I apologise for this being over a week late, but I've had a lot of personal stuff going on and haven't had a whole lot of time to write. Pair that with a wicked case of writer's block and you have my excuse.
This is a little different than what I intended the chapter to be, but anyway.
Next chapter may also be a little late.
Xoxo
Jessa limped from the elevator, leaning heavily on the cane in her right hand. She may have been discharged from the hospital but her leg still wasn't completely healed from the surgeries. She hated to feel as if she was relying on something as much as she was the cane to walk, but not even her stubbornness could deny that she needed it. She limped up the hallway toward her boss' office, almost running into him as he walked out.
"Jessa?" A small smile settled on his face, "What are you doing here? When did you get discharged?" His eyes moved to the cane she leant on, "How are you feeling?"
"Hey." She started, supressing a chuckle at the rate that he threw the questions at her, "I'm fine, feeling pretty good, actually. They let me out just now, and I need to work." She answered in reverse order.
"How did you get here? You didn't drive did you?"
"Dean dropped me off."
"Oh, good."
"Can I work?"
Hotch laughed, and looked away, "Not a chance."
"Please?" She pulled a pouty face, and tried her best to replicate Sam's puppy dog eyes.
"Jessa, you've just been discharged from the hospital after spending more than two months recovering from a major accident."
"Yeah, two months. I'm recovered."
He shook his head, "Go home." He turned and continued walking down the hall.
Jessa struggled to catch up, before stopping when she got to the top of the stairs and he was halfway down. "Hotch, can you please stop walking?" She asked him, clearly frustrated.
Hotch was back at the top of the stairs in a heartbeat, his hand resting gently on hers. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head, "No." She whispered, fighting back tears of frustration. "No."
"Come on." He led her back to his office and sat her down on the leather couch against the far wall. "Are you okay?" He asked again, kneeling down in front of her and taking her hands in his.
"I'm not okay." She looked away from his gaze, "I'm not okay." She repeated, this time letting a tear fall from her eyes.
"Hey," Hotch reached up and wiped the tear away, and Jessa involuntarily leaned into his touch. "Come on, I'll take you home."
"No." Jessa shook her head.
"Do you want me to call Dean? He can take you home."
Again, she shook her head. "That's not it."
"Then what is it?" He put a hand under her chin and forced her to look at him, "Tell me."
"I can't." She reached for the cane that was resting next to her, "No, you're right, I should go."
"Jessa." He reached out and grabbed her hand, "Are you sure you're okay?"
She nodded and squeezed his hand, "I will be."
When she got back to the elevator, Jessa pressed her forehead against the cool metal wall and groaned. This wasn't part of the plan. She hadn't meant to lose control like that. She was just going to convince Hotch to put her to work but instead she ended up crying in front of him—and not for the first time.
When the doors opened she limped out and was about to call Dean to come pick her up when she spied the truck. She made her way towards it, and awkwardly climbed into the passenger side.
"You're still here?" She asked.
"Told you he would send you away." Jessa just glared at him—she didn't like it when he right. "Come on, let's get to the motel."
"I've got a better idea." She reached into the back and pulled out a newspaper.
"Newspaper?" Dean asked, not seeing the connection.
Jessa grinned and flicked through to the appropriate section and indicated a few circled ads.
"Houses?" He looked at them questioningly.
"I can't keep living in motels."
"So you're gonna buy a house?"
Jessa shrugged, "Why not."
"Alright." Dean fired up the engine and pulled onto the road, Jessa directing him to where he needed to go.
It wasn't a long drive to Alexandria, but Jessa managed to snag appointments with the realtors to show her two of the houses.
The first was a large three-bedroom bungalow, with light coloured bricks and an impressive front garden. The long drive led into a single car garage that stood separate from the house. Dean looked a little impressed as the realtor led them through, showing off features but Jessa wasn't convinced. When the tour was over, she politely thanked the realtor and made her way back to the truck with Dean.
"That was nice." He commented as they drove the few streets to to next one.
"Yeah."
"You don't think so?"
She shrugged, "I want to look at them all before I form an opinion."
"Geez, J." Dean scoffed, "When did you become so picky?"
Jessa swatted him with the paper, "Shut up."
Dean pulled to a stop outside a large two storey brick home with a 'for sale' sign out front.
"See, I already like this one better."
"I thought you weren't forming an opinion?" Her twin teased.
Jessa just rolled her eyes and climbed from the truck. The pair were barely through the wrought iron gate when a balding man came barrelling out of the house, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"You must be Miss Winchester!" He grabbed her hand and shook it enthusiastically. "I'm Glenn."
"Uh, yeah." She was a little taken aback by his fervour. "This is my brother, Dean."
