Plot suggested by @RubyCakeUnicorn
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Jesse stood at the gates to Beacontown, her arms wrapped around herself for warmth as strong gusts of icy wind tugged at her hair and clothes. She didn't need a mirror to know that her nose and cheeks were probably a bright shade of red from the cold.

But Jesse wasn't focused on how cold she was at that moment, her attention was on the person standing in front of her. Petra was dressed even warmer than she was, understandably because she was going to be on the road for the next few hours. Excitement gleamed in the redhead's eyes, a painful contrast to the sad gaze that rested on Jesse's face.

"Come on now, stop making me feel bad." Petra said, giving Jesse's shoulder a playful nudge with hers. "I won't be gone for long, you know that."

Jesse mustered a faint smile, nodding at Petra. Despite knowing that she'd see her friend again soon, she was dreading being alone in the Order Hall again for the first time in... years.

"I'm sorry." Petra said, seeing the downcast look in her friend's eyes. "I just... I really couldn't say no to this opportunity, when Jack asked me to come with them."

"You don't have to apologise." Jesse replied softly. "If you want to get out there a bit, I'm nobody to keep you tied down in Beacontown."

"You spent two years out on the road, travelling with me." Petra responded. "It's my turn to be here with you in Beacontown."

Jack called Petra's name, causing her to turn her head in his direction. He and Nurm were waiting on the other side of the gate with their three horses. Jack tapped his watch, signalling for Petra to hurry up. She gave him a quick nod, turning back to Jesse.

"You know you can still come with if you really want to?" Petra offered one last time.

"Nah, it's good." Jesse said, forcing a smile again. "I'm still coming off of my cold anyway, travelling in this weather won't do me any good."

Petra gave an understanding nod. She stepped forward, the two of them hugging each other goodbye. Petra's wolf, Rascal, who had been at her feet the entire time jumped up at Jesse's leg, snuffling his snout into her jacket as his way of saying goodbye.

"Two days, and I'll back." Petra said as they pulled away from each other.

"Be safe out there, okay?" Jesse said seriously.

"Pfft." Petra waved a hand at Jesse. "Of course I will! How do you know me?"

"That's exactly the problem." Jesse responded with a roll of her eyes, for the first time that afternoon cracking a true smile.

She knelt down to Rascal's level to say goodbye to him as well. Rascal sat down, panting as he wagged his tail at Jesse. She knotted her gloved fingers into his fur as she leaned forward, giving the wolf an affectionate kiss between his eyes.

"You look after Petra for me out there, okay boy?" Jesse said to Rascal, earning a playful lick from him. Petra just laughed.

"Petra!" Jack called again, a bit of impatience beginning to tint his voice.

"Hold your horses, I'm coming." Petra growled back at him. She sighed, turning back to Jesse. "I better go before Jack throws a fit."

The two girls gave each other another quick hug goodbye, before Petra turned around and jogged out of the gate towards Jack, Nurm and the horses. Rascal ran after her, his tail wagging excitedly. Jesse waved to them as they began riding off, Petra waving back at her. She stood there at the gates, watching them ride away until they were mere spots in the distance.

As Beacontown's large red gates began to slowly close again, Jesse finally turned away from them with a sigh, beginning to trudge up the street in the direction of home. She felt bad for silently wishing Jack didn't invite Petra to go with him and Nurm to collect stuff from another town. Petra loved a little bit of adventure, she deserved to go.

But Jesse also didn't blame herself for already missing Petra. It's been years since she last saw any of the other members of the Order, Petra being the only friend she still had left.

After the whole showdown with the admin three years ago, Jesse had left behind Beacontown to go adventuring with Petra. And after two years of adventuring, they had returned. The plan was to stay in Beacontown for a few years, before deciding what their next plan was – but they both knew, whatever it was, it would be together.

Jesse stopped in her tracks, having nearly walked into a lamppost amidst her thoughts. Irritatedly clicking her tongue at herself, she walked around the lamppost.

The last few months hadn't been easy for her. Ever since they returned to Beacontown, Jesse couldn't help but notice the longing looks her llama, Lluna, was giving Champion City. It was clear that after all that time, a part of Lluna still missed her old home and owner. So the day had come that Jesse walked over to Champion City with Lluna, returning home that evening - alone.

It was one of the hardest things Jesse ever had to do, and she had cried herself to sleep that night. Ever since that day, Jesse's had several old nightmares of Reuben resurfacing, for the first time in years starting to miss her pet pig again. And she's found herself holding onto both Petra and Rascal a lot tighter than she was probably meant to.

The thought of getting a new animal had crossed Jesse's mind. Radar's cat had a litter a few weeks back, and he had several times offered Jesse one of the kittens. While a part of her really wanted to say yes, she had shaken her head and whispered a soft 'no' every time.

Jesse sighed softly, pulling her hands out of her jacket's pockets and wrapping her arms around herself again. Just two days. She told herself. Just two days, and you'll see Petra and Rascal again.

"Hey get back here!"

