A/N: Hey! Have I got a treat for you guys!!! Not only will I be posting chapter 9...I WILL ALSO BE POSTING CHAPTER 10. So you know. You won't have to review both chapters! Yay! And to make up for any inconvenience I caused for taking AGES to update! So I'm posting two chapters in a row. SATISFIED YOU UNGRATEFUL, WORTHLESS BI-----------------------------------------------S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, I'm just yanking your chain. I wanted to post ttwo chatpers to show you how much I LOVE YOU!! You are all my little suns and you light up my horizon every time you review. Seriously. So thanks. For making me smile when I thought I couldn't! YOU GUYS KICK ASS!!! And now I'm getting sappy so I'll stop.

But first....MY AKNOWLEDGEMENTS! You know you love them.... ;-P

Lolly: Hulloooo! I'm glad you liked the domestication of Jesse (I could just picture him wearing oven mitts with his hands on his hips trying to look menacing - hilarious)

Hauntedgurrl: Hey girl! You're reviews also deserve one word: institutalistion. Hahaha. Nah. You rock my purdy pink socks off. Whooooooooooooosh - there they go

Oenone: Omigod, Seattle sounds funkAY! I've always wanted to go there. It just sounds so.....Delilahish. Or not.......................

Nice Hayley: Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't intend to make you CHOKE TO YOUR SPLUTTERING DEATH!!!!!!!! Moowahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!! No, seriously. I didn't. Maybe. You did kinda make me choke on the whole "picture Jesse with coke dripping down his nose...." I TOTALLY freaked when I wrote that "love of my life" thing too! It just popped out!!! I'm such a romantic it sickens me. So, I want Jesse and Suze to get together....BUT I WANT SUZE AND PAUL TO GET TOGETHER!! But mostly I want JS. Yet...I don't want Paul getting with anyone else...... So maybe, she could just marry Paul, have his babies, have a secret affair and secret babies with Jesse, and then VOILA. All would be good. Maybe.

gatorchick007: Hehehe, if the moments were never spoiled, there would be no story! And we wouldn't want that now, would we, kids? chorus of children say "No Mr Wigglesworth"

iluvjesse: I UPDATED!!!

tt: I do the chicks, chick. Got it? Or you need a little visit from my friend I like to call "Delilah's FIST" to make you get it? Huh? HUH, CHICK? (Thanks for reviewing in multiple lines)

ruBY-raINDrop: Aw! You called me a cutie! I AM a cutie, aren't I? grins cutely and watched people drop to the floor in a dead faint

Naomi: Now is not a time for personal things, Naomi! Tsk tsk. Honestly. REVIEW AND BE DISCONNECTED, THAT'S ALL I'M ASKING FOR! IS IT TOO MUCH?????? (wink wink, just kidding)

Gen. Kenobi: School work sucks beyond belief. I have the same maths teacher for the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW!! Which isn't good cos 1) I SUCK at maths (I'm a wee bit of a nimrod) and 2) I'm pretty sure he HATES me. And it's SOOO true, just WHEN are you gonna use algebra??? Lol, I'm glad you...spit out your food at my line about genitalia.....LOL. But it wasn't meant to be serious. Most things in my stories aren't sposed to be serious. Lol. Specially not when they involve...ah hem, the naughty bits. The dangly bits. Or, in ladies' cases, the hidden-dangly bits. Please, do not speak of Jesse wearing long johns....HE GOES COMMANDO, OKAY???? drools I totally agree - Spiderman 2 IS one of the best movies ever!!! Especially the train scene. I don't think we got enough six-pack viewage. Unlike in the first film. Hooh boy drools all over again

Pens in potatoes: To me, ye shall be Tory. Or Tor. Whatever floats your boat, poppet. All the "I likes" and the occasional "I loves" - aw shucks! You're making me feel giddy with delight and COMPLETE AND UTTER SELF-ACTUALISED JOY!!!!!

Alenor: Your fic isn't complete crap, you petite fool. What are you on about? Ub-ubububub! Close that funny little mouth of yours...and be silent....feel the wind....see the colours....Lalala, but whatever you do - DON'T DO DRUGS!!!

Princess Alexiel: Hahahaha! Thank you for reviewing everything I've written. Lol. Of course I care, fool. Why do people always think I don't care? WHY WOULD I ASK, IF I DON'T CARE???? WHY???????????????????????? Fools...

