Title: Faith

Summary: When Jesse's life comes crashing down around him, he has only one thing left: Faith. Includes Young!Jesse.

Rating: T for tragedy, violence, and slightly mature themes (No, not sex; I don't write that kind of stuff.).

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. If I actually owned the show, I wouldn't be writting fanfiction, now would I? Of course not, 'cause this would be in an episode somewhere instead. I do, however, own the unnamed guy. But, seeing as how he has no name, he's rather hard to steal, so I'm not too worried. As for Jesse's friend? Meh, I could care less if you steal her. ;)

A/N: Slightly AU considering not much is known about Jesse's past, and the fact that it's a little bit more modern (It's mentioned that he has a cell phone). Though it seems like a bit of a dead fandom (so depressing!), I couldn't help but write this anyway. Not the first fic I've written, but definitely the first DM fic. Read, enjoy, and review if the notion strikes ya.

Part One - Divorce and Death

Fourteen-year old Jesse Travis crouched out of sight in the hallway outside the living room of his house. Inside the room sat his mother and a strange man in a drab, black suit who had come to speak with her. Not knowing the man, what else was he do but eavesdrop from the doorway since he hadn't been invited in?

"I'm sorry to be bring you such unpleasant news, Dr. Travis, but-" a shuffling of papers accompanied the voice- "I'm afraid it has to be done."

A stiffled sob. "What? I - I don't understand... This is so sudden! Why?"

A sigh. "I'm sorry. Dane didn't tell me the reason for this. He just told me to do it. Said it was for the best..."

"The best? Leaving is 'for the best?'"

Jesse didn't hear the man's explanation - if there even had been one - as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. His dad wasn't coming home ever again. And it had been his dad's choice. Jesse couldn't believe it. Just that morning as he had left for work, Dane had said, "I'll see you when I get home from work, Jess. I should be home in time to take you to the football game, 'kay?" Jesse had been waiting for his dad to have time to take him to a game all season so he had hardly been able to concentrate in school that day in anticipation. But now... The game tonight was the last thing on his mind. His father had lied to him. He had already known he wasn't going to see his son after school; he had already known he wouldn't be taking his son to the game. Dane had lied.

And it hurt. Not that he shouldn't be used to it, he supposed; his dad was always going back on promises. But this time it was different. This time his father wouldn't be trying to patch up the broken promise with other promises. He wasn't ever going to see his father again.

Tears threatened the corners of his eyes, but he refused to cry; no, he was too old for that. Instead, he silently stood to his feet and, taking the stairs two at a time, retreated to his bedroom. Sitting down at his desk, he pulled his math binder out of his school bag. He needed something - anything - to distract himself, and, while math certainly wasn't his favorite subject, he hoped it would do since he didn't have any science homework. He had almost completed the lengthy assignment before the knock he had been waiting for - dreading - sounded on the closed door of his room.

"Jesse?" his mother spoke softly as she opened the door. "There's something I need to tell you, son... Dad's not gonna be able to take you to the game tonight... I know it's disappointing, but there will be other games, sweeheart."

Jesse put his pencil down, sighing. "No, there won't be," he whispered bitterly. "For one thing, tonight is the last regular season game. If they don't win tonight, they won't make the play-offs. For another, I already know he walked out. I heard what that guy said. Dad's not coming back."

His mother sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It's true," she confirmed after a moment of tense silence.

"Why didn't you just tell me? It's not like I'm not old enough to understand. Even if I hadn't overheard, I would have figured it out when he didn't come home."

"I know, Jesse. I'm sorry. You're right; I should have just told you... I just... wanted to spare you the hurt, that's all."

"Can't protect me forever, Mom."

She came up behind him, wrapping her arms loosely around his shoulders, and kissed the top of his head. "I love you, Jesse. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I know. I love you, too, Mom."

"Jesse! Man, where were you Friday? You missed the most epic win in overtime ever!"

Jesse stared down at the floor as he closed his locker door, sighing. "Couldn't make it Kylie."