Jesse's head snapped up upon hearing the sudden call. She glanced around a few times, frowning. Then she spotted the dog bolting across the street, gripping a chewed up shoe in his mouth.

"Wink! When I get my hands on you-" Stacy called angrily as she came running after him, following Wink down the street and around the block.

Jesse grinned, stifling a chuckle. But then her face fell slightly, remembering the day she had chased Reuben through the forest to get Olivia's beanie back. It was so long ago, but the memory was as clear as daylight.

Immediately the smile was gone from Jesse's face, replaced by a heavy feeling in her chest. She blinked a few times to fight back tears, forcing herself to walk a little faster up the street. Jesse was almost jogging by the time she reached the Order hall, small white puffs of breath leaving her mouth. She unlocked the door with shaky hands, slamming it shut behind her again.

Jesse leaned back against the door, staring out at the empty room that greeted her. An eerie silence hung in the cold air, the only sound meeting Jesse's ears being her own breaths. The emptiness of the building made her feel almost colder.

Forcing back the tears that burned her eyes, Jesse trudged in the direction of the living room. It hasn't even been twenty minutes since she said goodbye to Petra, and she already missed her friend to the point of wanting to cry. How was she going to survive two entire days?

Pathetic. The voice in her head felt like a painful stab to Jesse's heart. Pathetic, needy, wimp.

Jesse dropped down onto the couch, wrapping herself in a blanket that was draped over the armrest. She curled herself into a tiny ball with her head buried into her knees.

Oh how she wished she could just go back to when she didn't have the hole in her heart that Lluna once filled. After all the years of suppressing her grief for Reuben, Lluna had been the first pet Jesse accepted into her life again... only to loose her as well.

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Jesse's eyes slowly blinked open, finding herself staring into nothing but darkness. She was ice cold and absolutely starving, her entire body feeling awfully stiff.

After a few moments, Jesse's eyes adjusted to the darkness. She glanced around groggily, beginning to realise that she was still lying on the couch in the living room, huddled up in a blanket. Had she fallen asleep that afternoon, after coming home from walking Petra to the gates? No wonder she was so cold and hungry!

Yawning, Jesse got up from the couch and felt her way over to the light switch. She blinked a few times in the sudden light, before her eyes adjusted to that. Stifling another yawn, Jesse turned to look at the clock on the wall.

21:10

"I've slept that long?" Jesse mumbled in disbelief, reaching up to rub her sore eyes.

Her stomach rumbled again, and Jesse decided to go get herself something to eat. Yawning once more, she walked in the direction of the kitchen. Switching the light in there on as well, Jesse took some milk out of the fridge to make herself a cup of hot cocoa with.

As she worked, she thought about what to eat. She wasn't the greatest cook in the world, usually Petra was the one who made dinner. Should she just make herself a sandwich and call it a day? That really wasn't what she felt like eating.

Despite still feeling rather down in the dumps, a small smile found its way onto Jesse's face. One advantage of being completely alone at that moment, was that nobody was going to judge her if she did something silly – like make herself a bowl of breakfast cereal at 21:10 in the night.

Finishing her hot cocoa and taking a long drink of the sweet, warm beverage, Jesse opened the cabinet to get out the box of cereal. She was met with a big surprise when she pulled the box out, corn flakes immediately raining down onto the kitchen counter.

"The hell!?" Jesse gasped, turning the box around the reveal a large hole in the bottom of it. "How did this get here?"

Of course she wasn't going to get an answer to her question, so Jesse just grunted in frustration and opened a different cabinet. She pulled out a bowl, tipping what was left in the box into it. Then she began walking away to get a broom to clean up the mess with. All the time grumbling under her breath over just having wanted cereal and going to bed.

As Jesse came walking back into the kitchen, something in the corner of her vision caught her attention. She turned her head just in time to see something dark brown dart across the counter and disappear behind a tin of Petra's precious coffee.

Jesse raised her eyebrows, slowly putting the broom down. She crept closer, peering in behind the tin of coffee. Two round black eyes stared back at her, a small face with large round ears, long white whiskers and two paws clutching a single cornflake.

Letting out a surprised yelp, Jesse scrambled back and bumped into the table behind her. She watched with wide eyes as the small creature flew out from behind the coffee and disappeared into the open cabinet – moving so fast, it was merely a blur.

"A mouse?" Jesse gasped in disbelief, raking a hand through her long chestnut hair. "Crap."

Jesse bit her lip, listening the the scrabbling of tiny paws on wood inside the cabinet. How long have they had a mouse in the Order hall and not known it? She could only pray that it hadn't found a way into the cookie jar, because otherwise Petra was probably going to break something when she got back.

"Okay, bud, let's see if we can work something out." Jesse said as she crept closer to the cabinets again. "You get out of here, and I won't give you to Rascal as a chew toy, okay?"

The rodent responded with more rapid scrabbling inside the cabinets. Jesse flinched, hearing the sound move upwards as he climbed up onto the higher shelves in the cabinet. How was she going to get him out of there? She really needed Petra's length at that moment...

