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If he’d still had the little office he’d been gifted when he’d started working at the Daily he’d have been able to get Lucky all tense in the right way. Blinds closed, the door swung shut behind her. The assholes whose heads came up like meerkats’ the minute anything juicy happened in the office could’ve had their noses pressed to the glass and it wouldn’t have mattered because it was behind closed doors. Pissing off the boss had come with a demotion to the open office – desks overlooking his, the scowls of the woman next to him, the pointed shift of that browning plant, the smug looks whenever Iris or the boss pulled him away. Public humiliations that were probably meant to make him quit, but he wasn’t ready to run out of town with his tail between his legs just because he’d supposedly fucked up.

Judging by the look on Lucky’s face he’d done it again – although the doughnut seemed far more like an apology, an attempt at buttering him up, than a punishment. Unless she’d poisoned it, that was. Nah. His charm was still working far too well for that. Her lecture about not screwing shit up with Lucy before had stuck – him showing up at her graduation thing was proof of that right? He’d kept showing up for the kid and honestly, it wasn’t any sort of hardship, not even with the talking to he’d gotten from Iris about taking off.

There, that was better. His smile broadened in response, something bright covering up those little doubts that settled in, warmth passed on with the reassuring weight of his hand on her thigh. Of course, his index finger moved lightly on that bare thigh. Her yeah and thanks were both lacklustre, despite his reassurances. ”Ain’t gonna imagine too hard, when I’m gonna be there for him. Might slip the earplugs in the next time though.” JJ winked at her. Every other parent in the room had probably tucked them in when they were out of sight – ‘what was that, honey, did I hear you? Absolutely. You were the best one up there.’

For Lucille he’d have done it – as long as he was in town, that was a guarantee he would’ve wanted to make her, but with the job the way it was he could hundred percent it even if he wanted to try. Lucky wasn’t even giving him the chance for that though. Stop him now? Make sure he couldm’t hurt her kid. A total mum move. His own had done her best to protect him, as much from the old man as anything, but you couldn’t shield your kids from everything, not without forcing them to live in a bubble.

JJ squirmed in his seat, his brows drawing closer together. He glanced around the two of them as she asked him what the fuck he’d said. Eyes caught his and he was the one going stiff now. Like he’d suddenly acknowledged the elephant in the room and it’d lumbered closer in all its leathery skin glory, it suddenly felt like everybody in here was watching him being told off by his wife – and that’d been her word, not his. ”A flake,” JJ muttered right back, hunting his shoulders like it’d stop anybody else hearing it. ”I wasn’t the one who said I was,” he puffed. He hadn’t cut off though, had he? Going back to their place for dinner after Lucy had nicked his wallet, doing the dishes all domestic like, christening the kitchen counter with his wife.

He let out a long breath as the reasons started to prop up her argument – this was exactly what the doughnut had been for, to soften this blow. ”And what’s wrong with her counting on me?” JJ sank his teeth into the tip of his tongue, he could’ve reeled a list off too, and lost his ability to refute any of what he was being accused of. ”Look, I didn’t know she hadn’t asked you. If I’d thought was being sneaky about the whole thing I woulda done, alright? It’s my fault, this whole dad thing is new to me. Next time, I ask.” but there wasn’t gonna be a next time because Lucky was stopping him from fucking up her kid’s life as he blundered through it without any real clue about what he was doing.

If Iris wanted to give him a real bollocking next time, then she probably should’ve been taking notes from Lucky. Pouting would’ve got him nowhere, but JJ’s lips pinched as he caught every barbed word out of Lucky’s mouth. By the time he left he’d be bristling with them like he’d lost a fight with a porcupine. ”So this is about you and me, not Lucy, other than where she gets caught in the middle of it. You’re saying that at some point, you’ll get bored of me and you’ll expect me to leave and that’s gonna gut your kid.” And he’d get no say in the matter, because her mum was the boss in all of this. ”That shit’s what people should be doing for her. I joke about it because you did at the start. You were happy to play at being my wife. Everything since has just been gravy in my book.” He curled his hand around Lucky’s calf, giving a little squeeze like he was trying to cut either her or himself off.

