Chapter Seventeen: It's a Date

(Still) Day 9:

"You need to relax." Kilgrave whispers, smoothing his thumb over Jessica's knuckles.

She had taken his hand subconsciously, out of what seemed to be a habit that never died, despite the long period of time they had been separated. Before, the hand-holding was very much a tactic to keep him in line and ensure that he didn't wander off. Now, there appeared to be no strategic purpose. Kilgrave never verbally mentioned it, which meant she never consciously acknowledged it either, and their hands remained connected as he led her through the front door of the restaurant. Because of the extra effort it took for him to get her in the car, they were arriving a few minutes late.

Jessica glares at him through the corner of her eye but doesn't say anything.

Just inside, they are greeted at the door by a hostess. Even as Jessica is clearly not dressed to the standard of the restaurant, the hostess smiles warmly. After welcoming them, she asks, "Do you have a reservation?"

Without hesitation, Kilgrave answers, "We're with the Walker table."

Quickly scrolling through the database, the hostess continues to smile. "Ah yes. Right this way."

Kilgrave's mood could only be described as boyish excitement as he eagerly follows behind the hostess. She leads the way to their table and he tugs Jessica along. They weave through different sections of the restaurant until they reach the section furthest from the door. While the majority of the other tables feature business meeting-like events, this area is quieter, with more intimate lighting.

The instant they turn the corner, Jessica stops, pulling Kilgrave to a halt with her. It was easy enough for her to recognize the back of Trish's head. What froze her was seeing who she was sitting next to.

"Oh, fuck no." Jessica mumbles, shaking her head. "No."

"What?" He responds, looking around to find what she was seeing.

Just as he realizes why she's stopped, she growls at him with a low voice. "Did you know Malcolm was going to be here?!"

Kilgrave blinks with surprise then shrugs in amusement. "No, actually." That was the truth. But he knew she had no way of verifying that. With the hopes of not causing a scene, he turns back around and attempts to pull her along again. "It's not a big deal."

But she doesn't budge. Instead, she yanks him back towards her. "Nope. We're leaving." She states, turning around simultaneously. If she had known her sister had planned a double date she never would have agreed to come in the first place. "I'm not doing this. I'm just not. We're not. We're leaving."

He doesn't allow himself to be pulled easily. He wasn't going to allow this opportunity to pass after he tried extremely hard to get her here. "Relax, Jessica. Why do you care if he's here or not? Come on, it'll be fun."

As this is happening, the hostess arrives at the table in front of Trish, assuming that the two guests she led were still behind her. "Here we are."

Trish looks up and around, as does the hostess to see where she had lost them. Before Jessica manages to make her escape, Trish starts motioning to them. "Oh, Jessica, David. It's good to see you."

Still, with her back to the table, Jessica's head falls and her eyes screw shut as she cringes. "Fuck." She mutters at the recognition that she was too late. Kilgrave subsequently smiles and waves at Trish as Jessica forces herself to turn around. "Yeah, hi." Her dejected tone goes unnoticed as she makes her way to the table with Kilgrave close behind.

Both Trish and Malcolm stand up to greet them. "Hey, Jessica. David." Malcolm nods at each of them individually.

In a normal circumstance, there might be an exchange of handshakes or hugs. But Jessica makes no motion to accept either, even if they were offered, and immediately sits down. She sits across from Trish and Kilgrave follows suit, sitting across from Malcolm, as to not prolong any type of greeting. He was more interested in the actual conversation that would occur.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Trish that Jessica doesn't acknowledge Malcolm with anything as little as eye contact.

The hostess waits until they're seated to say to the guests that just arrived, "I'll have someone bring out a couple more glasses for you two," referring to the wine that had already been poured for Malcolm and Trish, she makes a brisk exit.

Trish starts by clearing her throat, "We got a few family-sized things to split for the table that should be out soon." Jessica gives her a look which causes her to add, "We weren't sure when you would get here… or if you were coming. So we went ahead and ordered already." She smiles genuinely, despite Jessica's stand-offish nature. "I'm glad you're here, you know." She says first, directly to her sister, then adds, looking to Kilgrave. "Both of you."

"We're glad to be here." Kilgrave returns the smile, speaking for both of them as he reaches for Jessica's hand again under the table. "And I'm sure whatever you ordered for us will be delicious."

Jessica refuses his hand, tightening hers into a fist in rejection.

Appreciating the lack of silence on Kilgrave's end, Trish's smile widens before it fades slightly. "Uh, I invited Malcolm to join us. Obviously." She unsuccessfully hides the nervousness in her laugh.

"We actually have something to tell you." Malcolm looks to her with reassurance. Both of them concurrently place their elbows on the table and slowly reach for the other's hand.

