Parenting 101
"Is she sure this time?" Gail asked gently. She didn't want to pressure Jade, but she was oh so tired of this whole mess. Another month had passed since Madison Garrison-Chambers had informed them that Shoshana's fate was in Jade's hand, and Jade had been reluctant to even broach the subject of "pulling the plug" on her mother. Instead, she had busied herself with making sure her financial future was secure, and thanks to Holly, that was taken care of. She had set up a trust for Jade; something she couldn't liquidate until age twenty-five or until she received a doctorate, whichever was first. All of Jade's assets were included in this trust, besides the warehouse, that Jade had other future plans for, according to Holly. Secondly, with Gail's help, Jade concentrated heavily on getting well. It started with her therapy sessions, and Gail, as she had promised, attended the first two weeks of sessions with Jade. It was difficult, Gail admitted that much; hearing Jade recount the horrors of her kidnapping and the subsequent days when Gail felt so powerless, but it seemed to help them both. Jade was beginning to settle with the fact that this was not her fault, and the fact that Gail was there with her meant everything. Finally, Jade focused on gearing up for her new semester at the University of Toronto. She and Haley had signed up for classes, three science classes together and two literature classes that Jade had to go at alone. All of these things had kept Jade from focusing on the task at hand; yet this time had come to an end.
"Yes, Jade is ready to sign the papers," Holly confirmed. "We are at Madison's office now, and then we are going to head to the hospital. She wants to be there when they take Shoshana off of life support."
Gail was speechless. She was happy, yes happy, that they would finally be rid of Shoshana Mercer and all of her evil, but she wasn't sure she was happy with the emotional investment Jade was about to take on. "Okay, baby," Gail said after a moment. "I'll come to the hospital too," she decided.
"Gail…" Holly said in the soft way that she did when she worried about what Gail would do.
"I'm just going to be there for support…no judgement," Gail promised.
"Okay," Holly sighed, not sure if she should believe her girlfriend or not. Gail was still pretty upset that Jade cared at all and if it were up to Gail, the plug would have been pulled and Shoshana Mercer would be a distant memory. They were her family now, and that was all that mattered for Gail; however, it wasn't that easy for Jade, and oddly enough, Holly understood that fact. "No judgement, Peck," Holly said firmly.
Gail wasn't sure that was possible, but at the end of her shift, she showered, pulled on a pair of jeans and a black shirt and headed to the hospital. Jade and Holly were already there, and the nurses had already gone about removing some of the monitors. Jade stood outside the door of her mother's hospital room watching quietly.
"Sorry, am I late?" Gail whispered to Holly.
Holly shook her head silently. "About an hour ago, they removed the medicine that was keeping her in the coma. Coming out of that coma was pretty traumatic…I'm not really happy Jade had to see that, but now…"
"It's almost over?" Gail said taking Holly's hand gently.
"Yeah," Holly said looking over at Gail. "I'm glad you came…"
"Would it be terrible to say that I wouldn't miss it?" Gail grimaced.
"Not really," Holly said kissing Gail's cheek. "Oh, I have another set of adoption papers we need to sign and send back to the lawyer."
Gail didn't feel it would be right to get excited at a time like this, but she couldn't help that her eyes sparkled when she heard the news. "So this is really moving along?" she asked shyly.
"Yeah, this is really moving along," Holly assured her with the squeeze of a hand. "You are okay with that…right?"
"Absolutely," Gail smiled. She watched as Jade disappeared into her mother's hospital room. "How much longer do you think this will take?"
Holly stifled a yawn. She had been awake since four that morning, having an early call from the morgue with a new body coming in. It was now a little after seven and she was exhausted. "It's not an exact science," Holly explained after her yawning. "She may continue to be alive for ten minutes…it may be ten hours; everyone's body reacts differently."
"Baby, why don't you go home and I'll stay here with Jade. You've been up forever today…"
"You want to stay here with Jade, while she mourns her mother's passing?" Holly questioned skeptically.
"Yes, I do," Gail said simply and honestly. She wanted to spend time with her daughter, her future-daughter, and let Jade know that she was there, no matter what. Holly looked at her and a small grin broke out on her beautiful face.
"Make sure you two get dinner before you come home…I'm not cooking."
"Okay," Gail said giving Holly a quick peck on the lips. She watched Holly disappear down the hallway and then made her way into the room where Jade stood. "Holly is exhausted," she offered gently.
"Yeah…I figured; she kept yawning," Jade nodded her understanding. "Is she ready to go?"
