"No Place Like It"
------------------------
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I'm just borrowing
them for a short period of time.
Show: Once and Again
Pairing: Jessie/Katie
Rating: PG
Author: Janine
Synopsis: Sequel to "About a Girl"
Email: jbslayer27@yahoo.com
===========================================================================
Part 4
---------
"Well?" Katie asked expectantly, resting her elbows on the table and leaning forward.
"Ok, it's the best goddamn margarita I've ever tasted," Jessie responded as she set the glass back down on the table. "Are you happy now?" she asked looking down at her hands as she played with the little umbrella.
"Actually I am," Katie replied leaning against the back of the booth. "So 'Fox and Hayworth' that's pretty impressive," she continued watching as Jessie licked the side of her glass and took another sip, thinking that it was perhaps the luckiest glass in the entire history of mankind.
Jessie looked over at her and smiled. 'Fox and Hayworth' was a law firm that had been run by relative nobody's when she had graduated from high school, but was on it's way to becoming one of the most prestigious law firms in the state by the time she graduated from Law school. It still actually amazed her that she had actually been brought on with the insane competition that she had been up against, but she'd done well by the firm since being hired and she finally just accepted that one of the partners must have seen something in her that she hadn't known was there.
"Being represented by 'Fox and Hayworth' is pretty impressive," was how she responded however.
"I know Fox," Katie replied running a hand through her hair, smiling slightly at the thought.
"Dillon?" Jessie asked, wondering how Katie would've met the other woman. Dillon was owner Nathan Fox's daughter, tall, and beautiful with smooth skin that had been kissed by the sun. She'd met Dillon for the first time in the waiting room when she was waiting for her interview. The woman had been sprawled across three chairs lounging like a goddess and must have felt Jessie's eyes on her because she looked over at her and smiled. They'd talked until Jessie was called into the interview room, and since that day they'd seen each other socially on occasion, whether they were dates or not Jessie wasn't sure, and didn't really care. Still, she almost feared finding out how well Dillon and Katie knew each other, especially since she was aware that the firm was handling the case pro-bono, so it was obviously a favor.
"Yeah," Katie replied trying to decipher Jessie's expression and failing miserably. "She's a fan," she continued absently wondering if Jessie knew, as opposed to knew of, Dillon.
Jessie quirked a surprised eyebrow at her wondering what kind of description that was.
"Of my work," Katie continued seeing Jessie's look. "My art work," she clarified realizing what the other woman must have been thinking. "She was at my show in Madrid sometime last century," she went on feeling the need to assure Jessie that nothing had gone on between her and Dillon. The last thing that she needed what Jessie thinking that she'd slept with her boss's daughter. "We hung out together for a few days after she introduced herself. Somehow her dad's business had come up, so when I suddenly found myself in need of a lawyer I decided to give her a call."
"You must have made quite an impression," Jessie replied taking another sip from her drink as she watched Katie play with her empty glass. "I usually go for a minimum of $150 an hour."
"I guess so," Katie replied watching Jessie closely. "It's a good thing I'm so charming then, because I never would've been able to afford you," she went on lightly.
Jessie looked over at her suddenly and grinned. "I couldn't afford me," she muttered shaking her head amusedly. "So you had a show in Madrid?"
"Last century," Katie confirmed, causing Jessie to look at her inquisitively. "'06, seems like last century. Lucky for me Dillon's a jet setter or else we may never have had the opportunity to meet again," she went on seriously.
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked curiously. There was something behind Katie's eyes as she spoke, a story that she wanted to hear, that she had missed out on hearing years ago.
"The Madrid show was my last," Katie said leaning back, her fingers drumming on the tabletop. "You never did get to see one did you?" she asked thinking back, trying to remember if they had still been together for her first show. She didn't think they had.
"No," Jessie replied, her gaze wondering around the restaurant.
"Yeah, that's right," Katie responded as she remembered. Jessie had been her inspiration for the work that was displayed for her first show, her motivating impetus. But by the time everything had been arranged and the work was actually to be put on display, she and Jessie had became a 'was'.
