Chapter 24: Visiting Over Breaks

As Christmas approached, Kira returned to Atlanta after her exams were over for the semester. Once in town, she was able to meet up with Jebb for a variety of pre-holiday activities. Several of the local racers had decided to get together for a party the weekend before Christmas. After being separated for five months, both were eager to spend as much time together over her winter break as possible.

Of course that plan was made a bit tricky since Jebb's mother expected him to participate in various family and community activities for the holiday back in his hometown. Still, he slipped away and into Atlanta at every opportunity. In fact, he'd even been able to spend part of Christmas Day with Kira. He'd told his parents that he would be helping a racing friend to hand out toys to children at the hospital in Atlanta. His family has always had a place in their hearts for children and often did charity work whenever they had free time. Given the plans, neither of his parents had it in their hearts to ask him to stay home instead of joining his friend. He just didn't tell them that his friend was actually his girlfriend.

When he'd decided to join Kira and Ben on their yearly visit to the children the older man had been quite pleased. While watching the children speak to Santa (Ben) Jebb was surprised to learn that the yearly toy delivery had been how Kira had first met the man who adopted her less than a year later. That Christmas had been her first real one in her whole life. Before that day when Ben had walked into her hospital room it had just been any other day of the year. It only made sense that she would then honor that day each year by making the holiday a brighter one for children in the hospital.

Jebb enjoyed himself as he tried to help brighten the day of the various children in the wing at the hospital that was just for them. What he liked the most, however, was watching Kira let her guard down for just a few hours. Watching her smile while helping Ben was the highlight of his Christmas. All too soon, it was time for him to go back to Placid for Christmas Dinner.

"Are you sure that you don't want to ride out to Tranquil with me?" Jebb asked even though he already knew the answer as he and Kira walked toward where she'd left her truck and he'd left his father's. He'd asked before Kira had even gotten to Atlanta if she wanted to go to his house and meet his parents for Christmas. When he spoke to her on the phone he could have sworn that he'd heard her voice waver when she'd told him no. "There's always more than enough."

"I don't think so. Helen has been working really hard in the kitchen to make sure that she has some of my favorite foods for Christmas. If I didn't know better, I'd swear she missed having me around the house."

"She's not the only one," Jebb said as he wrapped his arms around Kira. She may have tried to be casual about her decline of his offer but he knew that her lack of desire to go to Placid had a lot to do with her own mother. He'd gotten her to tell him once just a little bit about her mother. All that she'd told him about her was that the woman had abandoned her without ever looking back when she was little. And she had framed what came to mind when she thought about mothers in general. Just the idea of meeting a mother, even Jebb's, made her think of the one who had taken on that title in her life so lightly. Still, if he could get Kira to meet his mother, he just might could get her off of his back about meeting a nice girl.

Kira smiled. Knowing that Jebb missed her warmed her heart. "Well, I don't have to be back at school for a couple of more weeks. And luckily, I even brought my bike. Think that you'll be up for a race or two while I'm in town?"

"Depends. What do I get when I win?"

"What do you mean when you win? I may not be racing while up in Cambridge but that doesn't mean that I can't still give you a run for your money."

Jebb smirked as he saw Kira's competitive nature shine through. He supposed that there were some things that her fancy law school couldn't take away from her. Of course, he could be just as competitive as anyone else so he merely said two words.

"Prove it."

Until the end of Christmas Break, both of them were nearly inseparable. Jebb spent every available moment in Atlanta. They raced their bikes in good fun and Kira knew that despite her bravado, she was rustier than she would admit. Still, she did beat Jebb when they raced through Atlanta. Mainly because she knew of shortcuts that only those who had lived on those streets would know. All too soon, it was time for Kira to return to her college up north. But she only did so after promising to find a way to see him again as soon as possible.

Kira had gotten to Charlotte nearly a full four hours ahead of Jebb at the hotel that they'd both agreed to meet at and stay for the bike rally that was being held over Spring Break. She had felt guilty that she wasn't going back to Atlanta to see Ben but he'd assured her that if she wanted to spend the week racing that he was okay with it. Kira promised that she'd fly down the very next chance that she got while trying to keep up with her studies at Law School.

