Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 1: Brand New Day
"Come in," Hope called out as someone knocked on her office door. She was finishing up some paperwork and didn't bother to look up. She figured it was Roman coming into talk with her about how her current case was going.
Still not looking up she said, "Hey Roman. Before you ask, it's coming along. Just tying up some lose ends before we're able to get the APB out on him."
Suddenly, a bouquet of pink and yellow tulips was held underneath her nose. She smiled, and looked up to see Aiden standing in front of her, looking dapper in a pair of medium-wash blue jeans and a forest green sweater. The bouquet he was holding out to her was tied with a purple silk ribbon.
She smiled, and took the flowers from him. "You remembered by favorite flower." She closed her eyes as she inhaled the sweet floral aroma.
"Actually, they're for Bertha, that 80-year-old lady that works at the diner. She likes tulips too. I just came to tell you that it's over between you and I. Bertha and I have fallen madly in love and are going to run away together to the Pine Oaks retirement home in Florida," he teased.
Hope smirked. "We'll, she is quite stunning. I understand. I hope you two are very happy together." She then grinned. "Come here you!" She stood up and they kissed over her desk.
"Are you free for lunch?" Aiden asked before kissing her again. "I have something special planned for us. It's slightly chilly out, but it's not too bad compared to what it has been lately. At least the sun is shining."
"Mm, I'll make the time." Hope said walking around her desk to him. She kissed him again. "Just let me replace the flowers and water in this vase so I can keep these beautiful tulips on my desk." She smirked at him. "Pine Oaks Retirement home! Is that even a real place?"
Aiden shrugged. "Heck if I know. I just got it off the top of my head."
Hope laughed. She ditched her now dead flowers that Aiden had gotten her a week ago, then went to refill the vase with fresh water.
As Aiden waited for her, Rafe walked by her office and stopped when he saw Aiden in there.
"Rafe," Aiden said, nodding his head in a polite hello. He wasn't Rafe's biggest fan, but for Hope's sake, he was civil to him.
"Aiden," Rafe said nodding slightly as well. "What brings you here?"
"Just taking my beautiful lady out for lunch," Aiden replied.
"The one you stole from me, you mean?" Rafe asked with a grunt.
"The one I had first. She clearly would rather be with me. It didn't take her long to come back to my bed once I returned." Aiden knew he shouldn't be so cruel. It wasn't in his nature. But something about Rafe just ticked him off and it was hard to always be civil to him.
Rafe looked like he wanted to attack, but Hope came back in before he could.
"Hey!" She placed a hand over Rafe's shoulder. "Remember where you are and what you do for a living. You need to learn to handle being provoked better." She turned her attention to Aiden. "And was that really necessary?" She raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest.
Aiden held his hands up in defense. "You're right. It was uncalled for." He looked at Rafe. "I apologize."
Rafe grunted in response, then mumbled to Hope that he'd see her around. He left.
Hope looked at Aiden.
Aiden blushed. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm still a little annoyed that he pounced on you the second I was gone. Heck, the second Bo was gone for that matter."
Hope sighed. "I don't want to talk about my past relationships. She put her vase that was now filled with fresh water and the tulips back on her desk. She then pulled him close and kissed him, her fingers playing with his hair. "Let's just concentrate on you and me."
Aiden smiled. "We can do that."
They kissed some more.
"Where are you taking me?" Hope murmured, resting her forehead against his.
Aiden took her hand. "Come with me and find out."
They smiled at each other and headed hand-in-hand out of her office and out of the station.
~*This love came back to me.*~
"Hey, loser. Your button's popping open. Get a larger shirt! Aint no one want to see your flabby ass stomach!"
Jonah automatically looked down at his stomach. Sure enough the new plaid shirt his mother had gotten him had popped a button. Wait. Actually two buttons had popped. The two bottom buttons had popped completely off. Jonah sighed. He had told his mother he needed an extra-large, but his mother insisted that he wasn't fat and that a medium would fit him just fine. He had sucked it in when buttoning the shirt, but sadly, that trick hadn't worked long.
Well, he couldn't go through the rest of school wearing a busted plaid shirt! He headed to his locker and took out the only other shirt he had in there. It wasn't a gym day, so his PE shirt was at home in the wash. A novelty shirt he had bought just for laughs would have to do. He had brought it to school to show Joey, Chase, and Theo, but now he guessed they'd see it on him instead of him just showing it to them. He shut and locked his locker, then quickly headed to the bathroom to change before Health class.
~*This love came back to me.*~
Lani slammed a flyer down on Rafe's desk.
