The little town of Annville was not mighty fond of their preacher. More often than not, people would ignore what he said and grumble about how a supposed holy place got hotter than hell on sunny days. And after what happened to Donnie and his boys, they gave the preacher wide birth, 'specially when that weirdo Irish vagabond insistently clung to him like dust on the open road. Yessiree, the return of Jesse Custer hailed no "alleluias" from the sun-scorched Texas back road.

And yet, there still were times when people searched him out, lookin' for a little divine reassurance. Eugene would ramble sheepishly but sincerely about life and The Lord, sounding damn near unintelligible with his rearranged face. Sheriff Root would come later, asking about his son and groaning about the missing livestock problem that seemingly came to life overnight. Then a couple of folks would rant and rave about an errant relative, or an overbearing mom, or even, and Jesse still couldn't quite believe this, an undead gunslinger who's shots never missed and was apparently unaffected by attempted vehicular homicide. Hell, once during service, Jesse swore he saw a pair of inhuman cowboys quietly holding hands and trying to work with hymns that they obviously weren't accustomed to. In all truth, the town had no love for Jesse Custer, but not too much hate either.

So when Emily decided to invite the wayward preacher over for dinner, who was he to say no?

Sitting cordially at her table, Jesse Custer tackled the usual dilemmas of the church budget (abysmal as usual), ways to raise attendance (maybe he could buy doughnuts ; they seemed to work for Catholics), and how to convince Cassidy to fix the damn air conditioner (July was approaching and he did not want to deal with that fallout). He also took to attacking the massive plate of hamburger mac & cheese accompanied by assorted steamed vegetables. Well, okay. He burned through what he liked, namely not the water chestnuts. Or the soy beans. Those were just weird. But, hey, as a fully grown man he should be able to make his own dietary choices, even if they mainly were grease and alcohol. He never expected to love past 40 anyway.

"But, really? Do ya think that doughnuts would work? Or maybe sugar cookies? I mean, they're easy, I can make them. And hell, Cass could too...provided he too the time, but still! And-"

Emily had gone silent.

"...uh...you alright...?"

She just sighed. "Jesse Custer: look at your plate and tell me what's missing."

He looked down and then up again. "...thanks for inviting me over?"

She raised an eyebrow. Jesse huffed.

"It's about the vegetables, isn't it?"

She nodded. "And?"

He ran the meat of a palm against his forehead. "Is this really necessary?" She nodded again, face strait. "Emily...I'm an adult! I can make my own stupid decisions if I-"

Emily had slammed her hands flat and the table and squared her shoulders, staring him down. "Jesse Custer, you will eat your damn vegetables when at my house. Understood?"

Shivering tensed muscles, Jesse nodded mutely.

"Well?"

"Yesma'amunderstood." Jesse snapped into action, finishing the meal in record time and leaving with a quick "thankyouforyourhospitality,bye!" before Emily could utter a single word.

Shaking her head, Emily started to clear the table considering to tell that O'Hare woman about the development. Who knew, it might just make the temperamental Tulip's day.

Note: I don't own "Preacher" or it's characters, just this little story. Anyways, I liked the idea of Jesse getting chewed out or something mundane, and one cannot live on tobacco, alcohol, and grease alone. If you like this, say so. If you don't, say why and what can be done to improve it. Thank you for reading!

Best wishes,

-Gray Carolean