RP: She's growing up too fast!
Date: August 18, 2011
Characters: Jake Abernathy, Neve Standheim
Location: Jake’s place
Status: Private
Summary: Jake needs to flail at someone.
Completion: Incomplete
( Flaaaaaail )
Characters: Jake Abernathy, Neve Standheim
Location: Jake’s place
Status: Private
Summary: Jake needs to flail at someone.
Completion: Incomplete
( Flaaaaaail )
She tried not to go to worst case scenario on the drive over to Jake's place. If it was something really serious he would have called and asked her to come immediately, and not just when she got a chance. She parked her car in the usual spot out front and made her way up to the front door.
Again a she stood in front of the front door right after knocking Neve told herself it was nothing serious, though she was maybe calling upon her ability her paramedic talent of staying calm. Jake really would have told her if it was something serious, she was sure of that.
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"Relax, Neve," he said, grinning faintly up at her from his position in the chair. "Nothing's really wrong," he reassured. Just his little girl growing up on him and trying to figure out what the hell he should be saying and doing for her right now. "C'mon in out of the heat. Can I get you anything?"
He gestured her to the more comfortable living room.
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She stepped through the door and into the house, grateful for the ac in the house. Nine years in Texas and she found she still hated the heat most days. "No thanks, I'm okay right now." She replied shaking her head and making her way into the living room.
"Okay, now spill." Neve gave Jake a serious look as she sat down on the couch. Skipping over the 'hey how are you' and 'good, how are you' part of the conversation. Jake seemed like he needed to talk, and really they didn't need to cover that portion of the conversation - and it was not because Neve was dying to know what might be bothering Jake - because he clearly seemed just a hair on edge, though she had to wonder if she noticed only because she knew him better than most.
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Jake's AC was always turned up pretty well these days. For him, temperature control was extremely important--with his physical problems, he could easily overheat these days, as sweating didn't work quite the same way. It was a pain in the ass, metaphorically at least, because he was an active man used to being active, even in the heat in summer.
He smiled at her almost ruefully as she went right to the point. "Star..." he started, and sighed, rubbing his hands down his unfeeling legs. "Star's growing up and I don't know what to do," he said almost plaintively.
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Of course it had something to do with Star, and as she processed what he said Neve tried to fight back the tiny smile that wanted to appear. “Wait, as in growing up.” Neve didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but she could only imagine how completely overwhelmed Jake would feel dealing with that. She shouldn’t feel like laughing right now, but the idea of Jake going all ‘flaily’ over the fact that his little girl was growing up was kind of comical and strangely adorable, wait, she did not just think that Jake freaking out was adorable. “Sadly they don’t make an instruction manual for parenting.” Neve was unable to hold back her laughter any longer. “I’m sorry…” This was not being a supportive friend, nor was it helpful to Jake in the least. “God, I shouldn’t be laughing.” Neve attempted to compose herself, but god, the look on Jake’s face was kind of priceless.
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He smiled ruefully when she finally burst out laughing. He pouted at her faintly, though he had expected it, if he were honest. "No, you shouldn't," he said, pretending at petulance, but he couldn't hold out the act for very long. He chuckled finally, amused despite his worries, and even amused that he'd pegged it right that she would laugh at him.
"It's all right, actually. My mother has spent the last two days laughing her butt off at me."
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She was stopped short in her laughing fit as she caught Jake's pout. God, should she find a pout attractive? Neve blinked, shaking herself and wondering if she had just thought that. Taking a deep breath and wondering where the hell that thought had come from, Neve tried to focus in on the reason for her being here. "God, I'm sorry....it's just, well, you should see yourself right now." She was pleased when Jake chuckled, it made her feel less guilty about laughing, and she really was not focusing on the fact that when he chuckled like that his whole face kind of lit up, and she saw a glimpse of the Jake he had been before his accident.
"I promise not to laugh for the next two days." Neve remarked with a smile. "Maybe the next hour, but not the next two days."
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"I know, I know. I'm completely flailing about it, or so I have been informed," he said with another gusty sigh. In fact, his mother could barely come into a room without laughing at the look on his face. Or so she claimed. Jake suspected she was tickled that the whole parenting thing was nibbling at him like it must've nibbled at her at some point.
"Figured you would. However did I know," he teased. "But still. Flailing. Because oh my God, Neve... she's growing up. She needs feminine things and she's cramping and I have no idea what to do with it all. I mean, has Shelby..." Well, okay, that would be nosey, but they were both parents, right? It wasn't meant in a creepy fashion. He flapped a hand for her to disregard it. "It's just a bit mind blowing and not in the best of ways. Makes me feel old." Especially stuck in this chair and indoors so much of the summer.
