Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here's chapter twenty-eight of "Ride the Wind II: Justice Unbound." I'm glad it took just six days to get out. This chapter has some Jesse/Nadine. Nadine's parents will make their first appearance in the chapter after the next one. Dial and Harry will return after being absent for a while very soon. Stay tuned for chapter twenty-nine.

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Chapter 28: Relaxing/Happy/Returning

Jesse was sitting at the first bar stool in the Hanks rental house's kitchen forty-five minutes later. He sipped cream-filled coffee from a mug. He was looking through the picture album Randolph had out before leaving. He focused his attention on a picture of Isabella holding a piece of salmon in her mouth at the bottom of the third page.

Jesse put his coffee down with a soft sigh. He got a call from Randolph thirty minutes ago. Randolph told him he was on his way to the National Marine Mammal Laboratory with Lilli and Isabella's blood samples. He revealed Brenda asked several questions about Willy and his family. Jesse was glad to hear she was now curious about the Southern Resident orcas. He wondered if she would ask more questions in the near future.

Jesse received a call from Aiden five minutes later. He was surprised to hear from him as he thought Nadine's father would be sleeping in after a long weekend at sea. Aiden told him that he and Kylie would be coming over to see him, Nadine, Nancy, Elvis, and Randolph sometime this afternoon. Jesse said told him he would let Nadine, Nancy, Elvis, and Randolph know about it. He mentioned that Randolph had gone to the National Marine Mammal Laboratory to test blood samples he had gotten from Willy, Nikki, and Max for infection. Aiden revealed he would call him and tell him what time he and his wife were coming. Jesse accepted that.

Jesse flipped over to the fourth page. He gazed at a picture of Willy and Rhapsody spyhopping together with Ruffles and Blackberry surfacing in the background. He traced his finger over Rhapsody's back. He repeated his action with Willy. Footsteps caught his attention. He spotted Nadine coming into the kitchen. He watched her go over to the cabin next to the refrigerator and get a mug. She headed over to the coffeemaker.

"Good morning, Nadine," he greeted.

"Good morning yourself, Jesse," she answered and grabbed the kettle. She poured coffee into her mug until it was nearly full. "How are you?"

"I am fine," Jesse said and laid his hand on the counter. He observed her putting the kettle back in the coffeemaker. "How are you?"

"I am fine. I checked on Nancy and Elvis in the twin bedroom. They are still asleep," Nadine said, going over to the second stool to sit down. She sipped a small bit of her coffee. She set it down. "I went to check on Uncle Randolph, but he wasn't there. Do you know where he went?"

"Nadine, I don't know how to tell you this, but—" Jesse started, feeling unsure about continuing.

"What?" Nadine asked.

"Randolph went to—" Jesse said, chuckling nervously.

She became impatient. "Come on, Jesse. Spit it out."

He became confident. "Randolph went to meet Brenda to get Lilli's blood sample that she managed to obtain last night, so it could be tested at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory."

She gasped in much shock as her eyes became as wide as saucers. She wondered if she had heard wrong. She realized he was telling the truth. She wanted to hear how Brenda managed to do what she did.

"I saw Randolph talking to Brenda on his phone when I came into the kitchen to fix me some orange juice. He mouthed it tot me. I was surprised. I commented about him meeting her to get Lilli's blood sample," Jesse explained, grabbing his coffee to take a tiny sip.

"How did she do that?" Nadine asked, raising her eyebrows. "I would suspect Lilli would have someone watching her very closely."

"The trainers assigned to watch her were on a break. That would've given Brenda the perfect opportunity to get the sample," Jesse pointed out matter-of-factly as he put his coffee down. "She would've had to be very careful because her friends would've become suspicious if they saw her taking Lilli's blood before her actual medical examination."

"No kidding," Nadine murmured. "I mean, who takes an orca's blood sample at night?"

"I will tell you one thing. I would've sneaked into the aquatic theater and gotten the sample myself if the trainers assigned to watch Lilli, Jane, and Izzy were on break. I would've been very careful too," Jesse said, moving his eyebrows up and down.

"Of course," Nadine agreed. "Since Brenda has been Lilli's trainer for months, she knew what signals to give her in order to take the blood."

"Exactly," Jesse commented, showing excitement. "I can't wait for the results of the DNA. They will prove Lilli is Isabella. I just know it."

"I have high hopes the test will be a positive match. At the same time, I don't want to be disappointed," Nadine said seriously.

"I don't either," Jesse admitted, sighing heavily. "If Lilli turns out to be Isabella, there is no doubt in my mind she has been calling out to her family in the nearby bay."

