breakfast with the james's

who: Jesse and Jessie
where: their house
when: breakfast time

Jessie James was not a good cook; to say she loathed the idea of cooking was a little over the top but she wasn't going to volunteer for kitchen duty either. That said and done, she could do a mean breakfast and that’s what she was doing having woken up earlier than usual. Normally on a school day it was toast or porridge, that was all there was time for but today there was bacon sizzling in the frying pan, waffles cooking in the iron and coffee brewing in the pot. The coffee wasn’t for her though, that was for Jesse who hadn’t emerged in the kitchen yet but she knew the smells would be more effective at getting him up than an alarm clock.

His daughter was right. Jesse was slow to get rolling in the mornings--he'd never in his life been a morning person, and tended much towards being nocturnal. Which didn't mean he didn't get up in the mornings with his daughter, he just might happen to wander back to bed after she'd left for school. He trudged into the kitchen and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Morning, Baby J." he greeted in a very fuzzy sort of tone. His 'I'm not even half conscious yet' tone to be specific. "What're you doing up early?" he asked, pouring himself some coffee, which smelled heavenly at the moment.

“Making breakfast Dad,” she quipped back, flipping the bacon with a well practiced hand, a cheeky smile on her face. She let him take a sip of his coffee, she knew from experience there wasn’t going to be much conversation out of him until he’d had at least one cup - and kissed him on the cheek. “That and I couldn’t sleep anymore, didn’t seem much point to laying in bed if I was awake.”

"You're way too chipper at this time of day. Sure you're my kid?" he teased, propping his head on his hand. He paused, mind going over last night. "You heard about everything that happened last night?" he asked, entirely unsure if she had or not. It wasn't like she read the paper all the time or anything. He knew he'd been pretty damn out of the loop news-wise at her age. But she was going to want to know--there were probably classmates who'd been involved with the thing at the park.

Jessie pretended to look thoughtful. “Well I guess I could have been a door stop baby but that wouldn’t explain how I somehow inherited both your good looks and your charming personality. Sorry Dad, evidence seems pretty clear I’m yours.” Jumping up to start dishing up breakfast, she glanced over at his question, curiosity all over her face. “No. I was at the Apollo with a couple of the girls then came home and pretty much went straight to bed - why? What happened?”

Internally, Jesse winced. On the one hand, he was glad she hadn't heard anything about it, on the other, he didn't want to have to be the one to tell her. "Something happened at the park last night." he said, unsure quite how to do this. "There was a candle light vigil being held, and...there was a tragedy of some sort. People died. They were kind of fuzzy on what actually happened on the radio. I just thought you should know, and if you wanted to take a sick day you're allowed." he told her. He was possibly a little free with handing her sick days, but he was okay with that.

“People died?” Breakfast forgotten for the moment, Jessie’s full attention was on her dad. “Everyone’s okay aren’t they?” And by everyone, she was referring to the rest of the James clan. Her heart would quite happily go out to those who’d lost someone in what had happened but her family were Jessie’s first priority. The smell of burning food reached her nose and letting out an expletive that a young woman of her age probably shouldn’t be using, she quickly turned off the gas.

Jesse nodded. "The fam is all accounted for." he told her. He didn't actually call her on swearing. He certainly swore enough, and she knew when she could and couldn't get away with such things. he'd never been called to school to talk to the principal because his daughter had a potty mouth. She had a sense of propriety. "I don't know much about it, just heard it on the news, but it was a church function or somesuch. All ages. So I'm sure they'll be talking about it at school."

She let out a sigh of relief and quickly served up the bacon and waffles on to two waiting plates, most of which arrived there unscathed. She speared a piece of bacon as she debated whether or not she wanted to go into school - sure she’d just been offered a ‘get out of school free’ card but if one of her friends had lost someone, she wanted to be there. “I’d better be there, just in case. Unless you want me to stay home.” She knew how protective he was of her and when bad things went down, he liked to keep her close to home.

Jesse had actually considered telling her she had to stay home, but right now there wasn't cause for alarm just yet. "Alright, just if you want to come home at any point, just call home from the office, okay?" he told her. "I'll come get you." Nothing quite like this had ever happened in his own youth. The most he could remember were sometimes shoot outs with the police that left people dead, but those weren't exactly fellow students. so it was different. "Thank you for breakfast." he added.