After getting settled into her room, Kira kept glancing in the mirror wondering why she even cared what she looked like while not wanting to admit to herself that after being apart from Jebb for so long she really did want to make a good impression on him. Getting flustered at her own pampering of herself, Kira threw down the hairbrush and left her room to go see if the man in question was down in the lobby. Check-in was over an hour ago and she really didn't think that Jebb would just not show up.

When Kira made it down to the front desk, her heart gave a little flutter as she spotted Jebb leaning over the desk speaking in hushed, aggravated, tones. Kira watched as he ran his hands through his blond hair which caused it to stand on its end in a very appealing way. As she got closer to the desk she could hear what the clerk was saying to Jebb to make him so frustrated.

"I'm sorry, sir. When you didn't show we gave your room away. If you'd like, we could try to find you a room in one of the surrounding hotels but with the rally I seriously doubt that we'd have much success."

"How could you give the room away? I'm only an hour late!" Jebb slammed his helmet down on the counter causing the man behind the desk to flinch.

"I'm sorry, but it is policy. At the end of check-in time, all available rooms become first come first serve. Like I-"

"Dammit, don't you have just one room left? I'll take anything." Ordinarily he wouldn't mind just heading off to find a campsite to spend the week but he really didn't want to go that route this time. For one, it was already too late to be wandering around in the dark looking for one. Two, if he didn't stay at least in some close proximity of his long-distance girlfriend it would sort of defeat the purpose of driving all of the way up to Carolina in the first place.

"I'm afraid we just gave our last room away fifteen minutes ago."

"Look, I ne-"

"Jebb," Kira stepped forward to save the nearly cowering man from Jebb's frustration.

"Kira?" Jebb turned embarrassed to face Kira with the knowledge that he was out of luck in regards to having a place to stay despite their planning of the weekend. "I...uh…"

"I heard. I suppose you could just come up and share my room." Kira tried to sound as casual as she could and shrugged as she spoke. "After all, we did come here to spend the weekend together."

Jebb's eyes lit at the suggestion since he suddenly felt like thanking Blake for his Short-Cut that had gotten him and the rest of the crew up to Charlotte an hour after check-in whereas a minute before he was ready to string him up for it.

"Well, when you put it that way…" the smile that crept across his face was just too big to fight back as he grabbed his duffel bag, "…lead the way."

Kira and Jebb then made their way to the stairs of the cheap roadside motel that they had agreed to meet at where they would now share a room in. Jebb was beginning to think that the week was about to turn out better than he'd ever hoped it would. That is until he opened the door and saw that Kira had rented a room with two beds. That was like a cold shower on his revving libido. Still, sharing a bed or a room, he was bound to at least enjoy the view from his side of the room.

After unpacking, the two went out to the nearest diner and ate a small dinner (on Jebb since Kira had already paid for the hotel room). They then went back to the hotel and stayed up talking for hours to catch up since their last exchange of letters and caught up a bit on the making out that they'd missed since her last visit back to Georgia during the holidays. Eventually, they noticed that it was already after midnight and they needed to get some sleep (even if it wasn't exactly Jebb's top priority).

Jebb let Kira take the bathroom first and was not disappointed when she stepped out in an over-sized t-shirt to sleep in that fell about mid-thigh; a nice change of pace from her long-sleeved blouses and jeans. Staying in his place on the spare bed, Jebb watched as Kira walked over to the bed and bent over to pull the comforter down to get ready to climb in. When Kira noticed that Jebb hadn't moved since she left the bathroom, she cocked her head to eye him.

"Something wrong?"

"Nope." Jebb grinned as he caught a glimpse of what color of underwear Kira was wearing. "Just enjoying the view."

Kira grabbed her pillow and threw it at him as she snickered, "Go get ready for bed."

"Darlin', I'm always ready for bed." With that, Jebb slowly headed off to the bathroom knowing that he was going to have to take his time before walking back out with just his shorts on.

