Five Years
Chapter Nine
Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in the following fanfiction, except for the character of Penelope Richmond. She is of my own design.
The first thing she noticed was the smell of a familiar cologne, filling her nose with such an intoxicating scent that her head began to spin, even though her eyes were still closed and her head was still on her pillow. The next thing was a gentle, throaty hum of a tune, her ears recognizing his voice instantly. She laid still for a few seconds, taking in these two things for a little while before gently prying open an eye, seeing him as soon as she did so.
He was sitting up in bed, his glasses propped on his nose as his crystal clear blue eyes raced along the page of the book that he had in front of him, the gentle hum echoing throughout the room. She looked at him with a single eye for about a minute or so before shifting her head, drawing his attention as she shuffled on her mattress and propped herself up on her elbows, stomach down.
"Morning, sunshine" he chirped to her as he shot her a cheeky grin, watching as she groaned at the incoming rays of light as she shut her eyes, protesting the brightness.
"Morning. What time is it?" she mumbled back as she deflated back down onto her pillow, sprawling her arms out as she went face first downwards.
"Seven thirty" he said, again in the cheerful voice as he put a hand on her back and gave her shoulders a squeeze in an affectionate gesture that she hadn't anticipated. The feeling of his rough, calloused hands on her bare shoulders sent faint, unable to ignore pulses of electricity through her as his finger tips brushed along her skin. His hand retracted a second later and she stayed still, willing the electricity away before she spoke.
"Hm, I need to make breakfast" she mumbled into her pillow as she pushed herself back up, pushing herself so far back that she sat up instead, crossing her legs over each other and sitting to face her head board, James at her left.
"Look over at your bed side table" he said with discernable amusement as he kept his eyes on his book, turning a few seconds later to shoot a gentle look her way as she slowly turned to her bed side table, swallowing the gasp of breath she took when she saw what was waiting for her there.
Waiting on her bed side table was her dark, mahogany serving tray featuring a ceramic white bowl, a box of the cereal she loved, a small decanter full of milk, a single mug of steaming coffee, an apple, a banana, and a single, long stemmed white rose in a small crystal vase.
She just stared at the tray for about a minute, trying to figure it all out. Breakfast in bed was thoughtful, an adjective she never would have used to describe James. Caring and sweet definitely, but he'd never really been known for his ability to think of others. Self centeredness had always been one of his more undesirable of characteristics, but she'd always seen past it. He had enough redeeming qualities to make the way he only thought about himself seem...surmountable.
But she was starting to see a new side to him ever since he'd come back. A more open, thoughtful side, especially with Jake and herself. A side that brought her breakfast in bed and spoiled his son with chocolate ice cream and three hour hide and seek games. He was the same James that she'd fallen for years ago, but if anything he was more of a man. As if the past five years had brought about a change in him, a change for the better. A change that made her smile a little wider and her heart beast a little faster, much like it was at the current moment.
"Breakfast in bed, how...quaint" she commented, taking her eyes off the tray to look back at him, finding her heart skip another beat as she looked into his eyes, finding the look he was giving her so unnerving that she had to look back to the tray a few seconds later. It was as if he was looking straight down into her soul with the faintest of smiles on his lips, something he hadn't done in a long, long time.
"It would have been pancakes and bacon if I knew how to make pancakes and fry bacon. But I don't so, I hope cereal and fruit works" he teased as she picked up an apple and tossed it in his direction, laughing as she saw it bounce off his firm chest and roll down into his lap, giving him a smile as she reached for the coffee to take a sip.
"What's with the rose?" she asked after she took a deep gulp, finding the coffee sweetened exactly to her liking, something that made her lips twitch in a smile as she shifted lower in her bed, bringing the tray onto the mattress in front of her.
"In every movie I've seen, breakfast in bed always comes with a pretty flower" he commented as he took a healthy bite from the apple, a loud crunch echoing throughout the room.
