A minute later, conversation again turned to food. James had been formulating a plan in his head all day, and he decided that the time was ripe for putting it into action.
He cleared his throat, "Um...regarding food, well, I have an idea, but we gotta go home for a bit...meet us back there in a couple hours...say around seven? You can grab a snack from room service in the meantime just don't eat too much...okay?"
She raised her eyebrow, "What are you up to?" then shrugged, "Well, okay...guess I could use a shower after all this."
He attempted not to picture that but failed, "Sounds good! See you then!" and grabbed Persian, who tried to protest and ask what was going on, but was quickly dragged away.
Jessie stood there for a second, arms crossed and pondering what he was thinking, then deciding she'd find out soon enough, made her way back to her hotel.
At approximately six-thirty, Jessie was fixing her hair when a knock came at the door. She opened it, only to find Persian standing there, wearing a bow-tie and holding an envelope in his mouth.
"Persian?" she asked with a laugh and taking the paper from him, "What's this about? Nice bow-tie, by the way."
He answered with a deep bow, "We'd be honored with your presence, m'lady...Jimmy insisted I wear and say this...please say yes..." and padded off.
She clutched the envelope to her chest for a moment before opening it, dying of curiosity but knowing this was something special. It was in James's best handwriting, in a calligraphic style she had never before seen.
It read 'I invite you, my dear Jessica, to our humble abode for a formal dinner. Please reply with your presence at seven o'clock sharp. I look forward to your arrival. Your humble servant, James.'
She stared at it, smiling. Of course she'd be there...
Knock! Knock! At seven sharp, Jessie rapped on the door of their cottage. When on her business trips, she always packed a more formal outfit, just in case. This was the first time she could remember having a reason to wear it; a sapphire blue, knee-length dress and matching heels. Her hair was pinned up in a neat bun. Silence greeted her for a moment, though she clearly heard excited voices inside. Then the door opened, and she found Persian standing there, looking midly annoyed.
"Please, m'lady, enter..." he said, turning and leading her inside, where she looked around and gasped.
The strings of paper lights had multiplied, and now they were on, filling the cottage with soft light. The furniture had been rearranged so as to clear a small space in the middle of the room. Several vases of fresh flowers were placed on available surfaces, lending a sweet perfume to the air. Then she saw James standing by the dining table, wearing a flatteringly cut, deep charcoal-gray suit and tie. He had shaved, and his hair was pulled neatly back with a black ribbon instead of a scrap of twine. She paused for a second, not used to seeing him like this. In their time together, she had seen him in everything from their uniforms to numerous disguises to swim trunks, but now he suddenly looked every bit the proper gentleman he had been raised to be.
Folding his arms behind his back, he smiled sheepishly and said, "Well, I wanted to take you somewhere really nice...but, well, I can't afford it. So, I brought somewhere really nice to you!"
She clasped her hands, "It's perfect..."
Walking up to her, he took her one hand and with a small bow, kissed it gently, "You look amazing."
Still holding it, he led her the few steps to the table, which was elegantly set with a white tablecloth, a couple candles, and a vase containing several roses. He pulled a chair out for her, then sat himself.
Persian, now wearing a chef's hat, came up and stood with his front paws on the table, "Good evening. Tonight's special is fresh lobster with herb butter, with a side of wild rice pilaf and a spring mix salad with ginger-citrus dressing. Desert is still baking. Would you care for some wine?"
Jessie snorted and covered her mouth, "Why yes! Thank you! And the special sounds lovely! I'll take it."
"I'll have the special too. And waiter? Bring us your best wine!"
Persian glared at him, "We've only got the one you-! Oh right...yes, of course. Right away, sir..." He stepped back down and padded over to the fridge, mumbling about how ridiculous he felt.
Jessie shook her head, "You guys are something else. But how did you manage all this in just a couple hours? And how did you afford lobster?"
James replied, "It wasn't easy! I ran to the nearest store to grab the food we didn't have on hand, plus the flowers. The lobster, well...Persian took care of that."
He came back with the bottle of wine in his jaws and placed it on the table, "Sure did...heh heh."
"You stole them didn't you!" Jessie smirked.
"Old habits die hard," said James with a shrug as he poured the wine, "Once we got back, we took care of everything else. And dear Persian here agreed to be our waiter!"
"Agreed?!" he sputtered, "You begged me! If you wasn't my friend..." He went back to pulling plates from a cupboard and prepping the food.
Jessie lifted her wine glass, "So, to what should we toast?"
James picked up his own glass and stared at it for a moment, thinking. He knew what he wanted to say, but wasn't sure the timing was right, so instead he replied, "To old friends, and new beginnings..."
"Here, here." she agreed, taking a swig.
Persian came over and carefully slid a plate in front of her, then did the same for James. Each contained one still-steaming lobster, with the salad and pilaf neatly arranged around it.
She squealed in delight, "This is wonderful! Now all we're missing is music."
James clicked his fingers with a smile, and rolling his eyes again, Persian went to their CD player next to the couch and tapped the play button. Soft violin music filled the room.
"Better?" he asked.
"Much..." she fought back a blush.
They proceeded to enjoy their meal, all the while talking, playfully trying to one-up each other with jokes and stories, and good-naturedly abusing poor Persian.
"Oh waiter! More wine!"
"Waiter, there's a hair in my salad! Oh, that's mine!"
Persian flattened his ears, "You two owe me big time..."
After the chocolate mousse cake was eaten, Persian asked, "Is there anythin' else I can do?"
James looked thoughtful, "I guess not..."
