Chapter 56

The knock on the door was met by a groan from Jessica. Everyone knew her Aunt and Uncle were back, and that this conversation would once again be placed on hold. Needless to say, Jessica walked to the door a bit more slowly this time.

"Is Special Agent Downs still here?"

"Barnes! What? How did you get here?" Downs was saying as he leaped over the couch to get to the door. "Honey, should you be on your feet? Come in, and sit. Why are you here?"

We were all wondering the same questions, but it was rather amusing watching him fawn all over her.

"After you left me to fend by myself," Barnes teased him, "a doctor that must have been waiting for you to go, came in to check on me. He asked me how often I was getting up. You should have heard him when he found out I'd been on my back this whole time. I've been spending the last hour finding out how often I need to move, and what to move. Walking is okay, as long as I don't walk fast. That moves my upper body too much and that's not good. Right now, though, that couch looks mighty good."

Downs helped her get situated.

Barnes looked at us and then said to Downs, "You said Jessica asked you for a little help. This looks like some sort of ... This is about you," she said looking at me, "isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"And Jessica conned you into coming here to pull some leverage?" Barnes asked in a rather amused tone to Downs.

"She asked me here to be an arbitrator," Downs said somewhat defensively.

Ignoring his tone, Barnes went on, "So what's the problem?"

"Jessica is putting us into a corner," Theresa said.

"I am not!" Jessica countered.

"Hold on, Jessica," Barnes said. "Now, Theresa ... who is 'we, ' and why do you feel you're in a corner?"

"Her father and I," Theresa said. "Jessica said she didn't like the idea that we were telling her what was going to happen, concerning John. She wanted to be a part of that decision. Her idea of being part of that, though, is her taking control."

"Mom! I am not."

"Ok, Theresa, Jessica obviously doesn't feel that way. So tell me how you feel she is doing that?"

"She said she loves him, she expects him to live here, and wants to do anything it takes to make that happen. It doesn't leave a lot of room for us to make choices, with those kind of demands."

Barnes nodded and then turned to Jessica.

"Did you say all those things?"

"Yes."

"Tell me, Jessica, why is it so important for him to live here? Do you know any of your classmates who have their boyfriends living in their house?"

Jessica turned red and stuttered, "No."

"No, to having boyfriends living in their house. I could have guaranteed the answer to that. I'm not trying to say you don't have good reasons, or that you can't convince me that it is a good idea, but I want to know why you think it's important for John to be here?"

"'Cause I want to see him ... all the time."

"Honey," Theresa started to say.

Downs stopped her from going on and then nodded to Barnes to keep going.

"Tim and Theresa, what you are seeing in Jessica is why agents aren't supposed to get romantically involved."

There was a round of snickers before Barnes went on.

"All of us have just gone through a harrowing experience. It is not what most people ever face. People like Downs and I do, and it is what that last comment is based on. Jessica is feeling an intensity of feelings for John that wouldn't have been there if not for the events they have just been though. I'm not trying to suggest that Jessica wouldn't develop those same feelings anyway, but her basic needs took over, and her feelings for John went into high gear." Turning to face Jessica and me, Barnes asked, "Did you just understand what I said?"

"Yes ... well, I think so," Jessica said. "Is it ... I was going to fall in love with John, 'cause he's such a wonderful guy, but I did it a lot faster than normal, 'cause I thought I could lose him?"

"Jess, I don't think John is going to look at another girl while you're around," Tim said.

Jessica turned to look at her father and replied, "You weren't in the closet when the house was on fire. When I was pulled out," her voice started to waver, "he was still in there."

"That's part of the problem, isn't it?" Theresa said. "Both Tim and I were thinking about Jessica losing him, as in him looking at some other girl, and she's seeing it in terms of actually losing him, as in his life. Not the sort of thing a girl Jessica's age normally thinks about."

"That's right," Barnes said. "That is why she feels a connection that is harder to explain. It is often associated with people who have gone through traumatic experiences."

My father, who had uncharacteristically been quiet this whole time, spoke up.

"Jessica, tell me what parts of him being here, that you would look forward to?"

"Not sure I understand your question," Jessica replied.

"Well, I doubt you relish the thought of cleaning out the bed pan."

Jessica's face scrunched, as she said, "No. That's pretty disgusting."

"So what is it that you are looking forward to doing with him? You can't go on picnics."

Jessica rolled her eyes at my father's poor sense of humor.

"Waking up in the morning and getting his breakfast ready, coming home at lunch and feeding him, and then there's bedtime," she said with a smile on her face. "I could tuck him in."

"Sounds rather mothering, or even nursing," Barnes said. "The feeling of helping another as a form of showing compassion, and even love, has been distilled in her, I'd say."

"So I'm to blame for this," Theresa said.

"No one is blaming you. You taught your daughter to care. That's what she knows, by example," my father said.

"Correct," Barnes added. "Now Jessica, if John didn't live in this apartment, but close enough to do the things you said were important, would that work?"

Jessica's forehead wrinkled and her smile dropped, although she wasn't wearing a frown. It was a look of deep thought.