Fic: Come Away With Me (4/6)

Author: Gardenia1786 (Chloe)

Rating: PG

Feedback: insert shameless plea for feedback Please? Pretty please, with a cherry on top? away with me and we'll kiss

On a mountaintop

Come away with me

And I'll never stop loving you

Jessie and Katie walked down the stairs hand in hand. Katie swore the stairs had never been longer... they creaked ominously below her with every placement of their feet... Katie's stomach was in knots. She knew what she was going to tell Karen... or at least she had an over all idea. Ok, so she knew that she was going to profess her undying love for Jessie, but besides that, she wasn't quite sure.

They reached the bottom. Katie squeezed Jessie's hand to let the younger girl know everything would be ok. Jessie rounded the corner, pulling Katie with her.

"Hi mom." She said rather nervously. Karen was standing above their kitchen table sorting through the mail and some other papers, not having looked up at them yet.

"Hey baby, who else is here?" she pleasantly asked, with a smile on her face. When Jessie didn't answer, she looked up from what she was doing, her smile fading when she saw Katie.

"Oh, hello Katie." She said, her tone now cold and uninviting.

"Hi Mrs. Sammler." Katie replied nervously, awkwardly raising a hand to sort of wave, then deciding against it and placing it back by her side. They stood and looked at each other for a few moments, both Karen and Katie sizing the other up, wondering how much of a threat the other would be.

Jessie watched the exchange between them, the two most important women in her life. This is not what she wanted to see. She wanted so badly for them to get along, to even be friends. But not this. She couldn't put up with this, yet she had to. She had to stand there and watch, as if on the sidelines of what could be one of the most crucial points of her teenage life, and she was powerless to do anything.

"Mrs. Sammler, I wanted to talk to you about a few things." Katie said once she found her voice. She tried so hard not to let it shake, but it was hard to keep it under control. Karen continued to stand and stare at her, but she raised her eyebrow, as if to challenge Katie, for her to give it her best shot. But from the way she looked, Katie thought Karen wouldn't budge an inch. And she certainly wasn't going to make this easy for her.

"I umm..." she stuttered "I wanted to talk to you... about Jessie... and I." Karen sort of nodded, giving her permission to continue, while folding her arms across her chest. At that moment, Katie was shocked to see how much the two Sammler women looked alike. Their hair, their eyes, the way they stood... she saw where Jessie had gotten it all. She swallowed, then continued.

"As Jessie told you the other night, we are going out... dating... whatever you want to call it. We're a couple." As she said this, she lifted their joined hands to Karen's line of sight. She flinched a bit, but maintained her icy stare, and rigid posture. Katie paused for a moment, waiting to see if Karen would respond, but when it was made clear she wouldn't, Katie continued.

"Yes, so anyways, I just wanted you to know that... umm... I love your daughter." She smiled and looked over at Jessie, who was beaming up at her, and continued to speak to Karen while staring at Jessie.

"I love Jessie more than anything else in the world." Katie returned her attention to Karen and stared her straight in the eyes, to let her know that she was serious, very serious.

"And I promise to you, right here and now, that I will never EVER do anything to hurt her." she felt Jessie squeeze her hand. She stood there, waiting for Karen to say something... anything. But she didn't, and with each passing moment, Katie grew more and more frustrated. Why couldn't this woman be happy for them? Why did she have to make it hard and so complicated? They were two people in love. Why should it matter that she was a girl instead of a guy?

Katie shook her head and sighed.

"I just wanted you to know that." She said as she turned around and began to walk out of the room, Jessie following her, their hands still connected.

Karen watched the two girls leave, and likewise watched her moment to talk to them slip away. She sat down in the chair and put her head in her hands. She couldn't help but wonder what she had done wrong. Maybe if she and Rick had stayed together, maybe if she had been there more for Jessie, maybe... she shook her head. She couldn't dwell on the 'what if's' and 'maybe's'. No, that time was passed, and she was going to have to deal with it. She tilted her head. 'Maybe they'll grow out of it, maybe it's just a phase...' she dared to hope. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she knew it was false. Something in Katie's eyes... a fire of determination, one that she had seen in her daughter's eyes many times before. Katie really did love Jessie, and she could see that Jessie really did love Katie. But was that enough? She could learn to accept it, couldn't she?

"Arrrggg!" she said in frustration. Why couldn't she just accept Jessie for who she is, a beautiful girl who fell in love with her amazing and charming best friend.

She never had though of herself as homophobic, actually, she had always considered herself quite the opposite. She had always thought she had a fairly open mind.

So why could she be open towards other people, and not her own daughter?

Jessie and Katie made their way back up the stairs. When they got inside Jessie's room, Jessie closed the door behind her. Katie had her back turned to Jessie as she stood at the foot of the bed. Jessie walked up behind her and slipped her arms around the other girl's waist.

"That didn't go exactly as I had planed." Katie said as she shifted around so she could hug Jessie.

"I know. I wish I could say I didn't expect this, but in the back of my head, I figured this was what mom would do." Katie just shook her head.

"I better go." She said.

"Let me come with you."

"But Jess, you're mom will never let you come over, besides, it's late, and you need to get your sleep."

"I want to spend the night at your house." Katie looked down at her with a tired smile on her face.

"Jessie, not tonight please." Jess looked up at her with a serious expression.

"Just to sleep, I swear... I just can't stand to be here tonight." Katie looked deeply into her eyes, and saw that Jessie truly was serious, and just needed a night away. She slowly nodded.

"Get your things together." Jessie smiled and leaned up to kiss her for a brief moment before running around her room to gather the things she needed. In under five minutes, she had gathered everything that she would need for that night and the next morning, and stuffed it all into her backpack.

"Ok, lets go. Just walk down the stairs, and I'll sneak behind you. We'll have to move quickly to get past my mom without her seeing me." Katie nodded. They walked out of her room and down the stairs. Katie peeked around the corner, only to see Karen still sitting at the table, her head in her hands, not paying any attention to her surroundings. Katie almost regretted it for a moment, taking Jessie away without her knowing it, but in the end, decided that Jessie really did need a night away.

She turned around and motioned that it was ok for them to go, and casually walked by the hall and out the front door. As soon as Jessie was out, they bolted to the car. They climbed in, and Katie quickly pulled away from the house. Jessie began to laugh.

"Wooho! We made it!" She said, clapping her hands together. "We rock!" Katie laughed

"Was there ever any doubt?" Katie asked, smiling.

Katie's room, later that night

They laid in the bed together, facing each other, just looking... studying. Memorizing. Katie propped herself up and tilted her head a bit, then smiled.

"We never finished our conversation from earlier. You know what I always thought was romantic, but you never told me yours." Jessie smiled up at her.

"Mountains. I've always loved them, ever since I was a little girl. We took a trip there when I was 6, before the divorce, and everything was so wonderful and perfect. One night, daddy took me up the side of one of the mountains, to a point where it was high above everything else, and the two of us could look out over the entire city, and across the plain. The lights sparkled in the night and it was all just so beautiful. I've always wanted to go back. I think it would be perfect to go there with you, to kiss up there, looking down over the city." Katie leaned down and kissed her.

"That wouldn't be a hint, now would it?" Jessie smiled up at her devilishly.

"Why my dear, I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about." She said in her best imitation of a southern accent. That made Katie crack up.

"Of course you don't." She smiled and turned over and curled up to go to sleep.

"What, no good night kiss?" Jessie pouted. "You must not love me anymore!" Katie laughed and rolled over, planting a kiss firmly on Jessie's waiting lips.

"I could never stop loving you."

TBC...