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's my own,
  Sharpe's my own, David's my own, and if I don't kill any of them off,
(still not sure about that,) you're welcome to use 'em.  One condition: tell
me!  I'd love to read a decent fic involving 'em!

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

Categories: Angst, mature language (I'm gonna swear in this one, too.),
violence, J-J HR .  If it's not in the series now, it will be eventually.

Summary:  It's called Insanity's Edge for a reason...
************************************************************************
David chose not to look round at the weasly man who entered the room.
Instead he surveyed the courtyard, admiring the lush green ferns.  He
watched as a butterfly, a beautiful kind he didn't know the name of,
fluttered past the Anthurium, a particular favourite of his.  The
butterfly's golden wings sparkled in the sunlight, and David almost sighed
with pleasure.

The  man behind coughed lightly, rustling the clipboard of notes he carried.
  David continued to ignore him.

The butterfly settled lightly on the leaf of the Anthurium.  There was a
small blue flash as the laser enveloped it with pinpoint accuracy.  David
smiled.

"Err...sir?"

David turned to face the man, hatred evident on every inch of his face.  He
strode over and backhanded the man.  Then, as suddenly as it had arrived,
the anger drained from his face, leaving the complacent half-smile of a
moment before.

The little man was not in the least bit surprised by the outburst.

"Sorry to interrupt you sir, but there was a slight problem with Project..."
He checked his notes.  "...Sky Blue."

David cocked his head in amusement.  "No there wasn't."

The smaller man hesitated.  "Of course not, sir."

David's smile turned to a small frown.  His voice's pitch didn't alter at
all.  "You're a boring man, Mr. Sharpe."

Sharpe nodded.  "Yes, sir."  A small bead of sweat ran down his cheek, yet
he maintained his affable countenance.

"Do you have a wife, Mr. Sharpe?"

Sharpe forced himself not to shake.  "Yes, sir."  He had to get out of here,
find some excuse...

"Any children?"

"No, sir."

"Then as I said, you're a very boring man, Mr. Sharpe."  David laughed.

"Yes, sir."

"Good bye, Mr. Sharpe."

Sharpe was horrified.  He abandoned trying to maintain his dignity and
trembled.  He closed his eyes.  *Not here.  Not like this...*

"And see you next week."

Sharpe's eyes flicked open.  He nodded and left, tripping over the step on
the way out.

David smiled.  This is fun.
************************************************************************
Race stalked the hallway.  He was angry with everyone and everything.

It had occured to Race that everything happening in the past week had been
blamed or forced on him.  He was blamed for Jonny's arm, which he accepted.
The business over Rachel was being sorted out by Jessie, who seemed to know
Jonny's emotions better than anybody had realised.  The thing he was having
trouble with was his conflicted thoughts over Jessie's....feelings...for
Jonny.

Race had never before believed he had enough thoughts for them to be
conflicted.  He rounded the corner.

And walked into Jonny.

Jonny barely registered the force.  He glanced round.

"Oh, hey Race."

Race stopped.

*The boy.*   Jonny was smiling, and for some reason Race felt there was yet
another problem.

"Hey kiddo."  His voice was dry, he needed a drink.

*not after what happened last time.*

"Is something wrong?"  Jonny's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Nothing."  He smiled.  He could tell Jonny wasn't buying it, but let it
slide.

"Fine."  Jonny stepped into the door to allow Race through, and he realised
his daughter and Hadji were already in here, both looking like they had
forgotten to buy tickets to sail on The Titanic.  (ie. relieved.)

"Is everything alright in here?"  He looked questioningly at Jessie, who in
turn looked at Jonny.

"Sure."  Jonny's voice was at its usual, half joking tone.  His lopsided
grin was in its usual position.

Race thought about this.  Wasn't Jonny supposed to be depressed?

Jonny looked over at Jessie, Race forgotten for the moment.

"Hey, I mean it Jess, it's alright.  I was coming in here to tell Hadji as
it was."

