Jesse sighed as he cleared away the table quickly, it was the height of tourist season and everyone was flocking to the restaurant, wanting to sit outside at the round tables with the white clothes and be served by the pretty native girls in their bright and tight salsa style dresses. He stacked the plates neatly and quickly and sat them inside the tub he was carrying around. He heard lots of people conversing and as his eyes searched the restaurant he picked up on a few words 'Deadlock', 'Los Muertos', 'Killings'. He dropped his eyes back to the tub and picked it up, turning around to take it to the kitchen when the voice of a female made him freeze.
"Is this table free?"
Jesse felt his heart flip in his chest as he laid down the tub on an empty table beside him and turned to look at the girl who was speaking to him, but before he could get a word out he had to lean back to avoid being smacked. Rosa looked furious, wearing a black shirt with a white design of feathers on it and a pair of short whitewashed blue jean shorts that were distressed with holes in them, her hair was pulled to the side in a loose ponytail, more down than up and she was glaring at him.
"You!" She snapped, swinging at him again, making him back up and nearly run into a server girl who jumped out of the way with plates above her head.
"Mocoso estpuido!" (Stupid Brat!) the girl snapped as she glared at Jesse who put his hands up apologetically before taking a punch on his arm from Rosa who kept pressing down on him, making him turn and run for the kitchen, several people laughing as he covered his head with his hands.
"Get back here!" Rosa snapped after him, hot on his heels as he ran through the open kitchen door and around the island where food was being prepared.
"Now darlin'!" Jesse called, running behind Santana who looked up, annoyed at all the commotion in his kitchen. "Don't be mad! I got it right here!" He dug in his pocket and pulled out the choker and held it out around Santana. "I was gonna give it back! I just wanted-" He couldn't finish because she grabbed the choker and turned on her heel to leave but he scrambled around Santana who threw up his hands.
"What is going on!"
"Rosa!" Jesse pleaded, grabbing her wrist and stopping her. "Please!"
"I don't wanna hear it," She snapped refusing to look at him. "I don't deal with people who steal from others."
"Now I didn't steal it," Jesse reasoned, his other hand sliding up her arm as he smiled at her, feeling he could turn the situation around-determined to. He could feel her tense in his hand as his other touched her arm, light as a feathers kiss, traveling up to her shoulder and over to her neck. He felt her stop pulling away and stand still. "I just borrowed it for a while, I always meant to give it back." He stepped closer, his mouth by her ear as his hand kept traveling, he felt his heart pounding in his chest-glad only Santana was there to tease him later. "I just wanted to see you again." His hand made its way down her other shoulder and down to her arm, making her lift it to meet his hand. He held her hand cupped his hand like that for only a second before she whipped around and pointed at him, but his smile never faltered.
"No, you're a thief!" She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than give him a warning.
"Well when you say it, it doesn't sound half bad." Jesse watched as confusion clouded her face. "And it's got a nice ring to it, why don't you just call me that Rosa?" He leaned down closer to her face, making her blink nervously and back up from him. "Thief." A slow blush forced its way onto her cheeks as she looked away from him.
"Fine then, thief, let me go, I'm leaving." She said quickly, trying to pull away from him but he kept her hands in his and put them on his chest.
"But you just got here!" Jesse whined, pouting his bottom lip out playfully, "I get off in a few hours, why don't you hang around and we can hang out after?"
"Thief I-" She was shaking her head and Jesse felt her slipping away, the mood diminishing.
"Is it that boyfriend of yours?" He asked, feeling it was the culprit to her resistance.
"Funny you should mention him." She scoffed and her eyes narrowed as she looked down to the floor, eyes scanning Jesse's boots. "We went our separate ways this morning after two years." Her voice was angry and dripping with venom.
"What happened?" Jesse asked, trying to contain his excitement, hearing Santana huff behind him. He pulled on Rosa's hands and stepped closer, rubbing her hands in his.
