It's been too long, my dear readers! I'm sorry about the delay… I'd tell you precisely why this chapter took so long to hit the Internet but I have a feeling you'd rather read instead, so I'll stop typing now.

Okay, not really. One last thing: Enjoy!

Jack said later that he hadn't seen it coming; however, 'it' was a term that could have been applied to many events. From Jess storming back into the house with Brenda following quietly afterwards and shutting herself in her room, to Judy knocking on the kitchen screen door and pulling Nancy out with her for an hour so they could talk, the Aarons household was in considerable disorder from any point of view.

"It's not fair," Ellie was whining as Jack stood at the door, trying to listen to what Judy was saying on the other side of it. "She locked me out of our room. I, like, can't get in there to do anything!"

"Why don't you go play with your younger sisters?" Jack said distractedly. "May Belle and Joyce Ann are in their room."

"But—"

"And why don't you give Brenda some time to herself?" snapped Jack and Jess watched the affair miserably from the kitchen table, reveling in the astonished look on Ellie's face. "I'm sure she's got a lot to think about as of now. And be quiet, I think they're talking about Leslie out there."

Ellie let out an angry "Agh!" and stomped away, giving Jess a sullen look that he gladly returned.

Jack finally opened the door. "Everything okay?" he asked cheerfully and he was met by soft words Jess didn't need to hear. Jack, looking troubled, walked outside and pulled the door shut behind him.

"I bet she fell in that creek again," Ellie muttered, pulling out her cell phone from her back pocket and flipping it open in the living room. "Stupid girl. Good thing you weren't there to save her this time, Jess."

Jess didn't give rational actions the privilege of thought as he overturned the chair he was sitting on in haste to reach his elder sister. Ellie shrieked as he ripped the phone out of her hands and smashed it onto the tile with all the strength he could muster, heart beating with fresh rage he knew had nothing to do with a spiteful comment.

"What the hell!" screamed Ellie but Jess ignored her, tearing out of the room as fast as humanly possible and through the front door rather than the back. He dashed out into the freezing air that tore at his bare arms as he ran toward the one place in which he had ever felt a sense of belonging.

All it took was mere seconds and Jess was ten years old again, practicing in the fields for the events at recess, battling his opponents on the tracks, racing Leslie to the kingdom that would always be there, their kingdom, their kingdom…

Jess was running so fast he could hardly see what was flying behind him. His breath escaped in gasps, his thoughts appeared as chunks of time while the stars far above him mocked him with their vigor. It was so dark that they were the only sense of light Jess would have needed had he not known the way to his sanctuary automatically.

The creek was there, ahead of him, so close he could hear the water trickling forward at the pace it had always moved by. How he crossed the water he did not know, but almost before he could think he was rushing through the dark forest, jeans dripping with icy water, running until his legs gave way and he stumbled and collapsed on Terabithia's grounds, crying, cursing Trent and Brenda and Ellie and himself as he lay curled on his kingdom's bare floor.

He forgot time existed as he eventually sat up and wiped at his cold, wet cheeks. He was miserable and furious with himself for being miserable when he had no right to be, not when Leslie had been sinking into the darkness for so long….

"Jess?"

He jumped at the sound of his name, suddenly aware of how dark it was. He cried out when two strong arms grabbed at him as he tried to bolt, heart leaping with alarm.

"Jess, relax, it's just me, boy…." Jack released him and Jess turned around in confusion, completely shaken.

"Dad?" he asked.

"Son…." Jack's tone was completely helpless. "You… you know about Leslie?"

Jess nodded and though he wasn't completely sure of how Jack saw his reaction in the dark, he was sure that his father saw the tears falling fast from his eyes as he caught Jess again in a tight, protective hug. This time, however, Jess was not ashamed of them.

OOO

He awoke the next day after a rather fitful sleep. When he saw daylight streaming into his room from under the blinds he groaned and wished for it to go away. After a while, however, he began to wonder why he hadn't been awaked by his alarm clock, and he glanced over to check the time. Within seconds he was bolting out of bed in alarm.

Nancy was sitting with Ellie at the table when Jess arrived, panting, at the kitchen mere minutes later. They both looked up as Jess ran in.

"Easy, Jess, there's no need to hurry," Nancy said as Jess raced around the room.

