things she didn't want to hear

who: Jesse and Kess
where: the streets
when: afternoon

Jesse was out wandering. Or, he had goals in mind, he just wasn't sure how to go about getting them done. He'd got the note from Lily, and he might stop and see her but if he did, he'd have to work himself up to it, and he didn't want to bother her at work anyways, and...generally he was making excuses for himself and so far they had held up. The other bit was he needed to get his daughter a dress, and wanted it to be a surprise. Which meant he hoped he got her the right size--which had involved going to ask his own mother, who had told him. He would have gone to ask Helena to make her something or whatever, but every time he saw that woman, it seemed like he got more upset.

He wanted to avoid being pissed off today. So, he was kind of half wondering where he was even going to go to get a dress, and vaguely hoping some helpful female might happen by. Really, that could happen at any time. He was standing outside a higher priced place, eyeing the display in the window and debating with himself.

Kess had to be in work in... a couple of hours, she realised, as she checked her watch. Maybe a little less, but she didn't want to be early as much as she had no wish to be late either. She'd been checking her back all damn day, since she took that cop home last night, and actually found out about the planned raid on Babylon. Maybe she should just call in sick or something. After fucking Keenan O'Malley threw her into the gutter last night, she could claim to have a concussion, right? She had enough damn bruises - though those were all covered by the dress she was wearing.

No, she couldn't call in, because they'd like as not send 'the boys' round to check that she wasn't faking, and the last thing she wanted was O'Malley brutes at her door, or in her place. She'd go, and she'd just keep an eye out and hope that everything turned out alright.

In the meantime, she'd needed to get out, to get some air, to distract herself from the potentially major fucking issues which could be in her immediate future. So, she was window shopping - not her favourite pastime, but she wasn't going to be going spying on her little girl today - if Eugene saw her, well - suffice to say that she had just about enough bruises to be going on with.

She pulled her coat around her a little more against the wind as she turned to look at the display in the window of a nearby store, stepping into the lee of a larger guy without saying a word about it, using him as a wind break as best she could.

Jesse noticed straight away, and glanced at the person out of the corner of his eye. Hey look, a woman. Just what he needed at the moment. And, in typical Jesse James fashion, he didn't actually think out his approach at all, he just started speaking. "So, I don't suppose I could talk you into helping me out with something, could I?" he asked. "I need a woman's opinion."

Kess hadn't actually been expecting the man to speak - much less to speak to her in a way that wasn't 'oi, you - you're in my personal space' - but she recovered pretty quickly, she usually did. "What do you want an opinion on?" she asked him, rasing an eyebrow and looking up at him.

"I'm getting something for my daughter, and I have her size and everything, but I don't actually know what to buy for a fifteen year old girl." he admitted. "So, I thought I'd ask someone who would know better on that score, so I got her something she actually liked instead of say, a burlap sack that covered her head to toe so she doesn't attract male attention I'll want to kick the ass of." He flashed a grin. "Think you've got an opinion on something like that?" he asked. "I'll say pretty please if that helps. Or buy you a drink sometime if you'd let me."

Kess gave him a sad sort of smile and looked back towards the window. "I wouldn't know what to buy for a fifteen year old girl," she said, her voice hollow. Hell, she didn't even know what to buy for a thirteen year old girl, not really. It had been so long since she'd spent any time with Arden that she didn't know what the girl liked anymore. Sometimes, she liked to pretend that she did - she liked to look in store windows at what was in fashion and pretend she knew what kind of a young woman her little girl was growing up into.

Jesse didn't say anything for a moment, catching the tilt to that smile into something sadder. "Want to keep me company and give opinions anyways? At least then it can be a joint effort if it sucks, and she hates it?" Even if his daughter was generally a grateful child. He couldn't actually picture her coming out and cussing at him that he'd gotten the wrong thing. Still, it wasn't the point. "You can get lunch out of the deal too, since I hate eating alone." he added, smiling at her again, though it was more a friendly toned one as opposed to the flirty one that was his default.

