By the time Jessie and Misty reached the alley where she had left James and Meowth, it was well past sunset. Jessie walked confidently down the alley with Misty following reluctantly behind.
"Jessie, I don't like this. I can't even see my hand in front of my face!"
"Well, that's how it normally is when there's no moon!" retorted Jessie. Then,her voice softened as she added,"It won't be that way for long. There's a porch light near that dumpster. See?" She reached the dumpster where she had left her two comrades and began to lightly knock on the side.Nothing.She knocked slighly harder. Not a sound. Jessie finally decided to open up the lid. When she did, she found them both curled into balls, asleep. She began to poke James, not at all gently, in the stomache."Wake up, James!" He stirred, but didn't open his eyes as he slapped her hand away."James! You idiot, wake up!" He awoke from his slumber as if he had had pleasant dreams. He sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Jessie? Where have you been?"
"No time for discussion, James, we have to get out of here!"He began to climb out of the trash, kicking the still sleeping Meowth as he did. The cat awoke with a scared look on his face, immediatly going into a frenzy as he sunk his long, sharp claws into James skin as he clawed up his legs.
"Ahhh... Someone's attacking Meowth!"
"EEEEE... Get off of me you furball!" James grabbed Meowth by the scruff of the neck and threw him to the ground as he, now fully awake, jumped out himself.
"Oh, you poor thing!" James turned to Jessie, thinking it was her showing sympathy to his cat scrathes, but all he saw was an impatient face waiting to leave."Are you alright?" It was Misty, tending to Meowth. She picked up the feline and cradled him in her arms.Just once, he wished that Jessie would show him that kind of tenderness, that nursing instinct that most women had that had seemed never to show itself in Jessie. Of course, he knew, she would do anything for him, but she wasn't going to make a big fuss over anything that wasn't life threatening. It was this fact that made him so attached to her. Where most women would watch and cry their eys out as , for instance, a gang jumped him, Jessie would jump right in there against them and make them wish they were never born. He smiled, thinking of how they had met. He then realized that everyone was looking at him as he was staring at Jessie with a goofy look on his face.
"Oh um...guess your waiting for me?" he said, his cheeks reddening.
Jessie tried hard not to smile, but the whole scene seemed so funny to her that she couldn't help it. She raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh as she turned around."Yes James. Now if your finished daydreaming, maybe we can get going." Her amusement was made painfully obvious in her voice, despite her efforts to sound serious.
James felt relief at her not-so-serious voice.
The group began to follow behind the swift-moving Jessie. After practically jogging through the dark shadows of the town for a few minutes, they discovered Jessie had led them to the rundown part of town, where the vacant tenements and shacks were. It was then that Jessie slowed her pace. James came up beside her, panting slightly.
"Jessie, what are we doing here?"
"We need a place to stay, right? All of these places are vacant." James looked around at the buildings surrounding them.
"I can see why. These don't look very safe."
"Its safer then sleeping on the street." she said as she walked into one of the tenements. The door led to a short, narrow hallway. Jessie walked to the door at the end of the hallway on the left side and opened it.
"I'll stay in here." said Misty, opening the third door to the last on the same side, Meowth still in her arms. He stuck his tongue out at James with the knowledge that Misty would probably let him share the bed with her if there was one. James returned his gesture by flippin him off just as Misty closed the door behind him. He then followed Jessie through the door she had opened. He closed it swiftly behind him.
"What's with the twerp?" asked James, once they were inside.
"She needed help. Her friends got themselves kidnapped."
"Since when do we care about the twerps?"
"Since we came into this town." Jessie took off her gloves and jacket and laid them on the top of the bed she was now climbing under. It was then that James began to take in the atmosphere of the room. It was cozy to say the least. It had one full sized bed, a shabby loveseat, a dresser, a counter with a butcher knife stuck in it, and a small, dirt filled rug ineffectively hiding where the floor was beginning to rot. As he took in the sights and smells of the room, he tried to begin a conversation with Jessie.
"So, why did you pick this room to stay in." For a moment, she stopped rumaging under the bed, but didn't answer.
"I...used to live here...with my family."she stammered out finally, her voice muffled.
"Here? Jessie that's impossible! This place, this, this furniture must be a hundred years old!"she continued digging under the bed and didn't answer. By now, he was really starting to wonder what was getting Jessie so flustered.He came up behind her, his hands in his pockets as he bent down to examine what Jessie was doing.
"Jessie what are you doing under there?"
"I'm looking for a necklace." was her short, curt answer. James sighed as he stood up. He decided to look around at the items on the dresser. After all, he needed something to occupy his time.
Once he had walked the few feet to get there, the first thing he noticed was a black and white snapshot of a mother and her three children, the youngest of which was obviously Jessie. He picked it up and examined it closely. It looked as ancient as everything else in the house. At first he was confused, bewildered. But then, a thought struck him. It must've been taken at one of those specalty shops that took your photograph and made it look very old. His family had had that done once. But, he noticed, there was no father in the photograph.
Jessie emerged from under the bed, coughing as dust flew up around her. James approached her with the photograph and turned it around to face her."I suppose this is your family?"
"He took the picture." she answered, walking over to the loveseat to sit down. James joined her.
"Oh." Strange James thought.Her father was a photographer? I'd think she would have mentioned that. James looked into her face."You all look so happy."
"You obviously don't like this place. Sneaking around the shadows to avoid the locals, making us from them in a dumpster.."
