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.

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

Categories: Angst, mature language, violence, J-J HR.  If it's not in the series
now, it will be eventually.

Summary:  Race has just told Jess about Jonny's mother.  (That's what Part 2 was
all about, silly.)

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"Grnh?"

"Jonny!"

Jonny awoke to find Jessie gripping him tightly.  Pain exploded in his arm.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"  She hurriedly let go.

Jonny smiled. "Course not.  Jessie, who the Hell broke my arm?"

Jessie grinned and explained what had happened a few hours ago.

"Dad and I were carrying you back to the compound when he passed out.  I called
the cops and an ambulance."

Jonny looked around him for the first time, and realized he was in a hospital.
Race was in the bed next to his.

"Oh.  Where's dad and Hadj?"

"They'd already left on an errand a couple of minutes after we had started our
little race.  The hospital has managed to get a hold of them and they'll be here
soon."

Jonny looked back at Jessie.  Her normally immaculate red hair was matted and
covered in dirt and melting snow.  He looked at her face and felt his throat
tighten.  Her face was downcast and her mischievous green eyes had dimmed,
somehow.

"Jessie? What's wrong?"

"It's just...when I saw you standing there...you were hurting, bad, and it was
*my* fault..."

Jonny smiled and nearly came out with a flippant remark.  He looked at Jessie
again and realized he couldn't do it.

"Jessie, I'm fine.  It was *not* your fault."  He emphasised every word.  He
sighed.

*I've got to explain.*

"Every so often I kinda get depressed..."

"About your mom?"

"How the Hell do you  know about that?"

"Dad told me.  Are you angry?"

"Was this before or after he passed out?"

"He woke up for a couple of minutes while he was here.  Are you angry?"  She
repeated the question.

He remembered Jess's expression a moment before.  He had caused that...

"With you?  Never."

She smiled.

"Except when you start on my sense of style.  Seriously, someone who  used to
wear pink '80s stuff insulting *me*..."

She hit him.  They both laughed.

Jonny's brow furrowed after a moment as he mulled the stuation over.  "Who did
all this this?"  He gestured at his arm.  "All I know is that I was wiping the
floor with you on the snowmobiles, then we were kicking in a couple of idiots."

She ignored the dig.  "No idea.  I was waiting for dad to wake up, and maybe he
could contact his "friends." "

"Hm.  D'you know when I'm getting outta here?"

"Ah, some good news in this department.  With a cast fitted, and if you really
*must*..."

Jonny was almost bursting with energy.  He could barely keep himself in the bed.

"By tomorrow."

Jonny snorted; he had expected to have made a miraculous recovery.  "I'll die of
boredom by then."

"Not if I get a hold of you first."

"Dad!"

"Now how the heck did I piss you off this time?"  Jonny raised an eyebrow.

"Do you have any idea what your father's like every time you get hurt?  He's
going to go nuts..."

"And to help Dr. Quest's mood, you're going to kill Jonny?"

Race scowled.  "It'll make *me* feel better."

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By the next day, Race had managed got in touch with his contacts.  Both Race and
Jonny were out of the hospital and impatient to find out what was going on.

"Jonny, getting angry will not help us find the perpertrators."  Hadji said
calmly, amusement dancing behind his eyes, a slight smile on his lips.

"I'm not bloody angry."  Jonny was  unconsciously shaking his fists.  Both
Jessie and Hadji laughed.

"Calm down.  And mind your language."

Jonny looked up at his father.

"How are you, Jonny?"

"I'm fine.  Unless you count the broken arm, of course."

Benton smiled.  Somehow, Jonny suddenly didn't feel that angry.  He hugged his
father.

Jessie and Hadji grinned at each other.  Every so often,  Jonny seemed almost
human.

"Sorry to do this to you dad."

"There's no need to apologise.  After what you kids go through on a regular
basis, I very much doubted that only two highly trained assassins would get the
better of you."

Jonny smiled.  Then an idea popped into his head.

"Race was kind of worried about getting into trouble over this..."

"Don't worry, I won't reprimand him too harshly."

"It's not that.  The git threatened me.  Make him pay."  He grinned.

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Race was pacing the room.  He had requested information almost 18 hours ago, and
had got nothing so far.  Despite what Benton had said, the two assassins hadn't
been very good.  At all.  The joker who masterminded this was sloppy.  Race had
spotted one of the two would be killers on one of the external monitors and
didn't have a way to contact the kids, who were unwittingly heading straight for
him.  Because he didn't want to waste time, he had gone to take out the man
himself.  The trap was a simple one, and Race mentally kicked himself for
falling for it.  While he circled to the rear of the one man, his partner got an
easy firing position and shot Race.  The kids, oblivious to all this, turned up
at just the wrong time.  Race smiled as he recalled Jessie beating the living
daylights out of a man almost twice her size.  A sudden chirping brought Race
out of his reverie.

Finally.

Race  picked up the phone and heard a single word.

"Barone."

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Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames?  High praise?  Send 'em all to
SchmittVanDean@hotmail.com

I've barely started.  I think the series is going to be pretty long.
Erm...this one's incredibly short, I know.   For those of you seriously not
paying attention, Barone's the bloke who got Rachel killed in this little
universe of mine.

-Schmitt

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Don't delegate.  They'll only
do it wrong.-Ronan Candappa
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