After Dinner Chat

Who: Becky and JJ
When: Early Evening
Where: James' Apartment

With three people in the apartment now, Becky shooed Jesse away to go grab a shower while her and Jessie cleaned up. Dinner had been nice. It was relaxed and familiar and just everything that Becky had been missing for the past few months. So when the dinner mess needed cleaning up, she latched on to help clean up. There wasn't a lot, in the end, but there were leftovers to be stored and a table to clean and some dishes so at least there was stuff to do.

"Sorry for crashing in like this, Chirp," Becky apologized once she heard the water in the bathroom running.

Jessie was already filling the sink up with water and soap to start on the dishes when she heard Becky. She looked over her shoulder at Becky, a small frown there. "You don't need to apologize, Aunt Becky. You know you're always welcome here. I'd rather have you here and safe than wherever you were and in trouble." She had a few questions of her own for Becky, but she felt like just diving into them might be a little overkill. The most pressing of her questions was if Becky was really ok. Her dad had said she was ok now and that she hadn't needed to go to the hospital, but not needing to go to the hospital sort of implied that there was a reason to wonder if you needed to go to the hospital and it worried JJ.

Becky pushed some of her blonde hair out of her face and wished she had a hair tie. It was kind of warm in the kitchen but maybe it was because of the hot water from the sink and the steam that had let the bathroom. "I know you two don't have a lot of space here, so I hate to put anyone out." Jessie mentioning the words 'here and safe' sent a warning bell going off and she wondered exactly what her father had told her. She paused in wiping the table, straightening up with a slight wince but it wasn't anything incredibly noticeable. "Although I definitely forsee World War Three if your dad thinks he's giving me the couch."

Jessie watched Becky not because it was polite to look at her since they were talking, but because she wanted to look for a hint that Becky might be hurt. A hint that would tell her why the hospital had been brought up at all. She didn't see much, but it looked a little like Becky's actions were slowed, more careful. Still, there wasn't much to go on yet. "You can have my bed, Dad can keep the couch, and I'll sleep on the floor. It's settled." She tried to make it sound like the decision was made and finalized, but she knew that the three of them were stubborn and there was definitely going to be an argument about who got what place to sleep.

"I'm not kicking you out of your bed, Chirp," Becky said, more firmly than Jessie tried to sound because she was the Adult. "I can take the floor or the bathtub. It's fine. Promise." She knew Jessie had that stubborn streak, but no way was she letting a fifteen year old give up her bed. "Not when you have school tomorrow. Nope. You don't need to worry about me."

"I do need to worry about you. You're family and I'm not letting you sleep on the floor or in the bathtub," She insisted, half because she didn't want Becky to sleep on the floor or the bathtub and half because Jessie had a feeling everything wasn't exactly hunky-dory. "I don't mind sleeping on the floor. We've got lots of blankets, I can make a bed out of them." She grinned at Becky before adding. "You might as well just give in now and take the bed."

Becky frowned at that cheeky grin on Jessie's face and put her hands on her hips, wincing only slightly as it pulled on her side. "Jessie, I am not taking your bed." If Becky had the money, she'd hole up somewhere, but Becky couldn't deny that she felt safe there, with Jesse around. She felt bad though, because staying here meant people were being put out of their regular places. "I'll be out soon, I promise. So I'm not displacing you." She just had no idea where that should be.

"Aunt Becky, you're not displacing me either way!" She said, abandoning the dishes in the sink for now to focus more solely on the discomfort she saw on Becky's face. "..Are you ok?" She asked, ready to leave any conversation about beds and sleeping arrangements behind as well if it meant she could figure out if Becky was really all right or not.

"I'm fine," Becky assured her, not wanting to be fussed over. She was causing enough trouble as it was. "Let's just get this stuff cleaned up before your dad's done, yeah?" Becky did not want to be fussed over. She already felt bad enough about all this. She didn't need to be worrying a fifteen year old.

Too bad she already was. "Aunt Becky, come on...just tell me if you're ok or not. The dishes can wait for a minute." She said as she leaned against the counter. "You can't expect me to not be worried. I'm fifteen, not five. I know something weird is going on. You're staying here, which is fine and all but I haven't even seen you in a while. My dad's hand is all busted up and you're wincing. Tell me what happened."