Rafe looked down at it. He picked it up and skimmed it. It was a flyer for the upcoming music festival in Chicago that weekend. It featured Cold Play, Radiohead, U2, Aerosmith, and Bon Jovi with a guest appearance by Pink.
Rafe looked up at her, a bushy eyebrow raised. "What's this?"
Lani rolled her eyes. "It's a flyer for a music festival. Duh! Can't you read?" She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.
Rafe rolled his eyes. "Obviously, but why are you giving it to me?"
"Because I got us two tickets and you are going to go with me," Lani said matter-of-factly.
Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. "Who says I want to go with you?"
Lani shrugged. "Why wouldn't you? It's my treat, we both have off, you're single now and you promised you'd give me a chance, and you love all those bands." She raised an eyebrow and nodded toward him. "Need I say more?"
"I don't really listen to Pink. She's more of a girl's artist," Rafe stated, setting the flier back down.
Lani rolled her eyes. "A girl's artist? Please! I've never heard of such a dumb thing. Anyway, she's only a guest. I for one love her."
"Because you're a girl!" Rafe said with a grin.
Lani shook her head. "No, I love her and just happen to be a girl. So are you coming with me or not?"
Rafe thought about it for a moment. He did love all those bands that would be there. And secretly, Pink wasn't all that bad. In fact, he did find her songs quite catchy. He nodded. "All right, let's go. But I'm not letting you treat me."
Lani smiled. "You can drive us down and pay for all the gas. Then we'll be even. We'll go havies on the hotel and Dutch on the food."
Rafe nodded. "Deal!"
Lani smirked; apparently proud of herself. "I'll make the hotel reservations once I get home."
"Just one night and two rooms, all right?" Rafe called out after her as she turned to leave.
"Of course!" she called back, a devious smirk on her face.
~*This love came back to me.*~
"I really don't see why I need to be blindfolded," Hope said as Aiden led her by the hand to the place where he had his surprise set up.
"Because it will make it more special if you don't see it until we're there. Don't worry, we're almost there. Just a few more feet." Aiden led Hope the rest of the way, then stopped. "All right, we're here." He undid her purple silk blindfold, and let her see where he had brought her.
Hope opened her eyes, and gasped when she looked around. "Aiden, it's so beautiful!"
"Beautiful scenery for my beautiful love," Aiden replied, kissing her hand.
Hope smiled and blushed, then looked around some more. They were in a beautiful field with the greenest grass Hope had ever seen. The grass was covered in beautiful followers in an array of colors as far as the eye could see.
They were currently standing by a big, beautiful tree covered in pink blossoms that were starting to fall to the ground here and there. "Is that a cherry blossom tree?" Hope asked. She looked over at Aiden who had a picnic basket in his hand with a purple blanket folded on top of it.
Aiden nodded. "I figured we'd have a picnic here." He set the basket down then took the purple blanket and began to lay it out across the grass under the tree.
Hope helped him lay it out. "Where did you find this place?"
"One of my clients owns this property. They want to build a house on it. They had a problem with the contractors that I helped them take care of. I gave them a discount on my services in exchange for letting me take you on a lunch date here," Aiden explained. He placed the picnic basket on the blanket and began to take out their food.
"This is so beautiful, and such a romantic gesture. Thank you so much," Hope said, sitting down and watching as he unloaded a bottle of red wine, two wine glasses, a loaf of bread, a wedge of cheese, a little container of butter, a bottle of ranch dressing, a plastic container containing an iceberg salad, and another container that held soup.
He opened the container up to show her. "I hope you like chicken and Gnocchi."
She smiled. "I do!" As she watched him take out paper plates, plastic utensils, napkins, and one more container of something yet to be discovered, she shook her head. "How on earth did you fit everything in that basket? Just when I think you're done, you keep pulling things out!"
Aiden smirked. "If you pack everything just right, you can fit it."
"Kind of like a puzzle," Hope said, opening the mystery container to reveal four chocolate-covered strawberries. "Ooh, these look good."
"Exactly, and yes, they do. I figured they'd be the perfect dessert for us to share." Aiden leaned over and kissed her cheek.
Hope pushed some hair behind her ears and smiled. "You went through so much trouble to set this up. Again, it's so romantic. Thank you."
"Nothing's too good for my baby," Aiden told her.
Hope crawled over to him and kissed him softly on the lips, his face between her hands. "Likewise," she said dreamily.
They stared into each other's eyes with nothing but love in their eyes. Then, they went to work on eating their lunch.
"It's slightly chilly, but at least the wind hasn't picked up. Who would have thought I'd be wearing a sweater in spring?" Hope asked. She was wearing dark-wash blue jeans and a white cowl-neck sweater with black ankle boots. "I feel more dressed for winter than spring."
