Tags: sookie is gap-toothed bitch, cigarettes and chocolate milk, eric northman is one hot piece, fangirling means srs bsns

There’s still a little bit of your song in my ear
There’s still a little bit of your words I long to hear

The conversation had died a pathetic death – he seemed to have a knack for that. It was one of the reasons he usually kept his mouth shut; not saying a damn thing sure beat the hell out of saying something stupid.
Kathy wasn’t looking at him and he couldn’t blame her. The last thing a person who was going to be alone for Christmas wanted was to be reminded of that fact. Real smooth, Jack, he thought to himself with a tired sigh.
He slowly sat up, the bags of frozen vegetables sliding off his knee and onto the floor. He winced as he bent the swollen joint, hating how it was a constant reminder of just how fucked up last year had been, how close he’d come to losing everything. He could live with the scars; he was just getting tired of living with the pain. Normally it wasn’t so bad, a slight limp and a constant ache that was better than any forecaster for predicting rain, but he’d ignored every single sign he’d had over the past month that he was pushing it and not taking care of himself and now he was paying for it. His brothers were going to give him hell tomorrow, Bobby especially. He couldn’t wait for the chorus of told you so’s he was sure to hear. He missed his mother more than anything, but he didn’t need his brothers to try and fill that void.
Horatio looked up at him and he gave the surly cat a quick, gruff rub between his ears. The cat leaned against him, smiling contentedly and purring. He stopped, but the little guy pushed at his hand, his lip curling slightly, his intention clear. Don’t you dare think about stopping. His backside still stinging from their first encounter, he complied, wondering how someone as warm and fuzzy as Kathy wound up with such cranky animals.
“Got a fire escape?” he asked. Now the cat was on his back and Jack had to rub his stomach and dodge the occasional claw tipped swipe when he got it wrong. He’d slept with wannabe models less high maintenance than that cat.

“Hmm?” Kathy asked, looking up from her mug.
“Fire escape? Some place to sit? If I spend any more time with your cat, I think I’m going to have to ask him to marry me.”
Kathy jumped up, startling Horatio, who bolted from the couch despite his newfound Jack-obsession. “Give me a sec. I’ve got an idea,” she announced as she rushed down the tiny hallway that stretched into the back of her apartment and what Jack assumed was her bedroom.
When she reappeared, she was carrying an armload of blankets and her keys were dangling from her fingers. “Even better than the fire escape.” The keys rattled as she shook them. “The roof.”
“Perfect,” Jack said as he slowly stood and grabbed the two mugs of hot chocolate. Pausing for a second, he reached down and snagged the bag of marshmallows.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

