A/N: Gods, it's been so long since I updated! I'm sorry! Anyway, here's chapter eight!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!

Chapter Eight: Home

Jess's PoV

Jess scrambled up to the treehouse, and stopped in his tracks. Leslie was sitting on the make-shift porch, in front of the bench she had made. She had a raincoat on, with her trademark calf-high converse boots. Her blue-green eyes shown in the afternoon light, as did her short blonde hair. She was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at him. Prince Terrien was sprawled across her lap.

"Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr. where did you go?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Jess saw his father's keys sitting next to her. He couldn't stop staring at her. He just stood there, taking her in. his mind was blank, and coherent thoughts eluded him.

Leslie waved a hand in front of his face. "Jess? Jess, yoo hoo, Jess," she said in a sing song-y way. PT jumped up, and ran to him, barking. Jess absently petted the dog, but he didn't take his eyes off of the girl.

"Jess, what are you staring at?" she asked, and her smile faltered. He shook his head, snapping himself out of his reverie. He sat down next her, PT settling across both of their laps, and a feeling of being home swept over him. He reveled in it, and grabbed a cookie from the pack sitting next to her.

"So, where'd you go?" Leslie asked him as she, too, grabbed a cookie. The cookies were two cookies with filling sandwiched between them. Leslie pulled them apart, and licked the filling, scraping it from the other cookie with her teeth.

"I… Uh… Thought I heard something," Jess came up with on the spot. Leslie nodded, accepting this, and he sighed in relief. He leaned forward to get another cookie, and something fell out of his pocket.

"What's that?" the girl next to him snatched the thing out of the air.

Jess was just as baffled as she was and shrugged. Leslie examined it, and they realized it was a folded piece of paper. Strange, Jess thought, I don't remember—

But he did remember, as Leslie opened the paper, what it was. In class earlier that day, Jess had been bored and had made a list of the events of the day Leslie died. The bell had rung just as he was finishing and he had hurriedly folded and crammed the list into his pocket.

Jess's eyes widened as Leslie read the paper. The girl just sat there for a minute, staring at it, then she looked up at him.

"What is this?" she asked again. Jess sighed, and racked his brain for something to say, but came up with nothing. There was nothing he could say to cover up the fact that the list his best friend was holding predicted her death. The earlier feeling of being home was still there, but was being overwhelmed by a more urgent feeling of awkwardness and panic.

"Uh… It's… uh…" he fumbled.

Leslie glared. Her tone was menacing. "Jess, don't even try to lie to me. What is this?"

"It's…" he mumbled, "It's… what will happen tomorrow."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Jess looked at the sky, and then at her in despair. This was certainly not how he expected his reunion with Leslie to be. "Leslie… I…"

He was reluctant to tell her. Plus, he didn't know how to tell her in a way to make her believe him. The story sounded farfetched even to him, and he was the one who it had happened to. Leslie waited patiently for him to continue.

"I…"

"Yes?"

"Uh…"

"Come on, Jess, spit it out!"

He drew a deep breath and said in a rush, "I'm-from-five-years-in-the-future,-trying-to-save-you. Tomorrow,-I'm-supposed-to-go-with-Miss-Edmunds-to-the-museum-and-you-try-to-come-here,-but-the-rope-breaks-and-you-drown-in-the-creek."

She just stared at him like he was crazy. He sounded crazy. But, no matter what you said about Leslie Burke, it could not be said that she didn't have an open mind. She had created an entire world, for crying out loud!

"Alright, Jess, start from the beginning," she said slowly.

"I'm from five years in the future, sent here by the faery that lives in the creek to save you. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go with Miss Edmunds to the art museum in DC, and, while I'm there, you try to cross on the enchanted rope and it breaks. You hit your head, and drown."

Leslie tucked her hair behind her ears. She was speechless, which was just as good because Jess couldn't stop talking.

"Oh, God, Leslie, those five years were horrible without you. I was depressed, and then someone moved in next door, and I broke down. I broke down like I hadn't ever before, except for the day after you died. I ran straight here, and sat underneath this tree, sobbing. A faery by the name of Nerida found me and told me she could send me back, and I could save you. I jumped at the chance. I got May Belle to cover for me at home, but she seems to think this faery is evil, and didn't want me to do it. But I had to. I had to try."

He looked at Leslie. She was shaking her head.

"Jess," she said, laying a hand on his cheek, "I appreciate the gesture, but you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like this. May Belle is smart, and you short have listened to her."

His brow furrowed. "So… you believe me?"

The girl nodded. "I believe you."

"Why? I mean, I sound like a nut job!"

She chuckled. He smiled, hearing the sound. He loved that sound, and after not hearing it for five years, it brought that sense of home back to the surface. "I can tell when you're lying, Jess. And you weren't lying… But, do you have any way to get back?"

He pulled the blue, feathered vial from under his shirt. "Nerida gave me this—"

"Don't use it."

"What?" He was confused. "Why not?"

"Just don't. I agree with May Belle."

"Okay… Ow!" Jess muttered, dropping the vial. It swung from his neck. A circle on his abdomen began to burn and glow gold. He pulled it out. May Belle's locket. She had said it would grow warm and glow when the other locket was being used to contact this one. She and Foster must be trying to contact him.

Jess fumbled with the clasp to open the burning locket. It snapped open to reveal a picture of his sister and her advisor Foster.

A/N: So Leslie knows! And the lockets work! Hope you liked that chapter! I had trouble writing the parts where Jess is explaining to Leslie… Your thoughts?