Long way from Conway (56/?)
Thanks to groffiction for this WONDERFUL banner :D
A/N: Had a lot of fun with this. If you really think, you may know a little surprise I'm going to give you all on Ben and James' wedding day.......*wink* Oh, and CONGRATS to my Florida Gator Baseball Team for getting into the College World Series <33333 Anyway, ENJOY! :D A lot of cuteness in this chapter.
"Make sure to call us immediately if anything happens to Jessie," Kris says as Leila pushes both him and Adam towards the door. "Oh, and remember she has to be fed every three hours, even at night."
Leila rolls her eyes. "Kris, lately, I've been the one doing most of the feedings. I think I know how to take care of your little girl."
Adam blushes. "Sorry about that, Mom."
"Oh, it's okay. I love taking care of her instead of sitting around at home with nothing to do. Now come on, you two need to leave now or else you'll miss the party. I'm sure Ben would start crying or something if you weren't here."
"Brad would kill us before Ben even got close," Kris remarks, opening the door before him and Adam can get smashed against it. "Okay, okay, we're going!"
"Gosh Mom, you'd think you hate us or are planning something!"
Leila smirks. "Just go, you two. Make Ben's last day of being single enjoyable. Jessie and I will be waiting for you guys when you get back."
"Okay, but remember to-"
"Feed her every three hours, yes Kristopher. Now go!"
And with that, they're gone, off to go enjoy whatever crazy thing planned.
Man, was it going to be crazy.
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"You girls are the best, you know that?"
Casey nods and takes a sip of her wine. "We know. Besides, you deserve to be treated well on your last night not taken."
"Yeah," Gabby agrees, fiddling around with a drink for James, "all for you. Now, come here and get this drink so the party can start."
Getting up, James takes the drink from Gabby and then looks at it suspiciously. It was orange-ish red and looks almost like the color of a mango to him as he swirls it around.
"What is this, Gabby?"
"Oh, just a mix of things," she says as she sits between Jamie and Allison, toting her own version of his drink. "Taste it, first."
"Okay," James replies hesitantly, not trusting the thing one bit. Nevertheless, he takes a long sip of the alien drink and swallows hard. "It tastes....bitter. And salty."
Gabby smirks. "Exactly. Awesome, huh?"
"I guess."
"Oh James," Jamie says, clasping her hands together happily, "we have a few little things to show you. Now, we know you are not a girl, that's obvious, but we all decided to share this with you. Okay, for good luck, we got you four little items..."
"Something old," Casey says, handing James a gold watch with a wink. "It's my great uncle's watch. It's from a real long time ago. Like, in the early nineteen hundreds."
"Something new," Allison chirps, giving James a long box. Opening it, James finds a bright red tie, shiny and brand new all for him. "I got Ben's advice before buying it, so....it's not just any old tie."
"Something borrowed," Jamie continues, giving James a necklace with a bright magenta pendant hanging from it in the shape of a heart. It's on a gold chain and has the word 'commitment' written on it in cursive lettering. "It's made just for people to wear on their wedding day. You can give it back after your wedding day, unless you two are planning to head off somewhere crazy fast or something."
James giggles. "Who knows, considering how Ben acts."
"And finally," Gabby says, bringing something out of a bag, "something blue."
The whole group bursts into laughter, James being the loudest as he takes the object gratefully.
"A bottle of vodka, Gabby? Really?"
Gabby shrugs. "What's a honeymoon without it?"
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"I never thought I'd be so embarrassed with Adam in my life."
Tommy laughs as the two watch Adam drunkenly near dirty dance with Brad to 'Cat-Scratch Fever' blaring loudly from a radio nearby. "Eh, he's not that bad. I mean, he could be taking his clothes off and stuff. We all know that tempting Ben the night before his wedding isn't exactly the best thing to do."
Gazing over at Ben dancing around with a broom, Kris can't help but agree.
He's drunk-that would not be smart at all to do.
"Kris?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you two know when you're ever going to get married to each other?"
Kris sighs. "No, Tommy. Adam and I have no clue and I could frankly care less right now. Heck, until Crystal's locked up for good, nothing is really going to make me care other than Jessie."
"Are you going to a least get married before she grows up a bit?"
Groaning, Kris looks over to Tommy and lets out a huge breath. "Why is everyone so concerned about that? Can't we just wait and see day by day what our feelings are?"
"Kris?"
"What?"
"Are you worried about getting married?"
Kris snorts and folds his arms. "No, why would you think that?"
"Well," Tommy says, shifting his position so that he can look into Kris's eyes, "for one thing, you keep dodging the subject. That's kind of a good indicator."
"I.....I just have a lot going on with my life right now and...well, I doubt we can even afford a whole wedding and-"
"Whoa," Tommy cuts off, "hold up. First of all, the only things that are big going on with your life are Jessie needing your attention and Crystal's trial. Once that trial's gone....you're perfectly free to-"
"Look, I don't want to get married just yet, okay? End of conversation."
"But-"
"End of conversation!"
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"Leila! Your Granddaughter needs you!"
Walking into Jessie's nursery, Leila groans as she sees Eber struggling to keep Jessie from crying in his lap. She quickly runs up to him and takes her into her arms, a sigh escaping her lips as the little girl stops.
"You'd think that after raising two very loud children, you'd at least remember how to quiet an average crying girl."
Eber shrugs. "Hey, last time I did this, Neil was young. He's older now. Same with Adam. Can't I have the excuse of being a little rusty considering it's been over a decade since I've done this?"
"Maybe."
"Hey Leila," he asks as she goes over to the changing table to change Jessie's diaper, "when do you think the boys are going to finally get married?"
