A New Beginning

Who: Becky and Jesse
Where: James' Apartment
When: Morning

Becky had lost the fight over sleeping arrangements pretty badly last night. Maybe she should scrap the whole 'Chirp' nickname for JJ and call her 'Steamroller' instead because that girl? Did not stop. Becky thought some of it might border on disrespectful kind of behavior but JJ wasn't her kid so there wasn't use thinking about that. So there she was in JJ's room, sitting on the bed and looking at the little collection of jewelry that she'd have to sell.

Her side hurt. That morning when she looked, it was all bruised and sore. Nothing was broken though. Just bruised. Maybe she should've taken Jesse's offer for the hospital... No. Absolutely not. She was bruised up but she was fine. "I'm not helpless," she told the jewelry in her hands. Becky wondered if Jesse thought she was. He certainly had every reason to think that.

Evie still hadn't shown up.

Sighing, Becky put the lid back on the little box and carefully headed over to the door and listened. She had listened to JJ get ready for school but no one had come to check on her. The movement in the apartment had quieted though so she figured the teenager had left for school. She had on a faded red dress that was easy to get on because it had buttons in the front and she didn't have to do too much bending. She just wished it matched the color of the walls so maybe she could just... blend in. As useless as that line of thinking was.

With a creak, she opened the door, pushing the frown off her face as she exited. She was quiet, not sure if Jesse had gone back to sleep or not.

Jesse wasn't asleep. He was up, going through the paper he'd gone and got, looking through housing listings. He was definitely thinking he needed to get moved sooner rather than later, and he was thinking a bigger place than he'd even originally considered. Which meant he was actually looking at houses, not apartments. It meant he'd be close to his parents again, which wouldn't be bad for Baby J or anything, and it wasn't a terrible neighborhood. It also wasn't that far away. When he heard Becky exit his daughter's room--something he was wholly unsurprised about--he looked up from where he was sat on the couch. "Morning." he said. "Coffee's made. How're you feeling today?" he asked.

Coffee. The smell hit her nostrils and she hadn't noticed it before. Preoccupied she guessed. "I'm okay," she said with a shrug and a smile. She could go for some painkillers but if she was up and moving, it was going to hurt regardless. That kind of pissed her off but hey, not much she could do about that. "Do you want any more?" She nodded to the mug on the table. The least she could do was get him some coffee.

He quirked a half smile. "If I want some, I can get it." he told her. Because she wasn't there to wait on him, and he wasn't even mildly going in that direction, not after the situation he took her out of. He was going to be overly careful on that score. "I'm looking at houses." he told her. "If I get a place big enough, you'll stay, right?" he asked, looking at her fully, shifting to do so.

"I'm already up," she said firmly. "I'm getting some, it's no problem to top you off." She knew he was trying to be a good host and everything but he'd seriously done more than enough for her. And the whole "you'll stay, right", thing? That left her blinking a bit. "I -- stay?" Houses? Did she hear that right?

"Yeah. Baby J needs a better place anyway, you need someplace to go. Evie, maybe if I had a better place, she'd stick around. Maybe not, I don't know. I'd like her to have the option, anyways." he said. He actually didn't find it weird to offer Becky a place to stay. Especially not knowing what sort of life he'd just taken her out of. She needed the stability. Or, that was what he figured anyhow. And he'd seen enough of it in his day to feel like he could make a realistic assessment there.

At Evie's name, Becky frowned. It was bothering her, that Evie hadn't shown up. Hadn't called. Hadn't done anything. It really bothered her and Becky wasn't sure whether she should be worried (was Evie safe?) or annoyed and angry (was Evie avoiding her?). "I," Becky started, trying to find the appropriate response to something like that. "You... Jim, you're not obligated to do that." She grimaced a little as those words came out right. "That didn't sound right. I don't want you to feel like you have to, I don't know, keep me under eye. I'm not going to go out and look for that situation again." It wasn't said harshly or anything, but she sounded a little frustrated.

Jesse might have had something to say, but her tone stood out to him, and the frown. "What's the matter?" he asked, standing up and walking over to her, though he kept back a bit. He was pretty sure she was a little too used to men coming up close and not for good reasons, so he was hanging back, leaning his shoulder against the wall as he regarded her.

Becky watched him get up and move before looking down at the little box in her hand with the jewelry inside. Her side hurt and she shifted slightly on her feet to relieve the pain but none of it showed on her face because she was still frowning. "I don't want you to think I can't take care of myself, for one," she said, the frustrated tone still there, but it was tempered more now, gentle. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile to let him know she wasn't angry at him. "I'm fine. I just ran into some trouble but I'm going to be okay. So don't worry that I'm going to hang a sign above my door inviting every messed up guy to come take a swing at me, free of charge or that I'd be fooled by it. It was a lot more complicated than that." Kowalski liked the power more than the physical aspect of it. It was why he was a lawyer. And Becky had a feeling that what she was saying might come off no better than JJ declaring her own independence and she felt a little childish.