"How very lovely to meet you." He shook Dean's hand with every ounce of enthusiasm as he had Jessa's. "Let's show you the house, shall we?" He led them up the short walk—that was lined with some kind of colourful flower that Jessa couldn't identify—and through the heavy wooden door into a very impressive foyer. The floor was covered in large black tiles and a large pendant light hung over their heads. The realtor led them through to the open kitchen and dining room into the sunken lounge room. The far wall was exposed brick, and the rest of the room was painted a soft beige. An open fireplace adorned the wall opposite the floor to ceiling windows. Jessa tried not to look as impressed as she felt as they moved up the stairs.
"You alright, J?" Dean asked. He and Glenn had made it to the top and she was barely a third of the way up.
"Just give me a minute." She had yet to navigate stairs after her accident, and her leg was throbbing.
"You need a hand?"
"I can get it!" She hadn't meant to snap, but the pain combined with her frustration made her temper short. "Sorry." She apologised, "Just give me a minute."
It took her a while, but she made it to the top and they continued the tour. In addition to the main bathroom downstairs, the house had two more upstairs—one in the master bedroom, and another adjoining the other two bedrooms. The rooms themselves were spacious, and two of them had views of the backyard, which was large for suburbia.
"You really see yourself living in a place like this?" Dean asked when they were once again back in the truck.
Jessa nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. "It's time I grew up. I can't keep living like I need to pack up at a moment's notice. I'm building a life here—I have a job, friends…" She trailed off.
"You see yourself with a family?" Dean's tone wasn't judgemental like Jessa would have thought, it was almost envious.
"Maybe one day." She answered her brother truthfully. "But right now, I just want that house."
"You've still got like four to see."
"I know, but I couldn't get appointments until tomorrow. And I really love that one."
"Do you think your boss will?" He smirked, swatting her teasingly.
"Hotch? What's he got to do with me buying a house?"
"Oh, come on! The guy barely left the hospital the whole time you were in there! Obviously he likes you."
"Obviously he's married. Besides, he's my boss. I'm not going there."
"Whatever." He didn't sound convinced, but dropped it anyway.
It was a couple of days before Glenn called Jessa to tell her that the owners had excepted her offer and the house was hers as soon as she could come in and sign the paperwork. Sam was still away on a case so Dean drove her to the real estate office in the truck. It didn't take long for the relevant paperwork to be signed and for Glenn to be handing her over the keys to her very own home.
A week later, when Sam returned, they started moving her things from storage into the house. Mostly it was just a matter of dumping boxes in the appropriate rooms, and putting the larger furniture where it belonged. Jessa held the position of supervisor—occasionally helping out with the smaller things—because her leg hindered her from doing most of it. The boys shifted her bed into the office just off the kitchen because Dean knew how much she struggled with the stairs.
"Place looks good." Sam commented, throwing himself down on the couch when the last load from the truck was done.
Jessa couldn't help but laugh. The place looked like a construction site, with boxes and things lying around everywhere. It would take some time to get it in proper order. "My dining set is too small. It fit well in the unit, but here it's too small."
"What do you care?" Dean asked, dropping a beer in her lap, "You're always working anyway."
"I guess that's true."
"I should probably mention that Ellen called me the other day." Sam told his big sister, "I think she wants to come see you now that you're out of the hospital."
Jessa made a sarcastic thumbs up and continued to sip on her beer.
"Well," Sam continued, "She kinda called again when I got back and I may have sent her your new address."
"You what?" She sat up straighter, "Sam, the place is a mess!"
"Relax, J. Ellen won't care." Dean told her calmly, "Will she?"
"She'll want to clean. And put things away. And yes, Dean, she will care."
"Anyway," Sam went on, "The reason I mention all this now is because her truck just pulled up out the front."
"I'm going to kill you, baby brother." She glared at him as she used the cane to hoist herself to her feet. "Next time, warn me."
Jessa limped to the front door and had it open as Ellen and Jo walked through the gate.
"Hey, honey." Ellen greeted her, "Nice place." She wrapped Jessa in a hug, "How're you feeling?"
"Great." Jessa held back the sarcasm in her response. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We thought we'd come see you now that you are out of the hospital."
"She was worried about you." Jo corrected, hugging her 'sister'. "What's with the kickass cane?"
"My leg's still on the mend. I'll be fine in a few weeks."
"How do you navigate the stairs with that thing?" Ellen asked, stepping around her and into the house.
"I don't." She followed her inside, "I've set up my room in the office for now."
"This place is a bit of a mess. Let's get some of these boxes put away." Ellen walked into the lounge room and started fussing with some of the boxes.
"Ellen, just leave it for now. It's late and we've been working all day, I'll deal with it tomorrow."