"Maybe next time," Jessie offered, her eyes back on Katie watching her shadowed expression. Katie was always so beautiful when she was serious, when she was lost in thought, but it was a sad beauty and while Jessie had always loved to look at her when she was like that, she'd also wished to never see it each and every time.
Katie laughed softly, her eyes drifting up to catch Jessie's. "There's no next time. I'm a two hit wonder," she said softly. "And I learned from the pop explosion of our youth, that it's better to retire on top."
"You don't paint anymore?" Jessie asked surprised, stunned really. Next to herself, painting had been Katie's one real passion in high school, and the idea that she didn't do it anymore saddened her more than she knew how to express.
"No, not a lot," Katie admitted. "Not for show."
"Why?" Jessie pressed, knowing from Katie's brief replies that she'd rather have shifted the topic to something else, but knowing that whatever it was Katie wasn't saying was important simply because she didn't want to say it.
"I guess I ran out of things to say," Katie said flatly as she raised her arm to call the waiter over.
"I find that hard to believe," Jessie said as the waiter picked up Katie's empty glasses and headed back to the bar. "I've never met anybody with more to say … except for Grace."
Katie looked over, smirking at the mention of Jessie's stepsister. She considered answering the other part of Jessie's statement, but decided against it. This wasn't something that she wanted to get into tonight, it wasn't really something that was worth getting into at all.
"How is Grace?" she hedged, her left hand back to playing with the ring on her right.
"Extremely pregnant," Jessie replied smiling at the memory of her stepsister waddling into the room a week ago. "She was wearing red and I made the mistake of going 'hey hey Kool-Aid'. She was not amused. She was however, surprisingly spry."
"Hey, hey Kool-Aid?" Katie asked breaking out laughing as an image of the Kool-Aid man with Grace's head attached to the top of his body appeared in her head. "What were you thinking? Pregnant women are insane, it's common knowledge that the hormones induce serious psychotic tendencies in addition to glowing."
"Tell me about it," Jessie said rubbing her arm unconsciously. It was not a mistake she was going to make again.
"When Jason's wife was pregnant, I commented on her muumuu and she kicked me. It left a scare, and I'm not just talking emotionally," Katie replied shaking her head at the memory.
Jessie knew from conversations they'd had in high school that Jason was Katie's second oldest brother. She had three of them, all older than her, but Jessie hadn't gotten a chance to know them as well as Katie knew Grace, Eli and Zoë, because they had all moved out in some form another by the time they'd started going out.
"So, ah, how did that happen anyway?" Katie asked as the waiter dumped a Mexican Mudslide in front of her before scurrying off once more.
"Surely you don't need a diagram?" Jessie replied, knowing that's not what Katie was talking about, but wanting to bother her nonetheless.
"No," Katie said playing with her straw. "I may not be familiar with the specifics myself, but I have HBO," she continued smiling over at Jessie. "I meant Grace and Eli."
"Nobody knows, time?" Jessie replied shaking her head thinking about her brother and stepsisters relationship. "Before the whole Dimitri drama she'd been flirting with him, usually with me sitting in between them getting new material for therapy," Jessie added darkly. "But once Dimitri left, I didn't really notice anything going on between them anymore. Though I was distracted at the time, so maybe that's not saying much," she continued sharing a soft look with Katie before continuing. "I'm convinced it happened when they decided to live together after Grace's second year, to ah, save on costs," Jessie said winking.
"That's wild," Katie replied shaking her head. "I couldn't believe it when Tad told me. Ever the jackass, he called me up yelling 'Grace Manning is doing her brother'. I nearly passed out … of course that was because as a result of the static I heard had 'mother'," she went on raising her straw to her lips, lowering the drink to avoid choking when she started to laugh at the face Jessie made.
"Mind boggling as it may be, I think they've turned out to be good for each other," Jessie replied, choosing not to dwell on Katie's last statement. That was just not a place she wanted to go, even in jest.
"Hmmm," Katie replied thoughtfully. "Never can tell with love."
