A/N: Sorry it's been awhile. I've been working, but very slowly. I'm trying to find time to write, but it's hard. I hope you're enjoying what I have been giving you so far. Do you like Jeff? I hope so. I have more in store for the boys and the twins will make an appearance soon, I promise. But for now, here's what I have in store for Emily's next adventure.

NEWS: I've decided to change Jeff's last name to McCallister because the other one was bothering me. lol. I know I'm weird…

Stella Maynard: I'm glad you reviewed! You're my only reviewer for the last chapter! I agree with what you said about people being goal-oriented in the North more than down here. I think I'd fit in better up there . I don't really want Christopher back either. Luke & Lorelei are perfect for each other, and you know Chris will cause some drama around Stars Hollow. I love Logan!!! He's so cute and soooo perfect for Rory! I'm looking forward to Dean going away because I just love Logan so much! I hope the sites I e-mailed you were good. They're great for keeping you posted on everything, very detailed too! I felt sorry for Paul Hamm too, but he got to keep his medal in the end. I'm soooo glad you liked the chapter. It was a little hard for me to get started at the beginning, so I guess that's why it didn't sound like me. I hate writer's block for forever, so finally trying to write again was a little difficult, but, fear not, I'm back now!! Well, I won't make any promises on Una, but she's safe, for now at least ;). I'm glad you like Jeff. There's something charming about him, but so aggravating too. There's more in store for you because Jeff will be around for awhile. I always like making blow ups. They're great for releasing some pent up anger. Thanks soooo much for reviewing! I really hope you like this chapter!

Emily's weekend passed by her quickly, probably because she avoided social contact with everyone around her. Claire saw it fit to let Emily have her space, while Kimmy saw it fit to bother Emily into confessing. Jeff was no where to be seen, much to Emily's displeasure. Even though she yelled at him, Emily found that she seemed to miss Jeff's company, but she tried not to let it show when she was around the girls. Nan and Jerry wrote Emily at least five letters and had Harry or Matt check on her every chance possible. Even Melanie and Madison were strangely nice to her.

On Monday morning, Emily awoke early before dawn. She wanted to evade the girls and their attempts to cheer her up. Newbury Street was silent, for everyone was still in bed. Emily quickly made her way to the library, where she could be able to study in peace. There was no one in the great room or on campus to be seen.

Finally! Some peace and quiet to myself.

Emily opened her notebook and positioned herself comfortably before writing. She wrote with a fierce passion about everything that was going on— How Will was leaving or how she hated Jeff or how the girls wouldn't leave her alone. She just wanted to get it all out. There was just so much to say, so much to express. It had been so long since she tried to let everything out and it felt good. She felt as if her soul was being poured onto paper, and it felt so relieving. In fact, Emily was so absorbed in her thoughts that she nearly forgot to go to class and had to run there.

Claire was really surprised not to see Emily in class because Emily was usually early, but sighed with relief when Emily scurried into the room. As Emily took her seat, Claire waved for her attention.

"How is it that when I'm running late, I never get to class on time, but you seem to come in just when you're supposed to?"

"Maybe I just run faster than you."

"Sure," Claire rolled her eyes. "Where were you anyway? I actually woke up early and was going to call you down to breakfast."

"Really? You waking up early? There's a novel concept," said Emily, distractedly as she looked to the seat behind Claire. "Where's Jeff?"

"Who knows, probably off with some girls or something," shrugged Claire.

"Hmm…" Mrs. Moore walked into the room and asked the class to get settled down at this point. As Emily worked on her lesson, Claire continually tried to get Emily's attention, but Emily knew Mrs. Moore was watching, so she ignored Claire.

"Ms. Gordon! What may I ask are you doing? Not copying Ms. Meredith, I hope!" Emily let out a slight chuckle under her breath and Claire sighed in disbelief. "Cheating will cause you severe consequences, Ms. Gordon!"

"I wasn't cheating, Mrs. Moore."

