Author's Note: Wow I completely forgot about this fanfic. Well I got really inspired by a fan art a while back but I never really wrote down my specifics to my idea. Now I have this chapter finished and I'm working on the next. So hopefully I have a schedule, like having a chapter per week. Probably won't but I'll push myself and try. I am also trying to keep this fanfic to eight chapters, if it goes over I'll update this to fit. Job-wise, Jet is IndyCar driver and during the season Albert drives the trailer that carries both the car and Jet (March 30th - August 30th is a full season. I won't go too much into IndyCar). During the offseason Albert is a regular ole truck driver.
A young man was walking down one of the many sidewalks in New York. He moved across the walkways with a quick step, while accidentally bumping into some people on the crowded sidewalk.
The man then moved into a small restaurant, he gave a waitress a name and she sat him at a booth.
"Hi, my name is Cindy, I will be your waiter today. Would you like to start off with something to drink or would you like to wait?" The woman gave him a menu.
"I'll take another menu and two glasses of water." She nodded and left him alone at the small corner table. Picking up the menu he flipped through some of the short laminated pages. The meals didn't look very appetizing.
The restaurant didn't look like a five star restaurant, hey, it barely looked like a one star restaurant. Albert said that its atmosphere was homely. Some of the wood had chunks taken out of them, the tables were unstable, the chairs were uncomfortable, the "clean" napkins look like they hadn't been washed in years, and the food from the other tables looked unappetizing. He wouldn't complain, or at least, not as much as he would. He'd endure it for Albert's sake.
Jet sat there and fiddled with the small menu in front of him. It has been a while since they had been actually able to enjoy each other's company. With Jet's season over and Albert going to back to his winter job, they spent less time together.
Jet smiled as Albert walked into the restaurant with a very somber expression.
"Hey." Jet said as Albert made himself comfortable in the other chair.
"I'm glad you finally saw the homely feel to this place."
"Not really. This place is a dump." He moved Albert's hand off of the table. The table's weight shifted. Albert gave him an unimpressed look and put his arm back on the table, as the table shifted again to accommodate his weight.
"That's just what you think. Just wait, this place might surprise you." Jet laughed and shook his head.
The waitress came back around and gave them both a glass of water. The couple had the waitress write down their order for lunch. She came back around with the food twenty minutes later then taking an empty cup with her. When lunch was finished they paid, gave the waiter a nice tip, and drove off together in Jet's car.
"We should do that again sometime." Albert stated resting his head on his hand.
"Yeah we should."
The car ride back was filled with normal city traffic. The roads were filled with people and cars; it was hard to move far from your house some days. They weren't too far into the crowded city, yet they still had a few more blocks to get through before they even came close.
"We need to move some place less crowded." Albert complained. "It's just too much of a hassle to live here now adays"
"Yeah. But where else could we live? Our marriage is barely recognized outside of this side of the coast. And god forbid if we live any place closer to any of the tracks. I'd have to be fired. I wouldn't stand for them making a fool out of us." Jet sighed. "People already think of me as the new James Hunt. That's not a name I'd exactly like to be called." He huffed and shook his head. "This was and will be my first and only marriage."
"I don't plan on any more marriages either."
"And if we ever worry about spending, that'll be my own downfall not yours."
"You are pretty free flowing with spending." Albert criticised
"Tsk, whatever. I can spend a few dollars here and there if I want to. We can afford it now."
"Maybe they'll start calling you Danica next." Jet glared at him.
Albert laughed and rubbed Jet's leg. They came to the last turn into the parking spot in front of their house. They lived in an average sized house for a married couple, it was just large enough to contain all of their things comfortably. The front yard of the house was small and contained a simple pathway to the front door. Flowers decorated the outside windows and the small flower garden as well.
They unlocked the door and headed inside. Jet moved to the couch in the living room, while Albert moved to the stairs that were close to the front door.
Jet got comfortable on the couch and turned the TV onto the local news channel. There wasn't much besides things celebrities tweeted the night before- some people got into some sort of argument on the site. This was a big deal apparently. Jet just rolled his eyes and changed the channel.
"Hey Al, what are we going to do for dinner?" He yelled. Albert came down with a shirt in his hands.
"I don't know, maybe something with chicken?" He put his new shirt on and sat down next to Jet. His arm moved behind the couch and Jet cuddled up to him.
"Sure. Do we have any or will we have to go to the store?"