"So are you going to tell me or not," Jessie asked wanting to keep their conversation as far away from discussions of love as possible.
"Tell you what?" Katie asked thoroughly confused.
"Why you stopped painting?" Jessie replied, placing her little umbrella into her now empty glass.
"Some peoples stars are only meant to burn temporarily," Katie responded with a sigh, leaning against the back of the booth wearily. "I stopped being able to do what I had done before, and I chose to have what I had accomplished when I was able to do it remembered instead of dying a slow, critically panned death," she continued. Her first show had been hailed in Europe for the intensity of the emotion that lay behind every stroke, in conjunction with the innocence the works exuded, sometimes playful, sometimes heartbreakingly raw, and sometimes hauntingly pure. And the Madrid show had been hailed for the intensity of emotion too, only this time the critics had been impressed with the darkness and desperation of the works. The heartbreaking bitterness and desolation of it had drawn them in and captivated them with its scarred beauty. It came from a place of pure, unadulterated pain and the contrast between the two shows had given her a reputation of being complex and enigmatic, her consequent retirement only adding to it. In the art world she became pitied and revered.
"That's … perfectly reasonable," Jessie said in response, knowing that there was more to it than that, but deciding to leave Katie in peace for the moment. Whatever it was the other woman was thinking she didn't want Jessie to know, and Jessie would respect that because there were certain things she knew that she wouldn't want to tell Katie about herself yet either.
"Karen must be happy," Katie commented a few minutes later, once the silence they had lapsed into began to become oppressive. "To have her little girl following in her footsteps," she continued trailing her finger down the side of her glass restlessly.
"She says I should have become a teacher," Jessie replied smiling at the memory of her mother's reaction to the news that she wanted to go to law school. "She said she hated the thought of me becoming horribly dry and boring like everyone that she worked with."
"I miss your mom," Katie responded smiling softly at Jessie's response. She could picture Karen saying that, could almost see the teasing smile on her face.
"Is there anybody you don't miss?" Jessie asked, smiling at Katie as she asked to let the other woman know she was only joking around.
"Sarah," Katie responded seriously, earning a grin from Jessie. "And every guy on the football, basketball and baseball team who made a comment about your ass."
"I thought you were still friends with Tad," Jessie commented teasingly.
"Yes, but I accepted the fact that he was an obtuse idiot sometime in third grade, so I can't really complain about him with a clear conscious," Katie replied blinking rapidly, before bringing a hand up to rub at her eyes tiredly.
"I think that's our cue for the check," Jessie commented watching Katie and fighting back the urge to follow her lead by distracting herself with waving for the waiter. Glancing at her watch she saw that they had been there for over three hours, even though it felt as if they had just arrived.
Katie opened her mouth as if to protest, but then closed it again realizing Jessie was right. "Thank god one of us has a voice that's at least partly composed of reason," she said finally, snatching the bill away from Jessie who had reached out to look at it.
"You know I didn't come here tonight to scam free drinks," Jessie commented upon having the bill ripped out of her hands.
"Why did you come here tonight?" Katie asked curiously as she reached into her purse. She spewed out her reasons for wanting to come hours ago, but Jessie had remained quiet on the subject.
"Because I missed you too," Jessie responded simply.
Katie looked up at her and smiled. "Are you going to give me the number for your phone, or do I really have to talk to your secretary?" she asked as the waiter picked up the bill and they stood to leave.
"Thanks for the … lovely evening," Jessie said heading towards the door. "And please, drive carefully."
"I'll give you a ride, a careful ride," Katie replied, placing her feet together and touching her nose with the tip of her finger.
"Maybe some other time," Jessie responded not quiet ready to deal with having to deal with Katie at her doorstep. "I'll call you tomorrow."
And with that Katie watched Jessie disappear through the clear doorway then reached down for her keys, a lazy smile spreading across her face. The day had turned out better than she had expected, and the rest of the week wasn't looking so bad either.
