Author's Note: Here we are folks, the first exciting chapter I've been looking forward to writing!

Thank you to 3velyn 96 for the story favorite, I'm glad the follows and favorites are steadily growing, same with the views.

Let's get started then and happy reading!

I do not own Tuck Everlasting, only my OC Rosalie.

Chapter 7

That evening, Rosalie decided to take a break by going outside for fresh air, after spending the day helping Mae with housework and doing painting.

Stepping out, she exhales; breathing in and out. Rosalie walks around for a while. Just as she's about to head back, she spotted a figure walking towards a light of fire.

Quietly, she follows the figure, who turned out to be Miles. Sensing footsteps, Miles turns around and sees Rosalie.

"What are you doing out here, all alone, little lady?" Miles asked roughly. Rosalie could smell alcohol on his breath.

"You're drunk, Miles Tuck." She said.

"Am not," said Miles.

"Liar. I can smell the liquor and tell you hit the bottle." Rosalie replied, smirking.

Miles puts a finger to his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet. With a shake of his head, he allows Rosalie to follow him where Winnie and Jesse are.

Rosalie complies and the two walk, before stopping to listen to the conversation.

"There's a part about us you don't know…the part I've sworn not to tell you." Jesse said, laying back with Winnie who's resting her head onto Jesse's shoulder.

"The secret?" Winnie asks, suddenly sitting up. "The reason you didn't want anyone to find out about you?"

"I knew it," She said. "You're, you're bank robbers or grifters."

"Are they?" Rosalie thought, furrowing her eyebrows.

"You are the first human I've ever met I wanted to know the truth." Jesse remarked.

"Jesse Tuck, you're the first human I've ever met that I've ever wanted to, to…" Winnie leaned in and kissed Jesse on the lips.

Rosalie swooned on the inside silently, smiling. She was happy for her cousin that she found somebody to love. It made her think about the conversation they had about finding a man out there and making a connection with the right one.

To Rosalie's delight, Jesse and Winnie kiss once more. They break away.

"Winnie, listen. Remember the giant oak tree at the center of wood where we met?" Jesse asks. "The little spring bubbling up you and Rosalie saw me drink from?"

"You remember when I told you I was 104 years old?" Jesse added.

"What?!" Rosalie thought. Her mind was reeling with questions. If Jesse's 104 years old, how old did that make Miles, Mae, and Angus?"

Winnie nodded and Jesse continued on, "Well…it's the truth. I'm going to live forever. I'm never going to change. The same with Miles and Tuck and Mae. Something happened to us. As far as I know, I'm, I'm going to be 17 until the end of the world. It's the spring, Winnie. The water, something's wrong with it. It stops you right where you are."

Jesse's confession truly baffled Rosalie. What on earth caused the Tucks to stay this way?

"Don't you wish he'd told you…before you kissed him?" Miles asked, a little bit drunk, revealing himself and Rosalie, who follows him.

"Didn't he tell you immortality isn't all the preachers crack it up to be?" He interjected.

"Hey, leave her alone, Miles." Jesse said rather sharply.

"Oh, now…you want her to hear it, Jesse boy." Miles said, with a hint of mock in his tone. "She's the first person you want to tell the truth to."

"You just don't want me to have what you lost." Jesse retorted.

"Watch it, Jesse." Rosalie said, her voice laced with sharpness.

"Stop this," Winnie said to the brothers. "Both of you. And tell us the truth. We want to know."

Miles slightly nodded in agreement, and Rosalie joined Winnie.

"We all had a drink…" Miles began, stepping forward. "…except for the cat-that's important. The water tasted like…heaven. Floated over your tongue like a cloud. Tuck carved a 'T' in the trunk, to mark where we'd been. We moved on west, looking for a place to settle down. Put up a house for Mae and Tuck and a little shed for Jesse and me. That was the first time we figured there was something…"

Miles chuckled, smirking before continuing.

"Peculiar. Jesse fell 30 feet, landed right on his neck. He was up on his feet again before Mae could work up a good cry. Didn't hurt him a bit. No broken bones…nothing."

Rosalie raised her eyebrows, eyes widening a bit. Winnie looked rather perplexed. Jesse sat in silence, remembering the incident.

"That's not all," Miles resumed; seeing the looks on the girls' faces.

"Not by a long shot. Things began to happen. Some brush poppers mistook Mae's horse for a deer. Thing is, the bullets didn't kill him. Barely even left a mark. Then Tuck got bitten by a rattlesnake, and you know what? He didn't die…" Miles laughs slightly, an amused smile on his face. "…but the cat did of old age."

For a moment, Miles looks down at his ring and twisted it.

"And Miles got married," He said, sentimental. "Beau. Little Anna."

Miles's face twisted into an expression of sadness as he thought of his wife and two children. Rosalie was amazed to see Miles like this. His demeanor was usually rough and tough, but at this moment, he felt vulnerable.

"Tuck figured it out early on. It's the spring. We all drank from it, even the horse. Had to be…the source of our changelessness." Miles's voice began to crack. "I begged her to come back…for me and find the spring and drink from it. The children, too. It was our only hope to be together. She made up her mind I'd sold my soul to the Devil…and she left me. She took my babies with her."

Tears pricked at Rosalie's eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Hearing Miles's story was eye-opening for her. She now knew why Miles was so distant, void, angry, and bitter.

"Everyone…pulled away after that." Miles now looked troubled as he remembered the events that followed and would change the lives of the Tucks forever.

"There was talk of witchcraft…black magic. I went looking for wars to fight…and I saw brave men die at Vera Cruz…and then Gettysburg-thousands, in the blink of an eye…but not me."

Miles's voice began to break. "I couldn't die…like little Anna. The influenza took her before she's 15. And Beau. He'd be almost 80 now if he were still alive. And my sweet…my sweet, young bride. She died in an insane asylum…old and alone. But I'm still here. I'm still here."

Jesse looked moved by the side of his older brother's story. He looked at Winnie and Rosalie. Winnie looked like she was about to cry. Rosalie sniffled, as more tears rolled down her face. She stood up, wiping tears from her eyes and walked over to Miles.

"Miles," She said. Miles looked at Rosalie.

"Oh, Miles, I'm sorry. For lashing at you and misjudging you, especially when I didn't know the full story of what happened to you and your family."

There's silence between them. The next thing she knew, Rosalie wrapped Miles into a hug. He looked a little startled by her sudden action; but nevertheless, he returned the hug.

Jesse and Winnie looked confused and surprised by what was unfolding between the two. For they didn't see it coming.

Eventually, Miles and Rosalie let go, not before making eye contact. They joined Winnie and Jesse by the fire. And there, the quartet stayed until dawn.

A/N: Okay, one exciting chapter down, one to go!

Up next, Angus takes Rosalie & Winnie out on the boat for a heart-to-heart talk & the scene I'll include from the book is the one with Miles takes Winnie fishing one morning; but instead of Winnie, it'll be Rosalie who goes fishing with Miles.

Another chapter coming soon, bye for now!