Hey Capers! Here's a brand spanking new chapter for you all to enjoy! It's safe to say that this is an interlude to "Christmas Vacation".
Many thanks to IA and DS for their reviews last chapter!
As always, I do not own The Cape.
Growing Closer- Chapter Two: Love Will See Us Through
Sixteen-year-old Jamie Fleming stared out the windshield of her boyfriend's worn out red pick-up truck. She sat in the middle seat, leaning onto his shoulder as he drove along a road leading to their neighborhood.
The couple had been out pretty much all night. Hours before, the brunette had made an upset phone call to Vince. Her parents had gotten into a fight about Peter always working, and never spending time with his family. Jamie couldn't stand it anymore and begged her mother to go out with Vince.
Jamie and Vince went out to a desolate area near their neighborhood and stayed there for hours. They parked in between two full trees, with a view of the night sky. The sandy blonde pulled the tailgate down and held his girlfriend tightly. It seemed to calm her down, but she still shook uncontrollably in his arms.
By the time the two were on their way back home, it was well over 2 AM. Jamie's mother didn't expect her to be home at a certain time; in fact, she didn't expect her to be home at all that night.
Vince would have loved to take his girlfriend back to his house. He really would have loved to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. Unfortunately, he knew that family came first. No matter how much he wanted to protect her from her parents' feud, it would be better for her to be there for it all.
-0-
Jamie let out a little whine when she saw him pull onto her street instead of his. "Where are we going, Vince?"
"I'm taking you back home," Vince began, looking down at her long enough to spare her a gentle smile.
"Back home?" the brunette asked in disbelief. "I can't go back there, Vince! I want to be with you."
The sandy blonde sighed. "And I want to be with you as well, but you need to be at home right now. Maybe your parents have already made up? It usually doesn't take them long, anyway."
"But what if they're not?" Jamie questioned, her voice crackling in response. "What if they're sleeping on opposite ends of the house? I'll just feel awkward coming into that."
Vince pulled into the Fleming drive, parking his truck under a tree. He then turned to his girlfriend and took her hands in his gently. "There is nothing you can do, Jamie. They are either going to make up, or they're not," he leaned forward to give the brunette a quick peck. "You know I'd love for you to stay with me but, if I know you as well as I think I do, you'll be doing nothing but worrying yourself over them."
Jamie let out a little cry, leaning her forehead against her boyfriend's. "Please, Vince. I don't want to go back home. I just can't take all of the tension."
Vince gave her a sad smile as tears began to well up on her eyes. "How much tension is there going to be at two in the morning."
The brunette shook her head, tears finally falling from her eyes. "I don't want to find out…"
The sandy blonde kissed his girlfriend's cheek as he began to strum her knuckles with a thumb. "I promise that I'll walk you to the door. I'll make sure that you're okay. If you really can't deal, or they're still arguing, I will take you with me."
"Why save the trouble? I know I won't be able to deal. My parents were arguing for hours earlier!" Jamie fought back.
"Couples argue all of the time. I mean, look at us, for example. We're arguing right now," the sandy blonde began reassuringly.
"Vince, this is different. My father is different. ARK is changing him, and I know it. Ever since—" the brunette began, only to abruptly interrupted by her boyfriend starting a kiss with her.
The kiss was weak on Jamie's part, at first. Vince then ran a hand across her back, settling it on the small of her back. The brunette let out another cry before she put much more emphasis into the kiss.
The sandy blonde hated seeing his girlfriend so upset. It made him want to completely forget about what he said, turn around and hurry back to his house. Though, it wasn't the best thing for the brunette and he knew it.
When the two broke apart for air, Vince murmured, "I love you," against her lips.
Jamie took in a sharp gasp of air as a sob overcame her. "No, you don't love me. If you loved me, you would take me far away from here, without a single protest."
"Jamie, you know that's not true!" the sandy blonde fought back.
"Is it? You sure have a funny way of showing it," the brunette frowned as she scooted away from her boyfriend and picked her purse up from the floorboard.
"Please, stay here and talk this through with me," Vince pleaded, reaching out for her hand.
Jamie snatched her hand away and opened the truck door. "Why should I bother? You wanted me to go home, didn't you?"
The sandy blonde watched in horror as his girlfriend slammed the truck door and stalked towards their front door. He sighed to himself and followed after her hurriedly. "Jamie, please, talk to me!"
The brunette said nothing as she fished through her purse to get her keys.
"Baby, listen to me," the sandy blonde tried again.
"Don't baby me," Jamie responded darkly. "I don't want to speak to you right now." She finally was able to twist the house key around in the key hole, unlocking the front door.
