Getting Started

It has been a little over a year since Jesse has been alive. And a lot, I mean a lot, has happened since then. Just to name a few things that happened: My mom is pregnant with a girl, Sleepy is engaged, Paul found a girlfriend he actually cares about, Doc has a girlfriend (Shannon), and to top it all off Dopey has found a girlfriend who is not an airhead or a slut. Yeah, so when I said a lot happened, I really meant it.

And you know what? I am turning eighteen in four days. Yup, in just four days, I, Suze Simon, mediator/shifter, will be an adult, and Jesse and I will finally be able to get it on. Nah, just kidding, he's too much of a gentleman to deflower me before we get married.

Anyway, I'm sitting in Jesse's apartment, watching The Butterfly Effect. Overall, I thought it was a good movie. Yeah, it has a few too many swear words in it, but what're you going to do? Jesse was appalled by the language, but he agreed with me that it was actually a pretty good movie. He told me that it reminded him of how I went back in time to save him, but just I didn't curse off his father or end up in jail or anything. After the movie, Jesse carried me into his bedroom and laid me on his bed. Then he said he'd be right back.

As I was lying on his bed waiting for him, a little girl materialized next to me. I looked at her and sighed, not another one, I thought. They have to learn to leave me alone when I'm with my boyfriend, but I guess they never will. Learn, I mean.

I sighed again, not because she was here when I was with Jesse, but because she was so young. She was only about four or five, I'd say.

I decided to finally talk to her. "Hello, what is your name, sweetie?"

"Madison. Are you the mediator?"

"Yes, Madison, I am. What do you need help with sweetie?" At that moment, Jesse walked back in the room and saw the little girl standing there. He came over and sat down on the bed next to me. "Hey, Jesse, this is Madison. Madison this is Jesse." Then I realized I forgot to tell her my name, "And I am Suze."

"Hi. Um, my mommy is very sad and I don't want her to be. There was a book my mommy used to read to me every night before I went to bed. She can't find the book and is very sad because it was the only thing that she had of mine."

"So, you want us to find this book for your mommy, honey?" I asked her, to which she nodded and then said a polite 'thank you'. Then she dematerialized, leaving Jesse and I alone, finally.

"So, querida, what would you like to do?" I looked over at him and smiled.

"I can think of a few things." Then I sat up and pulled him on top of me. He seemed to like this position because he didn't move for a while. He just kept looking into my eyes and then started to kiss me, while undoing the buttons to my American Eagle blouse. Once that was out of the way, he started gently sliding my silk Gap skirt off my hips, kissing all down my left leg.

I started to unbutton his flannel shirt and he let me. He wriggled out of it and then began to kiss my neck.

Then he put his arms around me and rolled over, so I was on top of him now.

I began undoing his belt and then before I knew it, I was pulling his faded jeans off his legs. When I was done, he pulled me back up toward him and kissed me. That little innocent kiss turned into a full on French fest. I enjoyed every second of it and so did Jesse.

I pulled away because I needed some oxygen in my lungs. I looked at him and whispered, "What were you doing before when you left the room?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Yeah, he's getting pretty good with the 21st century lingo and such.

"Fine, be that—" Jesse cut me off by slipping his tongue into my mouth. I enjoyed this. Oh I enjoyed it very much.

His hands began to roam dangerously close to my bra. I didn't mind this either. We were actually getting further than we usually do.

I deepened our kiss a bit and he began to unhook my bra. When I wriggled out of it, he rolled over again so I was pinned beneath him.

He lightly grazed my breasts with his fingers. My fingers were in his soft, silky hair, while his were still lingering on my chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmer. Shit! Why now?

"Seems like some people are having fun tonight." Okay, this guy was pretty hot, I have to admit. He looked at me and his eyes weren't on my face. What a pervert! Jesse saw this act and quickly grabbed the sheet and covered me with it.

I guess I found my voice before Jesse did. I figured if Jesse said something, it wouldn't be very nice.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"Brent Hoffman. I need your help. You are the mediator, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the mediator, but can't you see we are busy?"

"Well, you aren't any more."

"Because of you. Listen, you could have come some other time, couldn't you have?"

"No."

"Fine, be that way. What do you want anyway?"

"You mean besides seeing what's under the covers?"

I felt Jesse tense when he said that, so I gave his hand a squeeze. I gave the guy a sarcastic look and then said, "Yes, you perv."

"Oh, well I had some stock in Microsoft and my family doesn't know. Could you tell them so they could get it?"

"Yeah, sure. Is that it?"

"Well….I sure would like to see what I saw before again." I looked at Jesse. He was ready to pounce. I gave his hand a squeeze again and smiled. Then, I returned my gaze back to the guy. "Shut it asshole. If you just leave us alone and never come back again, I will do what you asked." He was about to say something else, but I cut him off, "Just leave." With that, he dematerialized, leaving Jesse and I alone again.

"Querida, its getting late. I really should get you back home." I sighed and then mumbled an 'okay'. I went to go retrieve my bra from our clothes pile. I really didn't care if Jesse saw my bare chest. I mean, he just did a few minutes ago, but we weren't exactly kissing right now, so it felt kind of different. But whatever.

I felt his gaze on me.

I found my bra and was putting it back on. I went over to Jesse so he could hook it for me.

"Susannah, I know you're disappointed, but I am actually glad that ghost interrupted us, even if he was trying to get a look at your um….—"

"Jesse I get it. Okay?"