"Yeah, she headed out…it's just you and me," Gail said sitting in a chair that was in the corner of the room. She really didn't acknowledge that this was Shoshana's room. The hurt, anger and rage she held for the woman still lived within her, but she was going to be there with Jade.
Jade took a seat on the oversized windowsill. "You think I'm crazy don't you?"
"No," Gail said sitting up a little straighter and crossing her legs. "When we first found you…I was so pissed at myself, I said a lot of things that were stupid and hurtful."
"I thought about letting them die," Jade admitted. "I was out the door…and for a split second, I remembered that earlier, I thought Nori might have been pregnant. It was just a split second, but I had to back and when I got back, Shoshana was on fire…screaming…it was the worst sound ever. I couldn't deal with that sound…so…"
"You saved Shoshana too?" Gail finished for her. Jade nodded slowly.
"I'm healed now, physically, but I still hear Shoshana's screams. It's funny though, because I still can't let her die alone." Gail didn't say anything. "I almost died with her once. Before she dropped me off with my grandparents; it was the first time I had a really bad adverse reaction to my diabetes. My blood sugar plummeted and I passed out, I had a few seizures, I think. I don't know really, but when I woke in the hospital, she was there, Gail. She was worried, scared…so before she was the monster that I know now, or the person who dropped me off with Kiana; she was the first person I saw when I woke up from thinking I was dying. That means, at one time, she did love me…right?"
Gail felt her heart drop a bit, but she tried desperately to sound positive, "Of course she did."
Jade didn't believe Gail for one second. "Thanks," she offered with a smile gently touching her lips. It was nice having someone lie to her for all the right reasons for once. It was nearly three hours before the last monitor signified that Shoshana no longer lived, but the moment that Jade had spent an entire month dreading, came and went with a calmness that she hadn't expected. Jade expected panic, dread, something….she just felt like it was over and for that, she was happy.
"Do you wanna go to the station with me?" Gail offered. She was running a bit behind, but she didn't mind waiting for Jade to throw on some shoes and come to the station with her. It was Wednesday, the Wednesday before her weekend shift off, therefore she knew she was on desk duty today. Nothing would break up the monotony quite like Jade coming to the station with her. And after last night, she was sure that Jade could use some form of distraction.
"Well, Haley was coming over today…" it wasn't lost on Jade how much Gail hated that she and Haley were dating now. It had been over a month and Gail still rolled her eyes every Jade mentioned Haley's name. "If that's okay…"
"Yeah…that's fine…" Gail said taking her last sip of coffee. "I mean, she hasn't been over in four days…it must be torturous."
"She's been visiting her parents before the semester starts," Jade explained. "And she is going to take me to therapy this evening and I was hoping we could all have dinner…"
"Dinner means she goes back to her apartment at the end of the night?" Gail questioned.
"Gail…Holly already said yes," Jade nodded the eye raise by Gail. "Before she left for work…she said that sounded great."
"Then by all means," Gail said sarcastically.
"Thank you," Jade managed a grin. "We'll cook tonight…."
"And she'll go home after dinner…"
"And a movie," Jade pouted when Gail formed her mouth in a rebuttal.
"Fine," Gail agreed, "Dinner and a movie…but Haley sleeps at her own apartment tonight."
"Why don't you like Haley?"
"Aww, sweetheart, I like Haley, but I hate what she represents," Gail said easily. "Listen I have to go to work. Call me if you need me, okay?"
"Dare I ask what she represents?" Jade questioned walking Gail to the door.
"Well if you don't know…" Gail smiled. "I'm definitely not going to tell you," she said heading out the door.
"You can't hate Haley," Holly reminded her, her brown eyes shimmering with laughter. "She's one of the nicest girls …"
"Trying to get in our daughter's pants," Gail said taking a bite of her sandwich. "This is awful, trade with me?"
"Why do I have to take the awful sandwich?" Holly said exchanging her chicken salad for Gail's roast beef sandwich. She took one bite and shook her head. "This is awful. Why did you choose roast beef?"
"I had a taste for it…that taste is obviously over," Gail said handing Holly back her sandwich. "I'm full anyways."
"I highly doubt Haley is trying to get into Jade's pants, sweetheart," Holly redirected the conversation.
"No one wants to be just friends…and then no one just wants to 'date' Hols. No one is that innocent…"
"So Jade could be pressuring Haley?"
"Not my child…Jade is an angel!" Gail countered, which made Holly laugh out loud.
"Wouldn't it just be easier to just talk to Jade about her and Haley's relationship, instead of assuming the worse of Haley?"
Gail thought about it for a moment. "And what am I supposed to say, Holly?"
"What did your parents tell you about sex?"
