Prettyinpinkgal: FINAL CHAPTER! But remember, folks, there will be an alternative ending posted shortly after this one! Stay tuned, and please drop a review as to how you liked the story! I realize it was very messy and irksome and had original characters (which, unless well done, I personally always hate, so I know this can be a deal-breaker for some) and took nearly SIX YEARS to finish...but I hope you enjoyed the bumpy ride, haha!
In all seriousness, though, I truly appreciate your support. Your kind words over the years have helped me develop has an author, especially in my early years here on FanFiction[dot]net. For a kid just starting to post her work on the Internet, you all were so encouraging and kind, even though, looking back, I had so many pitfalls in my writing. God bless, and thank you. I hope I can continue to mature as a writer and make you all proud. Special thanks go to Leena Lionheart and Superkawaiifreak, who left reviews after this story started up again.
Disclaimer: I don't own "Tuck Everlasting".
FOSTER EVERLASTING
CHAPTER TWENTY: START
The eternal songs of the birds greeted the Tuck and Foster household. A long fortnight had passed since the dramatic evening in the church, and Winnie had managed to overcome the trauma and told her friends what happened a week ago.
After skimming the part with the abuse-it was not stabbing always; most if it, cruelly enough, was slow and painful cutting, careful carving and slicing, but it was never deep enough to actually cut off a limb-she tremblingly said, "He occasionally stopped and gave me a chance to recover before starting again. He didn't want me to pass out again, I suppose. He was waiting for James to show up. I think I did pass out for a moment, but the thought occurred to me that if I found a way to stop him before all of you showed up...But I didn't know how. I had almost no strength."
She paused, crying silently, but she refused all moves for comfort. "I've had enough coddling enough this week, thank you. Anyway, the rope had been cut slightly I found that there was a spot that was particularly worn. I picked at it while I continued to pretend to be asleep. At one point he picked me up and started hitting me to wake me up." A bitter smile reached her lips. "I must say, I impresed myself. I had no idea I was such a talented actress. I pretended I was still asleep, and he left me alone after that. Then he started muttering something about finding James himself, but he might come and rescue me as soon as he was gone."
Winnie finally managed to get rid of the rope around her wrists and dared to look up. The reverend was tending to the fire, trying to prevent it from spreading too far. Apparently, the precautions he took with the rocks and such were failing him after so long.
"So you knocked him into the fire?" Jesse asked.
"Close. I taught him a lesson with the Word of God."
She chucked the Bible, which lay near the pulpet above her head, with her remaining strength and knocked a hole to allow the fire to spread. It spread quickly, and the reverend became badly burned in that initial blow. He was trying to escape when he finally died. As soon as she witnessed it and saw he would hurt no one again, Winnie willingly passed out again.
"Dear God, Winnie," Mae breathed. She did not embrace the woman like she wanted to, but Winnie did allow her to hold her hand.
"I'm so sorry we were late in finding you, Winnie," Jesse said, his voice cracking.
Her eyes found his. "I'm happy you found me at all."
"It was James that found you," he admitted. "I was looking, but..."
"Thank you, James," she said, turning to him. The look in his eyes made everyone blush, but it made Winnie smile for the first time in a week.
"But," and she looked back at Jesse with a heartfelt expression. "Thank you, too, Jesse. All of you. I'm very lucky to have such good friends. I'll write to you when I leave."
A chorus of "What?"s rang forth. But Winnie remained resolute despite all their pleading to at least stay another month.
"We need to leave anyway," she reasoned. "It will be a good time if we all go our separate ways now. Maybe someday...I can visit you?"
"Oh, of course, dear! And we'll visit you!" Mae gave her the motherly hug she had been craving to distribute, and this time Winnie took it gratefully.
"And Winnie," Mae whispered in her ear, "please know you always have a family."
Winnie leaned her head on Mae's shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
"Where will you go?" asked Tuck, ever the rational one, even emotional moments.
"Europe. I've always wanted to see it, and I have enough money from doing various entreprenaurial jobs over the years. I used to sew some dresses for ladies a few towns over, did I tell you that? Plus, of course, there's the fortune I inherited when my parents passed away."
The Tucks and Natasha decided that the last thing she needed was to feel guilty or sad, and so they immediatley began bombarding her with recommendations of different places to stay in different cities. They told her of different sites, which places to avoid, etc. The only one who did not speak was James, who sat by her side, eyeing her carefully.
After a few minutes of this, he finally said, "Excuse me, but could all of you leave the two of us alone for a moment?"
Jesse looked up at him sharply, but James met his gaze evenly and undauntedly. After a minute, Jesse decided to agree, seeing that he would have no other choice without looking like a possessive fool. Furthermore, Natasha and the others were waiting for his decision.
"Fine," he said, and the others followed him out quietly, Natasha looking up at him gravely.
Once the others were gone, Winnie looked at James with a curious expression. "What was that all about?"
"May I travel with you?" he blurted out.
She blinked, then turned pink. "W-what?"
"Winnie, I know you're scared, now more than ever, about going out into the world, especially after all you've been through. I'd like to be there for you. If we're going to be two lone wolves," and here he grinned a bit, "we might as well be together, right? Two is better than one, right?"
"Oh, James, that's very sweet of you, but I couldn't ask you to do that for me! I need to...I need to learn how to be more self-relient. I don't want to bother you."
"No, you don't understand." He looked extremely embarrassed, which was a novelty for him, Winnie thought. "I...want to go with you. Because I think I care about you."
There was a pause.
