What we know:

It's clear from Heather's behavior that she has a crush on Jake. Her official CBS "character biography" describes a "burgeoning relationship" with him. We know that Jake still has feelings for Emily, so what will this mean for Jake and Heather?

Key moments between Jake and Heather:

Episode one: Jake and Heather meet when he finds the bus and rescues her and her students on the day of the attacks. She's clearly interested in him, giving him a big smile at the end of the episode.
Jake-"What's your name?"
Heather-"Heather."
Jake-"Jake."
Heather-"Nice to meet you, Jake."

Episode two: Heather helps Jake repair a rundown fallout shelter, which proves to be unusable, and encourages him as he tries to get the residents to shelter in the salt mine. When Jake leaves the mine to rescue Emily, Heather looks after him, worried.
Heather-"How do you know so much about explosives?"
Jake- "I knew a guy once."
Heather-"Did you blow him up?"

ALSO IN EPISODE TWO:
When Jake is driving Heather and the bus-load of people to the fallout shelter, he adjusts the rear-view mirror, and sees Heather, and smiles. She smiles back at him.



Episode three: Jake returns to evacuate the mine and the two of them are happy to see each other. At the end of the show, Heather sits alone, shaken because a friend of hers has died in the mine. Jake brings her a plate of food and joins her, and soon the two are talking and smiling.

Episode four: Jake starts to walk Heather home, but events intervene. Later, Heather encounters Jake just coming out of the shower, and tries very hard not to stare at him. Heather also accompanies Jake along with a search party to find the refugees from Denver.
Jake-"Where do you live."
Heather-"That way."

Heather-"Jake?"
Jake-"I had to take a shower."
Heather-"Oh, go ahead."
Jake-"No, I did, I just took a shower."
Heather-"Oh..."

Episode seven: Heather finally admits to Emily that she has "a thing" for Jake. She lends Jake her old truck, "Charlotte," for the trip to Rogue River, and before he departs, she gives him an unexpected and VERY passionate kiss. It sure looks like he's kissing her back!
Heather-"Remember, the gas tank is on the left side so if someone decides to start shooting at you, make sure it's not on that side."
Jake-"Okay, anything else?"
Heather- (leans in and unexpectedly but passionately kisses Jake) "Come back in one piece."


Episode eight: Heather helps to save the life of Jake's father by making ice to cool his fever, and Jake acknowledges this at the end of the episode.
Emily-"Heather saved your father's life."
Heather- (to Jake)"Hey, you just get some rest."

Episode thirteen Heather accompanies Jake to the "Black Jack" fairgrounds, along with Dale Turner and Jake's father. At the end of the episode, Heather leaves for New Bern, a nearby town, with her old friend Ted Lewis. We have yet to see her again.

What's next? Heather gives Jake looks that would melt the Polar Ice Caps. She's obviously falling for him. Will Jake fall for her in the same way? He's interested in her, at the very least.

What people think:

Some people believe that Jake isn't that interested in Heather due to his lingering feelings for Emily. Others believe that Jake and Heather will eventually be an item due to the looks and smiles at each other, and the kiss!

What we don't know:

Did Heather know anything about Jake before she met him that day on the school bus? Since Heather and Emily are best friends, it seems Emily would have mentioned him (and their previous relationship) to Heather. She is clearly aware of it in episode seven.

(It may be that Heather and Emily did not become friends until after Jake left town, five years prior to the events in the pilot episode, or that Emily chose not to reveal much about her past with Jake to Heather -- just as she didn't say much about her father to anyone.)

Do Jake and Heather have an unknown secret link? At an advance screening of the "Jericho" pilot at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2006, Sprague Grayden revealed that the two characters have a "secret connection," despite the fact that they had never met prior to the first episode. What is this connection? When will it be revealed? How will this affect the blossoming romance between Jake and Heather?

Stay tuned!