"Are you talking back to me? I'll just have to write you down for insubordination then!" At that moment, Jeff quietly snuck into the room and tried weaseling his way to his seat, but Mrs. Moore quickly spotted him. "You! Why are you late, Mr. McCallister?"

"I overslept…" lied Jeff, who was trying to smooth his hair down, but was only messing it up.

"Right. Well, you may most certainly join Ms. Gordon here in detention this afternoon for two hours. I expect to see you both here on time. Now, let's go over the lesson…"

Emily quickly looked down at her paper when Jeff walked by and he silently sat down behind Claire. For the rest of class, Emily couldn't stay focused. She felt like Jeff's stares were just burning into her and she found it hard to think about anything else. As soon as class was dismissed, Emily dashed to the door. Claire had to sprint just to keep up with her.

"Emily! Emily! Wait! Ow! My foot! Ow!" Claire apparently stubbed her toe on the wall while trying to catch up to Emily. "Can you believe Mrs. Moore? Now I have to spend two hours—two whole hours—with Jeffrey McCallister! He's so arrogant! I mean, he acts so lordly all the time, as if he expects us to just fall over ever time he walks by or something!"

"You don't even know him! Maybe there's more to Jeff than meets the eye! You've never even spoke to him, Claire!"

"Emily—"

"—I have to get to class." Emily rushed away into the crowd. She dreaded going to Mr. Grant's class, not because of Mr. Grant, but because Jeff was also in this class. Not to mention Melanie, Madison, and Harry, who were overly quiet now because of Will and his situation. Jeff walked into the room and passed by Emily. He dropped a note onto her desk.

"Read it later."

This threw Emily off for the rest of the period. Jeff sat behind her and seemed so calm about everything that Emily felt so silly worrying over it. After class, he left before anyone noticed and Emily slowly made her way to the courtyard. She had a break between to classes and just couldn't wait to open the letter.

Dear Emily,

I'm so sorry about what happened in the library on Saturday. I'm not embarrassed to be around you. I really like our friendship, and I hope you don't take it against me. I just have been having a hard times with my 'friends', but I don't want that to inflict anything onto our relationship because I really enjoy your company, Emily. Well, I have a football game tonight. I hope you will come and bring your friends too! I'd love to see you there!

Yours,

Jeff

"What are you reading now?" asked Kimmy, suddenly. Emily jumped and dropped the letter, but Kimmy snatched it before Emily could pick it up. "What's this? A love letter?"

"Kimmy! It's nothing, honestly. Here, I was just about to throw it away." But it was too late, Kimmy was already reading it, and her eyes grew bigger and bigger as she continued.

"Oh, Emily! Jeff McCallister!" This was one of the times that Emily wished Kimmy didn't have such a loud scream.

"Kimmy!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell us Jeff was courting you?"

"He's not! We're just friends! Kimmy!"

"Have you told Claire or Mary? They must know! Is this why you've been acting so strange lately?"

Emily was quite upset now. She didn't like having Kimmy scrutinize her over Jeff and how she was feeling, "No, Kimmy. If you must know, I've been acting strange because my brother, Will, has decided to enlist, and I haven't handled it as well as I've liked. Jeff is my friend and has been very understanding of the situation. So, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to keep this a secret between the two of us."

"But you must like him! He's Jeff McCallister after all. How can you be so blind? Jeff McCallister is courting you!!!"

"Kimmy! He is not courting me. I'm not going to talk to you about this anymore," Emily left a stunned Kimmy behind her. She was afraid that once Kimmy told her friends, the whole campus would think that she and Jeff McCallister were in some type of romantic entanglement, when in reality they were not. Emily had no choice but to meet Jeff after the football game and confront him first.

It took quite a bit of excuse-making and coaxing to get Claire and Mary to accompany Emily to the football game that night. She made an excuse of wanting to see her brother play because he needed some family support, and the girls didn't know any better than to believe her, although they were a little surprised. Mary brought her needlepoint to keep her busy because she wasn't a sports fan, but Claire was excited about going to a school event. Emily, of course, had no interest in football whatsoever, but she watched Jeff carefully and planned out exactly what and how she was going to talk to him.