"Oh, I don't know.......maybe when they finish high school? Why, do you ask?"
Once again, Eber shrugs. "Well.....I just am wondering why they aren't all pushing to do it because of Jessie being born now. She deserves to at least have her family complete."
"Jessie deserves to have a family who loves her, that's all. It's the boy's decision on when they want to get married."
"But what if Jessie wonders why her parents aren't married?"
Leila frowns. "That won't be until she's at least two, Eber."
"What if the public wonder about why Adam has a kid and isn't married to the other parent of it when they check him out?"
"Well......that's......"
"True," Eber finishes, watching Leila set Jessie into her crib. "Face it, if they don't get married, Adam's going to be questioned by people for that as to why he's 'depriving' Jessie of a stable family. People will then start to question their right to take care of her and our judgement towards their choices. That only makes people look bad, and if Adam is going to become a star, it's going to be necessary that they at least set a date."
"I hate that," Leila says quietly, grabbing Eber's hands into hers. "They shouldn't be forced into it just because the public would eat them up alive."
"It's the price of fame, love."
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"Bye girls! Thank you so much for the wonderful party!"
Jamie hugs James tightly before walking out, giving him a playful wink before running to the car. Casey follows and does the same, dragging the very drunk Gabby along behind her with the help of Allison. As soon as the whole group leaves, James slams the door shut and takes a huge breath.
The place was a wreck.
Heck, he was a wreck.
Picking up his cell from one of the side tables, James quickly dials Ben's number, in need of at least one sane voice to speak to him that night.
"Ben?"
"Hey love," Ben says on the other line, his voice cheerful, "how was your party?"
"Other than the fact that Gabby nearly drank my fish tank, pretty good."
Ben laughs. "Wow. So, why are you calling?"
"Can't I just hear your voice on the night before our wedding day?"
"Yeah, I guess."
James sighs and plops down on one of his couches. "I really miss you."
"Miss you, too."
"You ready for tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I guess. It scares the crap out of me, though."
"I agree," James replies, running his fingers through his hair nervously. "Anyway, I'm super tired. See you tomorrow?"
Ben chuckles. "Of course, silly. Love you."
"Love you too, Ben. So much."
"'Night."
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"Adam, quiet down," Kris whispers loudly as they enter the house, night already spread across the household, "Jessie's asleep."
"But I wanna' seeeeeeeee the babyyyyyyyy!"
"Gosh you're stubborn when drunk," Kris groans as he drags Adam to their room. "You're not seeing Jessie until you sober up, angel."
"Youuuuuuuuuu called me angel! Yay!"
Kris rolls his eyes. "Will you please go to bed so that I can say goodnight to our hopefully normal daughter?"
"I will."
"Good."
"As long as my sweet thang gives me kisses."
"Adam," Kris whines, trying to shove him into his room, "not now. Jessie needs to be checked on by one of her parents, and since you're not sober enough to, I have to. Please, go to bed."
Adam frowns. "But that's no fair. You......you get to kiss our baby goodnight and I don't have anyone to kiss. Not fair, Krissifer."
Kris sighs and then leans forward to kiss him, bringing their lips together sweetly in a very chaste yet loving kiss. Adam smiles during the kiss and then hugs Kris when done, curling up in his warmth.
"You're so warm and cuddly. Like a panda a bear. You should be called my sweet panda thing, Krissifer."
"Go to bed, Adam. I kissed you, so now you need to go to bed. I'll be back with some water and aspirin, okay?"
Reluctantly, Adam pulls away and stomps over to his room, pouting the whole way there. Rolling his eyes, Kris walks over to the nursery and walks up to Jessie's crib, his brown eyes meeting the beautiful sight of his baby girl. Suddenly, her little eyes flutter open and look straight at him. Kris giggles.
"Well hello girly," he playfully coos to her, her eyes studying him closely. "You're up late. Hungry?"
Jessie doesn't even make a sound. "I guess not. Here, let's get you out of that little mini prison and into my arms."
Picking her up gently, Kris manages to get her situated in his arms and then sits down in the rocking chair, gazing down at his little daughter proudly. "You have the cutest face, you know that?"
Jessie blinks, making Kris chuckle. "Of course you wouldn't answer than, you're like, almost a week old. Anyway, sorry your Papa can't come say goodnight to you. He's....well....a little crazy right now, I guess. He sends love and kisses your way, though."
"Can I at least kiss her, Krissifer?"
Looking to the door, he can see Adam, puppy dogs eyes and all, standing meekly in the threshold. Sighing, he motions for Adam to come in. Adam quickly runs in and kneels next to them, his eyes fixated on the little girl like hers are on him.
"Hi baby girl," he whispers a little more animated than usual. "Sorry for Daddy being a meany. He just doesn't want to share you cuteness."
"Hey."
"It's understandable though," Adam continues, ignoring Kris's mocking frown. "You are kind of awesome to be with for a baby. Anyway, I wanted to give you your little goodnight kiss before I go snuggle into bed with Daddy. Here you go, Jess."
With that, he leans forward and kisses Jessie on the forehead, making her eyes widen a bit in surprise. Adam laughs. "You are so cute."
"Okay," Kris says with a smirk, "you gave her kiss to her. Time to go to bed for all of us."
"Bye Jess," Adam blissfully says, sneaking out of the room on his tip-toes, "I love you!"
As soon as he's gone, Kris chuckles and puts Jessie back into bed, turning on the bed monitor and giving his kiss. Looking into his daughter's eyes as he whispers 'goodnight', he can't help but think....
...maybe he is ready to marry Adam and make this forever...
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To be continued.............