Jessie nodded dumbly.  Race gave up trying to figure out what was going on
and sat down.  The kids followed suit, Jessie and Hadji sharing a glance
that said *that was close*.  Jonny sprawled on an easy chair.

"Y'know, Race, you contacted your contacts..."  Jonny realised what he said
and grinned at his awful "pun."  "...almost 20 hours ago, right?"

Race nodded.  He had a sneaking suspicion that Jonny was up to something,
and he didn't want to betray Benton's trust *again*.

"Has anyone got back to you yet?"

"No."  Race had no compuncture about lying to someone to protect them.

"They're being awful slow about this, aren't they?"  Jonny's smile was
beginning to get on Race's nerves.

"We gave them almost nothing to work with.  The man Jessie knocked out
cold..." he smiled proudly at Jessie, who blushed,  "...hasn't regained
consciousness yet.  As soon as they find anything out, I'll let you know."

Jonny made a soft "tut, tut," noise under his breath.  "Who did it, Race?"
Jonny's smile and calm voice were making even Hadji uncomfortable.

"Jonny, how could you even think my dad would lie to you about this...."
Jessie checked herself.  "well, you, maybe, but not all of us."

Race felt his throat constrict.  He was lying to his daughter, something he
had promised himself he wouldn't do unless absolutely necessary.

Race began to feel that Jonny's voice wasn't calm, it was downright cold.
"Yes Race, how could I even think you would lie to us about this?"

*What the Hell happened to him?*

"Jonny, honestly..."  Race had realised by now that Jonny had found
something out, and Jonny could be incredibly tenacious when he was in the
mood.

"Who's Barone, Race?  I recognise the name from somewhere."

Great.

"How'd you find out?"

"All the calls to the compound are recorded automatically.  Geez Race, you
installed the system yourself.  You musta forgot to erase them.  Since you
haven't told us what your contact told you, I'm gonna assume that Barone is
an old friend of ours.  So I repeat my question: who's Barone?"

Race rubbed his eyes with his hands.  He was seriously screwing up lately.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you, Jonny."

"Then I'll ask my father."

For some reason Race began to feel that Jonny had turned hostile on him.

"Jonny, you won't have much better luck there..."

"No, but I bet dad'd be pretty angry with you for letting slip Barone's
name."

"Jonny!"  Jessie and Hadji shouted it in tandem.

"What the Hell's gotten into you?"  Jonny languidly looked over at Jess.  He
suddenly seemed to snap out of his dream-like daze.  He swung his legs round
and sat upright in the chair.

"Jesus!  I'm sorry."  He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.  "What
the Hell was *that* about?"

Hadji  kneeled by his brother.  "Jonny?   Are you okay?"

Jonny nodded.  He had a thumping headache.  His mind slowly seemed to
clarify.  He remembered when he was five, he had walked in on a
conversation...

"I know who Barone is."
************************************************************************
Race had called Benton in and explained the situation.  He was terrified of
Benton's reaction to his screwing up again, but Benton just waved it aside.

"Race, it's alright.  I...I'm sorry I snapped.  It's just....that name..."
He closed his eyes.

Race wished there was something he could do to help his friend.

"It's okay, Ben."

Benton nodded sadly.  Race opened the door to the living room and allowed
Benton in first.  They both sat in their favourite chairs; Race in a big
leather one not dissimilar from the one in Benton's office, and Benton in
his comfortable padded one.

Jessie and Hadji sat either side of Jonny on the couch, their arms
protectively around him.  His eyes were red; he had been crying.

Race looked over at Benton.  The older man was staring blankly at a space on
the floor a couple of feet in front of him.

*This is going to be painful for both of them.*  Race was starting to hate
himself.  It was his fault Jonny found out; the stress of his knowing was
going to hurt both of them.

"Well, since there's no point hiding it any more, we can all go through what
is known so far."  He paused to look at his daughter.  She was resolutely
trying to force Jonny to pay attention.

