Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Written by BansheeGirl

A/N: Yay! Updatedness! (That's right, Saffron-Starlight, I've stolen you word!) Thanks for reading this far into my fanfic – I hope everyone's enjoying this! Please leave a review with your thoughts, comments, questions or suggestions when you're done reading this chappie! And now… on with the show!

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 2!

Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Chapter 11: Not So Innocent

The living room of the Fieldsville Lodging House was by all means big enough to accommodate a large number of people at any one time. An assortment of mismatched armchairs and couches had always provided enough sitting space, even on the rare occasions when the Lodging House was full for the night. Yet as Robert Mathison and Andrew Rahl settled themselves amongst Mary and Ian's permanent residents, along with four other men dressed in bulging snow suits, James had the oppressive sensation that this living room had suddenly shrunk very much in size.

Robert, Andrew and their team looked around at their hosts uncomfortably. They had been forbidden to begin the telling of their findings at the helicopter crash-site until Mary returned from the kitchen with some hot tea. While the men had insisted such hospitality was not necessary at this hour of the night, Mary had been adamant that they had something to 'warm their insides' after being out in the still-growing snowstorm. So now the team of six sat awkwardly, clearly wanting to relay their discoveries as soon as possible so as to perhaps go home to their own beds and be rid of the ordeal they had somehow found themselves in.

Mary re-entered the living room a short time later carrying a tray supporting a steaming pot of tea, several mugs and even a freshly cut loaf of fruitcake. The six weathered-looking men accepted the sustenance without complaint, despite their earlier arguments. As everyone was finally seated, James took it upon himself to open the impending discussion.

"So… let's get straight to it. What did you guys find out there?"

Robert held his hand up to stop any of the other men talking, and opened his mouth to speak before anything else was said. "Actually, wait. Before we start – how is the mystery-girl?"

James instinctively glanced toward Sam. His auburn-haired friend returned a disapproving look, but did not appear as though he was going to reveal to their guests the identity of 'the mystery-girl'. James knew that Sam undoubtedly had a burning desire to announce the sham that they were saving the ass of their own undoer, and was inwardly thankful that Sam was at least extending him this courtesy of remaining quiet.

"She's still doing okay," James said.

Robert nodded, and took a sip from his tea. "Good. I'll begin then," he said. He looked increasingly uncomfortable in his wet, puffy snow-gear, though took a deep breath to begin to recount the group's findings. "Right then. Well… luckily we made it to the crash-site a good while before the storm really set in. We were able to scout around for footprints leading away from the wreck, but there was nothing. Just mine and Andrew's prints from earlier today.

"We didn't find anything outside, but we made a few… interesting… discoveries inside the chopper," Robert said, exchanging glances with Andrew and the other men. "For one, we managed to get into the cockpit and found the parachute compartment completely empty. We all agreed this was suspicious in itself – who flies a helicopter without enough parachutes for every passenger?"

This comment prompted mumbles of concurrence from the snowsuit-clad members of the group.

"Every passenger? So… you think the girl wasn't the only passenger?" Cate asked.

"Oh, undoubtedly," Robert went on. "We certainly found evidence of that." He looked over to a well-built man sitting in an armchair near the door, whom James recognised as Joey Whelan, the village mechanic. Joey seemed to take this as a signal to take reigns of the storytelling, and he swallowed a mouthful of fruitcake before continuing where Robert left off.

"Now see, I'm no helicopter specialist or nuthin', but me'n Ted were able ta figure out one or two things between the two of us," Joey began, nodding towards a tall, spindly man sitting on a couch beside Ian, "Ya see, the door separatin' the rear cabin an' the cockpit was mechanically locked from the control panel. The side door of the rear cabin was, too. Whoever that girl is, she'd been bolted in that rear cabin with no way out. No way out…" Joey stared at the mahogany floorboards shaking his head in disbelief.

"And another thing," came Ted's voice from beside Ian, "If only to prove that the crash was intentional. The doors weren't the only thing locked from the control panel – so were the rotors."

Ted was met with confused looks from the Lodging House residents.

"…What? What do you mean, the rotors were locked?" Olivia said, voicing the exact thoughts of each of her fellows.

