Chapter 5-The Summons

September 26, 2011

For the next seventy two hours, Jessie was excessively jumpy, scared out of her wits that her biological family would turn up at any moment. She spent most of her time with Lewis, helping him in the lab. At the time she said it was because she wanted to help him but Lewis knew she really didn't want to be alone right now, seeing as she had taken to jumping every time the phone rang. The thing she feared most came true at two in the afternoon on Monday.

"Wrench."

"Here ya go," replied Jessie as she handed Lewis his wrench as he bent over yet another prototype of Carl.

"Thanks. Wire stripper," stated Lewis as he handed the wrench back to Jessie and felt the stripper drop into his hand. He was almost there. He could feel it. Just a few more-

DING-DONG!

Next to him, Jessie jumped about a foot off the ground and glanced nervously towards the door. Lewis sighed and set down the wire stripper on the workbench. He looked towards the clock. 2:00 "Jessie, it's just the mail. He come around this time every day, you know that."

"Yeah, I-I know. It's just-"she stuttered, shaking her head and looking towards the ground. Lewis turned towards her and placed a supporting hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "I know. Everything is gonna be fine, I promise."

"Cornelius, Jessie!" called Lucille breathlessly as she climbed the stairs into the lab, appearing as though she had just run up to them. She was panting and quite pale as the twins quickly walked over to her. She swallowed and said the words Jessie was hoping she should never hear. "Emilia Stevenson is here."

Lewis looked over at Jessie and saw that her blue eyes were wide in fear and she had gone completely white. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. The three of them turned and briskly walked down the stairs towards the entryway of the large house. The three descended the stairs to see Bud glaring at a woman, whose back was turned to them. Her short brown hair was in elegant curls and her sundress of white silk, along with an necklace of pearls clearly said she was very wealthy.

She turned around and appraised them with her hard grey eyes. Her face was long and her skin tanned, and looking as though she had had too much plastic surgery done to her face. Her lip curled slightly in disgust at the grease on Lewis's lab coat but quickly replaced it with an extremely fake smile of delight.

"Jessica, of I am so glad that you are alright," she said in a mock sweet voice as she roughly brought Jessie into her arms. Jessie pushed her grandmother off of her and backed away from her to stand beside Lewis, Lucille and Bud, who was still glaring at the elder women in front of him. Her cold eyes fell on Lewis. "Ah, what a spectacular young man you have become James."

"It's Cornelius," Lewis replied bitterly, his adoptive parents subconsciously moving closer to him and Jessie. Emilia's upper lip curled into a sneer as she gazed at the Robinsons. "Right."

Her gaze shifted once more to Jessie, who had lost most of her fear and was glaring at her grandmother. Her fake smile returned as she clutched her white purse. "Well Jessica, we must be off. Your uncles will be so pleased to see you."

When Jessie did not move, Emilia took a step towards her only to be blocked by Bud, who had apparently heard the same emphasis on 'please' that Jessie had. Oh, she knew what would please her uncle's; killing her. Emilia's smile turned into a smirk as Bud stood firm between her and Jessie."She's not going anywhere with you."

"I had a feeling you might say that," she responded all hints of sweetness gone from her voice as she undid the clasp on her purse and reached in, pulling out a folded piece paper and extended it towards Bud. "That's why I brought this."

"What is it?" asked Bud as he cautiously took the paper from her outstretched hand.

"A summon to a hearing," she replied viciously, once more looking at Jessie. "To decide who will obtain custody of Jessica."

She then turned on her heel and headed towards the door as Bud opened the paper and began to scan it. She turned back to them when she reached the door, a smirk on her face, "See you in court."

And with that, she was gone. Lewis looked over at Jessie and saw that her anger had gone and had faded into fear. He swallowed the lump that had been in his throat since he had spoken to Emilia and turned towards his parents. "When's the hearing?"

"October 1st," replied Bud, looking up from the paper towards Lewis and Jessie. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to stop them from taking you and to prove that they are guilty of murder."

"I doubt we can prove that they did it," Jessie responded bitterly."It's not like I can remember that night and play it for the court."

The three Robinson's eyes widened, looking at each other before Lewis looked at Jessie, a smile on his face. She looked around at them in confusion. Why were they smiling? "Actually, we can. With my first invention, the Memory Scanner."