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:  Did ya think that Jess let Jonny off rather lightly?  So do I...

************************************************************************
Jessie rolled her eyes.  Of course, just because the snowmobiles were
trashed while saving Race, didn't mean she and Jonny would get away with it.

Race drove quickly across the quiet country road.  He had told Benton who
was behind it, but couldn't tell Jonny.  He grimaced.  The kid could get
positively nasty towards people who hurt his family.  He would kill Barone,
Race was certain.

Jonny frowned at Jessie from across the RV.  Their parents had insisted they
go with the snowmobiles to the mechanic's, despite Jonny's injuries.  Oddly
enough, Jonny didn't try to ham them up.

"Jon?  Aren't you supposed to be whining about your arm?"

He didn't reply.

"Jonny?"

She waved her hand in front of his face.  After a couple of seconds, she
started to panic.  Then he blinked and swiped at her hand.

"Jess?  What're you doing?"

She breathed out in relief.  She hadn't realised she was holding her breath.

"You spaced out for a couple of minutes.  What were you thinking?"  She
asked, already knowing the answer.

"Stuff."

She thought back to yesterday.  She hadn't realised it at the time, but
despite her efforts, Jonny had changed the subject about his mother rather
eloquentely.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."  He had guessed what she meant.

"Tough."  She reached for his hand.  "Jon-"

Race caught it in the rear view mirror.

"Hey, break it up."

For the briefest of moments, Jessie hated her father.  Race knew Jonny well,
maybe even better than Dr. Quest did.  It was so obvious that he was
hurting, and Race wasn't even trying to help him.  Or let her help.

"Dad-"

Race sighed and pulled over.  He had been dreading this.

"Ponchita, come with me for a moment."  His voice was quiet.

Jessie looked back at Jonny.  He had spaced out again.

"But..."

"Now, Jessie."  His voice was steady.  It  sounded almost...threatening.
Jessie got out silentely and stood facing her father.  Race closed the door
quietely.

He looked down at his daughter.  His face softened.

"I know you're trying to help him, but neither of the Quests like to talk
about their feelings.  If you try to pry, they'll just clam up.  They'll be
alright after a week..."

Jessie suddenly whirled on him, anger etched across her face.

"It's been ten years, dad.  Ten!  They will *not* be alright if you let them
carry on like this."

Race groaned inwardly.  She could be just as stubborn as Estella.  For the
hundreth time, he considered sending Jessie back to her mother.  This
business with Jonny was dangerous; the boy was notoriously unpredictable
where his family were concerned.  Jonny had hated guns since his mother's
death.  The shooting was going to open a few old wounds, and he didn't know
how Jonny would react.  He looked at his daughter, his little girl.  She was
defiantely staring back at him.  Race was torn.

*It may protect her, but she'll hate me if I send her away now, just when
she's gotten settled.  She loves it here.*

"Dad!  We need to help him!  The amount of times he's been willing to throw
away his own life to save ours...we have to."  Her look of defiance changed
to one of desperation.

Race was in silent turmoil.  She had no idea what he was considering doing.
Then her words suddenly grabbed his attention.

*We need to help *him.**

Oh, Jesus.

The shock hit him, hard.  It wasn't living here that she loved.  She loved
him, but how much, and in what way...

Great.

Was he the first person to figure this out?  The most womanizing person of
the group?  The one who couldn't even figure out his own wife's feelings
before it was too late?  The irony made him chuckle dryly.

"What?  Why'd you laugh?"

Race smiled.  He had figured his daughter's emotions out before she had.

"Okay.  We'll help them."  He had to force his voice not to crack.
************************************************************************
On the drive home, Jessie tried repeatedly to get Jonny to open up, and Race
was quietley confusing himself.

*I could be wrong...why'd I notice it so late?  I've been wrong before, and
she's so much like her mother...someone else must have figured it out by
now.*

He glanced in the rear view mirror again.  Jessie was sitting next to Jonny
now, who was responding, at least.  For a moment, perversely, he tried to
hate Jonny.  Race attempted to convince himself that Jonny had meant for
this to happen.  He shook his head and gave up.  He knew Jonny better than
he knew his own daughter.  All the time Race had known Jonny, the kid had
tried to do the right thing, often ignoring his own emotions if they hurt
other people.  He remembered what Jonny was like the first few years, when
he had tried so hard to help his father, who worked in his lab constantly in
an effort to fight the anguish which threatened to overwhelm him.  Jonny
could tell his father was in pain, and had gone out of his way to help him.
Despite the shock watching his mother die had caused, Jonny was still more
concerned about his father's deteriorating health than his own.  Benton was
a smart man, he knew he couldn't help his son...he was too busy grieving.
Race was no better when it came to emotions.  Soon after, they met a street
urchin in Bangalore, a scruffy boy named Hadji, who's only family was Pasha,
a good man, but unable to support a child aswell as himself.  Benton saw
this as a way to help both his son and this other boy.   He adopted Hadji,
and since then, the two boys were inseparable, and neither of them seemed to
be too badly affected by their horrendous lives.  They used each other as
emotional crutches.

He watched Jonny and Jess in the rear view mirror for a few more seconds.
They were talking animatedely now.  Jonny said something, and they both
laughed.

*And the same thing is happ...has happened with my daughter.*

Race shook his head.   He was as protective of Jonny as he was of his
Ponchita.  He realised that he couldn't hurt either one of them.

*Bloody conscience.*
************************************************************************
Jessie giggled.  The joke was of the usual Jonny Quest quality, but it was
good that he was actually talking.  They both stopped laughing at the same
time, causing a companiable silence.

Jessie sighed inwardly.  She had to do this, to force it out of him.  It was
the only way she could think of helping him.  She was going to hate herself
later, but she had to help him.  It was that simple.

"Jonny.  Tell me about your mother."

For a moment his eyes tensed.  He considered using his usual trick of joking
his way out of situations.

"Don't even think about it, Quest.  You're not worming your way out of this
one."  Her tone was light, but then she sighed and frowned.

"Let me help you.  Please."

"Don't make me..."

"Jonny, please!"

He tried to hide from her eyes.  He couldn't say no, not when his silence
hurt someone he cared for.

She caught his chin, and gently forced him to look at her.  He looked into
her emerald eyes and realised there was more than concern.  It slowly dawned
on Jonny that she cared about him, a lot.   This was tearing her apart, she
didn't know how to help him, and he was shutting her out.  There was *pain*
behind those eyes.

He told her everything.  She had already heard most of it from Race, but she
listened to him.  His voice was a dry monotone, one he very rarely used.  It
came rushing out, and she didn't want to interrupt him in case he stopped.

"I watched her die...I couldn't do anything.  I froze."

This was too much for Jessie.

"Jonny!  You're right, you couldn't do anything.  For God's sake, you were
five!  "

Jonny was on the verge of tears.  Jessie suddenly realised she had never
seen him cry before.  Close to crying, but never actually...

"I couldn't...the gun..."

She hugged him tightly.  All the usual feelings of embarassment were gone.
He buried his face into her neck.

"I..."

She caressed the back of his head.   He started sobbing.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Race had stopped the RV.  He looked round to
see them cradling each other.  He opened the door and silentely got out.
************************************************************************
Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames?  Praise?  Send 'em all to
SchmittVanDean@hotmail.com

Howwzat?  Think you've got the series figured out yet?  Wrong!

-Schmitt

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