Nipping It In The Bud

[Chief J. Hubbard]

Tired and not in the mood to deal with Angie right now Jesse shrugged his shoulders. “Like I said it doesn’t matter anymore.” He said dropping his hands and stepping to her. “Now that you’re home I can finally get some rest, I have to get up for work in a few hours. Goodnight.. or rather good morning.”
With that Jesse kissed Angie’s cheek and walked out. Jesse couldn’t remember the last time he walked away from an argument with Angie. If anything she was the one to walk away. But just like he said just a few seconds ago, he didn’t have the energy nor the want to fight with her right now.

Once he was back in the bed he concentrated on getting some sleep. It was a task in itself because he just couldn’t shake his wife’s accusation from his mind. She really thought he hadn’t been worried about her? He questioned himself, turning onto his back and looking up at the ceiling. Granted he was still reeling from their earlier fight and the fact that she hadn’t been home to say goodnight to their children just because of what he said. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about her. That didn’t stop him from worrying about the love of his life.

“D*mn.” He muttered resting his arm over his eyes.

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

All Angie could do was stare in awe when Jesse basically let her know that their little argument was over. Jesse never walked away from her, she was always the one to walk and… “Jesse, baby I…” When he closed the bathroom door behind him Angie deflated against the bathroom counter and dropped her head. “I’m sorry,” she muttered to no one as she turned and stared at herself in the mirror. You screwed up Angie… Royally! She mentally fussed, running her fingers through her hair and biting back tears. She wanted to so badly take back her accusation, wanted to go to him and tell him again she was sorry for what she did knowing what it did to him and their children, but she chose to let it go. Decided that instead of going in and probably adding more fuel to a simmering fire she would just wait until later on to talk to him.

That talk never came. A whole week passed and neither of them spoke more than five words in passing to one another. Angie hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell Jesse about David stopping by her office and trying to bribe her or how she came so close to agreeing with the bastard or how she actually admitted to herself she was like Les Baxter. Many a nights she wanted to tell Jesse everything, but every time she turned over Jesse’s back would be to her and that was enough to let her know he wasn’t trying to hear her at the moment. At breakfast Jesse was in and out like the wind. At dinner the only conversation that was being had was by the kids and an agreement of sort coming from their parents from time to time. Other than that it was like living under the same roof and sharing a bed with a stranger.

And now here it was the 4th of July and still they weren’t talking. Angie at least wanted to nip their disagreement in the bud before they went to the park to celebrate with all of Pine Valley. It was a celebration and she wanted to celebrate with her husband as well as everybody else.

“Momma!” Jocelyn yelped, pinching her arm.
Angie yelped herself and flinched. “Ouch! What was that for?” She asked, looking down at her. Jocelyn was sitting in the middle of her parents bed with her feet raised and little toes wiggling. “Shoes,” she giggled, raising her brows as well.
Angie shook the cobwebs from her brain and grabbed her baby’s shoes. “Sorry baby girl. Momma was a bit distracted,” she told her, easing onto the edge of the bed and slipping her sandals onto her feet.

[Chief J. Hubbard]

Jesse was heading upstairs to tell Angela that maybe he should sit this event out. He loved hanging out and having a good time but with the mess that was going on between he and his wife he wasn’t sure if he was ready to do this right now. Wasn’t sure he was ready to go out and play like everything was great when it wasn’t.
Just as he went to open the door Adrian came running down the hall with his football in his hand. “Can we bring it to the park? We can play football.”
Jesse sighed and looked down. “You really like football don’t you?”
“Yea, it’s cool and Frankie promised to show me something else and he show you too.” Adrian rambled happily also hoping that Madison would come so she can play with them again like the last time. “So can we?”
“Well I don’t know what my own son can show me. But Adrian, I’m not so sure if I’m even going to..”
“Leggo!” Ari yelped coming out the bedroom with Angie behind her.
Jesse looked ahead and sighed again. He had really made it up in his mind that going wasn’t the best idea but after hearing the excitement coming from Adrian and Ari and seeing the giddy looks on their faces he was beginning to think otherwise.
“You know what, let me and your mother talk right quick and then we’ll go. How that sound?”
“Okay! Come on Ari.” Adrian took her hand and helped her downstairs.
Jesse and Angie moved to the railings to look over them. “You know if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would think they were biologically related.” He teased watching the duo take the last step and then go into the living room.

