"You're joking, right?"
"Loosen up, Reagan," a classmate said. "It's not like anything is going to happen if you miss a whole hour of school."
"You don't know my family… Besides. I don't have a choice. Uncle Jamie's graduating from the academy tomorrow."
Meghan didn't see what that had to do with missing an hour of school. "What's your point, JoJo?"
"I can't miss, Megs," JoJo sighed. She hated that nickname, but her family and best friend were never going to quit using it. "My grandpa would have my head… after telling the truancy officer who made the arrest to keep me there for the number of hours I wasn't where I was supposed to be."
Meghan nodded in agreement. She wished she had her friend's family. Having parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Family members that weren't one mistake away from being arrested or faking their own deaths. Her grandmother had passed away a year ago, and her oldest brother was on a two mile radius. Making it so she had to live with her other brother.
"Besides, wouldn't Mike get a call about you, too?"
"Gee… thanks for putting military school back on the table. How did I forget about that?"
"Don't ask me. I'm not the one with the super brain," JoJo remarked.
"No, but you do have access to the commissioner's courtesy card."
"The last thing I want to do is use that card, Megs. My dad didn't even let me use his card the last time you and I tried to skip."
"Then why have it?"
"It's not a monopoly card for us. All it does is let them know where I am and why I would be at a station." JoJo looked toward the people in suits behind her friend. She turned her gaze to the watch her grandfather insisted she wear so she didn't have to rely on her cell phone for the grounding period. "How long have we been out here?"
"Bout twenty minutes. Why?" JoJo pointed behind her friend who saw the same thing she'd seen. "Well, if your grandfather doesn't ground you… I mean, Jamie might give you a warning, but Danny? Commissioner?"
"I know. I'm already in trouble for skipping a day last month."
"Yeah… sorry I talked you into that. It never would have gone that far if Trevor wasn't such a moron."
"No one forced him to get high and punch the crossing guard. Why did Mike send him to get you, anyway?"
"Work. That bike messenger job is an all day and late-night thing. I see more of Trevor than I do Dad and Trevor doesn't even live with us anymore."
"Would he consider entering the academy?"
"And now it's my turn to ask if you're the one who's joking. You know he gets paid to take the LSATs by students who either have test anxiety or are too lazy to put in the work themselves."
"He wasn't forced to do that, Megs. But… I get it. My dad probably would have done the same thing to support me if he had to." She looked back to her detail. "I'd better go over to them before Max has a coronary. Think Mike would let you come over tomorrow? I could use the company until Uncle Jamie crosses the podium."
Meghan chuckled at the thought of her asking for this after she had tried to visit her brother, Neal Caffrey, in prison. "Well… what D-" she looked over her friend's shoulder as had been done to herself. The sight of Mike leaning against his bike made her blood simultaneously boil and run cold. "Seriously?!" she shouted. "I can't believe they called you."
"Seriously. I told them to call me if you were so much as five minutes late to any class," Mike said as he came closer. "Hey, JoJo."
"Hey, Mike."
"What are the two of you doing out here? I'm positive the commissioner won't appreciate his granddaughter getting in trouble for cutting class," Mike said.
"Enough with the third degree," Meghan said.
"I'd watch that tone if you want to keep your weekend free." JoJo couldn't help but grin at her friend's annoyance. Finally, there was someone her own age who knew exactly how she felt on a daily basis. "I just want to know why my kid-sister is cutting class to talk about something that can wait until the bells rings."
JoJo scoffed, knowing Mike was right. It could have waited until the final bell. "Oh, believe me. My family has said the same thing. I'd better go. My uncle's graduating from the academy tomorrow and it wouldn't look good if I fell asleep during Grandpa's address." She turned to Meghan. "If I don't hear from you later, see you Monday?"
JoJo turned around to see her grandfather's officers and detectives begin to cross the street. She rushed down to them, looking both ways before crossing the road.
Mike watched the detail surround the girl as if she was either someone of high importance, or the same situation Meghan had been in as a child. Had he not known the teen, he would have thought just that.
