I won't talk now, we'll meet at the end. :D

For now, enjoy!

No one talked much during the ride home. The air in the pickup truck was thick with a fragile calmness that was more opt to remain intact in a noiseless setting, and Jess was very grateful that his parents and his younger sister let him suffer in silence.

The pickup passed the high school, and at the same time, Jess glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Brenda and Ellie in their car behind the truck. Ellie was saying something to Brenda; his eldest sister was staring straight ahead, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel slowly.

Mixed emotions rose within Jess unexpectedly -- loathing for the school he and Leslie had escaped from, despair for the forest that would soon be destroyed, and now . . . Brenda . . . .

Jess put a shaking hand to his temple.

"Well," Nancy broke the stillness from the front seat. She cleared her throat. "Well," she began again, "Judy and I wanted to surprise the two of you with a big early dinner, and we've made all sorts of food. We were planning to go over to the Burke's after the trial but . . . but, I mean we can save you a plate if you'd rather sit it out. That's perfectly fine."

Jess concentrated on looking out the window.

"Judy made chocolate cream pie," May Belle chipped in, looking up at Jess with wide eyes. Jess forced himself to smile.

"Our favorite," he said. His voice didn't sound normal.

"Look, son," his father said abruptly, "those townsfolk -- "

"Jack," Nancy cut him off. Jack shut his mouth, sighing as he turned onto the dirt road. Nancy glanced back at Jess, eying him worriedly for a moment or two before turning forward again.

"I'm really sorry, Jess," May Belle said quietly.

Jess tried to smile again. He pulled at her hair briefly, making her giggle, but his chest felt too heavy to say anything to her. The pickup followed Bill's BMW onto the dirt road that led to their homes, and Jess looked out the window again.

At the place in the road that was directly between the two houses, the BMW stopped and slowly made a U-turn so the two drivers could face one another. Jack rolled down his window at the same time Bill did. Brenda stopped hers and Ellie's car behind them.

"So I think we're still on for tonight," Bill called to Jack, Judy leaning toward him slightly so she, too, could see Jack and Nancy in the front of their car. "Leslie's got a session at four so you all come on over around five thirty, if you want. We'll just let the kids -- "

The BMW's car door opened and Leslie leapt out of it, tugging off her heels as she raced furiously toward Stellgate's fields that led to Terabithia. Jess sprang from his seat in the truck as Judy called Leslie's name halfheartedly, throwing the pickup's door open as he crashed onto the ground.

"Jess -- " someone was saying but Jess wasn't listening. Leslie was nearly out of sight but he could see her hair flying back as she ran barefoot, taking flight across the land in desperation to reach the shelter that would soon be gone.

"Jess, honey, why don't you -- "

"Leslie!"

"I think we'd -- "

Jess didn't care anymore. The only thing in the world that was now of any importance to him was now bolting across the land as though life itself depended on it. He didn't care about the forest or his family calling his name . . . all he could think of, for whatever reason, was what Leslie had said after they had called Miranda's Outfitting, after they had learned what was going to happen for the first time:

"We fight . . . "

And in an instant, he was running after her.

OOO

Leslie charged through the makeshift bridge that towered over the creek and onto the solid ground of the familiar forest, Jess hurrying to keep up with her. By the time he reached her side they were both at the clearing where the trees that had held their treehouse lay in ruins. All that remained of their stronghold was fifty or so rotting, splinted pieces of wood scattered around the trees and dirt.

Jess stood still, taking it the horrible day all over again.

Leslie was walking tenderly now, bare feet touching lightly on the dirt floor of the forest as she danced back and forth, looking frantically around at the ground at ankle-level.

"Les?" Jess asked timidly as she continued to search the ground. She did not answer him, only pushed hair out of her face as she circled the clearing once or twice, eyes never leaving the dirt. Finally, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"There," she said triumphantly, speaking for the first time since Mr. Jacklyn had handed them the letter. "I thought I saw it earlier."

Jess walked over to her. He gazed at the dirt at a small mass of green on the ground, its color vividly standing against the brown dirt. "You thought . . . you saw a leaf?"

"It's not a leaf." She bent down and lifted part of it gently with a slender finger, raising it upward to the sky, and Jess saw the roots connected to the rest of it, woven in with strands of clumped soil.

"A plant?" Jess said.

