This may or may not be the last chapter.. I haven't decided if I want to create an epilogue, yet. You think? Anyway, the name Mindy is used in honor of my younger sister, one of the bestest best siblings in the world. Go Mindy!

Whiteness

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke to the strong smell of disinfectant and the feel of starched sheets covering my body. So since I woke up, I must have conked off somehow, right?

The room was totally white—white bed, white table, white walls, white curtains. . . I was getting a headache just looking at them.

Squinting against the glaringity, I glanced around and saw Jesse sleeping at the bedside, slumped against the wall. He looked slightly haggard, and on his chin was three-day old stubble. My eyes softened and I reached out a hand to touch the side of his face.

And then I realized something. He was back to being a human! (Oh, you DIDN'T think I'd change Jesse into a monkey, did you? Tsk.) Weird—but good, of course. I supposed I could ask him about it later. . .

The door latch turned and a doctor—I summarized as much from his white clothes and the clipboard he held in one hand—entered the room. He was thirty-odd or so and had a face that probably looked perpetually happy.

He smiled genially when he saw I'd awoken. Beside me, Jesse stirred and awoke.

"Miss Susannah Simon. Are you feeling all right?" I nodded.

"Okay, then. Your boyfriend brought you to the hospital a couple of days ago. High levels of a newly discovered hallucinogenic called Malamolalie (A/N: I totally do not know drugs. This was made up. Bear with me, will ya? ) was discovered in your bloodstream, but most has been cleaned up, and the remaining traces will subside naturally over the course of the next few days. You'll be discharged later this afternoon. I hope you have found the facilities here satisfactory."

Nodding slightly at me and Jesse, he turned and left. I could hear the soft sound of his footfalls slowly receding down the corridor as I contemplated what the doctor had just told me.

So THAT was why I'd thought Jesse was a monkey! Whew. That was good. Somehow I had not, and still didn't, fancy the idea of, uh—procreating with a man-sized monkey. Without the creating, I mean.

So.

On an impulse, I leaned forward and slung a arm around Jesse's neck, pulling him down on the bed, on top of me. I kissed him and he responded gently, lovingly, his soft lips pressed against mine.

What started as an innocent kiss soon turned into a full make-out session. Our kiss deepened as Jesse moved his hand to the small of my back, pushing me hard against him. My nipples kind of. . . uh, hardened when they came into contact with his chest, and I sighed as the tip of my tongue touched his, sending a pleasant jolt of electricity through my body.

When we finally broke off to get air, Jesse was breathing raggedly, and he seemed to be restraining himself from, you know, jumping me. Hell, I wasn't in a much better state myself. My breath was coming in irregular pants, lips swollen and hair mussed up.

"Susannah. . . We're.. in a hospital, in fact, my work-place. I think .. we should show some self restraint while we're here."

Jesse had become a doctor, finally fulfilling his long-time dream from all those years ago—a hundred and thirty years to be exact—and he worked here, at Sunshine Hospital. He'd asked my "case" to be assigned to his good friend McBridge, I guess fearing he'd somehow be biased otherwise, or something.

I grinned cheekily and gave him one last kiss before I pulled back.

"Then. . . I'll be looking forward to getting home. . ."

Jesse filled me in while we sat in his blue Honda on the way home. Turns out Paul's been wanted for the murders of several young women, all killed within the time frame of these past two weeks, only he's been operating under the name Slater R. R being ruler. Huh. Figures. Anyway, Paul passed out after some mild attack by Jesse—which he refuses to describe—and Jesse shifted us all back here, from that creepy place in this small other world. Paul's now in custody, and his trial begins tomorrow. I guess they give priority to serial killers with a penchant for carving their initials into the chests of their murder victims. . .

I know. Gross, right? I wonder what might have happened to me if it hadn't been for Jesse. . . Ugh, not a pretty sight.

We finally turned back into the driveway. I'm not usually all that emotionally inclined, but this time the sight of all those beautiful flowers blooming in the garden, the familiarity of that place.. It had me close to tears.

