Jesse stared through the window of the shop. *Maybe I'll find something here* she thought as stared intently at everything in sight. She had been to about ten shops and still had yet to find something good enough.
"Looks like I won't be taking out my wallet here either," she said as she started to walk away. She couldn't figure out what was wrong. Last year she could have bought him anything and be happy about it. There was something different about this year. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew it was there. She looked at her watch and decided that she should get home soon or they might send a search party after her. She walked back to her dad's mustang. He let her borrow it today so she could get back and forth from school. She got in the car and slowly drove home.
******************************************** ********
*Oh God, why me?* she thought as she walked down the hall of Rockport High. Jesse loved doing things for the office, especially if they involved a new student. But now, thanks to her big-mouth suckin-up, she was stuck showing this girl, who just happened to look like what every girl has ever dreamed of, around school. Of coarse when a person is an appointed guide for a new student they have show them around the entire day, including lunchtime. So now, instead of using her free time to look for a gift, she now had to introduce someone to anyone who who was interested in meeting. Throughtout the day, about half the guys she knew, and half she didn't, were aking her to somehow set them up with this "amazing" Jenny Q. As stated Jesse wasn't fond of Jenny from the start, but what made it even worse was that this girl, this brown-haired, green-eyed, glamorous girl had the gaul to go straight up to Jonny's face and start talking to him! Jesse couldn't explain it, but for some reason what Jenny did made her soooo mad! *She doesn't even know him, didn't even ask for an introduction* Jesse screamed in her head as she started to walk towards them. As she approached them, they turned to her and asked for an introduction.
"Jonny, this is Jenny Q, the new girl in school. Jenny, this is Jonny Quest, my friend since we were both ten," Jesse said, trying her best not to sound aggitated.
"Nice to meet you, Jenny. Just wondering but what does the Q stand for?" Jonny asked with a smile making Jesse feel sick.
"No one knows," Jenny stated matter-of-factly.
"I don't understand."
"I'm an orphan, Jonny, raised in a foster homes. The only part of my last name I remember is the Q."
"Oh, sorry."
"It's OK. You know, for some reason you look strangely familiar to me." Now Jesse really felt sick.
"I was thinking the same thing. But I don't see how I could, unless you've been around the world more than once."
"Guess we'll never know," Jenny giggled as they started walking to the lunch room. Jesse walked behind them nearly puking all the way.
************************************* ********* ***
After school, Hadji waited for Jesse and Jonny by the car. Soon he saw them but he noticed something different. He counted:*One. Two. Three? Who is that?* he thought as they all slowed to a stop by Hadji.
"Hey Hadj, this is Jenny Q, the new girl in school," Jonny said in between laughs. Hadji shook hands with Jenny, then for some reason he couldn't explain, he bent a little and kissed her hand! For a minute everyone was silent. Hadji most of all had trouble getting over the shock of what just happened.
"Umm... It's nice to meet you, Hadji," Jenny stuttered through a broken voice.
*God, what a babe.*
*God, what a babe.*
Hadji nearly slapped himself when he had that thought. He shook his to clear it and make since of the situation.
"Please forgive me if I gave you shock," he said in a slightly out-there manner.
"No..I mean yes..you know what I mean. I think," she felt foolish just standing there, blabbing like an idiot. Jonny recognized the tention so he tried to give them both a way out.
"Look, Hadj, I told Jenny I'd walk her to her car so could you and Jess wait here for a min?" he said adding a dying affect to the end.
"Yes Jonny, we will wait," Hadji tried to aim at Jonny while still staring at Jenny. Jonny and Jenny started to walk away and Jesse started to pile into the car. She and Hadji waited and when Jonny got back they took a rather relaxing trip home.
**************************************** ***************
At home, Jonny didn't say much but just went to the attic. No one knew what he was doing until he came downstairs with a photo album with quite loudly dropped in front of his dad. Benton opened the album and instantly regretted it.
"Jonny, look," he started, to little avail.
"You lied to me, Dad. You and Mom both. There was a new girl at school today. She looked familiar and when I heard her name I was afraid to tell myself why. She looks just like Jennifer, Dad. Looks, acts, talks. I'd swear it was her if Jennifer weren't... weren't *dead*." He paused a moment to try to hold the tears from the memory, then began again.
"You lied to me about this. You told me there were no more pictures of her, you told me they were destroyed." He went to say more but was stopped by Jesse.
"Wait a minute. What are you talking about, who's this Jennifer?" Before he said anything, Jonny picked up the album and turned it to the first page. He pointed to a picture of two little kids, about 3 or 4, stamding side by side.
