Disclaimer's: I'm bored with disclaimer's so... I just hope everyone reviews and tells me what country to go to and who to visit next. On with the newly sad fic...

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"Cayla?" Jonny said, "You feel like eating?"

"No."

All right, so I was being rude. Big deal. They should just leave me alone. I don't want to talk, I don't want to eat, and I don't want any pity, so stop trying already!

"I'm worried about her," Dr. Quest said, "She needs to talk to someone about this. She was almost killed again, and she shows no response. No fainting, no hysterics, and the only time she cried was when the tiger died."

Now I was PO'd, "Don't you dare call him 'that tiger', like it was just any old mangy animal I found in the gutter! He was a GOOD tiger and he was my friend and he died saving me! And I hate it when you talk about me like I'm not here and can't hear you! If you're worried, tough. I don't care."

Race and Dr. Quest looked at each other. Jonny and Hadji looked at each other. I looked at all of them and said very quietly "I hate you all." Then, I rolled over, buried my head in my pillow, and burst into tears.

"Do you?" Race said indifferently. I knew this trick. They were trying to get me to talk about what was bothering me when I didn't feel like it. They were trying to make me so mad that I didn't care what I said. It wasn't going to work, either. I swear, they must think I'm brain-dead or something...

I lay there and listened, "Where now?" Jonny asked.

"Back to the good, old USA," Race said.

"Why?" Jonny asked, "You don't mean we're actually taking her home, do you?"

"No," Race said, "We're taking her to the only place to go when you run out of options."

Jonny, Hadji, and Dr. Quest looked at each other and said, "No!" all at the same time.

"Yes," Race said, "We're going to see Jade."

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Even a moron like me can understand why everyone was a little upset at the prospect of going to see Jade. Jonny hates her because she lies too much and he usually gets fooled by her, Hadji dislikes her for the same reasons because he believes honesty should be taken seriously at all costs, and Dr. Quest can't stand her because, well, she's JADE.

Race, on the other hand, likes her just FINE.

I have no opinion. She has to be smart to fool the Quests, but she always has the knack for making herself greatly disliked by everyone she meets (or so Jonny says). I think he just has issues and dislikes her because Jessie hates her.

I wanted to go home, but I knew it wise not to press the issue. If Race said I wasn't going home, then I wasn't going home. Race also wanted to check up on the Quest Compound through his "sources" to see if Serd blew it up or something. How dumb do you get? Serd probably didn't even bother with the Compound. He knew his threat would flush us into running and he could follow us easily. We had the disadvantage without all of the technology that all of them have become so dependent on. I found the fact that none of them understood this VERY funny.

I was contemplating on whether or not to just tell them what I thought of this plan, when a call came over the radio.

"Bannon, come in. This is Jade, over."

Race sprinted up front to the radio and grabbed the mike, "This is Bannon. What's up?"

"The Compound is fine."

Ha, I told you so. At least, I would've...

"And I have no work going on, so feel free to drop by. You probably would've anyway, though, right?"

"Of course, but I would've knocked first," Race said "Just in case you were in the shower or something."

Gag me with a spoon. No, send me back to India or the jungle. I think I prefer Serd. 1 look at Jonny and Hadji told me they thought the same thing. Dr. Quest was just shaking his head. If this is how Race flirts, it's no surprise Estella divorced him...

"And you would've blushed and pretended to be sorry," Jade's voice said dryly, "But no harm done. Bring the posse to my place and we'll figure out a plan that only involves you getting killed. Bye." The click signaled that her radio was turned off all together. She doesn't like the way he flirts, either. I like her already.

I was now sitting up and taking turns shooting both Race and Jonny (don't ask why I was picking on him. If he would've left me alone while I was meditating, none of this would've happened. Either Race would've rescued me, or I'd be dead, not miserable) very nasty looks. They seemed to find it amusing.

"How long until we get to San Francisco?" Hadji asked.

"About 12 hours," Race said, "Get comfortable."

For Jonny that meant coming over and sitting with me. He thought that I would be ready to kiss and make up. Not a chance...

His resolve to make me feel better lasted over an hour. Then, as I knew he would, he got mad and gave up. I feel better now. I always win...

It was now 8:30 at night. This wasn't late, but since I had been through 1 too many time zones, I was beat, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. I went to sleep...

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When I woke up, I was informed that I would eat breakfast whether I wanted to or not and that we'd be at our destination soon, so I should put myself in a better mood. Being told this made me more mad, so I picked at my breakfast and ignored everyone for the rest of the 3 hours we were in the air.

We landed at the airport with no incident and made it to Jade's place easily. Too easily, but I was probably being paranoid.

Jade opened the door in her bathrobe (apparently to prove a point to Race) and ushered us in, "You know where your room is boys," she said to Jonny and Hadji. The she turned to Dr. Quest and said "You and Race can also find your way to your rooms easily enough, especially you, Race. You know this place almost as well as I do."