I hastily wiped them away and sniffed slightly. No, I was NOT going to cry.

Jesse parked the car and we went upstairs. I flopped heavily onto the king-size bed, exhaustion finally overwhelming me. Jesse seemed unusually jumpy when he came out of the toilet. His hands clutched something—at least that's what I assumed, seeing as he was hiding them behind his back and shifting nervously.

"Susannah. . . " His wet his lips with his lips and gulped, then knelt on one knee before me.

Huh? What was he doing? Then a thought popped into my mind. Marriage? Could it be. . .? I squashed that thought immediately. No use getting your hopes up, Suze.

"I love you with all my heart, and will do so forever. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?" His brown eyes gazed up at me, and the hope in them touched me to the very core of my heart.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and this time, I didn't try to hide them. I smiled, tremulously.

"Of course."

Now I wasn't the only one with unshed tears. Smiling broadly, Jesse brought forth a small red box and flipped it open. A beautiful ring sat inside, a simple silver band with a small diamond set on top. Jesse slipped it onto my finger slowly, then stood up and swept me off my feet—literally—to spin me round and round the room. Happiness was making me giddy. Okay, well, maybe the spinning bit too, but I wasn't about to tell him that. He finally set me down on the bed and gently smoothed back a stray curl of hair on my forehead.

And later. . . let's just say things got really hot and heavy in that room.

That night (it had been afternoon when we got back from hospital), we went over to my parents' house for dinner. It was pot roast, my favourite of all favourites. It didn't matter that there were only so few of us, our stomachs were big, okay? We'd made the appointment some weeks back as a celebration of Brad's return from some weird training school for wrestlers back to Carmel-by-the-Sea. I wasn't all that elated about his arrival back, actually, but hey, I'm no spoilsport. We were planning on informing everyone of our engagement after the dinner.

The door opened to emit the soft glow of light. Arms reached out to hug me. "Susie!" Ugh. Not again. I hate that name; it beats me what my mum likes so much about it.

Jesse and I entered the house and I reveled in the comfort of the old house. I sometimes regretted moving out, but after all, my parents DO deserve their privacy. And, um, there're other reasons, mostly relating to my privacy.

Er. . . yeah.

Doc, Dopey and Sleepy were all already present, as were my mum and Adam, my stepdad. We set right into dinner after saying grace, something I've never really related to, but has since become a habit whenever I'm over.

Set on the oaken table was mini sandwiches, fried noodles, curry and loads of other goodies. I guzzled them all down, hungry after the ordeal I'd faced at Paul's hands.

When we were all full, I ushered everyone into the living room, saying I had an announcement to make.

"Mum, Adam, Doc, Sl—uh, Jake and Brad, Jesse and I want to announce something to all of you. We've gotten engaged. Uh, we hope you don't mind but we're happy so you know we really hope you all are too and will wish us all the best rather than jinxing our marriage if you know what I mean."

I paused, gulping in a much needed gust of air.

All around me, silence ensued. Then everyone burst into simultaneous laughter. I instantly went onto the defensive.

"What! I didn't do anything wrong! I know I speak fast, but—"

I was cut off by a weird squealing noise coming from the mouth of . . . my mum? Ohmigosh. My MOTHER was squealing. Next thing I knew my ribs were being crushed as she enveloped me in a bear hug.

"Um. Thanks, mum. You can let go of me now." I somehow managed to squeeze the words past the squashed passage of my lungs and breathed in relief when she let go of me.

Everyone congratulated us, even Brad, who shook my hand, probably grudgingly admitting in his mind that maybe there were people on this planet that wanted to marry me.

Later we all curled up on the sofa, mum with Adam, me with Jesse, Doc beside me, and Dopey and Sleepy on the two-seater. The night we whiled away watching a couple of old action movies that Adam had rescued from the trash some years back.

We even managed to fit some kernels of popcorn into our full stomachs. Mmm, this was good. Crunchy, with just the right amount of caramel added. One of the best traits I think Adam has? His great cooking. One of these days maybe he can make a career on television. Host a cooking show, or something.