TBC…
Comments always welcome! Jbslayer27@yahoo.com
------------------------
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I'm just borrowing
them for a short period of time.
Show: Once and Again
Pairing: Jessie/Katie
Rating: PG
Author: Janine
Synopsis: Sequel to "About a Girl"
Email: jbslayer27@yahoo.com
===========================================================================
Part 4
---------
"Well?" Katie asked expectantly, resting her elbows on the table and leaning forward.
"Ok, it's the best goddamn margarita I've ever tasted," Jessie responded as she set the glass back down on the table. "Are you happy now?" she asked looking down at her hands as she played with the little umbrella.
"Actually I am," Katie replied leaning against the back of the booth. "So 'Fox and Hayworth' that's pretty impressive," she continued watching as Jessie licked the side of her glass and took another sip, thinking that it was perhaps the luckiest glass in the entire history of mankind.
Jessie looked over at her and smiled. 'Fox and Hayworth' was a law firm that had been run by relative nobody's when she had graduated from high school, but was on it's way to becoming one of the most prestigious law firms in the state by the time she graduated from Law school. It still actually amazed her that she had actually been brought on with the insane competition that she had been up against, but she'd done well by the firm since being hired and she finally just accepted that one of the partners must have seen something in her that she hadn't known was there.
"Being represented by 'Fox and Hayworth' is pretty impressive," was how she responded however.
"I know Fox," Katie replied running a hand through her hair, smiling slightly at the thought.
"Dillon?" Jessie asked, wondering how Katie would've met the other woman. Dillon was owner Nathan Fox's daughter, tall, and beautiful with smooth skin that had been kissed by the sun. She'd met Dillon for the first time in the waiting room when she was waiting for her interview. The woman had been sprawled across three chairs lounging like a goddess and must have felt Jessie's eyes on her because she looked over at her and smiled. They'd talked until Jessie was called into the interview room, and since that day they'd seen each other socially on occasion, whether they were dates or not Jessie wasn't sure, and didn't really care. Still, she almost feared finding out how well Dillon and Katie knew each other, especially since she was aware that the firm was handling the case pro-bono, so it was obviously a favor.
"Yeah," Katie replied trying to decipher Jessie's expression and failing miserably. "She's a fan," she continued absently wondering if Jessie knew, as opposed to knew of, Dillon.
Jessie quirked a surprised eyebrow at her wondering what kind of description that was.
"Of my work," Katie continued seeing Jessie's look. "My art work," she clarified realizing what the other woman must have been thinking. "She was at my show in Madrid sometime last century," she went on feeling the need to assure Jessie that nothing had gone on between her and Dillon. The last thing that she needed what Jessie thinking that she'd slept with her boss's daughter. "We hung out together for a few days after she introduced herself. Somehow her dad's business had come up, so when I suddenly found myself in need of a lawyer I decided to give her a call."
"You must have made quite an impression," Jessie replied taking another sip from her drink as she watched Katie play with her empty glass. "I usually go for a minimum of $150 an hour."
"I guess so," Katie replied watching Jessie closely. "It's a good thing I'm so charming then, because I never would've been able to afford you," she went on lightly.
Jessie looked over at her suddenly and grinned. "I couldn't afford me," she muttered shaking her head amusedly. "So you had a show in Madrid?"
"Last century," Katie confirmed, causing Jessie to look at her inquisitively. "'06, seems like last century. Lucky for me Dillon's a jet setter or else we may never have had the opportunity to meet again," she went on seriously.
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked curiously. There was something behind Katie's eyes as she spoke, a story that she wanted to hear, that she had missed out on hearing years ago.
"The Madrid show was my last," Katie said leaning back, her fingers drumming on the tabletop. "You never did get to see one did you?" she asked thinking back, trying to remember if they had still been together for her first show. She didn't think they had.
"No," Jessie replied, her gaze wondering around the restaurant.
"Yeah, that's right," Katie responded as she remembered. Jessie had been her inspiration for the work that was displayed for her first show, her motivating impetus. But by the time everything had been arranged and the work was actually to be put on display, she and Jessie had became a 'was'.
