AUTHOR: trista groulx (the dustytiger)
DISCLAIMER: kim, jimmy, bobby, carlos, lieu et al don't belong to me, they belong to NBC, their creator and the actors and actresses who portray them
RATING: R for sexual situations (not so much in this one kids)
CONTENT: kim/jimmy, kim/bobby r
SUMMARY: Jimmy comes over after the hearing, alone, what's going to happen?
AUTHORS NOTES: we're still the same day as the hearing right now, the next few parts will be, i have lotsa stuff written, remember that when you go "please, sir, i want some more," i won't sell 'ya i'll deliver! so pls tell me in review form! i know i've messed up the timeline so bad it's scary, don't reminds me on with the fic
It was almost time for him to take his medicine again, but she didn't want to wake him. She stood in the doorway, a moment, just looking at him asleep. She was going to miss having him full time, but she knew that her son needed to see his father more often. Jimmy had screwed up before, but she really felt that he could handle, and maybe even needed more time with his son.
She knew that Jimmy did love him very much, he simply wasn't sure exactly what to do, if he was forced to do what he had to then he'd probably do it right. She also knew that Joey had to see his father more, so that he would not replace him. Sometimes she would wish that Bobby was Joey's father, he was better with him. Even so, Jimmy was Joey's father, and nothing was going to change that fact, unless he decided to give up his parental rights, which was something they both knew he'd never do.
She was startled out of her thoughts by someone buzzing the apartment. She didn't check who it was, but pressed the button to unlock the doors. It buzzed again, this time she picked up.
"What?" she asked, slightly annoyed.
"Kim, I want you to know that it's me coming up. I want to see if Joey's all right," she heard Jimmy say.
"He's sleeping."
She hit the button to open the doors, and soon heard a knock at the door. She let him in, he didn't even look at her, he went right to Joey's room to check on his son, who was asleep as she had said.
"Jimmy," she said, concerned.
"Look, Kim I just wanted to see him, all right?" he said, sounding annoyed.
"I'm not comfortable with you here when no one else is around."
"I'm not a criminal Kim."
"I know that, but I'm just not comfortable with it, all right? Even the judge suggested we should always have someone with us."
"What are you so afraid of?"
"We just carried away when it's just the two of us, and I don't want to do that anymore."
He looked at the floor. "We had good times too, Kimmy."
"I know that, but they're in the past now. Everything changed when you –" She couldn't even say it.
"I over reacted. You threatened to take my son away."
"I needed you to back off."
He looked right into her eyes. "Would you have done it?"
"I don't know."
"Tell me the truth!"
"Don't raise your voice." She snapped. "I don't know, Jimmy, I may have."
He was getting angry but he knew he had to keep clam. "Then why are you letting me see him more?"
"The judge-"
"The judge my ass, Kim! My lawyer told me that the only way I could have gotten what I had asked for, is if you had asked for the same thing."
She shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
He was getting very frustrated. "Don't play stupid with me. My lawyer warned me as soon as he found out about the restraining order that the judge would rule in your favour."
"That had nothing to do with the case today."
"That was the case today!" He shook his head. "There would not have been another custody hearing had it not been for that."
"Then it worked out for both of us."
"What does that mean?"
"Until you came over today, I had you exactly where you needed to be in my life, and you have your son where he should be in your life."
"What does that mean?"
"Joey needs a real father, so that he doesn't have to look elsewhere."
"Like?"
"Who's to say he won't look up to drug dealers when he's a little bit older?"
He shook his head. "You're raising him better then that."
"I can't be his father!"
"What about you little boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend?" She acted genuinely shocked. "What boyfriend?"
"Bobby!"
"Bobby is my best friend, not my boyfriend. Even if he was something more that doesn't change anything between you and Joey/"
He shrugged. "Everyone says he'd be the prefect father!"
"He would be a good father, if and when he has his own kids. But Jimmy, you are Joey's father and he needs you, and not someone else. You're far from prefect, and you know what? Neither is Bobby. It doesn't matter who is the better man, better with kids, better with women, has bedded more women, who has who's heart. None of that matters, when it comes to your son. He is your son, and that is just the way it is. I could have asked you to stay out of his life, and trust me, I have thought about it many, many times. But I haven't cause I can't change who his father is. You are it, and any other man I may be with now or in the future will have to understand that you are Joey's father, and that he will always play second, or even third fiddle in our son's life. The only way that will change is if you chose to give up all your rights to Joey."
"I'd never do that."
"Then, you are in his life, you should be the first guy he goes to when he has something he cannot talk to me about. You should be the person he looks up. You should be the one teaching how to be a good man. He idolizes you as a firefighter, now let him see you play the role he needs you to play, that of Dad."
"How?"
"I have to go get some things because Joey's sick. You have two choices, I can stay here with him, and take care of him when he wakes up, or I can give you a shopping list of all the things we need, and you can go and I'll stay with him. It's your choice Jimmy."
He looked at her. "I want to stay with him, but I don't know what to do."