Jesse was silent for a moment. "Becky," he said, tone light. "You're not okay. And if you were okay, then that would worry me more." he told her. "You just got out of an abusive relationship, both mentally and physically, and I don't even want to imagine what else. But it happened. And you just got out, less than twenty four hours ago. No one bounces back that fast. And if you think you have, then you'll be really surprised later when you have a breakdown over it." he continued. "All I'm doing is providing a stable environment. That's all. Just someplace to call home for however long you want to, where you know you'll be safe and cared for. There isn't anything wrong with that, and it doesn't mean you're weak. It means you've been through a lot and probably need some time to recover before you go deciding you're going to go stand on your own when you probably aren't ready for that. Not yet."

It was Becky's turn to be quiet and she looked at her hands, unable to meet the look that Jesse was giving her. He was right. She did feel safe. That Jesse would make sure things would be okay. He'd shown that in all its glory the previous day and her eyes looked at his hands, wrapped up and probably fractured or something. "I'm not going to cry over it," she said, forcing herself to look back up at Jesse. "Crying won't make what happened disappear." She was shaken though, very much. She hadn't slept much and it showed. "But I don't need kid gloves. I'm not going to start screaming in terror if you get close." Which meant that yeah, Becky hadn't missed the careful way he approached. And she frowned again, realizing how that could sound. "It's... I'm not scared of you. I'm not sitting in JJ's bedroom crying my eyes out. It won't help anything. I don't know what you want me to do. I mean, should I go start crying?" And where was Evie? Was she okay? Why hadn't she come by? Not that Evie knew where she was, but Jesse was here. She'd certainly come to see him.

"I just want you to own up to the fact that you've been through a lot and maybe need a little help right now from people who care about you." Jesse said. And he quirked a half smile. "And maybe have some coffee." he added. "And..." he paused, sighing. "Don't become Evie." he added on the end. "I love my sister, I do. But something happened with her, and she started lying all the time, and not letting anyone in, and shutting herself off and all it's done is lead to a shit ton of trouble for everyone, and some brand new trust issues that never had to happen. Don't go there. It doesn't work. Neither does playing the 'everything's fine' card. All that did for her was have everyone around her thinking she didn't give a shit."

"Has anyone ever told you how frustrating you are?" she joked back, quirking a little half smile of her own. It faded though and she ran a hand through her hair. It wasn't like there was a manual for this sorta thing. She'd seen girls get out of bad relationships but she was still at a loss as to what to do. "Yeah, well, E pretty much stopped talking to me too," she said softly. Not that she was able to talk to Evie about what was going on. Still, it was hard. "You haven't seen her since yesterday, have you?" From her tone, it was clear that Becky was sure that he hadn't but she was hoping, just a little bit.

"Only by like, every woman who's ever dated me." Jesse said with a little flash of a grin. "And no, I haven't seen her." he said, noting the change in her body language there and tone. "Everything okay? Do you want me to go get her?" he asked. He wasn't surprised Evie had cut out Becky too. For being as smart as she was she sure as fucking stupid sometimes.

"No, it's fine. I just hope she's okay." Coffee sounded good though. Really sounded good and she headed past him into the kitchen, setting the box on the counter while she went to grab a mug and grabbed the little bowl of sugar. "It's just weird that she hasn't come by or anything after she told you what had happened." It was really, really weird.

"Evie's...well. Been a little off the rails lately." Jesse said with a sigh. "I'm hoping she evens back out but I think it'll take time. Do you want me to go get her? I can do that--I promise I won't even steal a car this time to do it." he added, with a gentle sort of smile as he followed her into the kitchen.

Becky didn't doubt that at all. Evie had this thing where she bottled up the stress and Becky had told her in the past that it would get to her. "But the stealing car thing is exciting," she replied as she spooned some heaping spoonfuls of sugar into her mug. "She probably doesn't want to see me anyway. I'm pretty sure I know what she thinks even if she won't admit it. It's been strained for awhile. It can't not be what with what I was doing. I just thought that with her telling you and everything... but it doesn't matter. She'll come around eventually."

"When she mentioned what was happening to you, hon, she looked really upset about it." Jesse told her, tone light. "And I'm sure she knows what I was going to do with that information. But still. I can go get her, or bring you to her, or we can just wait and see if she shows. While looking at housing listings." he told her. "And there should be breakfast of some description. I can make an attempt."