"I ah..." She was fighting tears now, "I tried to video chat him this morning and was greeted by his other woman, apparently she was the reason he didn't want to come with me. It's been going on a while now..." She took in a deep breath and Jesse felt his anger rise, he hadn't even met this guy and he already wanted to break his legs. "They were in bed together, after..." She shook her head and Jesse pulled her into a hug, putting his head on hers and squeezing her tightly against him.
"You're better off!" Santana snapped from behind Jesse, making them both look at him in shock, Rosa pulling away from him. "Ladron te trata mejor de todos modos!" (Thief treats you better anyway!)
"Well, I won't sugar coat it." Jesse snapped quickly, not giving her a chance to decipher what the older man had said, his hard voice making Rosa stiffen in his hands. "This is good news for me," He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him, making her eyes widen and try to pull away but he had her locked into place. "I might not have stolen your choker darlin' but I have had my eye on somethin to make off with for a while now. And with his ass out of the way, I think it'll be well..." He shrugged, "I won't say easy, but easier." He smiled down at her and saw her eyes darting across his face. "See I never said I wasn't a thief at all," he put his forehead against hers and could practically hear the eye roll Santana was giving his back. "Wanna know what it is?"
His eyes flicked down to her lips, making it all up as he went along, anything to keep her standing there just long enough so he could get what he wanted-her to agree to stay. Their lips nearly touched when a familiar shrill voice started yelling and Jesse started backing up, looking to the door with dread.
"Donde esta ese nino perezoso?" The voice yelled. (Where is that lazy child!)
"Nino!" (Boy!) Santana snapped as Jesse looked around frantically, he needed another way out. "Escaparse!" (Escape!) He looked as Santana pointed out another door, on the other side of the kitchen that would lead out to the foyer. "Dese pria!" (Hurry Up!)
Jesse grinned and grabbed Rosa's hand, pulling her past Santana who was laughing and through the door as the owner of the voice kept ranting on loudly.
"Donde esta el?" (Where is he?) The female's voice snapped as Jesse pressed Rosa against the wall beside the door, afraid their footsteps would give them away. Their clasped hands between them he pressed himself against her, one hand on the wall as he listened. "Donde esta ese inutil bastardo de un nino!" (Where is that worthless bastard of a child!)
Jesse suppressed a giggle, smirking as Rosa mouthed to him 'what did you do?'; 'she doesn't like me' Jesse mouthed back silently, 'His wife'. Jesse rolled his eyes as there was a loud conversation in angry Spanish before wrapping his hand around Rosa's waist and quietly walking away. He walked her back out into the foyer and around the stairs to the entrance of the restaurant, smiling broadly as the woman in the bright pink dress who rolled her eyes at him and shook her head as he lead Rosa through.
"So why does his wife hate you so much?" She asked, squeezing his hand as he weaved her through the tables.
"She just does," Jesse sighed, "Always has." He turned sideways as a server passed with drinks. "Santana took me in as a kid and let me stay here at the hotel, and work for him like I am now when I come by. His son Joel passed away some time ago and I think I remind him of him...and I think it makes her mad."
"Oh," Rosa sounded like she didn't know what to say next as Jesse stopped her by the table Ami was seated at. Ami looked surprised to see Jesse but smiled and held up her drink to him in a silent salute.
"I ah...I gotta get back to work, no reason in giving her more reason to hate me." Jesse pulled out Rosa's chair and slid it in when she sat down, "But I got a phone today," he reached into his pocket and handed a small cheap cellphone to her, "Put your number into it for me, I'll come back by for it. That way if you need me I'm a call away." He smiled sweetly and bowed to her, and then to Ami who chuckled softly as he picked up his tub of dishes and hurried away.
