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okay. okay. so i know you’re probably thinking “that’s gross! they’re related!!” but they’re not. at all. they’re both adopted (or at least niki is, i can’t remember 100% about jessica), which is obviously set up by linderman, since in the hard part, d.l. and jessica find all of those photos and realize that their entire lives (hal adopting niki, their abilities, d.l. and niki meeting and getting married) has been planned from the beginning.

they find family photos and photos from their childhoods. and they also find this picture of niki and jessica as children. throughout the series it’s confusing whether or not they were twins since they’re both in niki’s body, but that picture shows they obviously weren’t, and niki was a couple of years older. jessica’s gravestone lists her as being born in 1976, while niki’s birth certificate states she was born in 1974. so though the show is misleading, they’re not twins, and they have absolutely no biological relation.

hal accidentally kills jessica as a child and covers it up, and this is where it gets interesting. as she grows up, niki grows to resent him, but she resents him for being neglectful. not for the fact he’s an alcoholic. in fact, in six months ago, she doesn’t even know what he’s talking about, and as he tries to say he’s sorry for being a bad father, she says something about how he couldn’t be a bad father because he wasn’t even there. nothing about drinking. just about his lack of presence.

later in that episode, it’s revealed that jessica spent her entire life protecting niki. which is extremely interesting. she would take over whenever hal was drunk, and niki would be none the wiser. but she was also a child, which means that jessica’s super strength must have manifested really early on since he never managed to kill or hurt niki like he had so easily with jessica.

they were purposefully placed together by linderman, so it’s logical to think that maybe jessica had been injected with an ability too. @tcylorswft and i have a theory that it was some sort of possession ability, so rather than an alter ego, the jessica sanders in niki’s head is some distorted, angry, protective version of the little kid who died back in 1987.

so ever since then, she’s been protecting niki. from hal. from everyone else. she kills people, yeah. she framed d.l., yeah, but if you read the comics (which i can’t link to right now bc the stupid site is down), she takes d.l.’s place to keep linderman off their case, and only kills his crew for pulling guns on her for saying she’s going to use the money they’ve just stolen to pay for micah’s tuition.

she does it in a really murderous, violent way, but man, she does absolutely everything for niki. when she slams hal against the wall and snarls in his face “someone had to be there to protect her. i took every punch so that she wouldn’t have to,” that’s what sold me. because to spend years taking endless abuse from the man who technically killed you just so someone else won’t have to remember it? jesus christ. and we all know niki isn’t really strong enough to do any of this shit on her own.

i don’t even really think it’s a mutual thing. i think niki is still clinging to her sanity, and to her relationship with d.l. even though micah is the only healthy part about it. but i honestly can’t see any sort of motivation for jessica accept this possessive, almost obsessive love for niki sanders.

a few other examples:

when linderman’s thugs try to rape niki at the end of gensis, jessica immediately takes over and kills them so they can’t hurt her.
in collision, niki wimps out of fucking nathan, and when she leaves and one of linderman’s men threatens her life, jessica takes over, makes him fear for his existence, and goes through with the sex to 1. keep niki from personally having to experience it and 2. to hold their end of the deal rather than owe linderman even more.
for whatever reason, jessica doesn’t like d.l.. at all. and obviously, deep down, niki doesn’t either, since she’s so quick to believe him to be a murderer and was extremely uncomfortable when he returned home and grabbed her (because this and this are TOTALLY how you greet your loving husband). so when he takes micah at the end of better halves, niki asks her to take over, and in nothing to hide, jessica sets off to find micah and get rid of d.l..
in fallout, at this point it’s obvious jessica is still much stronger, and niki does not have the power to take back over when jessica is in control. but as soon as jessica accidentally hurts micah, she snaps niki back into power IMMEDIATELY.
jessica calls micah “our son” (as in hers and niki’s), several times (especially during the mirror scene in better halves). like how gay can you get
niki turns them in and gets them put in jail because she’s too guilty, and jessica ends up injuring guards and a psychologist. the latter happens in distractions, and it’s interesting, because jessica refuses to manifest until niki starts to get emotional about their childhood.
since they still owe linderman for 1. the money and 2. getting them out of prison, jessica takes on jobs as a hitwoman. which niki disagrees with, even though jessica makes it very clear it’s for niki’s own safety (and is obviously hurt in run! when niki gets really angry with her)
in .07% jessica firmly defends her behavior as protecting “her” son (claiming him as her own and as the not-present niki’s, once again). d.l. refuses to believe she’s anything but negative and evil, but when linderman later asks her to use micah’s ability, jessica emphatically refuses even though she knows the consequences.
in the hard part, after linderman takes micah and d.l. leaves on his own to find him, niki appears in the mirror and begs jessica to go with d.l. so he doesn’t die. jessica’s hard anger fades immediately, and even though she’s made it clear she hates him, and has even tried to kill him herself, her demeanor changes and she goes with d.l. just because niki asked her to.
in landslide, linderman offers jessica a massive sum of money in return for her killing d.l., pointing out she and niki and micah could go somewhere far away with it. jessica seriously considers, but knows she cannot hurt niki like that, so to avoid any temptation at all, she willingly lets niki take over again. this also really hurts me, because it feels like this is when she gives up? like she’s done everything, EVERYTHING for niki, even if it hasn’t been in the best, least violent way. and she had niki on her side for ONCE in better halves. then all of that changed, and niki never trusted her again. and honestly i think that’s probably why she was such a bitch when they were in prison. because niki had taken back that trust and turned them in and returned to demonizing jessica, who had PROTECTED her all this time. and that’s why in how to stop an exploding man, she gives everything over to niki and after that, we never see her again.