Galena
Chapter 2.
The next morning
'Galena walked down the aisle of the church carrying her bouquet of white roses and jasmine. Brennan walked beside her smiling proudly. At the end of the aisle he gently kissed her right cheek and stepped back to let the groom take her. With her characteristic nervousness overwhelming her she could not look at the man she was about to marry and kept her eyes on the floor. They walked up to stand in front of the altar.
"Jesse do you take this woman to be you lawfully wedded wife?" the priest asked.
Galena looked up to find Jesse smiling at her.
"I do." Jesse answered clearly and firmly.
"Then I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Jesse lifted the veil from Galena's face and cupped her chine with his hand. Slowly he leaned in to kiss her.'
Galena's eyes flew open as her alarm clock woke her up. Her dreamed played over again and she blushed. 'I've only known him for a day. I can't be thinking like that. He is nothing more than a nice guy, and one Brennan is scared will accidentally hurt me. The only reason I'm thinking about him in any way other than a friend is that he is one of the rare guys who have been nice to me.' She climbed out of bed and looked through the few clothes she had in the closet and dresser. With a slight smile she pulled out an old baby blue baby doll dress that had belonged to her mother. She paired it with the black bicycle shorts her god mother had given her and a pair of black sandals. Checking her clock she made sure that she had enough time before doing her hair and make up. With a final glance in the mirror she left the room and headed for the kitchen.
Jesse and Brennan were fixing breakfast and Adam was sitting at the table when Galena arrived. Adam looked up at the girl and smiled at the ten years out of date out fit the girl was wearing. Unlike what she had worn the day before this outfit revealed more personality.
Brennan noticed the girl standing in the door way and shook his head. "So you can finally wear your mom's old dress."
"It's a little tight now, but I wouldn't get rid of it for a whole new wardrobe.' The volume she spoke in surprised all three men.
"It works on you." Jesse decided after careful consideration. "No one else could pull it off now, but it really works on you."
"Thank you." Galena smiled. "Do I need to help with breakfast?"
"We'll put you on a chore schedule later.' Adam said and motioned for the girl to sit down at the tale. "For now let the boys handle things. After breakfast I will run the med scans and then you and Jesse can go out and take care of that shopping."
Galena nodded and walked over to the table. Deciding that she did not want to sit in the chair immediately next to Jesse she pulled out the chair across from Emma's seat. Just as she was about to sit down she felt a hand on her wrist, looking up she met Jesse's eyes.
"No one ever sits there. You can sit across the table from Adam or swap with one of the girls, but don't sit there." His tone was cold, surprising her. Galena looked over to Brennan, but he was too busy to catch her eye.
She stepped back from the chair and sat in the one she had been assigned the night before.
Adam had caught the exchange and knew that the girl was confused. "That was Juliet's chair. At first she sat next to Jesse, but they would kick at each other under the table and consequently kick the rest of us so we had to separate them. She refused to sit at the foot of the table so we only had her move one chair over, to the chair you were going to sit in. Jesse doesn't let anyone sit in her chair and will skip meals if he has to, to make sure that her place is always empty." He explained n a low tone. "It was nothing that you did. You couldn't have known."
Galena nodded silently and kept her eyes down at the table.
A couple of minute later Shalimar and Emma stepped into the kitchen and help the boys serve.
"I'm sorry." Galena whispered as Jesse sat down next to her.
"You didn't know." Jesse whispered back. "And I'm sorry I snapped at you like that."
Brennan watched carefully as Jesse and Galena whispered back and forth. He had not missed the exchange over Juliet's place, but had left it alone, hoping that the minor disagreement would be enough to drive Jesse and Galen apart. To his surprise Jesse had quickly forgiven the girl, something he had not expected.
Shalimar gently put her hand on her husband's and shook her head when he looked at her. Galena watched the exchange between her cousin and his wife with curiosity.
"How did you sleep last night, Galena?" Emma asked after a moment of silence.
"I was fine, thank you." Galena whispered, not looking up from her hands.
"No problems with sleeping in a new place?" Shalimar smiled slightly.
"Everything was fine. I was really tired so I didn't have any problems falling asleep." Galena looked up for a split second, but then let her eyes drop again.
Shalimar made a mental note to try talking to the girl another time. "Where were you last night, Jess?"
"I wasn't up to a movie so I stayed in my room to read."
"They put me and Adam through watching Down With Love. I guess you had the right idea to hide with a book." Brennan half-laughed.
"What book was it?" Galena asked.