Kess shook off the sadness and loss that always threatened to envelope her when she thought about her husband and looked back at the guy. "Sure, I can do that," she said, forcing herself to turn the smile back into something happier. "I'm Kess, by the way, oh stranger who's gonna buy my lunch and take my opinions and stuff," she said, holding out her hand and wondering if she could maybe manage to push that 'couple of hours' back- or definitely come down with a severe bout of flu. Or a sprained ankle. Or... something. God, but she didn't want to be in work for the next few days.

He shook her hand, then turned it as he winked and he smooched the back of it, just because. "Jesse James, at your service, Kess." he told her. Then he stood straight. "Or you're at mine for the moment, I suppose, but I figure we can call it even." Then he opened the door to the shop with a flourish for her. "After you." he said, letting his playful manner leak back into things. But then again, it was difficult to keep it at bay for long when a pretty girl was about.

Kess looked at him as if she wasn't sure he was for real, then burst out laughing, the remnants of her earlier sadness flowing away. "Bet you think you're a real charmer, don't you," she told him, sounding highly amused as she rolled her eyes and walked through the door. She looked back at him. "That get you between the sheets with a lot of women then?" she asked him, sure she already knew the answer. He was cocky, clearly charming if that was anything to go by, undeniably good looking. And women were damn fools at times.

He laughed, not minding being called on things. He liked girls with spunk, after all. "I've been told a time or two in the past that I can be charming when I want to be." he told her, letting the door shut again behind them as he glanced around. "And yes, upon occasion, it's been known to provide me with company." Not of late, really, but that was more by design than anything. "You wanna get the 'don't try anything on me buddy or you'll wake up without the boys' out of your system?" he asked, still grinning at her.

She smirked a little as she headed for a rack of clothes, casting the glance back at him over her shoulder. "Honey, if I was gonna do that, then I wouldn't give you a heads up first," she informed him.

That had Jesse laughing, an amused, genuine sound. "I like you." he told her, decision made instantly. "So...a night at the theater, something a fifteen year old girl would want or like or...whatever. I've got a little bit to spend on her too so...unless it's ridiculous, I can probably afford it." Sort of. It was coming out of funds he shouldn't have, but it was for Jessie. That took priority.

"Something pretty, feminine - something that looks a little older than she is - that way you can get away with making sure it's also pretty modest," she suggested, trying to imagine - but trying to imagine without thinking too hard about Arden. It never went well when she thought about Arden. "What's her colouring?" she asked him. "And what's her name?"

Jesse reached into his back pocket to pull out a photograph he had of Jessie. It was actually fairly recent. He liked to make sure he had up to date pictures, even if sometimes it was a hassle to do. "Modest. I like modest. Let's definitely do modest. This is her. She's got eyes like mine, I guess coloring like mine?" he suggested. "Sorry. I don't really know terms for things so much. She's got darker hair but it gets lighter in the summer? I'm not a lot of help. Her name's Jessie, though. Yeah, I know, it wasn't my idea."

Kess took the photo for a moment and looked at the pretty young girl. She looked older than Arden - but then again, she was. Girls changed so quickly at that age. Kess had nightmares some nights that Arden grew up quickly and she didn't recognise her own daughter any more. She always woke up crying after those ones.

She handed the picture back, pushing thoughts of Arden away again and forcing a smile. "Jesse James called his daughter Jessie James? Oh, sorry - right, not your choice. Someone else had it in for the kid, did they?" she asked him.

Jesse had the urge to ask her if she was alright. He didn't, not just yet, but it burned in the back of his mind, and he figured he'd ask in a bit. Say when they weren't in the middle of a higher class store, where people might find it their business to listen. "It was all her mom's doing. I didn't really get a say, so much. If I had, I would have said that growing up with the name always comes with a whole lot of jokes attached. I think my parents just thought they were funny. I think Ronnie was just a little..." he quirked a half smile. "Well. Into me, I suppose."

