A.N - Next update a bit earlier then usual. I'm really bad at keeping schedules. But there should be quite a few this week as I get unbelievably bored during half term.

And thanks for all of your reviews. Sorry if I didn't reply - I lost track of who i had and hadn't replied to. I promise I'll reply to every one I receive from now till the end of the fic.

Chapter 21

When Jesse opened his eyes, he wasn't greeted with the welcoming sight of electricity and all the joys of the 21st century that he had taken for granted. Instead, he saw Susannah standing opposite him with wide eyes as she looked over in fear.

They were standing near a beach - Jesse could hear the waves crashing as he felt soft sprays of water reach him.

"Where are we?" Came his voice quietly, trying not to worry Susannah. She'd been through a lot in this past day and now she hadn't even shifted home - judging by the lack of streetlights turning on as the night grew darker.

"I don't know." She whispered just as quietly.

Jesse was thankful that instead of shifting home he had instead pictured Susannah, otherwise she would have been left here alone.

Taking a look at her face, and how tired she looked, Jesse opened his arms and Suze silently ran into them.

It wasn't long before he felt small sobs wrack her body. His girlfriend never cried. She had obviously been through a lot more then he'd thought, if it was affecting her like this.

"It's okay," he soothed, smoothing her hair as her cries lessened. "You're alright now, I'm here. I'll never leave you."

She pulled back to look at him, still managing to look beautiful when her eyes were red and she had tears leaking from them.

Jesse leaned down to kiss her. As he pulled away, he looked up at the darkening sky and the faint clusters of stars that he could see emerging.

"Let's find somewhere to spend the night," He said finally. "And find out where we are in the morning."

"Yeah, sounds good."

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They eventually found an abandoned fisherman's house not far from where they were. It had taken a while to find because of the lack of light.

Breaking into the house proved easy and, after finding out there was only the one, Jesse offered the bed to Susannah.

Suze, however, shook her head vehemently.

"We can share," she insisted.

Jesse's eyebrow went up.

"I mean," She blushed as she realised what her statement must have sounded like to her boyfriend. "I don't want you to sleep on the cold floor, and there's only the one bed …"

She trailed off and looked at the floor.

"Just, hold me?"

Jesse's heart swelled when she said those three words. They confirmed, for him, every time that Susannah had ever said that she loved him.

He nodded in response as he laid down on the rough, hay-stuffed mattress and got as comfortable as he could while Susannah did the same in his arms.

When they were both settled, he wrapped his arms around her, as if protecting her from the outside world, and kissed her temple.

"I Love you, querida." He whispered.

"Mmm," Susannah was already drifting off to sleep. "Love you too."

"Sweet dreams."

The only reply he received was the sound of Susannah's even breathing as the day's events caught up with her and she fell fast asleep.

Jesse smiled as he watched over her sleeping form. He was lucky to have her. No one - especially not Paul Slater - was ever going to take her away from him. He'd make sure of that.

With those thoughts, Jesse allowed himself to fall asleep with her.

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Suze opened her eyes the next morning to a small, cramped room with harsh sunlight blaring in through a hole in the wall - which she guessed was suppose to be a window - and hurting her eyes. She winced against the brightness of the rays.

Another thing she noticed, once she regained her ability to see properly, was that she was alone.

She was so going to kill Jesse if he left her here in this … place.

Angrily jumping up from the bed and smoothing out her incredibly creased winter formal dress, Suze stormed through the little shack that they had camped in for the night.

"Hector de Silva," she muttered to herself. "You better still be here, or else I'll -"

"Woah," Came her boyfriend's voice from a doorway to the side of her. "You never call me Hector. What's up?"

"What's up?" She said harshly, poking him in the chest with a finger. "What's up?! I woke up alone in a strange house, in a different time. That's 'what's up'!"

Suze stopped talking when she realised that her voice wasn't the only sound in the room.

"And you're laughing." Her voice grew accusatory. "Why are you laughing?"

Jesse's laugh was low and rough.

"I'm sorry, querida," he managed to choke out between laughs. "I just went out early to try and find where we are, so that no one would question what I am wearing."

"Oh," Suze could see the reasoning behind his actions. It would look a bit strange if a sixteen year old was wearing a tux at midday - less people would've seen him at this time in the morning - but it still didn't explain why he was laughing at her. "But, why were you laughing?"

Jesse's laughs had died down by now, so he could explain without gasping for breath.

"Just that yesterday you were ready to knock Paul out," he said. "And today, all you came up with to punish me was a poke."

Suze scrunched her brows.

"Yeah," she told him. "That's not funny."

Jesse shrugged, "I thought it was."

Suze rolled her eyes and walked over to him, kissing his cheek, forgiving him already. The smile he threw at her was impossible to stay mad at.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't like being alone. I was scared, is all."

Jesse smiled.

"It's okay, I told you I'd never leave you again. You don't have to worry about that."

But it was still nice to hear that she liked him protecting her. Even if she didn't come outright and say it, he knew she felt safe with him.

"So," she spoke distractedly as she tried to gauge the damage to her dress. She really loved it and she wasn't going to let a little trip through history spoil it. "Did you find out where we are?"

"Yeah," Jesse pulled out a newspaper from behind his back and placed it on the table in front of him. As he leaned over it, his shirt - which had been unbuttoned at the top after he'd taken off the suit jacket - fell forward, providing Suze with a very good view of her boyfriend's tanned chest. "Check this out."

His finger pointing to the article in front of her snapped her out of her daze and she brought her eyes towards the headline he was showing her.

"Isabella Martinez Marries Slaski In Lavish Ceremony?" She read out loud. "We're still in 1814?"

"1815, actually," Jesse said, pointing to another part of the article. "Listen. 'The wedding ceremony was held yesterday at the Junipero Serra Mission a year to the day that the Isabella Impostor caused such a fiasco in our city.'"

Suze tried to contain her laughs.

"We messed up history so much."

Jesse joined her in her laughter as he gathered her in his arms and held her close.

"It turned out," he explained. "That Isabella was in New York during our little cameo in history. She was due home that day but the horse drawing her carriage lost a shoe so they had to make an unscheduled stop. That's why her family thought that you were their daughter - they hadn't received the letter that she was going to be late."

Suze kissed him softly. "And how do you know all of this, Mr de Silva?"

He raised his eyebrows in an amused way.

"I have my ways."

"What about Paul?" Suze drawled as she remembered, not particularly caring either after what he put her through. "What happened with him?"

"Well," Jesse's smug voice continued with the story. "They took him to hospital to treat his injuries -" Jesse sounded so proud of himself that Suze slapped his chest lightly "- and the story goes that he just disappeared shortly after he regained consciousness. I'm betting that he shifted home."

"And the real Mr Slaski?" Susannah asked as she picked up the newspaper and read the article.

"Showed up two weeks later." Jesse explained. "He had been in Seattle with his ill mother. She had taken ill so quickly that he didn't have time to tell anyone he was leaving."

Jesse looked over at his girlfriend who was leaning against the wall, reading the newspaper and giving it every ounce of her concentration.

"Susannah?" He asked to get her attention, smiling when she distractedly murmured a response, still concentrating on the newspaper. "Let's go home."

She looked up then and Jesse held out his hand to her.

Still clutching the newspaper, she took it.

"Yeah," Suze said, agreeing with him. "Let's go home."