Disclaimer: You all know the drill, this stuff doesn't belong to me, otherwise I'd try and make some money off it.

Chapter 11-Reunions

Jonny watched in dismay as Jessie got out of the car without saying a word. His gaze followed her figure until it had disappeared into the school. The last few days had been strange to say the least. Jessie only spoke to him when she had to. Ever since he had walked out of her room Jonny had wanted to explain to Jessie why he had pulled away, but the words would never leave his mouth. Instead the two had seemed to drift further apart. Jessie was concentrating solely on school while Jonny tried to concentrate on anything but her.

With a sigh Jonny finally got out of the car and made his way towards the school doors. Inside he slowly made his way over to his locker, casting Jessie one last glance before turning his attention to his textbooks and notebooks.

From his left came the clearing of a throat. Jonny grabbed his last text book and closed his locker, only to come face to face with Samantha. "Oh, hey," he said.

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Jesus, Quest, you're acting as though someone died. The principal wants to throw a party because it's been like forever since you pulled a prank on him. What gives?"

"Family stuff," replied Jonny smoothly.

"Uh-huh." Samantha peeked around Jonny to see Jessie slamming her own locker shut and walking down the hallway. "I'm thinking it's more of a girl problem."

"I'm not dating Jessie! I never was! And I'm not going to! Why can't anyone get that through their heads?" Jonny was exasperated now. Why did everyone have to connect him to Jessie and vice versa? There was nothing between them—at this point Jonny wasn't even sure that they were still friends.

"Alright, alright, don't bite my head off. It's just that you and Jessie have like been an unofficial couple since you arrived here. The first day of school you guys drove up together…and obviously you have history. I mean look at the way you guys communicate. You guys are like always on the same wave length. How can we not think there's something going on between you?" demanded Samantha with an injured tone. The blonde teen frowned as she waited for Jonny to reply.

"Jessie…she's like a sister, okay? We've lived under the same roof for a long time now…we're family."

"Where the hell are you two from? Kentucky? Jonny, I have a brother, and I do not get along with him the same way you get along with Jessie. Because if I did it would be one step away from incest."

"Now you're just being stupid. Read my lips, Samantha, Jessie and I are only friends. Nothing else. It's not like that between us—no matter what anyone else says, got it?"

Samantha pursed her lips thoughtfully, an impish smile growing on her lips. "Then how about taking me out on a date?"

A minute passed in silence as Jonny contemplated the idea. As the bell rang he nodded. "Alright, how about after school today?"

"I'll meet you here." Samantha stood on her tip-toes and gave Jonny a quick kiss on the cheek before dashing off to class. Jonny grimaced as he watched her go. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about this latest turn of events.

"Grow up, Quest," he muttered to himself as he started walking towards class. "You've got to do this so you won't lose Jessie."

Quest Compound

"Are you looking for something in particular?" Race questioned Estella curiously. He had just entered the kitchen only to find his ex-wife furiously throwing open cupboards left and right. She had a look on her face that said something was really bothering her.

"Flour…and sugar…and chocolate…and eggs…" Estella glanced over at Race, her hair a mess. "Don't you people have anything in here to make cookies?"

Race rolled his eyes. "All right, what is it? You hate baking."

"I do not."

"Oh please, remember when Jessie was in kindergarten and she offered to bring cupcakes to class? What did you make her bring?"

"Carrots and celery."

"My point is made."

Estella narrowed her eyes at Race, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Vegetables are healthier for growing children!"

"And the fact that all the other kids teased Jessie for a week means nothing to you?" shot back Race.

"Should it? You started teaching her martial arts the very next weekend!"

"Because you wouldn't make cupcakes!"

Opening her mouth and then shutting it again, Estella sighed. "And we wonder why Jessie hates to be seen with us."

Race gave a wry chuckle. "We really are bad, aren't we? Arguing over every little thing. Why are we like this?"

"Because it's the only way we know how to communicate," murmured Estella shrugging. "Race, we stopped talking…and I mean really talking a long time ago. We've made Jessie our go between…"

"She's a good kid though…well, she gets your temper."

"She is a good kid. I'm just…I'm worried about her."

Race raised an eyebrow. "Estella, she's fine. This is Jessie we're talking about. She's not a damsel in distress. That girl knows how to take care of herself."

