It's been bugging me that I posted it here half-complete, so I figured half-assed or not, I'm gonna put it all the way.
She's surprised in the morning when she's the first one awake. Between the two of them, Joel's the early riser; the one that likes to watch the sun rise and likes company while he does it. He's a light sleeper mostly, as light as he needs to be when they're out on a run, but sometimes she forgets that he can snore loud enough to startle runners from down the street if he wanted to.
Honestly she doesn't want to get out of bed (or leave his side ever but those thoughts are personal and for her mind only), but her stomach is cramping so hard she can't go back to sleep anyway. With all the sweating and crying and physically draining activities they've done, food becomes her priority.
It's a miracle that she can get out from under his arms without waking him, but she does and stands by the bed for a moment to amuse herself with the way he mumbles something in his sleep and gropes at her pillow for something to hold onto. She smothers a chortle in her throat at the way he hauls the pillow to his chest; wondering if he realizes he would've suffocated her if she had been in that pillow's place.
She's gone when he starts to snore again.
She's done with the buttons on Joel's shirt that she's stolen by the time she gets downstairs, pausing in her step in surprise when she finds Ellie awake and rifling through the kitchen cupboards. Bear barks at the sight of her, wagging his tail eagerly as Ellie turns to her in surprise. With an awkward smile, Tess steps into the kitchen, running her hand through Bear's fur when he comes sniffing at her.
"Good morning!" Ellie greets her cheerily, and Tess reciprocates a little more lackluster greeting. "You're up early. Joel's usually up first."
"Heh, yeah well the old man's a little tuckered out - driving and everything." Tess shrugs innocently when Ellie eyes her doubtfully, raising a brow at the girl, leaning against the kitchen counter and watching her. "I could say the same for you," she replies, tilting her head curiously when Ellie clambers onto the counter to get to the higher cupboards. "What're you doing, kid?"
"Looking for Bear's treats," the muffled reply comes through the cupboard, and Tess watches amused when Ellie stumbles back to her feet, proudly grasping a box of dog treats that Bear goes crazy at the sight off. "Joel says I'm making Bear fat and lazy, so I hide 'em away so Joel can't." The fourteen year old grins secretively at Tess, offering her a treat. "Wanna feed him? Go ahead - make him beg for it."
Cautiously Tess accepts the treat, eyeing the bone shaped snack that smells like dry biscuit and rawhide and dangles it just out of the drooling dog's reach. Bear makes low tortured sounds as he wriggles at her feet, slobbering on the floor that she knows Joel's going to be pissed about. So she dangles it longer.
"Bear." The stern sound of his name from her mouth makes the dog's butt plop heavily to the ground; sitting doesn't really stop his body from shaking from his wagging tail. He licks his chops frantically, twitching as she holds the treat midway, smirking. "Beg, boy."
The dog's flailing his paws in the air like a drunk boxer, and Tess lets herself torture the poor dog for another moment or two before she tosses the treat over, laughing under her breath at the way Bear devours it. As she's washing her hands in the sink (with running water that isn't rust brown and doesn't smell like ass), she asks Ellie if there's anything decent around the house to eat for breakfast.
"We've got eggs and bacon," Ellie tells her, leaning over the counter where Tess had been, watching the woman with a bright curiosity as Tess pulls open the fridge and rummages through what they have to eat. She's trying her best not to ask why Tess is wearing Joel's shirt, but it's what's hidden underneath the shirt that intrigues her mostly. Bent at such an angle, the collar of the shirt gapes just wide enough for Ellie to see the bite mark that she's last seen when it was fresh and an ugly red monster on the woman's pale skin.
She burns pink when Tess catches her staring, looking away guiltily and picking at her nails when she feels obligated to break the awkward silence. "Did it uh - does it - still hurt? I mean -." Her ears burn under Tess' sharp eyes, but the girl is calmed when Tess shrugs simply, touching the scar as if she's only just remembered it was there.
"Not unless you jab at it," she tells the girl, and it's mostly true. It also bugs the shit out of her when she sleeps on it (or like last night when Joel's arm crammed up against it), but Ellie doesn't need to know that. She sighs inwardly at the way Ellie's still staring at her like she's not sure if she's offended or not, so Tess pulls out the eggs and slides them over to her.
"You ever had bacon French toast before?"
He wakes up to a missing shirt and an empty bed. At first he thinks that it's all a dream that he's woken up from, but he still smells the scent of her skin on his sheets and there are marks on his body that prove to him that yes, Tess is alive and she's here and she bit him hard enough to bleed.
She's also stolen his shirt.
It smells like something sweet and starchy and it's coming from downstairs. He doesn't realize how hungry he is until his stomach makes a very loud call to the scent, and Joel has to amble back over to the bathroom where his jeans are before finding the muscle shirt he's stolen from Tommy and makes his way downstairs.
