Addison woke up to a loud thumping noise followed by a grunt. She reluctantly opened her eyes and looked around, finding nothing. She was just about to blame the noise on part of a dream when Oliver stood up, scowling at something on the ground. He slowly looked over at the bed to see Addison glaring at him, and gave her a sheepish grin and a slight wave.
"Mornin'," He whispered.
Addison didn't reply; only continued glaring.
"We gotta go. We left the kids at Curtis' and he's gonna have to leave for his nightshift soon," Oliver explained.
"Nightshift? What time is it?" Addison whispered, careful not to wake a still sleeping Jerome.
"Bout 5:30... Maybe 6, now. I was gonna come in here earlier... Got caught up watching TV though. Lucky you," He said casually.
"Does Curtis know about him?" Addison asked, referring to Jerome.
"No. Don't tell him either. I don't know why but... Jerome doesn't feel like its a good idea for him to know. Maybe he thinks Curtis'll pull the whole 'good Samaritan' card and turn him in because he's a threat to the public. I mean, I don't think hes a threat, but my opinion may or may not be a little biased." Oliver said, glancing at the ceiling.
Addison didn't answer, just looked down at Jerome, trying to figure out a way to wake him up without him getting pissy. Then again, maybe there wasn't one.
"Ten minutes. Then we gotta go," Oliver said, leaving the room.
Addison looked back down at Jerome, briefly wondering if she would be dealing with a homicidal psychopath when she woke him up. She quickly pushed those thoughts away though, forcing herself to remember the boy with the tear stained face she met at the circus all those years back. She ran her fingers through his hair until he began to stir, and whispered gently in his ear.
"Jerome,"
He only grunted and pressed his face into her neck. She couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips.
"J, baby, wake up. You and Ollie need to get the kids from Curtis."
Jerome mumbled something she couldn't understand.
"What?"
"Why can't Oliver go get 'em and take 'em home?" He slurred, slightly pulling his face out of her neck.
"He's going to, but you need to go with him. Nathan will be home soon anyway," she said, slightly grimacing at the thought of her father.
Jerome groaned and rolled over onto his back, slinging an arm across his face. He lay like that for a few minutes trying to wake himself up, with Addison drawing small circles on his chest with her finger.
"Why don't you just come home with me then? Your dads not gonna care," Jerome said
"True," she answered, before a thought crossed her mind.
"How did you get all the way over here without anybody seeing you?"
"Addy... It was 8:00 in the morning on a Tuesday. Everyone was at work. Now though... It might be a problem." He sighed.
Addison looked around her room thoughtfully for a moment, eyes landing on some of Jerome's stuff he had left the last time he was there.
"You have some stuff over there in the corner. Just put the sunglasses on... And the hat, to hide that flame on your head," she said teasingly.
Jerome slowly got up and sat on the edge of the bed before standing and making his way to the corner to grab his stuff, then went to the door, pausing to glance at Addison and nod his head towards the door. She happily got out of bed and walked over to him, giving him a quick peck on the lips before exiting down the hallway. They left the house, Jerome stopping to grab Oliver, and went on their way to Curtis'. Jerome hid on the side of the house while Oliver and Addison retreived Chloe and Jackson. They knocked four times, and Jackson answered the door.
"Time to go, buddy," said Oliver.
"Okay, lemmie get my shoes," Jackson said, walking off and leaving the door open. Chloe came out at the sound of her brothers voice, yelling her goodbye to Curtis. He came to the door to see where they were going.
"Ah... Hey, Addison. Good to see ya. You doin' alrigh'?" Asked Curtis, in his thick southern drawl, his red hair sticking up in every direction.
"Yes sir. You?" Addison asked, giving nothing away that his nephew was less than 15 feet away.
"Yeah I reckon I'm doin' just fine. Come to pick up the kids, I assume?" He asked, turning his attention to Oliver.
"Yeah... Its about time for your shift isnt it?"
"Oh I got 'bout another half hour 'fore I should start gettin' ready." He said, looking behind him
"Oliver," Chloe said, tugging on the hem of his shirt to get his attention. "Where's Jer-"
"Jackson?" Oliver said, cutting her off. "Didn't you hear him? He said he had to go grab his shoes and he'd be out," he said, giving her a look and hoping Curtis wouldn't notice. Addison took her hand and started walking her down the street towards Jerome's house. Jackson came out shortly and ran after them, and Oliver waited for Curtis to shut the door before telling Jerome to "go catch up with them before he comes back out here."
