"You guys really should've just slept in your bed," Joanna chuckled as she stood over him. He was about to ask her what she was talking about when the weight on his chest shifted.
That first night aside, Leonard wasn't actually in the practice of bringing people home, not that there was anyone to bring. He sure as hell wouldn't do that with Joanna there. He gave Jim his room and took the couch, despite how much he wanted to sleep in there with her. For some reason, Jim was laying on him.
"Maybe we should've," he whispered with a small smile. "How the hell did I end up being Jim's pillow?"
"I have no idea," his daughter smirked as she headed into the kitchen.
"Nightmare," Jim whispered against his chest. "Sorry."
"Whispering is worse for your voice than talking, just so you know. Don't be sorry, I'm happy I could be of service, Miss Jim," Leonard smiled and she smiled back. "How about you go get ready while I take Joanna to school?" She nodded before pressing a quick kiss on his chin and hopping off the couch.
"Are you guys a thing now?" his daughter asked when he walked into the kitchen.
"It's complicated," he admitted.
"Only because you're making it complicated, daddy," Joanna smiled as she sat down with a bowl of that apple cinnamon oatmeal she loves. "Just go with the flow."
"When did you become a relationship expert?"
"I don't know. It's your fault."
"This I gotta hear. How is it my fault?"
"I just watch how you are with people that you care about. Especially the ladies in your life," his daughter shrugged.
"Other than you, there are no ladies in my life," he chuckled.
"That's not even remotely true. You said that if I ever like a boy to watch how his is with his mama. You would do anything nana asks of you with a smile on your face because you love her so much. You could've been mean about mama but you treat her with respect and you talk to her, even when you don't want to. With Miss Gaila and Miss Arlene, you treat 'em like you would if you had a sister or two. I guess that's the best way to describe it. You don't like Miss Winona but I think that has to do with something that happened to Miss Jim, who you really like. A lot."
"I do like Miss Jim. If, hypothetically…"
"Don't do hypotheticals. You wanna go on a date with her," Joanna smiled.
"Would that be okay with you, if I went on a date with Jim?" Leonard asked.
"I've been trying to set you two up since September, what do you think?" his daughter asked with a touch of sarcasm that reminded him of himself. "Yes, it's okay with me. Date her. Marry her, for all I care. Just do something. You guys are driving us all crazy."
"Who is this us?"
"Me, Miss Gaila, Miss Arlene, Mister Scotty, even Mister George. Miss Gaila said she was ready to lock you two in a room."
"She did not," he said. Jo just gave him a look. "Really?" She nodded as she finished her breakfast. "Huh."
"Miss Jim's not mama. I don't think she has it in her to hurt the people she cares about. At least, not on purpose," Joanna said.
"I used to think that about your mother, if I'm being honest."
"Mama made a mistake. A big mistake, but still a mistake. That's not Miss Jim's fault. As a matter of fact, Miss Jim really likes you. Which is kinda a big deal because Pete said he's never seen her like this with anyone. Ever."
"I didn't know that."
"Yep. Look, I know you're worried but you shouldn't let mama's actions determine the rest of your life," Jo sighed.
"When did you get so smart, huh?"
She shrugged, "You're the one who told me that I could be anything. I chose to be smart. And a superhero."
"So, since you can't talk, I decided to take you to the one place where that's not a problem," Leonard said as they got out of his car. "As a matter of fact, it's actually a rule." Jim gave him a big smile. She pointed at herself, made a heart with her hands, then pointed at the Iowa City Public Library. "Then I chose well." She nodded. "Come on."
Anyone who has ever been in Jim's house knows the woman is a bibliophile. She loves to read, and not just anything, she loves real books. Jim and Pike actually knocked out the wall between her living room and family room/office and turned it in to a two-sided bookcase. She told him once that the way the paper feels under her fingertips is just as important as the words on the page. Leonard knew that Jim went to the library in Washington, near her office, all the time so, he decided that they could explore the library in Iowa City a bit. Jim's obviously been here before but she didn't seem to mind one bit.
"Where should we start?" Leonard whispered just as his phone vibrated.
You pick a book. I'll pick a book. We meet upstairs next to the reference desk in fifteen.
He smiled and nodded. Jim kissed his cheek and left him to go looking for a book. What should he pick? Something he's never read before? Something he's read a million times? Leonard avoided the mystery section, they had enough of that going on, and headed to fiction. Jim spotted him, gave him a wink and rounded the corner. Leonard followed her as she scanned the books on the shelves in the next row. She glanced at him but didn't stop what she was doing.
"I think I found what I was looking for," he whispered in Jim's ear, his arm wrapping around her waist. She smiled and tapped out a message on her phone.
You're supposed to be looking for a book, Bones.
"You're much more interesting, darlin'," Leonard whispered. Jim's ears turned pink. "Are you blushing?"
I do that.
"How is it that I never noticed that?" he asked. Jim pointed to her hair. Leonard thought about every she turned her head away from him or looked at her feet and realized why she did that. "You don't have to hide from me."