"Yes, sorry. Its just that if he hadn't interrupted us, we could have gone a little further than we intended." I rolled my eyes. I don't think he saw me do it, but whatever, it doesn't really matter. Sex is just such a big deal with him. He says we should wait till we are married before we do anything of like that.

"Fine, Jesse, I know. I guess I'll get dressed now, and then you can take me home."

"Susannah…...you can uh spend the night if you uh want to."

"What's the catch?"

"You can't tempt me, Susannah. And I can't stay up late tonight; I have to meet Father Dominic very early before work." I yawned. Big deal, he had to see Father D in the morning, so what. "And you're coming with me." Oh now I get it.

"Ugh. What time?"

"Six o'clock. I set the alarm for five."

"God Jesse. Ever think of meeting him after work? Or I can just talk to him in school on Monday."

"He said it is urgent."

"Any clue what it's about?"

"Nada. I must get some sleep Susannah." He went over to his dresser and took out two shirts and a pair of flannel pj's.

I slipped the shirt over my head as Jesse put his shirt and pants on. I walked over to the bed and slid under the covers, Jesse following suit. We were snuggled under the covers and then soon fell asleep.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Ugh the alarm, is it five already?

"Mmmmm," I groaned and rolled over.

"Susannah, you have to wake up." Jesse said as he pulled the covers off the bed.

"Jesse…." I whined.

"No Susannah, wake UP." I groaned again. "If you aren't awake by the time I'm done with my shower, then I will—"

"Save it Jesse. I'll wake up after you are done with your shower. Okay? Now leave me be."

I heard him grumble a 'fine' and then walked toward the bathroom. Jesse takes long showers so I know that I will get at least a half hour of more sleep. I thought wrong.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Who the hell could that be!

I got out of the bed and then grabbed a pair of Jesse's boxers shorts and slid them on. I made my way over to the door. When I opened it, I saw Father D standing there. Shit! I thought we were going to him?

"Susannah! Explain yourself immediately!"

"Oh, hey Father D um…well, you see I spent the night last night because Jesse was really tired and I didn't want him to have to drive me home like that, so I stayed. I swear nothing happened."

"Okay, Susannah. But why was he so tired?"

Okay he got me there. "Um, there was this ghost in his bedroom named Brent and he was kind of getting mad. He kept throwing stuff at us and it took both of our power to get him to calm down so we could talk to him. Then we told him we'd tell his family about his share in the Microsoft Corporation. And then he left, leaving us exhausted."

"Alright. Is Jesse ready?"

"No, he's in the shower. I thought we were coming to you at the Mission?"

"Yes, that was the original arrangement, but there was some difficulty and I had to come here immediately."

"Oh, well come in. Would you like anything? I may not be as good a cook as Jesse but I can get you something to drink."

"Oh. I'll just have a glass of Orange Juice, thank you."

"Alright. Make yourself comfortable." As I said that, I heard the shower turn off and the bathroom door open a few seconds after that.

"Excuse me for a minute Father Dom."

"Um, okay, Susannah."

I walked into the bedroom where Jesse had a towel around his waist. He looked very sexy, well he always does, but he looked especially sexy right that minute.

He saw me and came over and gave me a kiss. Then when he pulled back, he said, "What made you change your mind?"

"Yeah, about that…um Father Dom is here."

"What? Oh, um go uh keep him busy and I'll get changed. I'll be right out."

I went back out there and told Father Dom that Jesse said he was changing and he'd be out in a minute. He looked at me skeptically for a minute and then took a sip of his OJ.

Then Jesse came out and he and Father D started talking about something. I wasn't really listening to what they were saying.

Then I noticed they were both looking at me. So I said, "What?"

"He asked if you had seen anything peculiar lately?"

"Oh, no. Not really. There was this little girl Madison and a guy named Brent, who, by the way, is a complete asshole."

"Susannah! Don't say that word or any other swears for that matter."

"Oh, sorry Father Dom. It's just that he really is. But never mind, how come you came here? You never exactly gave me a straight answer."

"Oh, yes, well, there was this ghost of a weatherman. He said he knew about the tsunami that hit near Indonesia a few weeks ago before it happened."

"Yeah, so did a lot of other people."

"No, Susannah, way before it happened. He knew about it a little after that earthquake in the ocean. But you see, he said some men killed him when he told his boss about it. They killed him because they wanted all of those people to die."

"Wow. Oh my god, so someone really did know about that?"

"Yes. He said it couldn't be prevented, but most of the people could have been evacuated way beforehand."

"Whoa."

"Susannah, I think this man wasn't moving on because he wanted vengeance on his killers. But also because he is stuck with the guilt of the tsunami. He claims it is his fault that no one knew."

"No, its not, it's his killers."

"I know Susannah. But he is very opinionated. He only believes what he wants to believe. But I think we could get him to the other side if you two help. I need you two to use your shifter abilities to calm him down, so I can talk to him."

And that's pretty much how the rest of the day went. Jesse had to call into work to tell them he was sick, so we could go stop this ghost. And we did. It took a lot out of Jesse and me to make him calm, but at least we did it. It may have taken all day, but who cares.

Father D said I had to go back home and I couldn't see Jesse until my birthday, when he was taking me out to dinner. Oh well, at least I'll be 18 in three days and I can see Jesse then too.

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Disclaimer: The Mediator characters belong to Meg Cabot.