Inching closer, he met her eyes and held her gaze. Maybe Destiny had a bible laying around he could swear on – it wasn’t like he wasn’t destined to end up with his balls getting roasted in hell anyway. ”You think I woulda been hanging around the kid if I wasn’t enjoying it? Did I plan on having one of my own yet? Not gonna lie and say yes, but shit doesn’t always happen like you plan and fun or not, I’m not gonna go fucking this up. You wanna try make this about something else that isn’t you warning me that my time in your bed’s short?” Maybe there were reasons for it, there usually were, but he wasn’t gonna go burying his head in the sand to avoid hearing them. He was too sodding proud for that and his pride would be one of the reasons he wouldn’t just walk out of town without a word to either one of them.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1069

Without the coffee – brewed specially strong – his eyes might’ve rolled back in his head halfway through the meeting. Iris had droned on, finger tapping against the list in her notepad. He’d almost batted her finger away then, swivelling the thing around so he could read through her bullet points (what sort of a nutjob marked out a lecture that way??), but undoubtedly she’d have hustled right into the boss’ office to tell her that he was messing around in class. It would’ve been another black mark against his name when there was already one smudged pencil grey there after he’d taken off early a couple of days ago. Emergency appointment apparently wasn’t specific enough, but telling his new handler that his kid had asked him to go to her graduation would’ve exploded a can of worms all over the office.

Shooting her a smile that felt like it’d crack his face, he trailed out of the meeting room and headed back to his desk. He would’ve been a dick to say no to the kid. She’d been excited about him being there and it didn’t exactly seem like a hardship to dip out of the office early and watch her walk across a stage, or whatever it was happened during graduations – even little kid ones – over here. Since he’d gotten his wallet back, and alright, before then too, he’d genuinely come to like her. And her mum. Eventually he’d end up leaving town again – that was inevitable in his line of work – until then, though, playing house wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

He clapped hard as Lucille had done her thing, and participated in the entertainment portion of the day. Some biddy in the row in front who’d either broken the record for the oldest woman to give birth, or who was prune facing their way through their great grandkid’s graduation, had shot him a look as he’d slipped two fingers into his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. He’d just turned a beatific smile on her and had dropped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. There’d been dinner after, a celebration he’d pulled out his wallet to handle – it was a dad’s prerogative weren’t it? Maybe Lucky’s mouth had pruned through some of it, making it clear that Lucille hadn’t exactly asked permission for him to come along. Like father, like daughter, eh?

JJ yawned, tossing the dregs of coffee into the pot plant on the neighbouring desk. Its leaves had drooped under his care, maybe he oughta stop. He set his cup down, knuckling his mouth before he thumbed his laptop on. Work wasn’t exactly calling, but if he wasn’t tapping away at something when Iris emerged, she’d do worse than just scowl at him for continuing to work at his own pace, on his own stuff instead of the dregs of the stories that were passed around. Another sodding town celebration. A double page spread on the Mayor – lamenting her poor dead hubby – yawn fest after yawn fest.

”Mmm?” The grunt rolled out of him and the leading consonant of the ‘hey’, his head rolling him immediately towards her as the more recognisable edge of the ‘hubby’ struck him between the eyes, struck him dumb as Lucky dipped down to kiss him. He looked up at her with kiss damp lips parting. ”’ello he said almost uncertainly, still feeling a little off balance. Blue eyes shot past her, making sure that there wasn’t a crowd – led by Destiny – gathering up behind her. ”And there I was thinking that I was getting something out of bring your wife to work day…” he murmured, a smile finally tugging at his lips. She was here, and that was gonna take some explaining if anybody had heard the greeting, or seen her laying one on him.

JJ sat up from his usual sprawl, head dipping as he worked a thick finger under the flap of the box. A doughnut. Not the bagged lunch she’d joked about, but it’d definitely do with another mug of that spoon eating coffee. ”Awww, you love me.” He batted his lashes, spreading one hand on his chest as he grinned up at her.

Did she really look like she did though? There’d been that stomp of her foot on his – marring the polish he’d put on his shoes the morning of the ceremony too – at dinner. A warning, a little wifely affection maybe when he’d used his honorific title in public. Who knew with her. Women were as changeable as the weather, and despite how much time he’d spent around his family in the last couple of months, he wouldn’t claim to understand his wife.

