The party.

I am not associated with Kyle XY in any way.

Lori was trying different outfits when Kyle knocked on her door.

"I think we should tell Nicole" Kyle said with concern

"Kyle, not the party police again!" Laurie could not believe how naive Kyle still was. "Our parents will never let us go to a college party!" Kyle looked conflicted.

"Jessi" Lori was reaching out to an unlikely ally "Tell Kyle he doesn't have to listen to mom all the time"

Jessi stared at Kyle for a few seconds without saying a word. Lori wondered what other things Nicole wouldn't allow Jessi to do. Quickly Jessi regained her composure:

"Oh Mark's party. That should be fun. Are we all taking Declan's car?"

"Actually I am going with Amanda"

"So who wants to be the resident genius today" Josh came in to break the tension. Thanking his lack of tact for once Kyle escaped what promised to be an uncomfortable conversation.

Lori couldn't help but notice the look of longing in Jessi's eyes. "There are other guys in the world Jess" Lori tried to reassure her adopted sister.

"Nobody like Kyle" Jessi whispered softly

….................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

When Kyle arrived with Amanda there appeared to be some sort of a commotion at the party. "What is going on?" He asked a guy nearby.

"Dude this hot high school chick is beating everyone at beer pong" "She must have had 10 beers by now"

I could not understand why someone would willingly ingest alcohol. It left a bad taste in my mouth and the aftermath was not pleasant either. Most students attended the party to bond with others. Why did alcohol need to be involved?

"What are you doing here freak boy?" Nathan approached Kyle with hostility

"You are lucky I am not pressing charges!" Amanda said coldly

"For breaking into my room? Yeah that would work" Nathan said sarcastically and walked away.

"Why is he so angry?" Kyle could never understand Nathan.

"Well I punched him. Twice" Amanda admitted reluctantly

"You what?" Kyle could not imagine Amanda ever resorting to violence.

"Well he hit me first"

Kyle's eyes were brimming with anger. He wanted to go after Nathan.

"Kyle, don't worry about it" Amanda said softly. "He got more than he bargained for from Jessi"

…...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

As Kyle made his way across the room he realized that Jessi was the "hot high school girl" at the center of attention.

"In your face!" She yelled out as she won her fifth game in a row. "Bottoms up guys!" she told her 2 opponents with a mischievous smile

"Jessi what are you doing?"

Jessi turned around and smiled at Kyle. She put her left hand on his shoulder and playfully ran her right hand across his chest. Jessi put some time to look good that day. Just a touch of makeup brought out her expressive brown eyes. A black top hugged her feminine figure tightly. A skirt revealed her long sexy legs. Her lips were smiling suggestively and Kyle could almost feel their touch against his own...

"Grapefruit!" Kyle screamed in his head

"Hey handsome!" Jessi appeared to be inebriated "Why would he like grapefruit?" she thought to herself.

Kyle took her right hand into his left and put his left on her waist. For a few moments he stood there unable to separate himself from Jessi. Finally collecting what was left of his willpower he pushed Jessi back gently. His inner struggle did not escape her, and she pouted in jest.

"Jessi have you been drinking?" Kyle said with concern on his face.

"A little" She responded playfully "You should play me in beer pong"

"Uh oh, boyfriend alert" Jessi's opponent across the pong table said to his partner

"Dude that is his sister"

"Dude!"

Sister. There is that word again. If it was Lori I would have certainly rescued her from these guys as well. Then I took another look at Jessi. I was certain – I did not see her as a sister.

"Jessi you shouldn't be drinking" After a pause he added "You are only 17 and some of these college guys might try something"

"What if they do?" Jessi said with a note of frustration in her voice. "You made your choice" and she pointed to Amanda

"Jessi I still don't know how I feel" Kyle's voice sounded unconvincing. Maybe she was right, going with Amanda was a clear statement.

"Kyle I have to go" Jessi said with a sudden urgency in her voice

"Jessi, at least let me explain" He was afraid he hurt her yet again

"You can explain later"

"Jessi, please!"

