Disclaimer: I do not own anything pokemon related.
First Christmases
Jessie had never been one for baking. In fact, both James and Meowth often said that it was a bad idea for her to be within ten feet of the stove when it was turned on. As the smoke detector screamed in protest, Jessie was reminded of just how much she hated it when they were right.
She set the fire extinguisher on the floor and fanned away the smoke with her arm as she choked on the dark smoke coming out of the oven. Eyes watering, she opened the oven and pulled out the pan of charcoal-black gingerbread men.
"Dammit!" she cursed, dumping them hastily in the trash and using the pan to smack the smoke detector into submission. When it finally quit wailing, she threw the pan into the sink and opened a window. She shivered as the cool winter air entered the kitchen, but even so, she opened the other ones. She had to get all of the smoke out before James and Meowth got back. She'd never live this one down.
"Wobba?" Wobbuffet asked curiously, poking his blue head into the kitchen. Jessie glared daggers at him.
"One word to that cat about this and I will reduce you to a little blue puddle, got it?" she seethed.
"Wobbuffet!" the pokemon saluted, scurrying back to the living room. Jessie let out a long sigh and continued trying to hide the evidence of her cooking fiasco. Stupid stove, stupid cookies, stupid day, she thought, violently pulling the trash bag out of the can to take it to the bins in the back yard.
"I hate Christmas Eve," she muttered, but even as she said it, she knew that she was lying. She loved the anticipation, the decorations, the snow...all of it. She just wasn't so keen on all of the work that had to go into it, especially this year. This was a special Christmas, the first of many more to come and Jessie wanted it to be perfect. All her life, she had very few good holiday memories. As a child, she had been very poor, often eating snow to substitute for a Christmas meal and having to wake up to nothing under the half-dead Christmas tree. Also, she had spent most of those early Christmases alone or with some new foster family that barely cared about the little orphan girl. Jessie sighed as she put the singed baking pan into the garbage and for a moment, she wondered if she had ever had a happy Christmas. She couldn't remember much before the age of four. That part of her life was always a mystery that she usually avoided, however, at this moment, she began to wonder about her first Christmas.
Was it a happy one? Did she spend it with a mother and a father who later disappeared from her life? Did they love her?
She snorted. She had asked herself that very question for as long as she could remember.
"Don't kid yourself," she muttered to herself, throwing the door open, "You spent your first Christmas in an orphanage with nobody thinking of you at all."
She couldn't have known how wrong she was.
Miyamoto Lillis sat in the familiar chair staring into the familiar plastic box at the tiny baby girl sleeping inside. For the past four weeks, she had sat in that very chair every day drinking in the tiny miracle that was her daughter.
Miya's due date had been on January twelfth. Baby Jessica had arrived November twenty-first, almost two months too early. She had been small, five pounds, three ounces and just under eighteen inches long. She had looked too fragile to enter this crazy, messed up world, yet when she was born, she let out a tremendous scream, showing the doctors and her parents just how strong her lungs were, despite the fact that she was so small.
Miya smiled and placed her hand against the glass. She hated the fact that she had to get the nurse's permission to hold her own child, but she wasn't about to do anything that could put her perfect little girl in danger.
"You know, Santa won't come until you're asleep," a familiar voice told her. Miya's smile widened, but she didn't turn around. She didn't have to, for she knew that voice so well.
"It's okay," she replied, "I have a feeling that I'm getting a lump of coal this year anyways."
"You have been a very bad girl," he said, leaning on the back of her chair, kissing the top of her head.
"Mmmhmm, well it takes two to tango," she sighed.
"Which is why I'm going to be getting a bigger lump of coal than you are," he said, "Is she awake?"
"No, but I'm glad you came."
"I'll always come," he assured her, "Any word on when she gets to come out of there?"
"The doctor says a few more days. She's really strong."
"Like you," he kissed her again.
"Suck up," she accused, still smiling as she leaned into him. Baby Jessie chose that moment to let out a whimper. Her parents looked into her perfect sapphire eyes, which were screaming 'hold me', and both felt their insides turn to putty.
"I want to hold her," Miya declared, "Where's that nurse?"
"To hell with the nurse," he growled, carefully opening the plastic case the way he had seen the nurses do it.
"What do you think-"
"Look at her," he defended, gently picking the baby up and cradling her to him, "She's fine."
Miya couldn't argue with him. Baby Jessie was fine and alert as he placed her in Miya's arms. Miya grinned as she gazed down at her daughter. It felt so good to hold her.
"Next year, she's going to have a proper Christmas," he vowed, "There's going to be the biggest tree I can find and there's going to be a mountain of presents underneath it and-"
"What about your mother? She's bound to notice-"
"Miya, you're being paranoid again."