The snow made it look like the city was in a spotlight. Flakes drifted down slowly, catching the light from the buildings and street below, magnifying them by a thousand, turning the world a soft, hushed white. A thin layer coated everything and Jack almost hated walking across the roof to get to the two lawn chairs that were set up on the far side, near the ledge. He didn’t want to disturb something so peaceful.
Kathy looked back at him, pushing her hair back with her yarn-covered fingers. “Wanna make snow angels?”
Jack laughed. “Not really, no.”
She grinned. “Me neither.”
“Liar.”
Her surprised gasp was perfect. “Am not.”
“You can’t fool me. As soon as I leave, you’re gonna come right back up here and make a snow angel.” He nodded with exaggerated thoughtfulness, studying her. “I bet you dance when no one’s watching, too.”
Her steps faltered and she glanced over her shoulder, a confused look on her face. “What does that mean?”
He shrugged and limped past her, reaching the chairs before she did. “Nothing.”
Brushing the snow off the cheap plastic chair, Kathy said, “Now who’s the liar?”
Sitting the mugs on the chest high brick wall circling the perimeter of the roof, he picked his chair up and shook it, knocking some of the snow off before sitting down. “It was just an observation.”
She shook a blanket out and handed it to him before settling into her own chair, a rainbow colored afghan wrapped around her legs. He tossed the marshmallows at her and she caught them. “Figured you’d want more. Keep that sugar rush going.”
Sticking her tongue out at him, she reached into the bag and pulled out three more. “Okay, so it was an observation?”
“Huh?”
“You said it was just an observation. An observation of what?”
He swallowed heavily, suddenly unsure of where this conversation was going and if there was anyway he could keep from looking like a complete ass by the end of it. “Um …” he started carefully. “What I meant was, well, my niece Daniela, she’s shy.” He had no idea where that came from, but he went with it, hoping it made sense.
“Okay …”
“And she plays real quietly and keeps to herself a lot more than her sister Amelia, who is pretty much a train wreck in a pink dress. She’s trouble.” He looked at his mug, twisting it back and forth, watching as the marshmallows slowly dissolved in the hot liquid. “Every once in a while, though, when she doesn’t think anyone is looking, Daniela will start dancing around – twirling like a wild woman – like there’s music playing only she can hear. Jerry figures she’s the safe one, that he’ll only have to worry about Amelia. But I think Daniela might put a gray hair or two on his head.”
“You think I’m a wild woman?” Kathy almost choked on her drink.
Jack laughed. “Well, maybe not wild. But I bet sometimes you just want to stand up and scream at the top of your lungs. Let go for once. Go crazy.”
“And make snow angels?” She scrunched up her nose.
“And make snow angels,” he repeated. “Well, metaphorical snow angels, I guess.”
“That was deep, Jack.”
“Thank you.”
Jack stood up and made his way to the edge of the roof, leaning over the wall, looking down, the city mostly quiet all the way up there. A stray siren and car horn drifted up, but all of the color was gone – the shouting and laughing and snippets of random songs and the drone of traffic that all merged into one, creating a sort of music all its own.
“You miss them,” Kathy said, joining him, the afghan now wrapped around her shoulders. “Your family.”
He ran his finger through the snow on the ledge, drawing a meandering branch he dotted with crooked leaves every few inches. “Yeah. I do. Spent all those years trying to get away and now I’m not sure I want to.”
“No shame in that.”
“I know, I just don’t want to take a big step backwards, ya know? Don’t want to throw everything away. Not that there’s much to throw away in the first place.” He laughed to break the tension, but Kathy just moved closer, her shoulder brushing against his arm. He turned and reached out, brushing some snow from her hair before he realized what he was doing. His hand stilled in the air and he dropped it, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I got them great presents,” he said in a rush, trying to change the topic.
“Really?”
‘Yeah. Um … got Daniela a guitar.” Kathy smiled at that one and she got that “Aww” look on her face chicks got around puppies and babies. Jack paused for effect, he had a feeling he’d know what the response to the other present was going to be. Every adult he’d told about it had the same one. “And I got Amelia a small drum set I found at a pawn shop.”
She swatted his arm and a look of horror crossed her face. “You got a little kid drums?”
He grinned proudly. “Yep. Jerry’s gonna love it.”
“That’s so mean.”
XxXxXxXxXxXx