He hears chattering from just around the corner of the kitchen, Ellie's high and excitable voice a sweet contrast to Tess' low, dulcet tone. Something's sizzling on the stove; he's pleasantly surprised to hear Tess laughing over the noise, even more so when he hears Ellie's own giggle follow suit. It puts a strange sensation in his chest; something warm and buoyant but thick and heavy at the same time. It's not something he can label just yet, so he doesn't.
He just rounds the corner into the kitchen and tries to keep his grouchy face on instead of smiling at the sight of Tess and Ellie hovering by the stove; a pile of what looks like French toast on a plate. There's another plate of bacon beside it, and when Bear barks at the sight of him, the girls turn around too.
"Joel, watch this!" Ellie exclaims, glancing from the man to Tess as she nudges the woman eagerly. "Do it again, Tess! Do it again!"
Tess laughs quietly but obliges the girl, lifting the pan in one hand and flipping the piece of toast sizzling in the pan with little effort. It's followed by Ellie's repetitive exclamation of 'cool!' and Joel's low chuckle and a slow clap that has Tess narrowing her eyes at him over her shoulder.
"Looks like we've got a chef on our hands," he quips, pouring himself a glass of orange-flavored water as Ellie eagerly presents him with a plate of French toast. They've mustered up some blueberries they've been growing in the backyard, and Joel has to smile at the little smiley face Ellie's decorated his breakfast in. "Thank you, baby girl." He forks a blueberry, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly. "Looks like we got ourselves an artist too."
Tess appears with a chortle and a plate of bacon, sliding the plate over to the man while Ellie happily circles the breakfast table, setting places for them both. "Bear, no!" The dog's making an attempt at the bacon, and Tess slaps him across the snout until his ear flatten in shame and the dog slinks off to sit around his own meal.
"You've barely been 'ere a day and you've got the damn dog whipped," Joel notes, both amused and perplexed and yet not really, because that's just what happens when Tess is in the picture. She's some sort of force you can't help gravitate to.
Tess smirks at him, sliding her hand along his bare arm as she comes around the counter. "Pretty sure by the end of the week, I'll have everyone in this house whipped." He can't think to deny the truth, and they both join Ellie at the table. He pulls out a seat for her out of habit - he's from Texas after all -, and seizes the chance to lean in to whisper in her ear as he's pushing her seat in for her.
"We're gonna need to discuss your little…shirt stealin' habits if this is gonna be a regular thing." He rubs the material of the collar between his fingers pointedly, but Tess is hardly repentant as she smacks his wandering fingers away before they can slip underneath the shirt.
"Looks better on me," she says simply, and dives into her breakfast. Joel shrugs as he plops down in his seat. It's true. Even if it's about two sizes too big and hangs down to her thighs - he can get used to seeing her in his clothes.
Ellie groans out loud then, her mouth full of Tess' culinary creation as she struggles to chew it all before she can speak without choking herself. "Shit, Tess, these are fuckin' delicious!" she cries, stabbing another piece and shoving it into her mouth before she's done with the other. The girl pretends not to hear Joel's low reproach about her language, beaming instead when Tess chuckles at her.
"They're pretty fuckin' great, if I do say so myself," the woman agrees, forking a piece for herself and smirking at Joel when he's glaring at her over the rim of his glass for encouraging Ellie. "You always were a shitty cook. Poor kid oughta learn what real home cooking tastes like."
Joel rolls his eyes dramatically at her, though his ears burn. He doesn't argue with them - the foodis pretty fuckin' delicious, but he's remembering a time where Sarah used to whine at him for burning the pancakes or overcooking the pasta. Give him a grill and some prime cuts and he'll barbecue them to perfection, but Joel knows diddly squat about what goes on in the kitchen.
For all their sakes, he doesn't think it wise to start learning now.
Ellie groans again, and Joel scowls at her. "Girl, people're gonna think you're turnin' or somethin'!"
"Or having an orgasm," Tess offers, popping another bite into her mouth. Damn though. It's pretty fucking delicious.
"What's an orgasm?"
Joel sighs heavily, casting a murderous glare at the woman. "Goddamn it, Tess."
It's when Tess and Ellie start wheedling Joel into doing the dishes that someone comes knocking at the front door, and Joel can just barely make out the person's voice over Bear's booming bellowing. "Hello in there! Where's the Alpha dog, Bear? Huh? Where's Joel?"
The familiar voice throws Tess; she glances almost accusingly at Joel when he turns to her protectively out of instinct. "I'm gonna take a guess and say that Tommy thinks I'm rotting in the ground somewhere." It's a little bitter, but she can't stay angry at Joel for the way his hand spans across her stomach, pushing her behind him as they both walk down the hall.
The man's face is stubborn. "Yeah well, he got a problem with it - he takes it up with me. But you sure as hell ain't goin' nowhere."