His nose wrinkled as he pfffed his way through Lucky’s gratitude. He nudged the box away on the desk and patted her thigh. ”How was I gonna say no to that little face? It wasn’t a bother, honestly. She’s a good kid – half the ones in her class could do with some singing lessons though. Think I’m still a little deaf.” Popping his other index finger in his ear, he winked at her as he wiggled it. As he’d expected the concert bit of it was awful, but he’d been one of those kids toting a hard sided case around, cackling as he’d blasted deep breaths through the bugle. Unsurprisingly it had disappeared from the house after the second day. His dad had probably ordered someone to run over it with a tank. There’d be no question about music lessons after that.

Was he still slow after that meeting? ”You what?” Frowning, JJ sat up straighter again, propping his elbows on the arms of his chair as he looked at Lucky. ”You said it meant a lot to her for me to be there … I’m not gonna start letting her down. You ain’t gotta worry about her getting her heart broke because I’ve been a Cadburys over something. Nah. You just tell her to ask again the next time and her dad’ll be there, yeah?” She’d looked away from him though. Aaah. ”It’s not her who don’t want me there, is it? What’s up?” Yeah, he definitely couldn’t keep up with the bloody mercurial moods of women. You did your best and still they find something to nitpick over in it.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1054

If Destiny had any clue that he still planned on listening to the cell door clanging shut on her doting baby daddy he’d have been out on his ear already. Files chucked out into the street after him – after they’d been picked apart in some search for what evidence he’d actually pulled together (as though he would’ve left that in the office where it could be found). The lie that he’d stop had burned his tongue, but for her sake – and in the name of justice – he’d forced it off of his tongue. Power meant that too many in the world got away with murder, literally, he couldn’t do much about the vast majority of them, but he’d discovered enough about Grey Maddox that JJ figured he could put this one away.

That grin on Lucky’s face as he swore he wasn’t done showed he wasn’t the only one who wanted it either. Maddox had hurt enough people in his short life, his time was running out to do it again. Soon he’d be locked up for 23 hours a day with his own kind, violent scum who didn’t always take too kindly to one another. Hopefully someone’d get tired of that smug face and would do a little work on the sly with a shiv, save the state some money and the rest of them the worry that he’d somehow slip out eventually. Lucky’s siter could find herself a new job, Destiny would end up with a broken heart, but better that than a heart that had been permanently stopped by that son of a bitch.

At Lucky’s order, he’d saluted her, dropping another ”yes ma’am” before he’d done as she’d asked, doing what was undoubtedly Lucy’s job usually. He returned dinner with entertainment, making the kid choke twice – cackling as he’d thumped her on the back – and giving them a view of a world far more exotic than the one outside their windows in this town. He was in his element, showing that he hadn’t slipped into any of his reporting gigs by nepotism – in fact, he’d been fucking glad to do it on his own merit each time, he didn’t need his old man putting his fingerprints over all of this. Not that he’d have recognised any of it if he’d tried. There hadn’t been many family dinners, not the relaxed sort anyway – sit up straight, don’t mess with your food, good lord, what’s wrong with the guinea fowl…. Give him this any day.

JJ scooped up the dishes, stacking them carefully to cart them into the kitchen. He turned to eye the kid, hazel irises shrinking to slits as he mock glared at her. ”Well, losing’s not exactly the word I’d use for my stuff disappearing out of a nice deep pocket…” It’d taken deft little fingers to do that – ones he might’ve put to work like Fagin and the Artful Dodger to get hold of Maddox’s stuff, if he didn’t give a shit about putting anybody else in danger.

Lucky’s order and Lucy’s whine carried back to him as he sluiced off the plates. Not a single one dropped before Lucky made her appearance, drifting in to grin at him like all of this was entertaining. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he grumbled in his head, although he huffed out his amusement as she started rearranging what he’d already set aside to dry. ”I’d say this is pretty mature. I didn’t ask if it was gonna be about the birds and the bees again,” he quipped, that’d be less discussion, more action for after the kid had gone to bed maybe. JJ snorted as Lucky pressed in against him, seeking out a soft spot with those carefully sharpened words. ”Oh, love, they tried with the big talks, failed obviously.” Not that he was worse off for that.

He set the pan in the drying rack, planting his wet hands against the edge of the sink as he looked sideways at her. JJ sighed, all traces of humour gone. He didn’t know for sure if it had been Maddox, although he hadn’t seen a hint of a lie in Destiny’s eyes as she’d hinted at what had happened. Her opinion of Maddox was definitely twisted by love though. ”I don’t know exactly. The day she came back, it was just … she wasn’t pregnant anymore. I didn’t want to ask, but I don’t think it was. I’ve seen battered women before, and it wasn’t that sort of defensiveness over him.” He’d seen them flinch at mention of their abusers, even as they’d defended them. That wasn’t what he’d seen with Destiny, but Maddox was still a monster of sorts and eventually he’d slip, meaning to or not.

