disclaimer: HB owns them, no money was made
Rated: angst, Hr(they are married), past, and I don't know what else

PART ONE
Rachel Quest sat on the deck over looking the lawn of their Palm Key residence. Jonny was playing fetch with Bandit, or rather he was trying, the puppy chased Jonny more than he did the stick. Rachel smiled as she thought about how hard it had been to convince Benton to allow Jonny to have a pet. It was hard enough to keep him on task with his school work because the family traveled around so much. True, the puppy was even more of a distraction, but Rachel didn't care. Watching Jonny enjoy the little dog made the fight with Benton all worth while. Rachel finally had convinced Benton on the point that it would make Jonny more responsible, which it did. Yes, sometimes Jonny would slip up and forget to feed him, but she didn't mind covering up for her little boy, he was only seven. A warm breeze blew past her bringing her back to her present task. She looked at the legal papers, that sat in front of her. She let out a breath that she hadn't noticed she was holding which blew her blonde hair off her face. The papers were from Quest Technologies. A company that she had started eight years earlier when she had found out she was pregnant with Jonny. Her husband was a brilliant man, he did fine publishing his work, but when it came to making money off his ideas he was lost. They had been fine, financially, but when there was going to be 3 in their family instead of 2 Rachel got worried. She and Benton did okay working apart, as they occasionally did when their research sent them to different places. But government work did not pay well enough to support a family. Rachel had decided that she was not going to work, so that her and Jonny could travel with Benton and be together as a family. Whatever happened Jonny was not going to grow up alone, that was one thing Rachel wouldn't stand for. True she missed her work, but running Quest Technologies and keeping Jonny out of trouble was a full time job. Rachel had told Benton this once and he had laughed saying that it was her fault that he got into so much trouble because his mother was the same way. She hadn't seen that much of herself in Jonny, sure he had blonde hair and blue eyes like her, but it wasn't until he had started school that she had notice how similar their personalities were. It was Benton that had pointed out to her how they had exactly the same reactions to things. Rachel tucked a strand of her hair behind one ear and signed the documents.

PART TWO
Benton, Rachel, Jonny, and Bandit, stood next to their luggage in an Indian airport waiting for their government car to come pick them up. Benton saw the man they were supposed to meet and started to walkover to him when he said some famous last words to Jonny. "Now son, stay close to your mother and hold on to Bandit real tight, if he gets lost, we won't be able to find him." The puppy had been pulling on his leash in all directions trying to explore, so when Benton spoke, Jonny lost all concentration he had on holding the leash. The little dog leaped forward, one big tug as Benton finished his last sentence , and the puppy went running. Benton's last sentence that if he lost Bandit they would never find him again made the little boy take off running after his dog. Rachel, used to this type quick departure by her son, yelled to Benton after she took off after Jonny, "you finish I'll get him." And so the chase was on. Jonny was fast and small, he ducked in and out of the fast moving crowd. Rachel had more trouble maneuvering through the crowd, but she finally caught up with her son and the little dog at the main entrance of the airport. "come on Jonny lets go, and this time lets hold on to bandit tighter, okay?" " We can^Òt go mom, I think Bandit has to go to the bathroom!" "Okay, but lets hurry, I think your dad is beginning to regret that he brought us here." As Bandit sniffed around the ground, a small Asian boy came up to them and asked them if they wanted any souvenirs. It made Rachel's heart ache to see this boy, who looked very close to Jonny's age selling things to tourists instead of being in school. Rachel looked over at Jonny , who had a puzzled look on his face. Rachel thought it was the perfect time to show Jonny about alternative ways of living and maybe she could find out this boy's story. Once again Rachel Quest rushed in to things without thinking or telling her husband where she was going.