"I know, I know," Estella groaned, burying her face in her hands as she leaned back against the counter. "But it's just a feeling I have. A mother's feeling. I don't want to leave her."

"No one said you had to. Look, I know I threaten to call the lawyers in every time you try to intervene when I'm trying to be a parent, but it doesn't change the fact that you're Jessie's mother. 'Stella, you have every right to stay. I'm not gonna ask you to leave." Race took a few steps forward, reaching out to grip both of Estella's shoulders with his hands. "And if you think Jessie's in danger, then I'm gonna believe you. You were right about Jade…you're probably right about this too."

"Thank-you." Estella gave Race a small smile and allowed him to pull her into his arms. After a minute she said, "You do know that even had you asked I wouldn't have left, don't you?"

"I had a feeling you wouldn't…so I took the liberty of unpacking your suitcase and storing it in the attic."

"You're a good man, Roger Bannon."

"Uh-huh."

At that exact moment Jessie bounded through the kitchen door. She stopped and raised her eyebrows at the sight of her parents hugging. "You know, I don't want to know."

Race and Estella broke apart. Race spoke first. "Where's Jonny?"

Jessie's face darkened. "Oh, you know, being Jonny. He went out—said he'd be back later or something…like I really care."

"Then how'd you get home?" asked Estella suspiciously.

"There are other people at school with cars besides Jonny. I just bummed a ride home with someone else today. No biggie."

"And Jonny didn't say where he was going?" challenged Race.

"Dad, if I had cared enough to ask Jonny where he was going with a bimbo cheerleader, don't you think I would have told you by now?"

"Sometimes I really wonder."

Jessie rolled her eyes as she deposited her backpack on the kitchen table. "So what are you two doing?"

"Your mom thinks she's baking."

"Since when? Last time I asked her to bake something I ended up with carrots and celery."

Estella made a face. "It wasn't that bad. The kids stopped teasing you the next week."

"Only because I could kick their ass," pointed out Jessie wryly. Estella's eyes narrowed dangerously as she shot Race a dark glare. The older Bannon sighed and shrugged as if to say it wasn't his fault.

Jessie chuckled at the scene, glad not to see her parents arguing like they usually did. "Anyway, I was just coming to ask someone for car keys so I could go to the mall. I have to pick a few things up…" Her voice trailed off at the look both adults sent her. "What, I'll be careful, I promise. What could possibly happen if I took one innocent little drive over to the mall? I'll go the speed limit!"

Race and Estella exchanged dubious glances that left the kitchen in silence for three minutes. Finally Race pulled out his car keys and handed them over to Jessie. "Phone me when you get there and when you're ready to leave, you hear? And don't do anything stupid today. You don't have Jonny to bail you out."

"Obviously you forget who I am. I always bail Jonny out," replied Jessie starkly.

"Things can change."

Downtown

"Benton, this restaurant is beautiful," murmured Grace glancing around at the many chandeliers that adorned the high ceiling. Waiters dressed to the nines passed Benton and Grace's table with platters of expensive food.

"Well you know what they say, only the best for the best," replied Benton with a twinkle in his eye.

Grace chuckled. "Just like old times, huh?"

"Exactly like old times. Remember when I took you to that restaurant in San Francisco only to discover that we had overdressed when we got there?"

"How could I forget? I believe it was called Morning Prelude. A lovely name for a not so lovely restaurant." Grace shook her head at the memory. "What a night that was. I wasn't sure if I wanted to give you another chance after that night."

"Which you kindly did."

"Yes, for a few weeks and then…"

Benton nodded as Grace trailed off. He had met Rachel then. Everything had seemed to change. Benton had fallen head over heels in love for Grace's best friend. "I thought you hated me for that."

"I think I did for a brief while, but then I attended your wedding two years later and I knew that you and Rachel were meant to be together. You both were so in love with the other, and seeing that melted my anger. I couldn't be angry with either of you. Besides, if you hadn't married Rachel you wouldn't have Jonny. He's a lot like his mother, does he know that?"

"He remembers very little of her, and everything I tell him seems to be doubted at this age. He's only a teenager, but God, he's like Rachel in every single way." Benton smiled at the thought. "I wish he would try to get to know you better. He'd really like you, I know he would, and I know you'll like him once he stops acting like a kid."

