Jessie woke up to a soft knock on her door. She was hesitant to answer seeing as she didn't want to have a run in with John at the moment so she looked through the peephole. She smiled when she saw Randy standing there holding Sydney. She opened the door and let them in. Randy put Sydney on the bed and turned on some cartoons for her to listen to before turning his attention toward Jessie "hey" he said hugging her "I looked for you at the arena last night before I left. I couldn't find you after a while and just figured you got a ride with someone else. Did you come back with lover boy?" Randy fluttered his eyelashes comically and Jessie giggled before shaking her head.
"Nope I came back with Stephanie and Kurt" Randy laughed, sitting beside Sydney on the bed and helping her into his lap, her attention never strayed from the sounds of Bugs and his pals on the tv.
"Getting in good with the boss" Randy joked "I see how it is".
"Hardy har har" Jessie mock laughed "actually Kurt comforted me after I had a bit of a breakdown". Randy got a worried look on his face. He sat Sydney back on the bed and got up to gather Jessie up in a hug.
"What happened, what went on, what'd you do, who am I gonna have to kill?" Randy fired off quickly "wait don't answer that last one I know the answer, John. What'd he do?"
"Nothing" Jessie told him honestly "I saw him limping out of the arena after his match last night and I knew that it was because of me and all and I broke down".
"Honey..." Jessie cut Randy off before he could say anything.
"I know" she sat down on the bed and pulled Sydney into her lap, playing with her brown curls. "Kurt explained everything to me".
"Oh" Randy sat beside Jessie "well good. You gonna ride with me and Syd to the arena?"
"Are Lexi and Matty not going?" Randy shook his head.
"Matty's sick and Lexi's gonna look after him" Jessie made an aww sound.
"What's wrong with the poor little guy?" she asked Randy, concerned about her nephew.
"A cold" Randy told her "he got it going from the warm St. Louis air to this cold Canada air. I'm just glad its just him and not Sydney too. The last time they got sick together both Alexis and me spent our time walking back and forth doing this and that for them".
After Randy and Jessie had finished their talk they made their way to the arena. Jessie had sat in the back with Syd and read her, her favorite book, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. When they got to the arena Jessie went off to her meeting while Randy and Sydney went to the locker room he was sharing with John, Trish and Kevin.
"Hey man" Randy said to John "can I talk to you outside?" John looked up from where he was tying his shoe and nodded, he followed Randy outside and hopped on a crate as Randy sat on the floor in front of him. "What's up between you and Jessie?" Randy got right to the point.
"She's being difficult" John sighed. "She just won't listen to reason".
"Seems to me she's not the one with the problem" Randy said, he knew he wasn't pulling any punches with John but he didn't care, he didn't like how John was treating Jessie and he was bound and determined to get to the bottom of it.
"What the fuck you saying?" John said getting defensive.
"What I'm saying" Randy said, not letting John get him riled up "is that you need to realize that even though you want Jessie to still be that 16 year old little girl that she was before she left for college, she isn't. She's grown up now and you have to accept that and accept the fact that she's getting close to a guy in a romantical way".
"I don't have to do shit" John said hotly "she's my babygirl and all I want for her is the best and if people can't see that then you can all fuck off" John got up off of the crate and stalked down the hall. Randy rolled his eyes and got up off of the floor. He knew things would come to a head soon and he knew if Jessie and John didn't work things out then it wouldn't be good.
John was stalking down the hall, seething. He couldn't believe Randy had gotten all up in his business like that. 'What's he know' John thought to himself 'I know what's best for my little girl'. John stopped in his tracks as he saw Jessie and Sylvain sitting at a table talking. Seeing Jessie laughing at something Sylvain said made John's blood boil, he stalked over to the table and thumped his hand down on it making both Sylvain and Jessie jump in fright "oh I see how it is" John said hotly "you can see your little boy toy here but you're too busy to come see your own dad".
"Don't you have a match to get ready for?" Jessie asked him, annoyed.
"Aww" John fake cooed "want me to leave so you can suck face?" Jessie gasped and Sylvain's eyes widened in shock.