Tina N. Blair: Omigod, are you the Prime Minister's daughter? Is her name even Tina? Does he even have a daughter? Man, I'm outta the loop. AND IT'S ALL YOU REVIEWERS' FAULT! Making me sit in front of my laptopp day and night. Cheeky girls. Thank you for adding me to your faves! YAY! You deserve a cheese puff hands over cheese puff

Teen-Princess: Well hello-o, your highness. I never thought Paul should be completely psychotic - he's just misunderstood. Like a homicidal duck.

xxreixx: You scare me. You want people to tear each other up? I'm just not that kinda girl, Rei. But I'll see what I can do when Stiff comes back on the scene....Oops, did I just let that slip...? ;-P

SweetestReject: Hiya!!! There is always trouble for lil Suze and Jesse. And you LOVE it.

AND I JUST WANNA SAY THANK YOU TO ALL MY Where's Jesse's VPL? REVIEWERS!!!!!! I LUB YOU!!! (non-gay, non-gay. sheesh.) You adorable little minxes, all trying to picture Jesse's hot, tight butt as he wiggled it round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...and round...oh man, I'm gettin' dizzy...


I kinda shifted in my seat. "Lessons?" My eyes darted around the lounge, and finally settled on our extensive video game selection. I squinted my eyes trying to make it seem as though I was paying the brightly colored boxes all of my attention. "Shifting lessons with Paul?" I flicked my eyes to Jesse to gauge his expression then flicked them back. "Not much to tell really."

I felt, rather than heard, Jesse's groan of frustration through his body, as the reverberations resonated through to my body. "Querida..." he said, and I could totally tell he had his teeth clenched. As if I was being a nuisance! Hello! He was the one who kept pestering me and taking advantage of the fact that I couldn't run away!

Sometimes I envy the dead. Not a lot, but sometimes.

Now was one of those times. I could fully understand why Jesse had dematerialised so abruptly that fatal day. Actually, those fatal days. It wasn't exactly as if Jesse was a novice at running away when things get sticky. But I could understand why he'd done that now, I mean, I wasn't exactly comfortable with this topic. The lessons weren't just lessons or keeping Jesse from disappearing forever - they were also insinuations and promises of things to come, all aimed at me by Paul. But to Jesse, they were lessons, his pride being damaged, his powerlessness being rubbed in his face, and Paul trying to steal his girlfriend from him.

But Jesse didn't know to what extent Paul went to in the "trying to steal the girlfriend" category. Jesse didn't know, for example, about Paul coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, snuggling his face into my neck and letting me become enraptured by his endearing oh-so-masculine cologne. He didn't know about Paul tickling patterns with only the barest of touches from his forefinger along my naked arm, making me want to scream out in anguish and push his whole hand on me because that bare touch wasn't enough, it was a tease and my hormones wanted more. And Jesse sure as hell didn't know about when Paul had whispered good night to me, and brushed my lips with his, before I dove out of his car for fear of wrapping my arms around his neck and forcing his lips on mine.

Jesse didn't know any of that. But I, obviously, did. And it wasn't easy keeping it from him when he kept on pushing the subject.

I, personally, blame it on Paul's aftershave. It was so beguiling. It was dark, musky, and yet tangy and light. I would get the smallest of glimpses of it before it was gone, making the faint scent seem as if it were a dream. Then I would get another whiff of it, and again, it would fade. But it would confirm my suspicions that it was there.

Each time Paul moved, some of the scent would dance toward me, only to dissipate the instant it reached my nostrils. It made me want to search his entire body until I found the source of the smell. It made me want to stay close – closer than necessary – in order to carry on smelling the enchanting aftershave.

"It's the aftershave's fault!" I suddenly screeched.

Jesse's eyebrows arched high on his forehead. "Aftershave, querida?" He looked faintly amused, more than a lot confused, and very, very suspicious.

I gulped. Nodding my head frantically, I managed a strangled, "Mm-hmm." Jesse's eyes narrowed. "But we don't need to talk about that right now. In fact, we don't need to talk about it at all. Let's just get straight to the lessons. What do you want to know? You want me to give you them in chronological order? Cos I can. You might hafta give me a few seconds to recount on what we've done and studied. It's all been quite confusing but Paul's actually surprisingly a good teacher so he's really helped me and it kinda helps that I don't have to any homework or assignments, you know?" I gave a nervous giggle and fiddled with a strand of hair.

I had almost told him about the aftershave! What, had the scent short-circuited some part in my brain causing temporary malfunction?