The cackle rolled out slowly. JJ twisted his hands slightly, like he could see the cuffs around his wrists. ”Keep me under the thumb and hopefully she can stop me from sliding in his direction. She ordered someone to babysit me just to be sure – it’s not working. It ain’t like I down tools the minute I leave the office.” He pursed his lips, puffed a breath out through it. ”Keep on digging, maybe make a little trip back to England to see what police records I can dig up on him. His sister died, supposedly killed by him, there’s gotta be records about that.” Evidence to pin to Maddox’s forehead.

Picking up the last of the cutlery, JJ gave a quick scrub. The grim was melting away again, like the suds. Ice cream too. Weren’t he a lucky boy. ”Yes … please,” he murmured, some of his parents’ lessons sticking. He rinsed his hands off, not managing to dry them before Lucky pressed into his side again. ”Hard not being an arsehole? Oh, harder than you could imagine,” he cackled. He turned towards her as she curled her hand around his arm, humming lightly. Dinner with the two of them hadn’t been any sort of a hardship. It’d been more fun than he’d been expecting. ”Keep coming around to see my kid? I think I could manage that. She’s a good kid … even if her fingers are light. I fucking knew it.” His fingers curled around the lump of the wallet in her back pocket, fingertips pressing into the firm curve of her arse beneath it. ”Guess I should leave some pocket money for her, while I treat my wife another way, eh?” Smirking, conscious that the kid could appear any moment – but not willing to abstain entirely til she went to bed – JJ dropped his head and kissed her as his grip tightened to pull Lucky into him. Well, he’d end the meal with something creamy and sweet.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS (Finished) * Word Count: 1120

Now she got why he hadn’t tried to eviscerate Maddox through his bird. The slashes he had taken at Destiny by association had cut deep enough that he’d been able to see each wound in those big blue eyes that’d shimmered like lakes at him while he’d sat there for his arse kicking. Guilt had carved itself deep into him then, taking its sodding time to heal too – especially with her hand selected monkey on his back, now he’d passed it along. She’d proved a distraction, just the same way Lucy was now.

JJ continued to stare down at her, only managing to snort when she started picking his parenting skills apart. His lips pursed for a second before he nodded. ”And that’s another for ya – all life lessons are dumb, but you learn ‘em all the same. It’s a parent’s prerogative to toss them out at their kids when they don’t know how else to tell you not to do stuff.” Like listening in. If there was anything you didn’t want a kid to pick up they’d hear it clear as anything. His mum had always sworn that it was a selective deafness, especially on his part. Maybe she hadn’t been wrong.

The wince was faint, the kid’s nosiness something he was glad enough to pass off to his wife. JJ bobbed his head like he was agreeing with whatever nonsense bullshit Lucky was pushing on her daughter. He watched the kid quietly from the corner of his eye until she started to sputter something about alligator’s. Had he honestly been just like that? Probably. Being on the other side of it was painful, the distraction of checking out a blessing when it finally came. He’d chalk all of this up on his long, long list of why he wasn’t about to reproduce any time soon.

It didn’t feel like he’d moved all that far out of his own childhood. You could’ve been to a dozen different warzones, spent bowel liquifying hours with the muzzle of a weapon inches from his head, but the minute a mother told you to jump, you didn’t even ask how high, you just started hopping. He wasn’t the only one who knew it either. He would’ve winked conspiratorially at the kid as he finished griping, but Lucy was already getting a jab in that had him pouting. ”Not your fault, eh?” JJ hummed, shaking his head as he started straightening the cans up, knowing he was gonna be the one putting them in bags on the other side. ”I hope you remember that sharin’ thing when it comes to the washing up.” He didn’t imagine that would hinge on how much he crabbed, like Lucy was suggesting. That was just gonna come with someone else making him dinner – he wasn’t a total bloody heathen after all. He’d been raised with manners, and some had stuck after he’d slithered out from under the old man’s thumb and expectations.