"What are you implying?" Jessie asked John, standing up and practically getting nose to nose with him.
"Just that you two are probably getting more action than I'm getting from Trish right now" John wanted to take the words back as soon as he said them but it was too late, the damage had been done. Jessie cried out as if she had been hit and smacked John across the face as hard as she could. John stumbled on his feet a bit and knocked over a chair. Jessie ran out of the room, hot tears making their way down her face. Sylvain stood up and waited until John's attention was on him before speaking.
"Back in Canada dad's are their daughters' knights in shining armor not their biggest tormentor" with that he walked out of the room, determined to find Jessie and make sure she was alright.
After they left John made his way back to his dressing room he walked inside and saw the kids watching a movie on the portable dvd player and Trish fixing her make up. She looked up at him and saw the red mark on his cheek "what happened to you?"
"I got smacked" John told her as he sat down beside her.
"By..." Trish tried goading John into telling her what happened.
"Jessie" John said, he knew Trish was going to be pissed when he told her what happened. "I said something to her I shouldn't have said".
"What'd you say?" Trish asked him, lowering her eyes suspiciously.
"Trish don't make me tell you" John begged her.
"John Felix Anthony you tell me what you said to Jessie right now" John winced, it was the same tone she used when Kevin was doing something he shouldn't be doing.
"I saw Jessie sitting with Sylvain in catering and I said something to the effect of basically accusing them of sleeping together" Trish gasped and looked at John wide eyed.
"I hope you mean just sleep" John shook his head, looking at the ground "John! I can't believe you".
"I can't either" John said "I'm just so frustrated because she's grown up so much and it feels like I'm losing my little girl".
"Baby" Trish told him as she wrapped her arms around him "you need to realize you can't keep doing this to her, she's growing up and you have to realize that. You need to share her with other people and salvage your relationship with her while you can before it gets too late".
"Yeah I know" John said "God I can't believe I said that she was getting more than I am at the moment" John realized what he said and his eyes got wide. He looked over at Trish who was glaring at him "I'm rooming with someone else tonight aren't I?". Trish nodded and pointed to the door. John sighed as he stood up. He picked up his bags and kissed Kevin on the forehead before walking out of the room to find someone to share a locker room with.
Jessie was running down the hallway as she cried loudly. She bumped into someone, sending her sprawling to the ground "Jessie" the person exclaimed, rushing to her side "what's wrong?" Jessie looked up and through her tears she saw Randy's worried face.
"Dad" she gasped out, barely able to breathe "he, he...he said Sylvain and I...were sleeping together". Randy's blood boiled as Jessie dissolved in another crying fit. If he didn't know that Jessie needed him he'd go find John and beat the shit out of him. Instead though he gathered Jessie in his arms and rocked her gently like he did his kids as he made shooshing noises and told her it was ok.
"Honey" he said when she calmed down "why don't you come room with me and Maven? I've decided to room with him, Sylvain can come too if you want".
"I'd have to find him" Jessie said as Randy helped her stand up.
"I'm right here bien-aime'" Sylvain said from behind Jessie. She turned around and smiled when she saw him, she walked up and hugged him tightly "are you ok? John was, uh how you say harsh to you back there". Jessie squeezed Sylvain tightly before pulling back.
"I'm as good as I can be right now" Jessie answered honestly. Sylvain nodded and they followed Randy to Maven's locker room.
"Hey" Randy called as he walked in "mind some company?" Maven looked up from the monitor he was watching and smiled.
"Nah" he told Randy "its lonely by myself in this big locker room" he noticed Jessie's tear stained face and got up to check on her "what's wrong?"
"Nothing" she said giving Maven a hug "just more crap with dad that's all".
Maven sighed "that man needs to get his head removed from his ass. Ever since you've been back he's made you upset more times than I can count on one hand".
"I know" Jessie said "but its up to him, I am ignoring him until he can come to his senses. I refuse to be unhappy because he's acting like an immature brat who won't share his toys".
"Went through that a year ago" Randy remarked, making everyone in the room laugh.