"Well, obviously! What? You're dad bale on you again?"

"Kind of..."

"What happened?"

"Long story."

"We still have five minutes 'til class starts. And your 'long stories' are never longer than about three minutes. Therefore, we have time. Spill. What was it this time? Meeting went late? Bad traffic?"

Jesse grimaced, interrupting his best friend's list of all the reasons his father had given over the last few months alone as he spat out, "He walked out."

Kylie was dumbfounded. It took her a moment to find her voice again. When she did, she could only whisper, "What?"

"He. Walked. Out," Jesse ground out slowly.

"You mean, like, divorce?"

The blonde could only nod in reply.

"Oh, man. Jesse, I'm sorry..."

"Whatever," Jesse grumbled. "He was hardly around anyway. Won't be much different than before."

The two friends stood in an uncomfortable silence for a minute until the warning bell rang for first period. "Hey, Jesse?" Kylie stated as they headed down the hall. "You do realize that three words doesn't qualify as a 'long story,' right? I mean even for you..."

Jesse couldn't help but smile slightly. "Kylie? Shut up."

"So, Jesse, you should go with me to this party tonight..."

Jesse rose an eyebrow over his tuna salad sandwich. "Are you nuts?"

"Oh, come on! A little alcohol to drown your sorrows... You could definitely use it, my friend; you've been out of it all week."

"For one thing, my mom would kill me if she ever found out. For another, I can't drive."

"So what if you can't drive yet? That's the joy of my having an older brother! How did you think I get to these parties? As for your mom... tell her you're working on a project and won't be home 'til late. She'll never know..."

"I can't lie to my mom, Kylie. But if you really need a better reason than that, how's 'I don't drink' for one?"

"Ah, c'mon! There's always a first time for everything!"

"Well, tonight's not going to be." He took another bite. "Plus, I have an Algebra test Monday."

Kylie sighed. "You're no fun. Studying on a Friday night."

"I'd just rather pass the test, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." A moment of silence passed. "You sure you don't wanna go?"

"YES."

Jesse lie awake, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep that night. The clock would have told him it was far later than he wanted to know had he looked at it. But he didn't want to know. He couldn't sleep, and he knew looking at the time would just make him all the more restless. If only he could just get his father out of his head for five minutes... But he couldn't.

He couldn't stop thinking about that time his father had taken him to Disneyland for an entire week during the winter. Just the two of them. His father had gone on any and every ride that Jesse had wanted to go on - even though his father, at the age of 39, had hated rollarcoasters and, at the age of nine, Jesse had loved them. He had eaten all the cottoncandy and hotdogs he could handle, though his mother never would have allowed it had she been there. Going back to Minnesota at the end of the week had been torture - especially since when their plane landed it had been snowing. But what Jesse remembered the most - the reason he had loved that vaction so much - was because his dad had actually taken time off from work to spend just with him.

Then there was that one summer - two years ago actually - when they had gone to Los Angeles. His father had grown up along the coast, and they had rented a house along the beach for two weeks. That was the summer that - although Jesse was sure he would never have the opportunity to do it again - his father had taught him how to surf. Though he was pretty horrible at it at first, he had quickly caught on; after that, surfing had been so much fun it was difficult for anyone to pull him away from it.

Jesse rolled over onto his stomach and gave the clock on his bedside table a quick glance. 3:04 A.M. Just great. He sighed; it was useless to try to sleep now. Seeing the early hour of the morning gleaming in bright red combined with his restless thoughts made the act absolutely impossible. Sighing, he rolled out of bed, grabbed his cell phone as he slipped on a pair of old Nikes, and headed for his window. He knew from experience that taking a walk helped clear his mind so he could at least get an hour or two of sleep before he had to get up again. Unfortunately, he couldn't just go out the front door; he also knew from experience that his mother would hear him attempting to leave. Climbing down the tree outside his window, on the other hand, gave no indication that he was leaving or coming back, unlike the creak of the front door.

