Here's chapter 2, sorry it took so long. I decided to re write it when I wasn't happy about it. I'm not used to writing in first person and it's pretty hard to make it sound realistic. Hopefully all the characters sound like themselves. Ivy's a tough cookie to get down properly.
Chapter 3 isn't finished yet, but I have the basic outline done in my head so it shouldn't he long.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Kim Harrison's plots or characters, and I'm glad I don't, because her books are too awesome to be written by anyone else.
Chapter 2
I woke up when a crack of filtered sunlight cut through the darkness of my bedroom. Someone was standing in my doorway. Jenks was warm at my side as I slid soundlessly out from under the warm sheets.
"Rachel?" Ivy's voice cut through the silence as I pulled on some pants and slipped out of the door.
"Shh…" My eyes landed on Jenk's sleeping form, almost invisible in the darkness of the room. I slowly closed the door with the practiced silence of one used to being the first person awake in the house.
"Ivy, you're home. Is everything okay?" I asked, meeting the taller woman's deep brown eyes. It was still daylight, which was strange for the born-alive vampire. We'd only been asleep for a few hours.
Ivy shook her head, "I'm… I'm okay. I can't find Jenks is he ok?" She asked, her eyes flicking to my closed bedroom door. "His kids said they didn't know where he was, and that's kind of weird." She continued, she looked paler then usual, probably due to seeing her in sunlight. There were big bags under her eyes and her clothes were a bit dishevelled. I followed her gaze to my bedroom door and looked back at her. She looked a little pissed.
"Do you think he's hurt?" She asked slowly, worry made a line form on her forehead. I shook my head,
"No he's-" She cut me off by reaching across me and putting her hand on my bedroom door handle.
"Rachel, who's in there?" Her voice was edged with ice; she thought I'd slept with someone while Jenks was missing. I swallowed, she pushed on, "Where's Jenks?" She looked tired, pissed, and close to her breaking point.
"He's not missing, Ivy, be quiet, please?" I lead her to the kitchen and poured her some orange juice.
"Was it 'Al?" She asked quietly.
"No Ivy, everything is fine. He's sleeping." Ivy slammed down the juice, a long crack spilt up the side of the glass and juice began leaking out all over the counter.
"I don't care who he is!" She got up, her eyes turning black as she headed down the hallway with terrifying intent. "In fact, he's leaving." She pulled open my bedroom door with such force the wood groaned. I followed her in, trying not to get in her peripheral vision.
"Okay, I want whoever you are out!" She exclaimed.
"Ivy stop!" I shouted grabbing her shoulder. She turned and gave me a lethal look. My eyes moved to the bed where Jenks had sat up, wide-eyed.
"Tink's Diaphram, what in the name of Walt Disney is going on?" He mumbled obviously still tired. He ran his hands through his sleep mused yellow curls.
Ivy froze and then back peddled to the door. "J-Jenks?" she managed, paling even more then before. Jenks glanced at me and then back at Ivy, obviously willing his tired brain to begin to process the scene in front of him.
After a few seconds he mumbled an "Oh, Ivy's home." Ivy's eyes hardened.
"You slept with him!" She roared, reeling on me,
"No! Well, yes, but not THAT way. Ivy…" I stammered, Jenks looked horrified and then opened his mouth,
"Ivy, it's not-" he started, she glared at him her eyes were almost all black.
"Shut up bug."
"It's not, I didn't want him to have to sleep on the couch and…" I tried, Ivy looked like she was going to break something.
"It's my fault, I was going to surprise you guys and then I heard Rachel crying and…" Jenks was standing now,
Great, tell the whole world Jenks. Ivy ran stressed hands through her hair.
"STOP!" I exclaimed, I looked from the half naked, big-small pixy to the stressed out vamp and made an executive decision.
"Living room, five minutes." I stated glancing between my two best friends.
"You, get a shirt on, and you, grab a coffee, I'm going to put on a bra." I addressed them like three year-olds but they both became a blur of motion.
I ran stressed hands through my own ball of frizzy red hair as Ivy buzzed out of the room, and turning to grab a clean bra I realized Jenks was still in the room. I gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry, she just kind of walked in. She came home and was worried when no one knew where you were." I explained.
He winced, "Usually I'm up by now." He agreed, he glanced out the window, "I don't sleep much anymore." He admitted, he sat on the bed again, looking put-out, and glanced up at me with innocent eyes.
I sighed and turned to my closet. I pulled out on of his old shirts and tossed it to him, "Here, this one should still fit." He caught it and slid the smooth silk shirt on. He had buttoned it half way before chuckling.
"She thought we had sex?" He asked glancing up at me, and then back down at the buttons. I smiled,
"Apparently."
He snorted, "Ouch, we are in for some major verbal abuse. Think she'd catch us if we ran now?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows and reclining back on the bed, obviously not worried.
"Probably." I glanced at my closet and then at Jenks again,
"Uhh, Jenks I have to change." I hinted,
He raised his eyebrows, "Yeah," He started,
"Put a bra on." I continued, he obviously wasn't getting the hint, he laid back even further on the bed instead, his yellow curls falling into his eyes.