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Smiling slightly she laughed. "You have a right to be flailing about this." She replied, shaking her head at his sigh. That didn't mean she didn't find the whole thing amusing to some degree, Jake always struck her as solid - unshakable to some degree. After all isn't that why she was always turning to him when something her life sprang up that was was unexpected? Again the thought struck her, why was it Jake that she always turned to?
"Maybe you just know me too well." She shot back. "Strange thing Jake, our kids grow up." Neve paused, and God, she couldn't imagine being a father and trying to deal with this. "She will, have you thought about letting Mona handle that part? And now for the cramping, a heating pad should become her new best friend, it won't fix it entirely but it should help to some degree." She paused at the last part, blinking and trying to decide if he was really looking for an answer. "She has, but I had a leg up on you even before that." Being a woman gave Neve insight into this that Jake just wouldn't have. Sure he had waved off needing an answer, but somehow she still felt compelled to reply to his question. Wrinkling her nose, she sighed."God, our little girls growing up should make us feel old, but you're not." And now the slightly gloomy Jake was coming back and Neve couldn't think up a single thing besides 'you're not old' to mollify him.
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"I figure I do. Not every day a single father's daughter starts growing up," he said lightly. He figured he'd be doing the same thing he was now if he still had his legs, and it was a comforting thought, that not everything had changed about him.
"Maybe so. And god, it is strange," he agreed, hand pushing back through his hair as he sighed at the thought. "I am letting her to an extent. They went out school shopping yesterday, and I let her take care of some of that... feminine stuff." Of course he knew what went into it, he was a man and there had been plenty of women through the years, but it was just so weird when it was his own daughter. He didn't know what to tell her or how to help her buy all those sorts of things.
"You did at that," he said, smiling faintly. Neve was a woman, after all; it had to be easier for her as a woman to deal with all that. It became much more complicated when it was the Dad who had to deal with all of that. "No, I suppose I'm not, but I certainly feel old some days." Especially the days he struggled to get anything done, or couldn't do what he'd planned on doing that day because of the weather or because he hurt or whatever else happened. "At least you have a couple of more to go." He'd always wanted more children, but it had never worked out for him. He'd never found a woman to make his life with, after Mona had left. And that had been Before. After, well. He knew it wouldn't happen now.
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"No I imagine not, and it's not every single day that your daughter grows up." she replied with a faint smile. Single parenthood was hard, she could attest to that but at least she had it easy in that she was mother raising all girls. Jake was a father trying to maneuver through the mind field that was raising a teenage girl, and Neve's heart went out to him because she could only imagine how strange that was.
"Better than most people anyway. And yeah, it's definitely strange and not something you can ever really prepare for." Sure she had already experienced a 'kid' growing up since she had spent more time with Ezra than their parents ever had. But it was still entirely different when it was one of her own girls, so she could understand Jake's dilemma. "Do they spend a lot of time together, Mona and Star?" It would be good for Star if she could have her Mom around while she was dealing with this.
"Jake, you realize if you need any help at all I'm just a phone call away." Jake had done a lot for her in the past few months it was only fair she return the favor. She wasn't offering because she liked being needed, or liked being needed by Jake. At least that's what she was telling herself. "Life will do that to us sometimes. Make us feel far older than we are." Nobody would believe if she was sure, but she had her days were she was exhausted and the idea of doing anything at all made her cringe. Wrinkling her nose, she sighed. "Oh God, don't remind me. Shelby's my easy child, and Mackenzie's moody enough as it is. I really don't want to be dealing with her when hormones come into play." And Bryn was still years away from being anything but her little girl. "And God, the idea of them growing up just brings up so many other things I don't particularly want to think about." Like dating and driving and them growing up and soon enough her girls would have lives and families of their own and it'd be just her living in a house that was far to large for one person.
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"I know. Why do you think I texted you?" he said, lifting one shoulder slightly. Neve knew him rather well, after all these years. She was also a single mother and they shared a lot of the same problems, having girls the same age, and she was even in a similar field to what he'd been in, so he understood that.
"I know. Just felt rather older than usual this year." And what with turning thirty, that benchmark year for most, it just felt closer to home. "And now this. Hell, another few years and she's in college." And then he'd have no baby at home, and that left an ache inside him. "Well, Mackenzie is the middle child." He knew that she gave Neve more trouble than her other two already. "It's always havoc when hormones come into it." Goodness knew it had been with him. Thus the whole 'kid at seventeen' thing.
"Tell me about it. I always... well, that's not about to happen, so I have no idea what I'm going to do."
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Neve paused for a moment before grinning slightly. "You mean you didn't text me just because you enjoy my company?" She teased, a part of enjoyed being the person Jake went to when he had a problem; they had things in common, single parents raising girls roughly around the same age. A smaller part of her though kind of didn't want that to be the only reason she had any kind of relationship with Jake, and she blinked at that thought - wondering where it had come from really.
