Chapter 17

"Wow, someone is happy today." Trish commented when Jasina walked into the office, Gary following her as usual doing her bidding.

Jasina shrugged, not able to wipe the smile from her face, having gone back to the ranch to change into work clothes after leaving John at the hotel. She sent him a text apologizing, but she had to get to work and promised to contact him later. She didn't want him thinking she was using him because that was not her intention at all, genuinely liking him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She retorted with sparkling teal eyes, heading to her office with a cappuccino.

Gary raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on with Jasina and knew Trish was thinking the same thing.

"The hell if you are, Teddy!"

"Watch me, Ariebelle!"

"Don't call me-" Arielle clammed up when Gary and Trish both poked their heads out of Jasina's office door. "Sorry."

"She's mad because I'm signing her up for a photography contest among Houston interns."

"I see...Good luck with that Arielle, no more yelling from either of you." Trish ordered sweetly.

Gary shook his head when Arielle went to kick Ted in the shin once Trish's head was turned, snorting when Ted retaliated. Randy Orton he was not, but there was no denying his methods...worked. He shifted his attention back to the...insanely happy Jasina, raising an eyebrow.

The entire day all Jasina could do was smile brightly, which was contagious and actually hummed while writing her articles and answering the 'Ask Jade' column. She never thought having sex could make her this happy, but the littlest things in life usually do. Not that sex was a small thing, but it rejuvenated her in ways Jasina needed to be.

It was all thanks to John Cena. Jasina owed him everything and decided to thank him until he left Houston. She would start out by asking him to be her date for Trish and Steve's wedding, hoping he accepted her invitation.

At the end of the day, Arielle strolled into her mom's office, arching an eyebrow when she heard Jasina humming under her breath. "Mom, are you feeling alright?" She asked curiously, circling around the desk to place a hand on her Mom's forehead, checking for a fever. "Gary said you were actin'...weird, I didn't believe him." She was glad to see her Mom happy, which obviously Jasina was, but...after a full day's work and she was STILL grinning? That just seemed...odd. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Just in a good mood today, honey. I've had a great day, nothing more than that." Jasina wasn't about to tell her daughter multiple orgasms and hours of mind-blowing sex with her date was the reasoning for her happiness. "I'll try to be less happy." She joked, closing her laptop after saving her work, seeing the skepticism on Arielle's face. "So I heard that Ted has enrolled you in a photography contest?" Jasina changed the subject swiftly, grinning. "You will win hands down, now you just have to figure out what to photograph."

"I don't WANT to be in this competition. I keep tellin' him I'm not ready, but he won't listen. He says 'Well Randy had a ledger with upcoming events for the year and he was going to sign you up, so I'm signin' you'-" Arielle clamped both hands over her mouth, realizing she had just rattled off about Randy, though when Jasina's expression didn't change, not even a twinge of pain in her teal eyes, she slowly removed her hands. "Anyway, he's doing it." She finished lamely.

"If Ted thinks you're ready to do this, then you need to trust your mentor, sweetheart." Jasina simply said, the mention of Randy no longer hurting her and she knew why.

She was finally moving on.

Jasina wasn't in love with John by any means, but she did feel something for him or else she wouldn't have had sex with him. Arielle would be confused for awhile, but everything would come out in the open eventually and that part Jasina was not looking forward to. John would be kept secret until the wedding at least.

"I think you'll do a fantastic job." She packed up her things and felt her cell phone vibrate, knowing it was probably John since he knew what time she got off of work.

"Of course you have to say that, you're my Mom, you think I'll do a fantastic job on everything. Mom, seriously, I don't want to do this. What if I bomb? I'm nowhere NEAR as good as Randy was or Teddy is..." Arielle bent down to rub her shin, scowling. "And he KICKED me with the toe of his cowboy boot, isn't that employee or intern abuse?" She shot her Mom a trembling lip and wide hurt eyes, not mentioning that she might've...kicked him first.

"I'm sure he wouldn't have done that had you not kicked him first, Arielle." Jasina shot back seriously, folding her arms in front of her chest, knowing her daughter inside and out. "I know how you are, you can't fool your mother. If you REALLY don't want to do the photography contest, then go talk to Trish about it. I can't do anything about it because I'm not involved in your internship anymore. Though I will tell you that if you complain to Trish this soon, she might take you out of the internship and make you do something else...something you might not enjoy. Think about it." Dropping a kiss on the top of Arielle's head, Jasina walked out of her office, leaving her with those thoughts.

