She needed a good rest after that mishap. Only in dreams could she find peace from the TestingSims enigma.
Perhaps Jessi should have refrained from naming her eldest son Montague. He had inherited his book counterpart's fiery hatred of all forms of opposition, including but not limited to sports teams and his brother. He took to mocking young Atticus at every given moment as a form of occupation, knowing that the kindly soul wouldn't raise a finger against him. His Evil treat was truly coming to fruition. At least in the latter case, inheriting the traits of his name's literary inspiration had done him well. Neither had inherited their father's trademark blue hair. Jessi was only slightly disappointed at this.
Even in the storm of insults, Atticus braved it through, taking the time his brother lambasted him to consider what book he should read next. He was glad to have a bed next to Alton, who had a habit of throwing books that he had finished underneath the young boy's bed. Whether or not this was simply coincidence or his way of reaching out to his half brother was a mystery, but sometimes, Atticus swore he could feel his half brother's smile boring the back of his head.
As much as she would enjoyed to, Jessi simply could not have napped for a minute past what was necessary. She had a house to clean and children to rear, and so groggily, she arose from the dead and climbed down the stairs. Crossing to the half kitchen, she was determined to finally clean out the ancient fridge - Neptune swore to her that something inside was starting to grow hands. But she never quite got there, a sight on the couch catching her off guard before a single toe could set foot in the tiled room.
"Hey Ma, guess who?"
Jessi rubbed her eyes and decided to go back upstairs. Obviously, her beauty sleep hadn't quite done the trick. She couldn't hallucinate, not at a time like this! But as she dragged herself through the doorway, the girl was annoyingly insistent, calling back in an accent saturated with sea salt and New York.
"Hey, c'mon, get back here. You've gotta recognize me. Marine? Your flesh and blood?"
The sentence forced Jessi into a freeze. Eventually turning around to face the sailor-suit clad girl, she was unsure of whether to be shocked or overjoyed. "But you were supposed to..."
"Stay a child, I know. Carlos filled me in. Lotta science stuff that I didn't really listen to, a few promises, and a zap later from some strange device later, bam, I'm a teenager. Crazy, right?"
"Wait a second, device? Back it up there. What device?"
"Oops, wasn't supposed to tell you that bit. Ah, well, nothin' to be done now. What's he gonna do, turn me back?"
"Well," a voice drawled from the back, "Technically, he can."
Julian stepped out of the children's bedroom, trying to conceal a satisfied smirk but not quite succeeding. His pocket bulged with the weight of a tiny notebook. Carlos was nowhere in sight. "So he finally went and did it, hmm? Jessi." He suddenly spun and faced the object of his research, adopting a tone of concern. So forced was the change that Jessi felt herself vomit a little in her mouth. Marine quietly sulked away in search of her brother, not interested in what business was to proceed.
"He tests your kids without permission, he interferes with your children's metabolism...I know that it's none of my business, but I cannot help but worry what that man will do next! You do realize how dangerous TestingCheats is, do you not? Or did he not have the courtesy to even explain to you what the project even is in full?"
"Well..." Jessi drawled. Something didn't feel quite right. "He did tell me that the project was in its beta stages, but that tests on animal subjects had succeeded."
"Right, on animals. Your daughter over there is the first human to ever be tested on. Carlos is equating your children to animal subjects."
"I don't think..." She sighed, adjusting her glasses. "Look, Julian, what Carlos did isn't right, and I'm not going to excuse it. The minute I find him, we're going to have a talk. But I know that his heart is in the right place. He cares about my children and, dare I say it, cares more about them than you seem to." Julian pretended to not hear the last bit. She smiled, turning around and motioning toward the living room. "See, now look over there."
It had taken him a minute to get over his initial shock - evidently, Jessi and the affected child were not the only members of the household given the news on Marine's condition - but Neptune finally accepted that the teenager in front of him was his sister. The two immediately launched into age-appropriate conversation, including new sketches for prank-pulling and plans to hijack an abandoned boat in the harbor, just for a day. Jessi concealed her reaction to the last bit and decided to have a conversation with the twins right after her conversation with Carlos, only focusing on the beauty of the moment.
"Now, see, how could I hate that? He's fixing the family, Julian. Preventing their futures from being cut short. I couldn't be mad at that."
He smirked. "And I assume that knowing that he had to either bribe or steal his way to get a device to run these TestingCheats doesn't bother you?"