Jesse was surprised by the volume the girl spoken and the fact that she was looking up to him. "Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mocking Bird.' Juliet had a list of books she wanted me to read and that one is the next to last one."
"What are you going to do when you finish the last book?"
"Start the list of books she was going to read. Juls actually made a list for all of us. Emma's the only one who's read all the books she was assigned."
"Not all of us have your patience with books." Shalimar said softly.
"I didn't mean to bring her up, Shal." Jesse quickly apologized when he saw the tears in Shalimar's eyes.
"I shouldn't have pressed about it." Galena's voice returned to a soft whisper.
"You didn't know, Gal. You love books, and Juliet loved books." Brennan shook his head at the similarities he suddenly saw between the two girls.
"I'm not really hungry. I normally don't eat breakfast." Galena pushed her chair back and quickly left the room.
"Jesse," Adam said after a second, "would you please go see if she's all right?"
"I'll be back in a minute." Jesse got up and headed to Galena's room. "Galena?" he called as he softly knocked on the door.
Galena sat silently, tears streaming down her face, hoping that Jesse would leave her alone.
After waiting a couple of minutes longer Jesse decided to see if the door was locked. The handle turned easily and he opened the door. He walked into the room and sat on the bed next to Galena. "What's wrong, Gal?"
The girl looked up, surprised that he had used her nickname. "Nothing is wrong." Her voice was louder, but broken as she cried.
Jesse took her face in his hands and gently brushed her tears away with his thumbs. "Don't lie to me, alright? I want to be your friend, but I can't do that if you lie to me."
"I messed up again. Adam will send me back to my father and this time I think it will be more than yelling. It was horrible when he found out I was looking for Brennan."
"No one is gonna send you away." Jesse gently pressed a kiss to the girl's forehead. "You will never be sent back to your father. Tell me what happened when he found out you were looking for Brennan."
"The first time he locked me out of the house for three days. I didn't look for Brennan for two years after that, and then nine months ago I tired to look again. That time he knocked me down the front steps. There were only two steps but I still got pretty bruised up. This time he only yelled, but I think he was running late to meet his friends at the bar."
Jesse stared at the girl in shock. His mind could not begin to conceive the idea that anyone would ever want to hurt such a sweet, innocent girl. With out a moment's hesitation he pulled the girl into his arms and held her tight. "That's not going to happen to you again. I promise you."
Galena nodded and wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself closer against his body. Wrapped in his arms she felt completely safe, something she had never expected to feel and especially not with a person she had just met. After a moment she pulled back form him and stared into his eyes. "Thank you for coming."
"It's no problem." Jesse stared to feel uncomfortable with the intensity the girl was looking straight into his eyes with. "You want to go see if they left us anything for breakfast?"
Galena nodded and closed her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. Jesse slipped a hand behind the girls head and closed his own eyes in a natural reflex. Just before their lips met they heard someone knocking on the door. Galena quickly pushed back from Jesse and looked to see who had come.
"The others have finished eating, but there is food for both of you." Adam said in a slightly uncomfortable tone. "After you are done eating Jesse will show you to the lab for your med scans and then take you shopping." Adam walked off leaving the two alone.
"Breakfast?" Jesse asked as he stood up and started to walk to the door.
"Sure." Galena looked down at her feet and then looked back up. "About the almost kiss. I don't know what come over me."
"Don't worry, it was nothing. We can just say that it never even happened."
"All right." Galena nodded. For some reason she felt her heart drop at the way he had so easily dismissed it.
They walked to the kitchen and had a quiet meal and then Jesse led Galena to the med lab. While she got her scans he went to straighten up his room.
Stepping into the soft tan colored room his eyes immediately fell on the picture of Juliet he had at his desk. He would never tell anyone but he had often found himself talking to the picture. "So, Juls, there is a new woman in the house. You'd hate her and you'd love her. She's like you, emotionally abused.
"I still don't get why these things happen to nice people. She's gorgeous, Juliet, just what you had imagined at Shal and Bren's wedding. Great personality too, and really sweet. She's opened up to me just like you did."
Jesse stared at the picture and then began to make the bed. "Of course Brennan wants me to avoid her. I think he's scared the same thing that happened to you will happen to Galena. That's her name, Galena. I looked it up on line and it means 'healer.' I guess we could all use one of those these days. Time for me to go. I'm responsible for taking her shopping."
Jesse turned out the light and left the room to get Galena from the lab.
