Jay

**Jay** is a character in the science fiction comedy television series *Resident Alien*. She is a 17-year-old intern working at the clinic that was headed by Sam Hodges and later by Harry Vanderspeigle. She later takes a job at Joe's Diner after discovering that Asta Twelvetrees, one of the nurses of the clinic, is her biological mother. She is portrayed by Kaylayla Raine.

## Character overview

Jay is a 17-year-old intern working at the clinic in Patience, Colorado. Her work often brings her into contact with Asta Twelvetrees, one of the clinic's nurses. Unknown to her, she is actually Twelvetrees's daughter, born out of her marriage to her abusive husband, Jimmy. Twelvetrees was a teenager herself when she birthed Jay and thus chose to give her up for adoption, fearing that she would be unable to raise her properly. She now worries about some of the choices that Jay has made in life and continues to watch over her, without openly acknowledging her as her daughter. As such, Jay addresses her as "Ms. Twelvetrees." Jay, however, eventually discovers the truth of her parentage, hidden away in a clinic file. She quits her job at the clinic, no longer sure how to act around her mother, and ends up being given a job at Joe's Diner by Asta Twelvetrees's adoptive father, Dan Twelvetrees. She then begins to form a bond with Asta's best friend, D'Arcy Bloom. She later has her 18th birthday, but a new rift forms between her and Asta when Asta forgets to take her to dinner for her birthday due to having her memories temporarily erased by Harry. Asta later comes to her, telling her that she loves her and that it's okay if she needs her, but okay if she doesn't. Jay later comes to Asta, asking for her old job at the clinic back, and the two go dress-shopping together, finally bonding as mother and daughter.

## Plot summary

Jay is working at the clinic when Asta Twelvetrees introduces her to Harry Vanderspeigle, who is working at the clinic in place of the recently deceased Sam Hodges. Vanderspeigle is secretly an alien who has stolen the identity of the human Harry Vanderspeigle, whom he killed. Upon meeting Jay, he comments that she has a fly on her neck and she replies "It's a birthmark, douchebag," leading him to wonder just what she means by "douchebag." Later, Vanderspeigle is traveling with Twelvetrees and she tells him that while Patience looks like a slice of Americana, it has an underbelly and so she helps kids like Jay.

Later, Jay is again working at the clinic when she encounters Twelvetrees and Vanderspeigle. Twelvetrees asks if Jay has something she wants to say to Vanderspeigle and she apologizes for calling him a douchebag. In response, Vanderspeigle says that he apologizes that her birthmark looks like a bug. Jay again calls him a douchebag and Twelvetrees quips "Yeah, glad we cleared that up."

At some point after this, Twelvetrees mistakenly attends a high school party with her friend D'Arcy Bloom, believing it to be a party held by their old friend JT. At the party, they discover Jay passed out and take her home. Once there, Twelvetrees tells Jay that she knows she's been going through a rough time. She hands her some cedar wood, telling her that when she's having a rough time to just burn it and pull the smoke around her, that it'll help, saying it's something her father taught her. Jay calls it weird, but agrees to try it. As Twelvetrees and Bloom drive away, Twelvetrees sniffles, recalling having given Jay up for adoption.

Not long after this incident, Twelvetrees comments at the clinic that there were pills floating around at the party and that she thinks they may have been subscribed using a prescription pad stolen from Sam Hodges's drawer. Without stating so outright, she accuses Jay of taking the pad. Jay denies it and when Vanderspeigle enters the room, he asks why Twelvetrees would ask her that. Jay believes that he's backing her up, but he then continues that statistically speaking, it was Jay. Aggravated, but not necessarily denying the accusation, Jay runs out of the room.

Vanderspeigle and Twelvetrees travel to the Ute Reservation so that Vanderspeigle can administer an injection to Twelvetrees's grandmother. While there, the grandmother comments that it's about time that Asta had a child. Vanderspeigle then says that she already does, "a 17-year-old girl named Jay." He says that it's obvious in that they both share the same facial structure and eat like they're starving to death. Shocked, Twelvetrees exits the room, leading Vanderspeigle to comment "And they both run out of rooms when they get emotional." Twelvetrees is forced to explain the situation to her adoptive father, Dan, telling him that she didn't want to be a burden on him by making him raise another child that wasn't her own. Afterwards, she and Vanderspeigle meet and he apologizes for outing her the way he did, but she tells him that he did them a favor.

Jay discovers the truth about her parentage the hard way when she discovers a file showing that a child was born to Asta Twelvetrees on the same day as her birthday. She is shocked by the discovery and even more so when she realizes that Jimmy is the father. "No wonder you gave me away," she laments before leaving the room.

Later, Vanderspeigle reveals to Sheriff Mike Thompson and Deputy Liv Baker that one of Dr. Sam Hodges's prescription pads was stolen. The two are suspicious when Twelvetrees leaves Jay off the list of suspects, not having learned the truth of her parentage of Jay. They continue to grill Twelvetrees regarding the possibility of Jay having taken the pad until she finally reveals her suspicion that it was actually Jimmy who did so. Jimmy admits the truth under interrogation and Jay is finally cleared of the crime.