“I will Dad, I promise.” She started tucking into her food and ending up replying with her mouth full. “Gour wellfum” she managed to say, swallowing before she added. “I thought it’d be a nice change for us - I’m glad I did now. If it’s gonna be a tough day, Id rather do it on a full stomach.” Jessie could be overwhelming practical sometimes and it sat at unusual odds with her delicate appearance, but then so did the knife she carried around for protection and she wasn’t going to stop doing that anytime soon.

He gave her a smile, either way. "That's my girl." he said. Not one to shy back away from things. But then that was how he'd intended to raise her. He didn't want her to be one of those girls who was totally incapable, who didn't have opinions of her own, who was afraid to speak her mind. He'd raised her to be a girl who could handle things, and when she had something to say, she was saying it, no matter what. "You see anything good at the Apollo?" he asked, flipping back to where she'd been the night before.

Jessie flushed a little under the praise and smiled; his opinion meant the world to her and while he was hardly stingy with it, it never ceased to make her smile. “There was the usual news reel and a cartoon, nothing exciting there but the new serial looks good - I think we’re gonna follow this one.” She sipped from a glass of juice she’d poured herself earlier and went on. “It’s about a private eye who trying to find this woman’s husband but she’s clearly got an ulterior motive so it should be interesting.”

Jesse chuckled a little. "Sounds interesting." he said. "Think the husband'll show up eventually? Or do you think it'll turn into a murder mystery?" he asked. He did note if she was going to start following a serial that he'd have to be sure he put in enough money to her allowance that she'd have enough to go as well as get whatever else she wanted. It was possible he spoiled her.

“I’d put money on there being murder involved; when the woman is that beautiful someone always ends up dead.” She took a bite of her waffle and decided it need syrup so she went over to the cupboards to try and find it. “Speaking of beautiful women, have you stolen any hearts recently?” Her voice was teasing but the question was serious; most girls might not take an interest in their fathers lives but then they didn’t have the kind of relationship that she did. She cared about her father immensely and wanted him to be happy, he just seemed to have terrible luck with women. “Other than the old lady next door of course.”

Jesse chuckled at that. "No." he answered. "Just her." he promised. Even if he was sure she was looking for a different answer. "Saw a beautiful woman at the bar, but she's trouble. Pretty sure your theory about beautiful women in the pictures would apply to her as well. So, I might just steer clear."

Satisfied with his answer and having successfully located the maple syrup, Jessie smiled at him before proceeding to drown her waffle in the syrup. “Sounds like an excellent strategy Dad. I’ve got you exactly the way I like you now, I’d hate to have to train a new dad.” She was joking but inwardly, she was always scared that something was going to get Jesse James killed and he really was a sucker for a pretty face. “You got any plans today?”

"Yeah, training new parents always sucks. It's always a hassle, and they never quite learn what you want them to." Jesse said with a smirk. "So, you're stuck with me. And not really. Why, you want to do something after school? Or are you just fishing to see if I have anything else plotted that I haven't mentioned?" he asked.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she replied with a decisive nod of her head as she demolished the last of her breakfast - when it came to food, any ladylike skills she may have cultivated over the years tended to disappear. She grinned at his question and laid down her fork. “Maybe it’s a bit of both. Can’t a girl innocently enquire about her father’s plans without him assuming she has ulterior motives?”

"She sure can--I just know you better." Jesse said, downing the last of his coffee. "I'm just waiting for you to actually bring her up." he added. Jessie had been bringing up Becky since he'd helped her out, and he was pretty sure his daughter would have been quite happy if he started leaning the blonde's direction.

Busted. “Clearly I need to work on my subtlety some more,” she said ruefully as she started to clear away the breakfast things. Having been seen through as easily as plate glass, she decided there wasn’t much point in beating around the bush. “Soooo, how is she then? I haven’t seen her in a few days and we’re well overdue for one of our girly nights in.”

"She was here a few nights ago, wasn't having the best time. But she's getting herself a new job, so that should make her a lot happier. So, in theory, she'll be doing well soon." he said. He knew Jessie wanted him to settle down with someone. And he'd certainly tried before--though the past few years hadn't had a new potential mrs. James pop up again. He wasn't sure if that just meant he hadn't met a woman in that time that he could see himself with or if he'd somewhere deep down given up. "If you're having a girly night in, warn me first. You going to have a bunch of your girl friends over too?" They had the room for it now.