I peeked up through my bangs and sneaked a look at Jesse. His eyebrows travelled that long journey down from his forehead to their normal resting place, where they lay in straight lines as a blank look washed over his features. I wasn't worried. I got that a lot. Then suspicion alighted his qualities, and his brows pulled together. I quickly ducked beneath my bangs again and bit my lip.

Why couldn't I think properly when under pressure? After about a minute of silence, I looked up. Jesse was staring at me, completely blank, but with his eyes slightly misted, so I knew he was thinking, in a world of his own.

"Yo! Jesse? Anything you care to share? I'm all ears." I tugged at the ears in question.

Jesse blinked back at me. His eyes were dark and unreadable, and it was scaring me. It was as if this black widow-veil had been dropped over his eyes, sheeting any emotions and light.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. His eyebrows lifted and a lost-puppy look painted itself on his face.

"Tell you what?" I crawled away from under his arm and sat facing him, looked over the space between us in puzzlement, but his facial expression didn't change. He was confused and he wanted answers – now.

He reached out a hand and laid it on top of mine.

"Tell me about your lessons," a shadow flicked over his face, "with Paul."

That was a hard one. Not the reason. I knew the reason as to why I didn't tell him. But how did I explain that reason without hurting him and his ego?

"Well. See. The thing is. What the facts speak, the mind sings...so basically... Um..." I trailed off wisely.

I saw the corners of Jesse's lips twitch up but a frown tried to push them down. The lips were winning.

"Susannah. I will not be angry. I need to know, though. You put your life in danger and I need to understand why you didn't tell me." He had leaned over and was clutching my hands, pleading with his eyes.

"I just...didn't want you to get angry. And don't say you wouldn't have! Because you did. As soon as you found out – off you stormed. And I didn't want to hurt you and your male ego and make you feel unwanted or unneeded. I just couldn't tell you in case you went off and did something stupid."

"Like what?" Jesse actually looked offended.

"Like go off and try to hurt Paul! Or go off and desert me without leaving a note! You didn't call, you didn't write. You're worse than a teenage on his first stay away from home," I sniffed and glared at him.

"You were worried that I would go off and hurt Slater?" Jesse loosened his hand and began retracting it. I quickly planted mine on his and gripped it tightly. Trying to make him understand.

"Yes!"

Jesse's face closed off and he tried to tug his hand out from underneath mine.

"I see," he said. Except I didn't think he did, guessing from the expression on his face - that of thunderous rage and betrayal. "You were worried I would hurt your beloved Paul Slater. In that case why don't I make it easier on all of us and leave..."

And he proceeded to do so.

I blinked a couple of times. What the heck had just happened? Had I managed to push Jesse away again? "Damn you, Jesse! You great big jer-"

I leapt off the couch so fast my head span...and my leg buckled beneath me.

I fell hard. I landed hard. My breath whooshed out of my body. The pain was so dazzlingly bad, my mind danced from consciousness to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds. My breathing became stunted and I couldn't get it going again properly. It was as if I was balancing the whole house on my chest.

I gasped for breathe and tried to call someone. Instead, a flood of raspy swearwords came spewing out.

And in the distance – somewhere between the loud grates of my breath scratching out and the heavy, deafening silence surrounding my crumpled body – I heard the quiet echo of torrid Spanish. It was quick and angry and scared and was growing louder then quieter, all the while sounding as if the person were speaking it from the bottom of a bottle.

And then pure white light was casing me, and cool arms were scooping me up.

My swearing had stopped - thank God. My mom would have totally killed me and Andy would have grounded me for the rest of my life once he had dug up my corpse up if they heard the things I had said. But my breathing still wasn't right. And it was making it difficult for me to focus. And stay conscious.

Next thing I knew, I was being cushioned from the heels of my feet to the back of my head. It was soft and encompassing and it felt safe. Then those cool hands that had picked me up were stroking down my face, trailing healing paths down my cheeks, across my forehead, over my eyelids. And the angry Spanish had consecrated and was now calm and soothing. Hushed and comforting.

It brought out my breaths easily. They were no longer cotton wool pulling up against cacti. It was water falling down a drainpipe. My vision cleared and the pain bounced away.

"Ow," I whined.

The Spanish came out rushed, but still hushed. The cool hands stroked my face more quickly, too.

"What did you do to yourself?" The hands grasped my shoulders and shook them roughly. "What were you thinking?" The shaking stopped and my eyes jiggled back to the front of my skull.