Habit. I'm working on it.
She put her phone back in her pocket and moved to the next set of shelves. He smiled before he started reading a few of the book titles and spotted something he hadn't read in a while. He looked around for a few more minutes before he headed upstairs. Jim just barely beating him there. "What now?"
Jim held her hand out and he gave her the book. Slaughterhouse-Five. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up before handing him the book she found. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That's another one he hadn't read in a long time. Jim grabbed his hand and pulled him to a partially hidden alcove with a couch. The pair shrugged off their jackets, got comfortable and snuggled up together to read their books.
"You're gonna get sick," Leonard said with a smile. Jim shook her head and stuck her tongue out, trying to catch snowflakes. She gave him a look and raised an eyebrow. "I'm from Atlanta, I went to Ole Miss and Baylor, what do you think?" Jim smiled and sent him a text.
That you're a super southerner. A Georgian who went to college in Mississippi and med school in Texas. This really the first time you've seen snow?
"Yes, this is the first time I've seen snow."
You should be more excited.
"About frozen rain?" he asked. Jim gave him a look. "I'm kidding."
They stayed at the library for a few hours before they grabbed lunch and headed home. The snow started while they were driving back. Jim stopped him from going into the house so that she could take his picture. She sent it to him with a message.
Bones' first snow.
"Wait until I show my mother," he chuckled.
Totally should. Just wait until it starts to stick.
"We'll see," Leonard smiled and watched her chase more snowflakes with her tongue. "Infant."
Maybe but you're the one staring at me.
"I really wanna kiss you but Misses Erving is watching us." He noticed his neighbor's window treatments shift a few times since they pulled up. Jim smiled and shook her head before pointing to his house. Leonard unlocked his door while Jim read messages on her phone. She pouted. "What?" Jim shook her head. "You're not gonna tell me?"
"Work," she mouthed.
"Is it bad?" he asked as they stepped into the house. Jim made a so-so motion with her hand before pulling off her jacket, scarf and hat. "You'll figure it out." She smiled and put her hand on his chest after he hung their stuff by the door. "You'll figure me out?" Jim nodded. "I'm pretty sure you have, darlin'." She tapped out a message on her phone and showed it to him.
We shall see. U wanna make out til it's time 2 get Jo?
"That is a wonderful idea," Leonard whispered as he pulled her into his arms. Jim smiled and pressed a kiss against his lips just as there was a knock at the door. Jim laughed. "What?"
"Misses Erving," she mouthed. Leonard gave her a quick kiss before he let her go and answered the door.
"Leonard," Misses Erving smiled. Jim was right, it was his neighbor.
"Ma'am," he smiled back. "Would you like to come in?"
"That's very kind of you, perhaps another time. I was doing some decorating for the holiday and I could use some help," Misses Erving told him. "Would you mind?"
He really wanted to say no but his mama would come up from Georgia just to kick his ass. Leonard smiled, "Not at all, ma'am. Uh… Jim?"
"I'll get Jo from school. Go," Jim mouthed.
He smiled as he grabbed his jacket. "I'll be back."
"That woman is nuts," Leonard said as soon as he closed the front door. Jim and Joanna looked up at him from where they were sitting on the floor doing Jo's homework. "She tried to kiss me."
"Who?" Joanna asked as Jim burst into laughter.
"That's not funny, Jim," he said. She nodded and laughed even harder.
"Who, daddy?" Jo asked him.
"Misses Erving," Leonard chuckled as he pulled off his jacket. "I don't know what to do about that woman. She said that we had some kind of connection. That she prayed to God and he sent me as the answer to her prayers." Jim laughed even harder, tears running down her face. "This is not… funny." He couldn't help but laugh with her. "She tried to kiss me."
"The lips," Jim mouthed as he dropped onto the couch.
"Oh, yea?" he asked and Jim nodded. "She's still crazy."
"I think you're all crazy," Joanna smiled.
Leonard smiled, "You're a kid, it's what you're supposed to think."
"What's wrong?" Leonard asked Jim when he saw the look on her face after dinner. She pulled up the notepad on her laptop.
I don't fit.
"What does that mean?" he looked at her.
Jan lived alone in a secluded house. Beth was alone at the school after hours all the time. Both women worked with children and neither would hurt a fly. I'm not like them. I live on a property with a bunch of people coming and going. The sheriff has a key to my house. I'm almost always carrying a gun. Attacking me doesn't fit. So, that begs the question; was I the actual target, did the suspect make a mistake or are we missing something all together?
"That is the question. Hopefully, we'll find the answer soon. I'm really not sold on you going back that house alone," Leonard sighed.
I'll be fine once I get my voice back.
"Doesn't make me feel better."
I know but I can't just move into your house. If we go too fast, we'll hate each other by the end of the month and you know it. Maybe I'll get a dog or something.
"Oh, please, you barely feed yourself every day. What are you gonna do with a dog?"
I'm not that bad, Bones.
He smiled, "If you say so."