It was midnight when we finally said our goodbyes. My mum congratulated me for the hundredth time on my engagement. She went all gaga-eyed as she stared at the ring. And then she stood on tiptoe (I was taller than her now) and whispered into my ear, "That's a fine one you got there, young lady."

And then she growled. I swear it. She probably hadn't meant me to hear, but I did, so .. So I could tell she wasn't just talking the ring, but about the man. Namely Jesse.

Have you ever suspected your mum was on drugs? Or maybe she was just jealous. That would explain it. Me being the one who got the final capture of the one and only big boy.

Er. That did NOT come out the way I want it to. There was absolutely no hidden meaning in that statement. Cross my heart and hope to die.

At long last, we escaped back into the relative privacy of the car. Just as I was about to enter it, my leg brushed against something small and furry. With a small yelp, I fell back, squinting in the darkness.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Jesse's voice carried over from the other side of the car.

My eyes soon adjusted to the lack of light and I bent down, smiling. Jesse moved over and knelt beside me.

When he saw that it was a cat, a sad, faraway look entered his eyes for a moment. Spike, the cat I'd found and taken in at 16, had died several months ago of a serious infection. There had been tears. Jesse's. I've never been all that fond of cats, but I'd cried, too, when I saw how sad he was.

We'd buried Spike in the backyard of my house and stuck a comical-looking makeshift gravestone to mark the spot of the burial. Till today I couldn't get over the how weird it looked, a light grey slate stuck into the ground at an angle that shifted with each passing storm.

Jesse picked the little kitten up, cradling it gently, his eyes filled with nothing but warmth now. My heart melted when I saw the tenderness and love there. Only Jesse could fall in love with something so easily. . . with the exception of me with him, maybe.

The kitten changed hands; I received it with slight apprehension, but it curled contentedly in my arms and promptly went to sleep. Jesse and I got into the car and he started it up, the engine whirring to life as he turned the ignition key.

There was an unspoken agreement that we would be taking the kitten back home to care for, for an indefinite amount of time. The ride back was brief.

As I got out of the car, the furry animal went into conscious mode and bounded out of my arms, happily padding through the front door after I opened it.

I opened the refrigerator, grabbed a carton of milk, and got a small silver dish out from among the plates that rested on the slots above the kitchen counter. I poured a small amount of milk onto the dish and retreated to let my newfound friend gulp it down. She—at least I assumed so, going by the lack of the anatomy usually found on males—did it in two seconds flat. Guess she was thirsty.

Later, Jesse and I made a direct route towards the study room. Mindy, which I had named the kitten, trooped obediently after us and laid down on the puff of pillows I had set in the corner. I grinned at Jesse.

"See? I told you she would stay. C'mon, let's get up to bed."

Jesse just smiled.

I put a hand on his back and steered him towards the bedroom. I was, quite frankly, exhausted. All I wanted to do was crawl under the covers and go to sleep.

What I hadn't counted for was for Mindy to creep into the room. She'd followed us! I groaned silently and picked her up, dumping her back onto the pillows in the study room.

I did this once, twice, thrice. . .

Finally, I gave up, mock sobbing at the thought of the loss of privacy we would experience for god knows how long. I lay back on the bed, letting out a big sigh as I did so. Beside me, Jesse opened his mouth.

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes.

"Don't even think about it, Buster."

Amusement danced in his eyes. "Admit it, you like this, don't you? It makes you feel wanted."

The teasing lilt to his voice told me he was joking, so, feeling gracious, I smiled. "Yeah. . . "

The bed sank as Mindy slunk onto the bed and curled up beside me, the warmth from her little body seeping into mine. Jesse leaned forward and kissed me, a pure, chaste kiss filled with love and affection.

The warm feeling started right at the core of my heart, slowly spreading outwards in rays to meet with the heat from Mindy's form. And right then and there, at one fifteen in the morning, laid out under the gentle glow of the crescent moon, I felt content, for the first time in my entire life.

"Good night, Susannah."

I closed my eyes, as peace as I'd never known before washed over me.

"Good night."