A/N: Meowser and I were tinkering around with this idea and it came forth :) Also I will eventually write a steam Jimel makeup scene I just ran out gas lol xx Mariah
Ages in the first scene:
Jim — 25
Melinda — 21
Ages in the later ones:
Jim — 52
Melinda — 48
Ned — 26
Katie — 23
Hannah — 23
Aaron — 19
Mackenzie — 13
Lana — 5
Emma — 2
Jim had always enjoyed a nice cigarette. He never minded having to stand outside in the cold for a few minutes because usually, it gave him a break from what was going on in the firehouse or even from one of his many ex-girlfriends who would get on his nerves.
Then he met Melinda and it seemed so simple to start lessening it all when he never wanted to waste any time spent with her on something so meaningless. He was down to only smoking during his breaks at work and sometimes in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep.
Until she came by to see him during his shift, and she'd caught him outside with one between his lips as he brought the flame up.
"You know, I knew you smoked because I could smell it on you and taste it when we kissed, but I've never seen you actually smoke one before," Melinda said as she waltzed up to him, not standing too close and it was something he filed away forever.
She didn't like that he smoked, but she'd never said anything until now. She hadn't even had to say it really. It was in her body movements.
He shrugged. "When I met you I started to cut down," he told her. It was just that simple, but he could tell she wanted a little more from him. He took another drag before he put it out.
She was reading him before she spoke, "Why? I never said anything."
"It never had to do with that," he shrugged, flicking it into the bucket beside him. "I just didn't want to waste any time I could spend with you."
Her eyes followed him as he stepped closer to her and then she produced a plastic container from behind her back. "First off, you should take this before I drop it if you have any ideas of kissing me," she said.
He was surprised to see cookies inside and gasped. "Did you make cookies?"
"Andrea made cookies," she laughed and leaned up to kiss him.
"Of course she did," he murmured against her lips and pulled her in closer, but it was short-lived.
She pulled back and he saw the look she gave him as she wiped her lips. "Sorry," she apologized. "The tobacco was really strong on that one."
"Sorry," he sighed and pulled out the pack from his pocket. There were only a few left in there and he could more than likely give them to someone inside or just throw them out. It was all mental strength after three days to quit smoking anyhow. "I can quit."
Her eyebrows knotted together and she shrugged. "Do you want to?"
"Not really, but if it bothers you I don't mind. It's not really a habit and moreso a getaway." He said, walking over to hold the carton above the trash can that was a few feet away from where they'd been standing.
"It does bother me, Jim, but it's your choice." She said, nodding.
He tossed them away and walked back over to her. "Then it's an easy decision, Melinda. You should've just told me." He said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She held him close and he basked in the smell of her perfume and feel of her hair against his face. He was going to marry this woman and god forbid he quit something so stupid for her.
"What would you do if you saw our kid smoking?" She asked all of a sudden, pulling back.
He thought about it and it seemed pretty simple. "I wouldn't want to see them smoking, especially underage, but if they were an adult I would want them to know everything they are signing up for before lighting that first one."
When he looked down to see what Melinda might say she saw her smiling at him. "Them?"
"Well, I do see more than one in our future, don't you?" He asked.
She hugged him again, tighter almost if that was possible. "Yes, I do, Jim. I want everything with you."
He wanted everything with her too and then some. "So what brings you by besides the cookies?" He asked, rubbing her back.
She shrugged. "I wanted to get out of the apartment," she said and looked up at him again.
"And other stuff?" He asked, knowing there was always something else.
"There's always other stuff." She laughed as she glanced over her shoulder at something he knew he couldn't see.
Yeah, there always was other stuff.
Melinda and Jim were walking about the square after finishing a play at the Little Broadway Theatre in Grandview. It was a nice summer night and they were enjoying that it was still pretty light out at nine o'clock.
They'd come to sit on their usual bench for some time just talking about their day with each other. It was hard to make time to just talk when there were two young kids running around the house and a moody teenage girl. Plus their two older children still thankfully lived in town but were both going in and out of the house just as much as they did when they lived there.
Whether it was Aaron dropping off laundry or Katie needing to vent to Melinda or Mackenzie needing a ride to swim practice or something with Lana and Emma. It was crazy, and their life, but they loved every second of it.
They just had to take every moment they had by themselves as though it could be interrupted.
After a few minutes of silence as they were walking back to the car. "Should we stop and get ice cream for the girls?" He asked, pulling out his phone. "I can text Mack and see what everyone wants."
"Yeah, do that," Melinda said, not paying any attention as she stared at someone standing outside Buck's saloon.
"What's wrong?" He asked as he sent off a text to Mackenzie.
"Nothing, I just think I see Katie," she said, squinting as though that would help her eyesight from two blocks away in the evening. "Oh, no she is not fucking doing what I think she's doing."
"Doing what?" He asked, turning to see that it was Katie because he had better eyesight than Melinda did in their older age. And he saw was his wife most definitely saw by her reaction.
Their eldest daughter was leaning against the wall outside the bar on a Saturday night most-likely a few drinks in by how much she continued to laugh, but there was a lit cigarette in her hand that she occasionally would puff on as she talked to Hannah beside her. Ned was there too, with two drinks in his hands likely Katie's and his while she shared the cigarette with him too.
"Oh, no." He muttered.
"Yeah, oh fuck no. Not our kid. We talked about this," she cursed and was already walking across the street before he could stop her. "I'm gonna murder her!"
Despite only being five-feet and a few inches Melinda was fast and had run over to the bar in record time. Jim had come to the rational decision to just bring the truck over there and got out just in time to see Melinda smack the cigarette from their daughter's hand.
This was not going to end well.
