Work Text:
Penny rang the doorbell of the Jackson home, adjusting her knitting bag on her shoulder. Her feet were hurting--she'd ended up standing up for most of the train ride from Mulberry Wood to Southwest London. She was beginning to wonder if she should've asked Jade to teleport her there instead.
The door swung inward, revealing a smiling black woman with natural curls and a calmer version of Ami's exuberance. "Come in, come in. Bill just called, he's running late."
"At least he remembered to call." Penny couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't have just talked on the phone.
When Penny had called Siti Jackson for advice, Siti had immediately suggested that Penny come over. "That way we can pull in Bill too. Do you crochet? We could have a crochet circle."
Penny's head had spun at the non-sequitur. "I knit actually."
"That'll work. Bill is late a lot; we might want something to pass the time while we wait for his input."
Penny had been gobsmacked, both at her insistence on Bill's inclusion and her tolerance for his being late. Siti was certainly dismissive of his lateness now. Did she not realize that Penny had just spent over an hour on the train?
"I'm pretty sure that his ability to call is the only reason that man still has a marriage." Siti led Penny into the sitting room.
Penny took in the decorating--it was pretty cozy: floral curtains, a sectional sofa bathed in late afternoon sunlight, and two large arm chairs surrounding a coffee table. A TV stand was tucked into the corner of the room near the windows. There was a VCR on top of the TV and shelves containing rows of video tapes underneath.
"Have a seat," Siti offered. She sat in a squishy armchair, leaning forward to the coffee table. "Tea?"
As if on cue, the blue electric kettle started to whistle.
"Yes, please. Milk and two sugars." Penny resisted the urge to plop down on the couch like Jade often did; instead she sat carefully on the corner of the tan sectional where the sunshine filtering through the windows could warm her face.
"I'll go grab the milk; be back in a tick."
Penny couldn't help but feel guilty that Siti was going to so much trouble for something that could have been a phone call. Especially since the way Megabyte talked sometimes, Bill might be hours yet and the trains only ran so late.
Siti picked up a teacup from a matched set on the coffee table, milk in hand. "Say when."
Once they were both settled in with a cup of tea, Penny decided it was time to get to the heart of things, Bill or no Bill. "I don't know what to do with Jade. I never know where she is these days. Home late from school, up early--half the time I don't even know if I should expect her for dinner. I've talked to her about it loads of times, but she can't be convinced to leave a note. This week she disappeared in the middle of the night."
"Tuesday early morning?" Siti picked up another mug. "Ami left me a note; apparently Lisa tripped over a plot involving a physics professor at her local university. She tried to explain it to me but it was a little out of my range of expertise."
Penny sighed. "Jade didn't even do me that courtesy. I'd ground her, but the last time I tried it she went to her room and then disappeared off to the tropics. I've put her on dish duty for a week, but it seems light compared to the offense. I can't seem to convince her that just because she's a Tomorrow Person that doesn't make her grown up yet. I'm not sure if this is Jade not being responsible or me not understanding what her life is like now."
"It might be a little bit of both. I'll be honest, it was very hard for me when Ami first broke out; we spent an entire car ride from Mulberry Wood arguing up one side and down the other and I even tried to forbid her from even being a Tomorrow Person. I finally had to relent because there was a girl about her age in trouble; once that crisis was over we had a discussion about how I always needed to know where she was." Siti picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and began to cast on stitches.
Penny decided to take that as a cue, set down her own teacup and picked up the hat that she was knitting. "That's what I keep telling Jade, but I can't seem to get through to her. It's like talking to a brick wall."
"The next time she forgot to tell me she was going, I hugged her, told her how worried I was, and otherwise kicked up a fuss for five minutes and then bawled her out. Ami was meek as a kitten for a couple of days and then never pulled that nonsense again."
"Jade's worried about leaving a paper trail--Bill might've scared her a little too much."
While Penny appreciated that Jade needed to be careful--something her adventurous daughter hadn't ever been good at--scaring her to death was hardly the way to enforce that.
Siti chuckled. "Ami gave me the same excuse, so I bought a whiteboard."
Penny smiled. Why hadn't she thought about that? "That's a great idea! Jade's going to want to come up with a code though."
"Ami just left a note that Lisa needed help, which let me know that it must be pretty urgent as they pretty much never hear from her--and that it was on the other side of the globe." Siti deftly wrapped the yarn around her crochet hook as she cast on.
Penny reached her stitch marker and went digging in her knitting bag for her row counter. A tinny rendition of Greensleeves filled the room. Penny dropped her hat, the loose stitch marker going flying. "Damnit! What is that?"