"It also comes with some guy trying to get into the girl's pants" she teased as she opened the box of cereal to pour some into the bowl, tossing him a pointed yet humorous look with her eyes that he just smirked at, taking another bite of his apple.
"Hm, been there" he replied nonchalantly, waving the apple in the air a few times with an arrogant look on his face, garnering himself an aggressive punch on the shoulder.
"Watch it" she warned as she shot him dangerous look, going back to the tray in front of her as she poured some milk on her cereal.
"Where's Jake?" she asked a second later as she spooned some cereal up into her mouth, the crunch reverberating throughout the room.
"Moved him back to his bed a few hours ago" he replied, not bringing his eyes off of the book he had in front of him. Her spoon remained poised halfway up to her mouth as she dissected his words, cocking her head to the side in confusion as she looked at him sceptically.
"And you came back here? To my bed?" she asked incredulity, raising her eyebrows in surprise as he looked up from his book, shooting her a mischievous look with his eyes as he flipped the page before looking back down.
"Didn't want you to wake up wondering where I was" he replied back cheekily, the sarcasm and James T. Kirk arrogance in his words causing her to roll her eyes in a knee jerk reaction, giving a chuckle and a sigh as well.
"Something tells me I would have survived" she replied back with equal sarcasm as she shot him a amusing look as she took another sip from her mug, surveying him over the rim of her coffee cup.
"I'm not so sure. Remember that time we broke into the astronomy lab because we wanted more stars than just your room? You freaked out when you woke up and I wasn't by your side" he noted, drawing her attention.
She looked up from her coffee mug, her eyes locking into the headboard in front of her as she remembered what James was talking about, going off into her own memories for a few seconds.
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"No offence Pen, but this kicks the shit out of our room"
"None taken. It totally does"
They were laying on their backs in the middle of the Astronomy class room, the star imager projecting a larger, clearer version of the night sky above them and onto the dome shaped room, her eyes going to trace out constellations. He was right, this did kick the crap out of her room. It was so bad she didn't even want to use her projector anymore out of shame. The sky above them was breathtaking.
"Just lying here makes me wish I'd passed Astronomy" he sighed as he tucked an arm behind her head, Pen giving a chuckle.
"Just lying here makes me glad that I passed Astronomy" she countered, turning her head to the side to shoot him a humorous look that he just faux glared at, giving her a mischievous look that made her shiver down to her very core.
"We should stay here tonight. Just me and you" he said a few seconds later, his blue eyes still locked on her's as her head remained to the side, looking at her with kind eyes and a gentle smile.
"Here? James, we broke in!" she exclaimed as she sat up, looking at him with confusion. They couldn't stay, what if they were caught? She saw him slowly prop himself up on his elbow, a mildly amused look on his face as he surveyed her for a few seconds, her face still stricken.
"Yes, I'm well aware, I reprogrammed the door way to let us in" he mused, keeping the same humoured look on his face.
"We can't stay here!" she said in a shouting whisper, keeping her voice down as she shot dangerous looks all around them before shooting one right at him.
"Why not?" he countered, looking at her expectantly.
"What if we get caught?" she exasperated, glancing at him pleadingly in such a way that he just shrugged, lying back down as he placed both of his hands behind his head now, a smirk on his lips.
"We'll plead the fifth. Come on, how many times are we ever going to get a chance like this, Pen?" he said as he nudged her with his knee, giving her a look with his eyes that melted her right then and there. She was a sucker for his eyes; always was and probably always would be.
"We'll get kicked out if we get caught, James" she warned, glancing at him cautiously as she sent another look at him, looking back up to the sky a second later to seal the deal. Yeah, she was staying. The prospect of spending a night beneath such a beautiful roof would be worth whatever the Academy would throw at them if they got caught.
"I'll take the blame. Come on, let's just stay" he said in a tone that assured her that he already knew her mind was made up but felt the need to plead regardless.
"You're going to be the death of me someday, I swear" she muttered as she unzipped her fleece sweater, pulling it off of her arms and balling it up to make a pseudo-pillow, relaxing her head back against it.