Jessica and Kilgrave could both effortlessly assume what was about to be said. And while Kilgrave was interested in how they would phrase it, Jessica was annoyed and bothered by the theatrics.

Therefore, before either of them even start, she rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I got it."

They both stop and Trish sighs, worried that this was a possibility. "You do?"

"I'm a P.I., Trish." Jessica snarls, shooting her gaze at Malcolm too.

Malcolm uneasily places both his hands back under the table. "How long have you known?"

"Since it started." Her voice raises ever so slightly. "It doesn't take a detective to figure it out anyway, anyone with eyes can see it. I'm not an idiot, I know when my best friend and my employee are fucking behind my back."

Trish sighs and leans back in her chair. Bothered by the term 'fucking' to describe what she saw as a budding relationship.

No one else gets a chance to say anything before the waiter appears with a bottle of wine and two glasses, promptly setting them down and pouring for the late-comers. "Your order will be out in a few minutes. Can I get you anything else right now?"

Seeing as nearly everyone else was processing what Jessica had just spit out, Kilgrave kindly speaks for the group. "No, I think we're good for now."

The moment the waiter leaves, Trish's expression almost saddens. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"Why would I? What purpose would that have served me?" Instinctively, Jessica reaches for her wine glass, wishing the waiter had filled it higher or left the bottle.

"I don't know, maybe you could take an interest in someone else's life for a change…" There was no way for Trish to say that without sounding bitter.

In an attempt to not let Jessica deter the rest of the evening, Kilgrave does exactly that and asks the couple across from him, "How long have you been together?"

"We just celebrated six months the other night actually." Malcolm answers, glad to have Kilgrave's input to shift the mood.

"Oh, well, congratulations to both of you." Seeing as Jessica had already started to down her drink, Kilgrave slightly lifts his glass as a small cheers to them.

Malcolm mutters a thank you and raises his glass as well. Trish does the same as she says, "Thank you. It means a lot, David."

There was a gentle but noticeable stress she put on his name, as it was meant as an intentional jab at Jessica. The three of them take a sip of alcohol as Jessica downs her first glass.

Starting the transition to a new topic, Trish takes a breath. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you because I hope we can both be more honest with each other in the future…"

To Jessica, Trish's tactic was less than subtle. This was all set up to get her to admit who Kilgrave was to her. Literally everyone at the table was waiting to hear about her relationship with him, especially him.

"Uh-huh," Jessica mutters, saying nothing more for the moment.

Luckily for her, the waiter returns to refill her glass and serve the food that had been ordered. Everyone divides the food into healthy portions for a four-way split. Jessica adds a bit more to her plate and digs in with the hopes that eating would excuse her from a large part of the conversation.

When they're alone again and all of them are eating, Trish directs a question to Kilgrave. "So, David. I know we talked a bit before, but what part of the UK are you from?"

Manchester was, of course, the truth, but he smoothly answers, "The London area." He goes on to add a few spontaneous lies to keep the conversation flowing, "I was raised there, but I've spent a lot of time traveling abroad in my adulthood."

"Really? Have you been to New York before?" Trish inquires, glancing at Jessica after a few more bites of food.

"A few years ago. That was the first time I ran into Jessica, actually. Isn't that right, darling?" Kilgrave turns his whole body to look at Jessica. He had already mentioned to Malcolm once that he and Jessica had a 'past', which meant that he had to have met Jessica some time ago for that to track.

While Kilgrave might have planned things to say or was just making this up off the top of his head, Jessica was obviously unprepared to play the improvisational game. Grinding the food between her teeth, she tries not to glare at him. "Yep."

"Let's see… where were we?" Kilgrave mutters as if trying to remember. This allows a pause in the conversation to give her a chance to elaborate. It was clear that if she didn't make something up herself, he was going to pull something out of his ass and she would have no choice but to go with it.

"I really don't wanna talk about this." Jessica cuts in, not looking at Kilgrave, though it was directed at him. His effortless ability to make up bullshit about his fake life bothered her and she didn't want to participate. The fact that Malcolm had come was unmistakably what had thrown her off. Before they left, she was adamant about controlling the flow of the conversation, but now she had practically shut off.

"Come on, Jess. It can't be that bad." Trish jumps in, desperate for the details.

"I'd like to hear it," Malcolm adds with a shrug, though he doesn't show too much enthusiasm as he was aware that making Jessica angry wasn't good for his job.

"I'm sure you won't mind if I tell them." Kilgrave nudges Jessica gently. He pauses again for a number of seconds to see if she would insist but he receives merely an eye roll. Turning back to the couple across from him, he smiles, "Great. So, she might have already had a few drinks, coming out of a convenience store with a bottle of whiskey. Anyway, she was going so fast that she ran straight into me and knocked me on my arse."