"Either that or she heard other orcas and began responding to them out of loneliness," Nadine replied.

"Yeah," Jesse said thoughtfully. "When I saw Willy cry out to the bay one night, I couldn't understand it. Then I started to wonder if he knew orcas were there and was responding to them out of loneliness." He swallowed hard before letting out a shuddering breath. "On the night I went to his tank to say goodbye, I heard the orcas myself. I climbed the tower. I found it was his family. He was homesick. That was why he acted so weird."

Nadine touched her boyfriend's shoulder. She was so glad that he discovered the orcas in the bay were actually Willy's family. She knew Willy would be dead if he hadn't and didn't realize that Wade and two other men were deliberately widening the hole the tank to leak it out and kill him. She was determined to see Dial pay the price for stealing another wild orca from its pod.

"I got a call from your father not too long ago," he said.

"Really?" she said in surprise.

"Yep," Jesse admitted happily. "It surprised me because I thought he would be sleeping in along with your mother after a long weekend at sea. He said they would be coming to see us this afternoon. He will call me and tell me when they are coming."

"I am so thrilled that we will be seeing my parents during our vacation here," Nadine commented in much sweetness.

Jesse snickered. "I hope your father doesn't give us a present that will explode with confetti when we open it."

"Dad's exploding confetti presents remind me of Jokey Smurf from The Smurfs. He would give someone a present that would blow up in their face when they opened it," Nadine explained, giggling to herself.

"His fellow Smurfs didn't like his pranks, but they did occasionally save them from Gargamel and Azrael," Jesse said matter-of-factly. "Jokey's main flaw was his terrible sense of tact since he pulled pranks at the most inappropriate moments." He made a funny noise. "Sometimes, his pranks backfired on him. He never liked it when someone played a prank on him in return."

"That is ironic," Nadine commented, her face showing much awe. "Irony is all around us. We will never get enough of it."

"Nope," Jesse said with a shake of his head. "Anyway, what would you think of me helping out with reintroducing Isabella to the wild once it is proven that Lilli is her?"

Nadine smiled. "I say you should go for it. Isabella knew you so well. She would benefit from your presence."

"Now, what would be a good place for Isabella to be held until her family is spotted?" Jesse wondered.

"I say a netted-off area of the Rubbing Rocks would be a good place for her to stay. She could rub her body on the pebbles for enrichment," Nadine suggested, warmth echoing from her voice.

"You are so right," Jesse answered with a light laugh. "The rock would be the perfect place to interact with her."

She smirked. "Just don't let her spit water on you."

He huffed. "Very funny, Nadine."

Nadine kissed Jesse's cheek before giving it a gentle rub. They proceeded to talk about the time Willy breached close to the Nastelane and soaked them with a wall of water.

00000

A northern mockingbird flew in and landed on the kitchen windowsill eight minutes later. It bobbed its head before letting out a soft chirp. It looked inside, seeing Jesse and Nadine on the stools. Nadine wiped a tear from her eye as she tried to contain her laughter. Jesse had been telling her about the time Elvis put a whoopie cushion in Missy's chair.

"Missy sat down and heard a deflating sound. She looked very embarrassed because she thought she really did fart. She pulled the whoopie cushion out from under her chair. She looked toward Elvis, who laughed his head off. Mom, Dad, and I started laughing as well. Missy joined in on it," Jesse said, sitting tall and proud.

"It's good your sister has a wonderful sense of humor," Nadine said, sweetness lining her voice.

"If there was no laughter, the world would be so dull," Jesse said truthfully.

"In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger said you were better off dead if you didn't have a sense of humor. He didn't mean serious people deserved to die. He meant that being serious all the time wasn't good for you," Nadine explained with a giggle.

"Eddie lost his sense of humor when his brother was killed by a toon dropping a piano on his head. His name was Teddy," Jesse pointed out in awe. "He got his sense of humor back by performing a funny dance that made the weasels die of laughter."

"At the very end, Eddie learned that Judge Doom killed his brother. Doom also killed Marvin Acme and RK Maroon," Nadine added.

"Before Marvin was killed, he confided in Jessica that Doom wanted to get his hands on Toontown and wouldn't stop at anything. He gave her the will for safekeeping, but she opened the envelope and found only a blank piece of paper inside. Roger used that paper to write a love letter to her," Jesse commented. "As it turned out, the will was on it. It was just Marvin's disappearing and reappearing ink. He revealed he had left Toontown to the toons. They were safe from developers."

"It's been twenty-five years since that movie came out," Nadine said, happiness radiating from her face. "I have loved it since I was seven years old."