"No time like the present."
"No, Ellen, please just leave it." Jessa flopped back down into the armchair she occupied before their arrival. "There's beer in the cooler in the kitchen."
Ellen sighed but stopped and sat down on the couch by Sam. Jo smiled and went and retrieved two beers, handing one to her mother.
"This is a nice house, Jessa." Jo said after a short silence, "Who would have thought, huh? You owning a house."
Jessa chuckled, "I'm as shocked as you are, Jo."
Jessa woke up to the sounds of clanging and slamming cupboards coming from the kitchen. Slowly she climbed from the bed to investigate, momentarily forgetting about her leg and putting her full weight on it.
"For f—Ugh!" She cursed, falling back on to the bed. After a few minutes the pain subsided and she grabbed the cane and made her way into the kitchen to find Ellen sorting things into cupboards.
"Morning." Ellen greeted with a grin.
"I made coffee." She pointed the the far counter where there was a brand new machine sitting.
"Where's my old machine?"
"I got you a new one."
"Thanks." Jessa spoke it almost like a question as she started hunting through newly stocked cupboards for a mug.
"Above the stove." Ellen told her without looking.
Jessa opened the cupboard and found her favourite chipped and old mug. "Ellen, I don't own this much kitchen stuff."
"I went out and got some. I don't know how you survived without a set of pots and pans."
"You know I don't cook, right?"
"It's time you learned, honey."
"How did you get in, anyway?" She asked, taking a big sip of coffee.
"The boys let me in earlier." Her brothers had slept on the couch, while Ellen and Jo opted for a motel.
"Where is everyone else?"
"I sent them to the shops. You need to stock this place."
Jessa rolled her eyes, "Ellen, I do appreciate your help—really—but I can handle this."
"I know, honey, but I want to help. It's what mothers are for."
Jessa stepped forward and hugged her. "When did you find time for all this shopping this morning?"
Ellen gave her a disbelieving look, "It's noon, Jessa."
"Noon? This is what happens when I don't have to work." She downed the remainder of her coffee. "I need a shower."
She started down the hallway and Ellen called out, "Towels are in the big cupboard in the laundry."
When Jessa shut the water off after her shower, she could hear voices and a quiet yapping sound. As quick as she could, she dried off and threw back on the T-shirt and sweats she had slept in and ventured into the kitchen to find her brothers and Jo chatting enthusiastically with Ellen. There was a pile of groceries on the island bench, as well as a plush mat peaking out from behind it.
"What's going on?"
"Well," Jo started, but she was interrupted by a small dog rushing around the corner and stopping at Jessa's feet. The puppy looked at her and tilted it's head as if it were asking a question, before yapping and jumping at her legs. "We kind of got you a housewarming gift."
"Jo got you a housewarming gift." Dean corrected, denying any involvement in the plan, "Sam and I had nothing to do with it."
"You got me a dog?"
"Yeah!" Jo slid off her chair and scooped the puppy into her arms. He was an adorable tan and black thing with big floppy ears that were slightly too big for him. "We adopted her for you. Well, really you adopted her. I kinda forged your signature."
"You—" Jessa was about to get mad but instead just shook her head, "You got me a dog?"
"Yep." Jo was grinning, clearly impressed with her idea of a gift, "What are you going to name her?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, she's yours. So, what are you going to name her?"
Jessa sighed. She didn't want to tell her sister that a dog was the most impractical gift for someone that was rarely home. Right now, she could barely walk and she had no idea how the dog was going to get the appropriate amount of exercise. Maybe she would hire a dog walker.
"Well?" Jo pressed, "have you thought of a name?"
"What about Fido?" Dean offered, earning himself a hard glare from Jo.
"Why do I need to name it?"
"That's the point of it, Jessa. Come on." Jo pleaded with her.
"I don't know, Jo. I don't need to name it right away." She walked through the kitchen and into her room to slip into some proper clothes.
When she was dressed she threw her hair into a braid and walked back into the kitchen. She glanced into the yard to see Jo playing with the puppy. Suddenly Jessa was greatful that she had purchased a house with a decent sized yard—that German Shepherd wouldn't stay so small forever.
"You like the dog?" Ellen asked her with a small smirk. "We all tried to tell her it wasn't a good idea, but she insisted."
"No, I like it." Jessa smiled, "it won't hurt me to have a reason to come home."
"Are you ever going to pick a name?"
"When I find the right one."
Ellen smiled and turned back to the mess in the kitchen. "Now, you have to help me finish sorting all this stuff out."
"Tell me where you need me."
So, I couldn't resist giving Jessa a dog after what she and Dean spoke about earlier in the chapter. Yay. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and once again, i'm sorry it's late.
Xoxo