"Sweetheart, I love you. You know I do!" Vince pleaded, tears welling up in his own eyes as he watched his girlfriend walk into her home.
"Goodnight, Vince," the brunette began quietly. When she looked up to slam the door in her boyfriend's face, both of them met with teary eyes.
Once the door was slammed shut, the two of them slunk down against either sides of the door, softening their sobs with a hand over their mouth.
This was their very first fight. In the years they've known each other, and they years they had been dating, a fight had finally come between them.
After Jamie and Vince took a few moments to calm themselves down, they went their separate ways. The brunette went upstairs, and the sandy blonde perched himself in the swing at the end of the porch.
Jamie eased down the hallway, stopping by her parents' bedroom. With a trembling hand, she opened the door a bit, smiling when she saw them both sound asleep in bed.
Vince laid his head on the pillow that sat on the porch swing. He sighed to himself, rubbing a rough hand over his face. The sandy blonde wasn't going to make the mistake of going home. He would make it all up to his girlfriend in the morning, somehow…
The brunette quietly shut her parents' door again, tiptoeing all the way down the hall to her bedroom. She was exhausted, mentally and physically. Not to mention how bad she felt for slamming the door in her boyfriend's face. Jamie had the urge to go outside and see if Vince was still out there. She opted to lay down in bed. Odds were that he left as soon as she shut the front door on him. If only she would have looked out the window to see his red pick-up truck still in her yard…
The sandy blonde focused on the sounds in nature around him. The steady sound of crickets, and the wind that blew in a cool shift of air every now and then. All of it just made him want to walk into that house and kiss his girlfriend soft and slowly.
As both the sixteen-year-old and the nineteen-year-old drifted off to sleep, they thought of their relationship as a whole. Their very first meeting in the department store downtown. Jamie smiled to herself; she still had her Bear-Bear sitting on her dresser.
Then they began to think of their very first kiss. It was a few days after Jamie and Vince first played in the tree house together. They were playing another game of tag, which of course, led into the "Miss me, miss me, now ya gotta kiss me!" tease. That time, Vince succeeded. The sandy blonde grinned at that. She had the sweetest lips, even at four years old.
Before either of them knew it, both Jamie and Vince had drifted off to sleep. The last coherent thing the two did was let the other's name escape their lips.
-0-
When the morning light bounced against the sandy blonde, he stirred awake with a groan. Vince rubbed at his eyes, not remembering that he was outside. He looked around the porch, reminding him of the events from last night, bringing the pain along with it.
Vince sighed to himself. His girlfriend was probably still seriously miffed at him. Of course, the sandy blonde mused, she did have a right to be. He didn't have to take her home.
He then looked down at his body, frowning at the blanket that was draped across him. That's weird; he didn't have a blanket on him when he fell asleep…
While the creepy factor was still dangling in the air, the front door opened up, a coffee bearing Janine walking out of the house, and onto the porch.
Well now it made a little bit more sense, Vince thought with a groan.
"Good Morning, Vincent," the older brunette passed the teenager a warm smile. As he sat up, she walked over to him and handed over a steaming cup of coffee.
The sandy blonde took the cup into his hands and drank from it to wake himself up. He looked up from the cup, passing the older brunette a sad glance. "Jamie told you what happened?"
Janine nodded, sitting down on the rocking chair that leaned against the wall. "I haven't told her that you're outside waiting for her."
Vince sighed to himself. "She's still mad at me?"
"Of course she is. Jamie is rather hardheaded, as I'm sure you know," the elder Fleming spared her daughter's boyfriend a little smile.
The teenager chuckled. "Yeah, I know."
Janine and Vince sat in silence for a few moments. The elder brunette looked around her front yard, enjoying the fresh fall air. The sandy blonde, on the other hand, drank his coffee and sulked as he thought of his girlfriend.
He was soon knocked back into reality when the elder Fleming's voice sounded through the air.
"Why don't you come inside? Mary is about to start breakfast."
Mary was the Fleming's cook. They had several servants coming in and out of the manor every day. Jamie had always joked that if her father could, he would hire a servant to help him chew his own food.
Vince looked down at the contents in his cup. "I don't know. Jamie probably won't be happy to see me."
"Don't worry about her. I know for a fact that the two of you will make up," Jamie began, smiling back at the sandy blonde.
"Are you sure?" the teenager questioned.
"Vince, the two of you have been dating since you were two and five years old," she smirked. "I'm sure that a little fight won't keep you down for long."
Vince's lips twisted into a grin. "Alright. I'll give it a try."
The elder Fleming picked herself up and walked towards the door. "Come on, now," she called over her shoulder.
