Return to Sacramento: Chapter 7
Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, but I was caught up in the excitement of Interschools! Because I feel like I know you guys, I'm gonna keep verbal-diarrhea-ing all about Interschools. It's the biggest sporting event of its kind in the world, and every winter it takes OVER my hometown. It's a ball. And it's fun. So that's my excuse. I was too busy trying to play netball and getting rained on while yelling profanities at rugby players to write this weekend. Sincere apologies.
Also, a scene with Jess in this chapter is inspired by my little sister and something she said when she was about three.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, no hotel names, no characters, absolute, pure boggerol.
James Shepard at the Sacramento Sterling hotel greeted the tense-looking party at the door as they exited from their respective taxis. He had seen many groups of people enter through those doors in his years of working the lobby of the hotel – families with smiling, sunburnt faces; couples with cheesy faces and rainbows of cheesy happiness pouring out their ears; the odd group of tourists with accents and flashing cameras. But this group was different. Seven guests – three couples, one with a child – all of the adults wearing similar intense, serious looks.
The only response he got to the standard exuberant welcome-speech (complete with charming smile and welcoming spread arms) was a chorus of tight smiles – with the exception of the Asian man whose face remained stoic and expressionless.
"We called a little earlier; reception should know about us?" A blonde-haired man said. He looked about the worst of them all.
"Yes, I've been told. You could just go check in and get your room keys at the front desk. Everything should be in order."
"Oh, I doubt that."
The blonde man's comment left him perplexed, standing alone as the group swiftly made their way to the front desk. From his spot at his desk by the door, he could hear the same blonde man start arguing with the receptionist, demanding a new room. For some obscure reason the ones he asked for were no longer up to standard.
After a few minutes, the frazzled young receptionist had booked them three other rooms and the group disappeared behind the closing elevator doors.
X
For the second time in two days, Teresa Lisbon set her suitcase down on a hotel bed and zipped it open. As she slowly looked through the case to find her toilet bag and toothbrush, her eyes went to little Jess who was innocently bopping up and down on the bed and playing idly with her teddy bear. They couldn't find a three-bed room – with two other rooms close-by – at such short notice, so Jess would be sleeping with her parents tonight. She was actually grateful. Having her daughter right beside her could only help with the tension.
"Mommy?" Jess looked up and spoke with a very familiar whining voice. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree there. "Why did we go to another hotel?"
"Because..." Lisbon drew the world out, thinking of a reason. How could she explain this to her three-year-old? "Because Daddy thought this one was better."
"In the last one I had my own room." She mumbled.
Lisbon turned from the suitcase, hands on her hips, with a quirked eyebrow. "What? Mommy and Daddy aren't good enough for you anymore?"
"You're too warm."
She could only giggle. Even in these dark times, her daughter was a little ray of sunshine.
She heard the door open and turned to see Jane enter.
"Cho and Claire are settling in next door. Wayne and Grace are just across the hall."
Lisbon nodded, then paused for a moment, thinking. "Honey, you want some chocolate milk?" She asked Jess, and as she nodded, Lisbon pulled Jane by the sleeve of his jacket to the mini-kitchenette in the corner of the bedroom and started boiling some water.
"What is it?" Jane asked with concern when he saw the tortured expression barely hidden beneath the curtain of ebony hair that fell across her face as she hastily prepared a cup of coffee, a cup of tea and a glass of chocolate milk for Jess.
"I'm scared." Her voice was barely heard, just a whisper that fell painfully from her lips.
He pulled her against his chest in a hug, holding her tightly in his arms, comforting her. "I know. I know, baby, I know. It's gonna be okay."
"You don't know that!" She whispered urgently. "You don't know..." Her urgency faded into hopelessness, and as she pulled away Jane felt the most terrible stab of heartbreak when he saw her beautiful blue-green eyes watery and broken.
"Hey... trust me." He said, wiping a teardrop from under her eye with his thumb. "Trust me when I say this: I won't let anything happen to you or Jess. I promise you that, Teresa."
Lisbon swallowed, nodding shakily as Jane bent down and kissed her forehead tenderly. "I promise..." He whispered against her skin.
"Mommy?" Jess' voice snapped them to reality and Lisbon turned back to the cups, her face away from Jess. She could tell her mother was crying; she might be young, but Jess was a very smart little girl.
"Your milk is coming, sweetie. Just give Mommy another minute." She said.
Jane turned to Jess, walking close so she could jump into his outstretched arms and he twirled her around. The twirling was sufficient to distract the little girl from enquiring further about the shakiness in her mother's voice. Or, of course, she could just as easily just be sensitive enough to tell she shouldn't probe, Jane thought. Sometimes he really didn't know with Jess. She was special; she had a razor-sharp wit and an extremely surprisingly deep intelligence for such a young child. And then
"Can we go to the beach today?" She squealed in delight as he dipped her low until she hung upside down with her shining dark curls dangling in the wind.
"I don't know, sweetie." His eyes quickly flashed to Lisbon and he saw that she had composed herself and was now taking a sip of her sacred first cup of brew. "What do you say, Teresa?"
"The beach? Where would be go to the beach?"
"We could go over to South Beach, in Carmichael. C'mon, it's a ten minute drive."
"Twenty minutes, minimum."
"Come on, Teresa. It's not even afternoon yet, we can still make a day of it. We could all do with some fun; we could all relax." His voice was meaningful now.
When she sees Jess' blue eyes looking up at her with innocent hope, she couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Alright. Alright, fine, you guys win. We'll go to the beach."
"Yay!" Jess shouted, jumping out of her father's arms and running to hug Lisbon's legs. "I'm gonna go get my swimsuit."
Lisbon frowned a bit. "Why did you..?"
"Bring the swimsuit? Well, uh... Jess and I might've plotted behind your back just a little on that one."
"Hey!" She slapped his chest.
"I brought your black bikini as well." He said with an impish smile.
"Don't you ever stop?" She said, trying to keep the smile creeping upon her face as she blushed.
"I'm trying to keep things light, Teresa. I know just how dark and terrible things can get if you let a situation like this one get the better of you. So we're going to the beach."
"We're going to the beach..." She said softly.
"Yes. We're going to the beach. And you're wearing the black bikini." He kissed her cheek. "Now go get dressed. I'll get the team in line."
Okay, so next chap: the beach! And maybe some Mashburn-related drama. Since, you know, I have him all in this and being dramatic and suspense-y and all. Please review...
Much love, Zanny