As Kilgrave stops to laugh, so does Trish, and Malcolm cracks a smile, as he comments, "That sounds like Jessica."

"I know," Kilgrave goes on. "When she hit me, she dropped her drink and the bottle broke. But either way, she stopped and helped me -"

"That's not what happened." Jessica automatically mumbles a complaint about the details of the story. She hated that she was being dragged into this, but she also didn't want to be the oblivious one in the story.

Since he was the only other one at the table who knew the whole thing was made up, Kilgrave is forced to stifle a laugh, biting his tongue to keep it inside. When he collects himself, he slowly replies, "I'm pretty sure it is…"

More invested than she should have been, she answers sternly, "You tripped and ran into me."

Kilgrave tilts his head and allows himself to smirk. "We obviously remember it differently."

"I guess we do." Having downed her second glass of wine, she reaches to her side and picks up Kilgrave's. He raises his eyebrow at her but doesn't protest and she doesn't hesitate to drink half of his glass as well.

Proceeding as normal despite the interruption, he goes on, "Whoever ran into who, the point is, I offered to buy her another drink after that… and then we spent the night together…-"

"Talking." Jessica quickly adds to the end of his sentence.

"Talking. Right." Kilgrave nearly purrs. "I wasn't planning on staying in New York for very long, so we didn't spend more than a few days together before we parted ways and I flew back home. I hadn't seen her in years until just a few weeks ago."

Knowing that this was where they needed to be careful, Jessica interrupts once again, directing most of what she says to Trish, "He ran into some trouble at home and needed to leave the country for a bit. He remembered I was a P.I. and thought he could use my assistance… so… I'm helping."

This genuinely seemed to surprise Trish, as she was expecting a different narrative. "Oh? You are her client?" The question was aimed towards Kilgrave and clearly showed that Trish had assumed Jessica was lying about him being a client, just to cover their relationship.

Kilgrave hesitates before stating as vaguely as possible, "Well… she certainly is helping me..." He glances at Jessica momentarily as he picks up his wine glass. With a distinct intention, he turns it so that the exact part she drank from sits against his lips. His tongue noticeably touches the top of the glass as he takes down what was left of the alcohol, grinning when he's done.

With a measurable level of frustration and almost disgust, she watches him do this and just like that, she blurts out, "We're fucking." It was undeniable that if she didn't say it now, he would have kept teasing it all night and for the weeks to come until the overtly sexual nature of their relationship was made known in one way or another. Trish practically knew by now anyway.

Malcolm stops with a fork halfway up to his mouth and Trish nearly chokes on a bite of food. She tries to mask her emotions by taking her time chewing and swallowing before she speaks.

It wasn't much of a surprise for Kilgrave, as his behavior didn't really give her a choice. He would have preferred it if she had said they were dating, and given the appropriate amount of weight and context to their relationship, seeing as they were in love with each other. But it was baby-steps with Jessica. Giving those two a moment to process that, he subconsciously licks his lips without missing a beat. "I am still her client too. I have a few things that I need her help to work out. But our relationship is… complicated."

There's still a long enough silence on the other end of the table for Jessica to clarify further. This was the best way for her to dictate the narrative. "No, it's not complicated. He came to me for help, I gave him a place to stay, and we occasionally have sex. Okay?"

"Wow, okay…" Trish attempts to play it off calmly but shrugging, though she seems to be practically bursting with questions. "Yeah…"

At this point, Malcolm appeared simply uncomfortable.

"Well, it's a bit more than just sex…" Looking across the table, Kilgrave tilts his head back and forth, then lowers his voice and speaks as if Jessica isn't present, "Jessica is a bit… hmm, how should I put this? … She's allergic to labels…"

"I can hear you." Bending her fork in her grip, she growls under her breath, "Asshole…"

Facing her again, Kilgrave smiles. "The point is, I'm willing to wait for you to admit that we're a couple." That statement was as truthful as he had been all night.

*****IT'S A DATE*****

It wasn't an easy subject to move past, but eventually, they managed to have a more regular conversation. Trish would have inquired more about the nature of their relationship, but she figured that getting either one of them alone later on would yield more results than questioning them both in front of Malcolm. Instead, she asked more standardized questions directed towards Kilgrave and his life. That included him talking about his 'life' in London and how he used to be a P.I. as well, even though he wasn't nearly as skilled as Jessica. By this point, Jessica had practically given up on regulating what he said. Instead, she managed to drink more alcohol than the three of them combined, though it wasn't a surprise to anyone.

Jessica was mostly silent by the time everyone was saying their goodbyes. She remained that way for the car ride back to her apartment with Kilgrave, despite his constant teasing and boasting about how well the evening went.

