Fated

Summary: Jessie finds herself in exile, forced into captivity with a mysterious stranger. With nowhere to go and seemingly no hope of escape, they share the stories behind their miserable fates. Hers is filled with questions. His is filled with answers.

Chapter 6: Giving In

It's dark in here, visions are flashing into my head as i reminisce
my reoccurring dreams and you said
"I'm falling, falling for you babe,
and my feelings are getting stronger
so why don't you stay with me for a,
for a little longer?"

Come here boy
Oh, come here boy
...Imogen Heap - Come Here Boy

"So how about you, eh? What's next in your story?" Jack asked, smiling as he lay back on his bed and looked over at Jessie, who was laying on the floor with a blanket and a pillow. Jessie thought for a moment and figured out which long-ago memory she should reveal.

"Well, it's kind of similar to you last story," she said and then she began.

I was a little concerned that James would say something to Meowth about that night, but he never did. He never said a word, even as I continued to treat him and Meowth the same way as I always treated them, bossing them around, yelling at them, hitting them. I didn't do it be a bitch. I did it because that was the only way I knew how to motivate them and still stay in control. As I said, I grew up learning how to survive and to me, surviving meant staying in charge, as if I could control my own fate. That's a laugh. I couldn't even control my own dreams.

The dreams didn't get better after that night talking to James. They got worse, to the point where I'd only catch a glance of the unknown woman before her body morphed into my best friend. I would scream out and cry, both in my dream and in real life. I don't know how Meowth never woke up. Must be a cat thing. James, on the other hand, always woke up. He'd try to comfort me, I'd push him away, he'd be his annoying self and keep trying, I'd give in and let him hold me, and neither of us would say anything else about it.

Until one night when I had the worst dream yet.

"NOOOOO!" I screamed, holding James's bloody body in my arms. I could feel moisture dripping down my cheeks, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything except for the man in my arms who would never breathe again.

"Jessie," his voice whispered. I looked down at him. The bullet hole was on his chest, not his head. He was shaky and sweaty, but conscious.

"James!" I cried, "Please, no…it'll be alright! I'll…" I didn't know what to do.

"It hurts," he said, his lips shaking.

"I know," I whispered, "I'll make it stop…I'll make it go away!" I told him desperately, wishing knew how to do it.

"Kiss me," he requested. I blinked in surprise.

"What?" I asked, looking down into those green eyes of his.

"K-Kiss me," he stammered. I leaned down and my lips met his. I felt something click, like that's what I should have been doing all along. Then he disappeared.

"J-James!" I screamed, looking down at where he had been only moments before. He was gone. I felt the horror creep into me as I looked wildly around, searching for him.

"JAMES!" I screamed, and then I felt it. It felt like someone had taken a knife and stabbed me in the heart, in the exact same spot where James's wound had been.

"NO!" I gasped, feeling as the knife pierced my heart and shredded it, "JAMES! NO!" I cried grasping at my chest as cold laughter rang out.

"JAMES!"

My eyes jerked open and I found myself staring into those familiar green eyes.

"Shhh! It's alright, Jess," he said softly, pulling me up towards him.

"J-James!" I stammered as my head hit his chest. I could feel my tears dampen his shirt, but I didn't care because I could feel him. He was alive and solid and here.

"I've got you, Jess. I'm here," he said over and over.

"Yeah," I whimpered weakly, trying to bring myself to let go of him. I couldn't. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Come on," he whispered, pulling me to my feet, "We don't want to wake Meowth."

I hadn't even thought about the still-snoring cat. It didn't matter though. James led me through the trees, away from camp to the edge of a small river.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting me down on a log. I nodded shakily and then I felt him sit beside me.

"Fine," I said, willing myself to keep my voice steady. He took my hand and held it.

"You were really scared this time," he commented.

"Doesn't matter," I replied in my usual attempts to ignore his concern.

"It matters to me," he said, "I hate seeing you like this."

"Next time stay in bed," I muttered, trying desperately to rebuild that old wall for me to hide behind.

"Jess, you can tell me what's wrong," he said. I shook my head.

"No, I can't," I argued. There was no way that I could tell him that I dreamt of him being killed every night. It was just too embarrassing, admitting that he had that much power over me.

"Let me be the strong one for a change, Jessie," he pleaded, "Your problems are my problems. We're a team."

"It's nothing, James," I told him, "I can deal with my own problems, thanks."

"That's where you're wrong," he said boldly, "Jess, I…I care about you. I want to make it better. Tell me about the dreams," he requested, "Tell me about what makes you so terrified when you wake up."

"I-I can't," I looked away. I couldn't tell him that the sound of the gunshot made me cry out in the middle of the night. I couldn't tell him that seeing his mangled body in my mind made the tears stream down my face. I couldn't tell him that I was terrified to see his lifeless body in my arms.

I couldn't tell him that the very idea of him not being there with me made my stomach clench and my heart hurt like it was being ripped into a million pieces.

"Jess, it's me, James," he said softly, "You know you can tell me anything. I'm not just your partner. I'm your friend and I want to help. Please. Please tell me what's wrong," he pleaded. I considered him for a moment and I felt myself melt under the intensity of his gaze. I wanted to tell him everything right then and there. I looked back at my hands and tried to regain my bearings.