"Yeah we'll have to. But we can stay here for a bit before we head out."
They changed the channel a few more times before they settled on one channel. A few shows were finished before Albert started to get up from the couch. Jet groaned and reached for him, his pillow, to come back.
"Alright. Stop stalling, let's head out and get supplies for dinner and be done with it." Albert said, grabbing Jet's hand to help him stand up.
"Ugh. Fine."
The store was a few blocks away from the house. The market was small and had a few other people in it.
"What kind of chicken dish are we making?" Jet asked.
"Want to just do something simple, I don't really want to cook much tonight and I don't trust you to cook anything."
"Rude."
The chicken was set up in the back of the store near the seafood and the vegetables and the fruit. They both picked up different packets to examine them.
"This one is better. Look at the date." Albert said holding it to Jet so he could see.
"Yeah." He put the packet back down. "I'll go look for some spices or pasta or something."
"I'll be in the drink section." They both walked off.
Jet looked at some of the spices that were stacked up. He felt a pull on his pants leg.
"Mister, can you get that thing up there for me?" The child was short and as cute as a button, he had chubby hands and face. Jet pointed to the container of tomato sauce next to the spices. "Yeah! That one." The kid smiled. Jet grabbed the sauce, kneeled down, and gave it to the kid.
"Here you go, kid. You know where your parents are?"
"Yeah, they were over there." The kid started to look scared, his parents were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, don't worry. We'll find them." Jet held his hand out to the kid and he took it.
They walked around the store and found Albert but not the kid's parents.
"Hey." Albert kneeled down and rubbed the kid's head. "His parents gone or something?" Albert looked at Jet.
"Yeah, I haven't been able to find them. We should go to the front where they have the intercom." Jet walked ahead of the two, while Albert stayed back with the kid.
"So. What's your name?" Albert asked.
"It's Pete." The kid fiddled with the jar of sauce.
"Why do you have that?"
"My mom asked me to get it for her, she was busy with my younger brother." The kid said.
"So how old are you?" He asked.
"Nine."
"Wow. That's pretty old, huh? So when do you start driving?" Pete laughed.
"Nooo, I'm too young."
"Really? I could have sworn you were old enough." Albert said, faking a surprised voice.
They walked on to the front of the store where Jet and the intercom was.
"A young child was found in the store, please come if you've lost your child." The intercom bursted out.
"How long should we wait here?" Jet whispered to Albert.
"I don't know. I don't want to leave Pete alone. If the parents don't come soon we'll call the cops." Albert replied in a whisper. "Here, give me the food and I'll go to the checkout."
"Alright."
"Are you leaving me?" Pete walked to Jet with a puppy dog face.
"No. Why would we? He's just paying for our dinner, that's it." Jet responded.
The two sat on the bench next to the manager's office. They laughed and joked about anything and everything. When Albert came back, they messed around even more.
It was almost two hours later when Jet called the cops.
"Alright. The cops are on their way. It should take them about 30 minutes." Jet signed and sat next to Albert.
"There's nothing else we can do." Albert moved to give Jet a supporting rub to the back of the neck.
"I know. I know." Jet leaned into him.
The next few minutes Pete kept himself occupied with the toys the managers gave him. When the cops came, they wrote down a report for Pete and took him to CPS. The couple watched the boy being driven off with the police, then went home.
"Man. That was a hectic day." Jet took off his shoes by the door. "The boy was cute though... Hey. Are you okay, Albert?"
"Hm? Yeah. No, I'm fine. Just, how could someone leave a little kid like that in a store?"
"I don't know. People can be horrible. There's nothing you can do about that. Now come on. Let's make dinner." Jet rubbed Albert's back.
Dinner went by smoothly without any complications from Jet. They ate in silence. Jet picked up all of the dishes and washed them up.
"You cooked. I'll clean." He stated.
Albert picked up one of many books and started to read.
"Let's head to bed." Jet moved away from the sink and grabbed his hand.
They flopped down onto the bed, sharing a few quick kisses before moving into each other's arms. Settling into their shared sleeping positions, they slowly started to drift into sleep.
"Jet." Albert whispered into his ear. He mumbled and turned.
"What?" He said sleepily.
"What do you think about adopting a child?"
"What?" Jet moved to face Albert.
"A kid. You know. One of our own." Albert laid on his back and Jet moved to lay on top of him.
"Let's talk about that in the morning. After my first cup of coffee." They kissed.