~*B*B*~*B*B*~
A heat lamp shined down on a three-year-old bearded dragon terrarium. It was a large one that covered more than half the surface of her long desk. The lizard lay in a bowl of water while staring at JoJo through the open glass door. Steps were made so the lizard could get to the floor and back home if desired.
She reached for her cell phone that was resting in its place on her dresser. Well, her dad's dresser. It was the next day, almost time to leave for her uncle's graduation ceremony, and she still hadn't heard from her friend.
Her hand only stopped moving when she heard her grandfather's voice. Technically she wasn't supposed to be using it as her two-month punishment had yet to be lifted. But she was allowed to keep it in her room so long as it stayed on her dresser the whole time.
"Boat leaves in ten minutes, Pop."
"I've never been late in my life, Francis," her great-grandfather said as if insulted.
"JoJo, downstairs in five…" Frank hesitated in front of the open bedroom door. His granddaughter was staring at her cell's screen. "I'm guessing your friend can't make it."
"No."
"Any reason in particular?"
"Her brother. He's a bit protective of her since I know something about them that I probably shouldn't."
"Like what?"
"Nothing illegal. But it's something her oldest brother's biological father was accused of doing. As a result, Megs and her other brother were born into the program."
Frank nodded, letting her know she could stop. He wasn't going to find out much on a WITSEC family aside from what the marshal's would want them to find. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying at the very least.
"What's her guardian's name?"
"He's a bike messenger, Grandpa."
"Okay, I'll ask again."
"Mike Ross. Can we go, now?"
Frank let out a soft chuckle. He did not see government work in her future. She was far too easy.
As she started to walk out of her room, Frank noticed the open glass door. "Don't forget to close Cheeto's cage. Pop doesn't want him out when no one's home… We'll pick some food up for him after the party and get you some bait for the pier."
JoJo was surprised Frank had agreed to let Meghan join them after the previous month's events. And that he was willing to overlook everything just to get her out of the house every once in a while. Although she wasn't sure if fishing off the pier was a free pass. Knowing her grandfather, a fishing lesson at four in the morning… He wanted to talk about something.
"Grandpa?" she said, taking her last step off the staircase.
"You will be sitting in the pit with the cadets," he said as if reading her mind. "Off to the side where I can see you. Last time I let you sit with the family, my detail didn't find you for three hours after the ceremony. And you can bring your cell phone. But I expect you to at least be listening for your uncle's name."
JoJo nodded, then hung her head as she followed Frank and his father out the door and to the car.
"Jamie won't be getting his precinct assignment until tomorrow. Monday at the latest."
"What are you getting at, Pop?"
"JoJo could spend time with him before he goes on his first tour. I think he'd like that, Francis. It'd do them both some good."
How spending time with Jamie would do JoJo some good, Frank wasn't sure yet. But for Jamie? JoJo was the closest thing any of them would have to their brother, son, uncle, and grandson being present at such a milestone in the Reagan family. So much so that sometimes her relatives called her by her middle name, shortening Josephine to Jojo.
"He should be here for this… They all should," she said, giving her opinion concerning the missing family members. She knew her grandmother would act appropriately, congratulating her youngest, but this was not the path her grandmother wanted this child to take.
That was one of the many good things about this family. One could disagree with the rest and still support and be supported by the opposition.
~*B*B*~*B*B*~
"Dad said you wanted to spend some time with me, today," Jamie said after everyone else had walked away because a case had come up. He put his arm over her shoulder and led her away from the crowd. Since he didn't have a car, they had no choice but to walk everywhere.
"Funny. He said the same about you. Pop was practically trying to get rid of me for the weekend."
Jamie grinned. "Anything to do with a certain friend situation?"
JoJo rolled her eyes as she put her hands in her pockets. "Does this family know what the word privacy means?"
"Hey, if you want a private life, you were born into the wrong family. Now, where are we with this friend?"
"Do you remember Meghan? You picked us up from the mall last month."
"You mean the first time Dad ever had to ground you?"
"Of course, you'd remember that part of the day."
"What about her?"
"Her brother was okay with Dad, but he wasn't a fan of his sister being friends with the commissioner's granddaughter. Thought he'd be subject to background checks that would wind up getting them relocated… And now three people know something they shouldn't about my friend," JoJo said, wishing she had left Jamie's first question alone.