"Don't do it," Gail answered quickly. "What about your parents?"
"They explained the anatomy, the physiology, and the emotional repercussions of the act…"
"I forget that your parents are scientists too. Why don't I just clean my guns every time Haley comes over…maybe take her to the shooting range one time…that'll really freak her out…"
"Why don't we just fit Jade for a chastity belt that we don't unlock until she is twenty-five or gets a doctorate? The same rules as her trust…?"
"That could work!" Gail liked the sound of that idea.
"I really do pray one day you'll stop being insane, Peck," Holly said standing and kissing her girlfriend's forehead. "I'll see you at home? And you just think about a way to talk to your kid about sex, because this situation isn't disappearing."
"You are definitely getting good with your left hand," Haley noted watching Jade chop onions. It would have been easier to just throw everything in a food processer, but Jade was intent on practicing with her left hand. Jade and Haley had settled on making skirt steak with a chimichurri sauce for dinner and now that it was getting close to five, they thought that they should at least get started.
"Yeah, I'm definitely getting better," Jade smiled. Her right shoulder had healed, but much like Jade had suspected, it was still weak and shaky, therefore she had been focused on getting better with her left hand. It was irritating sometimes, but Jade was proud of her progress. "I haven't even cut myself this time," she smiled. "So I thought we were talking about our couple name…"
Haley laughed, "I don't think we give ourselves a couple's name," Haley clarified. "And…are we a couple?"
"You have to ask?" Jade frowned.
"No, I just want to make sure you are sure…" Haley confirmed. "I've been sure for a while…"
Jade looked up when she heard keys in the door. "Hey…something smells great in there," Holly said coming through the door.
"You're home early," Jade noted, smiling up at Holly.
"Yeah, it's was a slow day today," Holly admitted. "I got a lot of work done on my article though, which was good. How about you two, how was your day?"
"We got a lot done too. We picked up all of our books and most of our supplies for classes and then went grocery shopping for dinner," Jade smiled.
"You even got the stuff for your literature classes?" Holly questioned looking at the skirt steak in marinade. "Is this going on the grill?" Haley nodded. "Impressive. So does this mean I can go upstairs and shower instead of worrying about dinner and clean-up and everything?"
"Yeah, we got it," Haley said smiling.
Holly had to admit, she loved when Haley was over. Jade was calmer and they worked wonderfully together. Plus, when Jade was with Haley, Holly tended to worry a lot less about her daughter.
"Holly, do you think you can get us tickets for the Cubs/Blue Jays series. They are going to be in all weekend?" Jade said before Holly could head upstairs.
"You want to go to all three games?"
"If it's possible," Jade replied eagerly. Holly smiled at the fact that Haley didn't seem enthusiastic about the baseball games at all. Still, she was going because for some reason, like Holly, Jade loved baseball.
"Yeah…no problem," Holly agreed easily. "I'll get them tomorrow."
"See, we'll have great seats," Jade beamed looking at Haley. Haley plastered on a fake smile at first, but when she saw how happy Jade actually was, she became happy too.
"Okay, I'm going to shower," Holly said heading up the stairs.
"See, I told you, we would get great seats," Jade said beaming at Haley.
"You know I hate baseball, right?" Haley said settling against the cabinets.
"It'll be so fun though," Jade pouted. She actually dropped her bottom lip.
"You are so dramatic." Haley came closer and kissed Jade soundly. "You are going to owe me for three days of baseball."
"Owe you how?" Jade cocked an eyebrow.
"I'm thinking opera…at least a play…probably a musical…" Haley laughed at Jade making a face.
"Never a musical," Jade negotiated.
"One musical … this is a three game series." Jade shook her head, no. "Please…" Haley kissed her softly. "We can go to one Saturday night…because it's a day game…."
"We are going to ruin baseball with a musical afterwards…" Jade teased.
"Jade, I wanna go on a date…a real date…with like dinner and a show."
"And you want that show to be a musical?"
Haley nodded her head, but Jade's concentration was broke when the front door closed and Gail walked into the kitchen. "Hey Gail," Jade smiled.
Gail smiled at her daughter, and begrudgedly did so to Haley also. "Something smells edible here…"
"We can cook, Gail," Jade informed her.
"That's yet to be seen," Gail stuck her tongue out. "Holly here yet?"
"Upstairs taking a shower," Jade answered. "Dinner should be ready in like twenty minutes. We just need to put the steak on the grill and finish up the vegetables."
"Cool," Gail said. "I'm going to get comfortable…" She headed into the other room.
"So a real date huh?" Jade whispered just low enough so Gail couldn't hear it.
