Disclaimer: I don't own Jonny Quest or any of the characters on the show. Please don't sue. Please? Rating: PG (tell me if this needs to be changed) Category: (kinda) E, F, a little Angsty and adventure-ish Ethan (1/?) Sometimes waiting isn't the answer. By Dana Cain <>< The pure, illuminating light reflected the charismatic, bouncing face. The small wax towers held steady, slowly dripping down onto a sugary bed. The gleam of each small, tiny flame represented so much. More than could ever be described by a simple monument of chocolate. She was sixteen today. Each colorful, striped candle cried out the loud, happy message. One breath. One wish. One more year to add on to the small collection stored in her mind. Happy, glittering faces cried out loud when the small flames were extinguished. Gray, but rosy swirls of smoke slowly made their way to the ceiling. "What did you wish for, Jessie?" Jonny asked her. His handsome, tan face started to break into a grin. "Why would I tell you? That would spoil all of the fun!" Her laughter filled the air, giving the room harmonious joy. The man from the back of the room came and put his massive arms around her. "Congratulations, sweetheart. Sixteen's a lucky number!" "Thanks, dad!" He squeezed her tight, and then threw her over his shoulder. "Race, what are you doing?" Hadji asked, raising his eyebrows. "Come on, Hadji! We're going to throw her in the ocean!" "What?!?!" She asked. "What?" The three remaining men cried. "When I turned sixteen my older cousins threw me in the lake," he explained. "We've got to keep the family tradition going!" "Good thing it's July," Jonny amusedly remarked. "Dad, you're not really going to do this, are you?" Jessie asked, beating her father's broad back with all of her might. "Dad?" He gave a hearty laugh, and started to heft her out of the Maine mansion. "Dad?!?!" "Race?!?!" Jonny and Hadji cried, running after him. Race whistled the "Birthday Song" to the tempo set by the punches on his back. "Dad, please put me down! This is embarrassing!" she cried, although her voice was filled with laughter. "Nope! You're goin' in the ocean!" "Dad, I've got my nice clothes on!" "Nothing a little salt water can't cure!" Jessie looked up and blew the crimson strands out of her face. "Jonny! Hadji! Dr. Quest! Someone! Help me!" "We're coming!" Jonny cried before he actually thought about what he was doing. He ran up to Jessie, grabbed her by the arms, and started tugging. "Ugh! Help me, Hadji!" Hadji shook his head in bewilderment. "What does this solve, my friend?" he asked. Race turned around. "Oh, no you don't!" He yelled, playfully knocking Jonny out of the way. He started to run with his daughter still hoisted over his shoulder. Her scream wavered with each passing step. "Aw, man!" Jonny muttered, dusting the sand off of his face. He turned towards his father and his best friend. "Are you guys comin' or what?" "Jonny, this is ridiculous. Why don't you just let Race have his fun?" Benton asked, watching his closest friend and protector run gingerly towards the ocean. "Fun? Without me?" Jonny asked. "This isn't going to happen!" he cried, and started to run to the shore. Hadji shrugged his shoulders. "At least we can swim when this is over!" Benton put his arm around his son's shoulder, laughing. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Hadji." It was too late for Jonny to reach his green-eyed friend: Race had already started to carry the doomed damsel towards the breaking waves. "Jessie!" Jonny cried dramatically. Jessie started to laugh. "Awooh, Jon-ee!" she cried, trying her best to do a Southern accent. "Kin yew ever saaave meeeeee?" "Not today!" Race cried triumphantly, turning towards the rest of the Quest Team. "Today, Jessica Katherine Bannon, on your sixteenth birthday, you are officially a lady!" He threw her legs over his shoulder with a big SPLASH. She popped up instantly. "You're gonna get it now, dad!" she cried, and started to shower her father with the ocean water that was cupped within her hands. "Yikes!" Race cried, running for the shore. Jonny ran towards him, and with Jessie's help, they both managed to dunk him. "A water fight?!? I can't resist!" yelled Hadji, running into the ocean. Dr. Quest looked around, realizing that he was the only one that was acting normally. He reached down for a hand full of sand. "Why not?" he thought as he realized that Jonny hadn't eaten sand since he was little tyke at Palm Key. Maybe now was the time to re-introduce his son to the delicacy from his