Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. This story was only written for entertainment purposes.

Note: I'm a little rusty, so I do apologize in advance.

Save Me From Myself

Chapter Sixteen

Jamie watched as his animals grazed like they had the day before with arms crossed in front of his chest and a somber look etched onto his face. With an expectant glance over his shoulder, he silently sighed in dismay as he was once again met with only air and silence instead of a bright smile and nonsense babbling from a certain farmer. Looking away, crestfallen, he shook his head and adopted the apathetic mask he had been sporting since the brunette had taken her leave as he ushered his animals inside the purple barn.

She was gone, but it was only momentarily. Even so, it felt like a lifetime to Jamie and he was eagerly awaiting her return... Not that he actually missed her or anything, because he didn't. No, of course not. That would have been ridicules. He just missed the gifts she would bestow upon him whenever she'd invade his personal space.

When she was around, Jamie rarely had to leave his home to indulge in his unhealthy obsession with jams. Unfortunately, with the farmer gone, he has begrudgingly found himself having to wander off his property to supply his demand for said treats. And it was only because of that one fact that Jamie was anxiously looking forward to the sight of brown hair, brown eyes, and the bubbly personality that came with it all.

Not because he felt lonely.

Not because he had no one to talk to (although most of their conversations were one sided, but that was beside the point).

Not because he was trying his hardest to ignore the gnawing feeling slowly eating away at him from the inside out.

No, none of those compared to the fact that he didn't have his fix of assorted jams that were always inside the farmer's pack. Because... that was the only reason he kept looking over his shoulder for that smiling face and the warmth that radiated off said smile. Only the jam.

Right...

But he could deny as much as he'd like, there was no getting around the unreachable itch that Jamie had begun to experience the moment she'd stepped away from him with that halfhearted smile of departure.

He had begun to notice he was feeling less and less like himself as the days wore on. The energy once abundant and specifically stored to out do the rest of the village was slowly dimming, zapped away by the growing knot of dread at the pit of his stomach.

Jamie rarely ventured away from his home, which wasn't odd per se, but it felt completely different when compared to the constant moving about in town he had done during the summer with the brunette. And not only that, but he had also returned to his reclusive lifestyle, eagerly running off anyone who tried to approach his sanctuary save for Martha, who would unexpectedly grace him with a visit every now and then.

An entire season without the chattering female at his side, constantly trying to push him into holding conversations with the rest of the town and forcing him to think about idiotic things that had never crossed his mind before (like was it possible for their respective canines to think and if so, what could they be spending their time thinking about) should have felt great. But, instead of being ecstatic and relish in the silence he had once lived in before her, Jamie felt... hollow.

It was as if something was missing.

Something vital.

But it wasn't the need for a companion. Jamie could easily slip into the Moonlight Inn and not only sedate the bothersome human need to have someone babble about mindless topics, but also drown himself in a higher spirit by over doing it with the bubbly drinks the Inn specialized in. And if the Inn wasn't available, Jamie always had his loyal pet, as depressing as that sounded, who would always be available, whether the canine wanted to sit there and listen to him babble on about mindless topics or not.

Neither was it the need to feel superior than thou. Jamie could have his pick from the village to fulfill the male need to dominate and gloat. Besides, deep down he knew it wouldn't feel the same beating her at something like it would if it were Blue or Kurt in place. He'd feel horrible, which was shocking because Jamie was driven to win at all costs, but when her sadden face loomed in the back of his mind because of his need to show off... Well, it just didn't settle well with the purple haired farmer.

It must have been the need to have someone he could trust within arms reach for at least a few hours every day. The need – no, the want to have the only person in the entire village who didn't view him as some cold hearted deviant smiling up at him like he'd never done anything wrong in his life. The want to feel strangely at peace with a simple laugh and for the worries of the rest of the world to slowly drift away with the brief exchange of gifts (even if most, if not all, exchanges were initiated by her, Jamie just wasn't one to on a daily basis shower anyone with gifts). And to want the blandness of the days to disappear with the appearance of the hyperactive brunette who seemed to know just how to lure out unexpected emotions out of him. Emotions he had once thought of as being completely useless to function in the world, only introduced to a person in infancy in order to confuse and distort the big picture.

But while the feeling of unused emotions flurried throughout his body, Jamie could help but wonder. Why, after so long of being able to survive without said feelings, were they beginning to run a muck?

He finally cared about something – no, not a thing. It most certainly was someone other than himself, and while it felt pleasant at times, it was a bit... uncomfortable at others. Attached to the caring came an unexpected multitude of baggages, two of these ever present baggages being worry and anger respectively.