"I was thinking," I retorted as calmly as I could. "That I was going to get up and follow you. Or rather, call you. Because were being such a great big jer-" I struggled to sit up but his strong hands kept my shoulders back.

I stopped struggling and scowled up at him. "Do you have to keep running away?"

Jesse leaned forward and planted a kiss on my forehead. "Do you have to keep hurting yourself? Do you have a death wish?" I didn't think it was very fair for Jesse to be finding this situation so amusing.

"No. But obviously you do because I swear to God, I am not totally against beating up the man that I love when he keeps on ticking me off. I am fully for pounding the ones I love. If it's the right thing to do."

Jesse's hand trailed down to my chin and I tried to bite it. So what if it wasn't very mature? This guy was really starting to bug me.

Jesse grinned and planted a big wet one on my lips and I forgot all about being angry with him. How come he could do that? It wasn't fair. Here I was doing my best to stay angry at him and then with one simple, utterly mind-blowing kiss all I want to do is wrap my whole body round his and never leave the comfort of his arms.

I melted into my pillows as the kiss evolved. Maybe I should injure myself more often.

Eventually Jesse pulled away and snuggled his head near my ear, whispering kisses across my skin. I nuzzled my lips into the crook of his neck, brushing the soft, resilient skin there. "No fair," I murmured. Jesse chuckled.

Suddenly something piqued my curiosity. "Why did you call Paul my 'beloved'?" Jesse tensed and slowly drew back, staring deeply into my eyes.

"You didn't want me to harm him. You were afraid I would beat him up." I felt my eyebrows tug together.

"Well, duh, Jesse. If you go over there and start pounding on him, Paul's going to want revenge."

Jesse frowned down at me. "What...?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Paul's not one to stand humiliation or feelings of inferiority. He's the kinda guy who wants to be camp leader, wants to go on top, wants everyone to listen to him. If you went round and beat him up, he's not gonna take kindly to the fact someone exists who's superior to him." I brushed some hair of Jesse's forehead. "Paul's looking for any excuse to get rid of you, Jesse. Any excuse. Being beaten up by you is probably top of the list."

Jesse's frown deepened. I resisted another eye roll. "You didn't want me to beat him up...because you thought he would want revenge?" I nodded. Duh. "Not because you cared for him?"

I felt my eyes widen with shock. "What?" I yelped. Then I realised what Jesse must have been thinking all along, and I couldn't help the laughter that was bubbling up inside of me. "Of course I don't care for him, Jesse."

But even as I said it, I felt something niggling at the back of my mind. Something like guilt. Paul had stayed with me, kept me safe, for two whole nights. And I had felt a warm glow inside of me when I found out.

"You were worried about him exorcising me..." Jesse continued once my laughter had died down.

"Yes. You go and beat him to a bloody pulp, and Paul won't wait around to get rid of you. So I agreed to go to the lessons and prevent you from unwittingly leaving."

Jesse sat in silence for a moment. "I don't want you to put yourself in danger for me, querida," he said slowly, as if thinking it through.

I gave a small sigh. "I'm not in any danger. Paul's not going to do anything to hurt me. Remember? He loves me," Jesse winced at the recollection, "so he's not going to hurt me. Mentally, maybe. Physically? No." I cupped his cheek with my hand. For a guy who came from an age where sanitation wasn't exactly a prerequisite considered that important, he sure had smooth skin. I mean, for a guy from an age without Clearasil. "I'm not in any danger, Jesse. I'm as safe as a baby in a Volvo. Seriously. Those cars are like indestructible."

When Jesse refused to look convinced I said, "Anyway. It's not as if I can't take care of myself." We both glanced down at my battered musculature. "Most of the time," I added.

Jesse gave a crestfallen sigh, resigning himself to the fact that I was going to carry on taking shifting lessons with his arch nemesis. "You must promise me, querida," Jesse said in a firm voice, "if he tries anything, anything, you will call me. Okay?" I bit down on my lip. It was a little late to be making promises like that.

Giving him a hard hug, I promised him.

With my fingers crossed, obviously.

I heard the front door bang open, and Brad's call of, "We're ho-ome!" Jesse disentangled himself from me and sat on his window seat, petting Spike who had just that second appeared through my window. His timing was impeccable. I'm pretty sure Jesse could learn a thing or two from that big dumb cat.

Small feet pattered up the stairs and pelted to my door where they stopped so hastily I thought the person the hurrying legs belonged too must have ran into some kind of visible force field and been flung back several feet.

