'Oh, shit' was the last thing I thought . . . before everything went black.

Chapter 4

Someone was softly shaking my shoulders back and forth, whispering in my ear with the most soothing voice.

"Wake up, Susannah."

I immediately responded to Jesse's voice and slowly opened my eyes a slit.

"Come on now," he whispered. "You should wake up."

I opened up raised my eyelids completely and found myself face to face with Jesse. He was, apparently, sitting with his legs in pretzel style and holding me the way most people hold their babies. With one arm he was cradling my head in the crook of his elbow, and smoothing my hair back from my face with the other. My body was draped across his crossed legs, my own legs hanging over his left knee.

I looked into his eyes, noticing the bit of worry and sorrow, and tried to remember what had gotten him upset. What did I do?

"Jesse...?" I looked at him with confusion. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He looked a bit more worried than before and his eyes creased in concentration and disbelief.

"You don't remember?" he asked. "Not at all?"

I starred at him again, starting to get a bit worried myself. "What are you talking about? What's wrong?"

"Maybe you just need a few minutes to get your thoughts in order. Think about it for a second, querida."

I did as he suggested. And the more I tried to remember, the faster the bits and pieces came back to me.

After a few minutes, I remembered everything. Everyone. Mimi, Dale, Jacob, and . . . and Paul.

Damn him!

The one person I was hoping to avoid and, if possible, never see again was going to be my main focus to defeat for the next two weeks!

I shuddered at the thought.

Jesse must have noticed, because he pulled my head to rest on his chest and started rubbing my back in a circular motion with his fingertips.

Its one thing to go after someone I love as much as I love Jesse, but to go after the world?

It's just wrong!

I searched around for the three ghosts from earlier and frowned.

They were gone.

I could have sworn they were just standing there-

And then I remember something. Jesse had woken me up, and I hadn't remember going to bed. That could only mean one thing.

I looked up at Jesse and blushed slightly.

He noticed and smiled. "What is it, Susannah?"

I blushed a little more severely and looked down at my hands. "Did I faint?"

Jesse placed two fingers under my chin and tilted it upward again to look at his face. He was smiling now. A full twenty watt smile.

"Yes you did, querida. And if I were alive, I'm sure I would have had a heart attach when I looked down and found you unconscious in my arms. At first I was panicked, of course, but soon after became a bit angry. I am afraid I might have taken it out a little on Jacob and his friends. I toldthem to do the considerate and get the hell out so I could see if you were okay." He said with a cheeky grin.

I stared into his eyes that were sparkling with playfulness and felt an overwhelming sense of adore come over me. He was worried about me! He even got angry at Jacob for dropping that big of a bomb!

Poor Jacob, Mimi, and Dalethough. I'm sure theyare completely confused as to how they got me to faint and Jesse to react in such in angry matter, with only a name. They must think we are demented. There was no way for them to have known that Jesse and I had the past that we did with Paul.

My faced darkened just thinking his name. Jesse immediately saw the change in my mood and tightened his arms more securely around me. I tilted my head to look at him, then moved my hand to the base of his neck to pull his head to mine and placed a soft kiss on his lips. One of his arms moved from around my back to cup my face in his palm, and the other hand moved to the back of my neck to deepen the kiss.

Soon enough, we were in a full make out session, and by the time we pulled apart, it was a half hour later.

I stared into his affection-filled eyes and felt my heart pack with more love than I ever thought I could hold.

"I love you, Jesse" I confessed again.

He laced his hand with mine and gazed intently at me.

"I love you, too, Susannah. So much. Which is why I refuse to let you die." He said determinedly.

I didn't know how to reply. I wracked my brain for a way to tell him what I was thinking while still make understandable sentences.

On one hand, I was so touched that I could have burst. The fact that he was thinking of me, and only me, when the opportunity of a lifetime was presented in front of him was most sentimental and sweet thing that I had ever experienced someone do. On the other hand, I was determined to tell him how important it was that we didn't think so close-minded. He had to stop thinking of the whole situation coming down to the fact that I might die. There was more to it than that.

"Jesse, I don't want to die anymore than you want me to. But if it came down to it, we wouldn't have much of a choice. It would be something that had to be asked of me. It would be for all those people who don't deserve to die . . . or be exorcised. Please stop seeing this situation as my death sentence and starting thinking of it as more of a chance to save other peoples lives."

"But Paul-" he stopped mid sentence to see my reaction to the name. I stiffened slightly but my face stayed neutral. "Paul is in the situation now, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing you had to die for him to be defeated. And the whole time while I fought him I would be in blind rage knowing he was to fault for you not being with me anymore. If I am that angered, I wont be thinking clearly and will die in the end for my lack of focus."

