"...And I don't mean..."

Jessica hadn't taken her eyes off of her father since they had sat down for coffee. Michael thought it was hilarious, the look on her face as they had sat down at Starbucks. He could read both their lips from where he was sitting, "What are you doing here?" she asked trying to get him to look at her.

"Am I not supposed to be here?"

"I haven't seen you in four years! You show up out of no where and now you're just sitting here like you've been here for years." She said still in shock of the situation. He couldn't help but notice how her curls curved around her perfect face, and how her eyes shown in the light making them seem bluer.

"Well, maybe I just missed you, kiddo," he said with a smirk. She matched his smirk with an identical one and an eyebrow quirk.

"From what you said when you left it didn't sound like you would be missing anyone."

F/B

"Dad!" Jessica called as she walked out of the kitchen; the only thing that greeted her was an empty house. "Dad?" she walked into the living.

"Jessica?" she whirled around to see a young man with black hair and bleached spikes. He couldn't be older than sixteen.

"Can I help you?" she asked eyeing him.

"Yeah, I work for your Dad, you wouldn't know where he is would you?" he asked leaning closer to her sending chills down her back. His green eyes shone due to her discomfort. "No, I haven't seen him for a while now, why are you looking for him?" she asked.

"Well, Jackie missed a meeting today and that mean that he could get fired. He's been missing a lot of meetings lately, you wouldn't know why, would you?" he asked taking a step towards her, she took a step back.

"No, I wouldn't." Jessica was eleven years old when this man confronted her.

F/B

He watched as he paid the bill then stretching he couldn't help but notice that they both stretched their arms over their head in the exact same way. They walked down the street a little ways before she turned to him, "Have you even bothered to see mom?" she asked looking him in the eye.

"No, but I saw you when you went," he said then turned and walked on. Jessica looked up down the street before following him.


"So you finally show your face," Joe said as Jackson settled himself in the couch. "Wait a minute, you knew that he was in town, stalking me?" she exclaimed making wide gestures with her arms.

"I wasn't stalking you…. I was…. Watching you," he said looking up at her. "It was stalking me, just like you did my mother!" he was out of his seat and her face in seconds.

"That was my job! I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't!" he yelled in her face, she didn't even shrink back.

"There's always a choice Jack!" she shouted matching the power of his voice with her own. "Not when it comes to my job!"

"Oh yeah someone offers ya money and that means ya have to do what they tell ya to do!" he lifted his hand to smack her but the look in her eyes made him stop. It wasn't determination like when Lisa had struck back at him on the plane; it was something else he couldn't really place. But he knew what it meant; she was used to it.

"Go ahead, do it," she said firmly looking him in the eyes. He lowered his hand and backed away from her. She crossed her arms over her chest before taunting him again, "You were right Jack, Shoulda left me to Bradley." She said before turning and running up the stairs.

"Lisa! Get back down here!" Joe called after her.

"Joe, don't even bother."


Jessica slammed the door behind her and stomped over to her window. She could hardly believe that her father had come back and she just blew him off! Opening the window she slid down the fire escape that her grandfather insisted they put in.

She could hear a few shouts from the neighbors warning once again that the 'Ripner Girl' was escaping again. She barely noticed though as she sprinted down the street. She was halfway down her street when she heard a small rumble from the bushes; turning she saw a scrawny young man emerge from the bushes.

"Jesse?" he asked cocking his head; it was then that she realized who he was. "Rodney? What are you doing here?"

"Hiding from my dad," he said gesturing towards the house behind him, "You?"

"Running from mine," she said not knowing why she was still talking and not walking away. "And if you'll excuse me I was actually gonna go try and get some nachos," she said turning to walk away.

"Would you like some company?" her head snapped back to him. "I-uh-I well…" 'Dang it Jesse why can't you just trust someone!' she shouted in her mind before nodding.

They began to walk down the street, not saying a word, when they the sound of booming footsteps. They both glanced at each other before they turned and look behind them, "Jesse I really think you and I should talk." Her father said as he rushed towards them, "Whatever happened to the Red Eye Jackson?" she said then began to walk away when he grabbed her shoulder.

"I. Need. To. Talk. To. You."

"Fine, Jerk, Rodney I'll see ya later," she said glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He nodded and headed down the street, "You wanted to talk, talk."

"Let's go in the house or some where private," he said giving her the famous Ripner glare. She matched it as she shook her head, "I'm not going any where private with you, you may be my father but you're not my dad. Not yet."

"You're just as thick headed as I am you know that?"

"Don't even try it father! You were the one who left, ya gonna explain that?" he grabbed her elbow and forced her closer to him.

"Don't try me, Jesse; I spent the last two months trying to get that dang boss of mine of your back so don's start with me." She tried to shrink away when something caught his eye peeking out from under her shirt. He reached up and moved her collar up to reveal a scar.

"Who did that?" he asked looking her in the eyes; he couldn't help but notice that she looked just like Lisa had when he found her scar. She shook her head and tried to back away but he took another step towards her.

"Who. Did. It."

She looked at the ground not wanting to answer.

"M-M-Michael," she stuttered. Jackson went pale, Michael was his dang boss.

F/B

"You visited my daughter!" Jackson shouted at the sixteen year old bleached head in front of him. He couldn't believe that in five years he would be working for this spike head.

"You've got a beautiful daughter ya know," he said. To any on looking father it would appear as if he was just trying to be nice, but Jackson didn't like the look in his eyes.

"Don't even look at my daughter!" he snapped.

"Yo! Calm down dude! I was just being polite! A little protective aren't we Jackie?" he said with a smirk as he used the horrible nickname that he hated so much. He shot the man a glare before going back to the papers on his desk.

"So, only five more years and you're gonna be working for me…. I wonder how that's gonna feel, ya know? I mean it's gotta be weird for you to know that you're gonna be working for someone so much younger then you." He said trying to hit a nerve, "I know I'd find it weird if I was working for someone who was five years older then my daughter-"

"Shut up…. About my daughter! You got that? The next time you so much as look at her I will kill you!"

F/B

Jackson stumbled back a few steps. Michael hadn't just thrown around a few comments about his daughter. No, now he stepped over a line, and there was nothing Jackson could do about it. It was out of his hands.

Jesse wasn't sure what was happening as she watched her dad go completely speechless. He was looking at the ground and she could swear that she almost saw a tear run down his cheek, 'Jackson's given up.' She thought and her heart fell to the bottom of her stomach, 'And Jacks won.'

She braced herself for the blow before he even lifted his hand; she looked in his eyes as he betrayed what little trust she had left in her being. The last thing she could remember before she fell into darkness was that she knew, she knew, Jack was back.


I'm sorry it took me so long to update please Review.