This was supposed to be just a drabble/oneshot thing but it ended up being seven pages so it’ll probably end up as a chapter of the actual story. But you guys get early access bc I’m a slut for attention so you’re welcome/I’m sorry.

Anyway enjoy this snapshot of Ally J trying to figure out what uncle Jed’s fucking damage is.

Allison is on her way to third period when one of the aids gets her attention. “Allison Jameson?”

Ally turns, wracking her brain to try to figure out what she’s done in the recent past that could get her in trouble, until the aid says “You’re being signed out.”

She frowns. “Why?” She wonders if there’s a doctor’s appointment or something that she forgot about.

“Just head to the office,” the aid says. He looks distracted, like he’s got somewhere else to be, so she decides to let him go and ask her mom when she sees her.

Her mom isn’t there. Instead, it’s Jedikiah, standing at the front desk. He looks up when he hears her come in, and says “there she is” to the woman behind the desk, and then approaches her.

“Allison,” he greets.

“Why are you here?” she demands.

He smiles. “Straight to the point. I like that. Actually, i just wanted to take you to lunch.”

Allison crosses her arms, shooting him an appraising look. “Really.”

“Can’t an uncle want to catch up with his niece? Until last week, I hadn’t seen you in ten years.”

This is not technically untrue, but she doubts that’s the real reason he’s here.

“How’d you sign me out? Did my mom add you as a contact?” she asks skeptically.

“Didn’t have to. You’re eighteen; as long as you don’t make a habit of missing class, you’re free to leave if you want to.”

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Allison. Come on, what teenager doesn’t want an excuse to skip class? What do you have now, math? Spanish?”

“I’m actually taking French. Not Spanish.”

“See, that’s the stuff I don’t know.”

Allison studies him for a long moment. Why is he only asking me? Not Stephen, not Luca. Suspicious.

Okay, she thinks. Worst case scenario, he tries to kidnap me. But she has powers, and he doesn’t. And even if he brings a D chip or has her ambushed by Ultra agents, she’s sure that if she were to go missing, the sketchy uncle who just came back into her life after ten years is going to be everyone’s first suspect, powers or no.

Also, he’s right; she has history next, and there’s a quiz, and being kidnapped would actually probably be better than taking that quiz, so it’s kind of a good trade-off, even without the added bonus of not having to touch the cafeteria food today.

She sighs. “Fine,” she says.

He smiles.

---

Jedikiah doesn’t do that annoying adult thing where he feels like he has to fill every moment with conversation in order to prove he can still relate to the Youths or whatever. When they first get into his car, he asks her what kind of food she likes. (She flounders. He says he knows this great Italian place. She tells him she likes Italian.) Then he tells her she can pick the radio station if she wants, and then he starts the car and falls silent.

Ally turns the radio to a pop station, and when he favorite song comes on, she relaxes a little. She absently starts mouthing the words to the song, nodding with the beat, and she doesn’t notice she’s doing it until the song is almost over.

She glances over at him, keeping her face impassive so she won’t look as embarrassed as she is. He doesn’t look at her, but there’s an amused smile tugging at his lips-not mean, though. Almost...fond.

She looks away and stares out the window for the rest of the ride.

---

Jedikiah was right; the place is good. She can tell just by the smell when they walk in. The people running this place know what they’re doing.

Having good taste in food doesn’t make Jedikiah trustworthy, but it does make him the benefactor of probably really good breadsticks, so there’s that.

The waitress seats them shortly after they walk in. Jedikiah picks up one of the menus she hands them and flips through it. “Tell me about yourself.”

Allison picks up her own menu, but studies him surreptitiously over the top of it, eyes narrowed. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. What classes are you taking?”

She glares at him for a long moment. He doesn’t break.

“I’m retaking a lot of classes from last year,” she says finally.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I failed a lot of them,” she says matter-of-factly. No shame.

Jedikiah nods. “Right, that’s right. You got held back, didn’t you?”

“Yes. And I have already been grounded for it, so don’t go there.”

He shoots her a look. She shrugs. “You’re the one trying to do the whole...concerned adult figure thing,” she says, waving a hand in her direction. “Just thought you should know.”

Jedikiah scoffs and looks back at the menu. “I’m not your father, Allison.”

“Didn’t say you were.” She studies him.

“And in any case, I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you should be grounded for anyway.”

This genuinely takes her off guard; she raises an eyebrow curiously. He glances up at her, and then sets the menu down, giving her his full attention.

“Before last year, you were an AP student. Varsity cheerleader, yearbook, and student council. Then first semester of Senior year-your first senior year-you dropped yearbook and student council and switched back to non-AP classes. Second semester, your grades plummeted, you quit cheerleading, and if I recall correctly, set off a fire alarm in the middle of lunch.”

“Are you stalking me or something?”

“Ultra does background checks on all of our agents.”

Sounds legitimate. “Okay, so, what’s your point?”

“My point is, not a lot of sisters would give up what you did just to make sure they could keep an eye on their little brother.”

She bites the inside of her cheek, hard. No one else, no one, has managed to figure out why she flunked out last year. Not her friends, not her teachers. Not her mom, not Luca, not even Stephen himself.

No one, except Jedikiah-Jedikiah, who by his own admission doesn’t know her, who wasn’t even there.

He says it so nonchalantly-he’s looking at his menu again now-does he know the way her gut is twisting? She’s never trusted him, but she’s never felt so unsettled by him as she does now.

Finally, she shrugs, and looks down. “I guess,” she mumbles.

Jedikiah doesn’t press the issue, thankfully. “So I hear you’re back on the yearbook now.”