"Mom, my alarm didn't go off…. School's already started—"

"Relax, you're not going to school today, you're staying home," Ellie said, looking as though she wished she were saying otherwise. Her damaged phone was lying on the counter and Jess felt a twinge of guilt as he saw it.

"What? Why—?"

"Judy and Bill and your father and I had a talk late last night," Nancy said evenly, "and we're keeping you and Leslie out of that school until further notice. So I turned your alarm off. I thought you'd like to sleep in."

Jess stared at her.

"Bill's up at the school now, talking to the administration. Apparently they're not too keen on taking action when they should be expelling certain people from the school immediately."

"Where's Leslie?" asked Jess automatically.

"With Judy, in their house."

"Is she—?"

"She's fine. Bill and Judy are going to take her to some therapy meetings for the next few months or so, to help her."

"It's that bad?" Ellie muttered to herself. Nancy bit her lip.

"Molestation is a horrifying experience, honey." She sounded sad. "Leslie is going to need lots of time to recover."

Jess stood for a moment, then without registering what he was doing, he pulled out a chair and sat down wearily. Nancy eyed him and twisted her coffee cup with her hands.

"So your father said you knew about this, Jess."

"I found out only an hour or so before Bill and Judy did."

Nancy was quiet and though Ellie opened her mouth to speak, Nancy gave her a silent but reprehending look that made her words shrivel on her lips. Jess assumed more explanation was necessary; for some reason he wanted to give it.

"Yeah, she'd been acting weird for a while… she only said that T—that he came up and bothered her but that he just, like, told her stuff… and she kept on begging me not to go to anyone…." Jess trailed off. "I didn't imagine it was anything like this."

Nancy nodded sympathetically. "You know it must have been bad if she'd been hiding it from you, Jess."

"I would have done something. I wanted to," Jess said quietly, and his mother reached across the table for his hand.

"Sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing. Nothing except listen. And it seems that you've done that and more for her already."

It was quiet. The brand new pickup was gone, so Jess assumed that Jack was at work. May Belle and Joyce Ann had to be at school already and judging by the silent second floor Brenda was still asleep. The clock on the wall ticked loudly.

Suddenly Ellie blurted out, "I'm sorry for what I said last night. About her falling in the creek. I didn't mean it."

Jess gazed at her incredulously.

"What?" she snapped, getting up out of her chair. "I'm sorry. God. You don't have to stare at me." She stalked out of the room, leaving behind her destroyed phone and causing Jess to sigh and put a hand to his temple in utter confusion. Nancy chuckled lightly.

"I think she's improving," she said, raising her cup of coffee to her lips. Jess found himself smiling halfheartedly.

"Maybe she can give Brenda lessons," he offered into the silence as Nancy got up to put the breakfast leftovers on a plate, which she put in the microwave and eventually placed on the table in front of Jess. In her tired eyes he saw a contentment that he hadn't seen in weeks.

"Brenda is teaching herself many lessons," she said simply. She sat back down in her chair as Jess began to eat, her eyes fixed on what she could see of the outdoors, where the clouds overhead were slowly losing their battle with the imposing sunlight. She didn't speak, only played with a piece of her auburn hair that rested on her shoulder as she looked at the world beyond the screen door.

Soon Jess finished and he rose to take his plate to the sink, and as he did, he heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs. Nancy shook herself slightly and turned her attention to the noise.

"Oh, good morning, Brenda," she said pleasantly.

Jess turned around. His sister was walking silently into the kitchen. "Morning," she answered, and Jess was a little surprised at her empty voice. "I was wondering… um, did Judy give you any updates this morning? Is that kid okay?"

"Leslie's all right," Nancy said, and her face was warm as she smiled at Brenda. Jess wasn't sure if he was more shocked about his entire family knowing about Leslie's situation or Brenda actually asking if she was fine. "I was just telling Jess that she's staying home from school until further notice, and Jess is going to stay away from there, too."

At the mention of Jess's name, Brenda whipped around until she saw her brother, standing by the sink. "Oh," she answered Nancy, looking right at him. "I guess that's good."

Jess took a glass and filled it water, acting as though he had not heard her. Brenda sat down next to Nancy, glancing over at him with uncharacteristically worried eyes.

"So are you feeling all right this morning?" Nancy asked and Jess saw Brenda shrug, turning her attention to her mother.

"I suppose," she muttered. "I'm not throwing up."