As he worked Jesse had a renewed sense of energy, glancing over every chance he got to where Ami and Rosa sat, eating and chatting somewhat happily although he did not miss the times when Rosa's sweet smile fell into a sad thoughtful frown. He couldn't resist talking up a storm to Santana when he went to empty his tub, dodging glares from his wife and keeping busy. Time passed rather quickly and when he took his last tub of dishes inside the kitchen Santana dismissed him for the night. He stripped off the button up shirt Santana had loaned him and slipped on his brown shirt and vest.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do boy!" He teased as Jesse took off the little half apron he had been forced to wear and hung it up on a hook.
"You never do anything!" Jesse laughed, going over to a table and picking up his hat, fitting it on his head before picking up his belt and holster with the Peacekeeper revolver in its place. His wrapped it around himself and secured it with the BAMF belt buckle. "If I did like you, I would let her go when she was mad!"
"Is she still out there?" Santana asked as he walked over to the door leading to the restaurant's patio, glancing around at the empty tables until he saw two young women sitting at a table despite everyone else having left already, lights being shut off as others left. "Wow, you actually convinced her to stay with that cheesy line."
"Cheesy line?" Jesse asked, going to stand by the older man, looking out to the table. It looked like Ami and Rosa were having a deep conversation about something, he could see Ami talking with her hands as Rosa just watched.
"I have had my eye on somethin to make off with for a while now, wanna know what it is?" Santana mocked and rolled his eyes before covering them with one of his hands. "Oh my god boy, don't think I've ever heard such a corny line." He put his hand on his hip and laughed. "But I suppose if it didn't send her running for the nearest train to get away from you then it was fate that brought her to you, better not lose her boy."
"I only just met her," Jesse laughed nervously, "But I do wanna know her more, I dunno old man." He crossed his arms, "There's just somethin about her. Somethin' addicting."
"You're smitten," Santana explained, slapping Jesse on the shoulder as he turned to walk back into the kitchen. "Better go get her before I shut off the lights to close up for the night. Be back here in time to help before the dinner rush tomorrow, and dress nice, we got a couple doing a proposal. We gotta set up the dance floor out in the field."
"Do it by the tree and get me the Christmas lights, we'll make it perfect," Jesse promised before waving and jogging out to the table. As he got closer he heard the girls talking so he slowed and crouched down, sneaking up on them by keeping close to other tables.
"I'm telling you, girl, you have got to cut loose and let some of this anger out. If you don't you just going to bottle it up and it's not going to be good." Ami was telling her, a wise older tone to her voice. "You have spent all your life as the more mature girl, you never really let yourself go and live!" Rosa seemed like she wasn't really taking the words to heart, she was looking over her shoulder toward the foyer where Jesse had brought her through.
"You act like your several years older than me instead of just two." Rosa said flatly, propping her head on one of her arms. "And I have no idea what you mean, I'm not angry." But her tone told both Jesse and Ami she was lying.
"Look, Chris hurt you; he's a worthless bastard, but you can't sit back and pretend it doesn't bother you. Be a teenager for once in your life!" Ami was so focused on Rosa, and Rosa on the arched entrance that neither of them noticed when Jesse was crouched by the table. "Scream, cry, yell, throw something-show some big emotion! Just for god's sake don't punch anything, you're a wimp and you'll break your hand but..." She shook her head as Rosa sighed deeply but remained still. "Do something young and reckless!"
"I'm young and reckless," Jesse smirked and put his elbows on the table folding his arms, resting his head on them. "You could do me." The sound of his voice made both girls jumped and turned their heads to look at him with wide eyes as he winked at Rosa. Rosa reached over and smashed down his hat over his eyes as Ami laughed out loud, holding the sides of her head with her hands as she closed her eyes for a second before agreeing.
"This might sound nuts but he's right!" Ami laughed as Rosa stared at her in shock, Jesse fixed his hat back on his head and grinned at Ami broadly, not sure why she was agreeing but happy never the less. "Go out with a stranger! Flirt with the thief!" Ami put her hands down on the table and stood. "Do something for yourself rather than someone else for once in your life sis."
