The funny thing about summer was how long it stayed light out. Maybe it was just Emily's imagination, but she was sure she'd been walking around the graveyard for hours. Possibly days. Possibly years. It was the weirdest feeling she'd ever had. And however long she'd been there, the light never changed, the trees cast the same green dappled patterns on the ground around the weathered headstones and marble angles, and Jesse's hand was in hers, a bit rough, and cool. Her mind had been nearly blank, beautiful lacking in any thought except that of how perfect the moments passing were, until something at the back of her mind had remembered that she didn't know the time.

"Jesse?" she said, stopping and turning to look at him. "Do you have a watch?"

"Oh, no," said Jesse, his face changing from being peaceful, contented, happy, to its normal self. Emily couldn't figure out exactly what changed; maybe there was a shred of worry that was constantly there, that she hadn't noticed before it had disappeared. "Do you have to go home?"

"Yeah, probably," she said, apologetically. "They're probably wondering where the hell I am."

"Yeah," said Jesse, smiling, "should've though of that, huh? Well, okay, I'll walk you home. I mean, if you want?" The glimmer of hope in his eyes caught her attention and made her want to laugh.

"Yes, that would be nice, Mr. Tuck," she said.

She extended her elbow, and then remembered that the woman's arm was supposed to go through the man's elbow. Jesse grinned, stuck his arm out, and led her arm through his with his other hand. They started to walk toward the side gate that led out of the graveyard.

"So," said Jesse, as they walked along, "what would Miss Emily be doing tomorrow?"

"I don't think Miss Emily knows," said Emily, smiling slightly, "I might actually have to spend sometime with my family this vacation…"

"Oh, yeah," said Jesse sheepishly, looking at the ground.

They'd come to a road. It wasn't that busy a road; it was sort of the mini-highway around the tiny town, but cars rarely actually took it.

"Hey, race you back to town!" said Emily, unhooking her arm from his and turning to face him, while running backwards toward the road.

"Hey!" said Jesse. "Head start! No fair!"

Emily laughed and turned around, jogging out onto the deserted road, making sure not to go too fast for Jesse to catch up.

As soon as she got onto the asphalt, however, the world turned into slow motion. Cursing her own clumsiness, she watched helplessly as she tripped over her own feet, and fell over onto the road. It must have been quite a fall; she skidded a little, scraping here knee and arms as she tried to break the fall, and ended up in the middle of the road.

At that moment, her ears picked up the noise of a car moving at a high speed toward her. Her brain didn't fully register what was going on; slowly (or, what seemed slowly to her) she tried to struggle to her feet as the vehicle came into sight, the sunlight glinting menacingly off the shining white paint. Even in slow motion, the car was moving fast.

Emily had never experienced life flashing before her eyes before. Even now, she wasn't sure if this was really what was happening. But she supposed it was closest she'd ever been. She began to blank out everything except the most pointless memories or thoughts. She was suddenly very aware of how alive she was, and how dead she was about to be.

In an instant, everything sped up. Emily's heart started beating again; hands pulled her the rest of the way to her feet, and shoved her over again, out of the way of the car. She ended up on her side in the grass on the other side of the road, her face full of the smell of grass, and her lungs breathing, reminding her that she was still alive.

She pushed herself off the grass and to her feet as quickly as she could. Panic gripped her again as she looked back to the road. The car had slowed and jerked to a halt. The driver's white face appeared out the driver's side window, and the driver (a man about twenty, wearing sunglasses) started quivering and withdrew his head, rolled up his window, and sped off.

Emily gaped after him, wanting to scream, and then looked back toward where she'd been on the road before. Her heart skipped several beats, it seemed, and she ran out onto the road again.

Jesse looked as if he was sleeping. There wasn't a mark on him. He looked peaceful and serene.

"Jesse!" said Emily, in a voice that seemed to be in fast-forward as she grabbed his hand, "Jesse, Jesse, oh my god! Come on Jesse, come on, come on…!"

She jumped. Jesse's hand had moved in hers. She leapt away from him, running on her instincts alone. She watched in horror as he shook his head, sat up, and looked at her.

For split second, nothing happened. Their eyes held each other for a moment, Emily's scared and wide, and Jesse's just slightly less so. Then Jesse hid his face in his hands, groaned, and pronounced, very audibly and clearly, "Shit."

Emily did some more gaping. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

Jesse's face resurfaced, red and tight with was seemed to be some sort of pain.

"Jesse…." said Emily; all she managed to get out for the moment.

"Okay," said Jesse, half to himself, half to her, and he got to his feet. "Okay."

In all fairness to Emily, she regained her composure fairly well.

"What… just happened?" she asked, her voice surprisingly strong and unwavering, even to herself.

"It's… kind of a long… it's hard to explain," said Jesse, struggling with the right words to say. He stepped toward her, and was greatly relieved when she didn't step away.

"I have lots of time," said Emily. And at the moment, it did seem she had time; she'd forgotten all about having to get home.

"We live forever, okay?" Jesse snapped, his face becoming worried as he ran his hand through his hair.

"What?" said Emily, sure her brain hadn't actually registered was Jesse had told her. At least, not correctly.

"Can you come to talk to my family, please?" asked Jesse, worriedly. "They'll be able to explain it. Please?"

Emily didn't know what to think. She'd just practically seen Jesse Tuck come back from the dead. A large part of her wanted explanation.

"Okay," she said, "I'll come. And I want a good explanation, Jesse Tuck."

"Oh, don't worry," said Jesse, which seemed to be the opposite of what he was doing, "you'll get one."

A/N: I updated. Kudos for me. :D Hopefully more coming soon. Opinions on this specific chapter, anyone? And please please please! I need new ideas for the ending… any input GREATLY appreciated!