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Love is Strong	By : harry102 Category: +M through R > New Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Views: 8124 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Jonny Quest, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 16
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As Jessie ran at full speed along the beach, she couldn’t figure out which emotion was currently driving her most: anger, frustration, or sadness. All she knew for sure was that Jonny was the cause, which made her want to be angry with him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t be mad at him because she can tell that whatever’s going on with him is serious and because she doesn’t wanna make things more complicated. Mostly though, she can’t be mad just because she loves him so much. She wants to fix it for him, whatever it is. She wants to make his everything alright. So it’s unbelievably frustrating when he won’t let her help.

The last time she remembers feeling this helpless was when Jonny disappeared two years ago. No matter what she did, no matter what anyone did, they couldn’t find him. That week was absolutely life changing for her. She’d never been so mind-numbingly afraid in her life, and she wasn’t even in any danger. That was the week she came to realize the depths of her feelings for her best friend. When she saw him on the beach, alive, safe, and walking right towards her, it was like something out of a dream. She had never been so relieved or happy in all her life, but she’d also never been so shocked when he began to cry. That was the first and only time she’s seen him like that. At the time, she didn’t know what to do except hold him. So that’s what she did, until he was calm enough to talk, but he wouldn’t talk about it, and he never has.

Whatever happened to him the week he was gone, changed him. It was a long time before she saw that gleam in his eye again. Before she got her Jonny back, but he was never totally the same. She had tried to get him to talk about it more times than she can count, but he stonewalled to the point of not talking to her for days. Letting it go was so hard for her to do. She only did it because she knew that it was what he needed at the time. It’d kill her to have to do that again, but she would. She’d do anything for him, which was as powerful a feeling as it was true. And even though she hated that any man had this much control over her, she wouldn’t give up on this man for anything.

When she reached the edge of the Compound, she almost turned around to run all the way back too because she wanted to continue working off her stress and it wasn’t the nicest day, but she didn’t wanna go back to that house. She couldn’t be within two feet of her mother without exploding, and Jordan was a close second on the list of people she wanted nothing to do with at the moment.

After breakfast, he had come up to her room to talk to her. He didn’t get the hint after three minutes of knocking with only silence as a response, so she let him in out of pure annoyance and didn’t even try to hide it.

“What Jordan?” she asked as she was opening the door. “I want to be alone,” she told him, leaning her arm against the door frame so he couldn’t enter.

“Can I come in?” he laughed.

“No,” she deadpanned. “I want to be alone. Besides, my father doesn’t take too kindly to boys in my bedroom, and he’s not exactly a teddy bear in case you haven’t noticed,” she commented. “Just trying to look out for you, bud.”

“But that rule doesn’t apply to your best friend, does it?” he accused.

“He lives here you smartass,” she shot right back. “He can go anywhere he wants,” she smiled.

“Anywhere, huh?” he scoffed.

“Yep,” she grinned, completely fed up. “Anywhere.”

“Why are you acting like this?” he asked angrily.

“Why are you here?” she wanted to know.

“I want to be with you. I wanted to spend the holiday with you. You know that,” he responded.

“And I told you I wanted to be with my family,” she said.

“Well isn’t this the best of both worlds?” he questioned. “You get us both,” he smiled, and she didn’t know how to react. “Look, I know everything with us is happening fast and that probably scares you. Hell, it scares me too, but I refuse to run away. So run all you want,” he told her. “Hide in your relationship with your best friend so you don’t have to think about me, pine away for a man that doesn’t love you when one that does is standing right in front of you. Do whatever it is that you need to do, but just know that I’m not going anywhere. I love you, Jessie.”

“NO…you…don’t,” she said slowly and deliberately just like she did when her mother told her that Jordan loved her. “You can’t. You don’t know me. Maybe you think that you do, but you don’t. Infatuation is not love. You couldn’t possibly love me in a real…deep down…life-changing…‘I would do anything for you’… ‘I love you because of your flaws, not in spite of them’… and ‘I wanna spend my whole life making you smile and making your world ok’…way. You haven’t known me long enough. So don’t tell me that you love me because those words are so precious and they shouldn’t be thrown around,” she finished slowly, still feeling the sting of his declaration that she was pining away for a man that didn’t return her feelings.

“Don’t tell me how to feel,” he breathed.

“Stop pushing me to feel something that I don’t,” she retorted.

“Only because you won’t give yourself the chance,” he said softly, lightly caressing her arm for just a second.

“God, you sound like my mother,” she told him, rolling her eyes and sighing.

“Let him go,” he whispered, ignoring her comment.

“What?” she asked.

