AN: Please don't kill me for not updating in a millennia. This chapter contains a present to make up for it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 18

I watch the whole thing happen. Paul chants a set of Latin words over and over and over again, while I stand in my corner, watching and waiting. Waiting for his chanting to end and for Susannah to rise and run over to me. My fingers are itching to touch Susannah. I fold my hands together so I do not feel tempted to rush to her side and graze her face with my fingertips. Dios. I'm away from her for only a moment, and I'm yearning for her touch. Her skin on my skin. Her breath caressing my neck.

Stopping myself, before I jump off a cliff, I continue to watch as Paul stands there over Susannah's body and chants. It's kind of getting annoying, the chanting, but I bite my tongue. As long as my Susannah comes back to me in the end, I will put up with anything right now. My gaze flickers over to Susannah's lifeless body lying on my kitchen floor. Suddenly, Susannah's body begins to rise from the floor, and I stifle a gasp of amazement.

I want to cry out to Paul. I want to ask him if it's working; if she is supposed to be doing that. But somehow the words do not form in my mouth. I stop trying after a moment, and just watch as mi querida's body floats above the tiled floor. She is glowing an odd golden color and her body looks graceful in the air. I glance over at Paul, who is staring at Susannah's suspended body and still chanting.

Then, Paul stops chanting and Susannah's body jerks in the air and then collides with the floor. My first instinct it to run to her side, to comfort her, to make sure she is not hurt. However, I cannot move, and when I look over to Paul questioningly, I see that he is holding up his hand, which in turn is not allowing me to rush to mi querida. I growl, not understanding why the hijo de puta is keeping me from her.

"Wait," I hear Paul whisper to me, while he continues to stare at Susannah. I forget him and concentrate on Susannah. Her body still lies unmoving on the floor. I feel defeat creeping over me. Joder! When I fear that all hope is lost, I take the fading of Susannah's golden glow as a horrible sign. I cannot bear to watch as I fail to save the love of my life, but at the same time I seem to not be able to take my gaze off of her immobile, beaten body.

I glance away for a moment, the pain of losing her too much to handle in one second. In that small moment, I hear coughing and I turn back to Susannah immediately. It is her coughing, and I feel the hold over my body gone. I rush to her side and without thinking, pick her up and hold her close to my chest, never wanting to let her go again.

I'm blubbering away in Spanish, when I hear Susannah's voice, "Jesse." I hold her away from my chest and look down at her.

"Susannah."

"I love you."

"I love you too, querida."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul calls everyone back to my apartment, while I help Susannah clean up in the bathroom.

"God," Susannah says disgusted, "I look icky."

"You look beautiful," I correct her while brushing my hand through her hair. When it sticks she yelps and pulls away from me. "So," I say with a burst of laughter, "you could use a shower."

"Duh." Susannah looks at me, her eyes alive and stunning. I wish to drown myself in them and never come up for air again. "What? Is there something hideous on my face?"

"I'm sorry," I blurt out.

"Sorry? Jesse, for what?"

"For leaving you. For going to Washington for my own gain. For not telling Marc no. For everything," I say quickly and then rush into many apologies in Spanish. Susannah puts a finger to my lips to shush me and looks at me longingly.

"Jesse, none of this is your fault. I'm a mediator; shit happens to me all the time. This is nothing out of the ordinary, you should know that," she says nonchalantly.

I want to chide her for writing this off on her gift, but on some level she is right. However, I will never let her know that. Even if she is right, that does not erase my guilt. I'm Catholic, I must confess tomorrow. Susannah presses a kiss to my cheek and then pulls away before I can pull her into me.

"I'm stinky," Susannah says immaturely while fanning her nose. Then before I can say anything of opposition, she begins to strip of her torn clothing. I immediately turn around, but not before I get a glimpse of her extremely dangerous and lusciously creamy skin.

"Jesse?" I feel the soft pads of her fingers on my forearm. I don't dare turn towards her -- for fear that I won't be able to control myself. "Jesse, this is silly," Susannah states with a small huff. "I'm still in my bra and underwear." I still do not turn around; I cannot.

Susannah's hand slips from my arm and for a moment, I think she is upset with me, but I still do not turn around. Then I feel her arms wrap around my torso. It's almost as if I forgot what Susannah's touch felt like. And before I know it, her hands are splayed on the planes of my stomach and I shiver for control. I'm biting the inside of my lip and fighting the devil of lust, tooth and nail. Keep it together, I tell myself and hear myself mutter softly in Spanish. Susannah's nimble fingers dance their way up my sides and take my shirt with them. Suddenly, I'm half naked and her hands are already on my waist.

"Susannah!" I exclaim while turning around in her embrace and looking down at her. She's completely naked. And although she has that nasty looking gash, she is beautiful. I stare at her, completely enthralled in the images that are going through my mind. I can feel myself yearning to touch her, wash her, ravish her. My legs suffer from a slight chill, and I look down, realizing that Susannah has rid me of my pants and boxers. "Nombre de Dios!" I exclaim and bend down to retrieve my pants, but Susannah stops me.

"No, Jesse." I look up at her, wanting to tell her that she needs to relax first, but she kisses me before I can find the words.

