Wow. I am coming back to this one.

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

There was a knock on the door. Jenna had been left alone while her father attended a conference and J.J had been called away suddenly to attend an emergency. Since her father dropped the bombshell, she hadn't been given much time alone even as she made it clear she didn't want anything to do with him. She was looking forward to not dealing with him.

None other than Stephanie Rayburn appeared.

"You alone?" she asked.

"You sound like you already know," she said with anger.

She smiled.

"Your dad is New York City attending the same conference as my mom."

"Oh, so they're going to have an 'afternoon delight.'"

"Your dad doesn't want you to get hurt you know," she said. "Which is why he has waited to ask my mom out on a proper date."

"My dad had a good thing with Melissa!" she said angrily.

"If Melissa was that great, she would have understood why your dad had a fling with my mom."

Jenna sighed.

"Why am I still talking to you?"

"Because I think you want to hear what I have to say. Now can I come in?"

"Whatever," she said opening it more.

"Why are you cool with your mom dating my dad?" Jenna asked.

"Because I like the idea," she said and looked around. "Nice place."

"But I'm your enemy."

"We both agreed the fighting was stupid," she said. "I'm thinking about trying out for the lacrosse team in high school. Aggression is welcome on that field."

"So, now you want to be my step-sister."

"They're not getting married Jenna. They just want to pursue a relationship without the fun of sneaking around."

"Why do I do I feel the immature brat for not wanting this relationship to happen?"

"Jenna, its okay to be mad. But your dad has a right to be happy."

She didn't know what to say.

"Listen," Stephanie said. "I have spent most of my life in the middle of a war between two people who don't like each other. My dad used me to drive my mom crazy and I'm starting to see that now. He liked doing things behind my mom's back to get a rise out of her later. He didn't care if it hurt me. It was about winning."

"Why do your parents hate each other?" Jenna asked.

"My mom is at her worst an uptight shrew, and my dad at his worst is a manipulative womanizer. They got married because of me and thought they could work out their differences."

"You think my dad is the best thing to happen to your mom," she said slowly.

"Do you have any clue how awesome your dad is?" Stephanie asked taking a seat. "I saw clips from Jareau's interview, I mean he helped his team locate a cult intent on taking his neck bone."

"I didn't know that," she said taking a seat. "I knew he worked for the FBI with a bunch of people I know as family but nothing specific."

"Then you don't know half of who your dad is," she said. "I mean he saved his whole team from being blown up by guessing where a gas line was."

"He always said his life began when I was born," she said. "I must really sound like a selfish brat."

"I must sound desperate for a stable father figure," Stephanie said.

"My dad carries a sobriety chip with him," she said. "He said he'd tell me what it was about when I was older. Do you know anything about that?"

Stephanie didn't say anything.

"How could you know?" Jenna asked.

"Because it only took three guesses to crack my mom's personal laptop password and her hint was 'Marla,' my maternal grandmother. It was her birth date."

"That doesn't explain how you could know."

"Her recycling bin had drafts for ideas, and one was about your father."

"Okay fine, she can date my dad," Jenna said quickly. "What did the draft say?"

Stephanie got up.

"It doesn't feel right winning like this," she said.

"Steph, what is on that file!?" she yelled.

"Your dad was tortured into taking drugs, okay!" she yelled. "My mom's recruitment pitch involved showing how experience shapes agents and it is only with help of a team like yours that you call family that he could overcome his addiction and become a great agent."

"I didn't know anything about that," Jenna said quietly.

"You don't know your dad as well as you think you do," Steph said. "I'm going to leave."

"How'd you get here?" she asked.

"A friend's sibling just got her license and you don't live that far from us."

"I don't know what to say."

"Just don't thank me," she said and left.

Jenna sat down and closed her eyes. She was lost in thought. There was truly more to her father than she knew.

…

"Hi Dad," she said.

"Hey," Reid said as he got in. "Are we on speaking terms again?"

"When did you get hooked on drugs?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?" he said as he took off his coat.

"Because I know why," she said.

"How?" he asked suddenly.

"It's a long story."

…

Rayburn was busy reviewing footage late into the night. Everything looked perfect. This was going to be the first new recruitment video the FBI had put out since she took over the job. It had to be perfect.

Her phone rang. It was Reid.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he said. "Are you done with that recruitment video yet?"

"I am twelve hours away from presenting it to the FBI Director," she said.

"Can I provide a last-minute interview?" he asked.