A few minutes passed before Jesse looked over at his wife. “First time we stood this close or even stayed in the same space without throwing each other looks since that night.” He sighed.

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

“Okay let mommy put her sandals on and then we are out of here,” Angie exclaimed, as she walked over to her closet with Jocelyn on her heel. After slipping on her shoes and giving herself a once over in the full length mirror Angie and Jocelyn walked out only to stop when they saw Jesse and Adrian standing in the hall. Angie was about to ask Jesse if he was ready when Jocelyn just up and let them know she was ready to go now. “Well then… I guess we should get going,” she hinting, looking up at Jesse who looked as if he’d been put on the spot.

Suddenly she was taken by surprise when Jesse said he wanted to talk with her. Crossing her arms she too watched as the kids went down the stairs and chuckled when he teased about them being blood related. “Yea, you can say that again,” she agreed, thinking to herself about what she was going to say and how. And also wondering what Jesse had to say was it about what happened between them or something else?

“Yea… It has been awhile,” Angie said when Jesse finally spoke and looked at her. She looked over at him and sighed. “It’s also been awhile since we spoke more than five words to each other.”

Feeling as if she was drowning just by looking into his eyes she looked away and bit on her bottom lip. “I’m tired, Jesse,” she finally said, turning around and leaning against the staircase railing. “I don’t know about you, but Jesse I am tired of us not being us. You know? I’m sick and tired of coming home and having that feeling like I’m sleeping in the bed with a stranger and not my husband.” And it was the truth. She and Jesse had fallen along the line of strangers and not lovers and best friend over his opinion and her mouth that just didn’t know when to quit.

[Chief J. Hubbard]

“That too.” Jesse agreed with a nod still staring at her. When their eyes locked Jesse felt every urge to just pull her into his arms and hold her. Holding her was something he wanted to do since that night they last spoke. That night he’d been so scared out of his mind when she hadn’t returned his call and when she walked in he wanted nothing more than to just pull her into his arms. Until the tension grew thick and things were said.
Angie was the first to look away and when she did Jesse sighed and stared down to the first floor of the house. “Angie I---” Whatever he was about to say died on his lips when Angie spoke the same words he’d been thinking earlier. Even days before this. He too was tired. Tired of fighting and tired of them not being the way they use to be. Tired of acting like they were strangers instead of husband and wife. Everything she was tired of doing or not doing actually he was tired of it too.

Looking over when she fell silent Jesse pushed away from the banister and moved to stand in front of her. After burying his hand into her hair he cupped the back of her head and connected their lips. The kiss was first very sweet and tender and then soon turned into something deeper and needier. Not wanting to let her go, wanting the absolute opposite Jesse eased his other arm around her waist and pressed her closer to him. Jesse groaned inwardly when he heard Angie moaned into his mouth.

“Momma, daddy come on we gonna be late!” Adrian called from the first floor. Interrupting what was probably going to lead to something else. Something that would have kept them from leaving the house at all.
Jesse pulled back and dropped his other hand to her waist. “I think it’s time for us to go.” He whispered. They were still close. “But before we do.. When we come home and put the kids down for the night I want us to do something we haven’t been able to do. I want us to talk. Can we do that?”

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

Completely taken back when Jesse stood in front of her and pulled her in a kiss, Angie gasped. Which he took to his advantage and deepened the kiss. He pulled her closer to him. Once the shock wore off and need set in Angie pulled her hands up and gripped the waist of his jeans. She had thought Jesse was going to say that he was feeling the same but put the blame on her or something. And even though the kiss was something she’d wanted, needed, she hadn’t thought it was going to happen. Especially not at the moment.

