Title: Change is Ever Present Author: The Puck [MistressPuck@Juno.com] Date: 04/01/00 Category: Yuri, Fam, Fut, Alt, rating: PG Archivers: If you REEEELY want it... I guess you can have it... :) Disclaimer: I'm not owning anyone, they all belong to HB (Cept Toni, she's mine.. allll mine!!) and I'm not making any money from this. Do not sue me. Jonny looked in the mirror for the thousandth time that day. He couldn't get over it.. his hair finally reached his shoulders. He'd just had it trimmed today so it looked neat, he'd always heard Jessie saying that she liked people who were 'neat' and 'organized'. So, he hoped he was becoming Jessie's Ideal man; they'd all be eighteen in two days, their birthdays so close together it was a hassle to have all separate celebrations so they all did it on one day. He looked at the Picture of Jessie on his dresser, it was one of her "impromptu" pictures, she was sleeping on the couch. He'd always thought it was the most beautiful picture of her he'd ever seen, because in all of her other pictures she was either trying to look nice or was making a goofy face; in this picture it was Jessie as she really was to him. A perfect angel with the heart of wildfire. Jessie had been going to the mall alot with friends over the past three years and Jonny had never really thought about it much, it was normal, for the first time three years ago, they'd been enrolled in public high school and naturally each had more friends, so hence in was natural that she'd want to hang out with them a lot. Race seemed to smile happily when she'd go out, maybe he was happy that she didn't spend so much time with Dr. Quest or maybe that she wasn't in any REAL danger while out with her friends and she'd even gotten a cellular phone so if he ever needed to just hear her voice he could call her. Overprotective? Maybe. Concerned parent? Definitely. One day late in June, a month after she and Jonny had graduated high school Jessie came in one night to disturb the peace. "Daddy, Dr. Quest, everyone I have an announcement." Jessie said walking in the door at about right before dinner, everyone was hanging out in the living room, Jonny had a jar of peanut butter and a celery stick hanging out of him mouth, about a month ago he'd become a health nut. More like a health ROCK. everyone waited while Jessie stood in front of the door. "As Dr. Quest and daddy know, I've been seeing someone for a long time." Jonny's eyes widened and he started to choke on his celery stick. She'd been seeing a guy right under his nose! Usually when she started to be attracted to a guy she'd talk about him for days on end. "And just tonight this person proposed to me; and I said yes." Jonny's eyes welled up with tears and his heart sank. He KNEW the love he felt for her was more than just on the surface, he knew her better than anyone else did, it would take more than three years to really know what someone was like. "Well, introduce us to the lucky guy!" Dr. Quest said standing up to greet the figure coming through the door. "Meet Toni. Toni Johnson." A girl about Jessie's height came shyly through the door, she was a little big boned but still a good healthy size, and she had long dusty blonde/brown hair that reached almost to her back. Benton dropped his coffee cup and it shattered into a million pieces on the wood floor. He didn't say a word. Race was the first to say anything. "Jessie, you can't be serious! That's another woman! You'd better be joking." Jessie backed away from her father to link hands with the girl, who looked like she felt like it was all her fault. Jonny left his place on the couch and solemnly walked up the stairs. He'd seen enough. Jessie whispered something to Toni and walked out side for a moment. "Toni, I'm sorry I had to put you through that, my dad will never consent to it, but maybe I can get to Dr. Quest and maybe Jonny." "Don't worry about it. They don't know we're already married, maybe they just need time. I should go. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." "I love you too. Good night." Jessie watched sadly as Toni got into her little car and drove away, the taillights flashing like hardened jewels. She walked back inside to see her father holding in a lot of anger. He started to yell, to say that she was insane but it never came. His raised fist fell loosely at his side and his face fell slack; he slumped to the floor and sobbed, quietly as if the world would end. She stooped to try to comfort him, but Dr. Quest shook his head. He clearly wasn't showing that he opposed or went with the idea that she loved another woman. "Lets just go to sleep tonight and discuss it in the morning. why don't you get something to eat and go upstairs, okay?" He sounded fatherly but he still wasn't letting on. She left to living room for the kitchen and finally the sound of Race crying broke out in full swing. she grabbed two apples from the fridge and ran upstairs wishing that somehow she could make it okay again. Then she remembered Jonny. She walked to the door of his room and it swung open as soon as she touched it. Jonny was sitting on the edge of his bed holding the picture of her against his chest, tears were slowly making their way down his reddened cheeks. "Jonny?....." He didn't look up. "are you okay?" "I loved you." She started towards his bed. "I've always loved you. Maybe you never saw it or I was too late, but I've loved you since we were little." Jessie'd always Jonny as the perfect little brother or your favorite best friend. She never thought that he'd felt any different than she did. "I'm sorry. I really am." she said putting her hand on his shoulder. "Then why are you doing this to us!?" Jessie was taken aback and stung by his remark. "You couldn't possibly understand. Not after what you just said." He turned, interested. "really? try me." he said putting the picture between them. "Toni makes me feel like I don't have to dress up to see her, or that I have to be someone else. I feel good when I'm around her and I know that even though there are people who hate us and prejudice us but I know that she still loves me." Jonny was silent, he'd always dressed up for her, and acted different around her. Did this mean that he WASN'T in love with her? Suddenly, he knew everything. It was as if a passing light bulb had gone off in his head. "I love you as though you were my own flesh and blood, like my sister. I just don't understand.......why?" Jessie laid back on the bed, and put her hands behind her head. "I'll bet you think it's sexual." The thought had never crossed Jonny's mind. "No I don't, in fact it's very hard to imagine." She smiled. and sat up. "Maybe you do understand. Like I said, I never knew I was like this until I met Toni. I had always felt a little strange around you guys, I always had to prove myself and show that I could keep up. But with her I don't have to do an of that, I don't have to keep fighting to prove myself I don't have to act differently, the way I feel about her is something I'm sure any husband would feel towards his wife. I feel... at home." Jonny felt the burden lift from his heart. He knew it was his place to love her, but more like a brother. "I just want you to be happy, and I don't care if it's a woman or not. Hell, she could be a hermaphrodite and I wouldn't care." "JONNY!" They both laughed, and it felt great to finally be done with it and to put it behind them. IT was the next morning at breakfast when Jessie came down that was a big surprise. Toni was sitting at the breakfast table with everyone, talking a laughing as though the previous night had never happened. "Daddy... Toni... whats going on?" Jessie said sitting down in the Chair Toni pulled out for her. "Well, it took the entire night but I told myself that as long as you were happy...well then I'd be happy too. It's not something I'm gonna tell your grandfather or nothing but I remember when I married your mother that love isn't something to trifle with. It cam burn buildings and break walls. So get married and be happy." Race said taking his daughter's hands in his own. "He invited me over this morning and we talked about having a small wedding with just us. I'm just happy we have his permission." Toni said happily, she had changed in expression from last night, instead of being shy and fearful Toni had brightened into the girl Jessie knew. "It wasn't an easy thing for your father to accept Jessie, I stayed up with him until four this morning trying to convince him not to kill you both." Dr. Quest said sipping from the glued-together coffee cup. "Dr. Quest, are you ever going to throw that old thing away??" He shook his head. Everybody laughed, then Jonny came down from the stairs, they could tell that he had started talking before he reached the bottom. "...and furthermore, I believe that if it is Jessie's decision to love another woman she should be free to do it, and we should be happy for her because it is better for her to be happy and gay than to be sad and straight." Everyone stared at him. He stared at everyone else. "I'm sure you'll be very very happy" The End.