We Have Time
by Stacey

 

Email: broodingconfusion@yahoo.com.au
Website: http://www.shadow-sundays.net
Rating: G
Summary: Set about 6 years into the future, Jessie reflects on the time in their relationship that brought her to be sitting in this small cafe waiting for Katie.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. They own everything.  *Suddenly feels small and insignificant*
Author's Notes: This is actually the first piece of fanfiction I've ever completed and posted for anyone aside from my friends to see.  Thanks to Emily for sharing my newfound Jessie/Katie love.

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I'd always thought things would turn out different between us.  Those insane naive hopes that you'd be together forever, those hopes that at the time seem like reality when in fact are about as far from it as you could possibly get.  Nothing's forever.  Nothing's perfect.  And things between us? They weren't perfect, or forever.  I'd loved her more than anything in my life, I still do but that wasn't enough for her.  It wasn't anyone's fault, even if I'd tried that little bit harder I don't think it would have worked, maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

We were happy though, before she left, before everything started going downhill.  Things were great, they were perfect, she was my world.  Everything around us was just blurred into the background and the lights were centered on us.  But then it happened, I always thought that we could share anything, that we'd be able to get through anything as long as we had each other.  I guess I was wrong, after the accident she was never the same, she closed part of herself off to me.  I don't know if she blamed herself, hell, I don't know if she blamed me but it was like she couldn't face me again after that.  I remember I was up in my room when mom came up and told me what had happened, she told me about the accident and how Katie was still critical, lying in a coma.

I must've cried for hours, I was so scared, what if she died? What if I never got to say goodbye? The worst thing was that we'd had a fight before she left, it was why she left, I didn't know how I felt in those few moments, if I thought she was going to live or die.  I told mom everything, about the arguement, about her leaving, about how scared I was that she might die and about how I loved her.  I think she would have been the only person who could have comforted me the way she did, she always knew exactly the right things to say.  She told me she loved me, that Katie would be alright because I was here waiting for her, she said she'd seen the way we looked at each other and that Katie would never leave me without letting me know I was her world and that she loved me.  Those words gave me hope through those days and Katie did wake up, 12 days she was lying there, closed to the world.  It could have been 12 months for all I cared, it felt like forever and that's how long I'd wait for her.

I was talking to her, telling her about my day and how I wished she was there with me, that's when I saw her smile.  It was faint, but I knew she smiled, I felt it.  I closed the door to the room and sat back down with her and I kept talking, every now and then she'd flinch or move and I knew it wasn't just another day.  She was going to come back to me.  And she did, 2:36PM she opened her eyes and 2:37PM I told her I loved her.

I can remember every little thing from that day, the way her eyes glistened when she saw me sitting beside her, the way her hair smelled, the way her lips tasted when I kissed her.  I don't think I'll ever forget it, it made me realise how important life was and how we couldn't waste it.  They kept her in there overnight and she was released first thing the next day.  But over the next few days something seemed to change about her, I didn't know what it was, but I knew something had changed. Then she told me, it was over between us.  I never thought I'd hear those words uttered out of her mouth, "We need to talk about us," "Jessie I can't be with you anymore, it's over."  I couldn't speak, I could hardly breathe, my world had just come crashing down around me.  I just looked at her for a few moments and then I turned around and I left, without a word, what could I say?

It was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, just to get up and face the world knowing I might never see her again.  I wasn't used to the cold of my bed and how different it was without her there with her arms wrapped around me, after a while even her scent disappeared off my sheets.  I refused to let Lily wash them, aside from a few photos and memories, that scent was all I had to hold onto. Even that eventually disappeared, it was like she'd never even been there, like I'd dreamt it all up.  I barely even left my room for weeks following, I didn't know if it was possible to go on without her.  But it was.

Each day it got easier, but I'd never say it got easy. At least I survived, at first I wasn't sure I would, I wasn't sure my body could cope, that *I* could cope.  She was my first love, some part of me will always love her and I guess that's what brings me here.   Five years on and I haven't stopped hoping that she's just going to suddenly appear in front of me.  There have been people in my life since her, but no one that I've felt anything for that could even be compared to what we had.   Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic but who knows? I think she's my soulmate and I don't think I'll ever be convinced otherwise.  I recieved a call from Eli this morning, he told me he might know where Katie is.  And an hour later he brought me here, a small cafe sitting just beyond one of the smaller campus' and just beyond my knowledge of the area.  Eli had left an hour ago, I wasn't going to leave until she walked through that door, and at that moment she did.  She was even more beautiful than I'd remembered, her hair, her skin, her smile, the way she walked, she was perfect.  She sat down at the counter and she seemed so at ease and happy, she was so happy.  Maybe I'd made a mistake? Was it the right thing to do? I'd never thought about what seeing me might be like for her, maybe she didn't want to see me, she had left me afterall.  She laughed and turned around and that's when our eyes met. Her expression faded and what I was left with was unreadable, she was just staring at me, then she smiled and in that one moment I knew everything was going to be alright.

I can't tell you if it will work out between us because I really don't know.  What will come out of our second encounter I'm unsure.   I still have so many questions for her, why did you leave? Where did you go? How have you spent your life during the last 5 years? And have you ever thought about us? I don't know what she'll say and I don't know where it'll lead, all I know is that we have time.