Becky sighed and shut her eyes. In turn, she leaned against the table. She really didn't want to say anything. She hadn't said anything in so long and she was still ashamed over it. "I got in trouble with a guy. Your dad helped me out. He pushed me into a table but I'm fine. Just a little bruised up. I promise." She opened her eyes to look at Jessie. "That's all." Nothing about Evie, nothing about her boss. Just a spot of trouble with a guy. That's it.

Jessie's face had fallen. She clearly wasn't expecting that. She couldn't stop herself from blurting out, "He pushed you into a table?" She couldn't believe it. Some bastard had actually pushed Becky, her aunt Becky, into a table and hurt her? "I hope my dad beat his brains in." No one hurt family and got away with it, and while Becky wasn't blood family, Jessie considered her an honorary member of the James clan. "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"

She winced and not because of the dull pain in her side. As for beaint his brains in... "Your dad took care of it. More than I could ever ask for. Your dad was very heroic and you should be very proud of him." Jesse James was a pretty badass dad. Definitely worthy of the dad title. "I never knew my dad. I don't think my mom knows who he is either." Deflection, an art that she had perfected. Yep. Definitely. Gotta love the deflection.

Jessie wasn't stupid. She could tell that Becky was changing the subject and although she wanted to know more, wanted to talk about this more, she didn't bring it up again. Maybe now wasn't the best time. Maybe she should talk to her dad about it again, but knowing that Becky had physically been thrown into a table didn't sit well with her at all. Still, she went with Becky when she changed the subject. "I am proud of him. Couldn't be more proud of my dad. He's the best dad a girl could ask for. Sorry you don't know yours, though."

Deflection was a success. Although Becky did feel pretty bad about it, that at fifteen, Jessie had to know about this sorta thing. That wasn't fair at all. "Eh, It's not a big deal. Just saying, you know, appreciate him. Remember if you ever get mad at him, he's still pretty awesome." She bit her lip and looked at the dishrag in her hand. "How's stuff going on with you anyway?"

She didn't need to be told twice to appreciate her dad. He really was the person she believed in the most. She smiled a little. "I don't usually get mad at him." JJ was ready to let this drop too, but not ready to answer Becky's question. How had things been going with her lately? Terrible? Stressful? Unbelievable? "...not so great, I guess. A lot of stuff happened really quickly and I just sort of want to forget about it all happening. Or at least not think about it for a day." She turned, not to put her back to Becky but to distract herself with the dishes again.

Becky definitely understood that feeling and she came over to the sink where she was and grabbed a clean, dry dishtowel to take the plates she was done with. "Yeah, I know that feeling," she said softly, taking a glass that she'd finished. "I may not be as close with you as your daddy or your Aunt Evie, but I'm here too." Her and Jessie didn't spend days out together talking or gossiping or stuff like that, but Becky certainly wanted to be there for the teenager. "Maybe bring in a different perspective than they have. You just let me know."

"I appreciate it, Aunt Becky," She gave the woman a smile, however small it was, and shrugged as she looked back at the dishes. She found a spot on a plate that could use some good scrubbing and got to work, putting the anger she'd been feeling lately into making it spotless. "I just..I don't really want to talk about it. I've been talking about it for days now and I'm just kind of sick of it." She was sick of thinking about and talking about Dodge and now she was going to be sick of thinking about and talking about Veronica, and thinking and talking about her dad's hand and Becky's wellbeing... It was all too much. "I just want something normal to think about for a while...Did you meet Leo yet?" She asked, her smile more genuine as she brought up her kitten. "He's usually in my room so maybe not..."

"You're preaching to the choir, Chirp. Believe me, I know how it feels to not want to keep rehashing stuff. I'll say nothing more." She hoped Jessie realized that the same want of not wanting to talk about something went both ways. Other people didn't like rehashing their issues either but Becky didn't say it. That wasn't her place. "The little orange fuzzball that was on the back of the couch when I came in earlier?" Becky asked with a grin back at her. The little 'lion' had been most displeased at having his rest interrupted by her flopping down on said couch. "He's a definite cutie. Little though. How long have you had him?"