Kess rolled her eyes. "Well, what a surprise that you twisted a girl round your finger - she okay with you being, well... you?" she asked, lightly. The guy came across as an incorrigible flirt, at least at first meeting and nothing about him had encouraged Kess to reconsider that though. But, he could probably sell it to his wife that his behaviour was 'harmless' enough, since he also looked like the type that could talk himself out of anything. A real charmer.

Pausing a moment, Jesse eyed Kess for a second. "...I wouldn't exactly word it as 'twisting' anyone around my finger, and I'd assume she is, wherever she is." since he didn't know for certain. Ronnie kind of...went wherever. She was a mess a whole lot of the time, really, and sometimes months would go by and he'd not hear from her at all. He looked at another dress as he passed it. "You know this kind of felt like going from having a decent time with a stranger to being insulted." he added offhandly, looking back in her direction. "I do something?"

"Wasn't meant as an insult, Jesse James - just wondering if you guys were still together, thought for a minute you were. Which didn't really fit with the whole, well... Thing. Look, doesn't matter - I should have known better, with the whole, well, thing and - how come you don't know where she is?" Kess asked, suddenly latching onto that and frowning. "She... Did she leave?" she asked him.

Jesse kept looking at Kess for a moment. "If I were a betting man, I'd say someone did you wrong and I remind you of them." he put out there. Wouldn't be the first time he was judged due to someone else's behavior. He wasn't taking it personally so much as pointing it out, because generally people didn't realize they were doing it so much. "And not sure, really. Things were a mess, she's kind of a mess. I don't hear from her that often. She's kind of the type who shows up when she wants somethin, or when she's on a 'reformed' kick and wants to make up for lost time with Jessie." he said. "Sorry for the dirty laundry, but you asked."

"One out of two," Kess told him, because Jesse didn't remind him of Eugene other than he was a daddy. She paused, falling silent for a long time before asking, "You let her see your daughter?" She looked across at him. "Even thought she's not always there? Even though she's a mess, or whatever?" Her voice was quieter, and she anticipated the answer - she could bet the guy did. That he let them see each other. Yeah, Jesse really didn't remind her of Eugene at all.

"'Course, it's her mom." Jesse said, as if this were something that should be automatic, and it didn't occur to him at all that things might ever be different. Which they didn't. And granted, sometimes he really didn't appreciate it when Ronnie came around, because sometimes Jessie took it hard when she wasn't again, that didn't mean he was ever going to put some stop to the relationship. That was...well, criminal, wasn't it? With the way she was speaking, he again sensed something was wrong, and there was more going on than he could guess. "You alright?" he asked, even if he'd been planning on holding off on that question. His better nature won out, and that internal drive to help a pretty girl.

Kess shrugged a shoulder and glanced away. "Yeah, I'm fine - you're not the only one with dirty laundry," she told him as she pulled out a deep grey dress in a satiny material. "How about this one?" he suggested to him, deflecting the subject.

He let her, just because he was planning on bringing it up once they were out of the shop. Turning his attention on the dress, he considered. The material was nice. Grey might make her eyes stand out. Plus it wasn't black, and he knew how much guys liked a girl in a black dress. So black was straight out. "I like it." he said. "What's the back look like?" He didn't want anything too revealing or anything.

Kess turned it round to show the back. The shoulder straps crossed over so that they would rest between the girl's shoulderblades, showing some skin, but the main fall of the dress started above where her bra would be. The dress was nicely bias cut, but with a firm structure, and it would follow her waist down before falling to midcalf in a swirling skirt. Pretty, elegant, grownup but modest at the same time.

Jesse considered, looking it over, and then eventually he nodded. "Okay, good choice. Thank you." he said. Reaching out to take it. "I'll be right back." he promised. "Don't go anywhere." And then he headed for the counter, to pay for the dress. Which was, in fact, a little more than he could properly afford, but he had the stash cash to pay for it. He had them box it up in a gift box, and then bagged so he didn't ruin the box.