"Yeah, that's probably true" he mused, both of them giving an appreciative chuckle before settling into a silence that lulled her to sleep.
She woke what seemed like a second later, her eyes slowly opening to reveal the same star sky above her, an instant smile coming to her face. She slowly brought her wrist to her eyes, seeing the numbers 7:43 glare back at her. She turned her head to her right, her heart skipping a beat when she saw empty space and skipping another beat when she looked to her left and again found nothing .
"James? JAMES?" she whispered in a hushed voice, sitting up abruptly as she looked wildly around the room, trying to find him. Where was he? Had he left? Why wasn't he here, by her side? Her heart was racing at a million miles an hour as she brushed some hair out of her face, her neck craning around the room.
"Oh my god, James!?" she said aloud again in a tenser voice, finding him standing right by the doorway with a tray in his hands stock piled full of food. She felt a rush of calm wash over her, her heart settling down to a manageable rate
"Pen, relax. I'm right here" he said as he walked over to her, a smile on his face.
"Jesus Christ. What the fuck were you doing?" she asked as she tossed her hair into a loose pony tail, shooting him a quizzical glance as he made his way over to her, setting down the tray in front of her before joining her on the floor.
"Getting breakfast. Why are you so worked up?" he asked as he tossed her an apple and a granola bar, the spicy scent of citrus hitting her nose as he peeled into a orange.
"I didn't know where you were" she noted as she bit into the apple, looking down at her hands before back up at him, her teeth ripping the bite of apple into millions of tiny pieces.
"Aw, how sweet. You were worried about me" he teased as he playfully knocked her on the shoulder. They both laughed, Penelope's eyes rolling before she gave her head a shake, a smile on her lips.
"God...don't do that to me again, ever" she said as she gave her head another shake, glancing up at him with careful eyes to find him smiling genuinely back at her, kindness yet mischief in his eyes. She took another bite of her apple as she watched him look down at his orange, tearing off another piece.
"Promise. Next time we sleep over someone where, I promise not to leave your side" he said half teasingly but with gentle eyes, grinning at her in such a way that send a shiver down her spine.
She hadn't anticipated feeling the way she felt when she'd woken up without him by her side. It was terrifying and something she never wanted to experience again. She wanted him by her side, always. But she knew that wasn't realistic; he loved her like a sister, he'd said it many times before, and it was her own damn fault for loving him the way she did. So she just smiled back, trying to keep herself in check as she adverted her mind away from the next time they were to sleep over somewhere together and onto something else.
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"I remember that night" she mused after walking down memory lane, spooning some more cereal into her mouth.
"Same. Good night" he said off handily as he read his book, turning the page.
"Great night. Anyways, I should get ready for work" she said as she set down the bowl and moved over to her closet, giving her arms a stretch as she did so.
"Want me to go?" he asked as he looked up, Pen looking at him from her place by her closet with a stoic look on her face, pursing her lips.
"Uh...how about you go wake Jake up so that I can say good bye to him before I leave?" she offered as he gave a single nod, throwing the covers off of himself and moving towards the door, leaving her alone.
It was in this alone time that she became unsettled by how comfortable and at home he had looked just seconds before in her bed. It looked as if he belonged there; as if that was supposed to be where he slept. She pushed that thought from her mind and then got dressed for work, pulling on a flowy cotton white sundress that she paired with a colourful cardigan and slides to match, coming out of her bedroom dressed and ready for work ten minutes later. Her hair was down and in billowing waves on her shoulders thanks to a spritz of hairspray and she smelt of something summery and light.
"Morning sweet pea" she called to Jake who was eating cereal on the bar stool of her kitchen counter top that was halfway in the kitchen and halfway in the living room, giving her son an affectionate kiss on the head before moving into the kitchen, grabbing her reusable mug.
"They still make Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden?" James asked as she brushed past him, moving over to her coffee maker. She whirled around a second later, her face etched with surprise, confusion, and exasperation.