PART THREE
They had followed the boy through town and Rachel had learned many things already. His name was Hadji Singh, and he lived with a man named Pasha. He did not remember his real parents and he had learned what he could, traveling around with this Pasha. One thing Rachel learned quickly but hadn't expected was how bright and intelligent this young boy was. Then they reached their destination, a shabby looking store off of the main market street. Hadji was surprised to see Pasha waiting for him when they arrived. Rachel saw a worried look on his face as he told the young Hadji to go and get something in the back, Jonny looked at his mother for permission to follow the other boy, which she gave right away. Jonny had taken a liking to the boy. Just as they had left the room, Pasha spoke in foreign accent, "I need your help Miss." And so Pasha explained to Mrs. Quest the story of how he had rescued the young sultan, and how Hadji was in immediate danger if he stayed in India. Rachel agreed that the Quests would take Hadji in, and promised the man that she would not tell Hadji about his royal line until he was old enough to take the throne back if he wanted to. With that, Pasha handed her something wrapped in a cloth. Rachel carefully opened it to reveal a large jewel, that was red in color, " that is the family jewel of Bangalore, it is Hadji's, " said Pasha. Then he grabbed his purse and left. I will take this to my grave if I have to, thought Rachel. Just then the two boys entered and Hadji, looked around for Pasha. "How about you come to live with us, Hadji," Rachel tried to say in her most excited voice. Hadji had a strange look on his face, and Rachel knew that he had understood what had just happened. Hadji gathered a few belongings and was soon ready to leave. Then it dawned on Rachel that they had been gone for more than three hours, poor Benton must be worried sick. "come on boys we have to get out of here." As they went out to the busy streets again, they were almost immediately stopped by a group of men in police uniforms and several cars. "Mrs. Rachel Quest? "The leader asked. "I'm Rachel Quest" "Your husband is waiting for you at your hotel, we were requested to escort you and your son there once you were located," he told her sternly as they were about to get into the police car. Then the man gave a suspicious look at Hadji . Rachel coldly replied to his look, "sir this is my other adopted son Hadji, so if we could leave immediately, my husband is waiting for his family." The man nodded and the Quests got in the car and headed for the hotel. It had started to rain as they pulled up to the giant hotel. Rachel and the two boys and little Bandit ran into the building and in to the elevator, which took them to the penthouse. As soon as the door opened to their room Benton Quest was out of his seat and met them at the door. "Rachel, Jonny, I was worried sick. Where have you been?" Bandit was in the room first followed by Jonny and Hadji, and then Rachel. Dr. Quest had a puzzled look on his face when the second boy came in the room. " I am sorry Benton but I had to go and have another child with out you," Rachel laughed as she kissed her husband. "Besides it a long story." Rachel tried to walk on by, but was grabbed by the loop of her jeans and pulled back to Benton. " I was so worried about you" he kissed her deeply. Rachel smiled between the kisses, "you did?" "Yeah, I can't take you anywhere. Now spill it, where have you been and who did you bring home?" "Well you always said you wanted more kids, I bring one home and you ask all these questions," she said teasingly. " Well when Jonny was born I had more of a part in that." Rachel told him almost the whole story she did not mention, the royalty story. She didn't know why she had left it out, but she did , and promised herself she would say something later. The rest of the trip in India took place with little to no surprises. The Quests had little problem adopting Hadji, whom Dr. Quest had developed a special relationship with even before they left. They where going to Maine to check out their new house, that they would hopefully move into by Christmas. Rachel liked the snow and she had chosen the location of the house because of the lighthouse. The moment she saw it, she was in love with it. Rachel smiled at the thought of their first Christmas in their new house. She liked Palm Key, but she had fallen in love with Maine. Now with Hadji in the family, everything seemed perfect, but not was all well when they went home to Palm Key.

