FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Three

After playing with his dog for awhile, Jonny decided that since it
was still early afternoon, and everyone seemed occupied, he'd go for
another bike ride.  `Occupied'.  That was one way to put it.  Race
and Hadji were out getting equipment for his father; Jessie had gone
shopping after school with her friends.  Rae was taking another nap,
and Will and his dad were, well, they had gone into their suite and
Jonny had heard the door lock.  Now that Will's health restrictions
were lifted, they appeared to be making up for lost time.  So much
for thinking things were back to normal.  He sighed.

Jonny had skipped out on a pickup basketball game with his friends
that afternoon in order to show his Dad his test.  Now, wasn't that a
real bust.

Slightly depressed, he swung by the kitchen to pick up a water bottle
and he ran into Mrs. Evans again.  He agreed to her request that he
pick up some more milk for her when he went through Rockport.

He took the ride slower today, and enjoyed the spring weather, with
Bandit loping happily alongside.  He felt a little better.  It was
hard to stay down on a beautiful day like today.  But why couldn't
things just get back to normal.  Jonny sighed as he coasted down into
Rockport.  His thoughts were beginning to sound like a broken
record.  It was getting ridiculous.

Waving at friends as he cruised through the town, he finally came to
a gentle stop.  He made quick work of getting the milk and was
stashing it in his bike pack when he saw her.

She was tall, slimly built, like an athlete, and her hair was a
shining blond.  She was waiting to cross the street down from the
park to his side of the road.  Jonny couldn't help it.  He just
stared at her.  She was probably mid to late thirties.  Her facial
features were like looking in a mirror.  He shook his head slightly
and looked again.  It just couldn't be.  She was his mother's
portrait come to life.

"QUEST!"  Jonny jumped at the loud exclamation originating from the
vicinity of his right ear, and was suddenly shaken violently.  He
turned to look at the grinning face of his friend, Troy Mathews.
Troy looked pleased at the reaction he'd elicited.

"Geez, guy!  We're you on another planet?" Troy asked with a
laugh.  "I've been calling you for the last couple of minutes!"  His
grin faded.  "Are you ok?  You look like you've seen a ghost."

Jonny stared at him for a moment more, frozen, and then spun back to
look at the intersection.  She was gone.  If she'd ever really been
there at all.  Jonny scanned the area quickly.  Nothing.  She'd
vanished without a trace.

"Jonny?"  He turned back to see Troy looking at him in concern.  "You
ok?"

Jonny took a deep breath.  "Yeah.  Yeah, I'm okay."  He forced a
smile onto his face.  "I'm okay.  I just thought I saw someone.
What's up?"

"Nothin'.  I just wanted to say hi.  What's up with you?"

"Not much," Jonny grumbled, glad of someone safe to vent too.  "Life
sure is boring with a baby in the house," Jonny groused to his
friend.  "We don't get to go anywhere anymore."

Troy laughed again.  "Well, sorry guy!  Amazing that you just might
have to stay home for longer than 3 weeks at a time.  So one of your
family's bodyguards had a baby.  Be glad it's not a relative.  Then
you'd be really stuck."

Jonny grinned sheepishly at that.  And he didn't enlighten his friend
that Will's baby was indeed a sibling.  I-1 had made it quite clear
that this was a secret that HAD to be kept.  And frankly, Troy did
have a point.  Most people didn't travel even close to the amount the
Quest clan did.  "Guess your right," he admitted reluctantly.  "But
it still is boring.  Hey, I gotta go.  I'll see you tomorrow."  With
a final wave, he pedaled off with Bandit keeping pace next to him,
and Troy's parting words floating behind him.

"Hey, Quest!  Welcome to real life!"

Jonny did have to laugh.  He was very aware that normal life to him
was more than a little unusual compared to that of his friends.

*   *   *

Jonny played in Questworld that night with Hadji and Jess.  But he
just couldn't get the woman at the intersection off his mind.  He
debated telling anyone about it, but then decided that that would be
a big mistake.  They would just think he was nuts, and the adults
would worry, thinking he was sick.  Jonny sighed silently to himself,
and lost another point to Jessie.

After Jonny had lost 3 rounds in a row, Jessie began cackling at
him, "Beat ya, beat ya," she grinned evilly to him.

Jonny didn't even get mad as he put his light visor away.  "Yeah, you
sure did.  Pretty off night," he finished.

"Yes, it was for you my friend, and that is putting it mildly," Hadji
concurred as he stretched, then began to shut the system down.

"I'll get that," Jonny commented quickly.  "Consider it my penalty
for losing," he finished with a sickly attempt at a laugh.

"What's wrong with you?"  Jessie asked quizzically.

"Nothing.  I just thought I'd do you a favor."

"I do not mind," Hadji said emphatically.  "We'll meet you up at the
house."

`Thanks, Jonny," Jessie decided not to look a gift horse in the
mouth.  She still had homework to do.  And with that, the two of them
vanished out the door before he could change his mind.

Jonny quickly went about the work of shutting down the computer
system.  Then, in the darkening room, he turned his thoughts back to
the events of the afternoon, and the woman he had seen at the
intersection.  Jonny turned the vision over and over in his head.
The woman looked so astonishingly like his mother, but that was
clearly impossible.  He debated whether or not to tell his father;
Dad might just think he was crazy.  And frankly, what did it really
matter?  He had just seen someone that looked like Rachel.  So what.
So why was he so hung up on it?  But there it was.  He just couldn't
let it go.

Finally Jonny gave up his reverie, and shut off the interior lights
and headed for the outside door.  He was astounded to find that it
was full dark, and significantly later than he'd thought.  A quick
glance at his watch confirmed his worst fears.  It was past 11
o'clock.  Dad was going to kill him.

He knew he was in trouble when he entered the front door to a stern
looking Will.  She was holding a very fussy Rae, and looked harried.
Her eyes narrowed at him.

Uh-oh, was Jonny's first thought.  She'd obviously been waiting for
him.  It was amazing how a woman barely five feet tall could be so
intimidating.

Tapping her toe, she commented dryly, "Late?" as she rocked Rae,
rubbing her back.

"Well, uh," Jonny said intelligently, fumbling for an excuse.

Will watched him carefully as he stumbled around for an explanation,
and then sternly cut him off, "This is way too late for a school
night.  Jessie and Hadji were back well over an hour and a half ago,
while you dallied around.  Now I suggest you get your butt up to bed."

Jonny nodded in desperate obedience.  As he turned to obey, he caught
sight of his mother's portrait through the family room doorway.  He
froze for a second, as he seemed to see his mother smile, and feel
her encourage him to talk to his father.  He really was losing his
mind.  But just the same, he turned back to Will, who was still
trying to calm the unhappy infant.  She looked at him quizzically.

"Where's Dad?" he asked abruptly.

Will frowned slightly as the unexpected question, but answered easily
enough.  "He and Race are on a conference call to Washington."

Jonny nodded acknowledgement, then turned and headed for the stairs.
I guess talking to Dad tonight is out of the question, he thought
ruefully.

Will carefully watched him go, then as he was halfway up the steps,
asked, "Are you all right?"

Jonny paused for a moment to look at her in surprise, then answered
as he continued upward.  "Fine," his voice drifted back.

Will watched in concern as he vanished into the upstairs nether-
regions.  Then turning to look at Rachel's portrait, she walked
through the doorway, over to it.  Looking up into the clear blue
eyes, she asked softly, uneasily, "What's bothering him Rachel?
Something's not quite right.  And what did you tell him?"

Rachel, however, chose not to answer her.