"The frost usually kills all the tiny living things this time of year," Leslie said. She was gazing at the plant as though her life depended on it. "All of the newborn plants die, everything curls up and never sees the sun again, and it's the logical thing to happen, right? I mean, winter comes. The strong things live. The weak things die. That's how life works, right?"

Not for the first time in the years he had known Leslie, Jess was thoroughly lost.

"But this plant is still here," Leslie pressed on, raising her eyes to Jess's. "But why should it be? Why didn't it die with the other new plants? It pulled through. It survived."

Jess sat down on the forest floor next to her. "It's because it's in Terabithia," he said shakily, though in his head he added, but not for long.

"It's because," said Leslie, "it had the will to make it through."

"It's just a plant, Leslie," Jess said gently.

"It's life," she answered, not sharply, but in a way that told Jess that he would be better off if he kept quiet, "no matter how small or helpless it is. And I think it's just as strong as us, if not stronger."

Jess said nothing.

"If that life can make it through times that destroyed everything else," Leslie continued, straightening up and pointing back down at the tiny green plant, "then why can't we?"

Her voice broke on her last word, and utter, heart-wrenching emotion spread through her tone as her final barrier collapsed. Jess bit his lip as he looked around at the forest, seeing the trees that had held their treehouse and the clearings that had been host to so many battles and missions and quests. He took in the gentle beams of light that illuminated certain ferns, particular oaks, rays that had spelled out adventure for him and Leslie for the last six or seven years.

And he turned again to look at his queen, gazing at him with stricken eyes, as though desperately willing him to understand her.

"This forest is doomed, Leslie," Jess said in a hollow voice. He ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the tops of the trees. "A year from now this place is going to be something else. Something more different than we've ever known it."

He looked back down to see Leslie's eyes filled with tears.

"But Terabithia won't die," Jess went on, almost whispering. "It never will. Not while both of us are still here. Not while we can look down that dirt road back there and remember all the times we ran down it to get here."

"That little plant survived everything," murmured Leslie, wiping her eyes.

"And so will we," Jess said quietly, and he put a hesitant hand on her shoulder. When Leslie didn't flinch, he took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head between his neck and shoulder, hugging him tightly in return.

"I don't care anymore," she wept, and Jess felt her chest heaving with sobs as she spoke, " . . . as long as you're here with me I don't care what happens next . . . I just d-don't care . . . just promise you won't leave m-me, too . . . "

And Jess held her face between his palms as tenderly as he could and wiped her tears away while holding back his own. He kissed her forehead and nose and cheeks and eyes and lips over and over again as she cried, silently promising to her the only thing he had left, the only thing that had subconsciously become more important than anything else.

OOO

The late afternoon was cooler than most but Jess sat outside on the front porch step anyway, desperate to get away from his mother's sympathetic eyes and his little sisters' random and rib-crushing hugs that they had started giving him every time they ran into him. Leslie, far against her will, was at her therapy session, this time with a group of girls with similar experiences as hers. Jess had dropped her off at her house about an hour before.

"There you guys are. Leslie, I was getting a bit worried, I thought you had forgotten about your session," Judy had said as they walked in, her eyes flickering back and forth between Jess and Leslie. Leslie's lips were swollen, as were Jess's, he was sure -- something that had not gone unnoticed. "Honey, we need to leave in fifteen minutes."

"You knew the trial was today," muttered Leslie which had triggered an immediate reaction from the next room.

"We are not discussing this, Leslie," her father had called. "It'll be just for an hour, sweetheart. And when you get back the Aarons will come over for just a little bit."

Jess had forced himself to leave before it got ugly. He stayed in his house for a while before he started to feel utterly restless. and in the end he had sat down on the porch step and watched the sun start to sink into the winter horizon. Nancy and Judy were in the kitchen baking last minute pies and casseroles, Jack had stopped by his office and Bill was on the phone with an attorney across the street.

Jess heard the screen door open and close behind him and he expected to hear Joyce Ann begging him to come in and play dolls with her, or May Belle scuttle across the porch and throw her arms around his neck. What he didn't expect was a few moments of silence dotted with quiet footsteps, then for a silent Brenda to sit down next to him on the porch step. Jess glanced up at her to make sure that she hadn't completely gone insane -- however, she was not looking at him.

"One more trial," she said suddenly. Following her gaze, Jess realized that she was gazing at the Burke house. "It's on Valentine's Day, isn't it?"

Jess tried to speak past the astonishment that was thick in his throat. "Yeah, it is."