"The doorbell; it must be Bill." Siti rose to get the door.
While she was gone, Penny took a deep breath, steeling herself as she retrieved the stitch marker. She still wasn't sure what to think of Bill Damon, having only met him a couple of times, and each time briefly as he was pulled away for some emergency.
"Good to see you, Penny." Bill was wearing dark jeans and a sweater; whatever had delayed him must have been last minute as his normal working attire was a suit and tie. Bill set a bakery box on the table. "Scones. To apologize for being late. What did I miss?"
"We were just discussing alternative punishments to grounding someone who can disappear from their room." Penny hoped he wouldn't ask her for the full details; she was worried about telling a government agent that she couldn't control her highly gifted daughter, even if his own son had the same abilities and by all accounts was also difficult to control.
"That's a tough one." Bill sat on a nearby chair, extending his legs with his heels resting on the floor. "I generally go for extra chores in extreme cases and embarrassing Megabyte for lesser offenses. Like when I found out that Jade had found out about the Tomorrow People, I called her his girlfriend."
"Jade wishes!" Penny finally found her row counter and clicked it harder than necessary as a punishment for disappearing. She then set it beside her. "It worries me a bit--not about Megabyte, he's a great kid, but the age difference."
"Megabyte and I had a little chat about that." Bill reached out to the coffee table, pouring himself a cup of tea. "It worried me a bit too. Turns out, the whole thing makes Megabyte a little uncomfortable."
"I wasn't aware he'd noticed--which is impressive. I love Jade, but she has the subtlety of a police car with its lights on."
"He told me he's ignoring it and hoping that Jade calms down a bit." Bill stirred sugar into his tea. "He pointed out that saving the world will probably help her put things in perspective; he's not wrong--it's amazing how much he's grown up in the last few years."
"Ami too." Mrs. Jackson sat down and picked up her crochet hook again. "They always say responsibility is good for teenagers, but I worry the whole world might be a little too much. Especially with having to keep their secret."
"Their secret getting out is the number one thing that keeps me up at night." Bill rubbed his forehead. "The number two is Megabyte taking on too much responsibility, and the third is that I spend so much time worrying about Megabyte that I'm not spending enough time worrying about Millie."
Siti snorted. "And I thought I'd have fewer worries if I had a boy. I just wish Ami's father were still with us. I have no idea what Russell would think of all this."
Penny snorted. "One of the things that keeps me up at night is Tom coming back. Jade would tell him against my better judgement and if we were really lucky he'd just try to use the Tomorrow People to make money."
"Well, you can rest easy for at least the next few years; he's in prison for fraud," Bill said.
Penny took a deep breath. This could be very bad. "Please tell me you didn't tell Jade."
Bill rubbed his forehead again. "Jade's puppy dog eyes are almost as pathetic as Millie's."
Penny knew the look; sometimes it was impossible to resist. "When was this?"
"Last week." Bill tapped the arm of his chair. "She asked me not to tell you--so I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell her that I did."
Penny closed her eyes. She had been trying to protect Jade from her father's worst behavior. "Is she going to contact him?"
Bill crossed his legs uneasily. "She said she wouldn't. She was crying through--Adam took her for ice cream."
Penny smiled. "If there's one good thing about this, it's Adam. Well, no, honestly, Ami and Megabyte too. It's kind of like Jade has three older siblings--they lead her into trouble, but keep her out of it too."
Siti snorted. "It's more like the four of them get into trouble trying to get other people out of it."
Bill reached for a scone. "Ain't that the truth."
"Speaking of Adam, why didn't you invite his parents too?" Penny set down her knitting and picked up a scone.
"I've never met them." Siti frowned, and Penny was unsure whether it was because of the knot that had just come out of her ball of yarn or her lack of knowing Adam's parents. "Adam doesn't talk about them very much."
"For starters they're in Australia and I gather Adam avoids them at all costs." Bill paused. "He lived in a tent on the island for awhile; now he lives in the spaceship."
"Do you know why he doesn't live with them?" Penny asked.
Bill shook his head. "My agency was trying to find teleporters when this whole thing started, and between our leads and Adam's name I was able to track them down. I met them very briefly and they are..." He paused. "Let's just say when he asked me if I could help him enroll in school without their signatures, I decided to help and not ask too many questions."
Siti Jackson dropped her crochet hook. "Are you telling me that a teenager actually goes to school voluntarily? Ami can get from point A to point B in the blink of an eye, but I swear she wouldn't get out of bed without me insisting every morning."