The sandy blonde followed his girlfriend's mother inside, picking up on the smell of coffee and eggs.
"She should be in the kitchen," Janine began before she turned to her right to head upstairs. Vince took in a deep, shaky breath as he headed down the hallway. Once he was in the kitchen, he saw his girlfriend hoisted up on a stool at one of the many connected island counters in the kitchen. She had her nose in a book, and a mug of coffee in front of her.
He nervously padded over to her, hoisting himself up in the stool next to her.
The brunette saw someone from the corner of her eye, but wasn't sure of who it was. She placed a bookmark in her place and put the book down to turn towards whoever was next to her.
When her boyfriend came into view, he just smiled back at her. "Hey, Jamie," he added breathlessly.
The younger teenager frowned, crossing her arms against her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to tell you that I'm sorry. Jamie, I was really wrong to make you stay here, when I know you didn't want to," Vince began, still smiling gently.
Her frown turned into a scowl. "Apology not accepted," she turned back to her book, giving her boyfriend the cold shoulder.
"Please talk to me," the sandy blonde pleaded his eyes with her, hoping she would just look at him once more.
"Why should I talk to you? You wouldn't talk to me last night," Jamie frowned, turning a page in her book.
Vince sighed heavily. "Sweetheart, I know I screwed up. The moment you slammed the door in my face, I was ready to go win you back.
"Then why didn't you? Why did you leave if you felt so guilty?"
"I didn't leave. I stayed here all night, waiting for you," the sandy blonde replied, his face gentle.
Jamie stiffened at that. "You're lying," she deadpanned.
"Jamie," Vince called to her. When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Jamie, look at me."
The brunette sighed and did as she was told. As their eyes met, she took in how incredibly tired his eyes were. How messy his hair was. And he was wearing the same exact thing…
"Jamie, I am not lying to you," the sandy blonde placed a hand on her knee, frowning sadly as she flinched back. "I screwed up, yeah I did. But I'm asking you to please forgive me."
"How do I know that we won't get into another fight like this?" the brunette asked quietly, setting her book aside.
"We don't know. But what I do know is that we love each other very much. And love is something powerful," Vince responded, his eyes on her again.
"But, is it enough?" Jamie questioned, tears forming behind her eyes.
"We'll find out, just as long as I have your hand," the sandy blonde held out an expecting hand.
Jamie sighed, unsure of what to do. She really wanted to be with her boyfriend, but she was afraid.
"Jamie," Vince began, looking back at her with a hopeful smile.
"We can make this work?" the brunette asked.
"Of course we can," the sandy blonde responded, watching as his girlfriend slid her fingers in between his.
"Okay," Jamie smirked. "But you have to agree to something first."
Vince nodded, a little nervous as to her conditions. "What is it?"
-0-
During the next few weeks of their reconciliation, Vince and Jamie made up rather quickly. The brunette made her boyfriend wait on her hand and foot. He treated her like a queen, and Jamie enjoyed the hell out of it.
-0-
The sandy blonde and his girlfriend lay down on the brunette's bed, cuddled into each other. The radio played softly in the distance; Vince and Jamie sharing a slow kiss.
The two separated for a breath of air that neither of them wanted to take. Vince rested his forehead against his girlfriend's both breathing dangerously close to the other's lips.
"So," the sandy blonde gave her a little grin. "Am I forgiven yet?"
Jamie took a moment to think about it, a smirk in place. "I don't know, Vince. You might have to put up with the torture for a little longer," she pulled him closer to her again, starting another kiss.
"Well, I think I can take this kind of torture," the sandy blonde breathed through his lips.
"I'm sure you can," the brunette snuggled into her boyfriend's neck. "I like this myself. Now, can you do me a favor?"
"Yeah, what's that, sweetheart?" Vince asked, looking down at his girlfriend in concern.
"Can you go make me some more tea?" Jamie raised her head, giving the sandy blonde a pretty little smile.
The elder teenager smiled back, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "I sure can. You still want peach flavor?"
The brunette took a moment to come up with an answer. "Actually, raspberry sounds great right about now."
"You've got it," Vince said, sliding out from behind her.
"I think I could get used to you being my bitch," Jamie added with a flirtatious smirk.
"Pretty soon you'll get me my own dog collar, won't you?" The sandy blonde grinned back at her.
"Well, maybe not that far," the brunette sighed contentedly, relaxing her pillow as she smirked back at her boyfriend.
Vince ducked his head to kiss Jamie once more, holding the kiss out for quite a few moments. "I love you, you know that, right?"
The younger teen nodded, drawing back from her boyfriend's lips slightly. "I know that. And you're in luck," she smiled. "I love you too."
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