"Waiting and house hunting and breakfast sound good." Becky smiled at him. "Although you attempting does not necessarily inspire votes of confidence. I can make pancakes. And I can let you help," she added on, because she knew Jesse would probably put in a protest of 'he could do it'. "And we're going to go back to my original question of 'would you like more coffee'?" As for Evie, Becky wasn't sure what to say to that. It was just something that would have to wait until she saw her again.

He sighed and smiled, holding out his mug. "Yeah, I want more coffee. And pancakes sound great." he said. "And yeah, my cooking skills are pretty...let's call it 'specialized' and be good with that, right?" he suggested. "So you'd better take point on that, yeah."

"Yeah?" she teased, because he said the word a lot and she took his mug and refilled it. She liked being useful, she liked doing things. "Well, you're lucky I'm not as 'specialized' as you are. Don't know how we'd manage." She remembered where things were from the night before when her and JJ made cookies (that had vanished pretty fast) and she stifled her groan as the bending down pulled on her side. "Grab the flour, eggs and milk. You think you'll be okay to mix them?"

He laughed a little. "No. Just to be contrary." he said. "Only yes, because I can handle that without fucking it up, I'm sure." he said, changing his story. Then he went to do that, grabbing everything and setting it on the counter. "So, assuming I'm thinking 'house' these days," he said. "Think there's anything for sale by my parents?"

"You wanna move back to the old neighborhood?" Becky asked, grabbing measuring cups and handing them over, letting him know how much of each to put into the bowl. Unlike Jesse and Evie, Becky had lived in a small apartment for as long as she could remember. A house seemed like a big thing with a yard and everything. Not that the yards were all that big in the city, but it was the whole idea.

"I think it's a nicer neighborhood than this one, and if anyone needs anything they have the fallback of just heading over to my parent's house." he said. Yes, sometimes he thought about strategy, like if anything bad happened. In a place like this, you had to be pre-emptively protective. "And there are probably some houses for sale, since a lot of people can't afford them these days, period." he added. It was a sad state of affairs, but he would take advantage of it if he could.

"Which means... that you can," Becky said, not exactly asking him if he could. It was obvious that if he was looking at houses he could, but how he could. On a whim, she went over to the cabinet and grabbed the half empty bag of chocolate chips and plopped them next to Jesse's mixing bowl. "Chirp mentioned getting a dog." For her to get a dog, but if JJ was suggesting it, perhaps she wanted one. Which then had Becky looking over at Leo watching them from his perch on the back of the couch.

"She's already got a cat." Jesse said. "Does she want to turn our household into a zoo?" he asked. Though he didn't think he'd so much mind a dog. They were friendly, and while he got along with Leo just fine, he would like a pet you could play with. Which probably made him a big kid, but he'd never really claimed otherwise, so whatever. "And yeah, I can afford it. Just...don't ask how." he told her, because he didn't want to get into it, and he was still of the opinion that the less people knew the better.

Becky chuckled and opened up the bag of chocolate chips, trying to figure out how many to scoop out. "I dunno, it just came up in conversation. I mean, she was suggesting it to me for protection, but it kinda seemed like she might want one? Especially if, well, I'd be staying here." She glanced up at him briefly before pouring some of the chips into Jesse's mixing bowl and put the bag away. "Do you have any honey?"

"Probably?" he suggested, making a vague gesture at the cabinet nearest the stove. "If we do it'd be in there." he said. "Are you getting all fancy on this?" he asked. "And yeah, I could see that. So the real question would be do you want a dog." he said. Since if it was going to be in that vein, if it was going to be her dog, then it would be up to her. He was already thinking a german shepherd.

"My mom always put honey into pancakes. I'm used to it." She grabbed the bottle of honey, the container a little bit sticky. "Unless you don't want any? And I wouldn't mind a dog, but it's not going to be my house. It'll be yours. A dog would make sense though. It's going to be a house, not an apartment, so there's back up if you're not there or if something happened." She hated to say it but they both knew how true those situations were.

"I'm willing to try honey." Jesse told her. "And a dog wouldn't be out of the question. Just, if it is going to be your dog, then it helps if you actually want one. If you don't, I might get one anyways, but if it's for you, let's start there. Because having a dog in a home would be a good call, I think." Very much so.

With his consent, Becky squirted some honey into the batter. Not a lot, definitely not, but a little bit and put the cap back on. "I'd like to get a dog, yeah, but I'm not begging for one or anything. I just want to make sure you know that." She gave him a little grin. "You've got enough guard dog tendencies as it is," she teased.

"I'm far too observant to have missed out on some begging marathon." Jesse said. "You're being too careful. Seriously. If you want a dog, you can get a dog. I mean, as guard dog as I can be--and you're right, okay, I'll own up--I just don't play fetch quite right, and I never took to biting intruders." he told her, shaking his head mock seriously. "I don't think I'd be up to par."