She stared at the wall, refusing to meet his eyes. He slid his hand over hers, which was resting on her knee."You know you can tell me anything." he said gently.She turned her dark, faraway gaze to him and said to him in a tome free of anger and emotion,
"Digging up the past is like begging for zombies." The way she said it nearly made James shiver. It was almost as if she wasn't there, just a shell of something too beautiful for words. He swallowed hard before answering,
"But keeping it buried can hurt you from the inside out." After he said this, he bahan to run his hand up her arm. She recoiled as if afraid of him. "Jess?" She only looked at him, her eyes empty. He glanced down at his fingers, now covered in...foundation? He puuled a clean white handerchief out of his pocket and wet it, as he began to wipe away the cover-up on her arm. What he saw underneath the makeup frightened him.
Scrathes. Deep, narrow cuts, as if done by a knife, or shards of glass."Jessie what..." he looked up at her, afraid now. His hands held her arm tightly, as if trying to prove it was really there, looking as it did. He softy stroked the cuts with his thumbs, careful not to hurt her. "You...did this to yourself...didn't you?" She looked away, her eyes closed now."Oh Jessie!" James drew her into a bear hug, nearly ready to cry. Ever since he and Jessie had met, she'd been the strong one, she'd protected him, kept him from harm. Now that the roles seemed to be reversed, everything seemed foreign, chaotic in a way. Even the broken women he now held in her arms. But no; she wasn't broken. Just a little glue and everything would be fine. That was what he desperately wanted to believe.
She was sobbing into his shoulder now, as he held her as if she were going to float away. He stroked her messy hair, pulling it gently out of its messy braid as he tried to keep his composure. He smoothed it out so that it rippled down her back like a waterfall untill folding itself onto the loveseat.
"Jessie, just remeber, whatever happens, whatever we go through, Never Say Die, never give up. I'll stay with you forever, till the end." His voice shook with emotion. She pulled away but caught his jacket in her balled up fists.
"James, don't! You don't know what your saying." She tightened her grip on his jacket and rested her head on his chest. As she sobbed, she quietly began, "Don't make promises to me that you can't keep. When everythings in motion all hell will break loose..."
"...when that happens, you have to run, get out of this town, and don't stop until this towns out of sight..."
"...And don't come back...don't come back for me. You have to promise me."
He looked at her bewildered. He began to shake his head as he said, "Jessie..."
"Promise me, James!" Her head had risen from his chest and she was now looking into his confused eyes.
He gripped her shoulders tightly, now lost in her intense electric blue eyes, full of worry, fear and pain all at once. He worried for her now more than ever.
"Jessie, whatever happens, please don't hurt yourself anymore." Her eyes turned away from his as she blinked back tears.
"This isn't about that, so don't make it about it!" She yelled angrily, pounding her fists into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. He began to queitly and inaudibly sob."I'm sorry Jessie" he whispered into her ear. He was starting to believe she'd gone mad.
"James," she began again,"to help those kids...to end this evil forever...I'm going to have to do something...something with dramatic consequences; you have to promise you won't come after me. It's the worst thing you could do...for yourself."
"When it happens, you will." She had become more composed now, but, though he couldn't see her face at the moment, he could feel her shaking slighly and her knew she was compressing more tears. She pulled away from him and looked into his eyes "We've been through a lot together over the years,"she began, her voice shaking, then she added in a whisper,"And I wouldn't trade it for all the riches in the world." A sparkling tear escaped her sincere eyes.
"But Jessie why?! Why are you talking like this!?" James was on the brink of hysteria. Jessie threw her arms around his neck, as if to calm him.
"I...I want you to know...that if I had the option," she began to weep again "I would have happily spent the rest of my life with you."
James began to kiss her hair."Please don't cry, Jessie," he said, not sure whether to be happy at her profess of love or grieved over what seemed to be her deathwish."I...won't leave you...Jessica..." He said her name as if it were the most beautiful, forbidden utterance. It made her feel...tingly."I love you so much!"
As they held each other, they could both feel an immense pressure building inside of them, consuming any thoughts of desires they may have had;xcept one. James pulled out of the embrace and drew Jessie's lips to his own. It was then that everything seemed to melt away, the fear, the pain the suffering, the very room they sat in, all in one surreal kiss. Only they were real, nothing else exsisted. There was no pain, only love.
He kissed her as if he had a thirst that couldn't be quenched, a need that couldn't be met, a fire that couldn't be extinguished. She returned it just as passionately. Then suddenly, a sense of verdigo overcame her and the next thing she knew, she was on the floor, a pain in her back. James was still on the couch, dazed from their intense kiss.
She stumbled to her feet and walked awkwardly to the bed. She sat down and began uniping her boots. James watched her, studied her. Had it been a dream? A ethereal, once in a lifetime dream? Or had he really held her in his arms, tasted her lips, sweet as ambrosia? He snapped himself out of his trance and began to get ready for bed himself. He removed his jacket, shirt, belt, gloves, and boots.
Jessie glanced over and saw him preparing to sleep on the old, lumpy, loveseat. She knew he would have back problems for life if he slept on that thing for any length of time."James?" He looked up at her, as if gazing into her very soul."I...think I'd like to share the bed tonight." She looked down nervously.
James walked over to the bed slowly, as if he were walking down his wedding aisle. She nestled herself under the covers on one side of the bed as he climbed into the other side. She turned her back to him, suddenly becoming very self conscious.James, convinced that the kiss they shared hadn't been a dream, drew up enough courage to slide over to her and wrap his arms around her. As he did so, her heard her softly make an mmm... sound.
When James wrapped his arms around her, she felt somehing stir inside her, something that she hadn't felt before. Jessie found herself caressing his head, which wasn't far from her neck.
James, feeling further prompted by Jessie's tender touch, began to plant tiny kisses on her neck, slowly moving towards her face. She rolled over and met his lips with her own. He rolled over on top of her. It was then that the night erupted into hours of passion that ended with both lovers asleep in each others arms.