PART FOUR
It was night when they got home to Palm Key. Benton and Hadji had started unpacking right away and Rachel and Jonny went up stairs to get Hadji's room ready. Jonny picked the room next to his to be Hadji^Òs. Rachel got out a set of Transformers bed sheets and set out to make one of the many guest rooms resemble a nine year old boys room. Jonny was so excited and helped the best he could. Rachel smiled at him, she was proud of how eager he was to make his "new brother" feel at home. When Hadji came in, he was so excited. " This is all mine? The whole room?" " Your part of our family now Hadji, this is your bedroom," replied Benton. "I hope you like it," said Rachel. "I love it, thank you!" With that Hadji, showing more emotion than he normally displayed, gave a hug each to Jonny, Benton, and Rachel. " Okay , now off to bed, we have all had a big day today," Rachel ended the party. Benton went down stairs, Jonny ran to his room, and Hadji climbed into bed. Rachel tucked him in and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight sweet hart. Oh, I almost forgot Hadji, Pasha wanted me to give you this." Rachel pulled out the jewel of Bangalore, still wrapped up in cloth. She gave it to him, and Hadji quickly unwrapped it, and stared at the jewel. "Goodnight Hadji," Rachel smiled and shut the door, leaving it open a crack. After she left, Hadji whispered, "goodnight mom." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JONATHAN BENTON QUEST!" Rachel shouted to the boy, who was jumping up and down on his bed. Jonny landed on his back and threw the covers over his face before his mom had reached the bed. Rachel heard loud giggling coming from under the covers as she sat on the side of his bed. "Now I could have sworn that I saw a little boy jumping on his bed a moment ago, but there's no one here. Where could he have gone?" The giggling grew louder. "That makes me sad, I sure do miss him." A little head popped out of the covers. " your sad mommy?" "Not anymore I can see your face." " Why does that make you happy?" "Cause I can kiss it!" Rachel began to kiss Jonny on the face making him giggle. "Okay goodnight my little man, I love you." "I love you more." "I don't think so, kiss." Mother and son kissed goodnight and Rachel closed the door half way, just like Jonny liked it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Benton was coming up the stairs just as Rachel shut Jonny's door. " Hey did you finish unpacking, or do you need my help?" whispered Rachel. "No we can finish tomorrow, I just want to get to bed and relax," He whispered back "I can help you relax." Benton chased Rachel to their bedroom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three weeks later
Benton could hear Rachel at the top of the stairs shouting her usual Saturday morning words when they were lucky enough to be in Palm Key. "Slammin, look at that weather Benton. Boys grab your swimming suits lets go to the beach and do some sailing!" the phone rang. "Benton I am getting the mail, will you get that!" Rachel was out the door.
Benton picked up the phone, "Quest residence." "Dr. Quest your wife is a real pretty lady is she that beautiful blonde getting the mail?" Benton dropped the phone and ran to the door screaming Rachel's name. She was coming in the door before he reached it. "Are you okay?" He hugged her tightly. "What is going on, Benton, I can't breathe." Benton let her go and quickly called the authorities and described to Rachel what had happened. With all the commotion the boys had come down stairs and were watching their parents. As Benton was on the phone with some government official, he heard Rachel say, "this is some strange shi school stuff." Rachel saw the boys out of the corner of her eye. " What?" said Jonny. " you know the saying Jonny, too strange for school," Rachel shrugged. " Nice save Rachel, what's strange?" asked Benton. Rachel handed him a note card that was in the mail, which read: WATCHING YOU DR. QUEST, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE YOU WIFE? After investigation teams came, and found no helpful clues on who the harassers were. Benton and Rachel sat in the study slumped in their chairs. Benton worried and distraught, Rachel bored out of her mind. Rachel broke the silence first. "Benton, we can't let a bunch of terrorists run our lives, because they make some silly threat about me, because they don't like you. Now we missed a day of sailing to have the government come and investigate and find nothing. They found nothing because nothing is going to happen, they are probably empty threats and you shouldn't worry about it." "I worry because I love you, and if some thing were to happen to you or Jonny or Hadji, I don't think I could forgive my self." Sometimes Rachel was an impossible woman, she didn't understand, she never had problems because she didn't want to have problems. Sometimes that was an attractive quality, this was not one of them.

PART FIVE
Four months later
They had moved into the Maine residence and the holidays had not been disturbed with threats to the family. But after New Years, the threats got worse and worse. So the Quest decided to go to Paris for a vacation, Jonny and Hadji had never been there, and Rachel loved the town. The First two weeks of Paris had Been great. Benton and Rachel took the boys everywhere. Then one night, Benton suggested they have a night out alone, something they didn't get very often. An old friend of the family watched the boys that night. Rachel and Benton had just left the hotel when, Benton heard the shot, and saw his wife fall. Benton's life as he knew it ended. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rachel slowly regained consciousness, in the hospital. She looked over and saw her husband sleeping in the chair next to her bed. Hadji was sleeping too in another chair, but Jonny sat on the floor watching her. " Mommy are you sad?" Jonny whispered. "No I can see your face," she said weekly, "I love you, little man." She noticed Benton was a wake now, but he stayed silent. Jonny was off his chair and at the side of the bed. "I love you more." " I don't think so, kiss." Jonny leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek, and everything went black for Rachel Quest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Race Bannon looked at the file marked Quest. At first he had resisted this assignment, to go protect the scientist's family. And now the Wife was dead. He couldn't help but stare at the blonde woman in the picture. Maybe had he excepted the assignment sooner he might have stopped it. He pulled out the picture of the blonde boy, who looked like her. A boy that would grow up with out his mother. Race Bannon called his ex-wife and daughter.
End of the beggining.