Sighing, Neve knew she couldn't argue that. The year Jake had had would make anyone feel old, whether they were or not. "Well old man, you're not alone." her tone was teasing, though he wouldn't be alone really. "That doesn't make up for the fact that Star'll be growing up. But as long as I'm kicking around Fort Worth I can almost guarantee you'll have me." It was the truth, Neve was fairly certain that unless something drastic happened she'd always be around and although she wouldn't fill a void really, she would always be up for keeping Jake company. "Mack is the middle child and she plays up that stereotype well. My godsend right now goes by the name of Kyle, he can get her to do things that nobody else can." Maybe she didn't tell Ezra and Kyle enough, but those two were and are her lifesavers. "It is and soon boys will be showing up and God knows how I'm going to intimidate them enough to not do something with my daughters." Again she had Ezra and Kyle, but it felt like a lot to expect them to still be around in three or four years to do the whole 'sit on the porch with a shotgun' deal.
Frowning, Neve studied Jake. And maybe she shouldn't pry, but when had that stopped her before. "No, you always what?" Curiosity made her ask, though she didn't expect Jake to answer.
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"Brat. You know it's that too," he said, rising to her teasing if only because he knew it would amuse her and take his mind of his tendency for gloom.
He made a face at her when she needled him and called him old man. "I know, I know, and I'm grateful to have you around." He knew he had a staunch and true friend in her, and he was grateful to have her around. She always seemed to know what to say, and when not to poke--perhaps because she was in the medical profession.
"Well, good for Kyle, then," he said with a nod. Sometimes it took someone different to win the trust of a child like Mack. She was a good kid, Jake thought, just a little more prone to be trouble than either of her sisters. "Well, you have Ezra and Kyle and even me, for what little help that will provide, to help with the boy influx," Jake said.
Jake tilted his head back and rubbed his beard. "I always wanted more kids," he admitted slowly with a shrug. "But Mona wasn't keen when we were together, and after Mona, well." He shrugged again. He hadn't had a serious relationship for a long time after Mona, and then that one had ended badly, and now, well, now he was in a wheelchair.
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"Brat?" She wrinkled her nose, though she couldn't keep herself from laughing softly. "And yeah, maybe I did know that. But you know it's rude to assume things." Of course she had been fairly positive Jake enjoyed her company, but she wasn't about to make assumptions.
She just shrugged off the face he made at her when she called him 'old man.' It had been meant as a joke, and she was fairly certain Jake knew that. "Really? Even when I'm bugging the Hell out of you?" She meddled, probably far more than she should. But she only did it because she cared, and she made an effort not to push for more information than Jake was willing to give - though she did attempt to keep him out of his 'doom and gloom' mood more often than not.
"Honestly, Kyle's been the best addition to my family I could have asked for." She was being entirely honest. First Kyle made Ezra happy, and Neve liked seeing her baby brother happy. But he also cooked, which made up for her lack of cooking ability, and to top it off Mackenzie really did listen to him better than anyone else. "Jake, to be completely honest you'd be the most intimidating out of the three." Don't get her wrong, Ezra could be tough and she had a feeling Kyle could be as well - but when comparing the three of them Jake would still be the one she thought would scare the hell out of prospective boyfriends, wheelchair or not.
Neve sighed, she had a feeling that's what he was going to say. She knew that making some comment like 'You still could have more children, you're young.' would be the entirely wrong thing to say, she knew Jake well enough to know that he felt his accident had changed that - and honestly even before his accident Neve couldn't remember the last time Jake had been in a serious relationship. "Jake...." She trailed off not entirely sure what she was about to say. "Being in that chair doesn't stop you from having a life or a relationship." Neve wasn't being harsh, just honest - and Jake should know her well enough to know that she would be honest.
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He made a face, yes, but he was just teasing her back. "Even then," he said, shifting his position habitually as they spoke. It had been ingrained on his brain since the accident. "Though I might throw things at you on occasion," he joked. Her nagging often did perk him up, or at least gave him the chance to talk some of his problems out in a casual way.
Jake couldn't help it--he snorted a laugh and gave her a disbelieving look when she said he would be the most intimidating of the three. Maybe more than Kyle, he'd grant her that, but he rather suspected that Ezra would pull off intimidating better than him if only because he appeared to be whole. "I wish I were living in the world you're living in," he said.
"No, it doesn't," he agreed easily enough. "But it does limit the kinds of relationships and life I can have." He had to be perfectly honest with himself about it. "You know some of the stuff that goes on with all this." He gestured at himself. "If I had problems with serious relationships before Neve, it's not going to be any easier now."
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