The first time Jessica opens her mouth again is when Penny greets her as she comes in the door. "Hey. How'd it go?" She huffs, quietly, well aware that Axel should be in bed at this hour.

Keeping her tone just as low, the babysitter responds with a smile, "I got him in bed about an hour ago. He really didn't want to sleep before you got home to tuck him in, but I read him a few stories and he was out like a light."

"Thank you." Jessica says, trying to force her exhausted features to resemble a smile.

"Of course." She beams back. As she picks up her purse from a chair, she says. "I hope you two had a good night out."

"We did." Kilgrave answers. This earns him a stern glare from Jessica, to which he grins, then moves to sit on the sofa.

"I'm glad to hear it." Pulling her purse strap over her shoulder, she heads to the door. "Well, I'll be off. Just call whenever you need me."

"Sure… and Penny?" Jessica stops her right before she leaves, "Next time, don't confirm anything without talking to me first."

A little embarrassed, Penny blushes and nods. "Right. It won't happen again…" Keeping her head down a little, she trots to the elevator.

After closing the front door, Jessica makes her way to Axel's room to check on him. As Penny said, he was fast asleep. She gives him a kiss on the forehead and whispers an "I love you," before gently closing his door again. Her gaze falls on Kilgrave as they were alone now. "How good is your memory?" Is the first thing she says to him. Her voice remains relatively quiet.

His head tilts. "My memory?"

"Yep." She nods and then waits for some type of answer, as if he was going to get her meaning right away. When all she gets back is a shrug, she scowls. "You realize that everything you said to them tonight is the rest of your life now, right?" His hesitation as he absorbs this causes her to shake her head and sit down behind her desk. Her head falls against the wood and she groans. "You and I both need to remember every detail of bullshit you said."

Kilgrave furrows his eyebrows. "This is what you're upset about?"

"Of course it is." She growls for a moment, lifting her head. "Do you know how shitty it's going to be if you contradict yourself in front of them? Or if I say something that doesn't match the past you made up? How goddamn suspicious is that going to look?" Her eyes turn to Axel's door, reminding herself not to raise her voice. Instead, she takes a long, slow breath. In spite of this, her heart was starting to race. "And your mannerisms, Kilgrave. Your fucking mannerisms. You erased your voice and your appearance but you can't… you can't be yourself in front of them. You can't act like you."

His playfulness finally seems to diminish and he follows her lead by taking a breath. "You can't honestly believe they could recognize me from simply the way I behave."

"You're right. It would take an incredible leap for them to think that you are Kilgrave. But… I don't want Trish believing that I'm sleeping with a replica of you…" This wasn't Jessica being angry. This was her being anxious. "The most vivid thing she does remember about you is that you fucking tormented and kidnapped me." Her laugh is deflated as if she couldn't believe the point she was at in her life. "And the moment she recognizes your behavior, she's gonna be even more concerned about me than she already is."

It was like a switch had been flipped for Kilgrave and he was only just now realizing the gravity of this persona that he had created. And the trigger was Jessica's obvious anxiety. "Right…" He mumbles, running his hand through his hair briefly. "Well if it becomes an issue, I can just erase that part of me from her memory too…"

"No, no you can't." Squeezing her eyes shut does nothing to alleviate the headache she's getting. "You've done enough memory-erasing. Coming from someone who's experienced it. You've done enough." Her eyes open to look at him, being as sincere as possible. "Can you just… please just try to think before you make things up? And try to act a little more when you're around them…" She's in no mood to lecture or argue, so she ends by saying, "I'd appreciate it."

"Sure." Kilgrave says softly, followed by a sigh. It was near impossible not to feel some level of guilt for taking everything as lightly as he did over dinner. Standing up from the sofa, he walks over to her and sits on the edge of the desk. His way of apologizing was by brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. "I'll try harder." He breathes, thankful that she didn't pull away from him.

"Thanks." She mutters, and though she doesn't lean into him, her eyelids flutter.

After a beat of silence, he takes his hand away and slowly asks, "Should I leave you the bed tonight?"

She rolls her eyes but the gesture wasn't lost on her, causing her to crack a smile. "Whatever…" Standing up, she moves around him to the bedroom, where she waits for him to follow before closing the door.


Author's note:

COVID-19/coronavirus has caused a lot to change in the last few months. Quarantine is not fun. So I hope this chapter helped you take your mind off things for a while. Writing it certainly helped me. I literally always say I wanna write more, but I seriously want to try to put out more chapters than I have so far this year. Until then, if you get bored stuck at home, Purple Kisses is always a great re-read ;)

You certainly don't need a health and safety lecture from me... but from me to you, anyone reading this, I care about you :) Please take care of yourselves and stay healthy. If you wanna chat, about anything, my Discord account is: Vale Luna#6531

See ya soon,

Vale Luna