Kess watched him head off, thinking that she might have disappeared if he hadn't specifically told her not to. Course, she knew she could have just gone anyhow, but that would have just been out and out rude, and he hadn't actually done anything wrong. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and he was being just the distraction that she needed to keep her mind off the potential badness at Babylon, so she stayed right where she was.

He came back over, and smiled, half wondering if she would have wandered off again but she hadn't. "So, want to pick someplace to get some food?" he asked, heading towards the door, and holding it for her. "Or there's the park where we could get something from some of the carts, and just go for a walk." Which would work better for having a conversation. At least one that he didn't especially want an audience for.

Kess considered that as she walked out onto the street again. It wasn't the nicest of days, pretty damn windy, all in all. But then again, they didn't seem to get a whole lot of nice weather in the city. "Answer me one question first," she said, deciding. "You a cop?" Because she'd already helped out one cop, and found out that Babylon was about to be raided - she didn't really want to be out in public where she could be seen in broad daylight with another.

Jesse blinked, then laughed. "...that's the first time I've ever been asked that." he told her. "Most of the time I get asked if I rob banks, or am an outlaw. No, I'm not a cop." he told her, wondering why she needed to ask. This girl had a lot of curious points to wonder about, didn't she? At least she wasn't dull.

"Well, you could be - just because you have an outlaw name. Hell, you could have spent your whole life working against the bad boy image given you by your parents," Kess pointed out, relaxing as he said that. It didn't actually occur to her not to believe him. She figured if he was a cop, then he would have told her he was a cop. He wouldn't have a reason to lie about that.

"Naw, it's kind of in my nature, not just my name." Jesse told her, teasing. "So, where we headed, little lady?" he asked. He didn't immediately jump to asking her anything, figuring they could walk a bit before he got into that. So far he assessed that she had some issues and possibly cop-trouble, but really, who didn't have those. No one he knew, not in this town.

"We're headed for the park," she told him, decisively, setting them walking in that direction as she pulled the collar of her coat up round the back of her neck. "So, you are a bad boy then? It's not just the name? Damn - I bet that didn't help with the teasing thing you were talking about."

"Well, technically most of the teasing ended in elementary school." Jesse said. And he imagined it would have been a lot worse if he hadn't lived up to the name in some fashion, but because he had, it had become more something the ladies liked. "What about you? Is Kess short for something?" he asked. "Never heard the name before. Which, by the way, is a good thing. Too many people out there are all named the same thing."

Kess laughed at that. "Trust me, honey, nobody has my name. I think my parents must have been on some kind of opium high when they named me. 'Kess' is short for Kessler - or, actually Kessler-Ann, according to my mother. Kessler-Ann Phizackerley. Just 'Kess' is plain easier though. Or Zac - people called me Zac a lot when I was younger."

"Bless you." Jesse teased at her last name. Because yeah, wow, that was a mouth full. 'course it also sort of possibly told him she wasn't married. "Kess! Kess is nice." he said, chuckling a little. "I'm not even attempting your last name." he added.

"Most people don't," Kess agreed, not bothered by his own brand of teasing. She'd gotten enough of it, growing up. "Kess is the best of a bad bunch, Jesse James, that's for sure. I hope your daughter likes her dress," she added, since she hadn't actually before. She also hoped that he had a better idea of what his girl liked than she would hers. but, then again, he got to see her all the time, he got to live with her. It was a world of a difference.

"Me too." Jesse said. "So," he said, as they headed for the park proper. "This makes me nosey, I'm aware, but what's your story? And why were you getting a bit upset there in the shop?" he asked. "You said something about your own dirty laundry...this is me asking." he told her. He was aware a lot of people didn't ask. People had their own problems, after all, and a lot of this city was set in permenant 'mememe' mode.

"Why do you want to know?" Kess asked, tilting her head slightly and looking over at him. The question wasn't asked overly pointedly - she just was assessing his motives. She defintiely wasnt going to be getting into something that was hard for her for someone else's entertainment, that was for sure.