"Uh huh,"
"Which means you need to get out of here." So much for subtlety, I watched him crack an eye lid and watch me from the bed.
"I'm not going out there alone." He stated, then a small smile, "Besides, it's not like I've never seen your boobs before." He drawled.
That bugger… "I didn't think you were afraid of Ivy." I stated evilly, I chose to take the high route and ignore the boob comment, it was Jenks after all.
He didn't even open his eyes this time, "Oh, I'm not afraid of her, this option is just more preferable." He stated, he looked just about ready to go back to sleep.
"You're just afraid of Ivy. You and I both know I don't have any boobs Jenks." I stated.
"Then why in Tink's contractual hell do you need to put a bra on?" He smirked when he heard me sigh.
"It's just more to take off Jenks. Just more to take off. Now get the hell out of my bedroom." I snapped, morning people be damned. I opened the door for him and he opened his eyes and frowned before getting up.
He walked over until he was right beside me and whispered "For who to take off?" before walking out of the room grin secured firmly on his young features.
If glares could melt walls down, mine would have come down. I bit my lip, suppressing a particularly evil quip, and changed quickly.
I found them both in the living room, Ivy was sitting in her plush computer chair staring at Jenks and Jenks was leaning on the pool table, staring at the still leaking glass of juice in the kitchen with a mixture of amusement and horror.
"Ok, now that everyone is more or less coherent-" and Ivy isn't in kill mode- "Nothing happened." I stated. By the Turn did I ever need a coffee.
Ivy looked from me to Jenks. "Well obviously something happened. He's big again, and you two looked pretty damn cosy Rachel. How long has this been going on?" She stated evenly. Her eyes weren't black anymore but she sounded hurt.
I couldn't take it anymore, I went for the coffee pot, and got the grounds out of the freezer. Jenks rolled his eyes at me as I went. "Last night. Jenks uh, surprised me, and we just kind of fell asleep. I swear to God Ivy, nothing happened." I stated measuring the right amount of coffee into the pot and hitting the button. I tried to will the thing to go faster with my mind and it didn't work. It just chugged along at its regular pace, almost like it was mocking me.
Jenks sighed, apparently noticing my lack of explanation. "Ceri offered to do it as Rache's birthday present. I agreed, I stole some of Rachel's blood, and we did the spell." He explained shrugging as if this was some kind of everyday event.
Ivy's mouth opened and then closed again, "Shit, I forgot about your birthday." She mumbled, glancing at me. I almost dropped the coffee grounds, there was a newly grown 6'4 pixy standing in our living room and she was worried about forgetting my birthday?
"Ivy your dad died, I think you're exempt from any birthday responsibilities." I waved off, stunned.
Ivy turned to Jenks, "What about the imbalance?" She asked finally. He just shrugged,
"Worth it." He stated he walked over to the glass that was still dripping and effectively moved the conversation into the kitchen. He stooped over to watch it, as if still wondering how it worked.
Ivy huffed from her chair and got up. She briskly picked up the glass and put it in the garbage, obviously annoyed. She then took out a cloth and began wiping up the juice with her usual care. Then she straightened and I heard her sigh lightly, "How long do you have now?" She asked quietly.
My heart thudded as I realized I didn't even ask. I turned to Jenks and he shrugged, "Longer then before. Ceri told me it would lengthen my life, I didn't ask any more questions." He said quietly.
Ivy nodded and straightened the collar on her shirt, avoiding eye contact "What about-"
He cut her off, "You two are the ones who need the most help now. My kids can take care of themselves and it's not like I won't be here."
Ivy nodded again, this time slower as she processed information. Finally she looked up, met his eyes and surprised the hell out of me. "Thanks Jenks." She said quietly. He nodded, his eyes sad for a moment. I had been positive she would have said something about not needing help.
"Yeah."
She looked like she wanted to say something else for a minute, and I watched her search his face with tired, calculating eyes, before deciding against whatever it was she was going to do, and throwing her coat off instead. She sat down on a bar stool and glanced up at me. I bit my lip and turned towards the coffee pot, "How's your dad?" I asked finally. Ivy shook her head.
"Just fine, he needs to be monitored for a couple days but the shift went well." She explained quickly, obviously not liking where the topic was going.
I wanted to ask 'how are you?' but I didn't have the guts. She'd probably leave again if I did anyways, so I stuck to shifting uncomfortably.
The coffee finished up and I poured myself and Ivy a mug, I glanced at Jenks and he shook his head. I passed Ivy her mug before sitting down with mine. Ivy looked down at it and smiled, she then put it on the counter.
"Actually I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you two tonight?" She asked. I nodded, realizing she was probably only running on adrenaline by now. She pushed her mug to Jenks and walked out of the room.
"Night" She called behind her.
"Night Ivy." Jenks stated, the door clicked behind her and I gulped my too hot coffee, it scorched on the way down.
"Well, that went better then expected." I said finally, breaking the silence. Jenks was watching his kids float across the garden through the window and digging out the sugar at the same time.
"Of course it did." He stated coming back. A frown formed on his lips as he watched three kids chasing out a humming bird. He walked over to the screen door and opened it. "Jesinine that is not a ride! Stop fooling around." He exclaimed.
