Person of Interest: Valentine
Chapter 1: Shopping
Author's Note: Started as a short. Was supposed to be a simple five page vignette. I should know me better by now—my muse simply doesn't know when to stop working. So okay, there's going to be four chapters of this in the T-rated version(two posted today, the rest tomorrow);and I'll post an M-rated version of this tomorrow with some full-fledged smut at the end of it (what's Valentine's Day without smut? Especially when John and Joss are such a deliciously gorgeous couple!) So enjoy, and oh, be warned—I think this might turn into a novel, too. At some point. Remember Joss finding out that John has warrants out for his arrest in four countries? What if one of those is Italy…
Anyway, enjoy!
"Come on out and let me see."
"Mom!" came an exasperated young male voice from inside the dressing room.
John Reese froze in the act of pulling a suit off the rack. Those voices were so familiar…he nonchalantly walked around the other side of the rack where he could watch the owners of those voices and not be seen, and then looked up.
And saw, as he'd expected, Joss.
Taylor must be in the fitting room; Joss was standing in front of it, her arms folded, purse slung over one shoulder. "Come on, Taylor, let me see. If you're going to refuse Dad's offer to take you shopping for a suit for the school dance then you're stuck with me."
"Yeah, but you've got better sense than Dad does." The young male voice inside the fitting room sounded resigned. "Okay, I'm coming out, but remember, you picked this one."
Taylor Carter came out of the fitting room, and John looked the boy over. Joss had good taste in clothes; the suit looked good on Taylor. The problem was that it didn't fit right. It need to be a little looser over the boy's upper arms, so he could raise his arms without feeling restricted; the hem of the pants needed to be taken up—Taylor was a little shorter than the suit's legs—but overall it didn't look bad.
"It doesn't look bad," Joss said quietly, looking him over critically. "I like the way it looks, I just don't know if it fits right." She dropped her arms, sighed. "I really wish you'd done this with Dad."
"I didn't want to do this with Dad." There was an edge to Taylor's voice. "It's not like he really cares. Not about you, or me."
"Don't talk about your father that way, Taylor. He does care. He's trying to build a better relationship with you now."
"Yeah. Now. Not then. Not when we were all still living together. Not when you were married and not for the last five years when it was just us. And he's not trying to build a better relationship with you. He's uncomfortable around you. He never talks about you when I'm at his place on these stupid weekend court-ordered visits. I'd really sort of rather not go. I don't want to spend more time with Dad than I have to." He turned away from Joss, looking at himself in the mirror. "Though it would be nice to have someone who knows about suits to help. Just as long as it's not Dad."
Joss was quickly wiping her eyes. "Let me see if I can find a salesman to help." She turned—and almost collided with John. "John! Damn it, don't sneak up on me like that!"
He grinned at her. "Not keeping your guard up, Detective," he teased, but his smile was warm and understanding. Then he looked at Taylor. "You need a little more room in the arms there. The jacket's too tight across your chest."
Taylor beamed at him. "I've been working out in the school gym. I took weightlifting last semester. The girls like muscles." Joss rolled her eyes as John and Taylor shred purely masculine grins. "But seriously, you think this is too tight?"
"It is. Is this a two piece or are you getting the pieces separately? I recommend getting both pieces separately, since you need one size on top and a different size on the bottom." John nodded to the fitting room. "Go ahead and get out of that one, and we'll go looking. It shouldn't be too hard to match fabrics so it doesn't look like they were purchased separately."
"I'm sure John has better things to do with his time, Taylor," Joss said quickly.
Both Taylor and John froze. "But he's right here, Mom, and he knows how to dress!" Taylor protested.
John looked at her quietly. "I don't mind, Joss. Really." Left unspoken was the implication, as long as you don't mind.
She knew what he was thinking, as always. "I don't mind, but…I'm sure you have better things to do with your time than find a suit for a school dance."
"If I had anything else to do, Joss, I wouldn't be here," he said quietly. "I don't mind. And you do seem…a little out of your depth here."
She looked at him, and he could see indecision in her eyes. And then Taylor said, in very firm, unchildlike tone, "John's going to help me find a suit and then we'll eat lunch."
Joss threw up her hands. "Okay. Fine. I think I'm outvoted."
"Yes!" Taylor grinned, made a fist, held it out to John.
John didn't even have to think; he bumped fists with the boy, then stood beside Joss as Taylor vanished back into the fitting room. "So he really didn't want to do this with his father?"
