Disclaimer: If i really were Natalie Babbit, then why on earth would I be writing a Fanfiction about a book I've already written?

The Tucks walked together back through the town of Treegap. Much had changed since their last night there. The town now owned a gas station, and along with it, many automobiles. Jesse walked in the lead, a mixture of eagerness and distress etched upon his face. He looked in every direction and saw many shocking changes: a hot dog stand; a dry cleaners; a pharmacy; another gas station; the post office; The Treegap Hotel. Jesse took a deep breath, it was all too much to take in, too overwhelming.

He began to run, dodging the shoppers and citizens of this modern-day Treegap. Finally, he made it to the end of the lane. And there it stood, the Foster cottage, abandoned and alone. A feeling of lost hope and dread surged through Jesse as he saw the overgrown vines climbing up the tall iron gates and the garden inside the yard, infested with weeds. But this proved nothing, only that the owners of the house had left. The answers he needed had to be certain; dead set.

He walked into the shade of the wood, which served great refuge on such a stifling summer day. He ducked under low hanging branches and stepped over rocks and small animal holes. Then he came upon the familiar clearing. He stepped into the warm sunshine and he found himself standing in front of the enormous tree with its roots thrusting up from the ground in every direction. A T was carved into the tree, freshly cut as though the blade had just etched it yesterday. Directly below the carving was a stone that made Jesse's heart stop. A tombstone. Winifred Foster's tombstone.

He wished more that anything at that moment that his heart beat would have remained null, that the breath that was caught in his throat would not leave his body... Jesse dropped to his knees as a horrible sensation of dead certainty flooded over him. There was no chance of denying it, this tombstone was his proof; the one person he had wanted to live the rest of his life with, was gone. And by the inscription on this stone, she had ceased to exist many years ago.

He reached out slowly and brushed his fingers over the name of the face that had run over and over in his mind so many times. It was unbearable. Tears stung at Jesse's eyes as he held in his breaths, hoping beyond hope that the lack of oxygen would send him into a black abyss...

A hand grasped Jesse's shoulder, the grip was firm and reassuring. He looked up into the face of Tuck. "Get up son," Tuck said calmly, refusing to look at the grave.

Jesse slowly rose to his feet as Mae dissolved into tears and rushed forward to hug him. "We always knowed it, Jesse. We knowed she wasn't coming back a long time ago. Alls that's left now is to accept it."

As Jesse hugged his mother, he looked over her shoulder into the would-be-tough face of Tuck and knew that it was only a shield hiding his real emotions.

"Come on," Miles said, gruffly. "We've got ourselves a long trip to the house."

They all brushed themselves off and headed out for the familiar cabin. They walked in silence, passing over the many hills, reaching the top of one, feeling a sense of accomplishment, until they saw the many more that lay ahead. Finally, they climbed the last hill and the small house and pond lay peacefully below. Jesse ran down the slope and opened the door to the house.

He stood the doorway, stunned speechless. A breathtaking girl was milling around the kitchen, preparing a meal for one. Her long brown hair fell in ringlets down her back as she knelt barefoot by the fire, her back to Jesse.

She got to her feet, carrying a tray and turned. She gasped, dropped the tray, and stared in the same stunned silence. A wide smile spread across her face that made her even more beautiful. "Jesse," she whispered. "I thought you'd never come."

She let go of anything that might have been holding her back and ran into his arms. "I did like you said, Jesse," she whispered, looking up into his face as she hugged him. "The day I turned seventeen I drank from the spring, I knew it was the right thing to do." She looked up again and pulled away. "Jesse?" she said timidly.

"W-Winnie?" he said, staring at her in unfaltering shock.

"Who else?" she asked.

"Winnie--" he said. "Why'd you – how – I thought you were dead!" he said sputtered.

"Well, I was able to spend a few years with my unchanging appearance going unnoticed," Winnie said. "But when I turned twenty-two, my parents faked my death and placed the tombstone over the spring. I've been living here, alone, ever since – thirty-five years," she added quietly.

Jesse could not believe it. "Winnie, I--" He wanted to say something to her; tell her how happy he was to see her. How he had hoped and prayed that she would do like he asked, and that he now couldn't believe his eyes. But before he could tell her any of these things, the rest of the Tucks had entered the kitchen, and were now staring dumbfounded. "She's not dead!" Jesse sang.

Winnie smiled and rushed forward to hug them all. Mae got to her first and embraced her as tight as she could, "Winnie, my dear, sweet, Winnie," she muttered. "You're all grown up."

"I missed you all terribly!" Winnie said as Mae pulled away. Miles and Tuck both looked scared and confused.

"Winnie, you shouldn't've--" Tuck began, but Mae cut him off.

"Hush now!" she said harshly. "We're all so happy to be back with you, Winnie," she beamed. "What's that you got cooking?"

"Trout," Winnie said. "But there won't be enough for all of us."

"I'll head out and get us some," Jesse said quickly, already stepping through the open door.

"You'll be wanting to help him, Winnie," Mae smiled warmly, nodding after Jesse.