Jess was in total shock. Douglas.... engaged?!?! No. Way. How, on God's green earth, did THAT ever happen? Two words seemed to be sticking out in her very jumbled thoughts, courtesy of Tears For Fears. Mad World......

After five minutes of doing a wonderful impersonation of a goldfish, Jess tried to do that whole speaking thing that seemed to have trouble with. It worked... and it didn't at the same time. Sound came out of her mouth in the form of words, strung together to form a sentence; that part worked great. It was the sentence that came out of her mouth that didn't work so well, not to mention the volume it came out at. "Dude, Mom's gunna be pissed!"

Ya, that was a bad thing to say right then.

"Jesus, just announce it to the whole world, why don't you?" Doug said, making sure the door was shut.

"Sorry, that wasn't what I was going to say... but it came out anyway," I said, finally able to form semi-coherent thoughts again. "I'm going to need some more background here, Douggie."

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No such luck. All I could get out of him was that they had dated for over a year before he proposed and that they were planning to get married the summer after she turned 18, but she got in trouble and had to leave town before they could.

After he told me that much, he threw me(literally) out of his room. What I didn't notice then was that he specifically said after she turned 18, meaning that he was older than her.

But I didn't notice it then. In fact, I didn't notice it until a few hours later. Unfortunately, I noticed it right in the middle of dinner.

I wanted to ask Doug right there and then how much older than her he was(he was actually eating with the family tonight), but knew better than to say anything in front of Mom.

Then the doorbell rang.

I know what your thinking. Jade just turned up to have a chat right? No. It was Mrs. Wilkins.

My mom answered the door. "Mary, how you doing? Come on in." she said, ushering Mrs. Wilkins and shutting the door. "We were just having dinner, would you like to join us?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Mastriani. I was just wondering if I could talk to Jess for a minute."

Mom seemed a bit shocked. The only people who ever came by to see me were Ruth and Rob. "Uh, of course," she said, looking at me, clearly trying to figure out why Mrs. Wilkins would come in person instead of calling, or why she would want to talk to me at all.

I got up and walked to the living room, where Mrs. Wilkins was waiting. When I got there, mom seemed to have to force herself to go back to the kitchen instead of waiting in the next room to listen in.

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Luckily, it was, "How's Rob doing?"

Studying the pattern on our couch, she replied, "Better. I got him to eat a bit, but the only thing he'll do is sit in his room, looking at pictures of her." She said the word 'her' like it was a poison. And I thought my family was dysfunctional. "But that's not why I'm here. I wanted to ask a favor of you, actually..." she kind of trailed off.

"Anything," I said immediately.

She seemed to hesitate before asking the favor. I wasn't really surprised with what she asked. "Stop looking." It was my turn to look at the couch. "Please... I know it's a lot to ask, especially since Rob's so adamant about finding her, but, well... things in the past are better left in the past."

Looking at her, I found myself saying, "I can't promise anything. I've already seen a picture of her, so it's pretty much out of my control, and if I do find out anything and Rob asks... I'm sorry, Mrs. Wilkins, but I won't lie to him."

She smiled at me, seemingly torn between being happy or sad. "I'd expected you to say that. What's done is done, but I'm glad that Rob found someone like you to be happy with." Standing up, she gave me a hug and put her jacket back on, preparing to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, if I know you." With that she left, unknowingly leaving a lot for me to think about behind.

When I got back to dinner, the first thing said (care of Mikey) was, "What was THAT all about?"

I looked at Doug, talking more to him than Mike, "She wants me to stop looking."

"And we're supposed to know what you're talking about..." Mike said confusedly.

Ignoring him, Doug said, "And are you going to?" He seemed to ask the question more because he was curious than actually wanting to know, but Douggie can be a very good actor when he wants to be.

I took a deep breath and replied, "I've seen her picture, it's out of my hands." After a second I added, "But if I find anything, you'll be the first to know."

"Thanks," was all he said before excusing himself. Just a day in the life of me...

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Rogue Almighty: OMG, I didn't even notice the reference until you pointed it out..... but then again, I wouldn'tve, because I haven't, as of yet, read the Mediator series, thought I really want to.

Well, you guys know what to do.