childhood. ********************************************************************* "What's in Maine besides old people and Quests?" Grimes asked Rigby, who was sitting on the loveseat. "Isn't there anything else to do here?" "Yeah, our mission. Remember?" "I'm talking about social stuff. Not professional." "Maybe you need to start thinking about things professionally," Rigby said, turning the television off. "I have thought about things professionally, Rig. And where has it gotten me? We didn't find out anything that we couldn't have read in the *Tiger Beat*" "That's *People*, you idiot. And we *have* gone somewhere with this case. You know that." "Yeah, I know. But I'm still bored." "Then go work in another division. I'm tired of your whining." "I don't want to work in another division. I just didn't know covert work could be so stupid!" "Stupid, Grimes? What are you - some kind of idiot?" Rigby stood up and walked over to his partner. "No, I'm not an idiot." Grimes looked around the room and sighed. It was all a shrine to their girl. They were her shadows, her secret admirers, and her stalkers. Photograph after photograph mapped the room. They knew everything. Even more than she knew about herself. "Do you want a lap dancer or somethin'? What do you want, Grimes? 'Cause we're in the Agency - we don't *do* lap dancers. Do you understand?" "I've been in the Agency longer than you have --- do you think I'm crazy?" "You're jealous. That's it. You're jealous." "I'm jealous because you look like a sixteen-year old?" "You're jealous because the fate of the nation - the world - rests in my hands." "You're wrong, Rig." "Am I?" he asked with a cocky tone of voice. "The fate of the world rests in Jessica Bannon's hands. If she tells what she knows - " "We're dead," Rigby finished. "Yeah, I know. We all know that." Grimes kicked back on the sofa and sighed. "She just had to be in Prague, didn't she?" "Just in time to see Stasny get killed. Yeah, it was perfect timing. She recognized Richards. Man, if she hadn't sucked things up -" Grimes looked sternly at his partner. "We shouldn't have killed Stasny in the first place." "She was a traitor to our cause, Grimes. And you know it." Both of the men looked around, desperate for words. "Good luck - with everything." Grimes said. "Thanks." "You'd better get to bed. You've got to head down to Colombia. Got your passport?" "Got it. Don't worry. Everything's taken care of. Pastor Watkins is ready to accept me." "Rig, go easy on the girl. Don't be harsh." "The easy way isn't my way, Grimes. I'm a harsh person, but I do things right." "You're a crazy son of a gun, but one of the best covert agents I've ever seen." He paused. "See you back in two weeks?" Rigby gave a smug smile and looked out of the living room window. "Two weeks on the dot, Grimes. Not bailing on me?" Grimes sighed. "I don't agree with it, but I do my job. You know that." "Good man. Gonna go see those strippers tonight?" Grimes laughed. "Nah. Not me. I'm not that type." Rigby whacked his partner on the back. "Sure you're not!" Grimes laughed harder. "Say Rig, what name will they be giving you this time? Better be a good one if you're going to act like a teen-age heartthrob!" Rigby turned to his partner with the same smug smile. "It's a good name. The best one I've had in the Agency so far." "What is it?" Grimes asked, reaching for the phone to order Chinese take-out. "Ethan." "Ethan, eh? That's very Mission Impossible-ish, wouldn't you say? Yes, I'd like an order of crab angles ... you got those? Yeah, that's right. . . with some Sesame Chicken . . .and Mongolian Beef . ..do you have those little fortune -" "It's such a perfect situation," Rigby whispered to the windowsill. "This is my chance to really move up. No screw ups, Chandler. . .it's time you get yourself where you belong . . .back with the big boys. Race Bannon, get ready. The government that you so faithfully served is about to take your most prized possession -" "And there's nothing you can do about it." End of part one . . . Comments are good . . . I like comments . . . You can send some to me . . . At questgrl2@juno.com . . . (teary eyed) pwease? ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ******************************************************************** * The Jonny Quest mailinglist jq@edc.ml.org * ******************************************************************** * To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: majordomo@edc.ml.org * * with the message: unsubscribe jq subject is ignored * ********************************************************************