Jesse took a deep breath, setting a firm face. She could do it, she'll find a way around the problem. Reaching out, Jesse pulled one of the dining chairs closer to the counter. Making sure it was even, she climbed onto the chair.

"Easy does it..." Jesse muttered she balanced herself on the chair, before climbing over onto the counter.

She held her arms out sideways, feeling a little intimidated when she looked down. Jesse rolled her eyes at herself. She used to live in a tree-house, how was the height of the kitchen counter scaring her?

Focusing half of her attention on not falling down from the counter, Jesse opened the top cabinet – nearly hitting herself in the face with the door. She peeked inside, seeing the rodent sitting on top of one of their plates, still holding the cornflake in its mouth.

Jesse tried grabbing it, to which it immediately bolted, shooting deeper into the cabinet. Her hand knocked against the plates instead, causing Jesse to yelp as she pulled her hand back. She rubbed her sore knuckles, shuffling along the counter as she tried to follow the sound of the mouse running through the cabinets.

Ripping over another cabinet door, Jesse's hand shot in in an attempt to grab the rodent. In the process she knocked a bag of sugar out and tipped over a bag of flour. The sugar fell down onto the counter, the bag's sweet contents pouring out onto the marble top. Jesse was barely aware of it however, coughing and spluttering from the face of flour she got. From her forehead to her chin she was a ghostly, powdery white.

"Great." Jesse grunted as she wiped flour from her eyes, glaring up into the cabinet.

The mouse twitched its nose as he, before darting into the back of the cabinet. Jesse shuffled after him, rather determined to catch the little pest. Her one foot knocked against her half-filled cup of hot cocoa, knocking it over as well.

Cursing under her breath, Jesse yanked open the last cabinet door, scowling ahead at the rodent. It was cowered in the back in the shadows. Still Jesse could clearly see it's tiny body trembling, it's sides heaving with fast, nervous breaths. Immediately her face softened, her heart reaching out to the tiny animal. It was scared.

"Hey, it's okay, I won't really hurt you." Jesse cooed, slowly reaching her hand in to the little rodent.

It jerked forward, chomping it's teeth down on Jesse's finger. With a yelp she ripped her hand back, clutching it to her chest.

"Oh come on, I say I won't hurt you and then you hurt me!" Jesse complained, giving the rodent a pleading look.

It simply edged back further, fearfully huddling into the corner.

"Look, I can't just let you live here in the cabinet." Jesse said softly, trying to make her voice sound as kind and gentle as possible. "But I'm also not cruel enough to toss you outside in the middle of winter. Let me take you out, and I'll make sure you get some proper food, okay?"

She slowly reached a hand in, laying it down in front of the mouse. It looked at her hand curiously, before looking up at her again. Jesse gave it an encouraging nod, keeping her hand where it is. And after an eternity of waiting, the rodent tentatively sniffed her fingers.

"Good boy." Jesse cooed, slowly moving her hand again. "Come on, I have a bag of sunflower seeds somewhere with your name written on it."

The mouse squirmed fearfully as Jesse carefully wrapped her fingers around its body, lifting it up. Before it could escape her grip or bite her again, she pulled the small animal close to her chest, holding it protectively.

Careful to not accidentally fall and break something, Jesse climb down from the kitchen counter. Ignoring the mess she made, she held the rodent out in front of her face to properly observe it.

"Oh." Jesse said in surprise, looking into his round black eyes. "You're not a mouse are you... you're a rat."

The rat simply twitched his whiskers at Jesse. She began to smile.

"Mouse, rat, whatever... you're still adorable as hell." She said, bringing him closer to her chest again.

The rat sat quietly in Jesse's hands as she hugged him, seemingly enjoying the attention. There was a large smile on Jesse's face, her eyes closed. Despite having only known the rodent in her hands for a brief ten minutes, she already loved him to pieces.

"I'm going to give you the best life a rat could possibly have." She whispered softly.

___

*Throws hands in the air* I don't know what the hell I just wrote, but I love it!

So first of all, big thanks to @RubyCakeUnicorn for suggesting the idea of Jesse missing Reuben and then getting her heart stolen by a cute little rat, on that post about my rats, Remy and Jesse. This was literally the spark of inspiration I needed to get myself writing one shots again!

I also got carried away with this, if you couldn't tell already-
I know the focus point of this is actually Jesse catching the rat, but the part I enjoyed most writing was the bit before the time skip, just the Jesse sadness xD 

Anyhow, enough rambling on my end. To everybody who's requests are pending, don't worry, I'll get to those. Right now, I'm just going to grab at requests/ideas that I'm really inspired for, so I can get back into the fling of writing these super frequently! I want to go back to those days of one shots where I wrote them so frequently they were nearly daily.
That is if people still enjoy these as much as they did back then xD

Feel free to leave me more requests, whether they are prompts, actual plot lines or sequels/prequels to previous one shots I've done! I really need requests to get back in action again!

Remaining requests pending: 4