"It's a bit unsavory, but you can't argue with the results."
"Fair enough, fair enough."
The two gawked at one another in awkward silence for a minute. Jessi was self-consciously aware of her skimpy pajamas.
"Well," Julian finally said, "I have some information that I simply must record. Be seeing you."
What a weird man. Jessi wished that she could kick him out while still keeping Carlos around. Speaking of the savory scientist, she decided to poke around the home for a bit until she could find him. Eventually, her search took her to the backyard, where she found the full grown man enjoying himself just as much as the children on the family swingset.
Obviously, she was not the only one who had not bothered changing out of their pajamas. It kind of made her feel better about herself.
"I wouldn't swing too hard, if I were you." Jessi grinned, waving over to him. "That thing's been around since I was a child here."
"Oh? Any bad falls?" He sounded genuinely interested.
"Once, when I was seven. It was a twisted ankle. It was a real close call, any worse of a fall and we would have had to call an ambulance. Which was a problem because, you know, paparazzi, tabloids, nosy scientists like you," she teased.
"Guess I better get off this thing, then, huh? It wasn't really made for a man of my age, anyway."
He stood in front of Jessi, all smiles. It made telling him off more difficult of a task than Jessi had wanted it to be. The man was too charming for his own good. Before she could open her mouth, Carlos raised a hand.
"Now, I know what you're about to say. And what I did was really crumby. Well, no, actually, that's a complete understatement. I was completely out of bounds aging up Marine with my TestingCheats device, especially since she's a minor. And if you want to kick me out of the house, I deserve it. I'm sorry."
She frowned, crossing her arms. "Sorry doesn't even begin to cover it, buddy. You promised me that you would ask me before testing any children that weren't teenage males, and you broke it multiple times." Carlos pouted, sure of what was coming next.
"However..." Jessi smiled.
"My kids are happy. Everything is starting to look like
it might work out in the long run. And with your little device, well, maybe we
can stop my kids from prematurely aging up, or the other way around. At least, that's my understanding from what you told me. It'll take
a little while for me to fully trust you again, but honestly? At this point, I
don't know if I could imagine this household without you."
"Wow, that's..." He stammered and stumbled, unsure of how to thank this Goddess of Forgiveness. "That's extremely kind of you. I don't even know how to repay you."
"Just keep taking care of my family. You do a lot more than Julian does."
He laughed. "Well, let's just say that Julian has his own...style. Say, do you know where he is? I need to look at his notes for something. If he even lets me."
"Upstairs recording information or something? That's what he told me anyway."
Suddenly, Carlos broke into loud, inappropriate laughter. Jessi nervously laughed along, not so sure what was so funny. "Do you want to know what he's probably, actually doing up in his room?"
Jessi cocked her head. "Uh, do I want to know?" She wasn't sure how appropriate the following story was going to be. At least none of the kids were around.
"Tattling."
"I'm confused."
"Oh, he's probably trying to get me fired right about now. Telling the professor how I bribed the scientists back at the lab to mail me the device. What a laugh!"
"Wait, what?" She had just finished telling him how important he was to the family! And now he ran the risk of being dismissed? "Why is that so funny?" she demanded.
"Because I already told the professor how I bribed the scientists back at the lab to mail me the device."
Well, he might be charming, but his sense of humor needed work. "And how did he react?"
"Oh, he's pretty angry. But once I told him this morning that it successfully worked in solving your little dilemma with Marine, paired with the fact that I discovered a brand new, scientific anomaly..."
Jessi didn't quite know how to react to her daughter being called an anomaly, and chose to not address it. "So you'll be sticking around?"
"Like glue!"
Gracious Goddess, he was a cutie. But she couldn't get any of those types of thoughts, not right now.
"Well, here's to your next set of children!" he cheered.
"Mm, you're right. I guess I'll need to find a father soon."
He looked at her, confused. "Uh, aren't you carrying your next set of children already?"
"What?" she said groggily. Extended conversation seemed to be taking its toll on her.
"Yeah, with that pink guy. Roger Candy, I think?"
Oh. Now she remembered. The guy who wouldn't stop yabbering about his mother in law. God, she needed a good rest.
"Well," she yawned, "thanks for the talk. I should probably get back to, er, working."
As she trailed off, Carlos smiled. Because among the early morning sun and the chirping birds, the angry yells of Julian Georges could be clearly heard.
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