Disclaimer: HB owns the JQ lot, not me.   I'm making no money off this, so
don't sue me, unless you wanna waste a bit of time on lil' ol' me.  It's
created out of (a lot) of love and respect for the series.  Barone, Claire
Taylor and David are my own.  You're welcome to use any of them in fics, but
please ask.

Archivers: Suze and Aspen are welcome to it, of course.  Everyone else ask
and it's yours.

Categories: Angst, mature language, violence, J-J HR.

Summary:  I tried so hard to resist Southern fried Race, honest I did...
***********************************************************************
Jessie awoke to find herself in broad daylight.  She seemed to be doing that
a lot lately.  For once, she felt amazing.  She couldn't remember what she
had dreamed about, but it must have been fun.  She was practically purring.

"Hello, you."  Jonny said it in  a mock accusatory voice.

"Oh, hello, you."  She replied in the same tone, smiling.  She closed her
eyes again, trying to recapture her dream.

*Wait a second.*  Her eyes snapped open.

"Jonny, Jesus, I'm sorry I hit you-"  She felt herself begin to panic, she
had ruined everything.

"Don't worry about it."  He said in a soothing tone.  She was momentarily
confused.

"But...you were so angry..."

"It's alright.  Honestly."  He smiled; the first sincere smile since all
this had started.  Jessie's heart wanted to jump up and down in glee.

"Thank God.  But I'm a little confused."  Her head was swimming.

"Hadji can field this one.  Hadj?"

Hadji broke in and explained everything.  He went over the chemical
composition of the water in careful detail.  Jonny took the opportunity to
look Jessie up and down.  She was kinda cute first thing in the morning.

"Wait, so you're saying that all those...feelings...everyone's been going
through..."  She looked meaningfully at Jonny, who hurriedly looked away,
"...were because of what was in the water?"

"Exactely, Jessie."

"Then how come-"  She stopped herself.  Jonny might not feel the same way,
especially after everything that had happened.

"What?"

"Nothing."

*Then how come I still have those feelings?*

She sat up and looked around the rest of the room.  Her eyes rested on
Claire.

"Who're you?"

For a moment Claire looked offended.  Then she smiled warmly.  "The name's
Claire."

"Hello, Claire.  I'm Jessie."  She was still a little light headed.

"Hadj, how long will the effects  of all the..."  she waved her hands in an
attempt to co-ordinate her ideas "...stuff...have on us?"

"I have no idea, but it already appears to be wearing off."  He shrugged.

Jessie nodded.  She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"Jess, you alright?"  Jonny was inches away from her, looking directely into
her eyes.

"Sure, Jon.  I'm just a little dazed, that's all."  She felt herself blush.
"So what's been going on while I've been asleep?"

Hadji went over Dr. Quest's ransom note and Jonny's plan.

They suddenly heard Race's heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hadj?"  Hadji inclined his head towards Jonny.  "It hasn't completely worn
off yet, has it?"

"No, Jonny.  You just heard me tell Jessie."  He said patientely.

"Right, so Race isn't going to be a happy bunny, is he?"

The door opened, and Jonny looked around wildly for an escape route.
Finding none, he sighed and awaited his fate.

"Man, I feel like I've been hit over the head by the Santa Fe railway..."
He saw Jonny.

Jonny waved meakly.  Race took a step towards him.  The knuckles on his fist
turned white.

Jessie stood up beside Jonny.  "Touch him and I'll kill you myself."

He grunted, confused.  Then, giving up, he collapsed into his seat.

Jonny leaned in Jessie's direction, never taking his eyes off Race.  "Thanks
for the save, Ace."

"Now you owe me one, Hotshot."  She grinned.

Claire's face was fixed as she took everything in.
***********************************************************************
David smiled at his daughter.  She didn't return it.

"You promised me mom would be back soon."  She shook her head to clear her
eyes of bangs, a habit she had learned off her father.

"She will, honey.  Very soon."  Waving to his little girl, he got on the
plane.
***********************************************************************
Jonny looked at his watch.  The note had said 00:30.  It was now 00:45.

He sat on the bench, gazing at the mansion rising above him from across the
street.  It towered omniously, a dark leering face in the darkness.  A
shiver ran down Jonny's spine.  For a moment he considered leaving.  He
really loathed this place.

Oh, sure, it was a great place to live, after all, it was permanantely
sunny, and the people were nice enough.  The problem was, everywhere he
turned he would see flashes of *her* face.

He closed his eyes.  *That's why they brought you here, idiot.*

A nearby street light illuminated the pair of benches, but not much else.
He kicked his feet lazily on the ground.  He suddenly heard a movement.
Turning, slowly so as not to cause a reaction, he found a man in a dark
overcoat sitting in the bench behind him.  His hat was pulled low down the
back of his head to conceal his hair.

"Don't turn around."

"Too late."

The man sighed.  "Did you bring Rachel?"

"Nah, I left it on the bus."  He winced as soon as he said it.  This guy
didn't look the type to take a joke, however bad.

"Hand it over, Jonathon."

Jonny jumped at the sound of his own name.  He forced himself back in his
seat.  If they knew to make the contact *here*, then of course they knew his
name.

He lifted the heavy duty case with both hands, sliding it over the back of
the benches.  The man took it and stood.

"Good bye, Jonathon."  David smiled and left.

Jonny got up and hailed a taxi.  He took a long final look at the mansion
before getting into the cab.  He *hated* Palm Key.
***********************************************************************
Race scowled.  The Dragonfly 3 was designed for most weather conditions, but
it was the middle of the night and pouring with rain.  He looked over at
Hadji, who had fallen asleep.

"Hey, Hadj.  I need that monitor."  He shook Hadji to wake him.

"Oh, I am sorry Race."  He lifted the handheld monitor to the light.  A
small red dot was being closely followed by the tiny yellow dot of the
Quest's private jet.

"Hey, leave it here.  You go get some sleep."

Balancing the handheld on the instrument panel, Hadji opened the door to the
cockpit and entered the passenger hold.  Quietely, so as not to wake Jess,
Claire and Jonny, he closed the door and sprawled across the double seating.
  He noticed Claire was missing.  He pondered this for a moment, before
drifting back to sleep.
***********************************************************************
Claire's face was lit by the green glow of the console.   The Quest kids had
trusted her enough to give her one of the monitors that could follow the
tracker bug.  She stared at the image of the globe spinning, following the
flight path of David's plane, a tiny red dot.  She smiled grimly.  She would
get that son of a bitch now.
***********************************************************************
Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames?  Praise?  Send 'em all to
SchmittVanDean@hotmail.com

Hehehe....the plot thickens...

Tip For The Day: Never ask a Welshman if Wales is in England.  It isn't,
believe me, and a broken nose hurts.  (He called me English, for Pete's
sake!)

-Schmitt

*****************************
When you choose your friends,
don't be short-changed by
choosing personality
over character.
-W. Somerset Maugham
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