So this may or may not be the first Cinderella Man fic here? Okay, I know James Braddock was a real person, and I usually don't write fics about real people, but I saw this movie for the first time on Tuesday and I was floored. It is, without a doubt, my new favorite movie. And have I mentioned my gigantic man-crush on Russell Crowe? He's just... yeah.

Anyways, this story is just my tribute to the incredible heart and strength of James J. Braddock and his family. The first chapter will mostly be romantic fluff about James and Mae because, let's face it, they're adorable. I changed the date of their wedding to much earlier than it was in deal life, just because that how it seemed in the movie. Also this first chapter takes place around 2 am on December first, 1928. Enjoy!

Jimmy POV

The snow swirled around my ankles as I strode home. Usually, I liked the cold, but today the cold only made my battered limbs stiffen. A snowflake melted against a particularly nasty cut on my cheek. I chuckled softly, thinking of how my appearance could help scare Mae. Was it mean? Yes. Was that going to stop me? Absolutely not.

"Jimmy?" A door opened to reveal my world, a brunette angel framed softly by electric light and moonlit snowflakes. "Jimmy what's happened to you?" In the time it took for me to screw up my face into its familiar broken grimace, she had rushed to my side and began stroking my face. Her hand came back with blood on it. Suddenly, I remembered that I must have brushed the newly formed scab too hard when I reached up to dry my cheeks of the melting snow. I buried my chin in her shoulder purely to hide that I was laughing silently. A light kiss grazed the cut. "I love you, you know."

"Of course you do," I whispered, my lips pressing into her ear. "I won."

"You ass!" She spit out quietly, indicating to me that our sons were probably awake by now. I let her succeed in pushing me backwards, but not without immediately leaning forward and planting a kiss on her lips. She rolled her eyes at me before letting them flutter shut. "You've got to stop scaring me, James," she said after several seconds. "I'm afraid that if you, God forbid, lose again, I won't believe you when you tell me."

"Hey hey hey." I backed off, setting my hand on her cheek and staring into her eyes. Not even a single snowflake dared to come between us as I stroked her face with my thumb. "I would never lie to you. You know that, right?" Her smile returned as she nodded. Suddenly feeling mischievous, I placed a swift kiss on her cheek. "I'll just mislead you slightly."

"James!" she called after me as I walked up the steps and across our porch, gently pushing the door aside and stepping into the arm electric glow of our house.

Our house. We bought it in '25, soon after Jay was born. Speak of the devil. "Daddy? What happened? Did you win?"

"You're up awful late, aren't you, Jay?" I say with mock sternness, all the while picking him up by the waist and holding him up to my eye level.

"Sorry, daddy, just… I couldn't wait to see you come home, and mommy said I could stay up long enough to see you…"

"Did she now?" My son may have only been four, but that didn't make him any less capable of lying when he thought he needed to. I looked back at Mae for confirmation; she blushed and nodded slightly. "Alright then, if you say so." I flashed her a smile before kissing Jay's forehead. "If it really means that much to you, yes! I did win."

My eldest child's eyes swelled with pride. I could swear they were now the size of my fists. "You won, daddy? You really won? Who did you beat? Did you knock him out?"

I carried him over to a chair, wincing as I set him in my lap. Mae walked quickly over to me with a concerned glance and rubbed my shoulder with a tiny hand. "Yeah, I knocked him out. Almost took me two whole rounds to do it! Tuffy… he likes the low shots. Occasionally he misses…" I winced again as Jay shifted in my lap. "I swear, he never hits as hard as when he accidentally gets me in the leg."

"Jay, sweetheart, I think you should be getting to bed about now." Ah, Mae. Always my savior.

"What? I'm not tired, mommy, see? I'm awake." The last few words were silenced by his quiet yawn. I chuckled, once again kissing him on the forehead as Mae scooped him up in her slender arms and carried him off.

"So Mae, I'm not working on New Year's Eve this year," I tried to casually begin as I stood up. Still stiff from the fight, the cold, and the four-year-old, I literally fell into my wife's arms as she walked toward me. "Sorry, Mae," I mumbled, "not as young as I once was."

As soon as I was comfortably standing on my own, Mae stared me down with an air of annoyance. "Shut your mouth. Not as young as you once were? Jim, you're 23 years old! Too old, indeed! Shut your damned mouth." I stood there laughing. Her posture softened, although her face tried to remain annoyed. She stepped forward, spinning my tie in her fingers and staring at my open mouth. "Do I have to do everything?" She stood on her toes and kissed me for a long time.

"What was that for?" I pressed my forehead into hers.

"Getting you to shut up."

I let my hands drop to her waist and began stroking her sides with my thumbs, pulling her closer to me. "Because I don't have to work on New Year's Eve, uh, Joey was wondering if we would come over to his house…" She began laughing softly. "What?"

"I should have known this would be about your boyfriend." She kissed me again, laughing and stroking my neck. "I'd be happy to go, Jimmy." There was a distant look in her eye, like there was something on her mind she just wasn't quite ready to tell me yet. I simply rested my head on her shoulder and hoped I would find out soon.