"Did you see that? We're winning, Emily! We're winning!" screamed Claire, who was a very enthusiastic fan.

"What? Oh, good. Yes, we're winning…"

"Honestly, Emily, why did you bring us here? I know you're not a football fan or one of loud noises either, but this is just a waste of time," complained Mary, who was not too fond of being knocked around by overly-excited supporters.

"Well, I just thought it would be nice to spend an evening outside of the house for once, but I understand if you want to go home. My head's starting to hurt too, but I want to talk to Matt afterwards, so I'll just walk home later."

"Claire? Are you coming home with me? Fine, I'll see you two at home later," said Mary, who tried to leave, but was once again knocked down by another student. She finally got up and carefully made her way out.

"Emily!! Look! Look! We're about to score again…who is that? Is that Jeff?"

Emily perked up. "What? What about Jeff?"

"Is that him who just…SCORED THE TOUCHDOWN!!!!? WE WON! WE WON!!!"

"Yea. I'm going to find Matt and talk to him. Do you want to come with me, Claire?"

"Sure! Wow! I'm so happy we won!!!"

"I can tell." Emily pushed through the large crowd and made her way toward the back of the locker room, and Claire followed. They stood outside and waited for Matt to come out. Finally, Emily found him. Matt looked a bit older now, although not much time had passed since Emily last saw him. Emily could see dark circles under his eyes that gave him a weary, tired look. She couldn't believe that this was her older brother, who was only a year older than her. Emily had at least one class with her sisters and Harry, but she rarely got to see Matt. It seemed as if the past days had worn Matt down and had aged him.

"Matt! You did great out there! I'm so proud of you!" Emily ran up to Matt and hugged him tightly.

"Emily? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I'm here to support my big brother."

"Right. What are you really doing here? I know you, Emily. There has to be some important reason why you're here because I know you despise football."

"I came to meet a friend," said Emily, reluctantly.

"Does this friend happen to be a gentlemen friend?"

"…maybe…"

"Is this gentlemen friend on the football team?"

"Umm...sure."

"And what is his name?"

"I—I rather not—not say."

"Emily…"

"His name is—it's—it's Jeff," whispered Emily.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed that you would be interested in Jeff."

"I'm not! Honest, Matt. We're just friends and I think he's not too fond of me right now."

"Sure. Just be careful. I don't want you getting your heart broken now," said Matt, in a big-brother tone.

"I can take care of myself, but it seems as if you need to take a bit of your own advice. Look at you. You're so pale and thin, Matt. Are you okay? Have you heard from Will or Mom or Dad?"

"Emily, don't worry about me. I'm fine, trust me. Harry told me about Will. Poor Mother. I just sent a letter off to Clarence House this morning. Father is proud, but worried too. And Mel and Maddie are trying to live their lives as normally as possible. How have you been holding up?" Matt gestured Emily towards the bench.

"Honestly, I'm not. I haven't exactly been 'keeping faith'. I'm quite ashamed of myself actually. What would Aunt Una or Uncle Walter think?"

"You aren't expected to be perfect, Emily. We're all having a hard time dealing with Will. But what can we do? Can you blame Will and Alex for leaving?"

"Well…no, but he could've have sent a warning or something! This was so unexpected! How does he expect us to react?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to move on with our lives, Emily. It's important to remember those we love and pray for them everyday, but we can't put our lives on hold. Will doesn't expect us to do that. He has a duty to his country and to himself to serve for us. To fight for what's right. How can you stop a man from listening to something that strong? I wish I could listen to it."

"Oh Matt! Don't say that! I don't know what I would do without you!"

"You'd learn to live, Emily. You would keep faith and continue with your life. You would help the other women and children of our country and stay strong for the men. That's how it is, even when Mum and Dad were young. Mum's letters to Dad are still in the trunk in the attic. It must have been terrible to Father—being away from her so long," said Matt, sentimentally.

"What about Mother? She had to stay on the Island and wait! Waiting for Father's fate and her own fate and their future! I could never do such a thing. I just don't have the patience for it."