“Well that’s good.” Jessie did worry about the older girl who was a much a part of the James family as if she’d been born to it. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t like the idea of her getting together with Jesse and becoming part of the clan officially but she wasn’t naive either. Her father’s track record with women was unsuccessful at best and she knew that neither of them wanted Becky to become another ex-girlfriend on the pile. “And yes I will warn you first when I have a girly night in, I always do don’t I? And maybe there’ll be some girls from school, I’m not sure., I’m not really that close with any of them.”

"You could always have a possibly awkward night with random girls you don't know well that you invite so you can get to know them better." Jesse suggested. He always wanted to be sure that Jessie had a good social life, friends around. Even if he didn't think she was overwhelmingly lonely or anything, it was just he wanted to encourage that. Plus she was a better judge of character than he ever had been so it was possibly he merely trusted that she'd choose good people worthy of her friendship.

Jessie shrugged non-committally; it wasn’t so much that she didn’t have girl-friends to invite over, the girls she had lunch with some days were lovely and then there were the friends she went to the cinema with but they were all so...dull. The truth was she preferred hanging out with the boys but she couldn’t see them coming over for a sleepover, even if by some miracle Jesse’s head didn’t explode at the thought of it. “Maybe, I’ll ask around today see if anyone’s interested.”

"Go for it. Or just have one with Becky and your aunts. You know they've always all got time for you." he said. "You going to head off to school? There anything we need? I think we're out of a few things, I was going to go to the shop today." Though he was generally not all that great at noticing when they needed something, JJ was much more adept at that sort of thing.

She smiled at that; a night in with her aunts and Becky was always fun, she never got tired of hearing stories about when they were young and what Jesse had been like before she was born. “I know we need milk and bread, maybe some fruit and veg? Depends on whether we’re fending for ourselves for dinner or if we’re going to Nana and Grandpa’s.”

"Well, they did want us over soon, but we can pretty much pick which day we want to head over. I'll just get everything anyway." he decided. He also smiled at her. "By the way...did I happen to give you this little box yesterday?" he asked, knowing full well he hadn't. He held up his hand. "About yea big."

“Noooo.” Jessie played the innocent, unknowing card but she had a smile on her face that was the spitting image of her father’s. While he could hardly be described as a predictable man, he had tells and besides, this was an exchange that had happened between them countless times. “You’ve given me no such thing.”

"Really? Huh. Could have swore I did." he said. "Must've left it on the mantel." he added, shrugging. "Guess it would still be there, then." he told her, getting up to set his coffee mug in the sink. He knew it was on the mantel, she had to pass through the living room to leave for school and she was an observant type. And sure, sometimes he left things around for her and didn't happen to say anything just so she'd find them at random. But this last gift, the charm bracelet he'd gotten her, was something he wanted to see her reaction to.

She didn’t need to be told twice and with a wide grin on her face, she dashed into the living room and retrieved the small box. Giving it a gentle shake to try and discern what might be inside, she was genuinely stumped at came back into the kitchen wearing an amused yet perplexed expression. “What is it?” she asked as she carefully began peeling back the wrapping paper, not really expecting him to answer but asking all the same.

"Oh come on, like I'd just tell you." he said, smiling at her. He watched, leaning back against the cabinets as he did so. He'd spent a lot of time picking out the perfect one. It was silver, and had two little charms on it. One was a simple silver disc that had JJ engraved on it in swooping script, and the other was a little green four leaf clover charm. It was springtime. and it felt like something that was more 'her' than any of the little hearts and such.

“You can’t blame a girl for asking.” Eventually the well wrapped present got the better of her limited patience as she gave up only opening it carefully and ripped into the paper with gleeful abandon. Once the small box was free of it’s wrapping, she opened it and her face lit up. “Oh Dad, it’s lovely!” Taking the bracelet from the box, she carefully examined the two charms before holding it out to him. “Will you do it up for me? I want to wear it now.”

He grinned, happy with her reaction. He always did like giving gifts to people. It was something he did as often as he could, even if that wasn't all that often. But it was moments like these that he did it for, where he could see she genuinely liked it. He clasped the bracelet around her wrist, then righted it so the charms were visible easily. "I'm glad you like it, Baby J."

Moving round so she was next to him, Jessie wrapped her arms round his middle in a hug, the charms on her new bracelet tinkling as she did so. “I love it, thank you Daddy,” her voice was fairly quiet and muffled slightly against him but he was close enough to hear it. As she got older, she called him ‘Daddy’ less and less but at moments like this, this quiet moments between father and daughter, she couldn’t imagine calling him anything else.