章 53: Coffee Talk
-Downtown Manhattan, New York-
-February 18, 2009, 1600h local-
"Come on. You fought in a Russian Underground fighting rink. This isn't that different..." Jessica said to herself while walking back and forth in front of a Starbucks. She had no idea why she was more nervous about the prospect of talking with her adoptive sister than going into a barfight. "You're being stupid. Just go in there and talk to her." She whispered.
Jessica was debating with herself if she should just cancel the whole impromptu meeting with her sister when the choice was taken away from her.
"Jess!" A voice suddenly called her name from behind her. When Jessica turned around, she saw a woman walking towards her.
The woman's name is Patricia Walker or simply Trish, though she called herself Patsy before her whole image change. She's a 5'8 caucasian woman with blonde hair and green eyes. She is currently wearing a brown coat with what's more than likely a dress underneath and stiletto heels. No one could deny her beautiful face and sexy figure.
Trish was a talented individual who quickly became a young star. And just like other young stars, the newly found freedom and pressure of her profession caused her life to go down the drain. Even at Jessica's lowest point in her life, she didn't reach Trish's level.
The last time Jessica even saw her sister, was at a club when she stopped Trish from having a one night stand with the drug-dealing owner. Trish voluntarily entered into rehab after that incident. The adoptive siblings hadn't seen each other for more than three years though Jessica still kept track of Trish's whereabouts.
Trish was able to turn her life around and is now working as a producer at a radio station.
Jessica stood frozen for a few moments, studying how healthy her sister looked compared to when she last saw her. After she snapped out of her stupor, she walked towards Trish and gave her a quick hug.
This time, it was Trish who was shocked since for as long as she had known Jessica, she had never initiated a hug or any other sign of physical affection. The most she would do was pat someone on the shoulder. It looked like she wasn't the only one who changed in the past three years.
Trish decided not to point this out cause this may cause Jessica to clam up. She instead hugged her tightly.
"Let's get inside and warm up..." Trish suggested when they separated. Jessica nodded weakly before the pair entered the coffee shop. "You still want the same thing?" She asked, to which Jessica nodded again. "Okay. I'll order for us. Just find a seat." Jessica nodded again before walking away.
Trish was surprised again. Jessica prides herself as a strong independent woman and wouldn't take any form of charity from anyone. Jessica would always insist on buying her drink and even paying for her guest. Whatever caused her to change this much must be something huge. Or it could all just be a side effect of whatever distressed her enough to call an essentially estranged sister.
Jessica, on the other hand, was sitting on a table staring at nowhere in particular. Her brain was working in overdrive. The talk she had with Natasha really messed up her mind. So much so that she didn't notice Trish sitting in front of her until Trish practically shoved the coffee up her nose.
"Latte with two pumps of caramel and a cream cheese bagel." Trish said with a smile.
"Thanks..." Jessica said as she took the coffee and bagel. She took a sip of the coffee before looking back to Trish. "So, how are you? I heard you got a job with WNEX." She asked. Of course, she already knew a lot about Trish's life, including that little piece of information, but it's better to start with some small talk.
"Good to know you're still checking up on me..." Trish commented with a teasing grin, though Jessica only gave her a raised eyebrow. "Yup. Got a job as a production assistant a year and a half ago. Worked my way up to a producer. Although, I just heard that I'd be able to get my own show that I'll host." She explained.
"That's awesome..." Jessica genuinely said. "What are you going to do with your show?"
"Hmm. Not sure yet, but I'm going to pitch a talk show about helping other people..." Trish answered. "I might not be a superhero, but I might be able to help other people. I say it's still a dream come true..." She continued, referring both to Jessica's abilities and her childhood dream about being a superhero. "But enough about all of that. Let's get to the reason why you called me..." She said a lot more seriously. "Don't get me wrong. I love that you called me, but you're obviously dying to talk about what's on your mind." She finished.
Jessica released a deep sigh after Trish's statement. She called Trish to talk about her unique situation, but she didn't want Trish to think she was just using her. There was also the fact that she didn't really want to talk about her strange relationship with her roommates. After a few moments of thinking, she finally decided to tackle the topic head-on.
"How open-minded are you?" Jessica asked with a soft voice.
Trish raised an eyebrow and looked at Jessica like she was asking a stupid question.
"You already know the answer to that. With my history, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to think any less of people for what they do." Trish explained.
"Well, what do you think about joining a threesome?"
"That's pretty low on the list. That's something a lot of people experience in college..." Trish commented. "I'm pretty sure I did a lot more than a threesome." She half-jokingly added.
Jessica took a bite of the bagel and a sip of her coffee. She noted that the coffee was just increasing her nervousness.
"How stupid is this coffee idea? We should just have gone to a bar..." Jessica mused, causing Trish to release a light chuckle. "Ugh. I can't tell you the whole thing! We would go to prison the moment I blurt it out."
Trish was surprised at Jessica's assertion. How does a threesome cause someone to go into prison?
"You should start with what you can tell me." Trish suggested. Jessica nodded, seeing that was the only reasonable thing she could do.