"We could get a trainer to help you out," Becky said sweetly. "I just feel a little weird. I know you're saying that I'm not imposing and, well, I'd like to take you up on that offer of moving in with you guys. It's just unexpected and I'm not entirely sure of how to act." She was just going to put that out on the table to avoid frustrating him because the situation was already a little strange to begin with without being honest. "But I would like a dog. I'm sure JJ would too and you sound like it so unanimous vote on a dog."

Jesse smiled at her. "Well, the first part would be not behaving like a guest." he told her. "If you live somewhere, it's home, so treat it like home. Which includes having a dog, if you want a dog." he said. "So, yes, dog. A dog seems good! We can go to the pet store, or the pound. Um...puppy or full grown?" he asked.

So treat it like a home. Isn't that what she'd wanted for so many years? Something that, as it so happened, was always found with the James family. And here it was again. It felt too good to be true and there was still a bit of hesitance there, deep inside. That it was all going to go away. But that was silly. Of course it wasn't going to go away. At least, not anytime soon. "Well, puppies are cute but wouldn't provide much protection. Full grown dogs are still cute but you run the risk of getting one that doesn't click with the family." She took the bowl of batter from Jesse since it was all mixed up now. "I'll start these up. What do you think?"

"I think it's your dog, so it's your choice." Jesse told her, flashing a grin. "I know, it's unhelpful, but seriously. It's all you. Stop trying to pawn off your decisions on me." he told her, lightly teasing, but there was a note of seriousness. He wanted her making her own decisions. One thing he knew happened a lot in abusive relationships was the lack of self. The destruction of a separate identity. So, he really wanted her to get past that.

"I'm not trying to pawn off the decision to you," she said, pointing a spatula at him. "I'm asking for your opinion because even though we've made the decision that it's my dog, I'm not going to make a decision without taking in other people's feelings on it. Because let's say I decided to get a puppy. Well, a puppy is a lot of work to train and everything, and maybe that's something you personally don't want to deal with." Her eyes moved from Jesse to Leo, who had hopped nimbly up onto the end of the counter and was watching the two of them curiously. "Although I think a younger dog would be a good choice since there's that one over there to think about."

"I won't be training your dog, that's your job." he told her. Even if he was pretty sure he'd help out regardless. "And that little guy just happened to be here one night." he added. "I wasn't consulted on the cat thing. But a puppy might be good for that, I don't know, really. I guess we'll find out, huh?"

"Yeah," Becky said thoughtfully before starting on the pancakes as she considered the pros and cons of puppies versus full grown dogs. "Did you see any listings that caught your attention?" The drawback of a house in the city was that you couldn't be too picky when looking for a place, especially if you already had a price range set. While the houses in the old neighborhood weren't by any means grand palaces, they were still fairly decent. At least the neighborhood was familiar.

"A couple. I figured I'd go look around in a little while. See what looks decent enough, or what I could fix up with my meager skills." he said. Since he could do a hell of a lot, but handy man stuff? That was a little less prominent in his skill book.

"Well I know how to swing a hammer," Becky put out there with a grin. "Or I can direct you to do stuff. Whatever you need." And there were always kids around that would help out, right? At least, that's how it was when she was younger. She paused, looking down at the pancakes cooking on the griddle and waiting for them to start bubbling. "I'd try find one that has enough space for a little garden. Chirp and I talked a little bit about a garden last night." Which had her thoughtful look turning to a frown, even though Jesse couldn't see it. JJ had been pretty upset the previous evening before she'd managed to distract her.

"I can do that." Jesse said, thinking it sounded like a good idea, and something constructive the girls could do. He was on board with that. He started to set the table for them as well. "I'll look today, and maybe if I find someplace, we can all go check it out sometime this week." he suggested. "See if it's acceptable." He knew he'd have to have Baby J's approval at the very least.

"I think that sounds like an excellant idea," she said, smiling at him over her shoulder. She looked at him for a moment then back down at the pancakes. Flipping them over quickly, Becky put the spatula down and went over to Jesse. She took the rest of the silverware out of his hand, set it down on the table, and then hugged him. Her arms twined around his waist and she rested her head against his chest. "I'll be okay," she told him quietly, really hoping he didn't mind the hug. She hadn't hugged Jesse much. It just wasn't one of those things she did, so she felt a little weird doing it, but she needed to. She wanted to.

He blinked at the sudden hug, but he hugged her back without hesitating. He gave her a squeeze, and rubbed her back lightly. "Good." he told her. "That's all I want." Her being okay was pretty damn important. So, her thinking she would be, and actively working towards it was a great thing. So many people didn't quite have enough drive to do it, he hoped she did. And if she didn't, he knew he'd stick around to try and help her find it.