“Just,” he paused. “I’m just asking for one night. Tonight…the Christmas party. One night, where it’s just you and me. One night, where you give yourself the chance to love me or even the chance to love me someday. All I’m asking for is a chance with you. You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met, and I can’t just walk away from that. I’d never forgive myself if I gave up so easily. I want you to let him go, but at least just let him go for tonight. Please?” he almost begged. “It should make things easier that he’s not coming.”

“Huh? Since when?” Jessie asked.

“Dr. Quest told us a few minutes ago,” he informed her. “So what do you say?” he asked nervously.

As soon as she heard Jonny wasn’t going, she felt herself deflate and she didn’t wanna go either. She’s never been to this party without him and they always have so much fun together. ‘This is just like the faire,’ she thinks, feeling that chocking sensation she gets every time she thinks about Jordan taking Jonny’s place.

“I need some time to think,” she suddenly breathed. “I’m going for a run…alone,” she clarified, pushing her way past him.

“Jess,” he said, grabbing her hand and waiting for her to turn around, but she refused. “I’m not going anywhere,” he repeated.

Jessie could only close her eyes, take a deep breath, and walk away. Unfortunately, running hadn’t provided her with any epiphanies. Instead, she found herself just staring out into the ocean and wondering where Jonny was. It was all so overwhelming that she didn’t even try to stop her tears. She just put her head down to let go, and that’s how Jonny found her.

After a few hours of his own just staring out into the ocean, Jonny had made two decisions. One, he was still gonna keep everything about his mother to himself no matter how badly he wanted to tell someone. He spent more than an hour out on the rocks trying to convince himself that telling Jessie was the best course of action, but he couldn’t do it. The bottom line was that telling her could put her in danger, and he wouldn’t knowingly do that even if it meant keeping something from her. Regardless of that fact, however, or maybe more because of it, he also decided that he needed to apologize to her. He needed to make her understand that he wasn’t holding back because he didn’t trust her.

When he got back to the Compound, the first person he ran into was Jordan and he was in not mood for the guy.

“Seen Jessie?” he asked, making no attempt to sound polite.

“Yeah, we had a really long conversation this morning. It was pretty great,” Jordan replied smugly.

“I’m…happy for you?” Jonny replied sarcastically. “So where is she? I need to talk to her. Did she go for a run?” he asked.

“Why don’t you just leave her alone?” Jordan suggested.

“Why don’t you stay out of my business?” Jonny replied, and then turned to walk away.

“Ya know, it’s pretty pathetic that you’re pining away over someone that’s in love with someone else,” Jordan taunted.

Jonny froze for a second, distressed by the possible truth behind his words, but he knew that Jordan was just trying to get a rise out of him. This guy had even less of a window into Jessie heart than he did.

The comment made Jonny turn back around with a small laugh, marked by disbelief. “You wish that were true, but I think we both know that you’re describing yourself right now…not me,” he finished with a lot more confidence than he had about the whole situation. Then he walked out the door to look for Jessie, and found her crying. It was the third time he’d seen her cry since she’d been home. He just hoped he wasn’t the cause again.

“Jessie,” he called out softly, grasping her shoulder lightly.

She didn’t hear him coming, so she didn’t have time to wipe away all of her tears before he could see.

“Why are you crying,” he asked.

Jessie just shook her head and stood up. She was afraid that she’d start crying harder if she tried to talk.

“What’s wrong?” he prompted a second time.

“Nothing,” she finally choked out, turning her back and wiping at her eyes.

He wanted to say, ‘Don’t lie,’ but didn’t think that would go over so well.

“I saw Jordan,” he sighed. “Did you guys have a fight or something?” he asked, trying not to sound hopeful, but still praying that he wasn’t the cause of her tears.

“Not really,” she cried. “Are you coming to the Christmas party?” she then asked, turning back towards him.

Jonny just looked down and shook his head no. He didn’t wanna see her face if she was disappointed, and he definitely didn’t wanna see her face if she wasn’t.

“Why?” she asked a little choked up. She hated the thought of going without him, and she didn’t wanna deal with Jordan. Thinking of Jordan, she became overwhelmed and couldn’t stop herself from getting upset again. No matter how hard she tried to move on, no matter how many plans she considered or guys she dated, the simple fact was that her heart didn’t want anyone but Jonny.

Admitting that to herself was so hard because it meant dealing with the possibility of really losing him, which she always knew was gonna break her heart, but she didn’t know it was gonna hurt this bad. “Please come?” she almost begged. If she wasn’t so upset, she’d have slapped herself for the way she was acting. “I can’t…I don’t wanna…please come,” she said again.

“Come here,” Jonny said, pulling her into his arms. The way she was acting scared him. It was so out of character.

“Please,” she repeated into his chest, melting into the comfort of his arms.

“Why are you so upset?” he whispered.

