Rained out Run

by messersmontana

Their run gets rained out so Jess meets Don at the diner instead of the park. Don is still reeling from Chopper's death.

A/N I wanna thank Cassie for helping me with all of my stories and being my biggest supporter, and for encouraging me to continue this series. She also is the person I bounce ideas off of when I come to the next story. So thank you so very much Cassie. I am also dedicating this story to Anna for writing the only fic to my challenge. So here is to you Anna, and I hope that you have a very happy birthday.

I also want to thank everyone who has sent me feedback on my stories. It means so much to me that you are all enjoying my stories and I am continuing because of you all.

I own nothing and no one here in this story.

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Jess was sitting at Mills waiting for Don because it was pouring down with rain today. She'd gotten off of work a couple of hours ago, but his shift didn't end until a few minutes ago. They'd agreed on not running today because of the rain.

Jess knew that Don's case was huge and kind of personal, but she'd spent most of the day chasing leads on Shane Casey. Of course every lead was a dead end one. She really wanted to catch this guy for Don so that he would stop beating himself up over it. She could tell that he was still upset about Shane Casey's escape.

Don walked into the diner and waved at Joe and hugged Cassie. Jess could tell that he'd just made the young girl's day. He moved back to their booth and smiled at Jess as he sat down. "Been waiting long?" He asked her.

Jess saw that his hair wasn't that wet, maybe it stopped raining. "No, I've only been here around fifteen minutes." She said as she heard loud thunder outside, so much for the storm being over.

Cassie came over with their food and sat next to Don. "I hate storms, but dad won't let me hide since we're short handed today. Lacy's not feeling well so momma kept her home. I'm trying to be a big girl and be brave, but I usually hide at home during storms." She rambled on.

Don put his arm around her and hugged her. "Well if you get too scared, come back over here and I'll protect you, okay?"

Jess watched Cassie's eyes light up. Then Joe stuck his head out the door and looked around. "Is Sarah out sick too?" She asked the young girl.

"No, she'll be back in a few minutes, she went to the bank for dad." She explained before getting up and heading for the kitchen.

Jess looked back at Don and could tell that he was worn out. "So, I hear that you got your case solved."

Don looked up at her. "Yeah, it was a school teacher who killed Chopper. She and her husband had just been robbed and he scared them. She hit him in the head with her teacher award. It was kind of hard to work the case. I had just watched him play basketball with my YMCA kids that morning."

"I'm sorry Don, how are the kids taking it?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "Not too good. Some of them knew Chopper, but the church is setting up therapy for them. They'll be fine, just need to talk about it."

She nodded. "Okay then, how are you doing about it?"

He smiled at her concern. "I'm doing okay Jess. I really didn't know Chopper, the kids asked me to take them to the game because they knew him. But thanks for asking."

"You're welcome. I heard that Danny and Lindsay had a weird case. Something about Suicide Girls?" She asked.

"Yeah, one of their girls had been murdered by her tattoo artist cause he thought that he'd been played. He actually thought that he was justified in killing her. Danny said that he was a real piece of work." He explained what Danny had told him about it all. He even told her about Nixon Suicide hitting on Danny.

"Really? She said that to Danny? I thought he and Lindsay had something going on?" She asked him.

He nodded. "I asked him the same thing and he told me that all of a sudden she backed off and he's giving her the space she wants. She told him that she liked him, a lot, but she couldn't do the relationship thing right now. He's kind of hurt because of it." He explained.

"So, is Danny going to take Nixon Suicide up on her offer?" Jess asked as she finished off her breakfast and downed the last of her coffee.

"No, he's not interested in Nixon. I think that he's going to wait and see if Lindsay will change her mind. I think that Danny really likes Lindsay, so we'll have to wait and see what happens." He said as he finished off his coffee and threw a few dollars on the table, so did Jess. Then they got up and walked to the register to pay their bill.

Cassie went to clean off their table and saw the tip that they left for her. Between Jess and Don, they'd left her almost ten dollars. She knew that they never left that large of a tip before, and it was the biggest tip she'd ever gotten. She smiled and ran over to them, hugging them both. "Thank you so much for the tip guys."

Jess smiled at the girl. "You deserved it sweetie. You're taking on a big responsibility today for the first time and we're really proud of you. Aren't we Don?"

He smiled and hugged Cassie too. "You bet we are. You're doing a great job kiddo, keep it up and we'll see you tomorrow." He collected his change and led Jess out of the diner and over to her car. The rain seemed to have let up for the time being.

"Thanks for breakfast Don, I hope that your day gets better. I know that I'm going home to get some sleep, then I have laundry to do." She said as she unlocked her door.

He nodded. "My day has gotten better since I walked into Mills. And, I know what you mean about sleep and laundry, that's where I'm headed. I need to wash my clothes so I can go to the game tonight with Danny. He was going to ask Lindsay, but with things the way they are right now, he asked me instead. Her loss is my gain." He chuckled.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow. Same time?" She asked.

"yeah, I have the morning shift, but we should be able to run and have breakfast before my shift." He agreed.

"Yeah, I have the morning shift too. Then I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good day off Don." She said as she got into the car.

"You too Jess, see ya tomorrow." He replied as he headed for his car.

They drove their separate ways, towards their own homes, both with smiles on their faces, already thinking about tomorrow.

The End

A/N: I hope that you all like this one. I'm sorry it took so long to get this out, but I've been feeling kind of ill the few weeks and the heat just brings it out worse. I'm also going through some personal problems lately with money issues and our landlord selling our building. I promise to try and get the next one done soon.