Jessie had heard twice now that Becky was ok, once from her dad and once from Becky herself, and while it wouldn't stop her from worrying, it would stop her from asking. If Becky wasn't going to pry about why she didn't want to talk, then JJ wasn't going to either. Leo was a better, happier topic of conversation, until he brought up thoughts of Lily. "Not so long. My friend Lily bought him for me.." She handed Becky the dish she'd been working on, the look on her face just as solemn as before. "But Lily passed away recently so...I haven't had him for long." She summed up, even though the shift back to Leo wasn't as smooth as she'd wanted.

Lily, huh? She couldn't recall any friends Jessie had named Lily, but then, it wasn't like that was something keeping up on it. And if Lily had bought the kitten for Jessie, then an older friend? "I'm sorry to hear about her passing," Becky said softly and took a plate next. "It's not easy, but caring for him is like preserving a part of her. Something special that you two shared." It sucked that Jessie had to experience the loss of someone like this and Becky didn't pry into the details, especially because Jessie wasn't in a huge talk-y kind of mood. "You've got toys from him? I didn't see any around but I didn't go into your room."

Jessie hadn't thought about it that way, that Leo could be a part of Lily that got to live on. She'd been working on writing something for her friend, something of memorial, but nothing had seemed right yet. Still, she wasn't going to give up on writing something for Lily, she just felt like at the moment she wasn't in the right headspace to write a memorial piece for her friend. "I don't have many. I want to get him a new one. He's got this little stuffed mouse with catnip in it that he loves."

"Maybe we could go get him some stuff when you're off school," Becky suggested and offered a smile down at the girl. Although now it was a lot closer to 'at' Jessie than 'down' at her. Becky wasn't a tall person by many means but Jessie had certainly gotten taller since she'd seen her last. It was hard being nearly eye to eye with her. A bit surreal. "Or we could make some stuff. I used to have a cat when I was little but he ran away." Becky may not have a lot of money to her name (and what little she had was going to go to finding a new place) but she could certainly do something for her. "Call it a late Christmas present," she tacked on before any protests could be made.

"I'm sorry," She started, knowing first hand from experience how scary your cat running away was. She didn't know what it was like to not have your cat saved by Roach, though. "We can make something?" It was another thing Jessie hadn't really thought about, but the idea itself was intriguing. "What would we make? Do we need an old shirt or something to make it with?" She had a shirt that could be spared for Leo's toys and a night in, making Leo toys and maybe playing cards a little later, it sounded pretty perfect. The idea was lifting her spirits just a bit just knowing that Becky knew how to make cat toys.

"Yeah, we can," Becky confirmed with a nod. "You think your Grandma might have any spare knitting needles? See if you could grab one or a pair even and you can make teasy toys. Where you hand something off the end with a piece of string or yarn. You can also run a string between two places and hand toys off of it like little sacks of catnip and he can just go at it to his heart's content, and as he gets bigger, you can raise it higher." She threw out those couple of ideas that she'd done as a kid. It was definitely nice to be talking about something not related to any of the issues going on. Just something simple and fun. "We could use the shirt to make little sacks. And I can show you how to grow catnip. You'll have to find a way to keep it out of his reach but it's pretty simple." It had definitely been a nice hobby, creating things for her cat when she was in a bad mood or needed something nice to focus on.

"I have a pencil if we want to try something like that now? I'll ask Grandma for some needles later but would a pencil and some string work?" Jessie handed off another plate to Becky before picking up one of the last items in the sink. "You can grow your own catnip?" That seemed pretty cool, actually. And if she ever ran into DG again, she'd have another thing to add to the list of hobbies she had, although she had to wonder if growing catnip might still be in the 'boring' territory for DG.

"Pencils work, yeah. They're kinna short though, so it's a little more awkward and if he pulls, whatever you've tied on will get lost, but it works." As for the catnip... "I don't think you can grow them here -- the plants get pretty big pretty fast -- but maybe you can grab a bit of flower garden come spring at your grandparents?"

"Maybe I'll tie two pencils together or something?" She said with a laugh, hints of a smile returning to her face. "And I think Grandma'd let me snag a piece of her garden for cat nip, but how big does it get? Is it too big to put in a flower garden? It's not going to be like..the size of a small tree or anything, is it?"