"That's great, honey. The first three or four months are always the hardest," said Nancy, now weaving her fingers through Brenda's dark hair rather than her own. "I thought today we could go downtown for a bit. We could look at cribs and strollers if you'd like, or we could go to lunch."

"Just us?" Brenda asked and Jess was even more confused at the longing in her voice.

"Just the two of us. Or three, if you're counting my grandchild."

Brenda's lips twitched in a tiny smile, but it faded almost instantly as Jess put his glass down and headed for the stairs, walking past the table without looking at his sister.

"Jess?" she called after him so quietly he almost didn't hear her, and he pretended as though he hadn't. She didn't say his name again, so he continued on to his room, so he could sit and wonder what on earth had happened to his elder sisters.

OOO

Jess forced himself to stay away from the Burke home for the remainder of the day. As the morning melted into the afternoon, however, and the clouds overtook the sun again, he couldn't stand being inside anymore. Eventually, after Nancy and Brenda had gone downtown for several hours and had returned home, he took his shoes and coat from his room and slipped outside as discreetly as he could.

Minutes later he was walking slowly down the dirt road toward the familiar fields, loving the feel of the ground beneath his shoes and even appreciating the icy air that was stinging his lungs. He reached the creek before long and carefully crossed the makeshift bridge into Terabithia, pausing to look around, feeling as though he had never seen the forest before. Despite the lack of sunlight the trees were startlingly beautiful. They had spread themselves to welcome the sky regardless of whatever elements of nature it contained, and they had stayed that way for as long as Jess could remember.

Jess kept walking until he reached the mass of wood and lumber that had been the castle of Terabithia. He looked at it and for some odd reason he didn't feel any twinge of sadness or helplessness; his mind only touched upon memories that had been forgotten.

Sitting together and plotting a certain letter as revenge… Ranting about forgetful parents and being outcasts… Laughing and fending off enemies of old… Ten-year-old Leslie raising her arms to the sky and shouting "I can't hear you!"…

Jess closed his eyes, taking it in. Somehow he felt so old in those brief, fleeting seconds, as though time had gone screeching by ages ago and he was just hearing it now….

He opened his eyes and without explanation he turned around, as though a hidden force had compelled him to do so. And she was there, watching him, head held high and eyes quietly shining as only hers could, and she walked toward him softly when their eyes met and locked.

No words were exchanged as they stood next to one another in their forest, their kingdom, their world. Jess slowly turned to face her, and he raised his hand and offered it, palm facing the sky, to his queen. Without hesitation or any trace of caution, Leslie took it. He brought her near him, brought her so close that her warm breath mixed with his, their fingers intertwining and their foreheads touching softly. They stayed that way for a long time.

Then, as the clouds overhead began to weaken, Leslie raised her chin slightly and gently pressed her lips against his. This time there was no abrupt rush of happiness or excitement between them; in fact, the action felt so simple and natural that it only intensified what they had been feeling before. Time wandered on as they kissed and allowed their thoughts to evaporate into a strength that could not have been explained in writing, but they did not know it.

Jess gradually came to understand something as they finally walked, hand in hand, away from the woods and down the dirt road back to their homes: They didn't need a wooden bridge. They didn't need a tree house or a castle or branches that could be used as swords against imaginary enemies. Yes, the destruction of their gateway and their fortress had shaken them, forced them into action. The damages done to their land had opened their eyes and made them see what they had been trying to avoid.

Bulldozers could destroy the forest. It would undoubtedly devastate the two of them if they saw construction continue with little thought to the earth or its creator. But Terabithia, the magical kingdom and all of its wonders, everything they both had ever created, that was something that could not be ripped up with the trees and the ground and the creek.

Maybe we saved Terabithia already, Jess concluded as he and Leslie walked on, feeling the warmth of both newly found understanding and victory rays the sun was sending down upon them. Maybe we're carrying it with us right now.

I could end the story right there, leave you guys forever wondering whether or not the land is destroyed… but I'm not that cruel. Cruel enough to go nearly five months without an update… but…

We're reaching the end here! I'm guessing I will be updating less than four chapters for Flight or Fight, but you never know.

Thank you for reading and reviewing as always. The highlight of my day is whenever I get reviews – that way I know whether or not this story is worth writing! I promise I will be updating a lot sooner this time. :D