"So, I found a guy who has a... stronger version of my condition..." Jessica started, referring to her superhuman strength and durability. "I now know for a fact that there are a lot of people like me, and there's an organization that monitors all of us. I can't tell you more about them, though. They're listening in on us right now..." Trish suddenly turned a little paranoid, looking around, trying to find something amiss, but she couldn't find anything. "The guy in the red hoodie behind you and the chick in the dress to my left. There's also the beige SUV parked outside. Don't look at them." Jessica pointed out. Living with Naruto and Natasha honed her already impressive observation skills. It also helped with the lessons they taught about espionage, self-defense, and intuitive thinking.
"Fuck. You're under surveillance?" Trish asked disbelievingly.
"Not all the time. They don't surveil me at home, and they don't use audio surveillance. Think of it as protecting me from anyone that might take an interest since that's how they do it with non-violent individuals..." Jessica retorted, shrugging off Trish's concern. "But never mind about that, the guy I'm talking about has a girlfriend. They were serious but not together long before I came into the picture... or was pulled into the mayhem."
"Were? How long ago was this?" Trish asked.
"More than a year and a half ago, I think..." Jessica answered. "The girlfriend was my neighbor that had moved into the building a year before all this, and the guy has a weird living arrangement that caused him to stay at my neighbor's apartment most of the time. The whole building knew when he was there."
"Why? Does he cause trouble or something?"
"No, not really..." Jessica said sheepishly. "It's just when he and my neighbor had sex. You could hear my neighbor moaning to kingdom come. And since he's a super, you could feel the building shake..." She explained. "I'm not even sure how Nat survived." She whispered to herself, but Trish heard it all the same.
"So your neighbor's name is Nat. You might as well spill the name of the guy." Trish reasoned.
Jessica released a sigh. The name Naruto isn't as common as Nat here in the states. Trish could easily find Naruto through her connections.
"I can give you an alias of his. Some people call him Nathan." Jessica said.
"Wow. An alias, huh? What is he, a spy?" Trish asked rhetorically with a teasing grin.
"No. Not him. Nat is..." Jessica retorted, leaving Trish slackjawed. "They have a weird romance, and I can't get into that now..." She added. "Anyway, Nat basically tapped out against Nathan in bed, so she pulled me in."
"And of course you said yes."
"Yup, and it has continued up until now."
"What happened?" Trish asked.
"Nat asked me if I would like to enter a... more permanent relationship." Jessica answered, not really sure how to phrase it.
"She would leave Nathan to be with you?" Trish inquired for clarification.
Jessica slammed her head at the table. She was stressing over how hard it was to explain her situation.
"No. No. It's a menage a trois type deal."
"And it was this Nat that asked you? Nathan didn't pressure her in any way whatsoever?" Trish questioned to be sure.
"No way. Nat practically forced Nar... Nathan to accept the arrangement. And when Nat asked me this afternoon, Nathan has been AWOL for at least three days." Jessica explained, glossing over her almost slip up.
"Don't get me wrong, but is he gay or something?"
"Oh. That's a definite no." Jessica replied, while her cheeks reddened.
"That's right. He's basically a beast in bed if he can keep up with you..." Trish teased before going back to the topic. "If you're okay with the arrangement and you like at least one of them, why not?" She suggested. "You like at least one of them, don't you?" Jessica shyly nodded. "It's the guy, right?" Jessica nodded again. "Then what's the problem?"
Jessica took a moment to think. If she was honest with herself, she was ready to accept Natasha's offer, but when she heard about Nat's plan for the future, it caused her to think twice.
"Nathan has a weird lineage..." Jessica started. "He came from an isolated place where he's basically a member of royalty. Because he's the last surviving member, he's expected to have multiple wives..." She explained. "There's an even bigger problem that would cause most people to back away, but I can say that if I don't change, I'll be left behind. Although I can still join whether I change or not." She finished, thinking about Naruto's immortality and Natasha's plan to join in the future.
"Is that change good or bad?" Trish asked. She was not one of those people who advocates not to change for anyone since she knows that not all changes were bad.
"Best I can say is that if everyone in the world were offered the choice, it would be a 50/50 split." Jessica answered. Immortality is one of those divisive topics.
"What the hell? Why can't you just tell me?"
"Because either you won't believe me or everything you know about how the universe works would be turned upside down." Jessica replied.
"Aren't you exaggerating this just a little bit, Jess?"
"Hahaha. I'm not exaggerating at all."
"Well, fuck..." Trish commented. "I don't know what to tell you, Jess. I think you're the first person ever to experience this kind of problem..." She said with a sigh. The first time she saw her sister again, and Jessica decided to bring in a major headache. If every one of her future callers asked her about problems like this, she would probably just quit. "All I can say is do what you think you want and deal with the consequence later. You don't have to decide anything for now either. It doesn't seem like they're forcing you."
Jessica listened to what Trish said and arrived at one inescapable fact.
"Ugh. You're useless. That's what I was thinking too." Jessica replied with a groan before dropping her head onto the table.
-Natasha's Safehouse, New York-
-February 18, 2009, 2100h local-
"Good to be home!" Naruto exclaimed as soon as he got into the apartment.