"Anyone ever tell you you're paranoid?" Jesse asked good naturedly. "You kind of imply a whole lot, ask me if I'm a cop, and now a guy can't ask a question when a girl looks like she's got a lot on her plate?" he asked, shaking his head. "You looked like something was up. I didn't want to ask in there, where just anyone could be listening, because you know how little shop ladies love their gossip." That he learned from his mother. "And I'm not a totally self absorbed asshole who ignores everyone else for his own purposes." he paused, and walked a little ways over to a flower cart and bought two, one that went into the bag for his daughter, the other he held out to her when he was back. "You look like you need a little something. So I'm asking, and here. Have something colorful."

Kess took the flower warily, half bringing it to her nose to smell it before deciding better of it and dropping it back again, holding it around waist height and glancing at it occasionally. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of this guy and it was confusing her. "I... I'm not paranoid," she told him. It wasn't paranoia when you really did have something to be concerned about. "And I asked why because if you were just asking to be nosy, then you can go get your gossip elsewhere." But, from his answer, she'd already decided it wasn't just that. "I have a daughter, a little younger than Jessie. She lives with her father - I don't get to see her a whole lot," she told him, missing out on all the details, because it always upset her to talk about this. It hadn't ever got any better - it still hurt as much now as it had done two years ago.

Jesse frowned, walking slowly with her as he listened. "Why not? Did they move away? And why did he get her?" he asked. Really, he understood very well that his situation was fairly unorthodox. Most of the time children went to mothers, and there wasn't any two ways about it. In fact, part of the only reason he had his daughter was that he had wanted her, and Ronnie had had 'things to do' or whatever and hadn't fought him on it. He kept his eye on her out of the corner of his, not trying to stare or make her uncomfortable, since she seemed it. That wasn't his intent at all.

"Because my ex is a fucking lowlife piece of shit who probably gets off on making my life miserable?" Kess shot back with a sudden flash of anger that burned away every other emotion as she talked about her ex-husband. It didn't last long, just a flash, but it burned hot whilst it did last, her eyes flashing, her colour rising before she settled again. "She always was a daddy's girl," Kess continued, sadness replacing anger as she talked about Arden. "She didn't want to come with me when I left him, didn't want to leave him." And now Eugene wouldn't let her see her daughter, and who knew what Arden thought of her mother these days.

Jesse listened, internally a little surprised by the ire, but not so much so after she'd got the story out. "Ouch." he said. "...you could probably take him to court for that." he told her. "He's not allowed to just cut you out of her life like that. Not unless there's a damn good reason, and I don't know many judges who would actually side with a father over any custody battle." He wondered why the girl would have opted to stay with her father, but in the end, didn't. For one, it was probably painful in the first place. For another, he knew if Jessie had had a choice, she would have picked him.

"I don't exactly have the kind of money that a lawyer would cost me, or a court," Kess said, bitterly. She always said that she'd do anything to get Arden back, but everything just seemed so hopeless, whenever she thought about it, she just couldn't see through the mists to it ever happening. And, anyway, Arden would probably hate her for it. Arden probably hated her anyway. Knowing the kinds of shit Eugene would be talking about her, would be telling her daughter. Plus, if Eugene found that out - there was always the rather more physical option. It wouldn't be the first time her ex had tried to kill her.

"You looked into what it would cost? Or if there's any lawyers around who'd take the case for free? Whatever it's called...there's a term." He just didn't know it. "Sounds to me like it's something that's bothering you, and isn't going to go away. Plus, it's your daughter." And the idea of giving up on a kid was alien to him, and he didn't really think she sounded like the sort either. If she was, she wouldn't sound so pissed about it all.

Kess looked away, concentrating on the ground in front of them. "She doesn't want to see me," she said, her voice again quieter than normal. In so much of her life, she would fight every step of the way, but in this, it always felt like nothing would work, that there was this huge great cloud of depression hanging over her, or that she was about to burst into tears about everything. The most she could accomplish was what was tantamount to stalking her own daughter - and even with that, it felt like she was just torturing herself.

