Disclaimer: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all characters are copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., a Turner company. No copyright infringement is intended by their use in this story. Characters and stories are in no way affiliated with, approved of, or endorsed by Hanna Barbera or Turner Productions.

Winter Solace

by Jett Allyson

Friday, December 22nd

The sun rose as though a knife cutting through the glistening ice encrusting the New England terrain on that blustery December morning. Cardinals awoke with the first light of day, gently shaking icicles from the branches of the abundant forest surrounding the Quest Compound. Their chirping sounded on the bitter, cold breeze, bringing peace to the frozen world and reinforcing the knowledge that Christmas was near at hand.

Winter in Maine really was quite spectacular. No other state could match the quality of the season, the magnificent scenery of falling snow meeting the crest of waves crashing against the rock cliffs. And certainly no other state could boast being home to the most well renowned scientist of his generation—Dr. Benton Quest.

Benton rose with the Cardinals that morning. He had always been a fan of winter and enjoyed waking even earlier than normal, which was saying quite a lot in his case, being a man who made it a point to make the most of each day by being an early riser. But during the fall and winter he rose with the intention of enjoying each day to its fullest. He would traipse through the fallen leaves in the forest, dash across the barren beach, trudge through the drifts of snow—indeed, Benton revisited his childhood this time each year. The Christmas season, however, was the pinnacle of his enjoyment, and what he most loved to do first thing in the early winter morning was sip a mug of steaming peppermint tea in his favorite armchair across from the giant living room window facing the front lawn.

This morning was no exception, and an hour later as Benton was relaxing in the morning sunlight reading the Wall Street Journal, the sound of tumultuous footsteps pierced the silence of the house, causing Benton to look up. He knew the source of the noise, even before he saw the blur of blond, red, and black hair rush past him, greeting him briefly, and proceeding toward the front door and out into the much colder temperature outside. Yes, Benton may have been a world-famous scientist and phenomenologist, but he was also the father of two sons (one his own biological son Jonny and the elder an adopted Indian boy named Hadji.) Furthermore he had also opened his home to a personal bodyguard Race Bannon, assigned by the government to protect Dr. Quest and his inventions, and to Race's 17-year-old daughter, Jessie.

Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji were inseparable from the moment that the three of them had met, and although unrelated, all considered each other family. Benton considered himself the luckiest man in the world to have had the opportunity to explore the world, to have lived through so many perilous encounters as a result of exploration, and to have had his family by his side the entire time. The past few months had been pretty quiet in comparison, but he welcomed the change and was adjusting nicely to the peace and quiet that came with it.

Jonny was a blond-haired, blue-eyed version of his father—he was full of adventure and curiosity, and while he was less level headed than the rational Dr. Quest, Jonny shared his father's passion for the outdoors. On that morning, Jonny had decided to take an early walk before breakfast. He was unanimously joined by Jessie and Hadji, who loved adventure as much as he, and the three of them hurried out into the icy weather beyond the mansion walls.

An hour later the three teenagers trudged back through the front door. Each was laden with ice, and they were shivering from head to foot. But they still smiled and laughed all the way into the kitchen, where Race looked up from his newspaper.

"What on earth have you been doing?"

"Racing each other across the lawn on our knees," said Hadji, brushing ice crystals out of his shoulder-length black hair.

"Looks like you've been skating on more than just your knees," Benton commented, taking two heaping plates of pancakes offered to him by the housekeeper, Mrs. Evans. "Go upstairs, you three, and change into warm clothes." Then, noting Jonny's attempt at protesting, he added, "Your breakfast will be here when you get back. Now go."

Defeated, Jonny followed his friends out of the warm kitchen. Benton sighed and turned to Race.

"Sometimes when I see those three leave the house, I wonder if they'll come back alive."

Race stifled a laugh as he joined Benton at the table. Mrs. Evans added a platter of scrambled eggs to the pancakes already on the table. She then continued to bustle around the kitchen and had finished cleaning up, when the kids returned. Their noses and cheeks were still rosy, but they appeared considerably warmer. As the teenagers sat down to eat, Mrs. Evans started toward the kitchen door. "Dr. Quest, if you won't be needing me any longer, I'll go start on the laundry," she said, her hand on the swinging door.

"That'll be fine," Benton responded, turning to look at her and smiling. "We'll clean the dishes when we're done. Thanks."

"So, Ponchita," Race said, turning to Jessie, "what are you planning on doing today?"

"Well," Jessie began, replacing her fork on her plate, and grabbing her glass of orange juice, "Jonny, Hadji, and I were going to go Christmas shopping this afternoon. I haven't even begun to start looking, and when Mom gets here, I'll want to spend time with her, rather than rushing around the mall."

"All right," Race responded. "Well, it's been so busy around here with Benton's conference in England and the extra security files that we added to Quest World, that we haven't started decorating yet, so Benton and I were wondering if you three wanted to start on that this morning, and then we could set up the tree tonight after you return from your shopping."

"You don't want to wait for Mom before setting up the tree?" Jessie asked.

"Well, I already talked to your mom about that, a couple of days ago, and she said that she thought she'd be too tired from the trip to help with the tree. She never really enjoyed setting up the tree anyway. But she definitely wants to go caroling while she's here."