Becky laughed, haking her head and pushing her hair out of her face again. "Oh no, not that big! But they can get up to twenty-inches high, so they're not small. And since you've got one cat, then you don't need to grow a whole lot. I'm sure you and your Grams can figure something out. She's a wise woman." Mrs. James was pretty awesome too, in Becky's opinion anyway.

"She would know what to do," Jessie agreed, nodding a little. "And she'd know just where to plant them, how many to plant, all that good stuff." Jessie was down to the utensils now, taking her time with each one. "Do you think you'll ever get another pet?"

She was quiet as she cleaned the plates, contemplating that. She'd like to, certainly, but the problem was she didn't have anywhere to live. She was crashing here until she could find a place and if she could, she'd find somewhere to stay. But the Drake Hotel wasn't an option (too expensive being the least of those problems) and Sunny Shores Motel? Not even in the running. Even if she thought she might stay there, there were people who would definitely put their foot down on that. And then there was that fear that Felix had put in her, and the ideas of coming home to find a pet dead in retaliation had her shuddering lightly. "Maybe," she settled on finally.

"I think you'd be a good dog person." JJ had the image of Becky going home to a nice apartment, somewhere safe, with a big dog there to protect her from the man she'd gotten into trouble with. But then there was the question of whether or not Becky even liked dogs. She'd had a cat when she was younger but that didn't mean she couldn't like both cats and dogs. "Or would you rather have another cat?"

"I like the dog idea," Becky agreed and forced a little smile on her face. Dog was a very good idea. "I'd have to find a place big enough though. I don't think you can have dogs in most apartments. At least ones worth protecting you. And cats are nice. I like cats a lot, but I think a dog is what I'd go with. Single girl in the city? You can't always rely on your neighbors to watch out for your. That's very important to remember. So you do what you can to protect yourself because you are your last line of defense."

"Maybe you should get a knife too? Dad gave me a butterfly knife that I take with me everywhere I go. Can't hurt for you to get something like that. I bet if you ask, Dad'd teach you some self defense too. He taught me." A fact that Jessie was very proud of. She knew how to take care of herself in the event something bad happened and judging from what she knew about Becky's situation, maybe some self defense lessons wouldn't hurt?

"He taught me how to throw a pretty mean right hook," Becky said, smiling a little more. Evie and Becky's Dating 101 lesson was more 'If the guy tries something, this is what you do' than anything else, but it had proved little to stop against more than just some jerk who got handsy at the movies. Becky wasn't a very intimidating person to begin with. It was certainly frustrating. "You good with the knife? I hope you haven't had to use it." She looked concerned at Jessie and, coupled with what she said she was having stresses about, Becky was definitely worried. She bumped her shoulder with her own and started in on the utensils.

"I haven't had to use it," She assured Becky, bumping her shoulder back against Becky's. "But I like having it with me and I know what to do with it if I do have to use it. I can punch too and I've done that before a few times. Punch, kick, go for the eyes..." Most recently she'd gotten in a fight with Mud, who'd decided it was a good day to try and hit on her when really he should have just kept his mouth shut...even if part of the reason she hit Mud was because she'd been mad at DG and needed somewhere for the anger to go. The point was that she knew how to keep herself safe if she needed to. "But maybe just talk to Dad about it? He might have some good ideas, more than just a right hook."

Becky nodded in agreement but didn't say anything. She'd already indebted herself enough to Jesse as it was. "Speaking of going for the eyes, I'm not gonna have to worry about a girlfriend of his dropping in, am I?" Becky asked, a little concerned. "I don't want to cause any tension between him and a lady friend." Her and Jesse were obviously not like that, but she knew how some women could get, and this situation was definitely a little fragile, considering that, at the end of the day, they weren't related. She wasn't his sister crashing on the couch.

Jessie wondered what Veronica would think about something like this. It sure as hell didn't matter, but Veronica was still too close to her dad for Jessie's comfort. In the end, she just shook her head. "Nope, no girlfriend to worry about. Even if he had one, you know I'd take care of her for you. If anyone came in here and said anything bad about you being here, you know they'd be back on the street before they could count to five, right?"