There was a timid knock at my door and I yelled my usual, "Enter!" Doc opened the door gradually, eyeing my room cautiously. Ever since he'd found out about Jesse, he searched the room intently before opening his mouth to say anything. Which I thought was pretty useless seeing as Doc couldn't see Jesse, but I kept it to myself. He seemed to find it necessary and comforting to do it.

His eyes settled on the window seat, and the cat with his front paws seemingly hovering in mid-air, and his briefly raised fur – he always raised his hackles whenever someone came within 10 feet of him – being petted down by an invisible hand.

David's eyes grew to the size of golf balls.

They slammed over to mine. I tried to make my smile warm and reassuring, but I was finding it so hard not to just burst out laughing.

"It's okay, David. It's just Jesse." Jesse raised his hand in a form of greeting and smiled. I rolled my eyes. "He can't see you, Jesse." Jesse grinned unrepentantly at me and I turned to a very confused Doc.

"He's saying hello," I explained. Doc blushed.

"Hi Jesse," he said quietly. It would have been really sweet – my two favorite guys getting to know each other – but it wasn't. Mainly because my ultimate favorite guy wasn't visible to anyone but me.

"How was school?" I asked. Mainly to be polite. Like I actually cared about school. I would have if it had been CeeCee or Adam here instead of Doc, but only because they would have filled me in on the too-blonde-to-be-true escapades of Kelly and Debbie. Doc usually filled me in on the too-smart-to-be-interesting escapades of one scientist or another that he was learning about in class.

"It was, you know...school," he gave a small shrug. "Adam says hi. And CeeCee. And everyone else in your year. They're all really missing you apparently. And they're all planning a surprise party for when you get back. They even got you a present. It's one of those rape-alarms. The ones you set off when you're being attacked and can be heard a mile away," he gave another shrug. "It was Adam's idea. Although he said he would have preferred to just be glued to your side to protect you," Doc wrinkled his nose, "I think he was joking."

I smiled at that. Adam was always joking. "Party's not so much of a surprise anymore, huh?"

Doc grinned shamelessly. "You would have figured it out. You always get a party when you come back to school after being beaten up."

"Lucky me."

"That's why I'm here. I came to check up on you. Mom said I should, what with you not having anyone else here with you," his eyes darted to the window seat. "Except I know you haven't been alone. So I knew you'd be okay." I gave Doc a grateful smile.

I don't know how I would have survived moving in with Andy's sons if Doc hadn't been here.

Heavy footfalls could be heard climbing the stairs, and coming towards my room.

"Yo, Suze, you know where Slater's at?" Brad leaned against my doorjamb with half a Poptart in his mouth, being chewed loudly and slowly, like a sheep chewing on grass.

Brad deserved his own show on the Discovery channel.

"Yeah. Oh, and I'm fine thanks," I retorted snidely.

Dopey rolled his eyes and finished swallowing the demolished Poptart. "Whatever. So? Where is he?"

"He's..." And that's when I realised. How did I explain where Paul was? "He's...ill. Yeah. So he had to go back to Seattle with to his family. Cos his grandpa can't take care of him. Plus he was kinda missing Jack, and it was a good excuse to go down there." I needed to learn how to control the tempo of my speech when I got nervous.

"Jack? Who the hell's Jack?"

"His brother," I resisted adding "Duh." Dopey just grunted.

"Oh. Didn't know he had a bro. Anyway, why can't his grandpa take care of him?"

Had Paul not told anyone about his life? I mean, I always knew he liked to play the dark and mysterious, brooding stranger. But come on. Considering he was gonna be spending a couple more years here, you'd have thought he'd learn to open up even just a little bit.

"His grandpa's a bit...out of it. He has a nurse to look after him cos he can't look after himself. Heck, he can't even talk." Although that was a lie. Because Paul's grandfather had shocked me half to death when he had spoken very lucidly on the certain topic of his grandson... and how evil he was.

Brad stilled and looked as though he was piecing bits of a puzzle together. It looked like it hurt and I was pretty sure I could smell smoke.

"So...Paul technically has the house to himself when he's there..." Brad still had a far-away look in his eyes.

"Ye-es," I answered slowly.

Dopey grinned. "Paul has a house to himself with no one to contact his parents if anything were to happen."

The pieces were coming together in my mind too. "By anything, I'm guessing you mean a party."