Matt smiled. Emily was still as sweet and innocent as ever, despite all the negativity surrounding her. He had a feeling that Emily would be fine. She was such a brick. "Well, darling, I must be going home. Jeff will probably be out soon. Hang in there, darling. I'll come find you as soon as I get a letter from Mum and Dad."

Matt stood up and kissed Emily on the cheek. Emily hugged Matt before letting him leave. She hadn't even noticed that Claire had left with her friends. Everyone around her seemed so happy. They were all paired up and slowly left for home. Jeff finally came out and was quite surprised to see Emily.

"Emily! I didn't think you were going to come."

"I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Right. Did you come by yourself?"

"No, I came with Claire and Mary, but Mary left during the game and Claire just went off with her friends. Now, you better have a good reason for bringing me out her and making me watch football," teased Emily.

"I'm guessing you aren't a fan." Jeff pulled Emily up and started walking. Emily had no idea where he was taking her, but she followed.

"No, but my brother Matt plays."

"Matt Meredith is your brother? Really? Wow."

"Yes. My brother Will used to play here. He was going to play at Redmond, but now he's gone off to war. Harry played football last year, but he's doing rugby this year."

"The legendary Will Meredith. I guess talent runs in your family."

"Right. So, what's my talent?"

"Where should I begin?" Jeff smiled at Emily and she could feel her heart melt. He had that gorgeous twinkle in his eye that made her flutter. They walked in silence for some time before Jeff spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do anything, Jeff. I just blew everything out of proportion. I wanted to take out some anger on you," said Emily, guiltily.

"My friends just irritate me sometimes. I was being irrational too."

"Let's just forgive and forget. Where are you taking me anyway?"

"You'll see."

"I don't know if I feel too safe having you drag me off into the night," teased Emily.

"Don't worry, we're almost there. It's just around this corner," said Jeff as he took Emily's hand and led her along with him.

"So, what is this surprise? Is it a place? Is it a present? Jeff, seriously, tell me." But Jeff didn't need to because he brought Emily to a small wooden bridge in the middle of a lush, green valley that had a small stream running through it. The moonlight glowed on the surface of the water. All around were golden-red leaves that comforted Emily so. And the wind sung around her, just like it did at home and at Ingleside. The beautiful scene took Emily's breath away. It reminded her so much of Rainbow Valley. "Oh my. This is—this is—this is—I can't even describe it."

"It's beautiful," said Jeff, looking directly at Emily instead of the scenery, which caused Emily to blush wildly.

"How did you find such a lovely place?"

"I was taking another one of my moonlit strolls when I happened to come across this. Emily, I knew you would love it."

"Jeff, how could I not? There's a little valley near my grandmother's home that this reminds me of. My parents and aunts and uncles play there when they were young, and every time I visit, I love to wander in Rainbow Valley. And oh, this is just what I need! A bit of home with a touch of my new beginning! It's wonderful!"

"What shall we call it then?"

"Oh, well, let's name it Windsong because the wind always chimes and sings when we are here."

"Windsong it is. It's getting late, Emily. We should go."

"Oh, but I don't want to leave this."

"Then let's make a pact. Every night, you & I will meet here at dusk."

"I like the sound of that. Every night, it is."

Jeff walked Emily home and bid her goodnight. He took her hand, kissed it, and held it to his heart. Emily smiled gently and watched him leave. Maybe Kimmy was right. Maybe Jeff was courting her. And oh! She loved every minute with him!!! How her heart flew out of her chest or how she couldn't stop smiling when he was near her! Emily believed she was in the clouds! Everything seemed perfect! But suddenly…

"Emily Rose Meredith! Where on Earth have you been?"

"Mother!?!"

A/N: Oh, I'm so evil!!! What is the reason for Nan's visit? Does it have something to do with Will or Una's health? Guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter! I hoped you like Jeff. I'll try to add more of the others later. And I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I can't make any promises. Thanks for reading and as always, PLEASE REVIEW.