"If she finds out about Jessica-"
"By then it won't matter," he declared, "By then, things will have calmed down enough for us to be together...a proper family celebrating their first Christmas together. We won't be in the hospital, we won't have to hide our relationship, and we won't have anything to worry about. Our lives are going to be great. I promise."
It seemed too good to be true, but Miya didn't care. She wanted that so badly. She said nothing, just rested her head on his shoulder as the pair of them stared down at their baby in her arms. They had big dreams for her future. She would grow up happy, healthy, and loved. She would have the world because she was already theirs.
Jessie trudged out into the snow and threw the garbage bag of burnt cookies into the trash cans. She hadn't bothered with a coat, shivering as the fluffy snowflakes hit her exposed skin. Even though she was cold, she still paused to catch one on her tongue, enjoying that simple pleasure that had, at one time, been the best part of Christmas for her. The first Christmas that Jessie remembered happened when she was four-years-old.
"Snow, snow, snow!" she sang, dancing and trying to catch the flakes on her tongue. It was beautiful, just like the winter wonderland her foster mother described in the bedtime story the night before. It was beautiful and magical and maybe, just maybe it would be enough to bring her mommy back.
"Jessie, come inside. I have a surprise for you," Miki called. Jessie smiled and ran back inside the little cabin. It was very small and the heat didn't work right, but little Jessie didn't care as she raced towards her foster mother and the mysterious surprise.
"What is it, Mama Miki?" Jessie asked. Miki smiled, brushing a strand of purple hair out of her eyes.
"Snowgasfort!" the woman cheered, revealing plates filled with snowballs moulded into replicas of food. The little red-haired child looked confused.
"What's that?" Jessie asked. Miki grinned widely, hoping the child didn't catch the worry on her face.
"Well, Jessie, snowgasfort is a feast with all of the best snowfood in the land," she said, "Snow rolls with soy sauce, snow pudding with snow strawberries, and snow pie. Doesn't it look good, Sweetheart?"
"It sure does," Jessie agreed, taking a bite of the cool food, letting it melt on her tongue.
"Merry Christmas, Jessie," Miki said sadly, watching the little girl eat food that would not give her sustenance. That was all she could afford to feed the child, for she was out of work. She silently prayed for someone to give her a job, but even as she said the words, the violent voices screamed in her mind. She turned away so that Jessie couldn't see as she cringed and tried to fight the delusions that had taken over her life.
Jessie continued on inside the house. Thankfully most of the smoke had cleared out of the kitchen so she could shut the windows. For a moment, she bit her lip, surveying the stove. Should she try the cookie recipe again? James did have a sweet-tooth and she wanted to do something nice for him. He had been a real prince lately, taking all that had happened in stride. He had grown up a lot since she had first met him, that's for sure.
"But I'm cold!" James whined in protest as he followed her down the snowy street.
"You didn't have to come, James," she snapped at him as she pushed her bicycle over the icy sidewalk.
"But I couldn't go back to school-"
"Well you don't have to follow me," she said.
"Jessie, I..."
"What now?" she moaned, stopping to turn and look at him. She instantly felt bad. His face had fallen and his lower lip trembled slightly. He looked really quite pathetic.
"I've never been alone before," he admitted in a small voice.
"Sure you have," Jessie shrugged, "You were alone when you got to Pokemon Tech."
"That was different. There were lots of grown-ups there and-"
"Ugh, don't tell me that you're one of those kids who needs Mommy and Daddy around all the time!" she complained.
"No!" James said quickly, "It's just...you're the only...well, it's just...you helped me...and...uh..."
Jessie smacked him upside the head.
"Quit stuttering!" she barked, "If you wanna come with me, then you've got to be tough."
"I can be tough!" James said eagerly, "I can be real tough, Jessie!"
"Fine. Come on, then," she turned to continue.
"Uh, Jessie?"
"What?" Jessie snapped. She turned and saw him holding a chain out to her.
"I-I know it's not...not much, but I...uh...Merry Christmas," he stuttered, giving her the chain. She looked at it, her first Christmas present, and nearly choked up. Then she caught herself, pocketed the chain that would later lead to her bike gang nickname, and hit James again.
"Quit stuttering!" she scolded him, then softening and smiling at him, "Merry Christmas, James."
Jessie still had that chain. She had made sure to tie it onto every jacket she had worn over the years. It was special, even though it was just a common chain that James had found and polished just before they flunked out of Pokemon Tech. It was her first Christmas present. She never told that to James, though. It just made her life sound sad. But her life had improved and she owed that to James and Meowth.
