TITLE: Andrew
AUTHOR: JackPhillipsGirl
DISCLAIMER: I don't own So Weird (though it'd be nice to have Jack...). The only characters that are mine are Andrew and Jason. And just on a side note, I have no idea why I've been so nice to Annie lately. I don't even like Annie, and then after writing a fan fic I begin to feel sorry for her. Now THAT is weird. This happens to be one of those stories... And since I'm babbling anyway, for those of you who read my last story (Goozburg), thanks for all the nice reviews. I honestly thought it sucked. And YES, Gooz is Zoog backwards. =) I was actually going to have Annie meet up with Dotcom, Zoogina, Joe, MZ, and the rest of them, but that seemed a little too crazy... or should I? LOL. Okay, on with the new story now! Enjoy!


Chapter One

"Whatever happened to your aspirations to live a 'normal' life?" Jack grinned.

"Me? Normal? Jack, do you think that is even possible?" Fi asked. She slung her arm around her brother's shoulder. "Come on, you know me better than that."

Jack nodded. "Do I ever. By the way, what kind of magic spell did you cast on Annie before you left? She's been picking up your habits..."

Laughing, Fi replied, "And you thought I was the only one interested in the paranormal?"

Jack didn't say anything for a moment. Then he said, "No. I know you aren't the only one." There was an awkward silence. Jack cracked a small smile to lighten the mood. "I guess it's in your genes."

"Yeah," Fi half-whispered in agreement. "Well, anyway," she added, trying to change the subject, "is there enough room on this bus for me? How excited are you to have me back on the tour?"

"Very," Jack answered quickly.

"Oh, stop it..." Fi teased.

"No, I'm serious!" Jack insisted. "I missed you, Fiona." He paused. "We all did." Fi was too touched to speak. "Hell, I even missed your weird adventures," he continued. Fi smiled. "Without you, there was something missing. Even though I don't show it all the time... I love you, Fi. You're my sister."

Fi threw her other arm around Jack and hugged him. "Sometimes I wonder why I even left in the first place," she admitted.

"Don't ever leave me again, Fi," Jack said softly.

"I won't," Fi promised. "Well," she said, letting go of him, "I guess I better get my stuff settled in my room now." She lifted her bags off the floor.

"All right," Jack said, as Fi turned around and headed towards her room. Quickly, Annie jumped away from the doorway, where she had been listening to their conversation, and brushed away her tears.


Chapter Two

"Hey, Annie," Fi greeted her best friend happily as she strolled into the room.

"Fi, you're finally here!" Annie exclaimed, dropping the magazine she had been pretending to read.

"Yes, and here to stay," Fi stated, throwing her bags onto her bed and embracing Annie in a quick hug. "Anything weird to tell me about?" she asked.

"Well, besides being trapped in detention in 1974, meeting the ghost of the school janitor, being put under a voodoo spell, almost having my voice stolen, and baby-sitting a changeling, among numerous other things - nothing weird happened." Both girls laughed.

"Hey, what's this?" Fi asked suddenly. She held up a wooden box that was on Annie's nightstand.

"Oh, that's what I call my lifebox," Annie explained. "It has stuff that remind me of home."

"Cool, can I look?" Fi began to lift the top off.

"NO!" Annie shouted, snatching the box out of her hand. "I mean, um, it's really personal and private. Maybe one of these days I'll share it with you."

Fi was a little taken aback. "Okay then," she said. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Annie assured her quickly. "Sorry I freaked out for a second. It's just really important to me." She placed the box on her dresser.

"I understand," Fi replied with a smile.

"Hi girls, we're going to get a bite to eat a couple minutes," Molly informed them, appearing in the doorway.

"Okay, Mom," Fi said. Molly left and Fi turned back to Annie. "It's so cool that we'll be sharing this room now. I can't believe that Ned was able to get an extra bed - and everything actually fits!"

Just then the bus jerked to a stop and everyone got off to eat at the local diner. When they returned at about 11 o'clock, it was noticed that one of the tires had gone flat. "Just my luck," Ned said. "Hold tight, everyone, I've got a spare somewhere around here," he informed the others, climbing into the cab. But when he came back out, Ned shook his head. "I can't find it! I could have sworn we had a spare tire."

"Great," Jack said sadly. "What do we do now?"

Ned sighed. "Fortunately, there's an abandoned lot just a little ways down the road. I'll be able to drive the bus that far without too much trouble. Hopefully we'll be able to fix things in the morning."

Soon enough, the bus was parked in the empty lot. As Fi and Annie climbed into bed, Fi commented, "Well, this was an interesting way for me to begin my return to the tour."


Chapter Three

Annie awoke with a start. She looked around, but it was still dark out. A street light shone through the window, dimly lighting the room. "Fi?" Annie whispered.

"You're awake too?" Fi replied. "I thought I heard a noise. I guess you heard it too."

"What time is it?" Annie asked, yawning.

"Around three a.m."

Both girls fell silent, lost in their separate thoughts. "Fi, I have something to confess," Annie blurted suddenly.

"What is it?" Fi inquired.

"It's about my lifebox," Annie said. "There's a reason I didn't want you to see what was in it." She stood up and groped around in the darkness for the wooden box. Taking it in her hands, she walked over to Fi's bed and sat down next to her. She flicked on the light switch to the small lamp on Fi's dresser. "You can't tell anyone about this," Annie said.

"Okay," Fi promised. "What is it?" Annie took a deep breath and lifted the lid off the box. She reached in and pulled out a picture of a boy who was maybe two years old, with blond hair and blue eyes and a smile on his face. "Who's that?" Fi asked, taking the photo from Annie's trembling hands.

Annie gazed at the picture sadly. "My brother."

Fi stared at Annie, shocked. "You have a brother? You never told me that you have a brother."

"I had a brother," Annie corrected her, tears welling up her eyes. Annie blinked and turned away so that Fi wouldn't see. "He died before I was born."

"I'm sorry," Fi said softly. She looked at the photo again. "How did he die?"

"He was hit by a car when he was two and a half. My mom told me that he was out in our front yard one day, playing in the grass. She was watching him from the porch. Then a car came speeding down the street and the driver must have just lost control. It swerved onto our yard and... hit him." Annie started to cry and Fi wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

"What was his name?" she asked.

"Andrew. His name was Andrew."

"Why don't you want anyone to know about him, Annie?" Fi implored curiously.

"I... I don't know," Annie admitted, wiping away her tears. "I just get so upset every time I think about him." She paused. "I think about him all the time. He would be twenty years old now. What kind of relationship would we have had? What kind of brother would he have been? Would he love me... love me like Jack loves you?"

Fi looked away. "I know what it's like to lose someone you know you would have loved, but never had the chance to," she said.

"I know you do," Annie replied wistfully. "It's just so hard..."

Fi looked at the picture of smiling, two-year-old Andrew Thelen one last time. "Yeah," she said. "It is."