So swept up in the kiss and the feeling and the heat radiating between them she had forgotten all about where they were supposed to be going. And shame on her part, had forgotten that they weren’t alone and that their kids were downstairs waiting on them. Up until Adrian’s voice sliced through her lust filled mind like a knife. Angie looked over her shoulder. “We’re um… We’ll be right down,” she called back. Soon after she turned her attention back to Jesse. “Yea, I think so too,” she agreed.

Angie flipped her eyes back up and smiled. “We can absolutely do that.”

~~~**~~**~~~

Later on that day, well into the evening, Jesse drove she and the kids home. And after promising he wouldn’t be long headed back out to the station to take care of the matter involving Josh Madden. Angie could tell the station was the last place Jesse wanted to be on his day off, but because he told Josh he would handle it he went on anyway.

“Momma, can we watch cartoons?” Adrian asked, covering his mouth as he yawned and went to sit on the sofa.
“I don’t think so mister man,” Angie started as she shook her head and gestured for him to come back to her. “You need a bath! You are covered in grass, dirt and lord knows what else,” she ranted, shifting a snoozing Jocelyn to her left side and holding out her hand for Adrian.
“Oh alright… But can I watch cartoons after?” He asked taking her hand and letting her lead him upstairs.
Angie shrugged. She really doubt that after he would want to. “Providing that you don’t fall asleep, you may. But only for a little while. Now come on.” As Angie suspected, watching cartoons were the furthest from Adrian’s mind. Before Angie even got the boy out the tub and dried him off good he was laying his head on her shoulder. “Good thing we brushed your teeth before your bath,” she whispered, getting him all dry and dressed in his PJ’s.
“I wanna…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.
Shaking her head and picking him up she carried him into his room where she gently laid him down. As soon as that head of his hit the pillow he curling up under the covers and snoring. “Goodnight sweetheart,” she mumbled, leaning over and kissing his cheek before tiptoeing out the room and going to do the same to Jocelyn. Just like Adrian, Jocelyn hadn’t put up a fight. All that fun in the sun had tuckered out both her babies.

“Make that three,” Angie muttered when she saw Cass dragging herself up the stairs.
Cass looked up at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Hey.”
“Bye,” Angie hinted, pointing to her room. “Go on and get cleaned up and go straight to bed.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Cass said, trying to stifle a yawn.
“Night.”
“Night.”
Angie turned and watched her oldest daughter walk into her room in a zombie-like state. She was shocked and amazed that the girl even made it in the door without toppling over after all she did that day. As soon as she arrived she said hey to everybody and started running around with the kids. Playing all sorts of games with them. She only stopped to grab a snack and drink before going back and doing it again. If Angie hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have believed that her daughter had voluntarily gotten in on the water gun fight or even thrown a football around. “That girl,” Angie chuckled, walking to her own room and going to take a bath.

Not sure how long Jesse was going to be and certainly not wanting to go to sleep until he arrived Angie had decided that after her bath she would head back downstairs and wait. And while she waited she was going to have herself a little snack. “The last thing I need is a snack,” she said to no one once she finished her bath, dried off and proceeded to rub her body down with moisturizer. When she finished she looked at herself and the mirror and sighed. She had picked up a few pounds, nothing to freak out about, but enough for her to notice and do something about it before it became a problem. “I promise I’m going to get back in the gym,” she vowed before finally going back into the room and slipping into her pj’s.

After doing a double check on her children Angie went downstairs, fixed herself a bowl of Honey Combs and relaxed on the sofa. “Now, let’s see what’s on TV,” she muttered, grabbing the remote.

[Chief J. Hubbard]

When Jesse finally made it home, long after he released Josh it was late. He decided that since he was already at the station he would take care of a few things just incase he decided to not come in the next day. To be honest he was leaning towards staying home anyway. Speaking of which Jesse headed into the house and as soon as he closed the door behind him heard somebody talking.

