores it, but not the sentence I was being sarcastic with.

In other words, Jesse took me seriously.

His face held an expression of complete outrage, 'WHAT!' His voice was so loud, it could awaken the dead. But, since he was the only dead around, only I could hear his exclamation.

Jeez, that guy can be loud when he wants to. I wouldn't be surprised if Father Dominic at the mission heard him.

He may have been dangerous to toy with but his face was so priceless, I swear. So priceless, so funny, that I burst into a fit of hysterical giggles. He believed it! How could he believe that!

Jesse didn't take kindly to my giggles, he jutted out his lower lip in a half-pout, half-frown action and just stared at me with huge, chocolate, lost-puppy eyes.

This, I am ashamed to say, just made me laugh more. I had tears rolling down my cheeks, I had to hold onto my chest to avoid getting a stitch from laughing too much.

'Susannah.' His voice was low and threatening, but I didn't notice, by that time I was far too gone.

'Susannah…' Jesse repeated, his face stony with seriousness.

I could only splutter in between giggles, 'Y-you be-believed that?' I wiped the tears away from my face, 'Oh my god, Jesse.' I was regaining myself. 'Y-You are so… gullible!'

'Susannah.' That was when I noticed his stern tone and his dazzling features showing only that of the most hardhearted expression. My giggles and spluttering died down, and I settled with a huge grin.

There was an awkward silence, through that silence, my grin turned down to a smile, and eventually in the next minute, my smile turned into a straight line across my face. It was all silent, until…

'Hiccup!'

I covered my mouth in horror. But he heard it, oh how he heard it. The tables were turned and Jesse was the spluttering, hysterically laughing marauder and I was the staring fool. He was sitting there, right in front of me, on my bed, uncontrollably laughing his heart out.

And I just stared, open-mouthed.

The next round of Jesse-giggles started when suddenly, out popped another one. 'Hiccup!' I groaned and put my head in my hands for a moment. How embarrassing… especially in front of Jesse!

Seriously, Jesse was in hysterics. And this is the same Jesse I-am-a-mysterious-ghost-from-1850-and-this-gives-me-ultimate-strength-over-you-so-don't-mess-with-me de Silva, the same guy that demanded – yes, demanded – that I put some clothes over my bikini when I went to the beach because it was, apparently, 'unladylike.'

And the main problem was that there was nothing I could do about it. The hiccups, I mean.

I held my breath, but a hiccup penetrated through just as I released it again.

Jesse was still laughing 30 seconds later, frantically, just as I had laughed at him a minute ago.

I grumbled and said something incoherent under my breath, not even I know what I said then. Then I stood, walked over to where my pink throw-rug was laying on the floor, picked it up and proceeded to walk back to my bed where Jesse was still laughing, holding his stomach just like I had.

The throw-rug was unusually cold underneath my grip as I collapsed on the other side of my pink canopy bed – the side that Jesse was not taking up so much space and hysterically laughing at me – burying my head in my pillow and throwing the rug over me, covering my body from view.

Jesse's laughter eventually tuned into a snigger, then he was quiet. Nonetheless, I could almost feel his sheepish grin and dark eyes on me as I laid, unmoving, underneath my quilt.

My hiccups did not disappear, but were muffled by the weight of the rug and the fact that my head was hidden in my pillow helped to conceal them as well.

After a moment, Jesse grew impatient and whispered in his most silky, sexy voice, 'Susannah.'

I didn't dare move, I only laid there, thinking about how childish I had been, laughing at Jesse and how childish he had been while laughing at me. We were practically even.

Jesse sighed, I heard him even underneath my rug – come on, it wasn't that thick – and then said with obvious desperation, 'Susannah, don't be angry.' He sat back down on the bed, which he had vacated for a moment after trying to calm his laughter.

But I was one step ahead, I knew what he was doing, and I was not going to fall for it.

'Go away.' My voice was stifled by the throw-rug, but I made it a few notches louder so I made sure Jesse could hear me. Which he did.

'Querida,' He cooed, persuasion dripped off his voice as if melting chocolate, sitting in the sun all day.

