A/N: Hello, everyone (an especially to Flirtation 101, who put this story in his/her favorites and alert lists. Thank you-you helped motivate me to finish this! I hope you are reading, and I hope that anyone with feedback will drop by and comment! I'm sorry for the wait, but once it was written, I wanted to step away for a few days, so I could make better revisions. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4

"Winnie Foster, I will love you… until the day I die."

Charles arrived on the Foster property around dusk. He stood for a few minutes, staring at the house and then back at the folded letter in his hand, wondering if it was wise to simply go the door at this hour. Feeling the wind kick up behind him, he was about to take his chances when Winnie came up on his side from the servant's entrance. He noticed briefly that the coat she had chosen covered everything from her collar down to her shoes.

"I got your letter. Is everything alright?" his voice was a balance of concern and professional inquiry. She smiled softly in the sinking light.

"Everything's fine; I just…have something I would like to show you." She paused, unsure of what she was going to say even as she spoke. Winnie had been practicing this speech all afternoon, preparing for the inevitable moment of explanation, but somehow, the right words had never come. She still hadn't decided if she was going to tell him everything about Jesse. "I once told you… about the day I got lost in the family woods."

"I remember," he nodded and smiled gently, wanting to encourage her even as he wondered at the reason for her discomfort. "You were kidnapped, as I recall."

"Yes, but before that…I…I discovered something back then, that I wanted you to see. I think you'll love it almost as much as I did."

Charles smiled slowly as understanding hit him.

"If it meant so much to you, I'm sure I will." He offered his hand as the sky turned orange-red behind him, outlining dark trees in the distance. "Lead the way, darling."

The sun had set and the world had quieted by the time Winnie and Charles found the rock. She wasn't sure how, but she knew she it was the same place. The stars were out, obscured by treetops in the center of the woods, but on incredible display in the open sky once outside. Winnie heard a dove call loudly over the trees, and felt something familiar go through her-a delicious peace- mixed- with- anticipation that had been rather foreign for several years. It reminded her of her moment of freedom, but it didn't bring with it memories of Jesse; this was a memory all its own, something insulated and almost sacred from any other experience.

She risked a glance at Charles; he craned his gaze upward contentedly, taking in the night splendors as only the woods could present them. He was obviously enjoying himself, being here, being with her, but nothing in his actions or his eyes reflected what she was feeling. She didn't expect it. He didn't know what had transpired here, and once again, she wondered if he really needed to.

"It's beautiful," he whispered as she turned her eyes to the fallen flower petals and rich earth that covered the place where their fire once stood. No decayed leaves this time of year, "but I'm curious; why did you bring me here? Why is this place so special to you?" There was no frustration or demand in his voice; only sincere, gentle curiosity.

Winnie looked up at him and chose her words carefully. She was somewhat prepared for this.

"All of the things we have in common, everything you've shown me-love, freedom, a taste of the airing of the soul-this was where I felt most of those things for the first time… Now, I wanted to share this place with you." She waited for something-questions about Jesse, or a flash of hurt or jealousy. Instead, there was only that soft smile that she had come to love and take comfort in.

"Who brought you here?" The question wasn't malicious; in fact, he sounded utterly relaxed, simply enjoying this opportunity to learn some small new thing about her.

"His name was Jesse," she said passively, "an old friend. I haven't thought of him, or this place, in years." But lately the memories have been calling to me.

"Jesse," he tried the name on for size, and Winnie thought she saw the faintest flicker of sadness in his eyes; it was gone too fast for her to tell. "Jesse who?" She thought for a moment, honestly unable to pull the name from her memory.

"Tuck," she said finally. "Yes, that's it."

"Jesse Tuck," he echoed, and nodded, as though pronouncing it a fine sir name. "And you loved him?"

"Like children do," she remembered the realizations that had come from wrestling with her phantoms. He smiled down at her, his hair momentarily rustled by a passing breeze.

"And he helped teach you all those things?"

"He gave me my first taste," the words were for Jesse, but the smile was for Charles.

"Then God bless Jesse Tuck." His pronouncement visibly startled her. His eyes softened a little as he moved on. "I'm inclined to bless anyone that helped bring a little freedom to my girl," he explained. "Your open spirit had to come from somewhere; and if Tuck was a party to that, so be it…not that I want him coming to dinner after the wedding." She laughed and took his hands. He looked at her thoughtfully a minute, but she didn't have time to read his expression before he added, "Just as long as you're still mine, of course." His voice was a little softer this time, and something in his eyes had changed.

She squeezed his hands and thought about making the simple observation that crossed her mind at the moment, but realized as she opened her mouth that it wasn't necessary. He knew it; he had heard it enough before.

"Would you like to dance?" she asked him instead. A mischievous smile crossed her face as she observed his confusion. She would tell him the rest of the story later; relive the memory of her freedom with him, and enjoy his rejoicing over her. But for now, other business needed attending to.

He nodded his acceptance, and she led him out into the open space where a fire had stood all those centuries ago. No player supplied the rhythm on the rocks this time, but there was no need. Charles took her hand and led her in a waltz they had learned together on a neighbor's dance floor shortly after they became friends. They laughed over the formal steps and decidedly informal setting for a few minutes; then he slowly turned her around, and began timing his steps to the tune he was whistling into the air.

Winnie started a little as she recognized it; she felt her muscles tighten and then relax, remembering that those things didn't need to be a secret from Charles anymore. To spite that, though, as he continued to whistle next to her ear, she couldn't resist the desire confirm what she was hearing.

"That's lovely," she whispered to him. It was true. The profound, gentle notes were welcome to her spirit and easing to her mind, even as they stirred certain phantoms from sleep. "Where did you hear it?"

"Actually, from you. I heard you humming it one day, and I suppose it's just never left." Winnie understood this; at that moment she realized that the notes from May Tuck's little music box still played in her mind, too. She laid her head on Charles's shoulder and let them become his as his voice played them back for her.

Winnie and Charles stayed out on the rock longer than planned. While Charles attempted to light kindling that Winnie had found under the trees, she ventured toward a group of smaller boulders to find something to encircle the fire. The warm summer air brushed past her face and teased the loose curls of her hair-Charles had never seen it completely down before, but was more than pleased with the effect when she'd insisted on it. As she bent down to scan for smooth rocks, still smiling as she pictured the look on his face, the offer returned to her again. The words of the first man to make her smile in this clearing made their way up from the back of her mind.

You want to spend forever with me, Winnie?

She took a breath as something warmed inside her. This was the moment she had waited for, had hoped would come ever since the day the memories began reappearing; and she was glad it was here. She was letting him go.

For that moment, it was just her and the question…and she shook her head, still smiling. She knew Jesse Tuck was still out their, somewhere, but it didn't matter now. She could still take the offer; but she didn't want it.

"No," she whispered contentedly, not sure why she spoke aloud. She glanced behind her at Charles' continuing work on the flint, and turned back only after she saw a hint of success. "But thank you, Jesse Tuck…for teaching me to dance."

She walked back with two pockets full of smooth stones. Charles put down the flint and helped her arrange them, and once they'd closed the circle, she caught his eyes, unable to keep a slow smile from her lips.

"Want to spend forever with me, Charles?" She was expecting the moment of confusion, but she wasn't expecting him to recover so quickly. The look faded after a few seconds; he was obviously getting used to her impetuousness. Smiling, he got up from where he was kneeling over the stones and walked over, sliding his arms around her back.

"As much of forever as I have, Winnie Foster, is absolutely yours."

"Tuck said it to Winnie the summer she turned 15. '…You don't have to live forever-you just have to live.'

And she did."

(Tuck Everlasting)