Maybe she likes the way he flirts after all...

"Come on, kid," she said to me, "You're staying in my room. I can protect you best, since you apparently need protection. Race wouldn't have come here otherwise. Besides, with this family, the girls need to stick together."

Definitely liking this woman. She led me down the hall on the first floor to her room. The guys went upstairs apparently to their rooms, and she put my suitcase down.

"Unless you have any objections to staying with a stranger and would refer to be with the guys," she said, "You're in here with me. I thought maybe you needed to get away from them, and by the look on your face, I'd say I was right."

"You were right," I said shortly.

"I hear that you've had 2 run-ins with Serd," she said, "Wanna talk about them? I only ask once. If you need to talk from now on, you have to ask yourself."

So, I told her the whole story, front to back. She looked thoughtful for a minute and said, "If you have such mental powers, why didn't Hadji know about them sooner. That kid's got 1 hell of an intuition."

"He said something about me having hidden depths at the beginning of the summer," I said, "Then, it never came up again. I usually sent more time with Jonny." Then, I blushed.

She didn't miss it, "You like him?"

I nodded, "He like you?"

I nodded, "Good. He needs you. That boy doesn't have a normal life. A little romance wouldn't kill him. It might actually improve him a bit. He keeps himself distant."

"I know," I said, "I have to ask myself if he really likes me, because that boy doesn't have too many emotions. Why would he cling to the worst of them all?"

"Love?" Jade asked, "Believe me, that boy wants a happily ever after story to try to make up for all the ones he missed. Race is the same way. He isn't the kind of person to fall in love with."

"You did," I shot back.

She smiled, "I'm not the kind of person to fall in love with, either, and he did. If he's going to make me miserable, I might as well do the same to him."

"That's an awful thing to do," I said.

"You're doing it right now," she said, "Jonny hurt you by not understanding why the tiger was so important to you, so now you're hurting him by pretending you don't like him. It's not working. You're hurting because he acts like he doesn't care that you hate him. Give it up, the boy takes after Race. You can't win against him. You may feel like you are, but he'll win in the end. Deal with him now. They're easier to confuse when they're young."

I stared at her, "Jonny and Race both say you can't go 10 minutes without making a new enemy because you lie too much. Lying isn't the whole reason. Another problem you have is being too honest. You should find the happy medium."

She laughed, "You and I will get along just fine. I think maybe the Quest's have found their match in you."

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I decided that the best thing to do would be apologize. Giving in to the pitiful poor baby, we love you and want what's best for you routine wasn't my style, but I had no choice.

But that didn't mean I couldn't have fun doing it...

I plopped onto the couch next to Jonny and Hadji. I kissed them both on the cheek and said, "Thanks for worrying about me. I feel much better now."

Before they could say anything, I got up and pulled a similar stunt with Dr. Quest and Race. Now, they couldn't say anything because I apologized and they couldn't tell if I meant it or not. They also couldn't keep pulling the therapy stunts on me because they now knew I knew what they were trying to accomplish. Go me! Now, I just had to wait until dinner to see what they would do.

We ate a civilized dinner until dessert. Then, Race and Jade started at each other again. They made us nauseous with their flirting and then, when we thought it couldn't get any worse, they started to fight.

"If you hate me so much, then why did you let us come?" Race said.

"I don't hate everyone else and they needed help," Jade said, "I'm not coldhearted."

"No, only to me," Race said.

This was pathetic, "I don't understand you 2!" I yelled.

Everyone looked at me, "You flirt, then you fight about stupid stuff so you have an excuse not to get close, because it's apparent both of you want to."

I had shocked them into silence and I intended to take advantage of it, "Race, stop trying to talk yourself out of it. You love her; don't try to deny it. Why? Because she loves you. Both of you need to spend less time fighting and more time compromising because if you don't, you lose it all. Both of you seem to agree that it's not easy to love you, so why do you push away the 1 person who seems to?"

Still shocked...

"You're acting like spoiled 2 year olds!"

Ha, it was getting through. At least they both looked ashamed of themselves...

"Furthermore, if I here 1 more argument out of either of you tonight," I paused, "You're grounded!"

That was it. Everyone exploded in laughter.

"I'd like to see you try to ground me," Race said, "What would you take away?"

"When I go to sleep tonight," I said "I'll barricade the door to mine and Jade's room. You can't get in and she can't get out."

He gave me a look and said, "I believe you would."

"I always win," I said, "Even if it means that you lose."

"All right," Jonny said, "Enough. Let's finish dinner and go to bed." And that's just what we did.

Side note: Jade left the room sometime around 1. I think she and Race might've met up to "reconcile their differences." When I'm right, am I right or what?

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Well, what do you think of that? I think it sucked, but that's because I'm running a tad low on ideas? Does anyone know of someone the Quest's know in Australia? I've been getting a lot of people who want a chapter there. REVIEW and help me out.

Ja ne! The Management