They sat silently together for several minutes. Jess cast a sideways glance at his sister. Her face was expressionless; the ugly scowl he was so used to seeing on her face was missing, and she hadn't bothered to shadow her eyes in makeup that day. Her hands rested on the bulge of her stomach, and as Jess watched her gaze at the Burke's house thoughtfully, suddenly he could take it no longer.

"Why did you do it?"

Brenda looked at him. Her dark eyes were calmer than they had been in ages.

"I mean, what . . . why did you come for us? And speak up for the . . . I don't . . . " Jess put a hand to his aching head. "I don't understand."

Brenda shrugged. "I'm not Mother Theresa," she said. "I don't just do nice shit out of the goodness of my heart. I do it 'cause I feel like it."

"But why did you suddenly feel like helping us?" Jess asked, lost.

His sister didn't answer.

"You wanted that stupid clothing store, you wanted to make us miserable. And you hate Leslie." Jess rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. "Brenda, I just don't . . . why?"

Brenda looked at the porch step, frowning. "I just . . . " she started, and she trailed off. They both sat there for a long time.

Finally Brenda took a breath.

"I know Trent," she said quietly.

Jess's heart skipped a few beats. "What?"

"I know him," Brenda repeated. Her voice was hollow. "His older brother is the father of my baby."

Something similar to a bomb was going off in Jess's chest. He couldn't speak, he could only look at his sister in horror.

"I have to keep in contact with Brett, Trent's older brother," Brenda mumbled, still looking at the ground. "To keep him updated and shit. Back in October he just mentioned that his little brother had a thing for some blonde chick at the high school that wore weird clothes or something . . . I figured out it was Leslie. That's why I told her . . . well, she was letting people take things away from her . . . but look," she said abruptly and her eyes snapped, "I had no idea, no idea, that it was that bad. Jess, I promise you."

Jess was speechless.

"And, okay, so a few weeks ago when Brett told me his little brother had a trial set up for Valentine's Day . . . " Brenda put a hand on her forehead. "I didn't know. I didn't see the signs."

"The signs . . . " Jess said, hardly recognizing his voice.

"Leslie's signs. That awful shit was happening. Jess, I didn't know."

Jess was frantically trying to put two and two together. "Your baby's father's brother is Leslie's molester," he said finally.

"Yes."

Jess realized he had been holding his breath. He let it out in a big sigh.

And without warning, a terrible thought occurred to him. "Is . . . wait, Brenda . . . is Brett the . . . the same way? The same way as Trent?"

"Not to me," Brenda said quietly. "But there have been rumors. Not me, other girls. I don't know what to believe. But all I know is that one night when we were all at Megan York's party he took full advantage of the fact that I was drunk."

Jess gazed at his sister in utter horror.

"I'm sorry."

If Jess hadn't seen her lips form the words and heard them in the tone of her voice, Jess would have never believed Brenda spoke them.

"I'm sorry, too," was all he could think of to say.

Brenda shrugged. Jess pulled in another breath.

"You still helped us, even if we lost," he said absently.

"I'm a bitch," Brenda said calmly. "I deserve to lose things that I love. Not Leslie. Not even you, I guess."

"You're not a bitch," Jess said automatically.

"Yes, I am," Brenda said, and to Jess's astonishment, he saw her smile briefly. "But Mom says that can change. And I just figured today that . . . well, maybe . . . maybe it wasn't such a bad place to start."

She stood up -- with some difficulty -- and Jess looked up at her with incredulity sweeping through his mind. His throat felt tight

"But . . . " he said helplessly, "why?"

Brenda gazed down at him through solemn eyes, the faintest trace of a smile rising on her whole face as she replied, "Because I'm your older sister."

And she left him sitting on the porch step, walking carefully back towards the house and opening the screen door softly, leaving Jess to stare after her numbly.

After what seemed like days, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Thank you," he said aloud. And he knew that she had ignored his words, but long before Brenda had disappeared back into the house, he realized that she didn't need to hear them.

OOO

There was another part to this chapter -- the trial --- but I cut it out because it was just too long and you guys needed an update. :D

The end of my high school career is approaching and I've been so busy that this story was put on hold, so thank you for your understanding! The end of this story is also near, so thank you SO MUCH as always for being the faithful readers and reviewers you are. You mean so much to me.

P.S. When the final chapter of this story is posted, I have a oneshot gift fic for all of you who have faithfully followed this story. :D I look forward to sharing it with you!