Gemma could still feel her heart racing in her chest as Jaime helped her out of the truck. She didn't know when they had arrived at the Reyes home, she only knew that couldn't move from the passenger seat.

She was afraid that if she did she would end up passing out somewhere on the street. As if passing out in front of Jaime Reyes and his family once wasn't embarrassing enough.

"Kid que esta pasando?" Javier questioned as he approached her, the panicked look on his face was no surprise.

Gemma didn't even know what to say. She wasn't entirely sure what the hell was happening or how to even explain it to him.

The only thing that she did know was that she didn't want him involved in any of it. This had all become too dangerous.

"Taco!" A loud scream practically echoed through the air as Cesar ran down the porch steps and towards his car. The furry and horror in his eyes was clear as he pushed past Jaime to be begging inspecting his truck. "Oh, my headlights! No! My mirrors! What the hell, man? What's wrong with you? Cabezon!"

"Come on." Jaime urged as his uncle continued to have a meltdown in front of them. He clearly wanted to get them all away from Cesar as soon as possible as he placed a hand on Gemma's shoulder guiding her into the house.

Once they were inside they all took a seat on the small dinning room table. Jaime immediately began to introduce Javier and Jenny to his family who were all waiting expectantly for Cesar to come inside.

"My tailgate!" They could here Cesar continue to yell outside followed by multiple curse words in Spanish

Suddenly there was silence before Cesar burst through the front door as he focused his rage on Jaime. "What did you do to the Taco?"

"And that... that's Rudy." Jaime finally introduced to Javier and Jenny who seemed incredibly uncomfortable.

Gemma probably would also feel uncomfortable if it wasn't for the fact that she simply couldn't get over the fact that they had been chased down the streets of Palmera City. She could still hear the gunshots ringing in her ears.

"My name's Cesar, okay?" He corrected as he began to pace throughout the kitchen. "And only my friends call me Rudy."

"I'm Jenny." She greeted with a small smile clearly uncomfortable.

"I'm Jenny." Cesar repeated mocking her tone. "Hi, Jenny."

Gemma and Jenny shared a surprised glance at each other. It was only natural for him to be upset about his truck, they just hadn't anticipated just how angry he was going to be.

"We know who you are. What are you doing here? Thinking about turning our house into a nuclear power plant?" Cesar questioned clearly still upset about his truck, but there was a lot more to his anger than just that. "I went swimming out there by where your family has that company. My testicles are seven times their normal size."

Jaime turned to Gemma clearly embarrassed as he offered her an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry about him."

"Shouldn't you be pillaging cobalt from some developing country or something, Jenny?" He continued bitterly clearly having made up his mind about Jenny just like he had with Gemma.

Not that they could entirely blame him for his distrust. Both of their families didn't have the best of reputations.

"Where is it?" Jenny questioned choosing to focus on the real issue at hand and not let Cesar's remarks get to her.

Jaime turned around about to raise his shift to show Jenny the Scarab when suddenly a shoes went flying across the kitchen missing Jaime by a couple inches.

Everyone gasped when the shoe hit the spice rack on the wall causing all the spices to crash down on the tile floor.

"Rudy!" Jaime exclaimed, anger and disbelief flashing across his face. "What? What are you doing?"

Suddenly the entire Reyes began to argue in Spanish from across the table. Normally Gemma was able to understand a good amount of Spanish, but they were all speaking so quickly that it was difficult for her to pick up most of what they were saying.

Gemma looked to Jenny who looked equally as confused as they waited for the family to stop arguing.

"I thought the chingaderas would come out." Cesar defended as he walked across the room to pick up his shoe.

"Come out?" Jaime questioned clearly annoyed and a little embarrassed by his uncle. "Jeez."

Jenny looked between Gemma and Jaime confused and waiting for some kind of explanation. "What is he talking about?"

"He's talking about this." Jaime muttered as he turned around raising the shirt up his back.

Milagros began to gag as she looked away from her brother. "Oh, I forgot how bad it looks."

Gemma had also forgotten how bad it looked and she had been studying the thing for hours. Even Jenna gasped at the sight of it, her face going pale at the realization that she had done this to him.

But she could have never expected this to happen. Her shock undoubtedly also had to do with the fact that after over a decade the Scarab had final chosen someone.

"No, it doesn't look that bad." Jaime's father said doing his best to ease and comfort his son. "You can barely see it."

"I've seen worse." Cesar commented from across the room.

"Where?" Gemma questioned truly curious but instantly regretting her words know that he might say something that would shock her. From the shift time she had known him she already knew that he tended to say things that tended to be unsettling at times.

"You don't wanna know." He replied.

"Okay, what the hell is this thing?" Jaime questioned trying to get the attention back on him and the problem at hand.

"It's... it's called the Scarab. It was given to my dad when I was a kid, um..." Jenny began clearly unsure of what to say or how to say it. There was no sugar coat in any of it, this was all a mess. "It's some kind of a world destroying weapon."

Jaime tensed as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Oh, that's nice."

Jenny's revelations caused the Reyes family to begin arguing frantically with each other in Spanish again.

Gemma knew that it was best to remain quiet and out of a family argument that she had no part of. Looking over at Javier, who had remained quiet the whole time, she wondered how she was going to convince him to go home. To stay out of all of this.