"That's Salem for you. It always feels like we get an extended winter and skip right over spring," Aiden said as he poured their wine.
"At least we finally got rid of all the snow," Hope quipped.
"Don't jinx it," Aiden quipped in return.
They both laughed.
He set the wine aside then held out his glass. "To us and our second chance on this beautiful spring day."
Hope grinned. "To us and our second chance on this beautiful spring day," she agreed.
They clinked glasses and drank up, smiling at each other with love in their eyes for the other.
~*This love came back to me.*~
Jonah walked into Health class with a grin on his face. He could hardly wait to show the boys his new shirt. He knew they would get a kick out of it.
As he headed to his seat, he heard his fellow classmates snickering.
He grinned at them. "Hilarious shirt, isn't it?"
"Yeah, if you're five years old," Becca Thomas who was known for being the senior queen be who thought she ran the school replied. She was snobby to everyone who didn't fit into her little circle of friends, so Jonah ignored her and sat down in his seat.
"Dude! That shirt is hilarious, Man!" Joey said as he looked at Jonas's shirt. He nudged Theo. "Dude, look at Jonah's shirt!"
Theo looked at Jonah's shirt and burst out laughing.
Claire looked over and smiled slightly. She shook her head. Only Jonah would wear something like that to school. But, in her opinion, that was part of his charm.
Ciara and Chase came into class just then and took their usual seats with Ciara on one side of Claire and Chase on the other side of her behind Jonah.
"Like my shirt?" Jonah asked Chase and Ciara as he stood up and modelled it for them.
Ciara laughed. "You're crazy!"
Chase laughed so hard he snorted. He high-fived Jonah. "I got to get me a shirt like that!"
Jonah grinned; proud of himself.
Just then, then teacher came in, so they all grew quiet.
Jonah sat back down.
Becca Thomas raised her hand.
"Yes Becca?" Mr. Samuels asked.
"Mr. Samuels, Jonah is wearing a shirt that is kind of inappropriate for school, don't you think?" Becca asked.
Jonah blushed as Mr. Samuels put on his glasses and looked at Jonah.
The whole class snickered as Mr. Samuel's read out loud what Jonah's black t-shirt said in big red letters. "I love to fart." The shirt had holes all over it as if someone had farted so much they made holes in it.
"Mr. Caldwell, we're all for self-expression in this school, but don't you think that shirt is a bit much?" Mr. Samuels asked.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I kind of popped out of my dress shirt I had originally planned to wear today. My mom always insists on buying me shirts two sizes too small. This was all I had here to wear," Jonah explained.
Mr. Samuels nodded. "Very well, but from now on I suggest you get your mother to start buying you the size you really need."
The class giggled.
Jonah sank down in his seat a little.
Ciara shot Becca a dirty look. "Bitch," she muttered under her breath.
~*This love came back to me*~
Hope and Aiden lay kissing on the floral grass with Aiden on top of Hope, her hands pinned beneath his above her head.
"I've got to get back to work," she breathed between kisses. She sighed happily. "I wish I could stay here all day with you instead."
They continued to kiss for a moment more. "Then stay with me. Call in sick or something," Aiden murmured, his hands down stroking her hair.
They kissed some more and he moved his kisses to her neck.
She tangled her fingers in his hair. "I can't. I really have to wrap up this case I'm working on. We'll continued this tonight, I promise."
Aiden's lips met with hers again and they kissed just a moment longer. "All right. Can we at least eat our dessert before you have to go?"
Hope sat up and wiped some cherry blossom petals out of her hair. "Of course!"
They smiled at each other, then went to sit back on the blanket.
"I forgot the whipped cream. I always forget something!" Aiden said.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll still be delicious." Hope took one of the strawberries.
Aiden took a strawberry too, and they held it out to each other's mouth, feeding the other.
Hope licked her lips. "Mm… Delicious!"
Aiden nodded, licking his own lips. "Really good."
They finished their strawberry and helped themselves to their second one.
"I wish I had a third one," Aiden said once he had finished his second strawberry. "I should have brought us more. I was just trying to have room for everything," Aiden said.
"You'll have to settle for what's left on my lips," Hope, who had just finished her second strawberry purred as she crawled over to him and sat down in his lap.
He moaned, his eyes lowering with love for her. "Mm, something tells me that will make it taste even sweeter."
"There's only one way to find out," Hope murmured, her hand resting against his cheek.
They kissed, their tongues slipping into play with the other's and tasting any remnants of strawberry the other might have left on them.
