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Meet the actress: Sprague Grayden

What we know:
Heather is a pretty, petite brunette with a big heart. She is strong, and a quick thinker during a crisis -- she keeps her cool, even during a fire in the library. Heather is intelligent, mechanically minded -- she knows a lot about machinery -- and is helpful with her scientific and electronic knowledge. She grew up in New Bern with Ted Lewis. She has a courageous heart, and never hesitates to use her skills. She can also be very frank at times. She worries about Jake Green . When she's not talking science, she's talking Jake. However, in a later episode Heather tells Jake that she's not right for him, because she's "not dangerous," and she decides to "throw caution to the wind" and travel to New Bern with Ted and his friends to help the town.

In New Bern Heather learns of Phil Constantino's plan to attack Jericho. She tries to destroy the factory but is caught and imprisoned. She is sentenced to death, but the deputy that was supposed to kill her let her go. Heather is then injured in a car accident and wakes up having been brought to Cheyenne by soldiers. The brave and persistant Heather takes advantage of her situation and demands that the soldiers save Jericho from the threat of New Bern. Her request is accepted, though for reasons she does not know. (The Cheyenne government is tracking Hawkins.)

When Heather returns to Jericho and New Bern is defeated, she is happy to see Jake. However, she does not seem to show any special interest in him. When offered a job by Major Beck, Heather at first refuses because of her bad experience with soldier-like people in New Bern. In a way Beck assures her that he is not like them, and Heather takes the job as Jericho/New Bern liaison. As season two progresses, Heather starts to show special interest in Beck. A strong friendship with him--or perhaps a crush on him--developes over season 2. Heather is curious about Beck, trusts him, and wants to stay in his office even when he says, "You don't need to be here."

Heather is also helpful to Hawkins and Jake is made to be "in the know" of some of their secrets.


What we don't know:
Heather wasn't raised in Jericho, so what brought her to the town? How long has she lived there? Does she have family in town? A few scenes in episode 13 suggest that she doesn't have any close family in Jericho.

How long has she known Emily Sullivan? The two are best friends and Heather was supposed to be the maid of honor at her wedding (see episode 9), but it is not quite clear when the two met. Since they are both schoolteachers, is that how they got to know each other?

Heather left with people she knew and grew up with to try and get parts made for a windmill to turn the lights on back home.

In Episode 1.19, "Casus Belli," Jake finds his brother Eric in the New Bern jail, and Eric informs him that Heather is dead. He offers no other details. Is this true? Or did she somehow escape, and manage to go into hiding? The Morse code for episode 19 translates "One Got Away."

Heather is back! She returned on the season finale, 1.22 "Why We Fight". Yay, she's back!!!

Her role in the town:
Grade-school teacher. We first meet her on the bus in the first episode as she chaperons a field trip. She breaks her leg in the accident that follows the Denver nuclear explosion, and meets Jake for the first time as he finds the bus, saves the life of an injured student and drives the bus back to town. She, Jake and Emily complete a love triangle, with Emily the old flame for whom Jake still has strong feelings, and Heather the new possibility in which Jake is starting to show interest.

Family:
According to an interview with Sprague Grayden, Heather is the "minister's daughter," and was raised in a religious background, but this has not yet been shown in the series. Several scenes in "Black Jack" suggest that Heather has no close family in Jericho.

Quotes:
(in the pilot, after Jake rescues her and her students)
Jake: "What's your name?"
Heather: "Heather."
Jake: "Jake."
Heather (with a big smile): "Nice to meet you, Jake."

(in episode seven, after impulsively kissing Jake)
Heather: "Come back in one piece..."
Jake: "I will, I promise."
(awkward pause)
Heather: "I thought you were going to go."
Jake: "I'm waiting on Eric."
Heather: "Oh."
(self-conscious, she begins to back away)
Heather: "Um...watch out for giant irradiated ants out there."
Jake (chuckling): "Always do."



Character connections:

• Is best friends with Emily.
• Would have been Emily's maid of honor at her wedding..
• Is falling in love with Jake.

Romantic connections:
Heather has been falling for Jake since the first epiJericho.sode. She is usually shy around him but eventually admitted her feelings for him to Emily, and showed Jake how she felt by giving him a passionate (and unexpected) kiss before he headed to Rogue River to get medicine for his father.

Heather's official CBS character biography describes a "burgeoning relationship" with Jake, and viewers should expect to see it develop as the series continues. Ashley Scott (Emily) said in an interview, "I think that relationship will blossom," and Sprague Grayden has said, "Do I see a future for Jake and Heather? I do, I do, I do!"

External link:

http://www.SpragueGrayden.net

A new fan site devoted to actress Sprague Grayden and her character on Jericho.