"Did she say she didn't want to see you? And anyways, she's a kid, right? Kids don't always know what's best for them, or what's going on. I mean, for most of Baby J's life she didn't actually get that part of the reason her mom wasn't around was because she'd got lost in some drug induced haze that ate up months at a time. Or that on year, when she showed up the day before Jessie's birthday, it wasn't actually to see her, it was to get money from me. Or that half the time the presents from 'mom' under the tree at my parent's house are just extra things the family pitched in for." he said. "She's fifteen and she doesn't know everything in the world. However old your daughter is, I'm sure she doesn't either. If your ex husband's a dickhead, you definitely don't want him shaping the world for her."

"She's twelve," Kess told him. "And no, I don't want him shaping her world, but - you don't get it. She was always a daddy's girl." Had she said that already? Maybe. Maybe she'd just thought it - she thought it a lot. "He could never do any wrong in her eyes. She'd hate me if I took her away from him. Hell, she probably hates me anyway. But even if I could do it - she wouldn't stay. But, he wouldn't let her leave. I'm sure he only let me leave because the fucker knew he'd hurt me more if I went and she stayed." Eugene did so love hurting her.

"Maybe she'd be angry for a while, but hate's a pretty strong word. Plus, you're her mother." To Jesse, Kess' words sounded a lot like repeated phrases. Like things she'd told herself a million times, or someone else had told her and she'd adopted as her own truth. "As for being a daddy's girl...that doesn't mean she doesn't love you. I'd recommend taking some sort of action before she becomes a teenager...that's when things'll get hard for a while. Still, though. I mean, if you don't want to do it, then okay, I'll drop it, but...well. Kind of sounds to me like you're dictating things because of some idea of what your daughter may or may not think and you're not sure on, and a man who probably isn't as powerful as you think. Everyone can be taken down a notch. And unless he's got ties in city hall or something, he's still subject to law and everything else."

"You don't know Eugene," Kess told him. She looked across at him, but didn't meet his eyes, and dropped her gaze to the floor again almost instantly. She fucking hated that Eugene could make her feel like this - like he was still there, terrorising her life. For all that she'd stood up to him, fought back, even goaded him at times, she knew that she'd been scared of him, in her own way. Everything she'd done, it had just been to try and retain some control over a situation she'd felt so damn helpless in. And he still left her feeling like that, when it came to her daughter. It was his fucking fault - the limp-dicked prick. "It's alright for you," she continued, after a moment. You're a reasnable guy. Eugene - Arden's father - he's not a reasonable guy."

Jesse'd seen behavior like hers before. In fact, even if the bruise he'd gotten in defense of the last one had faded, just leaving him with the most recent fight's, he'd defended one recently. It was just part of who he was. Part of what made him him. But he did, in fact, recognize the mannerisms of someone who'd gotten a smackdown more than once in her life by someone who thought they could do it. "How unreasonable are we talking?" he asked, tone just a little lighter than before.

Kess looked sideways at him. "About as unreasonable as they get?" she suggested to him. Unreasonable enough that she'd walked out before he killed her. Some days, she wished she'd never done that. That she'd stayed, no matter what. At least she'd still have Arden then. But she'd believed that her daughter would come with her. She'd believed then, naively, that the girl wouldn't really want to stay with her father, couldn't really want to stay with her father. Things had looked different then - things had felt positive, the day she'd walked out the door. But she should have learned by now - learned that 'positive' only meant they were about to get screwed over.

"I know some pretty unreasonable people." Jesse said. Like the guy who'd knifed his shoulder the other day. That was unreasonable. "He hurt you?" he asked. Since he might as well, considering he already heavily suspected it. "He ever hurt your daughter?" Which he'd mentally jotted her name down, too. He could ask Jessie if she'd ever heard of her. And if so, what she was like, what rumor said, all that.