Bill chuckled. "I used to have that problem with Megabyte until one time when Hannah was out of town with Millie and I got called into the office early. He turned off his alarm and woke up after a math test. He spent the rest of the semester trying to get that grade back up."
"I'll have to consider that after Ami's A levels." Siti picked up her crochet again.
"Or let her figure it out when she gets to university and has to work out her schedule on her own." Bill's fingers dug into his half eaten scone. "Someone who wants to be trusted with dashing around the world to save it should be able to get up for school."
Penny snorted around the last bite of her scone. "Jade's been getting herself up since she could get out of bed on her own; she's a morning person, just like her father." She'd also inherited his nose for trouble; at least she was now channelling that in a more productive direction.
"I guess with everything she has on her plate..." Siti paused. "I think this is where I take a leaf out of Bill's book. 'Jade and Megabyte both get themselves out of bed without their parents' help, not to mention Adam. Why can't you?'"
"Bingo," Bill said.
Penny picked up her knitting again. "Next thing you know you'll be asking if she'd jump off a cliff if Adam and Megabyte did."
Siti laughed. "That girl would grab both of them and teleport somewhere safe and then shout their ears off. Then probably tell Bill for good measure. Ami may be willing to put her life on the line for a good cause, but she's not stupid."
"With all my lectures about keeping their powers a secret, I also remind them if they need to teleport out of trouble, we'll deal with it. Their immediate safety is more important." Bill paused. "Also, I think that old chestnut has lost its power over this generation--I've said it to Millie once or twice and she informed me it would be her idea."
"Oh dear." Siti pulled her crochet hook through a couple of loops. "You have your hands full with that one."
"That's why we put her in baton twirling and cheerleading. She's too busy to get into trouble. We sent Megabyte to computer camp and... He found trouble." Bill paused. "Then again, since he broke out, trouble found him. I wish we knew exactly what ages Tomorrow People broke out--I'll breathe easier when I know Millie's too old and I won't have two of them on my hands."
Penny winced in sympathy. "And I thought just Jade was a handful; imagine the trouble you'd have with two of them in the house!"
Siti looked up, resting her crochet hook on her lap. "Sometimes I think it should be their middle name. The Tomorrow Trouble People.'"
"Doesn't quite have the same ring to it." Bill bit his lip thoughtfully. "It's more like a tag line: 'The Tomorrow People: Finding trouble... No. More like 'If it's trouble you spot, we're there in a shot.'"
A light flashed, resolving into Adam, Ami, Megabyte, and Jade.
"It's not like we go looking for trouble on purpose, Dad." Megabyte reached for a scone but Bill batted his hand away.
Bill stood up and crossed his arms, glaring. "What trouble have you found today, Junior?"
Jade's gaze settled on Penny. "Mum, why are you here?"
Adam rested his hands on Jade's shoulders. "Are we interrupting something?"
Penny looked at her daughter sternly. "I was looking for advice on how to keep you from scaring me all the time so Siti invited me around for tea."
Jade smiled at her weakly. "Don't worry, Mum, there's a note saying I'm at Ami's; only I spelled her name wrong so someone would think it was a classmate."
"I still think we should make you a peg tracker; it would be hilarious." Megabyte plopped on the couch.
Penny laughed. "I'm going to get Jade a whiteboard so she doesn't have to worry about notes going funny places."
Jade hugged her. "Thanks, Mum!"
"That means I expect you to use it." Penny kissed the top of her head before letting go.
"Is everything all right?" Siti asked.
"Somehow Jade reached the ripe old age of 14 without seeing The Goonies so we were going to watch it." Ami went to the TV stand, grabbing a video tape. "We can go back to the Weston place so we don't disturb you."
Penny remembered that Jade had wanted to see The Goonies when it came out in theaters, but she had been 5 years old at the time and Penny thought that she was too young. Penny had always figured that Jade had caught it on TV at some point, but apparently she hadn't.
"We can move to the kitchen." Siti stood up. "I think everyone could use a refill too."
Ami looked from Bill to Penny, then back to her mother. "Are you sure you don't want us to go somewhere else, Mum?"
Siti set the tea things and box of scones onto the tea tray. "You kids just rest; I'll be happier knowing where you all are." She picked up the tea tray and cocked her head towards the kitchen while making eye contact with Penny and Bill.
Penny gathered her knitting gear into her bag and stood as well.
The adults decamped to the kitchen. Penny found that a knot in her stomach was easing. Jade was learning, and was safe amid friends.
She couldn't ask for more. No wait, yes she could.
"Bill, how risky do you think it would be to ask Jade to teleport me back to Mulberry Wood instead of taking the train?"
End