Almost 24 years ago

"She is an adorable little girl". The man said to the young couple sitting at his kitchen table.

"Thank you John." The mother said as she began to rock the small month old infant as she began to cry in hysterics.

"And quite a set of lungs on her too." He said laughing.

"I don't know what could be wrong, I just fed her." She said bouncing the little girl up and down.

Did you try burping her?" her husband asked. The look on her mother face clearly said she hadn't, and she went quickly to work lightly patting her little girls back.

The stomping that had entered the room cause them all to look at the six year old boy who had entered the room with his hands placed firmly over his ears.

"What is that dad?" He asked referring to the still crying child.

"That's our new neighbor John." John Sr. said. "Say hello to Jessica. She's the Connor's new little girl.

The young boy crept closer to the chair where the mother was sitting and leaned in to get a better look.

"Eww she's a girl…and she stinks." He said as he scrunched up his face making the little girl smile.

"Looks like she likes you John." His dad said.

"Yuck!" said the little boy as he ran out of the kitchen followed by the sounds of adults laughing.

"Well looks like we know why she's crying. I better go change her" Said the mother.

6 Years Later

"John?" his dad called to him from the yard door.

"Yeah dad?" the older boy had broken the hold he had on his little brother and ran up to his dad.

"Mrs. Connor hasn't been feeling well, so Mr. Connor is gonna take her to the hospital. Can you keep an eye on little Jessica while I make dinner?"

"Sure dad." Just as he replied a little girl in a gymnastic unitard went charging past them.

"Yay I get to play with booger!" she screamed.

"Who's booger?" John asked heading back to his three younger brothers and the little girl.

"Steve is" She said referring to John's youngest brother. "Cause in class he sneezed and got boogers all over the place." She said laughing hysterically while little Steve just blushed.

"Can I play too?" She asked as she ran over to the two other boys who were still wrestling.

"No." Steve said coming up from behind her.

"Why not?" she pouted.

"Cause girls can't wrestle they have to stand outside of the ring and be girly." He said sticking his tongue out.

"But I don't wanna be girly I wanna wrestle like you guys."

"Well I said no." He said stomping his foot. The little girl's eyes began to fill with tears when John finally stepped in.

"I'll tell you what Jessie how about I teach you to wrestle and then you can kick boogers butt." He proposed hoping that would prevent her from crying. John couldn't help but laugh when she blew a raspberry at booger and proceeded to tackle John.

7 Years Later

It was Saturday afternoon and John was headed home from college for summer break. He was driving past West Newbury Middle school when he noticed a group of kids gathered around a fight. He couldn't help but laugh to himself remembering all the little fights he had gotten into when he was younger. That was one of the reasons his dad sent him to a boarding high school. He was about to drive by when he saw his youngest brother Steve aka Booger trying to keep more people from jumping into the fight all while trying to break it up as well. John quickly pulled into the school parking lot and parked.

"What the hell's going on?" he yelled as he got out of his jeep and jogged over to the fight.

"John I can't break it up!" his brother shouted over the screams and cheers of the surrounding kids.

John headed into the middle crowd which was fairly easy to his surprise. Then again he was 19 and the rest of the kid's barley looked 15.

"Hey break it up!" John shouted trying his best to sound like a grown up.

When he finally got to the center of the group he was surprised to see two girls fighting and even more surprised to see he knew one of them. Jessica had grown up next door from him. Even though he knew she was 13 the same age as his brother she looked as if she was 10. There was about a good 4 inch difference between her and the girl she was fighting, and aside from height she was also outmatched in size. He would have bet money that Jessica had been jumped and was getting her ass whipped. He would have lost that bet. When the girls had separated enough for John to get a better look he saw that Jessica only had a few scratches on her face and a bit of a bloody lip. On The other hand the girl she was fighting had scratches, a busted lip, and a bloody nose. John was just about to step in when Jessica ran and jumped on the girl bring her to the ground where she had her straddled and proceeded to punch.

"I can't believe this girl actually used the Lou Thez press in an actual street fight." He thought laughing to himself.

"Alright that's it!" John said as he picked Jessica up off the other girl.

"Get her away from me, she's crazy!" the bloody girl screamed while still lying in on the ground.

John threw Jessica over his shoulder while she was still kicking and screaming.

"Let's go Boog" he shouted to his brother.

Booger made a bee line for Johns Jeep and scrambled to the back seat. John dumped Jessica into the front passenger's seat and closed the door. He went around and got in the drivers seat and drove off.

"What was that all about?" He asked. Jessica sat there arms crossed and dead silent.

"They were talking about her mom." Steve said from the back seat.

"Shut up Boog!" Jessica yelled from the front seat.

"Sorry."

"How is your mom?" John asked sympathetically.

"She's ok, tired a lot. The doctors are hopeful that this time the cancer will stay in remission." She said with a distant far off stare.

"And your dad?" he asked.

"He thinks it's his fault. He said if he would have smoked outside of the house like mom had asked then she wouldn't have gotten lung cancer. The doctors tried to tell him it's not his fault, but he's still a wreck." Tears started to form around the edges of her eyes.

Jessica and Boog had grown up together and it killed John to see her like this. For the past 13 years she had been like a little sister to him.

"You really did a good job kicking her ass killer." He said giving light punch on the shoulder. She couldn't help but smile John always had a way of cheering her up. The three of them sat the rest of the way home in silence.

1 Year Later

"We are gathered here not just to mourn, but to celebrate the life of Elizabeth Connor. Know to her friends and loved ones as Liz." The priest said.

It seemed only fitting that today was bright and sunny. It reminded John Sr. of Liz. She was always so bright and cheerful. Even when the doctors diagnosed her she always kept a smile on her face. She even managed to keep things civil with him and his ex wife when Liz was around.

"Hey dad. How's everyone holding up?" his son John whispered coming up from behind him. He had come down from college to be here for them.

"Well Jess is doing much better then her father." He said motioning over to the two standing near the priest.

John looked over at the two and what he saw broke his heart. Jessica stood there and though she was 14 she still looked like she was 10 sobbing softly into a tissue. Her father stood next to her a complete mess he looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks and couldn't stop crying. It almost made John mad that he wasn't being strong for Jessica.

"It's a good thing she have you next door." He whispered to his father.

"Not for much longer. Their moving to Pennsylvania he said they had family there to help him look after Jessica."

John was in shock it was hard to imagine not having the Connors next to his family. He had pretty much watched Jessica grow up. It was weird for him to think that when he came home after graduating this year that he wasn't gonna see Jessica practicing her gymnastics in their backyard. Come to think of it odds were he was never gonna see her again.