When he got back out, Jebb saw that Kira was already tucked into bed with only the light on between the beds and he swore that he wasn't going to get a lick of sleep with her so close by. He briefly considered playing stupid and just climbing into bed with her but he knew that would likely only get him a kick in the groin and locked out on the balcony for the night. Instead he strutted out and gave her a light kiss goodnight then climbed into his own bed. After all, he hadn't gotten this far with Kira by being stupid.

Kira was frankly surprised that he hadn't done more than cop a few feels during the course of the night and even more surprised that he accepted that, despite sharing the same room, she wasn't really ready to let things between them go further than that. At least she hadn't thought that she was before riding down for the rally. The more time she spent with Jebb the more she could feel her resolve crumble. He always seemed to go out of his way to prove to her that he was not like any of the people that she'd known in her past. He wasn't about to hurt her and if that meant that he'd have to take cold showers after a night out then he had been willing to do that. Just one way that he'd proven over the last couple of years that he was a special man.

Across the room, Jebb's prediction that he'd have a hard time getting to sleep proved accurate. He was still wide awake staring at the ceiling as he heard Kira's breathing change that signaled that she had fallen asleep. As he lay awake, he tried to figure out just why Kira was worth all of the aggravation that he seemed to endure willingly just to be around her. The Lord knew that he could easily find another girl to eagerly share his bed. Heck, ever since word got out that he was dating Kira, several girls that like to race with him and his friends had made plays for him. That was one thing that he just didn't get. Why was he lying here in an empty bed just a feet away from Kira when he could easily have just gone and asked Pam, Kristen, Tiffany, or even Janet if they would share their rooms if he had wanted a little personal company for the night? He was a normal man with natural urges that any guy would have while around attractive, eager, women.

THEN WHY THE HELL AM I FORCING MYSELF TO LIVE THE LIFE OF A CELIBATE MONK?!

Jebb turned and faced Kira's bed and noticed that her sleep was no longer as peaceful as it had started off as. Concerned, Jebb sat up and watched as she moved fitfully in her sleep. Eventually, Jebb figured that he'd better wake her up from whatever dream she was in the middle of. Moving over to sit on the other bed, he leaned over to put a hand on Kira's shoulder. When he did so, her eyes popped open and she struck out and punched Jebb right in jaw. Caught off guard, Jebb couldn't understand just why Kira would react to him like that. As she continued to thrash around, he realized that she was still asleep; she only looked like she was awake. Jebb took both of Kira's fists in his own hands and held on tight as he tried to wake her up. It took several minutes before she slowed her movements and began to look around the room as if trying to figure out where she was and why Jebb was on the bed with her.

"Jebb?" Kira asked exhausted. As she began to wake, the memories that had surfaced in her dreams began to fade away, leaving her very confused. "What happened? Wha-"

"You had a bad dream," Jebb slipped up in the bed and pulled Kira up closer to him. "Want to talk about it?"

"Do I have to?"

"It might help ya get back to sleep." Jebb smoothed Kira's hair down and settled next to her comfortably in the single bed.

At first he wasn't sure if Kira would share her dream with him or not since she was silent for several minutes. When she finally sleepily began to explain it, Jebb was surprised to learn that the dreams had actually been memories of her life before she'd run away from her foster homes. He listened as she told him about her first foster-mother who had really been a piece of work to say the least. Kira had briefly told him in the past about her but not in any real detail. Only enough to put in context of her distrust of mothers. After telling him more about Selma and what had led to Kira being sent away, she then explained of how she had been sent to other foster families that had been no better. Particularly the last one before she had ran away to the harsh streets. Hearing some of what she shared, it became more obvious why she had not been eager to become physically involved yet. Part of him wondered if she ever would be ready.

After nearly an hour, Jebb was once more wide-awake in the room as he listened to Kira's slow and steady breathing. This hadn't exactly been the way he'd hoped to be sharing Kira's bed tonight. This was just one more layer to Kira that showed how complex she was. It also proved to Jebb that she had one hell of a right hook.