"Even if I do stay alive to fight him myself, who's to say he is not going to kill me then? Either way, there is the same amount of risk of me dying." I responded.

Jesse hung his head a bit and I knew he realized what I said had truth to it. I immediately felt bad though. I hated seeing him so defeated when he was trying so hard to find the right solution and for me to come out alive and safe in the end.

He pulled in to his chest and I was locked in a tight embrace. I embraced him just as tightly and tried to keep myself from crying.

"Uhh . . . ," said an uncertain voice.

I looked up and found Jacob standing by the door with Dale and Mimi in tow. He saw the state Jesse and I were in and sighed.

"Damn, I did it again, didn't I," Jacob asked with apprehension. He was most likely thinking about the condition he left Jesse in only a few hours before, and wanted to avoid upsetting him again.

I don't blame him. Jesse is scary when he's angry.

"I'm sorry," he said with sincerity.

Jesse studied him. "I owe you an apology, also," he began. "I should not have yelled at you as I did. You didn't actually do anything wrong, I was just frightened at the sight of Susannah in the state she was in."

Jesse gently moved me off his lap and began to stand. Then, he took my hand and pulled me up as well.

Jacob, Dale and Mimi eyed me curiously. It was making me uncomfortable, but I masked my uneasiness with a hard stare of my own. I wasn't going to show one ounce of weakness after fainting and embarrassing myself like I did.

Finally, one of them spoke.

"If it is not to personal, Susannah, why exactly did you black out like that?" Dale asked.

"Its Suze." I said on impulse.

I looked at Jesse, and by the look in his eyes I could tell he was agreeing with what I was thinking. We had to tell them why we would react that way.

"There is something you guys should know," I started, "Jesse and I are no strangers to Paul Slater. Quite the opposite, unfortunately."

"What do you mean? You knew him?" Mimi said in an accusing tone.

I didn't like the way she said that. I mean, that I knew Paul. She could have been accusing me of being his best friend in the whole, wide world.

"Yes," I said, "we knew him."

They were still staring at me.

Why, in goodness name, were they doing that?

I stared back in to their confused eyes with the same hard stare as earlier. I faltered a bit when a look of realization came across Dale's face, though. He seemed to think he knew something or figured something out.

"Ah," he said, nodding in agreement to himself. "Old boyfriend, isn't he?"

"No!" I practically spat. "I went to school with him. I never dated him, although he did have some kind of a crush on me for a while."

"Right," I heard Jesse whisper sarcastically behind me. I understood where he was coming from. I mean, a crush is supposed to be where you have this secret fascination for someone. They don't last very long, usually, and you move on to the next crush before you know it. So what Paul had for me couldn't exactly be called a crush.

"Okay, so you knew him," Mimi said, "but that doesn't explain why you would faint at the mention of his name."

"Well, the memories that I do have of Paul . . . they're not very pleasant ones, to say the least." I explain, a very grim look spreading across my face.

I was recalling all those times with Paul. Those awful times . . . .

"Well, the training for Susannah starts tomorrow. Perhaps we could continue this conversation then," Jesse said in a finalizing tone. He saw where the conversation had gone and, apparently, didn't like it. "For now, I want Susannah to get some more rest. We have a long day ahead of us, come morning."

None of the three ghosts argued, knowing not to upset Jesse, and dematerialized.

I looked at Jesse with haunted eyes. "I-"

"No." Jesse said cutting me off. "No talk tonight, Susannah. You need to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

I nodded my head and went to my closet, took out my pajamas and went to the bathroom to change.

When I came out of the restroom, Jesse was staring out the window with a unreadable expression sketched across his face.

I went over to him and took his hand. He jumped a bit at the contact, apparently not knowing I was in the room yet.

He turned his head to stare at me and opened his mouth to say something, then though better of it and leaned in to give me a peck on the lips instead.

He then proceeded to drag me towards the bed with the hand I had put in his earlier. He pulled the covers back and let me slide in on to the bed before getting in himself. I immediately snuggled myself into his arms before falling into a light sleep, my last thoughts in consciousness on the man with his arms wrapped so tightly around me.

A/N

Well, here is chapter four as promised. I had a pretty bad day at school today, which is kind of a good thing for you guys. Because when I am upset, I vent by writing. So as soon as I got home I went strait to the computer and finished this chapter.

Sorry this chapter is so short. I'll try to have the next one be longer.

I was thinking of doing the next chapter in Jesse's POV. You know, so you guys could see what he was thinking about when he was standing by the window and while the topic of Paul came up. What do you think? Yes? No?

Thank you to:

nikki007

MerakSardonyx

Elphaba WickedWitchoftheWest

You guys are awesome!

Love,

Amber