"I'm just worried about what will happen if we don't succeed. That's all," I managed to get out, which was the truth, just not all of it.

"Is that it?" James asked, frowning, "Jess, you were crying and screaming out. You were so scared-"

"The boss is scary," I injected. He chuckled.

"No kidding," he agreed, "But what's he doing in your dream that makes you cry?" he asked in concern. I steeled myself and looked for a way to dodge the question.

"That doesn't matter," I growled, "It's just a dream! The reality of it is that we've spent the last six years chasing after the twerp. We've failed every mission and every attempt to capture Pikachu. It's a miracle we're still alive now," I reminded him.

"Jess-"

"We're going to run out of chances, James," I cut across him, "I don't want to die. I don't want…"

I didn't want him to die. I didn't say it, but like always, I didn't have to say it because he already knew. That's how it was between the two of us. Most of the time, we didn't need words to communicate.

"Jessie, we're not gonna die," James stated firmly, a determined glint in his eyes, "We've spent six years trying to catch Pikachu. If anyone knows what's going to work, it's us. We'll succeed. I promise," he pledged. It sounded nice. It sounded perfect, yet deep down, I knew it was flawed.

"You think?" I asked, looking at him, trying to ignore that feeling of despair and trying to find something to hope for.

"I do," he said confidently, "I won't let anything like that happen…to you," he added, as if not sure if he should. I couldn't stop the feeling of contentment that washed over me at his words. For so long, I had long to hear someone say that to me, to say that they wanted to take care of me, that they didn't mind fighting for me. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. I leaned against his shoulder, for the first time trusting someone completely.

He turned his head to look down at me and our eyes locked for a moment. Our faces were inches apart.

"Kiss me."

I remembered his request in my dream, and now, as he looked at me, those words were running through my head.

He closed the distance.

It was a brief, chaste kiss, but it was the kind that lingered. Even when he pulled away, I still felt his lips on mine. I still felt the jolt that shot through me at the first contact, the one that was warm and started in my lips and spread throughout my whole body. Like in the dream, I was wondering why we hadn't been doing that all along.

He pulled back and looked terrified. I blinked a couple times in surprise. James opened his mouth, probably to apologize or something, knowing James, but before he could say a word, I leaned in and kissed him again. It took him a few seconds to get over the shock of not getting clobbered with a mallet or a paper fan, but then he was kissing me just as passionately as I was kissing him. My arms snaked around his neck. I wanted him closer to me and he seemed feel the same way because he gripped my waist and pulled me closer to him.

We fell off the log, but neither of us cared. We were completely absorbed in each other. I wanted to chase that feeling I felt when I his lips first met mine. I wanted to see where it would take us because somehow I knew that it would be somewhere good, somewhere I could forget all the bullshit that had taken over my life. I wanted him. Bad.

Never thought I'd say that about James.

I was the one who took things further, pulling his black t-shirt over his head. His lips were back on mine the instant the shirt was off, so forceful that I was knocked back onto the ground, him ontop of me. I had no time to even stop to think that it was actually James pinning me to the ground. I never knew he HAD a dominant side. Usually, that was me, but lately...ah, who the Hell cares. Major turn-on. Then his lips moved from mine, but before I could miss the contact, I felt him kiss my neck.

"I was about to do the same thing," I panted, reaching for his shirt. I felt him chuckle before I heard it.

"Need you," he gasped, his voice low and raspy and sexy, but before I could reply his lips were on mine again. I could feel his hands grasp my nightgown and push it up over my head. It was a warm night but still a little cold…not that I noticed when he began kissing me again. His hands were everywhere and so were mine. I felt for the waistband of his pyjama pants and pushed them down as he left a trail of kisses down my neck and collarbone. He groaned as I flipped us so that I was on top, liking that I had the upper hand.

"I liked it the other way," he whispered, and then I was back on my back. I didn't even have time to mourn for my loss of power over him because he had found a sensitive spot on my neck and his hands were in all the right places.

"Are you sure?" he asked hoarsely, looking up at me with lust-filled eyes.

"Yes," I gasped, pulling his face back towards mine as he positioned himself above me.

Why the hell hadn't we been doing that all along?

That night, everything between me and James changed.

"By a river, eh?" Jack chuckled, mimicking her earlier comments, "How could you have sex on the dirty ground?"

"Still more romantic than a rooftop," Jessie replied.

"I don't know about that," he argued, "I mean out in the forest, all those bugs and pokemon noises…definitely not a sexy setting."

"So you think," she retorted, picturing that night in her mind, the way James looked, the silvery moonlight bouncing off his bare chest and the way his hair was deliciously messed up with leaves and grass in it. She remembered the way the river sparkled and that everything was bathed in a sliver glow. It was magical, definitely a night for her to remember for the rest of her life.

TBC

AN: So this scene has been in my head for a LONG time. It's nice to finally share. Also, it's nice to see James get some action XD. So about the next update...it probably won't be up for 8-9 days. Why? Because four years ago I decided to go to post-secondary...and now I'm suffering from the worst case of exam stress ever. Like it's to the point where I want to smash something or go get smashed...either option is pleasant at the moment.

Songs that inspired this chapter:
- Vulnerable by Secondhand Serenade
- Come Here Boy by Imogen Heap
- Walls by The Rocket Summer