Just as he’d expected the bagging was their job too, with orders from the boss that he resisted meeting with a salute. He hefted the bags into the car, only winced once as he glanced in the rear view and spotted the kid rifling through the back of the car like she was gonna turn up anything more than receipts or chocolate wrappers back there. ”She’s gonna have me cleaned out by the end of dinner,” he puffed. And he’d get his wallet back soon enough after him, even if it was by dangling her upside down by her ankles at the end of it and shaking til it dropped out of wherever the hell she’d put it.

The kid took some bags on the way in at least, keeping a hold on them until they piled out of the elevator and into the apartment. ”I guess that’s far enough,” JJ grumbled, although he carried his into the kitchen, seeming to guilt Lucy into doing the same, by not following her grumbling example. She stowed them up on the counter before she tried to retreat. Nu uh, if he was gonna get called on his complaining then turn about would be fair play. JJ winked at Lucky as she raised her brows at his suggestion. ”Oi,” he grumbled. ”You really want me poking through every cupboard in here? I could you know…” Building up more of a picture of Lucky than he’d gotten so far – a journalist’s prerogative that he’d indulged in more than once.

He still did it, flipping jars and bottles around as he put the groceries Lucy unbagged where she ordered him to – oh, there was definitely more of her mum than just her looks in the girl. ”Yes boss,” JJ muttered quietly every time he stowed something. By the time he was done and Lucy was trailing out – supposedly to do homework, although if she was anything like him it’d be five minutes of that and half an hour of staring at the telly with the sound down low enough that it couldn’t be heard. ”I thought she was the only one giving orders.” He didn’t bitch as he did as Lucky asked though, just fetched the butter and milk without complaint.

It didn’t take Lucky two minutes to bring up their former conversation again. JJ’s gaze stayed on the kid as Lucky murmured to him. ”When little ears aren’t listening, you mean?” he asked lightly. There weren’t much of a question there at all – you didn’t talk about bringing a man to his knees for being a cunt while there were impressionable minds right there. JJ grunted lightly, crossing his arms over his chest. He settled back against the edge of the counter, dragging his eyes away from Lucy finally. ”Yeah, I’m still going after him. I’m not letting that sort of scumbag continue to fuck up lives here, especially not when my sister-in-law’s right in that lion’s den.” Pulling himself back up, he lifted his chin towards the table. ”You got anything else you need my help with?” It was only polite after all.

Sitting around the table for a proper family meal felt a little weird at first – they certainly hadn’t been like that when he was a kid – but the stilted feeling rapidly melted away. This was one for the plus column of having kids, short as it was. He told some of the less gruesome stories of his time on the road – like the time he’d taught a couple of kids not much older than Lucille how to play cricket in Rwanda, and how one of them had smacked the ball he’d lobbed for him right back in his face. The black eye had faded before the sting in his ego had. By the time he’d polished off his bowl the last thing he wanted to do was wash up, but he was up and picking up the dishes anyway. ”I should make you help with this,” he told Lucille, ”I’m gonna take one for the team though. You owe me … and that’s on top of the wallet.” He backed out of the room with his eyes narrowed at her. It hadn’t just been a ploy to get that private conversation either.

The dishes went in the sink, the soap squeezed in with a heavy hand. He went to work on them, bubbles squeezing up between his knuckles. JJ frowned his way through it, rinsing carefully before he set them aside to dry. More than half had been done before he heard footsteps heading back. ”Is it time for the big talk then?” he asked, winging his brows. There wasn’t much of a joke to it, not when they were about to plan Grey Maddox’s downfall, and more than likely, his being canned right on the heels of it.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1303

It was what? JJ stared at her for a moment, his nose wrinkling. Support, of course they wouldn’t use the same word – and he wasn’t gonna admit that support made a whole lot more sense than maintenance – as though you were paying to keep the kid convinced that the status quo was still there. Had the old man even bothered doing that for his first born or had he just washed his hands of the entire thing? Well, when it did inevitably happen, he wasn’t gonna be the apple only falling a couple of inches from the tree. Mistakes learned from and all that.

JJ pooched out his lips, tipping his head back and forth before he shot a grin at the kid. She hadn’t asked for money at all and that had been the problem, hadn’t it? ”Same difference,” he muttered. Neither of them were gonna be paid since short stuff here wasn’t his. This town wasn’t that freaky.

Crouched down, studying her as she made her way towards him, JJ could see that there probably wouldn’t have been much of him in her if he had ended up an unintentional dad, contributing to the great gene pool. Looks wise her mum was there, personality-wise, maybe … He wouldn’t have denied being light fingered a time or two, had certainly never met a line he hadn’t skipped across as a kid. And her gob, Jesus ….