"Jennifer was my sister, my ~twin~ sister, who was the first one of the Quests to go. When we were five," he said while turning the page, "the family was attacked during a picnic in Rio. A corrupt man had been following us, trying to get to my dad. Jenny, which we called her since I was called Jonny, she went to pick some flowers for me when the wacko jumped out and grabbed her. The man told us that if my dad didn't meet him at midnight in two days on the peir that Jenny would be killed. My dad, though I kept telling him not to, called the police and told them to go to the peir warehouse and strike the moment they saw something wrong. Thing is, we were in Rio, and the cops there aren't very bright, so they started there move at the first sign of life. The man didn' have Jenny with him, but he had set a bomb to go off if anything happened to him. The police had told us to wait in the car, but when we heard the guns we knew something was wrong. I was the first to get there, and the first to see the explosion." On the word explosion Jonny started to trail off. Jesse suddenly felt sorry for asking. For some reason, she feel quite as much hatred towards the new girl as she used to.
"Jonny, if it means anything, maybe we can invite Jenny from school to supper one night. I mean, she's an orphan anyway, maybe she'll enjoy a family meal," Jesse said, trying to console with Jonny.
"Well, could we, Dad?" Jonny asked after wiping away a tear.
"I can't see we not. Tomorrow we can go out to eat, give Mrs. Evans the day off, and give Jenny a tour of the city," Benton said smiling. "Invite her when you see her at school."
Jonny smild through his tears. *It's gonna be just like old times,* he thought,*just a different cast.*
************************* *****************************************
Jesse woke up to a pleasant smell the next morning. *Mmmmm, bacon.* she thought with a smile. But there was something funny about the situation. She groggily walked down stairs, into the kitchen. She nearly had a stroke. There was Jonny, right before her eyes, cooking on the stove! She was dumb-founded.
"J-J-J-Jonny?!" she managed to stutter. He looked up at her and smiled. Not only that, but he was dressed and ready for school, too.
"Hi, Jess. Hope you like big breakfasts, cause I cook the biggest!" Jesse walked to the table as she heard the others walking down the stairs. She heard a groan.
"Jonny," Benton started,"how are we supposed to MOVE if we have to eat one your breakfasts?"
"I don't know, Jenny always found a way."
"Yes, but Jenny was just like you, with a bottomless bit as a stomach." Jesse looked down at the plate Jonny set before her.
"Uhh, Dr. Quest, is this safe to eat?"
"Don't worry, Jesse, it's quite delicious. Which is the reason why Jonny would be mad if I told my idea of whether or not it's safe," Benton said with a laugh. They all ate their food, Bandit getting the left-overs, then the three teens headed off to school.
*********************************************************
Jesse was the first to meet up with Jenny, so she decided to be the bearer of the invitation. At first, Jenny didn't say anything, then she smiled and accepted graciously.
"It'll be nice to actually go out for a change. Being a foster child I don't really get to do much. It's sounds like a lot of fun, thank you."
"Any time," Jesse said. They walked to their lockers together since they were only a space apart. There they ran into Jonny, who's locker was in that space.
"Did Jess tell you about our invitation?"
"Yes she did, and I'd like to thank you, also, for letting me join your family tonight."
"No biggy. My family used to go out to eat all the time before.... well, before a certain incident occured," he said, dragging his eyes to the floor as not to catch their gazes. The rest of the day was pretty normal. Then school was finally over, and the big night awaited them.
******************** *******************************************
Everyone went to pick up Jenny in the van except Jesse. She borrowed the mustang to go do something, but refused to tell anyone what it was. She followed them to the gate of the foster home, then waited til they left so she could talk to the people who were living there. After getting some information, she thanked them and left to join her family. They had a wonderful dinner, then decided to go to the bridge for a look at the lake. They sat and talked about school and other things. Jesse was sitting under a tree looking at the stars when Jonny came sit beside her. She felt strangely comfortable beside him.
"Jonny," she said,"can I ask you something?"
"I guess," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Is there any chance Jenny could be alive?"
"Well," he started, staring into the night sky,"I couldn't really tell ya, Jesse." Jesse turned her head at the sounds of footstep. The rest of the group had decided to join them. As they sat down Jonny got a strange look on his face.
"You OK, Jonny?" Race asked with a smile.
"Dad, did you hear that?"
"Hear what, son?" They got silent at the sound of a twig snapping.
"That." Everyone looked to where the sound had come from. Before anyone could see who it was, they all saw an unfriendly black setting in.