Jessie clenched and unclenched her fists, mostly in anger and partly in an attempt to keep blood flowing to her ice-cold fingers. It was her first experience in a cold county jail and she didn't particularly like it. She should have left the pokemon center with James and Meowth, but she just had to be greedy. Stupid James. He should have been in that cell with her. Instead he and that mangy cat-
"Pst! Jess!"
Her head snapped up, recognizing the voice of the mangy cat in question, "Meowth?"
"Up here!" Meowth whispered, slipping through the bars of the window. She watched as he hopped down to stand beside her.
"What are you doing?" she asked, watching as he unsheathed his claws.
"Gettin' youse outta here. James is leading da cops outta town-"
"James?" Jessie asked incredulously. She thought that he would have left her there.
"Yeah," Meowth confirmed, using his claws to pick the shackles on her wrists, "Now come on," he said, leading her away. He picked the lock to the cell door and the pair of them moved through the deserted police station. Jessie couldn't resist grabbing a poke ball from the desk of one of the officers. Then she and Meowth walked out of the front door.
"Now what?" she asked. Her answer came seconds later when James slid through the snow in front of her on a skidoo.
"What the hell?" she questioned, looking at the expensive machine.
"No time to explain!" he said, "Hop on!"
Jessie and Meowth didn't need telling twice. They jumped on the skidoo just as the cops rounded the corner on their winter vehicles. James pinned it and they rocketed over the snowy landscape, hollering in excitement and fear. Then James hit a hidden log, sending the trio of thieves flying through the air. They landed in a snow bank, the cops nowhere to be seen.
"That was close," James said, shaking snow out of his blue hair.
"Too close," Meowth agreed, his teeth chattering.
"But at least we got you back!" the pair said together, beaming at Jessie.
"You guys shouldn't have-"
"Just accept it, Jess," Meowth shrugged, "We's a team here and teams stick togedda."
"Through thick and thin," James agreed. Jessie blinked away the tears that threatened to spill. She had never had friends like them before. She pulled out the poke ball she had taken from the police station and handed it to James.
"Take it. Merry Christmas."
"But Jessie-"
"I have Ekans. You need a pokemon. Don't make me change my mind!" she threatened. He took the ball and opened it, revealing a koffing. The pair of them looked at the purple ball of gas for a moment. Then it gave a hearty laugh and nudged James's head affectionately.
"Haha! Thanks, Jess! Merry Christmas!"
It was the first time she had ever given anything to anybody, but looking back, she probably would have gave the world to James and Meowth, not that she would have admitted it then. That had come later.
"Jess! We're back...why does it smell like smoke in here?" James's voice floated through the little house, causing her to cringe. Dammit. She hadn't wanted him to find out about her failed cooking attempt.
"No reason!" she called. James appeared, his hair longer than it had been in his youth, but he still had that boyish twinkle in his eyes. Apparently he realized what happened.
"Darling, did you try to cook again?"
"Don't call me 'darling'!" she snapped, her blue eyes blazing. He snorted as he approached her, no longer afraid of her infamous temper. He knew the way to quell it.
"James Morgan, I am going to KILL you!" she ranted, pulling her shirt over her head, "How could you agree to spend Christmas with these people? It's bad enough that we spent six years chasing after them only to get blown to kingdom come every other day, but now you expect me to be civil with them?"
"Jess, they offered and...well...we need a place to stay," he reminded her, valiantly trying and failing to stay focused on her eyes while her bra showed a generous amount of cleavage.
"Eyes up here!" she snapped, smacking him over the head, something she hadn't done in a while, "Can't we just get a hotel?"
"The closest hotel is in Viridian City," James answered, tearing his eyes away from her chest, "and if we go there, we risk running into Team Rocket."
"Stupid Team Rocket!" she groaned, grabbing her night gown from a suitcase, "Cause of all problems...stupid, lousy..."
Though the pair had once been proud members of the crime syndicate, that changed when Giovanni, the feared Rocket boss, decided that they were too troublesome to keep around and tried to have them killed.
"Jessie, it's only for a couple days. Then afterwards we can continue on and-"
"James, I don't want to spend Christmas here!" she pouted, discarding her bra and throwing her night gown over her head. James had to remember to breathe.
"Jess, we can't go anywhere tonight. You should calm down-"
"Look, Buster, I've been extraordinarily calm about this entire piece of shit situation and-"
"Buster?" he questioned, having the audacity to laugh.
"James, so help me, I'm going to-"
"Shh," he took a leap of faith, approaching her and taking her in to his arms when she was very likely to throttle him. He kissed her and felt her respond before she pulled away.
"James-"
"Jessie, it's our first Christmas together," he said.
"No, it's not-"
"As a couple," he amended, "Does it really matter where we are as long as we're together? As long as I can do this," he kissed her again, "and this," he trailed kisses down her jaw, "and this," he gently kissed her neck as his hands slipped under her nightgown.