"We've never been on one."
Jade thought about it for a moment, "You are right…okay, real date," Jade kissed her quickly before getting back to making dinner.
Gail had made her way upstairs just in time enough to see Holly pull on a pair of cut off jean shorts and peach tee-shirt. Gail was surprised at the fact that she didn't automatically want to jump her girlfriend's bones at that moment. It wasn't that Gail was no longer attracted to Holly; god, she was so attracted to that woman, but over the last month things had changed. She loved Holly so much, sometimes it was okay just to look at her, to be thankful that someone that amazing was in her life. "Hey," she said softly entering the room.
Holly jumped a bit and then laughed. "I didn't know you were home already," Holly said turning to look at Gail. "I had to take a shower. I'm trying to stay away, but I was losing the battle. Today was very boring," she admitted.
"We should go away for a couple of days…maybe this weekend?" Gail said looking serious for a moment. The need to get away with Holly had washed over her out of nowhere.
"And what are we going to do with our darling teenage daughter?" Holly questioned coming to stand in front of Gail.
"She's practically an adult," Gail said softly. "And I'm going to talk to her tonight…about her and Haley and responsibility…"
"You are going to talk to her…" Holly grinned. "That's sexy…"
"I'm serious," Gail could hearing the teasing glint of Holly's tone. "I just wanna be away with you, since everything is calm and feels right. Give me two days…"
"I'd give you two hundred days if I could," Holly said solemnly. Gail chuckled at that comment. "Should I plan something?"
"I'll plan it," Gail promised. "I just want you to be free for two days; be mine for two whole days, no distractions."
"Okay, no distractions," Holly promised eagerly.
Gail took a deep breath, knocked on Jade's bedroom door and gently peeked her head inside. "Hey, whatcha up to?"
Jade raised an eyebrow, but decided to humor Gail. It was nearing her self-imposed bedtime, so Jade was definitely winding down. "Nothing much…just looking over the blueprints to the warehouse," Jade admitted.
"Any particular reasons why?"
"Not really….just looking at it," Jade said. "What's up?"
"We need to talk…"
"Nothing good ever comes from that," Jade groaned. She closed her laptop and gave Gail her full attention.
"It's nothing bad…I was just thinking about taking Holly away this weekend."
"Okay…sounds nice."
"Do you think you can handle Friday and Saturday night alone?" Gail asked softly.
Jade thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she said.
"Well, Traci and Steve are only a phone call away…or you can stay with them…"
"I'll be fine here, Gail," Jade promised.
"Cool…" Gail said leaning against the dresser. "So…since you are going to be here alone…I kinda suspect that you won't be here alone…" When Jade gave her a confused look, Gail expanded her comment. "I'm figuring Haley will be here the entire weekend, Jade. I'm not stupid." Jade folded her legs under her body and began rocking gently on her bed. "How exactly serious are you two, Jade?"
"I don't know …according to her, I haven't even taken her on a real date…but I'm guessing I get a pass since…you know, kidnapped, therapy, physically healing and all…" Gail laughed at Jade's dry humor. "So Saturday we were planning on going on a real date…so I kinda need to borrow money," Jade said smiling.
"I came to talk to you about sex, and you are hitting me up for money?"
"Oh…what do you need to know about sex?" Jade questioned sarcastically.
"Cute…are you getting your sense of humor from Holly?"
Jade laughed, "We aren't having sex, Gail…we are nowhere near having sex. So, you don't have to worry about that this weekend."
"You aren't having sex now because I'm here every night…I was a teenager once, Jade."
"What did you do as a teenager, Gail?"
"Don't change the subject," Gail said realizing she had backed into that one. "Listen; if she is going to stay over the entire weekend…I don't wanna have to worry about what you are doing, Jade."
"You don't have to…I will not be having sex this weekend," Jade said truthfully. She, Gail and Holly were way past the point of keeping secrets or being shy around one another.
"I still think I'm going to have Traci and Steve maybe stop by…" Jade rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Just to make sure you are okay."
Jade shook her head, pulled back her covers and got into bed. "Goodnight, Gail,"
"Oh," Gail smiled. "So you are going to dismiss me with sleep, huh?"
"I love you, Gail."
"I know…that's why you'll love me when I have various people popping in during the weekend," Gail said closing her daughter's door. She was feeling damn good about this parenting thing for once.
A/N: Hey guys! We are definitely winding down with Guns and Gangs 101 :( I'm sad, but I think a romantic weekend chapter with Gail and Holly would help with the sadness :); so that's upcoming. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please feel free to leave your comments and reviews!