*****************************************************
*Oh, what hit me?* Jesse thought as she opened her eyes to a groggy setting. She tried to rub her head, then noticed that her hands were tightly bound to the wall behind her. As her vision started clearing, she looked around to see where the others were. They were right beside her, in the same position, except they were all staring at her.
"Boy, Jess, you had me worried for a moment there," Jonny said with somewhat of a smile.
"Where are we?" she slowly dragged out.
"My friend, if we knew, do you think we would still be here?" Hadji said raising one eyebrow.
"Good point." Jesse was about to continue, but suddenly everyone snapped there heads straight forward at the sound of a door opening.
"Ah, you're awake," said a sinster voice.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?" Jonny said sounding very agitated.
"What does any good madman want? Revenge, of course."
"Revenge? For what?" Benton said with the tone of demand.
"Huh. Figures you wouldn't remember me, seeing as I'm supposed to be dead. Then again, so is your young daughter, correct?" Benton and Jonny turned to eachother, both with hatred in their faces.
"You have a lot of nerve, jerk. You kill my sister, you"
"Your twin sister, if I'm correct. The one who kept sending you the telepathic messages about what was happeneing. I know a lot about twins, boy, including the fact that they have a mental link. Too bad I didn't know you were twins then, I might not have risked setting the bomb right beneath the port." Jonny's face started to glow with anger. He closed his eyes to calm down. The maniac clasped his hands over Jonny 's eyes to keep them closed.
"What the?!"
"Do you remember when you first saw me, Jonny? Remember? It was at your family's little picnic. I was watching you all. I guess I felt slightly jealous for a while, seeing a family getting along so well together. I never had that. Then I saw your sweet sister go to pick some flowers for you. And saw my chance." Jonny started to struggle more than ever. He was screaming,
"Jenny! Let her go! Let her go now, you jerk! Jenny!" He was crying now. Jesse heard something and twisted toward Jenny. She had her eyes closed, twisting the way Jonny was.
"Guys," Jesse called,"somethings wrong with Jenny." The lunatic let go of Jonny and walked over to Jenny.
"Oh, is the little orphan having bad memories of her past?" he said in a voice that discusted everyone. Jonny especially. He shook his head as pictures started to whirl into his head. He saw water surrounding someone, but not him. The picture went black as if whoever it was had fainted. Jonny felt horrible as he recognized the picture and others soon following as ones from his drams. He shot his head back and glared at Jenny. *Jenny.* he thought, *Jenny Q. No, no that's wrong. Jenny Quest.* He searched the room. Then saw a very interesting opporunity.
"Scar-face," he said,"you might wanna check your security systems. I just saw a major flaw." The man was preparing to rip off Jonny's head for calling him Scar-face, then he stopped walking as an evil grin formed on his face.
"Your stupidity entertains me." He walked out of the room. Jesse kicked Jonny,
"You idiot! You find a way out and tell him about! What is wrong with your head?!" Jonny smiled his lop-sided grin, then tried to look past Jesse.
"How's Jenny?"
"She looks like whatever happened is wearing off."
"No, it'll never wear off. But if she feels better it's one heck of an improvement."
"Now," Hadji said,"about your plan. You do have one, right?"
"The jerk better have a plan or I'm giving him the same migrain I've got," Jenny mumbled groggily.
"I do, and it should start in about 5, 4, 3," He slipped his foot under a table low to ground. Just then, the man came barging in.
"You little liar! I checked my systems twice and found *whump*.." He hit the ground as the table came to rest on top of him.
"Great Jonny, now how do we get out of here?!" Jesse was getting aggrivated.
"Well, I was sorta hoping Race wouldn't mind using my key-chain knife," he swung up his little pinky,"to pick through his bonds, then through ours?" Race looked at the knife then shook his head, smiling. He grabbed the knife inbetween his fingers and started to fumble with his wrist restraints. He got down and let the others down right after.
"So you do have some brains," Jesse said, ruffling Jonny's hair.
"Hey, hey, watch the merchandise," he said with a laugh.
*************************************************************
Later, after turning "the creep" as Jonny so delicately put it, over to the police, they went to the foster home where Jenny stayed and went inside. Jonny and Jenny said they wanted to tell everyone something. They said hello to the foster parents, then everyone sat down to here what the two had to say. Jonny started,
"Jenny and I realized something after our lapsed moments of involuntary memories."
"Jonny, umm, Jesse isn't listening."
"Huh? Jess, this is something you might want to know."