"Mom, I already did talk to Trish and she told me to suck it up!" Arielle shouted after her Mom, groaning when she just got soft laughter back and slumped against the office wall.

It wasn't like she didn't feel honored that Ted wanted her to do it or that Randy had thought she would be ready and that had been MONTHS ago when he had made that note in his ledger. He had anticipated her being skilled enough even then. But what if she wasn't? What if she wasn't as good as everyone thought she was?

"Come on Arie, I'll walk you down to your car and I'll tell you a really, really amusing story about my first photo contest."

"What kind of amusing?" Arielle looked up at Ted, suddenly interested.

"The kind of amusing that'll make you wonder how I even got this job."

"What is going on with your Mom?" Gary wondered, sidling up beside his girlfriend, who was laughing at Ted over something he clearly missed. "She wasn't herself today."

Ted frowned, looking down at Gary. "What do you mean?" He knew about Randy's death and how Jasina had been with Randy in a relationship, but not the details. He was shot down after asking Jasina out on a date and decided not to bark up that tree again.

"I don't know." Something definitely was fishy. "Arie, why don't we go see your Dad? Maybe he knows something."

"Yeah, yeah, so tell me how you completely botched the session, Teddy Bear."

Ted wondered if he'd ever get used to hearing that nickname. "Well, for starters, I-"

He looked at Gary, hesitating before sighing. Ted knew Arielle would just repeat it to her boyfriend anyway, so he might as well get the humiliation over and done with now. Arielle's eyes widened when Ted began listing off everything he had done wrong to botch the session, which also included winding up with a bunch of pigeons using him as a statue, an elderly couple nude, and a dog bite.

"No WONDER you lost, didn't you even get the picture you wanted?"

"I was disqualified on the grounds of old woman nipple to the very left of the frame."

Gary slapped himself in the face when Arielle doubled over laughing. "Are we going to go see your Dad?"

"Sure, give me a minute to laugh at Teddy Bear..." She gasped, holding her side.

"Ariebelle..."

~!~

When Jasina arrived at the ranch, she was mildly surprised to see Arielle's car in the driveway and parked on the side of her, wondering what was going on. Probably questioning Mark about her sudden change of mood. Though Jasina didn't care what people thought and she wasn't telling them about her night of passion with John.

However, since Arielle was here along with Mark, it was time to tell them about her new house she was moving into just after the wedding. That's the soonest it would be ready and Jasina was fine with that, planning on spending as much time with John as possible while he was in town. She walked in the house, hearing talking in the kitchen and took her pumps off before heading in that direction.

"I swear to god man, she was just...perky and happy. It was...nice but weird."

"She was humming, at the end of the day."

"Couldn't she just be happy to be gettin' off work?" Mark arched an eyebrow at the kids.

"It's MOM, she loves her job."Arielle pointed out.

"Maybe she's sick?" Gary suggested lamely.

"You know, that's what I thought, but she's not. Not unless being happy is a mental illness." Arielle stated, knowing something was going on with her mother.

"I think you two are makin' a big deal outta nothin', there ain't a law sayin' she can't be happy." Mark stated, though he couldn't help wondering what was going on with Jasina either secretively.

"Course not, but WHY was she happy?"

"I wasn't aware it was against the law to be happy, but apparently it is." Jasina said somewhat defensively from behind them, having overheard the conversation and walked inside the kitchen, the smile etched on her face a little tightened. "There is a reason why I'm so happy and I was waiting for all of us to be able to get together so I could announce it."

Gary lowered his eyes, feeling like an ass that they'd been caught talking about Jasina behind her back like this.

"Well, we're all here together now." Arielle demanded, refusing to back down as she stared at her mother through slightly narrowed eyes. "What is it?"

"The day after Trish and Steve's wedding, I'm moving out of the ranch." Jasina announced, wanting to do this a little easier, but her daughter wasn't letting that happen. "I found a cute little two bedroom house just down the street from work and it was in my price range. It has new appliances and everything. I've already put a down payment on it and signed all the papers, but it won't be ready for me to move in until the day after the wedding. So it looks as though you'll be free of me soon enough, Mark."