The problem was that Gemma knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't leave her. That he felt a need to protect her.

"And did you know what was gonna happen to my brother when you stuck him with this world destroying thing?" Milagros questioned the anger in her voice surprising.

"No, I swear to you, I had no idea this would happen." Jenny replied the guilt and regret clear on her face. But there was no way that she could have predicted this happening when she had given the Scarab to Jaime. "I mean, come on. My father said it can't be activated by just any person. It has to choose you. So I'm guessing it's chosen you."

"No more blind dates." Cesar muttered under his breath causing Jaime's shoulders to tense.

"Okay. So, how do we get it to un-choose me?"

"I don't know. But we better move fast, because my aunt will kill us all just to get it back."

"Kill us?" Mrs. Reyes gasped, undoubtedly fearing for her families life.

Jenny instantly realized her mistake as she covered her face with her hand for a moment looking mortified with herself. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

The Reyes family once again began talking to each other in Spanish, only this time they were panicking amongst themselves.

Though maybe it was better that they knew the severity of what was happening. At this point Gemma was now going to believe the worst of Victoria Kord. That she would be capable of killing whoever she needed to in order to get the Scarab back.

The idea of anyone in the Reyes family getting hurt was horrifying. They never should have been involved in this anyway.

Gemma could only describe them as the perfect family. From the two times she had been in their home it was clear how much they all loved each other, even when they argued and teased one another it all came from a place of love.

"I'm so sorry I put you all in this situation. I had no idea it would activate." Jenny apologized, a panicked tone settling in her own voice. "Really. I didn't know."

"That's convenient." Milagros snapped not at all satisfied with the apology.

Jaime looked between Jenny and Gemma, and his own conflicted feelings could be seen in his eyes. Out of them all he had the right to be most upset about what was happening. He should have never been involved to begin with. "But she already said she didn't know."

Milagros looked at her brother in disbelief. "She's a Kord, dude. You seriously trust her?"

"We are going to figure it out." Mr. Reyes declared, and Gemma had to admit that she admired his optimism. Normally Gemma tried to be an optimist, but something about the entire situation "We always do. Come on, we are the Reyes. We've dealt with harder things."

"We have?" Cesar questioned looking genuinely confused causing everyone to begin talking over each other again.

Nana began to scold everyone in Spanish causing them to settle down a little bit. Understandably they were all on edge, this had to be too much too process.

"Animo. We can do this." Mr. Reyes continued once a silence had settled over the room.

"Yeah. Yeah, Apa. He's right." Jaime said a new wave of optimism and hope washing over him. He turned his attention to Jenny who still had a pink flush over her cheeks from shame. "Okay, so, how are we gonna get this thing outta me?"

"You know, before it busts another hole in our house." Milagros commented bitterly, not that Gemma could blame her for being upset. In a matter of hours their lives had been changed for the worse.

"Exactly." Mrs. Reyes said undoubtedly frustrated with the current state of their home. The damages in the Reyes house were extensive and it was only another thing for Gemma and Jenny to feel guilty over.

With a sigh Jenny leaned back against her chair. There was an unreadable look on her face, one that held a lot of weight. "There's a place where we can get some answers. But we need the key."

Gemma couldn't help but feel relieved that there seemed to be an easy solution to their problem. The faster that they got the Scarab out of Jaime the faster they could all go back to their normal lives. "Where's the key?"

"At the Kord building. And they're probably on high alert over there since I took the Scarab."

"So, what are we talking about? Laser-based security system? Wide area motion imagery?" Cesar questioned rapidly and Gemma couldn't help but be surprised by his apparent knowledge on security systems. "Maybe, uh... photonic emitters?"

Jenny looked to Gemma just as surprised and confused before turning her attention back to Cesar who was impatiently waiting for her response. "I really don't..."

"Because I've been working on something that I believe can help us. And it's almost finished. If I can get the mechanical structure right. Give me a couple hours."

"Would you need and help Cesar." Gemma finally said wondering if he needed any help speeding up the process. But mostly because she was curious about what he had been working on.

"Why do you think I would need help? Just because I didn't go to fancy schools and don't have fancy degrees?" Cesar snapped, and Gemma quickly realized how she had offended him. Even if it hadn't been her intention. "Sorry we all didn't grow up using daddy's money."

"Oh no I didn't mean..."

"So no Gemma." He continued saying her name in the same mocking tone he had said Jenny's earlier." I don't need your help."

"Okay Rudy cut it out." Jaime said sounding absolutely exhausted. "You know she didn't mean it that way."

"Didn't she?"

"I'm sorry if I offended you Cesar." Gemma quickly apologized knowing that even if her intentions hadn't been cruel she had still offended him.

Gemma recognized her privilege. Having grown up wealth and in need of nothing made her life and understanding of the world very different from that of the Reyes family.

Yet she found that all that wealth and power meant nothing. That she would give it all up in a heartbeat to have grown up in a family with so much love and respect towards each other.

A/N: We're already at the halfway point of the first part of the story. We're going to start getting some more action in the next couple of chapters. Sorry you all had to wait so long for this chapter but the holidays have been so hectic and the writers block was real.