“Jordan…I don’t,” she hesitated. “I can’t… be alone with him…he…”

“Did he do something to you?” Jonny asked, pulling away until she was at an arm’s length so he could look her in the eye. However, he didn’t let her answer, his mind immediately going to a dark place. “What did he do? Did he hurt you? Did he touch you? I WILL RIP HIS FUCKING HEART OUT?” he screamed.

“NO,” she interrupted. “It’s not like that,” she said, stepping out of his grasp and wrapping her arms around herself.

He calmed down at her words, but only a little. “Then what?” he asked anxiously.

Jessie wanted to pour her heart out, but she found herself getting angry at his hypocritical attitude and she was irrationally angry at him for abandoning her tonight.

“I don’t feel like talking about it?” she told him and then it was Jonny’s turn to get angry.

“Look,” he started. “I’m sorry about this morning. I came to find you so I could apologize, but I don’t know how many ways I can tell you that I can’t talk about it,” he finished.

“Can’t or won’t,” she accused.

“Jessie,” he breathed. “Please understand. I want to tell you. I just spent the last hour trying to convince myself that it made the most sense to tell you. You have no idea how badly I want to because I hate fighting with you and I feel like I’m…choking,” he told her. “Just please don’t be mad at me. I can’t handle that right now too.”

“Are you ok?” she asked worriedly.

“No,” he answered honestly.

“Then how do you expect me to let it go? Would you? How would you feel if I was in trouble and refused to tell you why?” she posed.

“I wouldn’t stop asking until you told me everything,” he said. “Just like you’re doing now,” he added with a small smile that she did not return.

Jessie just threw her hands up in frustration. “So you know exactly how I feel, and you still won’t tell me?”

Jonny swallowed deeply and closed his eyes before answering, “Yes.”

“Promise you’ll tell me if you’re in danger though,” she ordered a little desperately and saw his shoulders slump.

“I don’t make promises to you that I can’t keep,” he said heavily.

“Jonny, you’re scaring me,” she told him, breathing deeply. Now she was really worried. “I can’t lose you again,” she said so quietly he almost didn’t hear, and she unknowingly struck a chord that she didn’t know was there.

“You…never did lose me,” he answered slowly and a little confused.

“What about two years ago?” she challenged. “Do you have ANY idea how scared I was? I thought…” but she couldn’t finish that sentence. “And then you wouldn’t say what happened to you. Does what’s going on now have anything to do with that?” she asked, knowing that he wouldn’t answer. “I can’t let you do that to us again,” she told him. “I have to tell my dad…”

“NO,” he shouted. “You have no idea what that would do to me?”

“THAN TELL ME,” she yelled right back.

“Just believe me that it would do more harm than good to tell your father,” he told her.

“How do I know you’re not just saying that?” she asked.

“I NEVER LIE TO YOU,” he screamed, but then tried to calm down a bit. “I may not tell you everything,” he said haltingly. “But I never lie, and I’m not lying now.”

“Would you lie to protect me?” she challenged and he felt like the wind had been knocked right out of him.

“I’d kill to protect you…you KNOW that,” he said forcefully. “And you’re right, ok. I’m not telling to protect you, but that’s MY choice because this is MY problem.”

“Sometimes an omission hurts worse than I lie,” she told him.

“Hurting you is the last thing I’d ever do,” he said.

“Well, for someone that doesn’t wanna hurt me, you’ve been doing a really good job of it lately,” she said before she could stop herself and then immediately regretted it. He looked like she had just punched him in the face.

Jonny didn’t know what to say to that, but he knows that he’d never felt worse in his life.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean…”

“Yes you did,” he interrupted. “And believe me I’ll never forgive myself for it, but I can’t tell you,” he finished. “And I’m not lying,” he added.

“Fine,” she relented unwillingly. “But since I don’t know all the facts, I’m telling my father the moment I think you’re not safe,” she finished seriously and he felt another sharp pain in his gut.

“I’ll never forgive you,” he then said quietly without meeting her eyes. It’s the hardest thing he’s ever said to anyone, but he had to think of his father.

“What?” she asked out of breath.

“If you tell him,” he started slowly and then met her gaze. “No matter how things turn out, I’ll…I’ll never forgive you. It’d absolutely kill me, but I won’t.”

Now Jessie knew she must’ve looked like she’d just been punched in the face.

“Jonny…” she started, not sure what she wanted to say. She was completely exhausted by their conversation and everything with Jordan seemed so trivial at that point. She couldn’t help the fresh wave of tears that came pouring out of her eyes. If she told no one, she might lose him. If she told anyone, she’d definitely lose him. If that ‘might’ didn’t mean that he could be hurt or killed, this would be a simple decision, but this situation was anything but simple now.

It broke his heart when she started crying again, but there was nothing he could do but reach out to her. He was happy and really surprised when she didn’t resist. He just held her tightly until she had let it all out, and then he continued to hold her and stroke her hair softly. The thought crossed his mind that this could be the last time he ever got to hold her, but he quickly pushed that idea away.