After learning that D'Arcy Bloom saved her mother and Harry Vanderspeigle in an accident on the glacier, she conducts an interview with her for the school paper. She initially does not take it very seriously, saying that she's only doing it in order to get extra credit. She is shocked, however, when Bloom reveals that they all could have died, leading her to realize just how close she came to losing her biological mother. Later, she takes a part-time job at Joe's Diner, the restaurant owned and operated by Asta's adoptive father, Dan Twelvetrees. Asta asks Dan if this is really such a good idea, but Dan simply counters that she's friends with an alien, having recently found out the truth about Harry Vanderspeigle. Jay again chats with Bloom, claiming that she's doing a follow-up on the school newspaper report, but then blurts out at that Asta is her mother. Bloom is disbelieving at first, countering sarcastically that Sheriff Thompson is her father. She then realizes, however, that Jay is serious, and that Jay was the baby that Asta gave up for adoption.

Jay tells her that it's all messed up, that she can't talk to Asta and she certainly can't talk to her father, Jimmy. She says that she probably shouldn't even be talking to her, but Bloom tells her it's totally okay to talk to her. Jay replies that she can't live there like this, but Bloom tells her she's not running away and that she's not alone, that she can help her. She then asks her if she can get free onion rings, claiming that it's part of the plan.

Bloom arranges an ambush of Jimmy. Jay tells him she guesses he's her father. He admits as much and she tells him that she'll kill him if he ever touches Asta again. Bloom then pushes his truck so that it rolls down the hill and she and Jay watch as he comically chases after it. She and Jay admit to each other that they feel better, but that they should probably go.

Twelvetrees tries to keep her distance from Jay, hoping to give her space to live her own life. Despite, she ends up coming into contact with Jay's adoptive mother. The mother tells her that she always wondered if she would one day meet Jay's birth mother, but that reuniting a child with her birth mother is up to the child. Twelvetrees admits that what she did was wrong, that Jay just showed up up at the clinic one day asking for a work-study and that she crossed a line. The mother tells her that she would never stop her from being in Jay's life, but that Jay has to be the one to cross the street.

D'Arcy Bloom remains in Jay's life, serving as a sort of surrogate aunt. Things come to a head when, after Bloom comes into the clinic for a "hangover I.V.," Twelvetrees insinuates that she's a bad influence on Jay and not somebody that Jay should be turning to for dating advice. This results in a big blow-up between the two. Later, when Bloom takes part in a hot-chili pepper eating competition at Patience's Family Day as the reigning champion, Twelvetrees joins as well, hoping to impress Jay. Twelvetrees ends up very nearly choking on an extremely hot pepper and Bloom drops out as well in order to help her friend. Afterwards, Twelvetrees tells Bloom that she shouldn't have said what she did about her and Jay, that she didn't mean it. Bloom replies that she did mean it and Twelvetrees agrees that she did, but says that she was mad and wrong.

Jay later shows up at a surprise party that Mayor Ben Hawthorne is hosting for Harry Vanderspeigle in the hope of wooing him into once again becoming the town doctor. Asta is nervous about how to act around her, but Jay comes up to her and greets her. She tells her that her birthday is coming up soon, quipping that she knows, since she was there. She asks if Asta might like to do something with her together that day, just the two of them. Asta is surprised but pleased and agrees, so Jay suggests that they check out the new Mexican restaurant in town. Asta says she can't wait, and Jay heads off to go eat food before Mayor Ben kicks her out of the party, which is supposed to be for adults only.

Jay waits for Asta, but finds herself stood up. As it turns out, Harry Vanderspeigle has entirely erased Asta's memory of promising to meet Jay. This is because she had killed Tanner Corrington who was attempting to kill Harry and was having trouble living with herself. Asta's first sign that something is wrong is when Jay confronts her, asking her if she thought it was easy for her to ask her to take her out for her birthday. Asta asks when this even was and Jay disgustedly replies that it was at Harry's party and walks away. Asta then returns to Harry, confronting him for having erased her memory and he tells that she wanted it taken away because she was sad. Afterwards, Asta writes a letter to Jay, telling her happy birthday and that she loves her more than anything. It is one of many letters she has written over the years, keeping them in a file.

Following this, Asta gets a chance to meet with her own biological mother, Mary-Ellen Taylor, who gave her up at birth. Her hopes of a happy reconciliation are dashed when Mary-Ellen reveals to her that she never wanted children, felt she wasn't suited for them, and gave her away at the first chance she got. Asta then later approaches Jay after she gets off work. She tells her that she just needs to tell her one thing, that she loves her and has thought of her every day of her life. She tells her that if she ever needs her she's there for her but if she doesn't, that is okay too. They both agree that this is alright.

Jay comes to Asta at Joe's Diner. Asta is at first worried, as she didn't think Jay was working that day. Jay, however, asks Asta for her old job at the Patience Health Clinic back, explaining that she's a few credits short for her science elective. She later approaches Asta, explaining that she has a winter formal coming up and that her adoptive mother bought her a dress that doesn't suit her skin tone at all. The two then go dress-shopping together at a new vintage store in town, finding something that is a much better match.

## Quotes

"*You have a fly on your neck."*"

"*It's a birthmark, douchebag.*

- Harry Vanderspeigle and Jay, "Pilot"

"*It's not like I didn’t know I was adopted.*"

"*I... It's... it's complicated.*"

"*You know... it seems simple. You gave me away and then lied to me. Wait. If you're "Mommy," who's "Daddy"? It's not that dick Jimmy, is it?*"

- Jay and Asta Twelvetrees, "Love Language"

"*Um, so my birthday's coming up, which you know.*"

"*Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was there.*"

- Jay and Asta Twelvetrees, "Alien Dinner Party"

## Navigation

Mayor Ben Hawthorneportrayed byLevi FiehlerKate Hawthorneportrayed by Meredith GarretsonMax Hawthorneportrayed by Judah PrehnGeneral Eleanor McCallisterportrayed byLinda HamiltonDavid Loganportrayed byAlex Barima
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