Jessie sighed, and turned back to her eggs. Her parents had been divorced for the past five years. She had gotten used to it and had even come to accept it, but it always hurt more over the holidays. During the first year after the divorce, Jessie had lived with her mom in Brazil. Her mother was an archeologist and never spent more than a couple of months living in one place, but in the months following the divorce, Estella had thought that Jessie needed more stability in her life and had arranged to spend the year working on a series of digs in Brazil. Jessie had spent that first Christmas with her mother, but the following year she had traveled to Maine to spend the week with her father at the Quest Compound. She had missed him terribly after being away from him for over a year, but she was still nervous to visit him. She had never met the Quests and knew that her father lived with two boys Jessie's age. She and the boys developed an instant rapport, however, and when it came time for her to return to her mother, she opted to stay in Maine instead. Race helped fight her case, and in the end Estella had given in. She agreed that Jessie would be able to lead a more normal life if she was able to go to the same school year-round, rather than hopping from one school to another in South America. Furthermore, Estella thought that it would be good for Jessie to have friends her own age, and she knew that Benton was a good man and would help Race look after Jessie. During the next few years, Estella was too busy to visit very often. One year Jessie spent Christmas with her mother in Egypt, but missed the snow and pine trees so much that she stayed at the Compound every year after. This year, Estella agreed to come to Maine for Christmas. She was flying in the following day at 2:50 PM, and Jessie hoped that they would all have a quiet Christmas. She was glad that her parents had become better friends in the past few years. They got along much better since the divorce, and Jessie did not care that they were not married any more. They were happy, and that was all that mattered.

After breakfast, the children helped their fathers clean off the table, and then all of them set about decorating the house for Christmas. It was a big job, decorating the living and dining rooms, Benton's study, the library and kitchen and family room, and all of the rooms upstairs. Benton was a believer in bringing the seasonal spirit to every inch of the mansion, not just the room containing the Christmas tree.

Mrs. Evans had already left by 11:00 that morning, wishing the family a merry Christmas, as she passed them hanging garlands from the stair railings and placing candles in the windows. She had been the Quests' housekeeper ever since Benton's wife Rachel died eight years earlier. Benton had fallen into a state of depression, and when Race was assigned to the family, he thought that the female presence would do everyone some good. Not to mention that none of them was real great at cleaning. Mrs. Evans came every day to prepare the meals and to tidy up. She did the laundry twice a week, and on weekends she would prepare dinner early, for the family to heat up later, so that she could leave by 4:00. She had off every other Sunday, but for Christmas Benton had given her a week and a half off with pay. He made sure that she left by 11:00 that morning and would not let her return until January 2nd. She had her own family to visit, and Benton did not see the necessity of her spending her holidays looking after them.

The morning passed quickly as the family sang along to Johnny Mathis CDs and spruced up the house. Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji left around 2:00, after having lunch with their fathers, and Benton retreated to his study to review the success of the new programs inserted into Quest World. Race watched the kids' car leave the driveway and vanish around the tree line after crossing through the security gate. He watched the first signs of flurries falling from the sky as he sipped a cup of coffee. After all that this family had been through over the past 10 years, he could not help but wish that this year might actually bring a perfect Christmas.

The streets of Rockport were crowded with Christmas shoppers. Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji made their way along the busy sidewalks, past store windows, alight with holiday decorations. Every now and then they would enter one of the cozy gift shops or larger clothing stores to browse the merchandise.

"Mom said that she needed a new briefcase for all of her expedition records," Jessie said, as the three young people made their way out of the blustery air into the warmth of Duncan's Leather and Travel Accessories. "She's had the same tired travel case for the past ten years. I want to buy her one that has separate compartments for files but can also carry a water bottle, her camera, and other things like maps."

"Well you chose the right place," said Hadji, as he gazed at the various travel bags and business attaches. The boys searched the stacks of merchandise, while Jessie chose a handsome leather messenger bag that was actually twenty percent off, because it was last year's model.

By the time they had left the shop and rejoined the hustle and bustle on the streets, it was 4:30 PM. Jonny suggested that they warm up over some cups of coffee at The Funky Frappuccino. Five minutes later they were relaxing in front of a window facing the public library. Jessie was sipping her raspberry mocha and gazing out of the frosted window, when Jonny called her back into reality.

"Are you all right, Jess? You've seemed kind of upset the past couple of days."

"I'm fine," Jessie replied, with a sigh. "I'm so excited about my mom coming to visit, but I'm kind of worried about how my parents will get along. They haven't seen each other for almost two years. I'm not really worried that they won't get along," Jessie paused and stared at her coffee before looking Jonny in the eyes. "I'm afraid that my mom will want me to go back to living with her." A silence hung over the table so long that Jessie wondered if Jonny would answer, but it was Hadji who finally spoke up.

"Your mother loves you, Jessie. She will respect your choice; I am sure." Jessie smiled vaguely and allowed the conversation to end. They spent the next hour finishing their shopping: Jonny bought his dad a warmer winter coat than his present one (Dr. Quest had recently taken up hiking in his spare time, and since the coastal winter winds are especially vicious in Maine, he knew that he would need a better coat) and a new collar for his little bull dog Bandit; Hadji bought Race a hand held compass with a language translator. Then they hurried home to find their fathers grappling with a giant blue spruce, trying to force it into the tree holder near the great picture window in the living room. Hadji and Jonny rushed over to assist, while Jessie brought all of their purchases upstairs.

Half and hour later the five of them were pulling old ornaments out of the cascade of boxes that had come from the attic. The tree was eight feet tall, so Race was standing on a step latter stringing lights around the top of the tree, while Benton worked the bottom of the tree. Over the next hour, the tree transformed into a reflection of holiday spirit as each family member added favorite traits—tinsel, child-made ornaments, pinecones—and Bandit danced happily around their feet.

As the moon rose higher in the night sky, the family members settled in arm chairs and on sofas around the room, sipping hot chocolate, and admiring their masterpiece to the tune of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," sung by Karen Carpenter. As Jessie relaxed near the window, she considered the next few days. This was Jessie's favorite time of year, and she prayed that her mother's visit would be as joyous as the season.