"No! He would never hurt Arden!" Kess said, immediately and completely denying the possibility of that. "She... She was always the centre of his world. And he was of hers - it was just... He wouldn't hurt her. She'd have to do something wrong first and she - nothing Arden ever did was wrong." That was the one consolation she had - that she knew that, bastard though he was to her, Eugene would never hurt her daughter. Never.

Jesse didn't say it, but he was wondering how accurate Kess' version of things was. "When was the last time you saw them?" he asked. Time could change things too. And people like that...they always needed a target. Always. They didn't just stop being abusvie sons of bitches because their woman left. They found someone else to pick on. Usually the closest target.

"I saw Arden five days ago - in the morning," Kess said, knowing that down to the second almost. "It was raining, she was just leaving church." She'd had a red unbrella and been wearing a pretty dress with a jacket over the top. She'd had on white shoes, but they were splattered with dirty water. her hair had grown since last time Kess had seen her, and she'd been laughing and holding Eugene's hand - it had looked like he'd just told her a joke.

"If you saw her that recently, why would you think she hates you?" Jesse asked, a little confused. He'd been under the impression from what she'd said that she wasn't 'allowed' to see her daughter at all. But if she did see her...was Kess' screws not quite as tight as they should be? Hm.

"Just because I saw her, doesn't mean to say that she saw me," Kess pointed out. She knew that it was basically admitting that she stalked her daughter, but right now - this was the most understanding ear she'd had in a long time. Of course, she talked to some of the Babylon girls about Arden, but mostly that was just a bitchfest about the bastard that was Eugene Elwaine, or it was her crying on someone's shoulder about Arden herself - not that she let that happen too often. Mostly, she kept things to herself. She didn't like to cry in public.

"Ah." Jesse said. Well that made it make more sense. And really just kind of spoke of desparation to Jesse. He couldn't exactly say he wouldn't do something if anyone took his daughter away. Of course he also couldn't say that he wouldn't go right through anyone who had her, too so maybe that wasn't the best example. "What if you set up seeing her at school or something? Just to talk to her for a while?" he asked. "Or if she went to a friends house or something...?" It wasn't a permanent fix or anything, but might give her an idea where her kid was at. And if anything bad was happening to Arden. Anyone could fake normal for a little while, so if Kess didn't see her daughter, and only from afar, it wouldn't actually be that hard to set up some illusion of some happy life.

"To set something up, she'd have to be talking to me," Kess pointed out. She'd considered it. In the early days if had got so far as begging her. "But - she doesn't reply to my letters." And Eugene had told her what he'd do to her if he ever found her around Arden. He'd hurt her, telling her - she'd had a bald spot for weeks, where he'd pulled out a clump of her hair, emphasisng the point as he'd yanked her around by the glossy locks. he'd told her that he'd always be watching - and even if he wasn't, his little princess told him everything. Kess would have thought he was bluffing, if she didn't know better - Arden really would tell him everything. Or, at least, the Arden she'd known would have done. She didn't mention any of that to Jesse though, that was too much. And she refused to play the damn victim. She wouldn't play the abused wife card.

"And you think a guy like that would actually give her the letters?" Jesse asked. "Sweetheart, it would be easy for him not to." he said. Really, it would be easy for the guy to say whatever the fuck he wanted, and without her making it hard for her ex to do that...well. Not that he was blaming her. He'd seen a lot in his day, and knew what a woman like her could get like, later. He'd dated a few. Generally it didn't work, due to a lot of issues just not getting worked through, but he didn't really view that as a fault, just a way life went. ...that also didn't mean that he didn't keep trying with people. Or that he could walk away from situations like the one she was describing.

"And if she doesn't get my letters, then I can't organise anything either," Kess pointed out. "So, she's either not replying, or she's not getting anything in the first place - either way, I lose." She'd actually thought about this before. Everything always came to a dead end, but she had thought about it. It was part of why the whole situation seemed so thoroughly depressing.