Naruto had a pretty long week. Between babysitting Tony and distracting Morgan, he barely had time to check on Nat and Jessica to make sure they were okay.
After the Limo got to Tony's downtown apartment, they noticed that Phil wasn't following them. Naruto surmised that Phil was called in by Fury to prevent Phil from spilling anything.
Tony and Pepper tried to pump Naruto about SHIELD, but he just brushed everything off and told them he would answer questions some other time.
Naruto went straight inside Tony's apartment before flopping on the couch. Tony and Pepper discussed a lot of topics that took them hours to finish. It included Yinsen's 'job interview,' Frank's payment, some small talk with Rhodey, and a whole range of topics. Morgan eventually woke up, so he relegated himself with babysitting duty. Adulting isn't really his thing.
When Naruto noticed the conversation winding down, he silently said goodbye to Morgan before placing his hand on Frank and promptly disappearing, surprising everyone. Naruto dropped off Frank to the nearest Hiraishin mark near Frank's house before quickly disappearing again. He just didn't have enough energy to do anything else but to cuddle with Natasha and bond with Jessica.
"Nat, Jess. Anyone home?" Naruto loudly asked through the apartment. He tries to only use his worldwide sensing ability for long periods unless he's specifically looking for someone. Being able to sense anything in the world takes away all the fun in life and was just plain creepy.
When no one answered, he immediately activated his sensing ability as well as his Shinigan in worry.
Weirdly enough, he found Natasha in her dance studio at an old warehouse he renovated for her to support Natasha's love for ballet. But due to Nat's hectic schedule, she only does it when she's stressed and worried. Even her negligible chakra reflected her mood. On the other hand, Jessica was walking around Central Park. Her chakra was also turbulent, showing her more than probably chaotic feelings and thoughts, although it was slowly ebbing away.
Both of them having chaotic chakra signatures couldn't be a coincidence. Something probably happened between the two. Seeing that Natasha was in a secured area, he decided to Hiraishin towards Jessica, who was coincidentally sitting underneath one of his accidental 'Hiraishin Gate Trees.'
After Jessica left from her impromptu meeting with Trish, she wasn't any closer to finding a solution to her headache. She decided to take a long walk around the city, eventually working her way towards Central Park when it became dark.
As Jessica was walking around, she came across a cherry blossom tree. Although it was weird to see a cherry blossom so far away from the rest, she just brushed it off, sitting on a bench next to the tree. Somehow, this particular cherry blossom tree was calming her down. Something about it seemed familiar to her.
Jessica's peace and serenity didn't last long, though.
"What you thinking about?" Naruto asked after suddenly appearing next to Jessica. She was naturally shocked by his appearance, causing her to almost jump high up into the air.
"Naruto! What the hell!? When did you get back?" Jessica rapidly asked after calming herself down. She long gave up on trying to rid Naruto of that particular nasty habit of his.
"I got home a few minutes ago to an empty apartment. Naturally, I was worried since I know you guys were home this afternoon. That's why I tried to find you two. I immediately knew something was wrong when Natasha was doing ballet. Your chaotic chakra signature just proved my point..." Naruto answered before invading Jessica's personal space, causing her to lean back. She also pulled up her scarf to hide her reddening cheeks. "So, tell me, Jess. What happened?"
Jessica should have expected the question. Naruto was a straightforward guy who would always choose to barrel through a problem than think about it for too long. She must've remained stationary for too long since Naruto was already starting to poke her cheeks like a kid.
"You okay, Jess?" Naruto asked, unconsciously flashing his puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah. Yeah..." Jessica replied with a shake of her head before releasing a sigh. "I can't tell you what happened. Nat said some stuff that shook me up, that's all." She explained.
"Can't tell me, huh? That just makes me want to know about it more..." Naruto teased. "But I'm going to let it slide for now. Although, I need you ladies to talk it out. Your stress levels are off the roof. Good thing yours is going down."
"Yeah. I just felt calmer when I got near this tree..." Jessica replied. "You just had to break the peace." She continued cheekily.
Naruto released a pure bellied laugh. When he calmed down, he turned his head around towards the cherry blossom tree.
"You do know that this is one of my trees?" Naruto asked.
"Your tree?" Jessica asked, confused by his statement.
"Yup..." Naruto said. "This tree is one of the accidental physical manifestations of my dimensional anchors. I didn't even know the flash of light that happened along with the trees when I arrived. I only found out about it while I was traveling..." He explained. "So it's my tree. It absorbs a whole lot of nature chakra and releases some in a controlled manner. That's probably why you feel calm."
Jessica finally had the reason for the really weird calming feeling.
"I should've gone to Central Park sooner if it's like this." Jessica commented.
"It probably wouldn't have worked before..." Naruto retorted. "If this affected everybody, we would see people everywhere. Only you and Nat should be affected because you both experienced nature chakra from me..." He continued. "Anyway, want me to bring you to Nat, or should I just leave?" He asked.
Jessica thought about it for a moment. She hated that she couldn't seem to make a straightforward decision even after all the time she that she had spent thinking about it.
"Let's just get this over with." Jessica replied, which Naruto understood. He reached for Jessica's hand before disappearing.
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