Disclaimer: I do not Jennifer's Body any way, shape, or form. I'm just borrowing them for creative purposes. Please don't sue.

Warnings: Language, movie spoilers

Now and Always

"My tit?" Jennifer whispered, her breadthing strained as her blood flowed over her neck.

"No, your heart."

"You've always had it Needy..."

You gasp sharply as you wake abruptly from your dream. You'd been having it every night since you killed Low Shoulder two weeks ago and it was always the same exact thing. You kill her and when she asks, you tell her it was her heart you were after and she always responds with the same thing. That you've always had her heart and it's ridiculous because she hadn't said that and yet, she had. You know she had. She'd smiled and you'd felt the words deep inside your soul the way you felt her.

It had hit you so hard that it stole your breath and all you could do was lay next to her, even as her mother realized what you had done. And what had you done? You'd killed a demon that lived inside your best friend, setting her free, avenging Chip and saving countless lives in the process. People may not have believed you but you did the right thing, right? So why did you feel so cold and confused and...empty.

You roll out of bed and head to the bathroom to splash cold water on your face. After dealing with Low Shoulder, you'd made your way back to Devil's Kettle. You should have kept heading east, gotten as far away as you could but you couldn't leave this place behind, leave her behind, not yet.

So instead you stay at the dreary motel on the edge of town and it suits your mood just fine. You pull on a sweatshirt and pull the hood over your head before leaving. It's overcast today and it seems to you that everyday has been dull, grey and wet ever since she died and you find this fits the new you well too.

You pull the hood even futher over your head to keep anyone from recognizing you as you walk to a nearby flower shop. Once armed with your purchases, you make your way to the town cemetary.

When you get there, you notice that you're the only one there and you're grateful for that. Your first stop is Chip's grave and as you lay an orchid identical to the one he'd gotten you, you feel the sorrow of losing him well up within you. He had been the only person to come between you and Jennifer and he had been killed for it. As if that wasn't bad enough, the very person you cared about as much, if not more had been the one that killed him.

For the hundreth time, you curse Low Shoulder to Hell for managing to take away the two most important people to you in one fell swoop. Part of you regrets not torturing them before killing them, especially the skinny, twisted, evil lead singer, Nikolai. Part of you wished that you'd kidnapped him after killing his friends in front of him and taken him to the waterfall. There, you would've tied him to the same stump he tied Jennifer. And when he begged and pleaded for his life, you would stab him over and over again as you sang that goddamn song over his screams. How you hate that fucking song! You hoped to God that it was part of their eternal punishment, doomed to listen to it over and over again. But only a part of you wished these things, the demon part, not the part of you that was still Needy, what was left of her anyway.

Once you leave Chip's grave, you make your way through the various headstones, to Jennifer's grave which isnt's near the other students. Instead, her grave is in a more secluded spot on a small hill under a large oak tree. You smile slightly at how 'Jennifer' that is, to stand out from everyone else.

You kneel in front of her headstone and for a moment you just sit there staring at her name. You reach out and trace the 'J' with your finger before whispering,

"I'm sorry.."

And you are sorry because in a way it's your fault that this happened. If you hadn't been trying to protect Jennifer's honor, if you had just told them the truth, then none of this would've happened. Not to Jonas, not to Colin, not to Chip...not to Jennifer. Then you wouldn't have had to kill your best friend for eating your boyfriend. And you definately wouldn't have had to witness your mother crying, another thing you cursed Low Shoulder for because you never thought you'd see the day your 'hard ass ford tough mamma bear' cry openly, when the jury returned with the verdict of guilty by reason of insanity or mental defect. If Low Shoulder had just fucked off and found some other small town, things could've stayed as they were. Colin would continue to write, Chip would walk you home and Jennifer would call you monostat and hold your hand, and look at you like you were the only person in the room.

"I miss you." You whisper, your voice cracking a little.

In response a small wind blows through your hair and over your neck and if you closed your eyes, you could almost pretend it was Jennifer combing her fingers through your hair. Your could almost pretend that it was Jennifer breathing on your neck and suddenly the dam breaks. The tears you thought you were no longer capable of shedding begin to cloud your vision as they well up before falling away.

You sit there for a while, sobs wrecking your body as you cry out all the pain. Only when the tears stop coming and you are completely drained, do you realize that you've been gripping the single red rose you brought, the torns biting into your flesh. You wince as you pull the rose free, watching the blood seep out of the wound before placing the rose on top of the headstone. Then you reach into your pocket and grab your BFF necklace before your wounds heal. There is blood on the chain and a smear on the pendant and you can't help but think 'Perfect'.

You dig a small hole in front of the headstone, just deep enough for the necklace to go unbothered before bringing the pendant to your lips in a final kiss and then dropping it into the hole. You cover the hole and pat down the dirt before finally getting up to leave. You thought it was only right that you gave Jennifer your necklace since you had hers. You'd managed to grab it off the floor and keep it with you and now your wore it, the heart shaped pendant next to your own heart. That way you could have a part of Jennifer with you, always.

END