"Jesus, you remember what type of perfume I use?" she exclaimed, looking at him with impression in her eyes.
"Of course I do, it was the only present I bought for you during the three years at the Academy. Birthday, Christmas, Easter...always a bottle of that same damn perfume. Kinda hard to forget something like that" he teased as he took a healthy sip from the mug in his hands, his eyes shooting her a pointed look from behind his glasses.
She just shook her head again and moved back to the coffee maker, filling up her travel mug before crossing back across the kitchen and into living room and over to her briefcase, gathering up her files.
"Well, I'm on my last bottle. They stopped making the stuff years ago so I stock piled a while back and now I'm almost finished. I'll find something else, I'm sure. Anyways munchkin, Momma's gotta go to work but Dad's gonna be here all day, alright?" she asked as she swung her briefcase over her shoulder and moved back over to Jake, giving him another kiss on the head.
"Alright, Momma" her son replied as he looked up at his mother with a sweet grin on his face, nodding a few times. She smiled back down at Jake before looking back up at James who was watching them with a faint smile, the mug still in his hands.
"See you later, James" she said with a smile before turning to go, not even making it two steps before Jake called out.
"Momma! Aren't you gonna say goodbye to Daddy?" he asked, Penelope turning back around to find Jake looking at her with four year old expectancy on his face.
"I just did cutie pie" she explained, giving her son a final smile as she turned to leave, not even making it a step this time.
"Christian's momma always gives his daddy a kiss goodbye" Jake said pointedly, making her inwardly cringe.
"Jake, it's alright. Mom's gonna be late" James explained hurriedly a second later, crossing from the kitchen into the living room to stand by his son who was perched on the counter stool, turned around to look at his mother.
"But that's what all mommy's do when they say goodbye to daddy's" Jake said with such childish innocence that it broke her heart. His face was stricken and confused, and she could tell he didn't understand what was going on. He was expecting a normal family now that his dad was home, and normal families kissed each other goodbye apparently in his mind. She couldn't blame him for that and she did want him to have a normal family more than anything.
She looked over at James expectantly, his face blank of anything. After a few seconds she gave a sigh, moving over James quickly before reaching up to peck him on the cheek, her lips making the briefest of contact with the corner of his lips.
"How's that?" she teased Jake a second after she pulled back, giving her son an expectant yet humorous look. She watched Jake laugh childishly before speaking, his words causing her heart to sink low into her stomach.
"On the lips, Momma!" Jake cried, Penelope outwardly cringing this time.
She wanted to give Jake a normal family, as did James, and normal mom's and dad's kissed. She knew that their situation was different but Jake wouldn't understand why she didn't want to kiss him or why it was going to kill her to. So instead she looked up to James to find his face painted with faint humour, his lips curled ever so slightly upwards in a smile.
"If that's what he wants..." James said quietly, Pen's eyes narrowing slightly as her lips too twitched into a smile, giving a chuckle a second later followed by a sigh.
She looked up a second later, leaning towards him and meeting him halfway in what was probably the shortest kiss in history. Her lips barely made contact with his before she pulled back, feeling all she needed to feel to verify something she'd been painfully trying to deny.
"Anymore kissing and I'm going to be late so that better be okay, mister" she teased Jake as she playfully jabbed her son, moving over to the door without even glancing up at James.
The more she thought about it, the more she recognized the way she was feeling. The butterflies in the stomach, the knots in her chest, the palpitating of the heart, the electricity at his touch and the feeling of his lips on her's; it all came back to her, just like riding a bike. She was slowly, albeit begrudgingly, falling back in love with him.
Damn it.
((Author's Note: So this chapter wasn't exactly finished yet but I decided to post it anyways since I felt bad about the wait! Anyways hope you enjoyed it; I know it's a little cheesy but a little cheese is good every now and again. Anyways, thanks for patiently waiting and let me know what you think!))