"I think," he emphasized quickly. "I won't try anything. I'll only be a friend. I know your heart only belongs to Jesse. But maybe someday?"
She stared at him hard. He seemed sincere. He was a good man, and she knew he would protect her. And someday, when she was ready to stand on her own, he would understand.
And perhaps she would fall in love with him. Stranger things had happened, that was certain.
"I don't want to toy with you," she whispered. "Would you truly be fine with us just being friends?"
"Yes. Absolutely."
He was in earnest.
She bit her lip. "I...Well, I'll take you up on your offer. But only as friends." For now, she added mentally.
He took her hand gently, lightly brushing one of the last remaining scars. "Thank you."
She did not withdrawl her hand, or even feel as if she was betraying Jesse, as she might have felt not long ago. In fact, she was surprised to learn within herself that Jesse had nothing to do with this at all. He had made his choice. She wasn't even doing anything shameful. She was not going to go and claim James's heart with a heart not completelly fully devoted, as she sometimes suspected happened to Jesse in regards with Natasha. Even though he had not cared for her as much as the others during her recovery, and he talked to her much less than he used to, his eyes were always on her, and she was starting to suspect that it was not her own narcissism that gave her the idea that perhaps he cared about her romantically a little.
Under normal circumstances, she would be weeping with joy.
This was not a normal circumstance.
He had forgotten her and found someone else, and now he was starting to realize he had feelings for her as well?
She would not accept that. For her, things could only be all or nothing. Otherwise, it was just too painful.
When James left, she told him to tell everyone that she was going to try and get some sleep. And she did, but only after she awarded herself the final time she would cry over that sick reverend and Jesse.
FOSTER EVERLASTING
And it was just as two weeks passed since the incident in the church that Winnie and James arrived at the train station, saying their goodbyes to everyone. The Tucks would be leaving Treegap later that day.
"What's that?" Miles inquired, glancing at a piece of paper in Winnie's hand.
She softly replied, "It's Marion's address. We stopped by to speak with her before we left. She's doing better now that she knows her husband's murderer is dead. She told me to write her often. She even cracked a joke!"
"That's right," James chuckled. "She said that one couldn't trust a man to write faithfully, and told Winnie to keep me in line."
"She sounds like a nice lady," Jesse commented a bit blandly.
Winnie glanced away and nodded.
A sniffling sound caught her attention. Mae was already sobbing into a handkerchief. "Boys, don't you dare make fun of me," she whimpered, quickly kissing Winnie on both cheeks. "I thought I was done being so sentimental over farewells, but...Oh, take care of yourself, dear! Keep in touch. I think there is something to be said about Marion's comment; these two start off writing once a week but soon it trickles off to only once a month at best."
"I promise, I'll send you letters as often as possible," Winnie swore, getting sentimental as well. "Oh, dear! Look, you've started me up, too! Miles, Tuck, thank you very much for everything. Take care."
To her surprise, both of them took their time embracing her. Tuck only seemed slightly embarrassed, and that was when Winnie Foster realized, even if she wasn't the one romantically involved with Jesse and bearing a ring on her finger, she was still a Tuck. This fact lightened her heart, and her smile became truly brilliant, albeit watery.
Natasha was up next. The two stared at each other with apologetic, respectful, and then friendly looks in their eyes before hugging each other tightly.
"Isn't this the part where you say, 'Be good to him?'" Natasha asked softly in a half-guilty voice.
"No. I know you will. This is the part where I say, 'Make sure he's good to you.'" Winnie pulled back to smirk, and they laughed happily at not-so-poor Jesse's expense.
"Hey! It's my turn for the hugging, thank you," Jesse cried, fake-glaring at Natasha.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Fine. You asked for it!" He swept Natasha off her feet quite literally, much to her surprise and amusement, and set her a few feet away from Winnie, both of them laughing.
But as he approached Winnie, his giddy grin faded to something of a more solemn nature. "We're putting off the wedding until I'm completely over you. I'll treat her well. I'll love her as she deserves to be."
"You'd better." She was smiling too.
They shook hands, but stopped in mid-shake. They then rushed into each other's arms, having this one last meaningful embrace.
"I hope you'll be happy, Winnie, especially after all the misery I've put you through," he whispered in her ear.
To answer the question he did not dare ask, she said, "I will, and I forgive you."
They kissed each other on the cheek, and thought it was the most magical thing they had ever felt, even more so than the taste of the now-destroyed spring.
When they pulled away, they both had wet cheeks.
"Why, Jesse Tuck, you're crying!" she said teasingly, although her laugh still sounded a bit like a sob.
"Am not! My eye just has a disorder."
"Apparently, you inherited it from your mother," she replied a bit dryly, pointing at a weeping Mae with an amused look in her eye.
James then said his farewells to everyone, which was naturally a far shorter affair than Winnie's. Jesse and James shook hands on amiable terms, telling each other to treat their loved ones well, and then James and Winnie boarded their train of destiny.
"The strange thing about this life is that you know there will never really be a farewell," Winnie mused aloud as she dabbed her eyes once they were seated. "Of course, with the normal people, that's true, but not with the Tucks. We will always meet again."
James agreed. "How are you feeling?" he then asked.
She saw the concerned look in his eyes, and finished dabbing her eyes in order to say with a genuine grin, "Ready to start my life. One that involves, but doesn't revolve around you or the Tucks. Mine."
And as she said these words, the train's whistle wailed and they suddenly lurched forward. She turned back towards the window to wave goodbye.