"Maybe next time," Jessie offered, her eyes back on Katie watching her shadowed expression. Katie was always so beautiful when she was serious, when she was lost in thought, but it was a sad beauty and while Jessie had always loved to look at her when she was like that, she'd also wished to never see it each and every time.
Katie laughed softly, her eyes drifting up to catch Jessie's. "There's no next time. I'm a two hit wonder," she said softly. "And I learned from the pop explosion of our youth, that it's better to retire on top."
"You don't paint anymore?" Jessie asked surprised, stunned really. Next to herself, painting had been Katie's one real passion in high school, and the idea that she didn't do it anymore saddened her more than she knew how to express.
"No, not a lot," Katie admitted. "Not for show."
"Why?" Jessie pressed, knowing from Katie's brief replies that she'd rather have shifted the topic to something else, but knowing that whatever it was Katie wasn't saying was important simply because she didn't want to say it.
"I guess I ran out of things to say," Katie said flatly as she raised her arm to call the waiter over.
"I find that hard to believe," Jessie said as the waiter picked up Katie's empty glasses and headed back to the bar. "I've never met anybody with more to say … except for Grace."
Katie looked over, smirking at the mention of Jessie's stepsister. She considered answering the other part of Jessie's statement, but decided against it. This wasn't something that she wanted to get into tonight, it wasn't really something that was worth getting into at all.
"How is Grace?" she hedged, her left hand back to playing with the ring on her right.
"Extremely pregnant," Jessie replied smiling at the memory of her stepsister waddling into the room a week ago. "She was wearing red and I made the mistake of going 'hey hey Kool-Aid'. She was not amused. She was however, surprisingly spry."
"Hey, hey Kool-Aid?" Katie asked breaking out laughing as an image of the Kool-Aid man with Grace's head attached to the top of his body appeared in her head. "What were you thinking? Pregnant women are insane, it's common knowledge that the hormones induce serious psychotic tendencies in addition to glowing."
"Tell me about it," Jessie said rubbing her arm unconsciously. It was not a mistake she was going to make again.
"When Jason's wife was pregnant, I commented on her muumuu and she kicked me. It left a scare, and I'm not just talking emotionally," Katie replied shaking her head at the memory.
Jessie knew from conversations they'd had in high school that Jason was Katie's second oldest brother. She had three of them, all older than her, but Jessie hadn't gotten a chance to know them as well as Katie knew Grace, Eli and Zoë, because they had all moved out in some form another by the time they'd started going out.
"So, ah, how did that happen anyway?" Katie asked as the waiter dumped a Mexican Mudslide in front of her before scurrying off once more.
"Surely you don't need a diagram?" Jessie replied, knowing that's not what Katie was talking about, but wanting to bother her nonetheless.
"No," Katie said playing with her straw. "I may not be familiar with the specifics myself, but I have HBO," she continued smiling over at Jessie. "I meant Grace and Eli."
"Nobody knows, time?" Jessie replied shaking her head thinking about her brother and stepsisters relationship. "Before the whole Dimitri drama she'd been flirting with him, usually with me sitting in between them getting new material for therapy," Jessie added darkly. "But once Dimitri left, I didn't really notice anything going on between them anymore. Though I was distracted at the time, so maybe that's not saying much," she continued sharing a soft look with Katie before continuing. "I'm convinced it happened when they decided to live together after Grace's second year, to ah, save on costs," Jessie said winking.
"That's wild," Katie replied shaking her head. "I couldn't believe it when Tad told me. Ever the jackass, he called me up yelling 'Grace Manning is doing her brother'. I nearly passed out … of course that was because as a result of the static I heard had 'mother'," she went on raising her straw to her lips, lowering the drink to avoid choking when she started to laugh at the face Jessie made.
"Mind boggling as it may be, I think they've turned out to be good for each other," Jessie replied, choosing not to dwell on Katie's last statement. That was just not a place she wanted to go, even in jest.
"Hmmm," Katie replied thoughtfully. "Never can tell with love."
