OMG, more reviews in 24 hours then on my last chapter total! My mailbox was suddenly like REVIEW ALERT! REVIEW ALERT! REVIEW ALERT! REVIEW ALERT! The funniest thing is that almost none of you are my usual reviewers (behold the power of cliffies! (lol)) And you sounded so URGENT that I should update soon that I'm breaking my own rule and posting this chapter today. You're curious, no? about the truth coming out with the life and the never being the same, etc? This chapter is shorter than most, but, if I do say so myself, slightly less sucky. Again, what I call "less sucky", you might call "more sucky." So don't get your hopes up. At any rate, I heart you, review-y people! Now skip ahead if you don't want to read my doting upon my reviewers.

jeez claudine: YOU REVIEWED, woohoo! Hehe, the reason suze did something so stupid is that she IS stupid. She is a stupid, skanky little beeyotch. (hum, bitter much?) NO! And yes, it's DEFINITELY possible… the whole paradoxical "what if" thing is whether he could get her pregnant, which you could basically tell just by kissing: if he has ghostly saliva, he probably has ghostly little… err… yes, but then, following that logic, he would have to go to the bathroom, which is utterly nonsensical in my opinion… and if he DID get her pregnant, what the heck kind of a baby would that be? A half-ghost danny phantom kind of thing? Some kind of a translucent little fish-creature? At any rate, I didn't want my story to be all about a little freak baby with snow white hair and glowing green eyes who can walk through walls, disappear and fly and is much more unique than the other guys, so for my porpoises, he can't get her pregnant. (geez, that was long. You probably lost interest 150 words ago. Lol)

desesperado en amor: lol well if it's that important… here you go, even though I only had 5 reviews and this chapter's only been up for a day… and thank you very much:-) Oh, and so you know, when I insult suze, I don't mean you. LOL.

Venus-on-the-run: LOL! I can't BELIEVE people actually LIKE my story! Well, I guess everything has an audience… and even sucky fan fics star the characters we know and love :-D And no, that's not a negative comment at all. The insult-me bits are my favos. Ciao bella right back atcha!

Querida1607: Lol I betcha weren't expecting me 2 update THIS quickly! I'm glad you think he's yu—err… the story is yummy.

phia: lol thank you! As mike birbiglia said to me in his e-mail, "sweetest possible response". HAHA I'M NOT MAKING THAT UP, SUCKERS (WHO AREN'T READING THIS FIC BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO READ THIS AREN'T SUCKERS)! MIKE BIRBIGLIA CALLED ME SWEET! W00TW00T, BABY! TWICE! Err… anyway… thanks oodles!

haHA, now to the story!

Jesse pulled me aside in the living "room" of my apartment. We sat on the couch. He was fidgeting a lot.

"Susannah… I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, and I never will. I just have to hope."

"Uh-oh…"

"Uh-oh indeed." He sighed. "I'm sure you've noticed that Claire and I have been spending a lot of time together… I've been… cooking for her and helping her around the house… and things…"

"Jesse, I already know."

He looked disappointed. "You do?"

"Yes. It's pretty obvious. You've been having an affair with Claire."

His lips trembled and he started shaking. His eyes began to fill. "I'm sorry, Susannah… it's just that… when Claire kisses me… s—something… comes… over me, and…" He finally fell over and collapsed into… laughter?"

"Hector de Silva! That is not funny!"

"I beg… to differ! And did you just call me Hector?"

"So are you having an affair or not?"

He shook his head. "With Claire? Susannah… mi querida… no. No I'm not. "

"Then what were you trying to tell me about her?"

"Susannah, I've been working for her."

"What do you need with money?"

"To buy this."

He got up and bent down on one knee. And pulled out a little box. A little black box. "Oh… my… god… is that what I think it is?"

He just smiled and opened it. It was a ring… but not a diamond ring. Even better. An emerald. "Querida, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"How?"

He blushed. "Well, I had to impart some private information to a certain priest who can see ghosts, but he decided it was necessary for us to marry, and agreed to perform the ceremony. But… what is your answer?"

"To what?"

"The 'will you marry me?'"

"Oh! Of course! Oh, Jesse! I thought you'd never ask!" I jumped off the couch so fast, I almost fell flat on my face, but Jesse laughed and caught me. I put the ring on and covered his face with kisses.

"Now any time you feel like… well, yes… just look at the ring and remember that I love you."

"Let my try it now." I looked at the ring. Then I kissed him some more. "Hey, it works!" He chuckled. "It's so beautiful, Jesse!"

"Like your eyes, querida." I looked up, and he was gazing into them. "So no more… of that, right?"

"I hope not… I love you so much, Jesse!"

"Y te amo, querida."

I doubted that I could stop grinning if I tried. "I'm engaged…" I declared, mostly to myself. "To Jesse de Silva…" I contemplated this for a minute. I looked at the ring, and up at Jesse, ring, Jesse. Ring. Jesse. RingJesseringjesse. I held up my hand and admired it, then showed it to Jesse. "Look. I'm engaged!"

"I knew that."

"Just making sure."

He laughed. "So does your subconscious still need to be punished?"

"No. It's OK if we reward me for getting engaged. But wait a second…"

"Of course. More waiting."

"Yups… so how did you get the money for this in such a short time?"

"Well, she paid pretty generously… actually, it wasn't time yet, but after the Tim incident, Claire advanced me."

"Just out of curiosity, how come you call him Tim but you always use my full name?"

"Do you remember another Timothy?"

Ah, Timothy Beaumont. I'd forgotten about him. "Oh. That makes enough sense. But why did you always insist on being alone with Claire?"

"I told you, you get in trouble when you're alone. But now it turns out you get in trouble when you are alone with Tim, as well… Anyway, the issue wasn't Claire and me being alone, it was you being alone."

"Oh… fair enough."

"Yups. Are we done talking yet?"

"Sure." So we stopped talking and did something else. That we'd never done before. And it was fun.

Iz short, I kno… lol, did I scare ya? My excuse for OOCness is that if YOU spent 10 straight years with Suze, you'd be nuts too. Review, my brightly colored marshmallow candy chews! Err… chiclets! Why does my Spanish book say turtle on it?

D2FP!

-Emmy