This ain't exactly the end

Lori dropped Jessi off at her apartment, leaving Jessi to carry some of the baby bags after some fuss about it, so Jessi carried all four of them, balancing act, a kind of practice, since she heard mothers had to balance a lot, especially teen ones, she was just lucky she had Kyle, and she knew it. It was a struggle to get into her apartment, the keys fell often and kept on having to lean down, she was lucky she wasn't that huge yet, but… whatever, and after a while, she finally managed to open the door into the dark apartment.

"Maria?" She called. "Are you in there?" She asked as she tried to set the bags down on the end table next to the door, only it was in the dark and there were four of them, and such a small table that it really didn't work out so well as she stepped inside her trap.

From behind her, a hand cupped over her mouth, not letting her scream.

"Boo, neighbor."


The attacker fell back, Jessi had bitten his hand off and that surprised him… his voice was deep and husky, he was African American, she knew that, but she didn't know her neighbors all that well… unless they fought a lot, and he didn't. She started to walk backwards into the larger space of the apartment, and from behind the counter in the kitchen, was the girl from the grave, a butcher knife in hand, and she looked creepy, standing still, a knife in the air.

"Boo," she spoke softly, making Jessi jump and turn around. Not waiting to hesitate, Jessi kicked her in the stomach, hard enough to send her flying into the refrigerator, the large knife across the kitchen floor, and Jessi went around the counter, the way that didn't involve the body, but didn't get a chance to pick it up.

"Maria…" she breathed as she saw her roommate pick it up, analyzing it perfectly. As soon as the image clicked in her mind, which was pretty quick, anger set into her eyes, pouring out like rain with no sun. "You son of bitch," she called out and then flung herself at her, but Maria blocked herself and pinned her up against the wall in her attempt.

"Oh, now, now," Maria told her in that sinisterly sweet voice of hers as she used the knife to circle Jessi's stomach. "We wouldn't want to harm the baby, would we?"


"It's a boy?" Kyle asked, still divulging everything Lori could tell him, after all, on the car ride to her apartment, Jessi told Kyle she was just going to go home to sleep.

"Yeah, how does Thomas Adam, sound?" Lori asked, in that all knowing omniscient tone of hers. They all were in her bedroom, Lori, Kyle, Declan and Josh sitting on the bed. Kyle sitting on the edge, the closest to Lori as he faced her to listen to every detail she could spout, he would wait for Jessi but Lori roped him into it, and Declan sat next to Lori, leaning against her bed frame like he owned the place, and Josh across from Declan, at the far edge of the bed, planning his escape, all of this baby talk had in him in a weird mood. He had even brought it up Andy… not a good conversation.

"Sounds like something out of a history book," Josh smirked, making Lori glare at him, "hey, can I call him T.A.?"

"Like Tony Alva," Declan amused himself, and then Lori glared at him too. "Just saying," he said as he leaned back into the bed frame, a little uncomfortable from Lori's stare.


In the dark, Maria cupped Jessi's chin with her hand, her mouth so close to Jessi's, she could feel her every breath, and it tingled her spine, sending shivers everywhere in between them. Jessi had been betrayed, but hell, at least she expected it before hand, hell, she could never have the normal life like Kyle wanted, she just attracted trouble, and before attracting anymore, she sent a quick prayer, a very rare occurrence, to all the gods that her son wouldn't inherit that trait from her.

Jessi broke free from Maria's surprisingly strong hold on her, kicked her in the stomach, making her fall back into the counter, hitting her back on the edge, making her lean forward as she hurled in pain. The knife had been dropped to the floor again and Jessi was quicker than her, and picked it up, and entitling all of the rage that was her, spoke slowly and with enough conviction that an army of soldiers would have bowed down and called her queen.

"Don't you ever come back here again," she hissed as she traced the knife across Maria's throat. "Or I'll slit you dry," she threatened, but then from behind her vision, something she didn't expect, and didn't see because Maria's head was down, was the gun that was cocked from behind her head.

"Knife. Down. Now."

"You better listen to him," the other woman said as she walked out of the darkness and into the light, well, the light of Jessi's eyes. From similar characteristics and accents, she could easily detect Cassidy's sister.


"Why can't guys go to the baby shower?" Kyle asked, confused now.

"Cause it's a chick thing," Declan told him. "Trust me, you don't want to go."

"But I do," Kyle said, still not understanding it.

