Chapter 2: JESSIE

I didn't have to see him to know who was out there. Just the sudden wild beating of my heart and the tingle down my spine were enough. "Creed."

His name was a whisper on my lips as I ran down the stairs just as the engine went dead outside. I was all but vibrating, hopping from foot to foot in my excitement.

Until I remembered that I was no longer a little girl and it was no longer appropriate for me to run and jump into his arms the way I did when I was little and cute.

That only dimmed my excitement for a half a sec. Somehow this time I couldn't bring myself to care, he was here and that's all that mattered. It had been so long...

He came through the door like he owned the place just as I reached the bottom stair. "Creed." I couldn't hold back the sigh of his name as my knees went weak. Still the same!

It's as if he knew, the way he came in and just stood there watching me without saying a word. I don't know how, but I felt it. And under that look, that stare that seemed to see right through me, my newfound confidence faltered.

I wanted so badly for the last three years to disappear, to be that same young girl who was still cute and adorable in the way she adored her 'uncle Creed'. But I was afraid those days were long gone, and what made it worst, was that he knew it too.

I'd been careful to keep from giving myself away, but lately, the more I thought about it the more I was convinced that something had let my secret out of the bag.

How else could I explain the long absence? Or the fact that he'd just disappeared from my life with just phone calls between us instead of the visits I had so looked forward to in the past.

I wasn't about to whine and moan to him though; he'd done so much for me already. I knew it was the greatest folly to expect more. But how I wish...

"Come." That one word spoken in his sweet baritone, which still had the power to make me weak, was all that was needed to have the barriers come tumbling down and send me running towards him, as his arms opened to accept me.

I let myself enjoy, just suck in the enormity of the moment. It had been so long since he'd held me, since I'd inhaled his scent. Home, he felt like home and my poor young heart seized for what could never be.

"You're here." I whispered the words into his neck as I felt the floodgates about to open up and suck me under. I had promised myself that I wouldn't do this. Each time I thought of seeing him again I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't break down like this.

I'd told myself that the next time I saw him I would be all grown up. But just the sight of him had everything flooding my mind at once and I couldn't hold back. He held me closer, tighter, his arms offering comfort as I struggled with my emotions.

Just as his arms closed around me I heard movement behind me, and not long after her voice and I stiffened. Why must she spoil it? I felt the loss I knew was about to come and he hadn't even put me down yet. I got in one last squeeze and inhaled his scent before the inevitable could happen.

"Stop that Jessie, you're too grown to be acting like that." I started to pull away at the censor and disapproval in that tone, but the arms around me tightened. "Stay where you are." I looked up at his face and my heart hurt. He's so beautiful that it was torture just to look at him.

I wanted so badly to run my fingers over the ink that covered his arms and part of his neck. Not to mention the markings on his chest that I'd gotten a glimpse of just once, so long ago.

It hurt because he could never be mine, not in the way my poor stupid girl heart had wanted for so long. And because I knew he'd never take me in his arms and love me the way I've always dreamed. Dreams that had become harder and harder to avoid here lately...

I felt the old familiar bitterness in my gut start climbing up my throat to strangle me. It wasn't right to feel this way I knew, but why was my life always so unfair? I've never caught a break as far as I can remember; except for that fateful night he came into my life and saved me. That, I must admit, was the best day of my entire existence and probably always will be. Only he could top it, and...

I did my little internal monologue thing, where I told myself to be grateful. Things could've turned out so differently back then. There could've been someone else in that parking lot that night, someone less honorable. He'd done so much already, I shouldn't want more, but I did.

I tuned out of the past and back into the here and now when I realized that no one was saying or doing anything. Not since he'd told me to stay put, which was a first, but one that gave me pure joy. He held my head against his chest with one hand at my nape, while the other covered the back of my head protectively.

"Screw you, she stays right where she is." There was such venom in his voice.

"Creed?" I tried to pull my head back to look into his face. There was so much anger, I could feel it radiating in his body now. "Shh, you're fine."

He was staring back at her but not in the way he once did, like everything she said was truth. I felt the first stirring of hope in a long time when he kissed my forehead, gave me a tight squeeze, and pushed me behind him protectively.

"Where is he?" I wasn't sure what to think about his question but I started to get nervous. She didn't answer him right away but instead glared at me, which is her usual. I fought back the fear as I clung onto the back of his shirt. He seemed to sense my discomfort because his hand reached back and covered mine before he turned back to her.

"What's going on? Why are you here without letting us know you were coming?" She started doing that nervous cleaning thing she always does, as I watched him watch her. One part of me was hoping that he knew the truth finally, and another was too embarrassed to even contemplate it.

"I said where is he?"

"If you're talking about Sal he's not here." She made herself busy as my pulse raced in fear and hope. I was beginning to think that someone somewhere had told him, because I sure hadn't; but who, how?

"Baby I want you to go upstairs and get your stuff together. Just what you need for now, like your important papers and stuff like that." His words were whisper soft in my ear as he turned just his head to me.

That second kiss, this time closer to the corner of my mouth made my heart do cartwheels in my chest, and my body tingled in that old familiar way I was getting used to whenever I thought of him.

I didn't stop to question, not even when she asked him what he thought he was doing. "What're you doing? You can't just come in here and change things up without any notice. What's she doing up there?" I didn't hear anymore after that but I sure did move fast getting what little I needed together.

I had hoped and prayed for this day for so long that it was hard to believe that it was actually here; but why now? And why was he acting like he knew more than he should? I wasn't about to question anything though, this is what I wanted, what I'd always wanted since my feelings for him had changed.

It wasn't even a gradual build up either that change, it just hit me one day out of the blue, like a ton of bricks falling from the sky, and I haven't been the same since.

And now he was here and he was taking me away with him. I didn't care where just as long as he was there I knew all would be well. I wouldn't let my heart really enjoy until I was well away from this place though. Please don't let her sway him like she usually does.

I hastily threw the only things that meant anything to me into my little cloth sack at the thought. There wasn't much, mostly mementos and keepsakes from our times together over the years. Whatever she hadn't found and discarded every chance she got that is.

I didn't want to take too long, just in case it was a dream and he was gone when I got back down there. Or worse yet she was able to convince him with her lies. I couldn't stand that, not after he'd held me like that, not after the promise of being taken away from here. I'd just die.