“Do you trust me?” he asked suddenly.

“That has nothing…,” she started, but he interrupted.

“Do you trust me?” he asked again, more harshly.

“More than anyone,” she replied quietly, pulling him even closer.

“Then trust that I have a good reason for everything that I’m doing,” he told her, taking a miniscule step back so he could hold her head in his hands. “And trust that I’d never do anything that’d prevent me from…” he breathed heavily and was so overwhelmed by the trust he found in her eyes despite the argument they just had. “To prevent me from having the chance to do this,” he said, and then his lips came crashing down to meet hers.

Jessie was surprised, but it didn’t take her long to respond just as enthusiastically. The kissed was fueled on emotion. Whether is mostly anger, fear, desperation, guilt, or love, Jessie was unsure, but it was without I doubt the most passionate kiss she’s ever experienced. Before she knew it, they were both sinking to the ground and she found that she loved the feeling of his body on top of hers almost as much as she loved his lips.

She was about to protest when she felt his lips leave hers, but almost started crying all over again when she felt him wiping and kissing away the remnants of tears that were still covering her face. Then he moved down to the pulse point on her neck and she was gone. That was without a doubt her spot, and it was taking all of her self control not to call out his name, which meant she had little control over the rest of her body’s reaction.

Everytime her body slightly arched into his, Jonny felt a jolt of desire rush through him, but he refused to let it overtake him. He wanted to focus on her, and he wanted to make her feel how much she meant to him and how sorry he was that he had hurt her because he didn’t know how to say it.

“Just trust me,” he whispered in her ear, and then covered her lips again before she could answer.

Jessie wasn’t sure if he was asking for her trust again based off their conversation, or if he was asking her to just let go and be with him. Her answer was yes either way. Jessie was beginning to feel a little light-headed, and was glad that they were laying down when she felt him run his tongue along her lower lip begging entrance. She more than willingly open her mouth to oblige, but all that filled it was a scream as a loud crack of thunder pierced through the air in that moment and scared them both up into a sitting position. Then the skies opened up and it began to pour.

Jonny didn’t know if this was fate telling him that he wasn’t good enough for her or one big cosmic joke at his expense. All he did know was that it was pouring in the middle of December, and he didn’t want Jessie to get sick. So he got to his feet, helped her up, and began to run back to the Compound. He realized quickly, however, that Jessie wasn’t at his side. She was walking slowly behind him with her arms wrapped around herself again.

“Hey, come on. I don’t want you to catch cold,” he told her.

“Can we just walk?” she asked. “I don’t mind the rain.”

“Sure,” he said, not having the heart to tell her no. So he just wrapped his arms around her, and kept a steady pace.

Jessie was still in a bit of a daze from their kissing. She found it a little odd that they could just do that so naturally, and then act like nothing happened. ‘Why is he doing that?’ she wondered. She wanted to talk about it, but decided that he had enough on his plate right now.

“So why don’t you wanna be alone with him tonight?” Jonny asked, breaking into her thoughts.

“It’s not really important,” she told him, and Jonny stopped in his tracks and waited for her to turn towards him.

“It made you cry,” he said caressing the side of her face. “That makes it important to me,” he said, and then continued walking.

“He’s just,” she started, but didn’t know how to explain it without getting into things that she didn’t want to talk about.

“What?” he prompted.

“Let’s just say that he and my mother see eye to eye, and he’s pushing me to feel something that I just don’t, so it’s pretty frustrating,” she sighed.

“I saw him in the house when I was looking for you earlier,” Jonny commented. “And he made a big production of telling me how you guys had some great conversation this morning.”

“God,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, and apparently I should just stay away from you because it would be for the best,” he told her in an amused tone.

“What?” she asked, not finding it funny at all. “Please tell me you don’t put an ounce of weight on his opinion.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. It’s far less than an ounce,” he grinned and squeezed her closer. “I’ll come,” he whispered in her ear without thinking about anything else. It won’t be the funniest night of his life, but he’d do anything for her.

“You will,” she smiled and he nodded yes. “Thank you,” she told him, throwing her arms around his neck, but the smile she gave him was thanks enough.

“We better run back though,” he suggested. “I don’t think we have much time before we have to get going.”

“I know,” she replied and they were off.

As he ran with the rain beating down against his skin, Jonny heard that nagging little voice in the back of his head telling him that he shouldn’t be going to this party. He should be focusing on his mother now, but the truth is that he’s still not sure if it’s really her. And if it is her, he’s not sure if he can save her. And if he can save her, he doesn’t think it can be tonight. There’s so much uncertainty and so much he can’t control, but he can control this. He can do something to make the woman he loves, the woman that’s right in front of him, smile. And that’s just what he’s gonna do.
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Love is Strong