“Angela.” He called throwing his keys on the sidetable and walking into the living room. Where the sound was coming from. “Angie baby you..” He stopped and chuckled when he saw Angie curled up on the sofa watching some kind of talk show.
“What are you still doing up?” He asked walking over and sitting on the floor in front of her. "Kids down for the count?"

[fancee1]

I love this, looking forward to more!!!

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

((OOC: Awww, thank you.))

Angie was actually dozing in and out, barely paying a lick of attention to the TV show that was on the screen when she heard the door open and then Jesse calling for her. Sitting up a bit and clearing her throat, she put a smile on her face when he walked in asking her why she was up. “Waiting for you to come home,” she replied, sitting all the way up. She watched him walk the short distance towards her and take a seat on the floor. “That they are. Cass included. She came in not long after I put Jocelyn down. She was dragging just as much as they were,” she said with a chuckle as she put her legs on both sides of her husband and had him raise his arms. Once he did so she pulled his shirt over his head and laid it across his lap.

“What took you so long to get back? Did something happen with Josh?” She carefully asked as she started rubbing his neck, with just a tad bit of pressure. After a while she moved down his shoulders where she started kneading them.

Minutes ticked away and Jesse still hadn’t answered her about Josh, leading her to stop and look down at him. He did a lot today as well and was beginning to wonder if all of the events had finally caught up with him and he’d fallen asleep. “Jesse, baby?”

[Chief J. Hubbard]

“I bet her dragging up those steps was a chore in itself. After all she did.” He said and then later raised his arms. “Whatcha doing woman?” He asked as his shirt came over his head and landed in his lap.
The minute her hands started rubbing his neck he groaned and laid his head to the side, against her knee. “hmm?” He mumbled closing his eyes and letting his wife’s small hands work him. Jesse was already on the verge of falling asleep and what his wife was doing to him only made the feat of staying awake that much harder. To be honest he had started drifting when her hands stopped and she called him.
“Huh?” He mumbled opening his eyes and looking up at her. “Baby I’m sorry. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.. Anyway, what did you say?” When Angie repeated her question Jesse shook his head.  

“I’m tempting to not go in tomorrow so just incase I finished up a few things before coming home. That’s why it took me so long to get back. Everything with Josh that was handled within minutes of me getting there..” He said before he went on to explain that he let Josh because he had no reason to keep him. No charges had been pressed against him and the money ordeal was being taken care of. “Now if any of the girls decide to press charges against him then he’ll have to go to court and everything else after that. But I have a strong feeling that won’t be happening.”

[fancee1]

I'm so loving this!!! Keep it up!

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

Angie looked down at him a little bit amused to see that he was actually going to sleep. And when he opened his eyes talking about he guessed Angie chuckled. “Better stop, you’re starting to sound a lot like your son upstairs,” she replied before she went on to repeat her questions about the happenings at the station and Josh. While listening to everything her husband said, Angie continued working his shoulders and then his arms. By the time he finished explaining what happened she had moved her hands down to his chest. “Yea, I don’t think so either,” she agreed when he said he doubted that anybody would press charges against Josh. “You know I just bet Erica was over the moon… The stars even, when Josh walked into the house this evening.” But what mother wouldn’t be exactly, Angie wondered.

“Hey,” Angie started, trailing her hands down to his stomach. Jesse had suddenly became quiet. She looked down at him again and shook her head. “Jesse,” she whispered, patting her hands against his stomach. “Go on and take your shower so you can get some rest. And tomorrow I promise when I return home from work we can talk about our uh… Our little problem. Sound good?”

They had agreed earlier that day that they would talk before they laid their heads down for the night, but there wasn’t much they could get done with her husband fighting to keep his eyes open. “Jesse, go. And don't worry I'll be right behind you," she assured, kissing his forehead and then his eyes. Getting a smile from him she winked, stood and went to wash the bowl she used earlier. Moments later, she walked out turning off all the lights and setting the alarm before heading up. Of course her routine wouldn't be complete without checking in on her babies one more time. Nothing had changed since the last time except positions.