*This is hurting her, too.*

"Please, Race, go on."  Race looked over at Hadji.  His reassuring tone
helped Race, a lot.  It was good to know that someone else could help him
carry the burden.

"Right.  Barone's first name is not known.  What is known, however, is that
he deals with illegal weapons and  "exotic" technology.  He has attempted to
get a hold of Dr. Quest's tecnologies before..."  Race didn't want to
continue.  He looked over at Hadji.

He nodded sadly.  Damn.

"...and Rachel Quest was killed in the attempt."  Jonny was rocking back and
forth, his head between his knees and hands over his head.  Benton hadn't
moved.

"Barone is near immpossible to find or cathch; he slipped away with apparent
ease the last time he was located.  The team sent this time were *not* very
well trained.  From this, we can surmise that they were sent to test the
security, or test us.  They may even have been sent to get us spooked."
Race sighed.  "I-1 are using satellite tracking to find him, but are having
no luck whatsoever.  As such, no-one is allowed to leave the compound."

"But they know we're here..." Jessie started.

"Yes, but this is the safest place to be if Barone gets it into his head he
wants another hostage."

*I can't believe I just said that.*

"No."  Jonny's face was set.

Everyone turned to look at him, even Benton.

"What?"  Race was confused.

"I will not waste my life in this compound."  His words....Race was certain
he'd heard something similar before...

"Jonny, don't do this...please."  Benton was on the verge of tears.

"You can go to Hell.  Where were you when I was in pain?"  Jonny got up
angrily.  "My mom had just died....and you completely ignored me!"  He
screamed the words.

"Jonny...I..."

"You were too concerned with yourself, you selfish bastard!"

Hadji stood up and held his arm.  "Jonny, please, calm down.  Look at what
you're doing to your father..."

"Get the Hell off me!"  Jonny pulled his arm away violentely.  "You weren't
any better!  Christ, all I wanted was someone to be there for me.  What the
Hell's wrong with you people?"

"Jonny, I would have helped if you let me."  Hadji was struggling to keep
calm, his own voice cracking.

"If you had any emotions!  It took ten years for anyone to show any
compassion at all!"  He looked at Jessie, tears building in his eyes.  She
held his gaze.

"I'm sorry..."  he choked it out.  He had to leave the room.

"No!"  She grabbed hold of his arm.  The left arm.

"Argh!"  The cast did little to help when his arm was twisted and yanked.

"Jonny, you don't have to do this.  Dr. Quest lost his wife, he loved
her..."

"So did I, Jess...I just wanted..."  He carressed her tear stained cheek
with his fingers.  He was hurting her, again.  She was putting herself out,
trying to help him, and all he did was cause her so much pain.  All of a
sudden he wanted to kiss her.  He fought against the urge.

*This is sick, she's trying to help you....*

He closed his eyes and looked upwards.  He inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"Jess, what am I doing to everyone?"

She was shocked.  He was in torment, that was obvious, and he *still* cared
more about everyone else.

"Jonny, you better get back in there.  Distancing yourself like this is what
got you all messed up in the first place."  She smiled.  Jonny achingly
watched her full red lips...

*No!  Not like this!*

"Jessie, are you sure you'll be alright?"  He was not going to take
advantage of her.  No way in Hell.

"Sure, Jon.  Now get in there, this is hurting everyone, especially you."

He nodded and reentered the living room.

************************************************************************
"Dad, I'm sorry..."  Jonny strode over to his father.  Benton was still
seated.  He slowly looked up at his son.

Benton stood.  "Oh, God, this is all my fault..."  He hugged Jonny tightly.

"It wasn't...it wasn't...you were hurting too..."  They cried into the
other's shoulders.

Race and Hadji looked at each other.  They left quietley.
************************************************************************
Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames?  Praise?  Send 'em all to
SchmittVanDean@hotmail.com

Hm.  Kinda corny, I felt.  Gah, I prefer action to angst anyhow.

-Schmitt

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If you are patient in one moment of
anger, you will save a hundred days
of sorrow.
-Chinese Proverb
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