"She's gone to check on her hair." Adam said when he saw Jesse walk in. "I was surprised she didn't throw a fit the way Brennan used to."
"You could tell her to drink spoiled milk and she'd do it with a smile." Jesse sighed as she sat down on the scanner chair. "She thinks we're going to kick her out if she doesn't do as we want."
"Then we will all have to be careful not to take advantage of that." Adam turned away from the computer to face Jesse. "She's at a very delicate time in her life."
"It sounds childish, but she was the one about to kiss me, not the other way around."
"The temptation of a pretty, young girl who is willing to do anything to make people happy is strong."
"I know she's pretty. She's gorgeous, smart, funny, loves books."
"You're attracted to her I take it."
"No. I mean, I just met her, and while she's nice I'm not thinking of her as anything more than a friend."
"Unlike Brennan I won't tell you to avoid her, but I do want you to be careful when you are around her."
"Don't worry. I have enough things to do that I will be too busy to spend a lot of time around the girl."
"Your duties may change. She trusts you, maybe be even a bit more than she trusts Brennan. For now I'm willing to do what I can to keep her close to her cousin, but if things turn the way it looks they might you will be back to the job of confidant."
"It's a bad idea. She's only turning to me because Brennan is working a lot. The girl hasn't been here twenty-four hours yet."
"She could search out her cousin if she wanted him. You are good at being the comforter; you did it with the other troubled cousin we had come through here."
"Then I messed up royally. She's in some form of shock and I'm easily accessibly. Once she settles in she'll go back to Brennan for comfort."
"I realize you don't believe it anymore, but you are a nice guy, Jess. She is new and open minded so there is no reason for her not to notice both your faults and your good qualities."
"I'm not so sure what is good about me any more." Jesse sighed as he got up and left the lab.
"Maybe our new team member can make you remember." Adam shook his head and returned to his work.
Jesse walked to Galena's room and leaned against the door jam as he watched the girl fret over her hair. "You are going to ruin those pretty curls if you aren't careful."
Galena smiled as she looked over at him. "I'm just glad they are large ringlets instead of those curls that look more crimped than anything."
"You wear your hair up a lot?"
"It's easier. I can't mess up a pony tail as quickly as I can mess up my hair if it is down."
"I bet you are pretty with it down." Jesse stepped into the room and stood behind the girl. With developed expertise he took the pony tail holder out of the girl's hair, letting her locks fall down about her shoulders. "If you were in white you'd look like an angel."
Galena blushed and immediately gathered her hair back up into the pony tail. "I'll leave it down some other time." Looking in the mirror she saw his smile disappear. "Unless you really want me to wear it down today."
"Another time is fine. Don't want you to get it all tangled while you try on clothes."
"I don't really need the new clothes. In all technicality we could skip the whole thing about shopping."
"You want to pass up a chance to get your room done any way you want it? This is a free ticket to go crazy and hang the cost."
"You really don't want to go shopping with me. I take so long to decide on everything that I could make a priest swear."
"A chance to get out of work for an indefinite amount of time sounds really good to me. I think that you and I can at least give it a try."
"Alright, but you don't have to worry about taking me car shopping. I don't know how to drive so that is going to be unnecessary."
"Then once we get things set up we will get you a driver's license and I'll help Brennan teach you to drive."
"We can see about that after we see if you can survive a trip to the mall with me."
"I'll be thinking about what kind of car to get you."
Three hours later.
Jesse and Galena walked out of a small clothing store in the mall. Jesse was carrying the four bags of clothes he had bought for the girl, despite the fact that she denied needing anything.
Galena looked over at him and smiled. While Jesse had pretend he was not feeling out of place in the small boutique she had caught several girls looking at her with jealousy in their eyes. At first it had surprised her, but then she began to enjoy the feeling of having something that other people wanted. To make things more fun she had played along and tried to act as if Jesse as her boyfriend.
Jesse smiled back at the girl and adjusted the shopping bags so he could hold them with one hand and then put his arm around the girl's shoulders. Now that she was standing next to him he figured she was about five-seven.
Galena put her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked to the bedding store.
"You know you aren't all that bad to shop with." Jesse said as they walked to the store.
"You got lucky. Now come help me choose my comforter and stuff."
"You still have the paint chips from the paint we bought?"
"Yeah, both of them." Galena reached into her purse and pulled out two paint chips, one a creamy white and the other a dusty rose. "What do you want the paint chips for?"
"We are going to find something that matches them. I think something in the pink you are going to sponge on the walls."