"There you are! I tried to ask about you but Oliver interrupted me," Chloe said when Jerome ran up beside them, taking Addison's hand in his.
"Well that," Oliver began, "was because you weren't supposed to say anything about Jerome, remember? If anybody finds out he's here they'll take him away again, but this time he won't come back. You guys didn't say anything while we were gone, did you?"
"No," Jackson answered. "Curtis slept most the day anyway. We watched TV,"
"Go figure," said Jerome irritatedly, glaring off to the side. Addison gave him a concerned look before turning her attention to Jackson.
"What did you guys watch?" She asked.
"Lots of stuff... I tried to watch Power Rangers but Chloe wanted Doc McStuffins and we got in a fight so Uncle Curtis put a movie on. I don't know what it was called but this little fox was friends with a huntin' dog." Jackson said excitedly.
"It was The Fox and the Hound, dummy," Chloe said.
"He didn't tell us that!" Jackson said defensively.
"He didn't have to. You could figure it out just by watching it! A fox and a hound. What else would they call it? The Iron Giant?" Chloe asked.
"Shut up, Chloe," Jackson muttered, his mood dampened from being belittled by his little sister.
They continued their walk to the
house, Chloe asking Jerome for a piggy back ride halfway there. He squatted down to help her onto his back, but didn't hesitate to pull Addison's hand back into his as soon as he stood. After around twenty minutes they arrived, Chloe sliding off Jerome's back and running into the house, Jackson hot on her tail. The older children mentally noted that Charlie's car still wasn't in the driveway, making sure to remember if she wasn't home within the hour. They entered the house and Jerome and Addison immediately went to his room, while Oliver gave them some space and went out back to smoke.
Jerome lay down on the bed, and was only mildly surprised when Addison straddled him, placing his hands on her waist.
"Have you eaten today?" Addison asked.
"No, but I did yesterday," Jerome answered truthfully. "You haven't either today... Hungry?"
"Nah... Maybe later," she said, and leant down to plant a kiss on the wound on his neck. "It hurt?" She asked, cautiously. Jerome shook his head, pulling her chin up to make their lips meet.
She kissed him back, lightly moaning when his tongue slid across her bottom lip, asking permission to enter her mouth. She parted her lips slightly, and his tongue pushed its way in, moving with hers. He had so many things he wanted to tell her, so many apologies, but he didn't know what to say or how to say it. He knew that there was no justifying anything he had done. He told himself he'd figure it out eventually, but it'd been three days since he'd come home and hadn't come up with a single thing. For now, he made the same decision he had made earlier and chose to 'figure it out later,' moving his lips down to her neck, placing open mouthed kisses on her jugular and licking down to her collar bone, causing her to moan. She moved her fingers to his hair pulling him away, telling him to wait until the kids weren't home. He groaned and let his head fall back to the pillow, raising a hand to push a strand of dark brown hair out of her face.
"I missed you," he whispered.
She looked at him sympathetically before placing a kiss on his forehead and stroking his cheek.
"I missed you too baby. So much,"
She kissed his lips one more time before laying her head on his chest, only to lift it back up again when she heard little footsteps running down the hall and stopping at Jerome's door.
Chloe entered the room with a small piece of paper in her hand, and handed it to Addison with a giggle before running out of the room. Addison sat up, still straddling Jerome and now feeling a half-hard buldge pressing into her backside, giving Jerome a look that said 'really?', watching him raise an eyebrow before she looked down at the paper Chloe had handed her.
"Addison Maddux," she read out loud, "you have been invited to Chloe's tea party in the living room... Right now," she said, laughing at the invitation. "P.S: bring bubba with you," she looked at Jerome who had a slightly irritated look on his face from having his time with Addison interrupted. She just giggled and climbed off of him, patting his chest.
"Come on 'bubba,' you were invited too,"
Jerome reluctantly got out of bed and walked past her down the hall, a slight scowl on his face when he sat on the couch.
"Quit pouting," Addison whispered, walking past him. Chloe looked extremely pleased that the "big kids" had taken her invitation seriously.
"Was Oliver invited?" Jerome asked
"Nope!" Chloe said, sounding very satisfied.
"Why not?"
"Because then you two won't pay attention to the party. You'll just talk to each other the whole time and it'll just be me and Addison,"
"Its been just you and Addison before," Jerome pointed out
"Yeah, but Addison hasn't been gone for a year," Chloe said solemnly.
Jerome was about to say something back before an extremely anxious looking Charlie came in the door, with am extremely angry looking Jim Gordon behind her.