“Don’t touch anything in here, guys,” Jerry said and Jack groaned. Steve, of course, immediately reached out and ran his fingers over a glass display case, leaving a greasy smudge across the clean surface.
“I mean it.” Jerry glared steadily at Steve who took a step back, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, scuffing his sneaker on the dark grey carpet.
“Jerry, we’re supposed to be looking for Christmas presents for Ma,” Jack complained. He looked around; all the glass cases were lit from inside, sparkling jewelry on display. Expensive sparkling jewelry.
“What do you think we’re doing?” His brother laughed, flashing a big white smile as he looked over his shoulder at the other customers browsing the jewelry store. Jerry then leaned down and pulled Jack closer by the collar of his jacket, his face suddenly dead serious. “Please, don’t screw this up for me, Jackie.”
Jack scrunched his face up, confused. “Screw what up?”
Right then, as if on cue, a pretty black girl behind the counter walked over to them, smiling cheerfully. “How can I help you gentlemen today?”
Jerry stood up, straightened his shirt, squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. His eyes were glued to the girl and he looked nervous as hell. “Camille,” he said, nodding slightly.
Her smile grew. “Jeremiah. I didn’t recognize you without your work overalls on. You do clean up nice.”
“I forgot you said you were working here,” he said and Jack coughed. Jerry shot him a “shut up” look out of the corner of his eye and Jack sighed and leaned against the display case.
“Just for the holidays,” Camille said, pulling out a set of rings, pretending to show them to Jerry. A guy on the far side of the store in a very important looking suit glanced their way and Jack figured he must be her boss or something. “Lookin’ for something special?” she asked and Jerry nodded.
“Yeah, something for my mother. Something nice. Work’s been good and she deserves something special.”
That did the trick. Camille tilted her head, a wistful look on her face. “That’s so sweet.”
Jerry shrugged, suddenly bashful and Jack narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, well my mother’s a special lady,” Jerry said and Camille laughed softly and ran her finger over Jerry’s hand.
“You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his mama.”
Now it was Steve’s turn to cough. Jerry turned and looked down at them, like he just realized he wasn’t alone. “Why don’t you kids go look around the mall?”
“Who you callin’ kids?” Jack crossed his arms. This was not the way today was supposed to go. Jerry was supposed to help him find a great gift for Evelyn. He had exactly seventeen dollars in his pocket and a shit lot of good that was going do him in a jewelry store where the best he could hope for was an empty box with a bow.
Jerry gave Camille an apologetic look and knelt down, like he had to get a toddler under control, not his thirteen year old brother. “Jack,” he said calmly, practically under his breath. “Just give me twenty minutes. I’ll get you an ice cream cone or something.”
“A comic book,” Jack said.
Confusion flashed in Jerry’s eyes. “What?”
“I want a comic book. Ice cream’s not gonna cut it, Jerry. Comic book or I’m not going anywhere.” Camille chuckled behind him, but Jack wasn’t going to back down.
Jerry’s shoulder slumped. “Fine, a comic book.”
“Steve, too,” Jack added and his brother sighed.
“No way…” Jerry started, but Jack leaned back further, planting his feet firmly on the floor, making it clear he wasn’t going to budge. “Fine. Steve, too.”
Jack pushed away from the counter, his mouth hanging open. It had actually worked. He couldn’t believe it. “For real?”
“Wicked,” Steve blurted out, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Jerry sighed and reached out, ruffling Jack’s hair. “Get outta here, kiddo, before I change my mind.”