'No! Go AWAY!' I yelled, louder this time, despite the pleasant tingles I felt shoot up my spine at lightning speed because he used just a simple word. Jesse wasn't going to leave any time soon, I knew that much, but maybe I could at least try

'Susannah, please.' He was getting a little annoyed now, I pushed my head into the pillow, hard. I was trying to block out the sound of his seemingly sugar-coated voice.

I didn't say anything that time, just wriggled around that time. I felt a sudden – a much larger – dip on the bed, right next to me. It didn't take me long to figure that this was Jesse's way of getting me out of here. Physical force.

Not that he had to do anything physically, all he needed to do was use his kinetic connections with the astral plane to make the thing fly off me. But I don't know so much about my emotions, I don't think he could stop me from ignoring him.

I'd love to see him try.

'Fine,' he said, breathing a little hard. Ghost's didn't have to breathe – they couldn't feel anything if they did – but they could if they wanted to. 'If you won't talk to me, I'll just have to make you.'

My face burned, when Jesse spoke like that I couldn't help but imagine the possibilities. I stood my ground, however, and waited to see what he was going to do.

Jesse didn't do anything too un-Jesse-like though, like straddle me or pull the covers down and kiss my senseless. But he did do something that was unexpected.

I felt his hand plunge into the mass of soft quilt that I was holding underneath my feet. I tried to kick him away with one of my feet but he was apparently immune to it. His hand gripped my leg suddenly, and pulled it out of the rug.

'Hey!' I exclaimed, still not removing the rug from my body, or my face from the pillow.

I heard him chuckle, nothing like the hysterics he had went into before. This chuckle – as small as it was – was deep, low, and damn sexy, if you'll excuse my language. But what he didn wasn't really chuckle-worthy after he had done it.

He flipped my foot around – or what I assumed he did, I couldn't see, remember? – and with a solitary, slender finger, started to trace patters around the sensitive areas of my heel and toes.

This, I am very ashamed to say, was one of my most vulnerable of spots, so what else could I do but suddenly burst into laughter and try to kick his hand away. But his other hand – the one that was not stroking my foot – was gripping it. Tightly.

I couldn't give up, I couldn't let him win, I just couldn't!

But I did.

Well, actually, I didn't really let him win. I took the pillow that I rested my head with, causing the rug – which was only held to me by my hands – to fall slightly limp. Jesse took his chance, not knowing that I had full grip of the pillow, and he withdraw the rug.

However, Just as he slipped it from under me – which was his big mistake – I smashed him in the head with my pillow, causing him to loose balance and fall onto his back on the floor. I laughed at his inert figure and, after a moment, Jesse pushed himself up slightly by the elbows and staring up at me with disbelief.

'I'm going to have to get you for that.' He said, his voice was dangerously low, but it was hinted with… was that amusement? Was he smirking?

Oh, he was definitely smirking. This, I thought to myself in the heat of the moment, is not good.

Before I could react, Jesse had gripped my hand tightly in his and yanked me down with him, he fell back onto the floor and I…

I fell on top of him.

My cheeks were burning like hellfire and my heart was racing a million miles an hour. I felt Jesse's rock hard body rub up against my own – I only wore a tank top and a pair of boxers to bed – and parts of my body explode in excitement, like a fireworks display.

And suddenly, Jesse's strong hands came up to me and gripped onto my waist, causing me to gasp at his sudden proximity. Jesse had never – never - shown this behaviour before.

He flipped us over. And when I say fast, I mean fast, one second, I was gazing down into his dark brown eyes, and the next, I was gazing up into his dark brown eyes. My cheeks were burning like hellfire and my heart was racing a million miles an hour. I felt Jesse's rock hard body rub up against my own – I only wore a tank top and a pair of boxers to bed – and parts of my body explode in excitement, like a fireworks display.

Jesse cocked his head slightly, then he swooped like an eagle catching it's prey.

I prepared myself for a kiss, I don't know why, but I just felt like he was going to kiss me. So I made myself ready for it.

Instead of his lips touching mine, one of his soft, tanned cheeks – his face cheeks, not the other one's you dirty people – gently touched mine and, although a whisper, his voice rang through my ears, it reverberated off the walls of my mind as my stunned brain registered exactly what he said to me.