"I had a lot of beer Kyle" She looked at him in frustration "I need to use the ladies room" Kyle looked embarrassed. "Do I have your permission to do that?" and she exited with a wink.

…......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Kyle returned to Amanda. Talking to Jessi was so frustrating sometimes.

"Jessi being difficult again?" Amanda asked with an understanding smile

"Jessi is being....Jessi" Kyle replied absentmindedly.

"Can you guys get drunk?" She still did not understand all their abilities "I mean being superheroes and all"

"Alcohol has the same effect on us as on everyone else" Kyle said while looking at Jessi "We can greatly reduce it's effect by altering our body chemistry. In large enough quantities she will not be able to control it."

…......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

In the mean time Declan was making out with Jackie on a sofa. Suddenly he was interrupted as Jessi jumped on the coach next to them.

"Hi Declan!" Jessi gave him a hug. Jackie seemed very uncomfortable. The stories she heard about Jessi from Cassidy and Nate were hardly complimentary

"Jessi... you have been drinking" Declan did not need another source of girl drama in his life. Especially a source than could hurl knives with her mind.

"Declan I need to say something" She put her hand on his cheek. "You are really sweet and I am sorry about how I broke up with you" Jackie was getting ready for a cat fight "I was brainwashed you know!" With that she jumped up and ran towards the pool table.

"So you dated Lori and Jessi? Both Trager sisters?" Jackie started to get angry

"Well they aren't technically related..."

"Well at least you did not hook up with Hillary" One look at his face convinced her otherwise "Declan!" she yelled and walked away.

"I need a shot" Declan thought and proceeded to the bar

…..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The first time I attended a party I referred to it as hell. By eleven o'clock this one was turning out to be not much better.

"Declan, why are you drinking? You are supposed to be the designated driver" Kyle was upset with all his friends acting irresponsibly.

"Man, how do you do it?" Declan said instead of a response. "You have two beautiful girls fighting over you, and everyone just leaves me" Declan downed another shot. He was clearly in no condition to drive

"Amanda" Kyle finally found another responsible person in the group. "Can you drive everyone home?" "I need to stay to make sure nothing happens to Jessi" Amanda seemed upset at the idea "Amanda please, she is drunk – I can't leave her here with Nate"

Amanda smiled and agreed. "How can I get mad at him when all he has ever done is help those close to him?"

….....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Kyle walked over to Jessi.

"Jessi we should go" He took another look at her "Did you drink more since I left?"

"I can take care of myself" Jessi was getting tired of Kyle not trusting her "Besides I only had 173 grams of alcohol so far"

Nathan approached Jessi with his usual cockiness, handed her another beer and put his arm around her

"Your beverage my lady"

"Thanks Nate"

"Nate leave her alone!"

Having two boys fight for her affection was a new experience for Jessi. She looked playfully at Kyle expecting his next move. Two guys came up to Kyle from either side and put their hands on his shoulders.

"Kid you need to leave. The lady wants to stay right here"

By monitoring the heart beat and testosterone levels of the students in the room I realized that six of them were ready for a fight. But there was a more pressing concern. Jessi could hardly keep her balance, and her body chemistry was no longer modified to fight the alcohol. She has somehow miscalculated her alcohol tolerance, and was clearly no longer in control of her abilities. There was really only one course of action.

In one motion Kyle twisted the arm of the guy to the left and hit the solar plexus of the guy to the right. The third guy attempted to hit Kyle with a chair. Kyle avoided the hit and used his own kinetic energy to throw the attacker across the room. Another man approached from his right. With a quick move Kyle hit an artery in his neck temporarily blocking oxygen flow to his brain and incapacitating the assailant. The fight was over in 15 seconds.

Nobody else in the room cared to test their luck. Nathan was backing away slowly. Getting beat up by Kyle would be unproductive, he concluded.