Dopey turned his shameless grin to me. "Totally," was all he said. "How the hell do you know so much about Slater anyway?"

I kinda froze. What, exactly, did I say to that. I didn't need to say anything. Brad did all the talking for me.

He grinned maliciously. "You been having secret sessions with Paul? Is that where you go to whenever you say you're studying with CeeCee?" Of course, I couldn't really deny it. It was where I disappeared to when I said I was at CeeCee's. I just went there for different reasons to the ones Dopey expected me of. But I couldn't tell my mom I was going to be round at a guy's house with no one else there. She would probably freak or just pile a load of condoms on me telling me to "Keep it safe."

Ew.

"No," I snapped. "Paul just obviously feels he can share things with me that he can't share with others."

Dopey snorted. "Yeah, like his dick."

Okay. I blushed at that. I should be used to the crudities of teenage boys, what with living with two of the most juvenile ones on the planet. But still. Jesse stopped stroking Spike.

"I'm not having sex with Paul, Brad," I said slowly and between my teeth. Oh, God, cos this scenario get any worse?

"Yeah? Then how come mom's always trying to pawn off condoms onto you? And how come Paul's always grabbing you and stuff at school? Plus he totally told us about that time in his bedroom –"

I snapped up at that. "What?!"

Brad looked at me as if I was slow. "That time in his bedroom...on his bed..."

All the blood just drained out of my face. "He told you?" I screamed, outraged. What else had he told them? And how dare he tell them!

Jesse made a choking noise.

Brad just grinned. "Yeah, he did. Anyway, I gotta shoot. Things to do, you know."

He started to walk out, then stopped all of a sudden. He turned and looked over at my window.

"David, what the hell are you doing, man?"

I looked round and saw Doc, prodding meticulously at Jesse's arm and shoulder. What Dopey saw was Doc groping thin air.

David whipped round, red from the roots of his to the tips of his fingers. "I thought I saw a Blue-tipped butterfly. They're very rare."

We both stared at Doc in amazement, then Brad turned and strode out of my room. Doc gave me a sheepish grin, cast one last glance in Jesse's direction, then shot out of my room like Max whenever I get a supernatural visitor.

I sat on my bed in silence. I could feel Jesse's stare on me. "What time in his bedroom on his bed?" He asked, too calmly for my liking.

I gulped. "Remember that time when Paul said he found my hairclip? That time. That time ages ago."

Jesse kinda growled and I gave a sigh. "Not again, please? It was one time and it wasn't even anything that big." Who was I trying to kid? At the time, I thought the top of my head was going to blow off it was that big.

I'm talking about the kiss, not any anatomy that Paul might be owning.

Jesse gave a snort and carried on petting Spike.

"I think you might have freaked Doc out with the whole petting-Spike-in-mid-air thing," I said tentatively, trying to ease Jesse onto more enjoyable talking points.

Jesse grinned at me. "I like him."

A sigh escaped me. "I like him too, Jesse. He's a good kid."

Jesse gave me an odd look. "You should like him. He is your brother."

"So?" I said, looking at Jesse as if he were telling me Burger King was the way to diet. "That doesn't mean I have to like him." A moment passed, then, "Anyway, he's my stepbrother. Stepbrother. Sheesh. Am I the only one who can remember that?"

Jesse had risen and was perched on the edge of my. He looked into my eyes with a gentle expression. The same gentle expression he used right before he asked me about my shifting lessons. I was automatic alert. Innocent Jesse, my right buttock! He could puppy-dog look his way out of a hostage situation!

"Maybe you're the only one who wants to remember that, querida," he said.

Bingo! Ching-ching-ching! We have a winner! I'm going to remember that deceivingly innocent facial expression for later occasions. "I don't want to remember; I just do! He's not my biological brother! Neither is the rest of this family. So, you know...I just remember it. It's stored in my mind. Strangely enough," I muttered. Of course it's stored in my mind. Like having a step-family wouldn't be stored in your mind!

I gave a jaw-cracking yawn just then, and suddenly my eyelids felt heavy... My vision clouded with sleepiness and my mind slowed its usual racing to a gentle stroll. Jesse gave me a small smile and a peck on the forehead before shifting me down onto my bed and covering me with the sheets.

"You're tired," he murmured, "get some sleep. I will stay here with you, I won't leave you."

Warmth rushed inside me and I managed a tiny smile before my eyes closed and familiar darkness took over. I was asleep even before I finished the yawn that broke from my mouth again.