'Father Dominic said,' he paused, soaking up the situation and grinning against my ear that he had his lips resting upon. 'That I,' Now he was purposely going slow, 'Can move back in with you.' His hands left their place on my waist and moved up to my face, where he cupped it, his cheek gone from mine and his lips away from my ear.

Both of my eyebrows rose, high. I didn't try to hide my excitement, but didn't get my hopes up either, in case I heard him wrong. 'Did you just tell me, that…' I paused, just because I knew it would drive him crazy, 'You are going to move back in with me?' My heart swelled with hope and worry, the hope that I was right and the worry that I was wrong. Either one will win this, I thought, just as Jesse was replying.

'Yes! Mi Querida!' Jesse exclaimed, but not in a pissed off way, but an excited way. His ghostly glow suddenly radiated off him as it grew brighter. I grinned, this was too good to be true.

I was excited, I was happy, I was bubbling in delight for the fact that Jesse was with me. So I, still from my spot underneath him, raised my head to his and landed a fat one on his lips.

Jesse was surprised at first, but his hands cupped my face harder than before as he returned the kiss. I deepened it from a small kiss to a french one and wrapped my hands around Jesse's neck. After a while of intense toungue-action, my lips slowed down, and so did his. Eventually, we were just kissing normally.

I smiled against his lips, I hadn't felt this good until Paul Slater decided to move back to Seattle for his studies in law school. And at that time, I felt pretty darn good.

But this… this was major. Jesse was living, once again, with me. I felt that I was the most luckiest girl in the world, I threw aside the future, I threw aside Jesse's problems as Jesse threw away my faults and part of his gentleman manners and we kissed like a normal couple.

Although I knew we could never be normal.


AN: (Mercy – Woo! Finally, that's over! I don't think I could take any more! Ja – I agree, plot bunnies are attacking my low-on-brain-cells brain. Mercy – Uhm… you mean negative-on-brain-cells brain right? Ja – Yeah. My mistake) What a rush! I hope you guys liked that, I think you will, seeing as how many people like Jesse/Suze fluff. This is around about a week or so after Haunted except Paul goes back to Seattle (Mercy – Oh stop whining, he'll eventually come back!) and Twilight never happens. So this is kind of AU.

Anyway, you know the drill –holds up spanner- Uhm… wrong one –holds up drill- that's better. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! –choke, choke- Oops… choked on a baked bean, sorry. (Mercy – -background- We must perform surgery at once!) Basically, what I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted –stares at can of baked beans with evil eyes- is that you all know the drill so now that you have read… review!

Uhm… if you want to, that is.

That's all we got for you, Until next time.

Mercy and Ja.


SPUDZIE - OMG! HI MASHLEIGH! Lol. Thank you so much for reviewing. We all love you! Don't we Mercy-silence- aww... don't be mean to MASHLEIGH (Mercy - Fine... HI MASH!) That's better.

Nikki007 - I LOVE your stories, Mercy agrees (Mercy -nods-) Thank you SO much for reviewing. I hope you liked this chapter... i feel so LOVED... PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO ME! WEEEEEE! (Mercy -eyebrow raises- Uhm... Jess if you keep yelling, you're gonna scare them all away) Oh... Sorry

Flonshoe - Go the name, dude (sorry, that's my inner aussie talking). It rocks. Thanks for reviewing,I think the max pages will be 4, like this one. I'll be sure to add soon. (Mercy -glares- You mean US?) Uhm... Yeah.

moovalous3 - What is with you people and the REALLY cool names? AVENGE COWS EVERYWHERE (hypo mood)! No really... your going to ruin my rep, with your really cool names and stories! I SUCK! (Mercy -nods in agreement- damn straight) HEY! (Mercy - is for horses) Grrr... (Mercy - go the dog.) ARG! (Mercy -looks at Ja with eyebrow raised- Okay...Lets all say that slowly and sarcastically, O...k...a...y...) Pvvvt...

That is all.

I am about to become the only author of imaginary -glares at Mercy-

(Mercy - you don't scare me)

-bares vampire teeth-

(Mercy - Okay... now your scaring me-runs-)