"What happened to your no-sex rule?" Jessie managed to gasp.
"It was made to be broken," he murmured, "I forgot how turned on I get when you're mad."
"Sex addict."
"Temptress."
"Don't you come near me," she warned, knowing as well as he did that he had some kind of hold on her that made it impossible to stay mad at him.
"Jess, don't get so upset," he laughed, zigging as she zagged, catching her in his arms. She laughed and fought him off, not really trying as they goofed around. She let him pin her against the wall and catch her lips in a gentle, yet passionate kiss.
"What were you trying to cook?" he demanded.
"James-"
"Come on, Jess."
"Fine," she caved, "Cookies."
"Cookies?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The absurdity of her trying to bake cookies just made it more funny.
"Yes," she rolled her eyes, ducking under his arm to freedom, "You know...Christmas, cookies, Santa, milk...the whole thing," she cursed the blush on her face and busied herself by putting the dishes in the sink.
"You know we have cookies in the cupboard, right?" he asked her.
"I wanted to do it the proper way," she said.
"Why?" he questioned, "You've been obsessing all week about Christmas. You never did before."
"This year's different," she said.
"Agreed, but is that the reason to go overboard?"
"I want it to be special," she admitted softly. James just grinned and put an arm around her waist, guiding her towards the living room.
"It already is," he whispered in her ear. When she looked into the living room, she gasped. They had decorated a tree the night before, but had ended up arguing about it. She wanted to decorate more and he wanted to decorate less, tired of all the work she was making him do.
Now the entire living room was decorated, courtesy of their pokemon. Seviper slithered around the tree, hanging lights as he made his way down. Wobbuffet and Carnivine hung up garlands and wreathes over the mantel of the fireplace and Yanmega put up a bunch of stockings, one for each pokemon, plus five larger ones for the humans. Meowth was stacking presents under the tree while Mime Jr. imitated him.
"Wow," Jessie squeaked as she watched the pokemon work.
"They wanted to do this for you," he explained, "They know how much you want this Christmas to be perfect so they decided to help out. They love you as much as I do."
"It is great," she breathed.
"Good," James said, satisfied, "Now, would you like to see your present?" he asked.
"Present?"
"What do you think I went out to get?" he teased, "Now close your eyes."
"James-" she protested as he covered them for her, knowing the she would try to peek.
"HO! HO! HO!" a child's voice attempted a deep laugh. Jessie fought James's hand away and laughed at what she saw. A little boy of nine was dressed in a Santa suit, though his turquoise hair peeked out from underneath the red and white hat. This was Teddy Parker-Morgan, James's illegitimate half-brother who, like his older brother, had managed to worm his way into Jessie's heart. Beside Teddy, sitting in a little sleigh, were his elves: Jessie and James's twins, who would be celebrating their first birthday soon, dressed up in little green elf suits. Teddy approached her, quickly readjusting his hat.
"Are you Jessie Lillis?" he asked in a deep voice. Jessie tried not to laugh.
"I am," she nodded.
"I think I have a present for you," Teddy said, looking through a large sack.
"Hey, Santy Claus, I tink dis is what you're lookin' for," Meowth said, tossing a box over to the little boy. Teddy caught it and presented it to her.
"Here you go, Ma'am," Teddy said.
"Thanks, T...Santa."
Jessie unwrapped the present and found a jewellery box. She looked curiously back at James before she opened it and revealed the gold locket inside.
"Open it," he prodded her. Jessie did as she was told and she found pictures of her little elves inside. On the left was her little boy with his red hair stuck to his head in curls that would definitely be hanging in his green eyes when he was older. On the right was her precious daughter, who's hair was more purple than red and eyes were bright blue like her mother's. In the back of the locket, their names were engraved.
"Oh, James," she whispered.
"Knew she'd like it," Meowth muttered. She looked up and noticed that all of the pokemon had gathered around the humans, curious.
"Just something to celebrate their first Christmas," James said, moving away from her so that he could pick up a twin in each arm. The twins lit up when their father held them and their smiles only grew when they caught sight of their mother.
"It's perfect," she breathed, and it truly was. Her entire world was in that living room. The hardships of the past no longer held as much weight as they once had. The only thing that mattered now was that she was here and surrounded by her family, pokemon and human alike, as they celebrated the first Christmas where she actually felt whole and complete.
The End.
AN: Merry Christmas! So this is a bit of a companion piece to Fated, my fanfic revolving around Jessie, James, and their pasts. I was hoping to get this up before Christmas, but that didn't happen. I was also hoping to get another chapter of Fated done before Christmas as well, but that didn't happen either. Happy Holidays!