step by step

An NCIS fic collection

by mew-tsubaki

- ^-^3

imagine: seasons 4—a new year (this post on the sideblog: 705931476481572864/ parknight-imagines-seasons-4-a-new-year)

tags: established!Parknight

- ^-^3

How is it that everyone else makes this looks so easy? A quick, thirty-second video online, and somebody transforms a shabby piece of fabric into something magical and stunning.

…huh. Maybe this will be her New Year's resolution, to be handy at these little domestic things? It's a start to her list, at least.

Still, Knight internally huffs with a glance at her clock and then at her top in a shiny puddle in her lap. Yeah, she doesn't exactly have time to fix this. And yet—

Knight picks up the top (not in complete tatters, thank goodness) and dons it anyway. She's got other plans tonight—sparkles, pain, and champagne won't mix and keep her down. She yanks on silky black slacks and tucks her feet into a pair of pumps, wincing when her tender fingertips catch between her heel and one shoe. Knight pulls on her coat before ducking out the door, hoping the chill will ease her aches.

A short while later, a familiar, scruffy face greets her from behind his own apartment door. "You're a little early," Parker notes, one eyebrow raised out of curiosity.

Knight grins, pecks his lips, and steps inside. "Chock it up to excitement," she quips while he closes the door behind her. She tilts her head up as she catches spice in the air. "Smells good in here."

"I'm glad—but dinner will be in another twenty minutes." He holds his hand out to her. Then, when she blinks at him, he shakes his hand for emphasis. "Jess, your coat? I'll hang it up."

Ah, right. Of course… Wearing it on the way over only solves her problem in the short term… But she unbuttons the front slowly, locking eyes with him as she does. "…promise me you won't laugh?"

Parker cocks his head a hair forward, as if asking "What's there to laugh about?"

Granted, Alden Parker has seen her through worse, both embarrassing (family shenanigans) and humiliating (bloodied and blown up on the job). So seeing her shed her jacket only to reveal a shimmery, dark gold top with once-long sleeves that now hang in shreds from her shoulders doesn't land anywhere on that scale, to be frank.

Nevertheless, her fashion faux pas does elicit a "…huh" from him. Parker clears his throat. "Isn't that what you wore to Ducky's birthday a few months ago?"

Knight's cheeks redden, but she hands over the jacket anyway. "It is. I just—I wanted to modify it a bit, since you and I were spending New Year's Eve together, and it's the nicest thing I have, and I thought I could pull off this trick I saw online and—" She fiddles with her necklace to keep her hands from talking right along with her, but the sensation isn't the same when Band-Aids form a barrier between her fingertips and the calming, cool metal of the pendant.

Parker's eyes drop briefly to her hands, and his shoulders slacken. He nods, once, and ushers her further into his home, towards the kitchen, actually. Without a word, Parker motions for Knight to sit on one of the stools at the counter while he rummages in a nearby cupboard for…a sewing kit. "Arm out," he says, and he threads a needle as Knight lifts her left arm.

She watches him while he works—which is fast, snipping some stray threads and tucking shorn ends before stitching—and Knight wonders why she's amazed for even a second. One moment, he's repairing her left sleeve (and it looks the way it should in her reference video!); the next, he's got her right one done, too, lickety-split. His skill makes her chuckle.

"What?" Parker asks as he returns the bits and bobs to the emergency fix-it kit and brushes the debris off the counter into his hand to toss.

"Just thinking…it's New Year's Eve and I'm still learning so much about you."

He smirks. "No regrets, I hope?"

Somehow, Knight finds her grin returning. "You know, not even for my abysmal sewing skills, since you appear to be a jack-of-all-trades," she quips, implying she's happy to rely on him for whatever may come…now and in the many months ahead.

- ^-^3

December 2022 was too busy and too unkind…I forgot I had this idea to go along with my NYE edit for the sideblog. Better late than never? Also, viral fashion trends, amirite.

-mew! XP