"You're right, it is. That's why I already know it," she said with a smile. Jonny blinked.
"How? I mean, when could you?" Jonny was totally confused and, by the looks of it, so was everyone else.
"When I took the mustang earlier, I came here after you two left. After talking to Jenny's foster parents, I gathered that Jenny was found by a river about 11 years ago. Therefore, she was about 5 when she somehow fell in. Also, the Q wasn't all she remembered. What she fully remembered was the pronunciation "Que" but couldn't figure out the rest. That's when it became rather obvious. So, I asked what would happen if I knew who her family was, and was told that whoever her family was would be given a chance to talk to her, but could never actually have her regained as a family member. No one ever has once there child has been in the foster system for 10 or more years. I'm sorry, Jonny." Jonny looked at Jenny as she returned the stare.
"It's OK, Jess. I'm glad you were able to tell us before we started through a process that would only make things worse," Jenny was trying not to sound choked. Benton and the others were still slightly clueless,
"I don't understand. What does any of that have to do with your big announcement?"
"I can tell you in one title, sir," Jenny explained,"one word that should explain everything."
"That is?"
"Dad." *She's right, that does explain everything.* thought Benton. It was silent for a while, then Hadji did something no one expected. He sat back in his chair and started to speak through slowly falling tears,
"So she stays in the system and will leave to some place new in about a week. And we aren't likely to see her again for another year or so." He couldn't believe it. He actually felt close to her, but could never tell her. He had tried earlier by the lake. He sat close to her, told her mystical stories, and did anything he could think of. After their experience he doubted she would remember it now. He looked at her, then at Benton, her father, and Jonny, her twin brother.
"Well," he said,"I suggest we leave before we overstay our welcome." He stood up and walked outside. The others soon followed, Benton and Jonny hugging her as they left. This time Jonny and Hadji rode with Jesse while the adults drove the van. In the car, Jonny seemed slightly preoccupied with something. Something quite funny it seemed. When Jesse realized what it was she smiled.
"What's she saying?" she asked with thought of the twins telepathic link.
"Well, at first she was having a rather hearty laughing telling me she knew what I really wanted this up-coming Christmas. Then she asked me to tell Hadji something. I told her I would if she swore not to tell anyone what I wanted."
"So, what did she want you tell me?" Hadji asked eagerly.
"She said she's sorry she couldn't tell you this in front of her foster family, some of those kids she had to change from family to family with. She wants to give you a gift she thinks you'll rather enjoy since she probably won't see you at Christmas. She wants you to know she... forget it Jenny you can tell him that yourself. Oh, good point. Hadji, she says she does remember your slightly non-subtle ways of telling her that you like her, and she hopes you recognized the way she was responding to them." Hadji thought for a moment, then his eyes brightened as he remembered what she was talking about. He didn't seem quite as depressed as previously.
_____________________________
Christmas arrives
***********************************************
Jesse rolled over in her bed, awaking to the smell of something she was starting to regret. Jonny was cooking. She got out of bed and walked to the table. She waited for Jonny to place a plate in front of her, then started to eat. She was surprised he still did this, with the thought that he would never really have his twin. Jesse smiled as she looked at the tree with all the gifts under it. *Well, not ~all~ the gifts." she thought. She finished her plate and waited for the others to finish thiers. They all went into the living room and prepared to open presents. Jesse excused herself saying she forgot to do something. They waited as she went to the den and used the phone to call someone. Then they all smiled as she returned, telling them that something she had arranged would be there in a little bit. They opened all the gifts, Jonny looking for his from Jesse. But when found all the presents with his name, none were from Jesse. Funny thing was, she hadn't given gifts to Hadji or his dad either. Suddenly, Jesse's whole face shined when she heard the door bell ring. She ran to answer it. There was a lot of whispering, then Jesse slowly wallked into the living room.
"As you might have noticed, there were no gifts for Jonny, Hadji, and Dr. Quest. Instead, I got all three of your gifts in one simple package." She stepped aside of the door as she continued. "May I introduce Jennifer "Jenny" Quest." The three simply sat in shock as Jenny walked through the door. Jonny jumped up to hug his sister. Then he turned to Jesse as she handed something to Dr. Quest. He opened the papers that were in the package(aka envelope :P) and started to read. His eyes grew large.
"Jesse, how? I mean, you said this has never happened before."