Grace smiled brightly. "I already do like him, Benton. It's just hard for him to see his father dating again. You've gone so long being single that Jonny is simply used to having you to himself. You aren't like Race, out every other night with a different woman. Jessie's grown up with that, but Jonny grew up with a father who devoted every waking hour to his son and job—not that Race isn't devoted to Jessie or his job, but—"

"But he does date around a lot. I know. Race is under the impression that Jessie needs a mother figure whenever we're in Rockport. He'd rather not receive a phone call from Estella in the middle of the night blasting him for being insensitive to his daughter's needs."

"It's a good thing you had a boy then."

"I've begun to question that little truth. I can't decide whose worse, Jonny or Jessie. Hadji was a blessing to have. He never put a foot out of the line…and if he did I'm just grateful I never caught him. Those three have certainly grown up in the last few years. And their lives have only seemed to be placed in greater danger."

Grace reached out and took one of Benton's hands in her own. "There is nothing you could have done differently to change that. Dr. Zin, Surd, Rage…they all have their vendettas; each blames you and Race for the downfall their once prominent lives took. They just want to hurt you in a way that you will never recover. Taking your and Race's only children is the only way they feel they can destroy you."

"Well they're doing a pretty damn good job about it by just threatening to."

"Don't worry so much. Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji know how to take care of themselves. They know how to take care of each other too. They aren't children anymore. They're adults now."

"And yet that doesn't seem to make me feel any better," murmured Benton just as the waiter arrived with their food.

Rockport Mall

Jessie shuffled her bags from one hand to the other as she dug in her pocket for the keys to her dad's car. She couldn't really remember what all she had bought, but whatever it was it had cost quite a bit of money. Jessie mentally thanked her father for his credit card. He had let her borrow it a while back and had forgotten to retrieve it from her. Of course he'd probably be more than willing to hunt it down after he received his next bill.

"Stupid, Jonny, this is his entire fault," she mumbled to herself as she entered the parking lot. Jessie glanced around the lot in search of the row in which she had parked her car. Her brows creased in confusion when she couldn't find it. Jessie walked up and down the row, knowing full well she had parked the car in it, but the car was nowhere to be found.

Cursing under her breath Jessie shoved all her bags onto a single arm and began to walk up and down each row in the parking lot. An hour later she was exasperated, as well as completely baffled, to not find the car.

"I know I drove it here…and I know I parked it. So where the hell did it go in between me getting out of the damn thing, going into the mall, shopping, and coming right back out?" With a groan Jessie pulled out her cell phone and dialed home.

"Hey, daddy, um, I have a problem. Well, your car…it's um…it's kinda missing. I don't know how, I just know that it is. Of course I walked up and down the parking lot. Yes, I still have the keys. Would you like me to make them jingle so you can hear them? Uh-huh, that's what I thought. Could you come pick me up? I'll go find a security officer inside the mall. Yeah, yeah, no! I am not paying for a new car. It's not my fault it got stolen. Grounded? Is that your answer to everything? Hello? Hello? Dad?"

Jessie pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it. Race had hung up on her. "Men. I hate them all."

She put her phone away and shuffled her bags from one arm to the other again. Jessie made her way back to the mall entrance, intent on finding one of the security guards that wandered the mall. As she stepped though the doors however, her attention focused in on one very familiar woman.

"No fuckin' way," breathed Jessie in surprise. Their eyes locked and for a brief moment the world seemed to stop moving. Then bags fell to the ground and Jessie was chasing the woman through the mall.

"Anaya!" hollered Jessie at the top of her lungs. The two females barely managed to avoid pushing other shoppers to the ground as they zigged and zagged through the crowded area. Anaya somehow managed to keep a good distance between her and the red head, and she showed no intentions of ever slowing. Jessie gritted her teeth and tried to gain more speed, only to collide into her father.

"Dammit, she's getting away!"

"Who's getting away?" demanded Race, his grip tightening on his daughter. He had caught her to prevent her from falling, but Jessie only struggled to try and get out of his hands.

"Anaya."

"She's here?"

"Well she was. She's probably gone by now." Jessie glanced up at her dad suspicious. "How did you get here so fast?"

Race grimaced. "Your mother sent me to the store for baking ingredients."

Quest Compound

Jonny stretched as he walked up the front porch steps. His dad had called to tell him he was needed at home. At first Jonny had thought something had happened to Jessie, but Benton had assured him it was actually good news. So Jonny had cut short his evening with Samantha to go home. He pushed open the front door and walked towards the living room. It was the only room with a light still on in the house. Jonny blinked in surprise at the sight that greeted his eyes.