At first, Mark had been about to say 'SEE', because he had agreed with Jasina. There wasn't a law saying she couldn't be happy, but after hearing her the news behind the happiness, he wasn't feeling so...happy, himself. He didn't want her to leave and it clearly showed in his eyes and body posture, though Mark was also a master at controlling his emotions. If this is what Jasina truly wanted, he wasn't going to stand in her way from leaving, even though that was his first instinctive move.

"Darlin', I was never worried about you livin' here." Mark said after a moment, ignoring the gauging looks Gary and Arielle were now giving him, not about to show them anything besides calmness. He didn't need kids analyzing him next.

"That's great Jasina." Gary said with a smile, trying to make up being an ass earlier.

"What do you need two bedrooms for?" Arielle asked curiously. "Me and Gary, right?"

"Well yeah, I suppose you and Gary, but mostly you because you are my daughter." Jasina sounded amused as she walked over, hugging both kids against her, kissing the top of Arielle's head. "And I know you weren't worried about it, Mark, but it's time for me to get out of here and live my own life." Not to mention the sexual tension mounting between them was suffocating and there was no way Jasina was making a trip to insanity again. "So you happy for me?"

"Of course Mom..." Arielle felt bad for her father because she could tell he wasn't happy about this sudden turn of events.

Gary decided to keep quiet before he inserted his foot in his mouth again.

"Thrilled, this means I can run around naked again." Mark teased, not really into the teasing but... he had to make an effort. Obviously she wanted to be away from him and was psyched over her new little house with brand new appliances and everything else. His ranch...not so new and definitely not small. "Does it have a white picket fence also?"

Gary winced at that, though he was glad someone else had done the 'ass' thing, though it was Mark so...he didn't bother making a derisive noise, not in the mood to eat the table.

Mark stood up from the table. "Sorry Jasina, that was out of line." He apologized, not entirely sure he meant it.

Normally, Jasina would've snapped at Mark for that snide comment, but nothing was going to sour her mood, simply smiling back at him. "If it does, it'll be easier keeping out intruders." She winked down at Arielle, deciding having her own comeback was much better than losing her temper. "So, anything else you would like to know?"

"No..."

"Is that all you're happy about?" Arielle asked, looking up at her mother.

"Yes and please come ask me questions next time instead of going to your father. He has enough on his mind and my life is none of his business. Right Mark?" Jasina looked down when her cell phone went off, excusing herself to answer the call.

"Bitch." Mark muttered under his breath, turning and storming out the patio doors, completely ignoring the shocked looks Gary and Arielle threw his way.

"Wow..."

"If he manages to make it through the weddin' without blowin' it, I will be VERY surprised." Arielle said seriously.

"Well, let's give him a little cred- Okay, okay, no credit." Gary backtracked when Arielle shot him a deadly glare.

"Not that I'm complaining much, but did you know...you left a three inch long scratch on me?" John said by way of greeting, amusement in his voice.

"Oops?" Jasina giggled softly, heading up to her room to have a little more privacy, not wanting the kids to overhear her conversation. "Sometimes I just can't control myself in the bedroom." That was her excuse and Jasina smiled when John chuckled, sitting down on her bed while staring out the window. "You left some marks on me too, though I'm definitely not complaining. I want to see you again tonight." Hoping she didn't sound too forward, Jasina couldn't help it, having thought about their night all day at work, which explained her goofy smile and happiness.

"I definitely want to see you again, and try taking you out again, just not to that restaurant. You can pick the place this time, maybe we can try the date thing one more time and see how that works out. Not that the sex wasn't great because it was, it was off the charts great, but-" John stopped when he heard her chuckling. "I'm going to get you if you're laughing at me, I will think of something incredibly mean to do to you...though you might also like it..."

"You have NO idea how much enjoy a little torture." Jasina practically purred, smirking when John groaned in her ear, the delicious ache between her thighs beginning to slowly throb with life. "We don't need to go out anywhere, I'd be happy just to spend some quality alone time with you."

Didn't Trish say something about Mark going out of town for a few days with Steve for a bachelor party? She remembered vaguely, chewing her bottom lip, wondering if bringing John to the ranch would be a good idea. If Mark found out, he would blow a gasket, but Jasina was a born and bred risk-taker, a smirk curving her lips.