"Toad turds dad, how did you know it was me?" A small voice yelled back.
"How do you think? Get off the humming bird and help your siblings." He snorted. He came back into the church and I raised my eyebrows.
He answered with a shrug, his lips quirking in a smile, "Of course it did, I was there." He reiterated. I snorted.
"Back to this again?" I asked,
"Did it ever go away?" He stated crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow, a small smile crossing his face.
I rolled my eyes, and then ran my hands through my hair, "I was worried for a while." I confessed.
I looked down when my I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and gulped some more coffee. I sighed, I shouldn't have even brought it up, I'd just been so relieved to see him standing there and knowing he wasn't going anywhere too soon, and after he had lost Matalina it had just been too hard to see him so hurt "I didn't mean to remind you, I just…" I let the sentence trail off instead of sticking my foot even further into my mouth.
When I finally got up the courage to look up, I jumped, still not used to seeing him so big. It was a far stretch from my 4 inch, flying best friend, and yet he still managed to look like himself. His jaw worked as he searched my eyes for a moment, his hands on his hips.
Then he swallowed his youthful face contorting in a look of such grief that didn't even seem natural. "It doesn't feel right without her Rache." He admitted slowly. My chest ached as I thought about what he was going through. He shook his head "I, I can't…" He started then looked away. His hair shone in the morning light filtered through the window and I watched his shoulders go up and down as he took a deep breath.
It was silent for a moment as we both contemplated the next move. He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes pained, "Look, about last night…" He started, he grabbled a table spoon from the drawer like he owned the place.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." His face blushed just a little bit, he looked very interested in his coffee for a second and then looked back up to me. "It's just, I'm so used to sleeping with her beside me and now that she's gone I can't…" He sighed. "Tink's diaphragm, I didn't mean to." He finished.
I nodded, "It's ok." I smiled a bit, it's not like I minded him being there. "I don't mind you know. If I did you would have been 'couched' buster." I added. He frowned,
"You don't?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"Jenks, you're the best friend and partner I've ever had, if having someone warm to sleep beside helps you sleep at night, then by all means." I stated smiling at him. He still looked surprised. He seemed to think it over as he lumped in a couple spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee and then looked up.
"Are you sure?" He asked finally. I snorted,
"You aren't the only one that likes another body in the bed, and it doesn't look like I'll get another one of those anytime soon." I stated crossing my arms then I brought them back down to my sides as I watched his kids from the window, the sun was just setting and they all reflected the light like giant fire flies. Memories of him being big from Mackinaw poked into my consciousness. He didn't like people touching him.
Jenks opened and closed his mouth, his eyes confused, "But I… I kissed you." He looked defeated as he said it, he pushed away the mug and began pacing the room rather then sit stagnant.
I couldn't help but grin, "I was there, I remember." I stated nodding. I watched him run his hand through his curls again, "Look, you and I were both a bit," I shrugged, "you know… I know it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. It's not like you meant anything like that right?" I looked up from the linoleum I had been staring at, and he hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Instinct." He stated finally by way of an explanation. I stopped, my eyebrows raised, when he noticed he chuckled. "No, it's not some kind of pixy death move. Look," he sighed again, and finished his pace before he looked back at me. "I didn't mean to, I wasn't thinking, usually, well usually when," He stopped again and shrugged goofily, "When Mattie was upset she'd start rambling, and wouldn't stop unless I took matters into my own hands." He smiled a little and then shrugged again when he met my eyes. "It's an automatic response."
I chuckled, it was sometimes easy to forget that Jenks was so young, until he said something like that. I picked up the coffee again, feeling like the disaster was averted. "You gonna be ok?" I asked finally.
"Are you?" He snapped. Then he looked up again his bright green eyes piercing mine, "I thought you'd be a little more upset someone just slept over in your bed Rache." He stated flipping his hand and surprising me with his morals. Okay, maybe it was just because it involved him.
"I usually would be, but you aren't just someone Jenks. I was a little more upset when I thought you were going to die." I watched him, trying to look serious, probably only managing tired.
"Look, I'm not going to make a big thing about this as long as you keep the drool comments to yourself." I decided shaking my head. He held my gaze and then finally nodded,
"But that doesn't mean I wasn't out of line." He stated finally. "It uh, won't happen again." He shifted uncomfortably. I smiled at him not used to seeing him so uncomfortable.
He waited until I nodded before averting his eye contact. "As long as you're comfortable, so am I." I stated quietly. He got up and came to stand beside me, coffee cup in hand. Sighing, he tentatively reached down and put a large hand on my shoulder. I flinched before I could think about it, his nerves made me nervous.
He looked down at me with a quirk of a smile, "Thanks Rache." He stated quietly. I smiled and glanced up at him, happy to have the company. We stood there in silence for a moment watching his kids buzz around the garden and then he removed his hand. Happy moment over.
"So, what's on the agenda for tonight?" He asked, sipping his too sweet coffee with a contented look and pulling himself up to sit on the counter. I grinned despite being tired.
"Let me check the calendar." I stated rolling my eyes.
Thanks for reading I'll update soon. Let me know what you think. : )