His feet hit the dying grass below the tree, and he started off, unconsciously, in the direction of Kyle's house a dozen or so blocks away. Very few people anywhere in the town were out at that time so he wasn't worried about being seen and someone informing his mother of his escapades; he was basically free to go wherever he felt like. In a town this size, there wasn't much trouble for him to get into, after all. He had walked a few streets away from his house before he saw a car. At first he panicked; then he recognized the car as the one belonging to Kylie's older brother, Todd. If they saw him, no harm done - especially considering they had wanted to take him along with them to the party, he knew they wouldn't say a word about seeing him out this early in the morning.

As the car pulled away from the stop sign, another car came into view at the same moment as it turned, tires screeching, onto the cross street from only a block away, zooming much too quickly in their direction - and it appeared to have no intention of heading the stop sign. As Jesse watched in horror, the second car slammed into the one carrying his friend. The result was instantly devastating.

Both cars skidded to a stop on the edge of the intersection, the passager side of Todd's car and the hood of the other completely dented in and destroyed beyond repair. Jesse waited with baited breath for an agonizing moment, waiting futilely for someone to get out of one of the cars, for any sign that the occupants of the car were still alive. But it was soon apparent that no one was going to get out of either car. Jesse did the only thing he could think of at the moment: He whipped out his cell phone and dialled 911 as he tore over to the accident. He knew he wouldn't be able to help, but he needed to know if his friend was all right.

"911, what is your emergency?" a calm voice answered.

Jesse had just reached the cars. "There's been a car accident... Intersection of Maple and 9th street!"

"Just stay calm, sir. I'm dispatching an ambulance right now. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I-I don't know... I was a street away... One car just hit the other... Wasn't paying attention to the stop sign... Driver was going way too fast..." Jesse chocked out as he glanced into the car where Kylie, Todd, and two people he didn't recoginze were unconcious. "N-no one is moving inside..."

"Are the engines still running?"

"Uhm. Yes."

"Then you need to get away from the cars, sir. If there's a gas leak..."

"You don't understand! My friend and his brother, they were in the car that was hit!"

"I do understand, sir, but I don't want you to get hurt -"

Jesse was sure the lady was still talking, but he didn't hear whatever it was she said as he dropped his phone to the ground. "Kylie?" He reached into the back seat of the car through an open window and grabbed his friend's wrist, relief flooding his senses as he found a weak pulse. "Kylie?" he spoke again, his voice still strained. "Kylie, please wake up. Please, you've gotta..."

As if she had heard her friend's pleading, Kylie moaned and slowly opened her dark eyes. "Jesse? What happened? What are you doing here?"

"Y-you got hit by another car... I... I was out walking..."

"No wonder you're always so tired at school... You sure keep weird hours," Kylie attempted to joke.

"Don't worry; help's coming..." Jesse trailled off as she started coughing.

"Too bad it won't be here in time..."

Jesse's eyes widened. "Don't say that! It will get here in time! I know it will!"

"Guess it was just Fate, huh? I never managed to take my own life, but here I am, dying now anyway... Hey, Jesse?" Kylie coughed. "I know life's Hell for you right now, but stay strong for me, okay? Have faith. You're gonna make it through. ...Even if I can't..."

"NO! Don't you dare give up! Not now!"

She gave a breathy laugh. "I don't have much of choice right now, Jesse. You're gonna live through this. Just don't give up. ...You remember when we were younger, and we were asked what we were gonna be when we grew up?"

Jesse's laugh at the memory came out as a strangled sob. "I failed that assignment. What's your point?"

Kylie smiled. "Yeah. 'Cause you wrote 'Something great' on your paper. Don't give up, Jesse. You can still be something great. Without me here." The smile quickly faded, replaced by a grimace of pain. "See you someday, Jesse." With those words, Kylie breathed her last and was still.

"Kylie?" Jesse whispered. "No. Nonononono! NO! KYLIE!" Sobs soon wracked his body as he clung for dear life to the wrist of his best friend. This was not happening. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be!

And then the ambulance arrived.