"You're a think inside the box kinda girl, huh." Jesse said, heading them over towards the statue of what's-his-nuts, and leading around so the base of the statue would block the wind pretty well. "So if she doesn't get your letters, you set up something else. You know where she's gonna be, probably through help of some kind, and you show. She doesn't have to know it was a set up in the first place, might take pressure off of her, if there's automatically tension there for things. But the girl can go to the park with a friend or something, and you can happen to be there at the same time. Hell you already said you kind of know where she is from time to time. Maybe if my daughter knows her..." he trailed off there, so Kess would get the idea.

"Yeah, I could be there at the same time, and then she goes home and tells daddy and..." Kess shook it off, her frame tightening. Fuck, she hated that he could still get her to feel like this. Bastard. She hated, hated hated it - enough that she didn't address the point about his daughter.

"And you still saw her. Look, either you want to do something about the situation or you don't. Unless you plan to have the guy killed or something, it's always going to come back to that. So, decide if you're willing to do something or not." Jesse said, though he didn't word it unkindly. His tone was still light, also like he wasn't about to judge her on her answer.

Kess stopped and looked up at him. "I... Have to go," she said, swallowing hard. She didn't want to argue with the guy who'd just been nothing but nice to her, but he really didn't know shit about her situation, and she really felt like he was treating her as though she was some dumb broad that had never actually thought things through. She wasn't - she'd done nothing but think about things, and this was where it had left her. She'd been without her daughter for two years. That was a whole lot of time to think things through, and yet he was here treating her like she'd just walked away and left it at that. he might mean well, he seemed to mean well, but he just didn't get it. It was sweet of him that he was trying to be encouraging, but she wasn't hanging around to be treated like an idiot, so she gave him the out and started to walk away.

Jesse watched her walking away. "It all comes down to choices, Kess. And what you're willing to do. I think you can do something here, and maybe not all by yourself, but there's always a way. You just have to be willing to go through with it, and what it might entail. You want your daughter back, or you want to be able to see her, he's going to be involved in some matter. If she goes home and tattles...then you deal with that if it happens. You need protection? Don't be where he expects you to be, or carry a gun. If you don't have one, I could score you one. If you need someplace else to be, you could crash at my place...I'll take the floor." Considering he only had a couch, and Jessie's room, and he didn't want her thinking this was some ploy to get her into bed. It wasn't, not in any way. But he really hated the idea of some girl out there without her mom, who was with a bastard the size Kess was making him out to be, both in what she said and what she wasn't saying. It was written all over her, and Jesse just couldn't actually handle that.

"You don't need to get involved in my problems, Jesse James," Kess said, still walking away. She wasn't harsh about it, that was just the way it was. She didn't know this guy, he didn't know her - and now he was offering her a place to stay? He didn't need to get mixed up in her problems, and she wasn't going to ask him to.

He followed her a little, just enough that he didn't actually have to shout to be heard. "Guys like that don't change, you know. They don't stop. And trust me, if he isn't hurting her or hasn't, you said she's a little younger than my daughter? Even a daddy's girl might not be little miss perfect and that could be bad for her. Especially if he's just been controlling her life til now. I know I don't have to get involved, I just...don't find it easy to walk away, especially when there's a kid involved." And a pretty girl, but that just wasn't even it right now.

Kess really wished that she could block him out. She didn't want to hear what he was calling to her. He'd seemed such a nice guy - and now he was saying all of these things that she didn't want to hear and she wouldn't cry in front of him, she wouldn't. She would just keep on walking, and she would pretend she couldn't hear. She would just pretend. So that was what she did. She kept on walking.

What Jesse wasn't was a stalker. And he'd said what he thought she might need to hear, and she hadn't said anything and was still going, so he stopped, and just watched her walk away. He kept doing that, hoping that maybe she'd stop, turn around, but she didn't. He watched til she was out of sight, then sighed, dragged his fingers through his hair, and he turned to head home. To give his baby girl her present, give her a hug, and stay in all night spending time with her. ...and maybe ask her if she knew a girl named Arden.