"I'm trying not to bias him against Paul. He just…doesn't like his father much. Sometimes I wonder just how much he remembers of his dad's uncontrollable anger before we divorced—I wonder if he remembers that and that's why he doesn't like his father much."
It wasn't John's place to say what he was actually thinking—which was that Taylor probably remembered a lot more than Joss gave him credit for and that was why the boy was so ambivalent—but he bit down on those words and said, instead, "Maybe. But I don't mind helping him—both of you— Joss."
Taylor rejoined them a moment later carrying the suit he'd just taken off. "Let me go put this back where I found it."
"You could just leave it in the dressing room. They'll put it back," John said.
Taylor shook his head. "Mom said I should always put stuff back where I found it." And he bounced off down the aisles back toward the mens' suits.
He looked at Joss, trying to hide a grin. "Raised a good boy there, Joss."
"Nah, he did that on his own. He's a good kid."
"No one does anything on their own. He's got a great mother." And he grinned wider at her as her face flushed a bright pink. He liked that pink…
He cleared his throat, force himself to think about something else. "So what occasion is this we're trying to find a suit for?"
"Valentine's dance at his school. Just a little thing in a school gym."
"When I was his age I didn't have the nerve to ask out the girl I wanted to go with. I ended up going with a bunch of my friends—and she came with a bunch of her girl friends. We still spent the evening together."
"John Reese, didn't have the nerve to ask a girl out? Now I've heard it all." But Joss's smile was warm. "No, according to him, he actually did ask a girl out. And she said yes. He said he really likes her."
"What do you think?"
"I haven't met her yet. Taylor told me her parents live overseas—her father's in the Diplomatic Security service, and her mother was born in India, now working as a doctor there. They sent her to the US to live with her uncle and aunt—her mother's older sister and brother-in law—while she goes to school here, but he says her Uncle and Aunt are very conservative, traditional Hindu and she's not really allowed to date. Taylor told her she emailed her Dad and Mom in India and asked them if she could go to the school dance—and they said yes, so her aunt and uncle couldn't say no. I'm almost tempted to take Taylor to the dance myself just so I can meet her, but at his age, parents are social poison."
"Trust Taylor. He knows the difference between right and wrong, and he knows he'll answer to you if his choice of friends leads him astray. He loves you and he doesn't want to disappoint you." John was certain of that.
And at just that moment Taylor bounced up. "Okay. I put that on back. Let's go find a suit."
"This store isn't the best one. There's another on a few doors down the mall that's a bit better." John stared walking, and Taylor and Joss fell in beside him.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" Joss smiled at him mischievously.
He just smiled back at her as they left that store and started heading down the mall concourse. He'd never liked shopping. Go in, grab what he needed and run, that was how he approached the miserable task of shopping; but with Joss and Taylor, he was suddenly realizing he didn't mind this as much as he thought he would. He shortened his strides to match theirs, stopping when they stopped. And so he found himself smiling when Joss stopped next to a large store window, with a mannequin displaying a truly lovely black formal gown. "Been a long time since I could go somewhere where I could get dressed up," and she sighed. "I mean, I wouldn't want to do that every night, but just once I'd love to be able to get dressed up." She looked at John, her eyes sparkling but with a slightly wistful look, and he heard the words she was thinking but hadn't spoken; with you.
He looked at the dress. Black. Velvet. A sheath dress; it would cling to Joss's curves, accentuate her waist and her chest. And yes, he would love to see her dressed up…
Joss looked wistfully at the dress. She used to think she hated getting dressed up, but that dress was truly gorgeous, and she wished she had somewhere to wear something like that. And…she sneaked a peek at John's reflection in the store window. He probably hated events like that, but he was handsome and he'd really, really look good in formal evening wear…
She was interrupted when Taylor suddenly shot past both of them and ran into the dress shop. John peeked inside the window—at the far end of the store, a young girl was looking at dresses; she turned when Taylor tapped her shoulder. The smile of recognition that crossed her face needed no explanation.
Moments later the girl was following Taylor out of the store, heading toward them, and Joss couldn't help but smile. Long, thick black hair was pulled back in a braid hanging down her back, dark wire-rimmed glasses framed wide, innocent brown eyes, and her smile was shy but pretty. Her skin was several shades darker than John's, though not as dark as hers or Taylor's; but as Taylor walked up to her, beaming, she saw the texture of the girl's hair and the question was solved. This must be the half-Indian girl Taylor had asked to the Valentine's dance.
And the first words out of Taylor's mouth confirmed it. "Mom! This is Emilia. She's the girl I asked out to the dance. Lia, this is my mom."