“Yeah.”

“No more cheerleading?”

“No more questions,” she snaps. Even she’s surprised-probably moreso than he is. She’s still on edge from Jedikiah figuring out her secret, she supposes; she’s digging her nails into her thighs and she feels like she has been for awhile, just hasn’t noticed, like she didn’t notice lip-syncing the song in the car.

Still, there’s something gratifying about seeing Jedikiah surprised for once. It’s subtle-he’s trying not to tip his hand, and she has the feeling that he’s been living like that for a long time-but his eyes widen, his brows raise for a split second, and she can tell he’s been caught off guard. It’s nice to know that’s possible at all, anyway.

She bites the inside of her lip again, and then sighs. “Sorry. Just.” She doesn’t actually know what to say, what excuse to give, because she’s actually not sorry. Regretful, maybe-she tries not to let people under her skin like that-but not actually guilty. Quite the opposite, actually-she feels completely justified.

“Let me ask you a question,” she says finally. “We’ll...take turns, I guess.”

He watches her, considering this. Finally, he nods, and leans back in his seat. “Quid pro quo, Clarice,” he says with a flourish, and despite herself, she has to bite back a smile at the reference.

She sits up a little taller, trying to decide what to say. She doesn’t bother asking him to promise to tell the truth; even if he does, she’ll still be weighing his answers individually as she decides whether or not to believe him.

Finally: “Why’d you and my dad fall out?”

He watches her, and for a second he looks...not unsettled, but pensive. Very far away. Then the light in his eyes seems to snap back to the present. “Disagreements at Ultra,” he says. “Keep that in mind, Allison. Never mix business with family.”

“Then why are you working with me and Stephen?”

“That’s another question. I think it’s my turn.”

She sighs. “Fine. Get on with it, Hannibal.”

His lips quirk in a smile. “Why yearbook and not cheerleading?”

The waitress comes then, and asks for their order. “We need more time,” Ally says without asking her uncle.

“Two waters, please,” Jedikiah adds, and then looks back at Allison expectantly.

“That’s actually your doing,” Allison tells him. She’s studying him, running his question through her mind, trying to figure out why he wants to know about her school life, what he needs the information for. “I can’t work at Ultra and go to cheer practice every day. Timing issue.”

“No one’s forcing you to work at Ultra.”

“No, of course not.”

He shoots her a look, somewhere between exasperated and amused. “And if you want, I can work out a schedule change. You come in an hour later, then make up the time on off days.”

She scoffs. Yeah, I’m totally gonna let my baby brother run around with you assholes for an hour while I’m not there. “Pass, but thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs, and takes a sip of water. “Your turn.”

“Why’d you bring me here today? Really.”

“I told you. I wanted to catch up.”

“Why just me?” she asks. “Why not Stephen? Or Luca?” She knows why not Luca; Luca doesn’t have powers, he’s not a part of their world. But Jedikiah hasn’t given up the idea that this is a family thing and not an Ultra/Tomorrow People/Etc thing. Including Luca in the question might force him to acknowledge what’s really going on.

Jedikiah studies her. “Because I think you and I might have more in common than you think,” he says.

She scoffs, and turns back to her menu, but he doesn’t let it go. “No, really. Look, Stephen...great kid. Compassionate. Maybe a little too compassionate. Too invested in playing the hero.”

Allison bites the inside of her cheek. Her gut is twisting again. She knows that Jedikiah can’t read minds, she knows it, but the way he’s taking her exact thoughts, her fears, and saying them out loud, she almost wonders if he can.

“And?”

Jedikiah studies her. “What are you invested in, Allison?”

She studies him, trying to decide which card to play, running through consequences of different answers. Finally, she decides maybe this is one of the rare moments that the truth is most prudent.

“I just want to keep my family safe,” she says. There’s something menacing in her voice. “And I’m willing to go a lot further than failing a grade to make it happen.”

He nods. “See? We have that in common. That’s all I want, too-that’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Jed’s still got his poker face on, still calm, but there’s something fanatical in his eyes.

She gives him that look again, the skeptical ‘do-you-really-expect-me-to-believe-that’ look, but something in the back of her mind almost wonders if there’s some truth here, if they really do have this one thing in common. Maybe that’s how he knew why she flunked out. Maybe it’s what he would do.

Or maybe she’s just paranoid, and trying to find an explanation. Either way, it’s not something she’s putting any chips on any time soon.

He leans back in his chair. “You’ll see. In time, you’ll see.”

She keeps giving him that look, and then shakes her head. “You didn’t answer my question. No bullshit, you didn’t invite me here because you wanna bond over how dumb my brother is.”

Jedikiah sighs. “I just wanted you to know that I know it must be hard, watching Stephen throw himself so recklessly into danger. And if you ever have any...concerns, you can come to me.”

She scoffs.

“I’m serious. Your and Stephen’s safety is a priority to me. I know you don’t see me as family-that’s fair, I haven’t been in your life for ten years. So see me as a concerned employer. I’m not asking you to trust me. Just that you don’t see me as the enemy.”

Allison considers this. He’s right-she doesn’t trust him. He’s obviously trying to build a rapport, but she doesn’t doubt he has an ulterior motive for doing so. Still, if he’s trying to use her-and she might not know how or why, but she’s sure that he is, or at least will-there’s no reason she can’t use him, if she needs to.

She files Jedikiah in her head as a potential resource, an arrow in her quiver full of everything she’s done and everything she will do to protect her family. And then she nods.

“Okay,” she says. “Your turn.”

He smiles, and picks up his menu. “My question is...what are you having? I’m thinking chicken parm.”