A.N - I know this is unrealistic but, lets face it, neither is travelling through time, so I hope you stick this through with me.

Also, this is an early birthday present for Emily, one of my bestest friends ever, and who has been waiting for this since May 4th. Happy Birthday x-Moondancing Milly-x (for tomorrow).

I really hope you all like this little twist as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 22

They had both never been so happy to see Jesse's car, still sitting in the beach car park where he'd left it. Suze squealed happily and launched herself towards it, dragging Jesse who still held her hand.

"We're home Jesse!" She exclaimed excitedly. "We're home! We can go home!"

"Hold on a second, querida," Jesse replied pensively. "We need to figure out what day it is here."

"Why?" Suze's nose crinkled up as she thought about what he'd said.

"Querida, think about it." Jesse looked into her eyes as he tried to make her see sense. "We were in the past for two days. If that amount of time has passed here, then our family's will be worried about us."

"Mom!" Suze exclaimed, obviously not having thought of this. "I've got to tell her I'm alright, Jesse."

"I know," he sighed. "But we can't just turn up. We'll need a cover story for where we've been the past two days. Unless you want to tell them the truth?"

"No!" She blurted out adorably. "We can think of a cover story."

Jesse smiled and kissed her.

"First of all, we have to figure out what day it is," he repeated. "It could still be the day of the dance, and we wont have to make up anything."

The sun was setting over the horizon. Jesse looked up and saw his girlfriend standing on the beach, a smear of mud on her cheek, her dress ruined and her hair messy. She'd never looked so beautiful, to him, before.

He unconsciously fingered his tuxedo pocket, checking that the small box had remained with him after all he'd been through. All they'd been through.

When he'd made up his mind - which didn't take long, taking into consideration how much Susannah meant to him - Jesse took her hand, kissed it, and looked deeply into her eyes so that she would have no doubts that everything he was about to say was nothing but the truth.

"I know we're young," he began. "And I know we haven't know each other for more than a few months, but I feel like I've known you so much longer."

"Me too," Susannah whispered.

"And," he continued. "I know it's soon, but I don't think I can live without you."

Susannah's eyes glistened with unshed, happy tears.

"So, Susannah," Jesse fell to one knee as Susannah's hand flew to her mouth, stifling a gasp as she realised what was happening. "Because I Love you, so much, will you marry me?"

The ring was beautiful, his father had given it to his mother as his father did before him. It was silver and simple with several small emeralds twisting inwards in a winding spiral. It was purely coincidence that the emeralds matched her eyes so well.

His mother had given it to him the day of the dance, obviously knowing that he had already found the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

"Yes!" Susannah exclaimed happily, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "Yes, of course."

Jesse broke out into a brilliant grin, stood up and pulled her towards him for a celebratory kiss. His fiancée looked up at him happily as he slid the ring onto her left ring finger.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Not as much as you."

And despite the fact that lines like that was such a cliché, it was true. His bride-to-be was more enchanting than anything he had ever seen before.

"Come on," Susannah pulled him towards his car again. "Let's find out when we are and then lets go show off my ring!"

Jesse let out a deep chuckle as he abided her wishes, opening her car door for her before jogging around to his side and starting it up.

---

He drove to the nearest convenience store in order to buy a newspaper. The couple exited the car together and, holding hands, they made their way into the store.

Jesse kissed Susannah on the cheek as he bent down to pick up a newspaper and then went to the checkout to pay for it.

Handing over two dollars, Jesse didn't wait for the shop assistant to hand him his change and instead just walked out, missing the look the man threw at him.

The recently engaged couple sat inside Jesse's car as they looked through the newspaper. The date on the front read Monday 23rd December. Jesse looked at Susannah. They had been gone for three days. It was Christmas Eve tomorrow.

They needed a cover story.

"What do we do, Jesse?" Susannah asked him.

Jesse, however, was focusing on the third page where there was a picture of Susannah … and him.

"Susannah," he gestured to the page. "Look."

The article proclaimed them missing. It also said that a certain Paul Slater, who was thought to have run away with them until his return the day before, had told Susannah's family that Jesse had kidnapped her. Paul had said that as soon as he realised what Jesse had planned, he had turned around and came straight back home.

"Paul Slater," Susannah hissed to herself. "I am going to kill you."

She looked up at Jesse with wide eyes.

"What are we going to do?"

Jesse's thoughts were on overdrive. Paul Slater had messed this all up for them. Jesse thought that the beating he had been given would have warned him against doing something like this.

"Susannah," Jesse began. "This may sound strange, but, let's go to Vegas. If we get married tonight then it explains our absence."

"But my family …" Susannah looked torn.

"We can leave them a note before we go, make it look like it had been in the mail." Jesse pleaded with her as a small smile tipped the corner of his lips. "We were going to get married sooner or later - let's just make it sooner."

Susannah darted her gaze from Jesse, to the shop, to the entire city of Carmel before finally focusing on Jesse again.

"Okay," she said. "Let's do it."

--------

The two teenagers wrote a letter to Susannah's parents and fixed a stamp on the envelope, after having bought all the equipment needed from the shop they had parked in front of. They discreetly slipped it into the Simon-Ackerman mailbox before driving to Jesse's house so that he could run inside and get some more money. His mother and father had gone to visit family for the holidays, taking his sisters with them.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Susannah was shocked.

He risked a glance over at her, pleased to see she was smiling.

"I know," he stated. "But, I promise you Susannah, we will do this again, properly, when we get back home. I love you, you have to know that."

Her smile was wide.

"I Love you too."

The occupants of the car were silent as they stared up at the sign that loomed above them.

"Welcome to Nevada."

Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life together.