Katie was having a perfect night, and that was saying something considering all she and Ned had been through in the last few years. She took good days as they were and tried to push past the bad ones, and today had been a good one.
School had gone smoothly this week and her lesson plans all matched perfectly for once, Ned had a slow week and the weekend off, and now it was Saturday night and she was dancing with her husband with a bit of liquor in her.
Ned was basking in the energy of the night too and usually wouldn't dance with her unless he was really drunk, but tonight he was the designated driver so she could enjoy some time with Hannah, and apparently just enjoying it all the same.
He danced with her through all the good songs and even a slow one before they'd snuck outside to get a breath of fresh air.
Hannah was the smoker of the group and Ned had quit a few years back when Katie had fought with him about the health concerns, so when she had asked her best friend to bum her one he'd been surprised.
"What about your lungs?" Ned questioned as she lit it and blew the smoke in his face to make a point as she rolled her eyes.
"Can't I have a cigarette because I want one?" She scoffed.
He sighed and leaned against the wall next to her. "If you just tell me that you were being petty when you made me quit the first time," he said, taking a drink of his water.
Hannah snickered. "Not a good road, Banks." The woman muttered.
Katie waved her off. "I was being petty, but for other reasons." She muttered and took another long drag while holding eye contact with him. "Well-deserved reasons. You're lucky I married you, you know?"
He smiled, raking his eyes over her in a tight black mini skirt and white tank top that brought out the tan she'd earned over the summer at her parent's lake house. "I know, Katie." He said. "I'm a lucky man."
That tugged at her heart because she was a lucky woman too. Even with their ups and downs she never wanted anyone other than him.
Katie she turned close enough toward him to kiss him, and the moment their lips touched it was as though every ounce of alcohol in her surfaced and made her woozy all at the same time while waking the butterflies in her stomach.
She wanted him to touch her everywhere and all at once, but he pulled back too soon and swiped any hair that fell in her face. "You good, babe?"
"Better than good," she said, offering the cigarette to him as she leaned back against the wall. "Here, we can share it if that makes you feel better."
He eyed it for a moment before he took it and sighed as he took a drag, "You're going to regret this when I end up buying a pack on the way home."
She laughed for a long time and then looked over at him. "Well, I already married you and that's for life for me. I'm not going anywhere."
He handed the cigarette back to her. "Neither am I."
Just as she went to kiss him again the moment was ruined by Hannah's overbearing laughter. "What now, Han?" Katie asked just millimeters from his lips.
"You'll see," her friend said and just then a hand collided with hers.
It stung and it knocked the cigarette loose, which wasn't all that much of a bummer except that it had been done on purpose.
"What the hell?" was her immediate reaction but when she turned to see who she'd directed it to, Katie bit her tongue. It was her mother. "Hi, mom."
Melinda was livid and Katie felt like she was fifteen had died her hair blonde all over again. If this had been a cartoon there would've been steam rising from her mother's unrealistically giant red-head, but that just the alcohol in her not taking anything seriously.
"Don't hi mom me," her mother scoffed. "Were you really just smoking that dirty cigarette, Katherine Ann? I thought I raised you better."
"Mom," she sighed and shook her head. "It's not what you think."
Melinda turned to Ned, "And you," her mother said. "I thought you quit."
Ned clearly wanted to stay out of it by how he was trying to hide in his water cup, but it was not helping him in the least. "Katie offered it to me," he said simply. "I'm staying out of this."
"And you're incapable of saying no? No, you're front and center, Ned Banks." Her mother had turned to scold her husband and Katie took the opportunity to down the rest of her drink Ned had been holding if she was going to be getting lectured again next. "You aren't fourteen anymore."
Just then, her dad had appeared like her savior and she'd ran to hug him. "You're here! She's going crazy." She sighed.
"Hi, bug," Jim chuckled as he kissed the top of her head from where it rested right up against his chin. "I know. I saw. Let me see what I can do… hey, Mel? Are you done ringing the kids dry?"
Her mother had turned toward him and instead of mellowing out like she had thought Melinda might do, it was the exact opposite. "And you, you're gonna agree with her? You're gonna call me crazy? What happened to I never want to see our children smoke?" Melinda's mouth was a firm line as she stared at Jim, who just shrugged.
"Melinda, I don't think that's exactly what I said…" Her dad sighed and shook his head. "There was an entire conversation there and you know it. Plus that was twenty-some years ago, Melinda. Katie is an adult and I think she is more than smart enough to make her own decisions."
If there was a way to make Melinda angrier that had been it and despite being smaller than everyone she was around they hadn't dared to interrupt her because she was that intimidating in general, but when her mother was upset there was nothing that would stand in her way. "I know she's an adult, Jim, but she's my daughter and I don't want to see her putting her health at risk like that. Especially because she knows how I feel about cigarettes."
Melinda turned and just shook her head instead of saying anything else. That wasn't good. Her mother wasn't even talking to her.
Usually, there would be a lecture, followed by some sort of hug, and even sometimes the tension could stick around for a few days, sometimes less. It depended on the seriousness of the situation. The silent treatment was when Katie knew she was in for it. Melinda usually only did it to dad, really.
Her dad however was playing devil's advocate. "It's still her decision," Jim sighed.
"And it's my decision for you to sleep on the couch, Jim," Melinda muttered and walked straight to the car.
Katie glanced over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, dad. I'll talk to her in the morning," she said, sighing. "If I'd known you two were going to possibly walk by I wouldn't have done it like God damn."
"Hey, now just because you're upset doesn't mean you can use GD," Jim said, winking at her. "And it's no problem. I never end up sleeping on the couch, Katiebug. We have five kids to prove that."