"I didn't know what to do the first time I had to take care of him when he was sick, but I learned really fast. If you need advise, my cell phone will be on, and mother is home today."
"What do I need to know?"
"What did your parents do when you were sick?"
He thought a moment. "Gave me some medicine, got me what I needed. Let me eat and drink certain things, like apple juice, toast, dry cereal, fruit." He paused for a minute. "Why didn't they ever give me milk?"
She smiled. "If you have a fever any dairy will curdle in your stomach and make you throw up."
"Gross."
"Yeah, when he wakes up he's going to need some medicine, then just follow the instructions on the package. Good luck."
She was a little worried about leaving him alone with Joey, but had to learn sometime. She had to get some more medicine for him, and few other things she only bought when he got sick. She decided she'd try and extend the shopping trip as much as she possibly could.
Meanwhile at the apartment, Joey had woken up almost as soon as Kim had left. Jimmy wasn't really sure if he could do it, but he had to prove to not only her, but to himself that he could handle it. After all he would be spending much more time with his son soon.
"Mommy!" he heard Joey holler. Jimmy went into the room, Joey looked disappointed. "Where's Mommy?"
"She had to go out, she asked me to take care of you while she was gone," he explained.
"Oh."
"What do you want?"
"Can I have more medicine?"
"Yeah, anything else?"
"No."
Jimmy went into the kitchen, and got the medicine off the counter, he picked up the spoon that was next to it. He went back into the room and gave him the dose.
"Can I have a glass of apple juice?" he asked.
"Sure, anything else?"
"No."
He went back into the kitchen, and poured a glass of apple juice. There wasn't that much, he hoped Kim would be picking some up. He wasn't sure if Joey liked having apple juice as much as he had when was sick. He went back into the room, and gave Joey the juice.
"Daddy, could you pass me some of my comic books?" he asked.
"Of course," Jimmy replied.
He went over to the shelf and gave him a few comic books.
"I'm going to go into the other room, and watch some TV, do you need anything else?"
"No."
Jimmy turned on the TV, and soon realized why he didn't really watch daytime TV. All that was on were soap operas, talk shows, and old sitcoms with outdated humour. He finally found a show he could stand to watch, a sitcom, and was just getting into it.
"Daddy!" he heard Joey holler.
He went into his room, again. "Yes, Joey."
"I'm hungry."
"What do you want?"
He shrugged. "I dunno, ice cream?"
Jimmy thought for a moment, then remembered Kim's warning about dairy. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. Just a second I have to see what you have."
He went back into the kitchen, to see what there was. There really wasn't much of anything, that he could eat. He was glad to see that there were some popsicles in the freezer though.
"How about a peanut butter and jam sandwich?" Jimmy asked, coming back into the bedroom.
He pouted a little. "All right."
"When you're done I'll give you a popsicle."
He seemed happy with that news. At least he'd get some kind of frozen treat out of the deal. Jimmy went into the kitchen once again, to make the sandwich. He came back, only to learn that he had not cut the sandwich properly. Joey instead the sandwich be cut into two squares and a rectangle. When the sandwich was cut right, Joey ate it, and a few minutes later asked for his popsicle. He went to go see if he could find anything else on TV. He hadn't even decided on anything, when he heard his son calling again.
"Yes, Joey," he said, starting to get annoyed.
"Can you read me a book?" he asked.
Jimmy picked a book off the shelf, then curled up in bed with Joey to read it. Even before the book was over Joey had fallen asleep on Jimmy's arm. He smiled, nothing else in the world mattered that moment. He had only had a small taste of how hard it was to take care of him while he was sick, but he knew that that moment had made it all better. Before too long Jimmy had fallen asleep too. Kim came home, and put the groceries away. She was surprised she had not heard either one of them stir, but was glad for a moment of peace. She made herself a cup of instant coffee, then went to see what they were up to.
She stopped in front of Joey's door, her cup of coffee still in hand. It was moments like that she missed since the divorce. Part of her wanted to join, but she knew that those sorts of things were now in the past. That was a Jimmy and Joey memory, not a family one. They weren't really a family anymore. Besides, she had Bobby, and she knew that if she decided to go out on that limb again it would only fall again. The phone rang, she answered it quickly so not to wake either of them.
"Hello?" she said.
"Hi," Bobby replied.
"It's nice to hear your voice."
"How did it go today?"
"It went as expected."
"I'm right nearby, mind if we come up for lunch?"
"Probably not the best idea, Joey's sick."
"I don't care, I want to see you."
"Jimmy's over."
"What?" He sounded angry.
"I needed to get some stuff from the store, and I asked him to watch Joey for a bit."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I thought it was about time he learned how to take care of him while he was sick."
"Why is he still there then?"
"He's asleep."
"Then you could come out for lunch with us?"
"Yeah, I mean if he says anything, I'll just tell him I forgot something."
"Good then, I'll meet you at the deli around the corner in about ten minutes."
tbc...
end notes: hope you're liking this, just an aside i used to call my toast being cut like that "a mommy and two babies" i was gonna type that then realised no one would have a clue what i was going on about, anywho got some more reading and raring to go review pls?