Sitting across from his father was the last person Jonny had expected to see. It was his grandfather, Doug Wildey. "Grandpa?" Jonny chuckled in joy as Doug got to his feet to give the blonde teen a hug.

"You've gotten taller since the last time I saw you, boy. I don't think I'll be able to catch up with you now."

Benton smiled in amusement at the joke. "Your grandfather got wind of your…adventures."

"Which ones?" asked Jonny with a frown.

Doug answered as he lowered himself back into his seat. "The one with you being chased by Rage, Surd, and the Zins. You've got to be more careful, Jonny. I can't afford to lose my only grandson."

"Yeah…I'm working on that," replied Jonny bashfully. He always hated it when the male members of his family lectured him like he was still a child, throwing in emotional tidbits that Jonny would rather forego.

"Benton, I think you should have more men follow our boy around. He's more trouble than my ranch sometimes."

"I know what you mean. Want to trade?" Benton glanced over at Doug who shook his head with a trace of a smile on his lips.

"There's more to it than the usual pranks and scrapes. I heard about the Immortal Stone," said Doug.

"Well, there shouldn't be too many worries on that any more. It's gone missing."

Doug ignored Benton's words and kept speaking. "Rachel was searching for the Immortal Stone before she died. She was collaborating with Dr. Zin on it."

Jonny sank down onto the couch. "Really?"

Benton had a troubled look in his eyes. "I knew she was collaborating with Dr. Zin…but I had no idea it was about the Immortal Stone."

"Well now you know. Rachel knew a lot about that stone, Benton. More than you or Dr. Lin will ever know. She had an old journal filled with secrets about the stone. I thought it was all mumbo jumbo she had made up as a child—she had always wanted to find it. But she was right. It exists, and whatever she knew about it, well…I guess we'll never know."

"She never mentioned the Immortal Stone to me…not once in our entire marriage!"

"Why would she? It's a dangerous object that I would rather see destroyed more than anything else in this world, and Rachel knew that. I think she also knew where the stone was meant to rest. Not in Bangalore where it was found…but in a holy temple hidden away from the rest of the world."

"Huh?" Jonny glanced back and forth between his dad and grandfather as they exchanged a glance that seemed to say they both knew what the other was saying.

"The Immortal Temple," murmured Benton sitting back in his seat. "The temple in which the immortal sacrifice is to take place."

Upstairs,

Later that Evening

"Then they started talking mumbo-jumbo," groaned Jonny as he leaned back in his computer chair. "I couldn't follow much of it after that."

Hadji nodded understandingly from his perch on Jonny's bed. "It seems the Immortal Stone is more entwined with your family history than I had originally thought. How unusual."

"You mean weird, Hadj. It's just plain weird. And creepy." Jonny yawned. "Hey, my dad mentioned that Jess got Race's car stolen."

"She saw Anaya as well and took chase. She is very angry over the whole ordeal. The items she bought were stolen along with her purse and everything in it. I believe she is grounded again."

Jonny snorted. "Same ol' Jess."

"Have you tried to speak with her lately?"

"Are you kidding? She's ready to put a knife in my gut. I ain't talking to her 'til she calms down."

Hadji sighed. Jonny had yet to confide in Jessie's reasons for being mad at him, but Hadji had a feeling he knew what it was. "Jonny, have you ever thought that perhaps it is time to put the past behind you and move on. You do know that the past is already done and gone…all we have left is the future."

Silence loomed in the room as Jonny gazed out his bedroom window. "I'm doing the right thing, Hadj. Jess and I will be alright in a few days. You'll see. Everything will be back like it was before."

"I am afraid my friend, that you are trying to hold onto a childhood innocence that has been lost long ago." Hadji got to his feet and squeezed Jonny's shoulder reassuringly on his way out of the room. For a long time after that Jonny only stared out his window, his mind a jumble of thoughts.

A/N—I bet y'all thought I wasn't gonna come back, huh? Especially considering I missed my August deadline. I apologize for that…school started up and I've got a lot on my plate this semester. But don't worry, I fully intend on keeping up on this story and finishing it. It just took me a while to get back into the swing of things again. Thanks for being so patient with me. Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, not the greatest, but more is to come soon.