Her lips enchant me, melding against mine perfectly, and taking my breath away. She pulls her body away from my grasp, but leads me towards her with her lips. I register the sound of the shower starting, but am too far fallen to really know what is going on. All I know is that Susannah is kissing me. I step into the shower, following Susannah's tongue, dancing with mine.

The scolding water startles me, but I continue to let Susannah have her way with my tongue. She brings us under the water and her hands scrub soap onto our bodies. I take the soap from Susannah's hands and massage her pliable body deeply with my fingers. She moans and pushes her body against the wall, out from underneath the stream of the showerhead. I take her shoulders with my hands and pull her against me, under the hot water, and capture her lips with mine. Wrapping her hands around my neck, I lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist. She's panting when I pull away from her. I look down at her and in her eyes I see the love mixed with the lust. Susannah pulls my head towards her lips again and I let her take my tongue with hers and do as she pleases.

Our bodies slide against each other, and I struggle to maintain control over myself as well as keep Susannah from falling from my grasp. I decide to push her back up against the tiled wall of the shower and hold her underneath her bottom. She tightens her grip around my waist and pulls away from our kiss.

"Please, Jesse," she whispers while playing with my soaking hair. Her chest heaves quickly against mine, and I loose all control, letting myself slip into her soul.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I make Susannah sit still on the toilet seat, so I am able to dress her gash. It's clean, because we spent a good amount of time in the shower, but it still needs to be sterilized. I tell her this when she whines.

"You don't want it to get infected, do you?" I ask and she rolls her eyes up at me in answer. "That's what I thought." I unwrap a bandage and quickly put it on the tender skin of her stomach. My fingers brush against the creaminess, and I feel my control slipping. Susannah shivers and looks up at me. I turn away and begin to put the bandages and antibacterial cream into the medical cabinet. Hearing Susannah shift on the seat, I turn to her, making sure she is all right.

I watch her grimace and put her fingers lightly on her bare stomach. I lean closer to her and lean down looking at it. It seems fine. Before I can ask her if she is in any pain, her lips are on mine and her fingers are running through my wet hair. Susannah pulls me closer to her, and I feel myself fall into her. However, when her hands begin to bring up the bottom of my shirt, I pull away from her breathless.

"We can't," I tell the floor, still trying to catch my breath.

"We just did," Susannah says while bringing my chin up so I'll look her in the eye.

"I know," I say remembering the way being inside of her had felt.

"Then why not again?" She asks.

"Because," I say not fully knowing my best excuse to wait until we have a bed. I hear the front door open and CeeCee's high-pitched voice call out for Susannah. "CeeCee's here," I finish lamely, but Susannah's eyes light up.

"CeeCee's here?" She asks as if not believing me. I nod and Susannah gets up quickly, searching for the shirt I had brought for her. She slides it on, covering her luscious shoulders. It's one of my Oxfords. She attempts to button it up, but fails. I can tell she's anxious to see CeeCee, so I quickly go to her, buttoning up the shirt slowly, just to torture her.

"Jesse!" querida whines while shifting her feet; she's just itching to get out that door and fly into CeeCee's arms.

"All in good time, Querida," I whisper into her ear and then kiss her softly, while still buttoning the shirt up. My hand brushes against her bare chest and Susannah inhales sharply.

"I thought you said, not now!" She cries out softly while her body arches for my touch.

"You're right," I say while kissing the base of her neck and then finish the last button and step away from her.

"No fair!" Susannah says while huffing and pouting her lips.

"Come on, querida," I laugh while grabbing her hand and leading her out of the bathroom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"SUZE!" CeeCee cries out when we come out of the bathroom and step into the living room.

"CeeCee!" Susannah smiles back and gallops into her friend's arms. I walk after her and sit down on the couch, folding my arms across my chest.

"I was so scared like the whole time," CeeCee says while grasping Susannah tightly on the arm. "But Stephen was so nice and helpful!" CeeCee beams her gaze at Stephen, who is staring at her from across the room.

"No problem…" Stephen mumbles while looking away from CeeCee and Susannah.

"No, no, no, no," Susannah says while going over to Stephen. "I'm sure I wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for you," she says while taking his hand in hers. I watch, trying to control myself from jumping up and knocking Stephen to the ground. "Thank you, for doing all you did, Stephen," Susannah says while leaning up on her tiptoes and placing a kiss high on his cheek. I'm up on my feet in less than a second and over by Susannah's side in a moment.

"Yes, we couldn't have done it without you." I say and put my hand on Susannah's arm and slightly pulling her away protectively.

"Although I hate to admit it," Paul steps in, "De Silva's right. I claim to know everything…but I don't."

"Aww, Paul, don't be hard on yourself or anything," Susannah says while fighting off giggles.

"Yeah, Paul, don't beat yourself up about it," CeeCee clutches to Stephen while doubling over laughing. Soon enough, the laughter is hard to stave off, so we all end up in a fit of extraneous giggles. I watch as Susannah and CeeCee have fun at Paul's expense, but he's laughing right along with them. He's changed. Really changed. At last, I feel at peace with him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Forgive me?

Let me know what you thought about it. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, although the fluff makes me smile. :-P

Also, I'm not sure if I should end it like this or if you guys want more. So let me know!

--Sarah