"Well, you know me. I never have been able to resist a challenge. Besides, the President's son owes for something." *Something. Right. Like keeping my mouth shut about when he felt all over me. aka sexual harrasment.* Jesse snickered to herself. Then she just about jumped out of her skin as Jonny hugged her. He obviously knew that the papers were orphan "declination" papers saying that Jenny was a Quest. Then he let go, and used all her strength not to melt into a puddle right there. She was very comfortable in his arms. Hadji stood up, walked over to Jenny, and gave her the tightest hug possible. He was surprised to realize she was still hugging after he let go. When they released, Jenny waklked over to her dad and hugged with a hug she hadn't had in a long time. After that, they all sat down to talk about presents. Jenny told them about the gifts she got from the foster system. They all sgreed that the gifts were extremely lame. Then Jenny broke in with something that made Jonny choke.
"I still know what you really want for Christmas, Jonny. And seeing how Jesse is kind enough to find me for Christmas I'm sure she'd agree to get it for you."
"Well, umm," Jonny tried to push his heart out of his throat,"I don't really need it. Really, I could live without. Really." His voice was getting high as he begged her not to tell them.
"May I put something in your...the doorway?" Benton looked at her strangely.
"If you want to."
"Thank you." She walked to door and started to attach something. Everyone heard Jonny groan.
"There," she said. "Jesse, would you and Jonny come here real quick?" Jonny was reluctant, but Jesse drug him by the arm to the door. Jenny, with her hand still covering the object, placed Jonny on one side of the doorway and Jesse on the other. She pulled them a little closer, then moved away, letting her little gift hang. Race gagged. Jonny turned bright red, trying not to look at the mistletoe hanging over head.
"Well," Jesse said with a surprisingly excited look on her face,"can't break tradition." She reached up, wrapping her arms around Jonny's neck, and pulled his lips together with her own. Jonny slid his arms around her waist. *3,2,1..* Jonny and Jesse removed any and all space between them, *full body contact.* Jenny smiled at her accomplishment. She looked at Race and decided maybe it was time they stopped. Seeing as Race had successfully remolded his metal coffee cup to the shape of his fist. As she started to speak, everyone turned ro face the direction of a pop and a scream of about every curse word in existance. The bottom of the cup had burst open, and the coffee spilled all over the middle of his thin boxer shorts. Did I mention it was freshly poored coffee? From a freshly brewed pot?
"I could turn this into a terrible pun," Jenny said,"but I think I've risked my life enough." Everyone started laughing. Everyone except Race of course. After a bit of confusion, and after Race changed into some real clothes, Jonny gave a yawn then told everyone that he was going to take a nap. He never get's much sleep Christmas Eve. While he was asleep, the rest of the Quest team left to go check up on something that had been authorized by Benton. Jesse and Jenny stayed home actually. After the others had left Jesse asked Jenny to help her move the mistletoe. They did, and at 2PM, the time Jonny always got up, Jesse knocked on his door.(Auther's note: I sorta stole this from another fic that I didn't get to finish reading.) Jonny looked at his clock then stood up and walked to his door. He opened it and saw Jesse standing right in the door. She raised a finger. Jonny followed it til he saw thw top of his doorway.
"Mistletoe," he said, watching Jesse's gaze. She shook her head. Next thing Jonny knew, he was on the floor with a tongue going down his his throat. He heard a giggle. Jenny. She knew how shocked he was, and probably expected him to just lie there. So, to see how SHE would react, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist. He let one go so he could try to climb up the wall to a standing position. He reclasped his hands, then moved all the way out into the hall. He heard Jenny's mental gasp, and semi-smiled. *Look at your watch.* he told her. Jenny looked down. She started counting seconds. She started counting minutes. She gave up after the first hour. Two hours later, Jenny heard the van pull up in the garage. At first she was going to warn Jonny , but then an evil grin formed on her face. She stood up, and walked to the door to welcome her family home.
"Hi guys."
"Hello Jenny," said Benton. "Where are Jesse and Jonny?"
"Oh, they're around." *Around eachother that is.*
"Well, we stopped to get some stuff on the way home," Race said while lifting some rather heavy boxes,"so we wouldn't have to leave again later. Could you bring to the kitchen for me? Thanx. This box is the heaviest and it goes up-stairs. I'll take it." Jenny was about to stop him, but remembered her little plan. She let him through the door first. She started to put the box contents out on the kitchen counter as she listened and counted to Race walking up the stairs.*2,1*
"What in sam hill!!!!"
"Jenny, you little-!!!"
"Oh yea, Jonny the others are home." She giggled.
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The End
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So, Comments, Tomatoes, Big Bags of Money? I'll take `em all. I just might not respond to them all. :P