Although he's always been known to indulge into anger when things didn't go his way, lately it had been transforming into something different. Constantly burning at a fever pitch level when he caught sight of the looks a few of the male population threw at his little bubbly farmer. He even had to go see Alex a few times in order to be prescribed something for the soreness in his jaw from the numerous time he'd had to grind his teeth together to keep from lashing out in full force. Subconsciously he knew the looks would never extend above a platonic friendship, it still managed to irked the purple haired farmer.

The looks, however, were a silent reminder of the fact that they had gotten to experience the smiles, and the laughters, and carefree attitude usually surrounding the brunette before him. All that time he had wasted, hating the farmer because he wanted to prove that he was the best and that he didn't need her help, or her friendship, in order to save the Goddess. And how had it ended? With Jamie failing and finally accepting her help, in addition to opening up to the last person he had expected it to happen with...

Jamie shook his head clear at the sound of footsteps coming towards him. A scowl was already forming when he heard the soft sound of his canine yipping happily at the new presence.

"Don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself."

A tension rolled over his aching form at the sound of that voice. The only voice he had been waiting to here for almost four weeks echoed in his ears. Afraid of looking back, thinking it was his mind playing tricks on him once again, Jamie stood perfectly still. No other words rung, and a deflated look was beginning to work its way onto his face when there it was again...

"Hey, are you asleep standing up?" she said, closer this time, but still too far away. "I think your master's asleep, buddy."

A bark echoed and it was only then that Jamie looked over his shoulder. The sound of his heart hammering against his ribs in a quickened rhythm for a few moments was all he seemed to hear. There she was, standing a few feet away with his loyal canine sitting at her side, smiling at him. She waved – waved at him like it was the most normal thing to do and as if she had been doing it forever and always – before crouching down and pampering his pooch with scratches and cooing words.

As she did, Jamie found himself silently memorizing the sight before him. Closing the gap between them, only stopping when his purple barricade forbid him from continuing on, Jamie felt the heavy lump of loneliness uncoil and disappear without a trace.

"I'm back!" she singsonged, straightening herself up and smiling at him closing the distance between them from her side and grinning at him.

"Obviously," Jamie deadpanned, having an usually hard time trying to restrain a smile from cracking his mark.

He halfheartedly listened as she went on a rant, probably telling him about everything she'd done while visiting her family, and relaxed at the sound. The words might have been escaping his grasp, but to simply hear her voice after weeks of complete silence was welcoming. As his mind and body was lulled by her soft tone, Jamie found himself taking in her appearance once again.

Her eyes were bright, even under the pink and orange hues, as she went on, only pausing occasional to wait for a confirmation that he was listening or to breath. Her skin seemed to be a bit darker, obviously indicating that she had spent a majority of her time frolicking outside without adequate protection from the lowering temperatures. And, if it were even possible, her smiled seemed to be almost twice as contagious than it was before she had left.

"Miss me?" she whispered as bright eyes looked up at him expectantly.

A swirl of answers swarmed his mind the second those words rang inside his little head. Ranging from a simple, yet characteristically nonchalant, yes, of course to a flabbergasting comical response of what kind of idiotic thing that is to ask. But instead of voicing those perfectly fine response, all that tumbled out of his mouth was...

"Humph."

Not even a word or statement from the stoic purple hair farmer, but rather a careless sound that rumbled from the back of his unusually tight throat. And at the sound, the light in those eyes dimmed ever so slightly. The smile lost a bit of its flare and warmth. A panicked sensation ultimately engulfed Jamie, but his outward appearance refused to acknowledge said panic, opting to look as calm and collected as he looked on any given day.

A moment or two of gnawing silence settled between the former rivals before her laughter rung out into the pink and orange sky. The rushing sense of relief momentarily floored Jamie, who outwardly frowned at the outburst, but inwardly relished in the sound of her familiar tone. A quiet yipping from the bundle of fur at their side only added to the relaxation of tense muscles and bones.

As she wiped off a tear from the side of her face, a hand still clutching the side of her stomach, the brunette sighed heavily and shook her head softly. Jamie watched as she rounded the corner, followed closely behind by his dark furred companion, and only came to a stop once they were more or less about a foot away from each other. Slowly, brown eyes locked with his own azure and, a never experienced before, fluttering feeling began to overwhelmed Jamie's stomach.

With a small smile tugging at her lips, she took those last few steps keeping them apart and engulfed the paralyzed young man into a tight embrace, "I missed you too, silly."