The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all related characters, etc., 
are the property of Hanna-Barbera and Turner Industries. No 
copyright infringement is intended. This story is the product of my 
own bizarre little mind and as such, please do not alter or post 
without my permission. (I'll probably give it - I just like to know 
where my stuff is!)

Tell me what you think! I love feedback - good or bad.
________

Bitter Reunions:
Chapter One



When next he woke up, it was under much better conditions.

His head no longer pounded, his eyes no longer stung and even his 
stomach had settled down and decided to behave as it should. Instead 
of a hard floor, he lay upon a soft mattress. He could smell medicine 
and disinfectants. A hospital?

He opened his eyes slowly, giving them time to adjust to the light of 
the room. Fortunately the lights were dim and through the window 
beyond his bed he could see that it was evening, the sun had long 
since set. He glanced around the room and saw that he was in a 
hospital, or something similar anyway. The walls were a clean white, 
the sheets of his bed and the curtains on the window a pale beige 
color. He himself wore a simple hospital frock - *not* the kind that 
opened in the back, thank goodness - and a think plastic bracelet was 
wrapped around his left wrist. He glanced at it just out of curiosity. It 
listed his name: Jonathon Benton Quest, his birth date: 1982 and 
known allergies: none. There was an IV in his left arm. The sight of 
the needle brought back a twinge of nausea and he glanced away 
hurriedly. *Hated* needles.

In that brief examination he'd taken in everything the room had to 
offer and was now thoroughly bored.

He'd been in hospitals before - many, many times before - and he 
knew how they worked. He also knew that the only way to get a nurse 
around when you wanted one was to either suddenly go into a life 
threatening seizure, or to harass them until they gave in out of 
desperation.

In this case, he opted for choice number two.

There was a call button beside the bed and he pressed it twice. He 
waited ten minutes, then pressed it twice once more. Ten more 
minutes, same. Repeat.

Someone answered the fourth time. A middle-aged woman with short 
brown hair and wearing the simple white shirt and slacks of a nurse's 
uniform appeared in the doorway of his room and smiled at him. 
"Finally awake? How do you feel?"

"Tired," Jonny said, surprised to realize it was true. He had the feeling 
that he'd been sleeping for a very long time already. "Hungry, too," he 
added.

"I don't doubt it at all," the nurse laughed. She came closer and Jonny 
saw that her name tag read 'Debra Hansen'. 

"Nurse Hansen?" he asked. "Why am I here? What happened? Am I 
sick?"

Nurse Hansen smiled. "First of all, call me Debra. Okay?"

"Okay. Debra."

"Second," she continued, "you're not sick. You were thrown into 
shock and your system shut down. You've been asleep for several 
days-"

"*Days?!*"

"-but you're well on the way to recovery."

"But what happened?" Jonny persisted. "Why did I go into shock? 
Where am I?"

"I'm going to let your father explain that," Debra said. "He's on his 
way here. We called him as soon as we realized you had woken up. 
As a matter of fact," she continued, "I think that's him now."

Jonny could hear the hurried footsteps coming down the hall toward 
them. Debra smiled supportively and quickly left the room, nodding 
her head slightly to whoever was outside. Then she was gone and 
another person filled the doorway.

For a long moment they just stared at each other.

"Jonny?" Dr. Benton Quest had a smile on his face that seemed out of 
proportion to the situation. What exactly had happened here?

But Jonny wasn't thinking about that right then. 

"Dad?" he asked, his voice tight and high-pitched with shock and 
confusion. "Dad - why are you so old?"
________


continued in Part 2