Rosa stood with her and Jesse followed suit before walking around the table and leading the girls to the foyer and outside the building, waving to Santana as the older man climbed the steps to his office. Rosa and Ami were whisper snapping at one another and Jesse could only catch a few snippets like
'don't encourage him',
'he's obviously not just going to go away'
'he could be a murderer, we don't know him'
'but you danced with him, twice!'
When the reached the dirt road Jesse looked down at himself, he did look like a member of a gang again, his tattered vest with patches sewn into the material, a red bandana around his neck and his trademark hat on his head. His jeans were ripped and his shirt was old and worn with the sleeves ripped off, his black jeans were tight but not skinny-he refused to wear anything that had the word 'skinny' on its label. Not exactly the look of an upstanding young man like Rosa was probably used to seeing.
"What do you do thief?" Ami asked, smacking him on his back with her hand flatly, Jesse turned and smiled a little less eagerly as she repeated her question. "What do you do when you get angry?" Jesse blinked and gave it half a thought.
"Somethin' stupid and regrettable usually." This made the girls chuckle as he kicked the dirt. "I usually punch somethin, but if it's a calm kinda angry I go out and do target practice." He pat his revolver on his hip, "The sound of bottles breakin can be really soothing." He noticed that Rosa's eyes were locked on the revolver when he crossed his arms. Ami started back lecturing Rosa who wasn't listening, the distant look on her face told Jesse as the three-started walking toward town, the opposite direction of the shack he was sharing with the Overwatch and Blackwatch members and away from the house Rosa and Ami were staying at.
"See? Everyone has something, I paint-Thief shoots at bottles, but you-sis you don't react. You bottle it all down and one of these days you're gonna snap under it all." The sound of their footsteps on the dirt road filled the silence that followed for a while. "Girl say something," Ami begged, looking to Rosa in the center of the line, Jesse to the far left and Ami on her right. Jesse looked at the younger girl from the corner of his eye, keeping his head and most of his attention forward as a group of people passed.
"Do you think I could handle it, Thief?" Rosa asked curiously, the first time she had spoken since Jesse had heard her whisper that she didn't really know him. He was going to ask what when he watched her look down again at the revolver on his hip.
"What? My gun?" He covered the handle with his hand. "No way, it's recoil would be too much for you."
"It can't be that bad, you're not that much bigger than me." Rosa said a little skeptically, making Jesse lean away from her as they walked.
"I may not look like Reyes or Morrison but I got a lot more muscle and lot more trainin' with firearms than you do darlin' if you think you can handle this right off." Jesse didn't mean to sound so harsh but Rosa took in stride, their pace slowing down a little, "It took me a while to get used to it, it packs a whallop. And it's big, I dunno if you could even hold it right."
"Well let me try." Rosa said with a laugh, stopping as Jesse and Ami exchanged worried looks over her head. "You said you wanted me to do something young and reckless." She laughed as she looked over to Ami, "I'm just taking your advice," She looked back to Jesse. "Show me how to hold it." Jesse searched her green eyes, she seemed serious.
"You ever hold one before?" He asked as he looked around, there was woods on the left, on the right there was a large rock wall from part of the hill being moved to extend the road some countless years ago. Rosa shook her head and Jesse made an uneasy noise. "I'll teach you how to hold it, if you care for it any we might shoot a round." He held up a finger to her. "But you do exactly as I say, I don't want you shooting yourself or worse someone else." He walked in front of them and gestured for them to follow him to the rock wall, heading to the edge of the road. He found a discarded, discolored can of what used to be an off-brand soda and picked it up, putting it on a relatively flat crevasse on the wall before walking back to Rosa and unholstering his gun while Ami looked on nervously.
"So, what's first?" Rosa asked as she watched him closely, he slowly checked to make sure it was fully loaded and ready to shoot. He showed her the full gun before closing it and stepping to her side, holding the gun by the barrel with his hand clear of the hole and pointed ahead of them to the ground.
