A/N Another piece of "Little Moments Like That". Also, this series will continue, no matter what fate Jess may have at the end of the season. Anyway, enough about that, this piece is a little lame and pointless. Maeli is three months old...and it's a little out of character for Jess.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Jess paced nervously. Don was supposed to be at work a half hour ago and no one had seen or heard from him. She fought hard to not think the worst; she prayed he was just running late, that he got caught up taking Maeli to the sitter or something like that. She threw herself onto the bench in the lock room, desperately trying to stay calm. The cell phone attached to her hip buzzed.
"Angell" She answered almost too anxiously.
"Hey honey" Don's voice floated through the phone.
"Where the hell are you?" She fired back.
"I'm headed into work now, sorry I missed your calls, I left my phone in the car" He apologized.
"You were supposed to be here a half hour ago, what's going on?" Something about his tone didn't sit right with Jess.
"I took Maeli to my parents'; she was really fussy and I couldn't figure out why until I noticed she was running a fever. I didn't want her at the sitter's." Don explained.
"A fever?" Jess squeaked. Maeli seemed fine when she left for work that morning, before the sun even came up.
"Yeah, but she's fine, I promise."He attempted to assure her. "I'll see you when I get there" he promised before ending the call.
Jess stood at the crime scene, watching Hawkes approach from the truck. Although she was standing there, her mind was elsewhere.
"Angell" his sharp voice called for her attention. She met his eyes, noticing he looked somewhat confused.
"Uh sorry, female vic, no ID, gunshot wound to the chest." she sputtered, pulling herself back to her job.
"You alright?" Hawkes wondered, clearly concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine" She said, plastering a fake smile to her face and going to start her canvas. Hawkes could tell something wasn't off, but he figured it wasn't his business.
Later at the station, Don looked over at his wife's desk noticing her far off expression. He sighed and got up from his chair.
"Go get her" He whispered in her ear.
"What? No, I can't. I'm still on the clock" She sighed.
"Then take your lunch break and go see her, just so you know she's ok. You'll be absolutely no use to us until you do" he finished with a laugh.
"I guess I could do that" She said slowly with a nod.
"Go, but hurry back" He smiled kissing her on the cheek as he went back to work.
Jess pulled up in front of her in laws house. She took a calming breath a climbed out of her car.
"Jessica? We weren't expecting you until" Don's mother said when she answered the door.
"I know I'm sorry, I'm on my lunch break. I just, I needed to see Maeli" Jess replied.
"Of course honey, come on in" the older lady smiled at the clearly worried woman. "I gave her some baby Tylenol and here fever is going down, she's been asleep most of the day" She informed as they walked through the house.
Jess looked down on her sleeping daughter, she gently took her into her arms. She pressed a kiss into the child's forehead, noticing she was in fact a little warm. She smoothed out the wispy dark hair on her daughter's head. She held her to her chest and slowly rocked back and forth. Don's mom watched from the doorway, smiling at the tender moment.
"Ok, I think I'm going to go back to work" Jess said softly as she walked into her in laws' kitchen.
"You alright darling?" Don's mother checked.
"Yeah, I think so" Jess answered, rubbing her hands together. "Sorry, for just dropping in" She added.
"You're fine and I know you're worried about Maeli, she'll be just fine" Her mother in law mentioned.
"Thanks, uh I'll be back to get her when my shift is over" Jess smiled, leaving the house.
When Don saw Jess again, he noticed she was back on the ball, chasing leads and interrogating suspects without batting an eye.
"So I guess it helped to go see Maeli?" he grinned approaching her desk again.
"Yeah, I just needed to know for myself, ya know?" She admitted.
"I know, so are you getting ready to head out of here?" He wondered.
"Yeah, my shift just ended. Where are you getting out of here?" She replied.
"I still have a couple hours, I'll meet you at home later" he answered kissing her softly.
It was ten before Don arrived at home. He was tired and wanted to do nothing but fall into bed. He assumed Jess was already asleep since she was up early for a call. To his surprise, the bed was empty. He stripped into his boxers and wife beater, then went to locate his wife. He carefully opened the door to the nursery. He smiled as he found Jess curled up on the orange rug in Maeli's room. She must have been watching Maeli, proving to herself thier daughter was really ok. He carefully stepped over her to check on his daughter. Her fever seemed to have dissipated and she was sleeping well. He turned his attention back to the woman dead asleep on the floor. He gently lifted her into his arms. She moaned and stirred slightly.
"Don?" She asked in a sleepy tone.
"Yeah baby, it's me" He answered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his chest.
"How's Maeli?" She mumbled.
"She's fine sweetheart" He assured her as he set her on the bed and tucked her in. He walked around the bed and climbed in next to her.
A/N, I'm thinking of doing some companion pieces to some of the stories in this series for other pairings...