"Next year will be the twentieth anniversary of The Lion King," Jesse responded, laughing joyfully. "I have loved that movie since I was thirteen. I even celebrated my thirteenth birthday seeing it with my new parents."

"You were so lucky you got to do that," Nadine said and kissed his cheek. "A kid's thirteenth birthday is very special because it is just three years away from getting a driver's license."

"It is also when girls are in the midst of puberty," Jesse said, tensing somewhat. "Nancy could become quite a handful when she becomes a teenager."

"When that happens, we will go through it together," Nadine said in determination.

Jesse put his arm around his girlfriend to give her a small hug. She settled into his embrace, a contented sigh leaving her mouth.

"I still have that picture of my birth mom and me right before my abandonment that Elvis gave me," he said, sniffling. "I couldn't believe he had that. When he said she talked about me all the time and that she loved me, it gave me the courage to put the past behind me."

"I guess Elvis just wasn't interested in telling you about your parents when you asked him about them the night before the oil spill," she said.

"Yeah," Jesse agreed. "When I heard a twig snap and saw him behind him while I was looking for Willy that morning, I let him come along as I didn't want to hear him complain."

"It was because of Elvis that Luna was able to get help, though it didn't go very well," Nadine commented, furrowing her brow.

"Had it not been for Randolph's old Indian remedy, Luna would've died," Jesse whispered, frowning a bit. "Everyone would've blamed Jon Milner once they saw it on the news."

She hissed angrily. "I can't believe he was going to sell Willy, Luna, and Littlespot to an aquarium after he promised he would try to get them back to Catspaw."

"If Elvis hadn't overheard Jon and his friend talking about taking the trio out of the wild, he would've succeeded without anyone realizing his true intentions," Jesse growled fiercely. "Willy, Luna, and Littlespot would've been beside themselves with grief after being taken away from their family, especially their mother."

"Unless people fought for them to be returned to the wild, they would've never seen their family again," Nadine added bitterly.

"That means Max, Isabella, Nessa, Ben, Sparkle, and Kyle would've never been born. We'd have two less potential mothers," Jesse muttered, flaring his nostrils. "I can't wait to see the look on Dial's face as he is being arraigned on charges of illegally capturing a protected animal."

"Me neither. I know everyone else feels the same way," Nadine said, snorting somewhat loudly.

He nodded in agreement. "Mm-hmm."

Nadine was about to say something when the sound of the front door unlocking caught her and Jesse's attention. They stood up and went to the doorway. They saw the door open. Randolph walked in, closing it behind him. He locked it as they walked up to him.

"Good morning, Nadine," Randolph greeted in a warm voice.

"Good morning yourself, Uncle Randolph," Nadine responded, giving him a wink. "Jesse told me where you had gone."

"I didn't mean to take so long. I got caught up talking to Annette," Randolph said, smiling. "She wanted to catch up on stuff."

"Well, she is a friend of yours. Her work in cetacean DNA testing is extraordinary," Jesse exclaimed.

"She was very surprised when I told her why Lilli and Isabella's blood samples needed to be tested. She believed the two orcas were one in the same. She hoped that Dial was locked up and the key thrown away forever," Randolph said while moving his eyebrows up and down.

"By the way, Nadine said she didn't mind if I assisted in getting Isabella back to the wild. She suggested a netted-off area of the Rubbing Rocks would be a good place for Isabella to stay until her family was spotted," Jesse explained.

"I agree with that," Randolph commented very eagerly. "Isabella may not like being netted in, but at least she will be in a familiar place."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Isabella shows reluctance toward getting into a sling for transport. She would remember it as something bad," Jesse pointed out seriously.

"Willy remembered bad things about the sling and showed reluctance toward going into it, but you managed to guide him into it. Then you connected the cables," Randolph murmured, patting the young man's shoulder.

"Connecting the cables wasn't easy. That's for sure," Jesse answered, clearing his throat. "It was actually easy to coax Willy into the side pool with a fish."

"Orcas will go toward anything that looks interesting to them. Willy was no exception," Randolph said, running his tongue over his teeth.

"No denying that. He has grabbed rocks and thrown them around," Jesse said with a delighted laugh.

"A few of those rocks have nearly hit us," Randolph grumbled in annoyance.

"Unfortunately," Jesse agreed. "They've come closer to you than they did me."

"No way," Randolph yelled while shaking his head fast.

"Yes way," Jesse said, giving a rapid nod.

"That's enough, guys. Let's go into the kitchen, so we can hear everything you and Annette talked about, Uncle Randolph," Nadine suggested.

Jesse and Randolph voiced their agreement. They and the young woman headed into the kitchen. They proceeded to sing nonsense.