"So are you going to tell me or not," Jessie asked wanting to keep their conversation as far away from discussions of love as possible.
"Tell you what?" Katie asked thoroughly confused.
"Why you stopped painting?" Jessie replied, placing her little umbrella into her now empty glass.
"Some peoples stars are only meant to burn temporarily," Katie responded with a sigh, leaning against the back of the booth wearily. "I stopped being able to do what I had done before, and I chose to have what I had accomplished when I was able to do it remembered instead of dying a slow, critically panned death," she continued. Her first show had been hailed in Europe for the intensity of the emotion that lay behind every stroke, in conjunction with the innocence the works exuded, sometimes playful, sometimes heartbreakingly raw, and sometimes hauntingly pure. And the Madrid show had been hailed for the intensity of emotion too, only this time the critics had been impressed with the darkness and desperation of the works. The heartbreaking bitterness and desolation of it had drawn them in and captivated them with its scarred beauty. It came from a place of pure, unadulterated pain and the contrast between the two shows had given her a reputation of being complex and enigmatic, her consequent retirement only adding to it. In the art world she became pitied and revered.
"That's … perfectly reasonable," Jessie said in response, knowing that there was more to it than that, but deciding to leave Katie in peace for the moment. Whatever it was the other woman was thinking she didn't want Jessie to know, and Jessie would respect that because there were certain things she knew that she wouldn't want to tell Katie about herself yet either.
"Karen must be happy," Katie commented a few minutes later, once the silence they had lapsed into began to become oppressive. "To have her little girl following in her footsteps," she continued trailing her finger down the side of her glass restlessly.
"She says I should have become a teacher," Jessie replied smiling at the memory of her mother's reaction to the news that she wanted to go to law school. "She said she hated the thought of me becoming horribly dry and boring like everyone that she worked with."
"I miss your mom," Katie responded smiling softly at Jessie's response. She could picture Karen saying that, could almost see the teasing smile on her face.
"Is there anybody you don't miss?" Jessie asked, smiling at Katie as she asked to let the other woman know she was only joking around.
"Sarah," Katie responded seriously, earning a grin from Jessie. "And every guy on the football, basketball and baseball team who made a comment about your ass."
"I thought you were still friends with Tad," Jessie commented teasingly.
"Yes, but I accepted the fact that he was an obtuse idiot sometime in third grade, so I can't really complain about him with a clear conscious," Katie replied blinking rapidly, before bringing a hand up to rub at her eyes tiredly.
"I think that's our cue for the check," Jessie commented watching Katie and fighting back the urge to follow her lead by distracting herself with waving for the waiter. Glancing at her watch she saw that they had been there for over three hours, even though it felt as if they had just arrived.
Katie opened her mouth as if to protest, but then closed it again realizing Jessie was right. "Thank god one of us has a voice that's at least partly composed of reason," she said finally, snatching the bill away from Jessie who had reached out to look at it.
"You know I didn't come here tonight to scam free drinks," Jessie commented upon having the bill ripped out of her hands.
"Why did you come here tonight?" Katie asked curiously as she reached into her purse. She spewed out her reasons for wanting to come hours ago, but Jessie had remained quiet on the subject.
"Because I missed you too," Jessie responded simply.
Katie looked up at her and smiled. "Are you going to give me the number for your phone, or do I really have to talk to your secretary?" she asked as the waiter picked up the bill and they stood to leave.
"Thanks for the … lovely evening," Jessie said heading towards the door. "And please, drive carefully."
"I'll give you a ride, a careful ride," Katie replied, placing her feet together and touching her nose with the tip of her finger.
"Maybe some other time," Jessie responded not quiet ready to deal with having to deal with Katie at her doorstep. "I'll call you tomorrow."
And with that Katie watched Jessie disappear through the clear doorway then reached down for her keys, a lazy smile spreading across her face. The day had turned out better than she had expected, and the rest of the week wasn't looking so bad either.
TBC…
Comments always welcome! Jbslayer27@yahoo.com