"First lesson of a gun is to treat 'em like they're always loaded. Better to be safe than it is to be sorry you hadn't been." He stepped behind her and took her right hand, molding it against the handle of the grip and letting go of the barrel to show her how to hold her left hand, so both were gripping it securely. "I showed you it was loaded, this baby is ready to kill, so keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you're ready to shoot." He rubbed her hands to make sure her fingers were accounted for and not straying to the trigger. "That's lesson two," he said slowly, "Three, only aim the barrel at something you intend to kill. If you ain't ready to take a life the gun stays holstered." he slowly lifted the gun and took aim at the can in front of them.
"Okay," Rosa was chuckling but she sounded nervous. Jesse couldn't tell if it was from the fact it was her first time holding a gun or the fact he was practically engulfing her. His hips were pressed against her lower back and his arms wrapped around hers, hands holding her steady and at the ready aim. His head was beside hers, lips near her ear so he was speaking softly, his chest against her shoulders. "Seems simple enough."
"Your too tense." Jesse told her, her hair tickling his lips as he spoke, "And your legs are too close together." He moved his foot between hers and spread them a bit until she was standing a little wider but firm. "Relax your arms, don't lock your elbows. You know it's going to have a kick, the last thing you want to do is try to keep it in place with an iron grip, it'll just end bad." He heard her give a small 'okay' as he steadied her aim back to the can. "Do you know what to do with the trigger?"
"Pull it?" She asked, her voice a little more confident and louder. Jesse used his index finger to slide hers into the trigger guard and put it against the trigger.
"Squeeze," Jesse corrected in a small whisper and tensed his body around hers, helping her squeeze the trigger until the revolver fired loudly, the gun jerking in recoil, but Jesse kept it from flying back and hitting Rosa in the face as she tensed and closed her eyes at the sound of the bullet being released. He helped her lower it back to their lowered position, the gun pointing out to the ground in front of them. He looked at her from the side and chuckled as she opened one eye and then the other, looking a little shell shocked. "You missed."
"Aw really?" She sounded so disappointed, "Well, it was my first time." She smiled softly, Jesse could feel the tenseness in her hands around the grip still. "But it wasn't so bad, how did I do? Was it really bad off?" Jesse slowly took the gun from her as she talked and holstered it before going to wall and spotting the hole several inches above the can where the bullet had hit the rock.
"Not bad~!" Jesse smiled back at her, lying just a bit. Had it been a person it would have been an absolute miss. "A bit of practice with something more your size and you'll be a real Belle Starr!" But Rosa looked confused, looking over her shoulder to Ami who shrugged. "Annie Oakley?" He offered up but Rosa shrugged making him facepalm himself and drag his hand down his face. "Calamity Jane?" He asked, holding his hands up but this name seemed to ring a bell as Rosa's eyes widened.
"Oh, I've heard of her before!" Jesse hung his head and laughed sadly, of course she had heard of Calamity Jane. He walked back to stand by Rosa when she crossed her arms and looked at the can on the rock. "I want to see how you handle it." She gestured to the can and turned to face the rock again. "Can you hit it?"
"Can I hit it." Jesse repeated slowly, sounding a bit insulted. "Course I can hit it. Stand over there darlin' this is goanna be loud." He waved her a bit away from him with one hand, pulling out the revolver with his other and taking aim once he was satisfied with the distance between them. He was standing sideways, his legs slightly apart, one hand holding up the gun by his hip. He drew out a bit of tension by flicking his eyes over to her before smirking and quickly emptying the gun in a flurry of shots, the can being struck several times as he adjusted his aim and sent it flying up into the air before spinning the revolver around on his finger and holstering it before the can could fall with a clang on the ground. "Can I hit it." He said cockily, crossing his arms and turning to Rosa who looked highly impressed, smiling brightly.
"Teach me!"