After taking off the PJ set she put on earlier and exchanging it for one of Jesse’s t-shirt, Angie walked into the master bathroom to brush her teeth and all of that other good stuff. They both finished up at the same time and both of them crawled into bed at the same time. Once the couple had settled into the bed Angie kissed her husband’s chin and then his chest. Not even a full ten minutes passed before they let sleep consume them. This was the first time in a week they slept in each other’s arms and Angie hadn’t realized how badly she needed and wanted this until that very moment.

[Chief J. Hubbard]

The next day just as Jesse had figured out the night before, he didn’t go into the station. Instead he slept in and then after fixing lunch for himself and the kids, went out and ran some errands for his wife with both kids in tow. The first thing Jesse noticed when he got out in the streets was that this was much harder than Angie made it look. It wasn’t that the kids acted as if they were raised by wild animals it was just getting in and out of the truck with them and other little things that would only take a couple of seconds to get done. Whenever his wife ran errands with the kids she acted as if this was the easiest thing in the world. Jesse didn’t know if it was some kind of mother thing she had going or if the kids were just making it hard for him on purpose but he knew this was almost as hard as catching criminals.
When Jesse finally made it back he saw that Angie had already made it home from work. Jesse unbuckled the kids and headed inside. The kids dashed into the living room and Jesse trekked through the house looking for his beloved. He finally found her sitting in their home office typing away on the laptop. “Hey there beautiful! Got a minute?” Jesse asked after knocking on the open door. “Or should I come back later?”

[Mrs. Angela Hubbard]

“Hey yourself, handsome,” Angie replied as her fingers continued to move about the keys with a quickness. She was putting the finishing touches on a detailed letter that had to be sent to all of the board members of PVH. Because she’d been working with patients pretty much all day she had very little time to focus and when she arrived home and saw nobody was there she figured she would get cracking on it.

Smiling when Jesse asked her if she had a minute. “You have… my… full…” As she spoke she typed and when she finished she hit the save button and looked up. “Undivided attention for the rest of the evening… Sorry, babe. I had to get that down before I did anything else. Otherwise it wouldn’t have gotten done,” she explained, coming to her bare feet and walking around the desk to stand in front of him.

Angie reached him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “So what’s up? How did it go today?” She asked carefully. She more so curious as to whether the kids gave him hell than if he got everything on her list finished or not. That morning when he called her and asked her if she needed him to do anything since he’d been off for the day, she had hesitated before telling him about the list of errands. She knew without a doubt he could finish that list and then some, but that was when he was without the children. With them she wasn’t so sure about. “Where are the kids?”

[Chief J. Hubbard]

Jesse was about to tell his wife that their conversation could wait until later when she stood and started walking towards him. He watched her under hooded lids and smiled. He hadn’t gotten a chance to see her walk out the house this morning, therefore he hadn’t seen her what she wore. Thankfully he didn’t, he thought as she came to stand in front of him. Jesse was sure had he seen her she wouldn’t have went in either. He would have made sure of that.

He had pulled back and just sized her up when her questions finally registered. “Oh!” He laughed shaking his head and kissing her forehead.

“The kids are in the living room watching their cartoons and today was.. I’m still alive aren’t I?” He asked giving her look. “What’s the secret? When you run errands with them yall come home like it was the best day you ever had.” He chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her over to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Once he sat down, he pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“While I have you alone I was thinking maybe we could you know talk about our fight and just settle the dust. We’re talking and acting like nothing happened, but we both know that isn’t the truth and I would like for us to settle this before it gets worse.”