On the contrary, Jessica's long silence had been borne more from a hope that her brother had matured, perhaps even enough to reconcile, at least a little, with Sophia while she was gone, but that was ultimately just a fantasy. She'd known it had been a risk, but she'd taken in anyway, and it certainly wasn't as if she hadn't missed him. She felt guilty now, as she saw the anger cloud his face, but even then she could remind herself that, as bad as this was, he'd hurt her worse. Not now, not today, but in the past...
She braced herself for a temper tantrum, but was a bit surprised and impressed when she saw his form relax. The lights were annoying, though. She glanced up at them, puzzled, as he was speaking. "Well you know," Jessica said lightly, her playful smile returning to her lips, "I may go gallivanting off to Brazil for kicks, but it's not like you don't know how to get in trouble right here at home."
She watched him cross the room and retrieve his bottle of water when a thought struck her. "Oh, don't drink that." She said suddenly, scampering back into the living room for a moment and returning with a freshly opened bottle of Salton Talento 2004. "You didn't really think I'd come back from Brazil without a present or twelve for you, did you?" She set the bottle on the bar and reached for his water. "Gimme that."
Reassuming her nonchalant leaning position, she listened with interest to her brother's report. "Ah yes, your little pet project." She said, nodding. "That sounds more than a little risky. Do you really expect to get any volunteers?" She realized she'd have a lot of news to catch up on in that front. The media's grip seemed only to tighten, and no one seemed to be handling the news of the existence of the Supers very well. Except, curiously, for her brother and Edward. There were a few others, of course, but in her circle of friends there didn't seem to be many pro-Supers, and she'd always found it interesting that her brother was such a notable exception.