"The rotors. Both the tail and overhead rotors had been intentionally jammed from the control panel. I'm guessing that this was a safeguard to ensure that the helicopter crashed, and consequently to ensure that the girl… well, met her demise," Ted said, looking around to make sure that his audience was following his words.

"Luckily for her," he continued, "the helicopter looks as though it first came into contact with a snow slope instead of smashing straight down into the ground. The slope would have transferred a lot of the force of the impact horizontally instead of downwards – so, while the helicopter did appear completely written-off, the damage was actually quite minimal considering it fell from who-knows-how-many feet up in the sky. And plus, the girl's alive – so obviously something went wrong in whosever scheme this was."

Ted lifted his mug to drain the last of his tea, indicating he was done talking. Around the room people sat back in their couches and chairs as his last words sunk in.

The girl's alive – so obviously something went wrong.

James was not the only one of the large group who was disturbed by the night's discoveries. Even Sam, whom cared absolutely nothing for the ill-welfare of the sleeping woman upstairs, nonetheless appeared slightly troubled by the implications of Robert, Joey and Ted's revelations.

Someone had intended for the death of one of Saunders City's most prominent business-figures that afternoon. It seemed a faraway concept to grasp for these residents of the small and pleasant town of Fieldsville, but they had somehow found themselves dealing with an attempted murder case.

"…Well," James said, though not particularly knowing what else to say. "… I suppose… we certainly owe you guys some thanks. It's been an enormous help having you check out the wreck tonight… Let's just hope that we can piece all of this together once she wakes up."

"No worries," said Robert, who was standing up from his seat. The other men in snowsuits took this as a cue and too picked themselves up to prepare to leave. "We're just glad the girl's okay," he added.

James saw Sam roll his eyes at this comment, and was thankful Robert and the rest of the guests were too busy moving out into the entrance hall to notice the gesture. James knew exactly what was going through his friend's mind – If only they knew who she really was… they wouldn't give a damn if the girl was okay… He shot Michael a disapproving glare, but Michael simply turned away.

Robert, Andrew and the other men bid their farewells before stepping outside into what had become a very fierce blizzard. Mary yelled into the howling wind for them to be safe on their way home, and with the help of Cate pulled the door firmly shut. As flakes of snow that had made their way inside settled on the floor, each of the Lodging House residents looked to one another with expressions of unease.

"I think, perhaps, it is best if we all simply go to bed," Mary finally said. "I know there are a lot of things that people probably want to say, but we all need some sleep. Let us leave these matters to the morning."

For once James was happy to abide by Mary's motherly insistence to dictate the bedtimes of her permanent residents. Despite having only found about the helicopter-crash less than an hour ago, he felt exhausted by the night's events. James had absolutely no desire at this moment to speculate with the others about who was conspiring against Jessica Avalon, much less argue with Michael about the treason of hosting the CEO of Paramount Corps. in the first place.

The others also followed Mary's directions without question, and tiredly herded up the staircase to retire to their bedrooms. Though James warned himself against it, he stopped on his way down the corridor at the door of the room in which Jessie slept. There, in the middle of the single bed, was the girl with whom he had spent the best part of his teenage years. He watched silently as her slight form moved up and down with each even breath.

Jessica Avalon was hell-bent on destroying the town of Fieldsville – the community James had come to love and be a valued part of – all for her company's personal gain. James knew this. Yet he also knew that someone out there had planned to murder this very same woman today. And so, as James walked away from the entrance to Jessie's room, he found himself overwhelmed with a tantalisingly familiar urge to protect Jessie – no matter what the circumstance.

Tada! Another chapter done! And you will all be very happy to know that in the next chapter we will finally have another reunion between J&J (where both parties are conscious, or course)! Yep, that's right! Jess is on her way to waking up… but don't expect things to be pretty! After all, I hope nobody has forgotten about the allusion that James made to a certain incident that happened when J&J were back in Team Rocket, back in chapter 5…

And also… GASP! Who is trying to knock Jessie off? Hit me with your theories, people! (To those who read this fic before I re-wrote it… SHHHHH!)

So please, leave a review! Once again thanks to all of my wonderful and loyal reviewers (glad to see you back, dynagurl!) ! If you haven't reviewed as yet – come on! It's not that hard! If you'd read this far, you may as well!

Well, till next time!

BansheeGirl.