XxXxXxXxXx

The mall was jam packed and Jack had to fight off a wave a claustrophobia that swept over him when he and Steve stepped out of the jewelry store. After a minute or two, his breathing calmed down and he was able to focus on his surroundings which were basically people. Lots and lots of people. All wearing heavy winter coats and all carrying bulging bags full of last minute Christmas presents. Annoyingly festive Christmas music wafted down from the rafters, trying to force cheer on the miserable and broke whether they wanted it or not.
Evelyn had taken him shopping last week for gifts for his brothers – stupid shit that he picked out without really having a clue what to give them. Angel was still planning on going into the Marines once he flunked out of his first semester of community college. He did the college thing as a favor to Evelyn, just to try it out. But Jack knew he didn’t even bother going most days, instead driving over to Sofi’s to do whatever it was that they did for five or six hours a day while Angel was supposed to be in class. And that basically summed up all he really knew about Angel – he liked the Marines, hated school, and maybe loved Sofi. Jack had stared blankly at the hip hop section of the record store for what felt like an hour before just reaching out and blindly grabbing a CD that looked okay.
He bought a book for Jerry. He wasn’t sure why, but Jerry just seemed like a guy you would give a book to. Bobby was the hard one – give him the wrong gift and he’d give you shit for it for days on end, that Jack was sure of. A signed hockey puck he found in a sports shop seemed like a good bet and Evelyn pitched in a little extra to help him pay for it.
All that was left was Evelyn and Jerry got the honor of dragging his thirteen year old brother and best friend all around Tower Center Mall three days before Christmas.
Steve tugged on his arm, trying to drag him down one of the side hallways that had the more ghetto shops people tended to ignore, stuff like shoe repair and tuxedo rentals. “Comics are this way.”
Jack shook his head. “Come on, we can go there later. I need to get a present for my mom. That’s the whole reason we’re here in the first place.”
Jack looked up and down the hallway, not caring that he was stopped dead center in mall traffic. He squinted, seeing someone familiar walking on the opposite side and disappearing into the drugstore. Grabbing Steve’s sleeve, he pulled, dragging his friend across the sea of people. “Hurry, before I let go and you disappear, never to be seen from again,” he shouted.
“What the hell, Mercer?” Steve wheezed when they reached their destination. “You only move that fast when you’re being chased.”
Jack ignored him, walking into the brightly lit store, not waiting to see if Steve was following.
“Drugstore? What are you gonna get your mom here? Depends?” Steve, of course, laughed at his own joke. “Metamucil?”
“Shut up, man,” Jack said under his breath.
Steve stopped in his tracks when they passed the perfume display. “Wait, Jack – get your mom this. I get it for my mom for her birthday every year.”
Jack picked up the pink bottle, took a sniff and winced, assaulted by a sickening sweet smell. “Love’s Baby Soft,” he read the label. “That seems kind of lame.”
“Right. And you know so much about what girls like.”
“They don’t usually smell like cotton candy,” Jack argued.
“They all smell like cotton candy.”
“Well, moms don’t.” He put the bottle down and picked up another one when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hi, Jack,” Kathy said brightly as he turned around. She was wearing a sweater with a reindeer on it and a silly looking Santa hat was on her head, making her hair puff out on either side of it like a fuzzy halo.
“Hey, Kathy.”
“Nice hat,” Steve said dryly and her cheeks colored as she pulled it off and shrugged.
“There was a stand selling them and my mom made me wear it,” she said softly.
“It’s nice,” Jack blurted out, trying to keep her from feeling embarrassed.
She looked up at him and smiled. “You think?”
“Sure.” He had a feeling that day was going to end with him wearing one if she had her way. Somehow everything in his life, when it came to Kathy Price, turned against him and made him the butt of some cosmic joke. He was getting used to it and was actually disappointed when nothing ridiculous happened around her on those rare occasions that didn’t end with him falling out of a tree.
She picked up the bottle he had just put down and spritzed some of the perfume on her wrists. Breathing deeply, a wistful look crossed her face. “I love this stuff, but my mom won’t let me wear it.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Jack said under his breath.
Kathy’s mom appeared at the end of the aisle, looking annoyed as usual. “There you are. I told you to wait for me, not make me look all over the store for you.”
“Just a minute,” Kathy said loud enough for her mom to hear. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and she looked so different from the happy girl that had greeted them minutes ago. “I gotta go.”
“Merry Christmas,” Jack said half heartedly and Kathy held out the hat for him.
“Here,” she said with a grin. “It’ll look better on you.”
“Um, thanks,” he said as he gingerly pulled it on over his carefully messed up hair.
Her smile widened and he figured any grief Jerry was going to give him for wearing it was worth it. “Merry Christmas, Jack.”
As she hurried down the aisle, he picked the bottle back up and looked at the price marked on the bottom. Fifteen dollars would use up all of his money but he hesitated, figuring it couldn’t hurt to carry it around as he browsed for something for his mother. It wasn’t his fault he slipped it into his pocket in that way that Angel had showed him. It was more an accident that anything, at least that was the argument he had given the rent-a-cop when he got busted for shoplifting.
Of course, the getting busted thing happened after he managed to get his mom the coolest gift. He knew it the minute he saw it that he had to get it for her. That nothing the other guys would get her could top it. Well, maybe whatever jewelry Jerry blew his money on to impress the girl at the counter. That might beat a Chia Pet, but it was going to be tough. He didn’t realize there were so many options – Chia Head, Chia Kitten, Chia Teddy Bear. All worthy selections, but he decided to go with the classic Chia Whateverthatwas. He stared at the box for a couple of seconds before giving up on identifying it. It was the pottery that grows, that was all that really mattered.
XxXxXxXxXx

“I can’t believe you bought your mom a Chia Pet and that you got busted for stealing pink perfume.” Kathy was laughing so hard that the sound bounced off the buildings surrounding them, drowning out the honking and the sirens.
“Jerry had to come break us out of rent-a-cop jail,” Jack continued, marveling at just how ridiculous the whole thing sounded. “And he refused to buy us those comics.”
Jack could still remember the look on his brother’s face, like Jack had stabbed Rudolph and asked him to help him hide the body. It probably hadn’t helped that security went to the jewelry store to get him and embarrassed him in front of Camille.
“I don’t blame him,” Kathy said, her laughter dying to a soft chuckle. “Did you still have the Santa hat on?”
“What do you think?” He brushed up against her, nudging her shoulder gently.
She looked up at him, her eyes bright and dancing behind her glasses.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I still owe you that bottle, you know.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that, Mercer.”

Love you all.


“Please don’t do that. It makes me feel disturbingly human.”

Komentari (1) On/Off