Her eyes widened and she looked a bit bewildered there at that casual assurance. "Jessie James!" she scolded with a shake of her head and a surprised laugh. "You shouldn't talk like that sweetie. Just because a girlfriend might not like me doesn't mean she'd be in the wrong to ask if something funny was going on. If I went to my boyfriend's house and found someone like me living there, even knowing your dad and what a nice guy he is, I'd still be a little worried." She'd heard of Jesse's wandering eye and while she highly doubted the guy would go cheating on girlfriend, it didn't mean natural fears weren't allowed. "I don't want to say 'you'll understand when you're older', because that's not right. You're an intelligent girl, but it's something that comes from experiance. You've gotta be a flexible person. Understanding is key. Don't let yourself be a pushover, definitely not, but know that there are natural reactions that people have that shouldn't be invalidated."

Jessie felt a little like that was all she'd been doing lately. Understanding. And frankly, she was a little tired of it. "If someone comes in here and says a bad word about someone I care about, even if it's not you, they're not welcome in my house. He doesn't have a girlfriend so there won't be anyone doing that, but just... just because he'd be dating someone doesn't mean they'd get to come in here and think my dad was cheating on them with you. For one thing, my dad would never cheat on someone and another thing, you're important to me and no one gets to say something that would insult both you and my dad." Jessie shrugged a little, wiping her hands dry on a clean towel now that the dishes were done.

"Chirp," Becky said softly and set the dishtowel down before taking Jessie's shoulders. "I know it's hard. There are days where you just don't wanna be understanding or put up with stuff. That's natural. Everyone has those days. Now, I'm not saying that if said hypothetical girlfriend was insulting and out of line would she need to be told off, but that's also not your place. You can't fight people's battles for them. You can help, yeah, but at the end you can't do things for them." And yet, was that what Jesse had done that day? Fought a battle for her that she couldn't? Just thinking about that made her head hurt. "You've got that protective streak in you. That's not a bad thing. But you also have to know when to pick your battles. And sometimes you don't always know what battles they are. No one does. No one is that well-adjusted."

And one of those days when she didn't want to be understanding or put up with things (like this well-meaning but ill-timed talk) was today. The day when she'd seen her mother for the first time in a year. The day when she wanted now more than ever to protect her father from that woman. "Aunt Becky, I love you but right now is really not a good time for this. There are people out there I want to protect my dad from, just like he wants to protect me from, and there are people I want to protect you from. And if said girlfriend came in here doing or saying something that I didn't think was right, I'm damn sure going to say something about it." She sighed, shaking her head a little. "This is silly! He doesn't even have a girlfriend..." Not a girlfriend. Just a woman that he used to love, a woman that wouldn't go the fuck away.

"It is silly," Becky grinned, knowing how frustrated Jessie looked and she leaned over and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "So we'll drop it. Maybe pick it up another time, huh? Now, it's after dinner and I think that means we should have dessert. Think there's anything in the fridge or something we could make?" Moving right along to a new topic! Becky was definitely getting good at this.

Thankful for the change of topic, Jesise nodded. "I think so. If not, I think we've got some chocolate chips around here and I know we have the stuff for cookies. We could make some cookies or something. And then maybe Dad'll want to play some cards?" She asked, hoping for the return to normalcy. Cookies and cards and family. Three things that sounded very welcome right now.

Cookies didn't take too long to make and Becky nodded back. "I think cookies sound good." Cookies did, definitely. "Cards do too." Sitting down was the nicest part about that and Becky leaned against the counter a bit, able to hide her wince this time. "Where do you keep all the stuff?"

Jessie was already heading for the cabinets, pulling out flour and sugar and all the things needed for cookies. "I'll bring everything to the table and we can make the batch there." Honestly, she was tired of standing up too. Not that she'd been thrown into a table today, but sitting down again sounded nice. It didn't take her long to have everything she needed from the refrigerator as well. Jessie plopped down in her chair, turning to Becky with a smile. "So let's just, for now, try not to think about anything but making cookies and playing cards. Sound good?"

"I think that sounds great," Becky agreed and sat down across from Jessie. "And if we can do this fast then maybe we can have them in the oven by the time your dad's done, huh?"

Nodding, Jessie started measuring out flour and sugar into a bowl. "Sounds good. The sooner we get them in the oven, the sooner we can eat them." All in all, for as awful a day as it had been, Jessie was ready to try and make the night better.