Kyle took Jessi's hand and asked her softly "Jessi, please lets just go home"

Jessi smiled. It was nice to know Kyle still cared about her. Suddenly her expression turned into one of fear, then anger and then concentration. A moment later a guy collapsed no more than a foot behind Kyle's back. The guy had a knife in his hand.

"Looks like you need someone to watch your back as well" Jessi tried to lighten the mood, but she was still shaken by what could have happened to Kyle "Don't worry he will be fine"

"Jessi you saved my life"

"I owed you a few" Jessi smiled. Suddenly she could no longer stand straight. The effort of temporarily closing the attacker's arteries has completely drained her. Kyle caught her and started carrying her out.

"Kyle I am never drinking again" Jessi said as she fell asleep in his arms.

I surveyed the destruction at the party. Several students got injured because of my actions, and everyone else was staring at me with a mixture of fear and respect. I did not feel regret: these guys wanted to take advantage of Jessi in her drunk and vulnerable state. My attackers have learned their lesson, and will never attempt it again. I could not help but smile – this is something Jessi would say.

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Kyle brought Jessi to her room. When he lay her down on the bed, Jessi held on tighter.

"Kyle stay for a little while" Jessi asked without opening her eyes

Kyle laid down next to her and embraced her with his left hand while gently stroking her hair with his right. Jessi smiled as she was falling asleep.

"Are you going to kiss me good night?" she asked slipping deeper and deeper into sleep

Her beautiful face seemed to be glowing in the moonlight. Without opening her eyes Jessi was smiling at where she knew Kyle was laying. Despite all that happened that night, she felt safe and happy so close to Kyle.

"I shouldn't" Kyle thought as he was leaning in to kiss her. At the last moment he kissed her on the cheek and pulled away.

"Get some sleep" He told her gently. "Grapefruit!" He had to remind himself again

I watched Jessi as she slept. A week has passed since Cassidy was at our home. This week she was so distant, so different. She left the house in the mornings and did not come back until the evenings. Nobody knew where she was. She has been through so much, why does she feel the need to shut me out? If I could only know what she is going through, maybe I could help her?

Kyle put his hand on her forehead. "This is a gross invasion of her privacy" he suddenly thought. "She will tell me when she is ready". Kyle shut off his link with Jessi completely and looked at the ceiling.

I was so used to being linked with Jessi, I felt alone not feeling her thoughts, even if she was only an arm's length away. Her brainwaves have always been more powerful than anyone else's but now I was discovering that I could feel Steven and Nicole in the other room. But there was a distinct source of electromagnetic waves coming from somewhere in this room. I blocked out everything else and walked towards the source. There appeared to be a tiny camera hidden in Jessi's drawer. It was well disguised, and completely undetectable – this did not belong to Foss.

Carefully Kyle examined the camera. To preserve any fingerprints he took his shirt off and carefully removed the camera with it and hid it inside.

"Kyle what are you doing" Jessi opened her eyes and looked at shirtless Kyle with a combination of confusion and excitement. Kyle walked towards her to say good bye

"What is going on here Jessi?" Nicole was standing in the doorway

"I am just a little drunk" Jessi smiled as she caressed Kyle's stomach with her fingers

"Kyle I thought you were the responsible one! It is 2:30 in the morning! And she is drunk!" Nicole was getting angry at the thought of what her adopted children were about to do.

"Go to your room. You are grounded!" Nicole never thought she would say that to Kyle.

Thanks for all the kind reviews on the first 2 chapters. I added breaks into the text, hope it helps – my formating was completely scrambled when I transferred the text from a text file...

A subtle but important edit to this chapter (Kyle IM after the fight) that should stress my original point: Kyle starts the fight not because he is jealous or has an alpha male moment, but because Jessi is in clear danger and he is protecting her. He still abhors violence, but has no choice since he cannot hold 6 guys. Thanks to Euro Fan for catching that one.

Some big confrontations coming up including Nicole vs Kyle and Jessi vs Bryan Taylor. Almost ready with the next chapter :)