"Sounds like fun. I don't want any flowers though."
Jesse kissed her forehead, smiling at the way the girl was actually showing some attitude and opinion. "No flowers. What kind of look are we going for in there any way?"
"Something really romantic. Poetry is a part of me and I want a room that reflects that."
"If we make it out of here in enough time I'll take you to a furniture store and you can choose a new bed for your room."
"Will Adam mind us doing that?"
"Considering all the work he did for the rest of us I doubt it. You could get a canopy bed or something."
"You'd make a great interior designer. That one looks pretty."
Jesse looked at the comforter Galena had pointed out and held the paint chip against it. The comforter was a patchwork design quilt in white and rose and the colors perfectly matched the paint color. "It's really pretty."
Galena closed her eyes trying to imagine the room with the comforter set. As she tried to think about it an image of her and Jesse together in bed flashed through her mind. All though the image was of nothing more than them sleeping cuddled up together she blushed. "This is what I want." She said as she opened her eyes.
"We'll find it in a queen size and get what ever you'll need to go with it."
Later That Evening.
Jesse and Galena stepped into the lab with the receipts from their shopping trip in hand.
"Was it a successful day?" Adam asked when he looked up from his computer
"We got everything she needs." Jesse handed the older man the receipts. "Brennan and I will need to take both trucks tomorrow to pick up her new furniture."
"If we spent too much we can take some of it back." Galena quickly offered.
"No need to worry about it. I just want to make sure that you are happy with your room.' Adam put the receipts aside and looked back down at his computer. "Shalimar went out to get some Chinese for dinner. The five of you will be eating in the rec room and watching a movie."
"Does everyone watch movies every night?" Galena asked as she looked at some bottles on the counter.
"They are getting a few days off right now because things are quiet. We will use this time to get you set up and to allow you to bond with the team." Adam explained. "Now out of here with both of you."
Jesse took Galena's wrist and led her out of the lab. "We'll go put up your new clothes while we wait on Shal."
"You don't have to do that. I can put away my clothes."
"How many times do we have to go through this?" Jesse pulled the girl close to him and put his arm around her shoulders. "I want to help you."
"Alright, you and I can go put up my new clothes while we wait." Galena agreed.
After they finished putting away Galena's clothes they headed to the rec room to chill out and watch Dawson's Creek while they waited for the others to show up for dinner.
An Hour Later.
Shalimar, Emma, and Brennan walked into the rec room carrying the Chinese take out, a six pack of beer, and several napkins.
"Time to eat." Brennan said as he set the food down on the coffee table. "Galena, you want to choose the movie this time?"
"Jesse can choose it if he wants to." Galena whispered and started to pull her hair back up into a pony tail. "I'm ok with whatever."
Shalimar and Emma exchanged a glance, knowing that when they had walked past the rec room a few minutes earlier the girl had been laughing and talking in a normal volume.
"Alright," Brennan sighed, "Jesse can choose the movie."
"It's the anniversary of Juliet and Ashleigh's first date, why don't we watch the movie they rented that night." Shalimar suggested as she led Brennan over to one of the arm chairs.
"If you four want to watch that movie it's fine, but save me something to eat because I don't think that I could sit through it again." Emma crossed her arms in front of her chest and stood waiting on the others to decide.
"Come on, Em," Jesse got up and put an arm around the red-head's shoulders, "the movie isn't that bad, and we only watch it once a year."
"Alright, but only because we did it for Juliet." Emma consented.
"I'll put the disc in." Shalimar got up and walked over to the DVD shelf and pulled out a box.
Two Hours Later.
Shalimar, Brennan, Emma, and Jesse sat trying not to laugh as Galena furiously picked up the empty take out cartons and beer cans.
"And one time at band camp." Emma whispered after a minute.
All four burst out laughing as Galena blushed deeply and ran out of the room.
"I'm guessing that was the first time she's ever seen 'American Pie.'" Shalimar said when she managed to stop laughing.
"I'll go check on her." Brennan said as she stood up. "She must have been pretty freaked out."
"Poor, Galena. If I'd known how she would react I wouldn't have talked Emma into watching it." Jesse laughed and picked up his can of beer.
"She's never going to watch movies with us again." Emma shook her head and began to put away the movie.
"Why wouldn't I?" Galena asked softly as she stepped back into the room. "I know I flipped but that movie was funny."
"We just don't want to drive you away." Jesse stood up, walked over to her, and gently kissed the top of the girl's head. "We really like having you here."