"Good!" the feline tossed off the chef's hat, "Then I'm goin' out. It's Thursday after all! Later!"
He happily trotted over to the door, opened it, and let it slam behind him.
Jessie raised her eyebrow, to which James explained, "He's friends with a group of wild Meowth and Persian. Every week they have a get-together and prowl the city all night."
"Oookay. Good to see he's made some friends, I guess." she drank some more wine.
He reached and took her free hand, "Now that the food is done, I have another surprise for you."
"Another? Goodness I really am spoiled today-I love it!"
Still holding hands, they stood and he led her to the cleared space in the middle of the room. As they passed a vase, he plucked one of the roses from it and offered it to her. She shot him a bemused, 'I-see-what-you-did-there' grin. Reaching out, he tapped a couple buttons on the CD player until it got to a specific song. Then, he hit a switch on the wall, and all the lights went out.
"What's this?" she wondered, just as he reached up and tugged a long chord attached to the ceiling.
A hatch in the roof flipped open, flooding the room with silvery moonlight. It shimmered off of every surface and left an ethereal glow. She gasped and he asked, "Well?"
"James, this is amazing. I...don't know what to say..."
"Then dance with me."
Still holding her hand, he slid his free one to her lower back, and she moved closer, laying her other hand on his shoulder. He began to move his feet, effortlessly guiding her as a soft waltz emanated from the CD player.
"When did you learn to dance like this?" she asked.
"I've always been able to. I've just never had an opportunity to use it!" he replied, spinning her once around and dipping her low, his face so close she could feel his warm breath on her skin. It sent such a jolt through her she nearly lost her balance for a moment.
James paused as he pulled her back up, "You ok?"
Fanning herself, she quickly said, "Oh yes! I'm fine! It's nothing!"
They gracefully danced to the song's end. Pulling back, they gazed at each other, emotions swirling. This was the third time they were in this position, and this time it seemed there would be no interruption. James traced her jawline with his thumb and leaned in closer, half-closing his eyes. Jessie's heart raced as she mirrored his movements; dear god she ached to kiss him, pull him down to the floor and-
Doubt and panic suddenly clouded her mind. She quickly turned her head away, "Th-thanks for the dance...hey I'm thirsty...is there any more wine?"
He tried to hide his disappointment and almost succeeded, "Yeah...sure."
They separated and he went to the table, picking up the half-gone bottle and their glasses and returning to the couch where she had sat down.
Filling the glasses, he handed her one and they sat in awkward silence for a minute before he said, "Jessie...I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I scared you off didn't I? Admitting I loved you, saying I wanted to leave Team Rocket...I should have kept my big mouth shut," he bit his lip, hating himself for the tears he couldn't stop, "When you disappeared...I knew I had screwed up, as usual."
"Oh come on! That's not it-not all of it, I..."
He suddenly glared at her, unable to hold in the question burning in his mind any longer, "Why did you really leave?"
Startled by the abrupt change in his demeanor, she defensively said, "I told you already!"
He felt his anger start to boil up, "You think I don't know when you're not telling me everything? It's been a while but I can still read you better than you realize! I know you think I'm stupid, and well, I may not be the smartest guy in the world but I do know when I'm being lied to!"
She snorted, "Get over yourself! I'm not lying; I told you why I left!"
Still glaring each other down, James stood, unbuttoned his jacket and started on his dress-shirt. Jessie leaned away slightly, blushing, "What-what are you doing?"
He undid the first two buttons and pulled the left side of the shirt down to reveal a round, jagged scar about two inches below the collarbone. Jessie paled; this was where he had been shot. When she had left he still had it bandaged up, thus she had never actually seen his wound.
He swallowed hard, "Do you know what hurts worse than this ever did? Waking up to find you gone, and knowing I may never see you again. Finding you, and then you lie about why you really left. And even now-"
"Okay fine!" she yelled, standing. Setting her glass down and nearly spilling it, and stepped back a couple paces, "You want to know the whole story?! True, I didn't know if I wanted to leave yet but it's also because I-I loved you too, you hopeless dork! I did then, and I still do now! There! And my whole life, no matter how hard I tried, I've always screwed up everything! Nursing school? Failure! Pokemon trainer? Failure! Team Rocket member? We both know how that went! I didn't want to screw up with...with us too! So I figured it was better for both of us if I just...took off."
He was startled to finally hear the words he had yearned for, "Jessie-"
"And another thing," she continued, planting her hands on her hips, "Why do you love me anyway?! I was horrible to you! For heaven's sake how many times did I blame you or beat you up when things went wrong? I'm impulsive, temperamental, vain, selfish-"
His anger diminished, he said, "I also remember all the times you saved me or stuck by my side no matter what. You're loyal, brave, determined, resourceful, and incredibly beautiful..."
Her hands dropped to her sides, her own rage spent. Once again, they stood silent, looking everywhere but at each other, uncertain of what to say next.
After a moment Jessie asked quietly, "I...never thanked you for saving me, did I?"
James thought back for a second, then replied, "No, you didn't."
She walked slowly up to him and gingerly brushed her fingertips across his scar, then flattened her hand over his heart. He drew a sharp breath, surprised at what a strong effect her simple touch had on him.
Unable to hold back the tears, she glanced up and softly said, "Thank you."
Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned in and kissed her hard, pouring all the years of built-up pain and longing into this moment. With her other hand she grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him closer to deepen their kiss. When their lips met, any sense of doubt or hesitation she had felt melted away.
This was right. This was real. This was the truth she had been denying for so long-and it felt so damn good to give in...