"Dude, we'll go see a movie – a horror movie, it'll be like when she gives birth," Josh jokes with a slight punch in Kyle's arm. "What?" He goofed as Lori glared at him again.

"Jessi is going through a lot of stress right now, okay? Give her some grace, okay?"


"Get lost," Jessi told Cassidy's sister.

"Sorry, not in my vocabulary," she said. "Let her go, Maria," and with that, Maria shoved her from her hold, but Jessi fell back into the man, who pushed her to the ground, Jessi landed on her stomach, and she gasped for one final breath before she drew another. "Oh please, I know all about you're con tricks," Katharine spoke into Jessi's ear as she leaned down and brushed a strand of hair behind an ear. Leaning down closer, she breathed. "I even know how your boy killed my brother."

"Your brother tried to kill Kyle," Jessi spat, fighting out the words. "He deserved to die – he killed my mother."

"Yeah, he did," Katharine admitted, "but so did I," and she unleashed the maternal instinct.


A slight ringing turned on in Kyle's head as Lori and Declan fought over something, and how Josh was making small innuendos about it, and the ringing was consistent, it felt like it would make his ears bleed, and he thought he understood what was happening, but this was so unusual he couldn't be sure. His fingers flew to his temples and a quick image came in and out of his mind, it was dark, so he couldn't see much at the one shot that he had, but there were three people standing around… Jessi? Yeah, that was Jessi, and she was lying on the floor, withering in pain. Just as soon as it came, it went.

"I have to go help her," Kyle said, "Jessi," he breathed one last time and then flew out of there, with Declan trailing at his side.

"Hey! Hey, hey, man," Declan said as he chased Kyle down the stairs, but he had to pull at him for Kyle to turn around. "What's going on here? Huh?"

"Jessi – I saw – I saw something. It was her, she's in trouble," Kyle tried to explain, but even he didn't understand.

"Like what? Like a vision? A splash of light? Hey! What was it?" Declan barked as Kyle lost attention and tried to move again, but he held him down.

"Three on one," was all Kyle could make out, and Declan could see the rage building up inside him.

"Kyle, this isn't like you – this is like Jessi," he said.

"Well, maybe now we're in each other's shoes, but she needs me and I just can't keep her lying there! Declan, come if you want, but don't slow me down, I have a feeling – just a hunch that this has something to do with Cassidy." Kyle explained in whispers as he leaned in closer to tell Declan.

"Oh, that bastard? I'll do anything you need," Declan offered and then they left the building to go help the damsel in distress.


At the apartment, Jessi was using her night vision now to help her out, and was tapping into the power of her super strong and smart kiddy to beat the asses. The first one to go was that bitch, Katharine, Jessi quickly grabbed the knife from under her, causing Katharine to fall on top of her once she turned on her back, not hesitating a second, Jessi killed her with her own weapon, and the household tool she would have to burn afterwards. Leaving that body on the floor, she jumped up. Maria gasped, took a step back in surprise, she never believed any of them could die. The guy, the strongest of them all, for sure, didn't hesitate in his mark for Jessi, he didn't look when Maria ran out of there, and he just lunged for Jessi and his broad hands were aiming for Jessi's throat.

She moved to the side, but he didn't fall easily, so he tried to throw a punch, which Jessi gladly blocked, and then she punched him in the stomach, the ribs, kicked a few times in the knee caps, before finally landing one hard blow to the balls. He stumbled backwards. Not just anger flooded his blood lust eyes, but embarrassment now, and she had him exactly where she wanted him, and he lunged at her once again, but Jessi had the knife in her hand and gutted him once in the heart, a good, fatal blow that let him fall forward once Jessi moved out of the way.

Paralyzed now, she felt the blood, and walked backwards, falling down, no longer having the balance of her legs. Sitting on the floor of her apartment, she rocked back and forth, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth…

The lights came on quickly enough and Kyle and Declan came rushing in, but stopped short when they saw the bodies, and Jessi, drenched in blood that wasn't all hers, and Declan carefully walked around the bodies, but Kyle just rushed to her side, so Declan let go of the odd feeling inside and just went with it, kneeling by Jessi's other side.

"Jessi," Kyle said as he tried to take her arm. "Jessi, Jessi! Listen to me –"He started but she interrupted him.

"I lost the baby…" Was all Jessi could form to say, as she looked at the hand she had laid on her stomach, the one with fresh blood out of it, stared in shock at the blows she had taken herself but hadn't felt, and fell back into Kyle's arms, blackness surrounding her.