~*This love came back to me.*~
"Yes, I will need just one room for this coming weekend. Yes please—two nights. Saturday and Sunday night. Perfect! One double bed is more than fine. There's no couch in the room is there? No? Fantastic! Yes. Also, if available, I'd like a room that is more secluded from everyone else. My boyfriend and I like our privacy. Thank you." Lani gave the receptionist all the information needed, then thanked her and hung up the phone.
She smiled to herself. Rafe would be thanking her by the end of the weekend. He may not know right now that he wanted to be her boyfriend, but by the end of the weekend, she could guarantee that he would be hers and all hers. She would see to that.
~*This love came back to me.*~
Chase lay back in his seat as he and his classmates were forced to watch some lame DVD about being a parent. He supposed it was supposed to scare them off from wanting to become parents too early in life.
It was so boring. He yawned, and slouched down in his seat even more.
On the DVD, there was this little screaming brat around three or four whining because his mother told him no more cookies. The only cool thing about the kid was that he was wearing these white Converse high-tops. Chase remembered owning a pair of those. He was probably around the boy in the movie's age when he had them. He obviously didn't remember much about being that age, but those shoes he remembered because he loved wearing them every day. He couldn't remember what happened to them. He knew his dad had taken them off him, but then they had never appeared again.
Chase thought back to the last time he remembered wearing them.
His mother. He remembered her smiling at him and tying up his shoes. His mother never smiled unless it was at him.
She sat him down to play with his toys. Yes, he remembered now because he remembered he was tired of playing with the boring old toys he already had. He got up to look around the room. His mother wasn't paying attention. She left the room and his eyes caught on something shiny and black that looked interesting. He toddled over to it and picked it up. He wasn't quite sure what it was but it looked way more fun than his other toys…
"Chase!" Claire whispered beside him.
Chase shook from his flashback. "Hm?" He asked.
Claire nodded toward the teacher.
Chase could tell that Mr. Samuel's had asked him something, but he had no idea what. The DVD had stopped playing, so he guessed it had something to do with what they had just watched.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?" he asked.
"I said, how did you like the DVD? Did it show you that your too young to have children, or did it make you want to have children?" the teacher repeated.
"Me? I don't think I am anywhere near ready to be a dad right now or if ever," Chase said.
"And Jessica? What about you?" the teacher asked another student.
This carried on for a few more responses, then they got their homework assignment of writing a one-page essay on why it is best to not have children too soon.
The bell rang, and they were dismissed.
"What does this have to do with Health class anyway? I don't know about you guys, but I'd much rather write about how babies are made. Wouldn't that make more sense?" Joey asked.
Theo and Chase snickered, and high-fived him.
Jonah grinned, though he didn't really know much about that subject. Granted, he knew how babies were made, but he didn't have any experience in babies or the way they were made.
Claire and Ciara rolled their eyes.
"Chase, where did you go earlier when the teacher first asked you the question?" Claire asked him. "You looked so spaced out."
"I was just zoning out because that lame DVD was so boring. I wasn't thinking about anything important," Chase replied.
As they headed out of class talking about what their senior class prank should be, Chase couldn't help but think of that earlier memory as a child. There was something more to it. He could feel it. Something just felt off about his memory. However, there was no time to ponder it now. He had English class to get to.
~*This love came back to me.*~
Aiden dropped Hope back off at the station.
Hope took his face between her hands and kissed him passionately. "Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tonight, Mr. Jennings." She kissed him again.
"In my bed…" he murmured.
She rested her forehead against his. "That's always where you mind ends up, isn't it?"
"Does that bother you?" he teased.
"Not one bit!" Hope said with a grin.
He grinned too, and they kissed some more.
"I'll call you when I get out of work," she said.
"Mm, you do that, Baby," Aiden said, licking his lips.
As Hope got out of the car she smiled at him and blew him a kiss.
He smiled back and pretended to catch it.
She then shut the door and headed back in to work. During lunch, Aiden had told her that he had to decide to either renew his lease, or move somewhere else. His community service was just about over, and he was thinking of getting a place closer to her now. She hadn't mentioned anything to him because she wanted to talk to Ciara first, but she was thinking about asking him to move in with her. Ciara would be getting a place of her own soon no doubt, and Hope was at Aiden's most of the time anyway, so she figured that maybe taking the next step wouldn't be so bad. After all, they had already been living together before he had…
Hope shoo the thought from her head. She trusted him now and she knew that Ciara was finally starting to trust him again too.
Hope touched her lips where Aiden had thoroughly been kissing her all afternoon, and smiled. Yes, she would talk to Ciara right after work.
She walked back into work even happier than she had been before she left it for lunch.