The girl grinned at Taylor and held out a hand. "Hi, Taylor's Mom," she said as she shook Joss's hand.
Joss laughed aloud. "Ms. Carter will be fine. Nice to meet you." She shook the girl's hand. "So is it Lia or Emilia?"
"My name's Emilia, but Lia's a bit easier," she said with no trace of an accent. "Dad's Italian, in the Italian Diplomatic Security Service; Mom's Indian, a doctor in Mumbai. Dad fell in love and took a permanent posting to the Italian embassy to be with Mom and they got married there. They sent me here to live with Mom's sister—Aunt Savita and Uncle Avi, while I went to school. I was having a little trouble in my chemistry class earlier this year and I signed up for tutoring, and our chemistry teacher Mrs. Hewlett recommended Taylor."
"That's not how it went." Taylor rolled his eyes. "I was having problems in English Lit class and Lia tutored me. Mrs. Hewlett told me that Lia was having trouble in chemistry and suggested we tutor each other. That's how we met."
"Well, then if you're going to be that completely honest, then Kylie was picking me and Taylor made her stop." Lia folded her arms and glared at Taylor.
John thought his sides were going to burst as he fought to keep from laughing. Joss's stifled giggles didn't help either. "Okay, so are you here looking for a dress for the dance too?" he forced out through stiff lips.
"Yeah." Emilia blushed—and the rosy glow on her olive cheeks made her look suddenly charmingly pretty. "Dad and Mom both said yes, and Dad even sent me a prepaid gift card with money to buy a dress and jewelry and stuff, but Aunt Savi said she didn't approve of my going to a dance and she wouldn't take me shopping. And I sorta don't have any girl friends to go with."
"So you're shopping by yourself?" John groaned inwardly. He knew what that tone in Joss's voice meant—they were all in trouble now.
Lia shrugged. "Yeah. I guess. It's just that the other girls at school want to talk about boys and clothes and I don't really fit in. And Aunt Savi's really traditional Hindu and they don't approve of dating. But since Dad and Mom said I can go, they couldn't say no."
"They're just going to make it harder for you to go." Joss nodded, then turned to John—and he knew that sparkle in her eyes. Yep, they were in trouble. "John, why don't you and Taylor go shopping for a suit—I don't know much about guys' clothes anyway—and I'll take Lia looking for a dress."
Lia's eyes widened. "Oh, no—I don't want to be any bother, Ms. Carter, really…"
"You won't be a bother," Joss said cheerfully. "I don't know much about guys' clothes anyway. I'd just be a third wheel." Without waiting for John to say yes, she steered Lia back toward the front door of the store. "You fellas just call me when you're done, you have my number, John," she tossed back over her shoulder. And then she—and Lia—were gone.
Taylor stared after his mother, blinking. "Holy cow. Did my mother just take my girlfriend shopping? And leave me with her boyfriend?"
It was on the tip of John's tongue to correct the boy—he wasn't Joss's boyfriend…but he had a feeling if he so much as opened his mouth he was going to start laughing. And that wouldn't help the situation at all. "Come on, Taylor. Let's go get you a suit and then we can check out the new video games until your Mom and Lia get done. It'll take us less time to find a suit than it will for the girls to find a dress."
Alone in the Library, Harold was chuckling to himself as he dug around in his papers; Sam stared at him suspiciously as she walked into the Library and heard him laughing. "You're acting weird, Harold. Even for you."
Harold paused in the act of shuffling papers around on his desk. "I've been puzzling over the problem of what to get two of my best friends for Valentine's Day. I believe I have a solution…if I can find it…" He returned to digging through his desk for papers. "Here it is."
Sam snatched the paper from his hand. "Nice paper."
"It's a linen-cotton blend, very expensive. The law firm who uses this paper likes to make an impression."
"I'll say." She scanned it. "Harold, are you serious?"
"It's perfect. This firm is one which I already employ to handle assorted business matters, so after a brief introduction as my business partner, John and Joss should be free to enjoy their evening together without further interruption." Harold couldn't stop smiling.
Sam handed it back. "John's going to kill you. He hates getting dressed up."
"Somehow I doubt Mr. Reese will mind getting dressed for the occasion when his backup will be similarly dressed. Very elegantly so. And if I phrase the invitation correctly…"
Sam put her hands on her hips. "Harold. You're not seriously going to tell them they're there to check out a number? John will be packing when he walks in."
"Mr. Reese is always armed. No matter where he goes. I hardly think that carrying a gun will in any way hamper his enjoyment of the evening." He sat down in front of the computer, opened a connection to John's phone. "Mr. Reese?"