"Who's her brother?"
"He's just a bike messenger."
"JoJo!"
She groaned. "Ross, okay. Mike Ross. God, I hate how easily you all get answers out of me." If there had been any food or liquid in his mouth, Jamie would have spewed it all over the sidewalk. She really was too easy. "See? Now, can we go to a movie or something?"
"Got a better idea. We'll go to the grad party, then the cemetery."
"Uncle Jamie," JoJo complained.
"JoJo," Jamie mocked before becoming serious. "Look, I know everything Reagan is front page news. One of us so much as sneezes and somebody's writing about it."
JoJo sighed. "I accepted that a long time ago. But I can't put my friend in the spotlight. The program would relocate them and she doesn't want to leave…The things she'd seen… Leaving isn't an option."
Jamie realized what his niece was saying and finished the thought. "How high profile is the case? It's the only reason I can think of that would make the marshal's not offer an option out." She was now in a playful chokehold that even an onlooker would have ignored with Jamie in uniform. "I'll let you off the hook this once. Now let's get over to that party, then we'll go visit your dad and grandmas."
She realized exactly what he was doing and continued the game in jest. He was giving her a fighting chance. Something his brothers would never do because they wanted to know she could return fire. She chose to elbow him in the gut and took off at a jogging pace after he loosened his grip.
Once she was about a hundred feet away, she slowed to a walk because her cell phone alerted her to a text message.
Hey, sorry I didn't text you last night, Meghan sent. The words crossed her screen as she barely listened for Jamie's sneaky approach. Dad's been giving me a hard time about my choice in friends again. He even took my phone away.
Haha… Grandpa took mine away a month ago. Only have it so he knows where I am.
Yeah, but isn't Jamie a boy scout when it comes to keeping tabs on you?
Better than Grandpa's detail. Learned how to ditch them from the best. How'd you know I'm with Uncle Jamie?
You texted before the ceremony.
Right. I forgot. But why is Mike so concerned? We've been friends for two years. My dad told everyone your brother passed his background check. He even has Dad's courtesy card.
Gotta go. Dad just came home, and I need to work on my half of our science project.
"Do you think Dad and Grandma would have been there today?" she asked once Jamie had caught up with her. The mood went somber. Any time her father was mentioned, even in jest, the joy a room held suddenly went out the window.
She missed him… a lot. He was her dad. But she only knew him for the twelve years they'd had. The older generations knew him a lot better than she ever would.
"I miss him, too," Jamie said as if reading her mind.
"The hardest part about accepting he's gone… I'll never know him the way everyone else got to."
"What do you mean?"
"My twelve to your twenty-four, Aunt Erin's thirty, or Uncle Danny's thirty-four. Even Nicky had a few years on me with him," JoJo pointed out.
"So," he said, noticing they weren't going the right way for the graduation party. "Where are we going?" He took her phone from her hands to read the texts again. It was a condition of his father's if she was going to spend the weekend with him.
The game had begun. And she was not going to make things easy. "Oh, no you don't. You… will have to work for that answer."
"Is it shield worthy?"
"Since when have I made you do any real investigating? I'm bad at hiding things from people, remember."
Considering how easy it was to get answers out of her, Jamie couldn't disagree with that question. "Let's see. With the commissioner's permission, I can access your phone records to see where you've been hiding from your detail."
"Cheater. And, no. It doesn't have anything to do with that. You of all people know he doesn't protect us that way…" They passed a pet store. "How much money do you have?"
"A pet store?" he asked, looking up at the marquee. "Shouldn't I be the one getting a gift from you? I did just graduate from the academy," Jamie said as JoJo yanked him through the closing automatic door.
"Who said anything about a gift? I just need crickets and worms for Cheeto. And Grandpa's taking me fishing tomorrow so I need bait. Fifteen should cover it."
"You're a worm," Jamie said feigning hurt at the lack of a gift from his niece.
JoJo laughed as she led the way to the live feed aisle, still dragging him along. Once in the aisle, she let go of his hand long enough to grab what she needed and started pulling him toward the register.