Blue eyes narrowed down like hers, his forearms planted on his knees until she took a swipe at him – like mother like daughter indeed. JJ barked out a laugh, blinking at her. ”Well there was plenty for mac and cheese and the nice bottle of something I was planning on having with dinner until someone dipped their hands in my pocket.” There was that glimmer of hope in his eyes as he looked up at mom. It wasn’t the first time he’d ever mooched dinner on the power of his charm alone, or anything else. A smile and that guileless boyish look could get you everywhere. He bet the kid knew how to play on her own version of it too. ”How about twenty dollars?” he offered. Undoubtedly that was gonna be pushed, the bargain never struck that easily.

Maybe he’d believed it had been in that museum bathroom in a breathless rush at the end. A satisfied married couple smoothing down clothes as they’d left it. The frown lines started to cut deep again. JJ straightened up, one finger held out in that age old signal to wait. ”Woah, woah. I always keep my word. What do you think I didn’t come through on?” He’d taken a swing at Maddox hadn’t he? It wasn’t his fault that the one woman invested in keeping his reputation clean was the one paying his wages, holding his strings. The article had ended up out there and anybody with half a brain would’ve caught the whiff of bullshit about the retraction he’d been forced to write.

Grumbling under his breath, he dragged a hand over his stubbled jaw and looked down at the kid. Now she had his wallet and the means to put the boot in herself, like his ego wasn’t bruised enough without little feet stomping all over it. ”I dunno, but I don’t think she’s happy with me,” he stage whispered back. He wasn’t about to tell her how the bargain had been struck, little ears and all of that.

”Bullshit,” JJ announced as he straightened up. He clapped his hands over the kid’s ears, glaring at her mum over the top of her head. He’d done his part both times around, even if she wasn’t gonna give him credit for doing his husbandly duty the first time around. ”I published the article, I wasn’t betting on his girlfriend, y’know, my boss, being back before it got any real traction. I had no choice. It was publish a retraction and a sodding apology or my career’s tanked. I dunno about you, but a pay packet’s just a little necessary if I wanna keep eating mac and cheese. You want me to go for his jugular again?” By the time point his teeth were gonna be blunt, the pitbull like lock he’d tried to get on Maddox loose enough that he was practically gumming at him instead. Cursing under his breath he peeled his hands off of Lucy’s ears and held one out like she was about to deposit his wallet back in it.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 750

It wasn’t exactly brass balls cold, although it could apparently get that way once winter really arrived. Big dumps of snow that probably made the town look picturesque (Mystic Falls’ go to, all of it just a cover really), but that would be a pain in his arse. He hadn’t needed heavy winter boots and down jackets in London, sure as hell hadn’t even double layered it in Africa. He wasn’t there now though and the gust of wind that slipped up the back of his t-shirt as he sat in the square – not only in that, he wasn’t that big a masochist – had JJ considering a trip to Charlottesville for a little shopping tomorrow. It wasn’t like the boss would really notice he was gone, Destiny probably relished those days he was barely in the office. Maybe she’d send his guard dog after him though.

Bloody pain in his arse, a bigger one than this metal chair on the sidewalk outside the coffee bean. What sort of sadist left these things out here after the weather started to turn? What sort of idiot sat out here instead of inside? One who was practically daring his boss ordered shadow to turn up and order him back to the office for daring to keep an eye on the Grey Haven. JJ squirmed on the seat, pushing his laptop away to slump back and stare at the ridiculous lump of steel and glass in the middle of a town that was all tradition. How’d they get that past the town council? Deep pockets, probably, the sort that had stopped the sheriff sniffing around even before he’d had to write the retraction of his article. Not a decent pair of eyes between them.

JJ picked up the cup of coffee the barista had brought out ten minutes ago and wrinkled his nose as he realised there was only a mouthful left. That’d gone quick, three shots of espresso, neat, vanishing in just a couple of mouthfuls. He set it down on its saucer, scowling at the screen as he did. There’d been no use trying to sneak another article through – Destiny had made it clear what was happening if he put one toe out of line and he had no intention of getting kicked from the Daily. Wasn’t like the Courier was gonna be racing to take him on with his reputation trashed by that redaction. Put up with the shackles, or leave. Not much of a choice now, was it?

He shut down the computer, not bothering to close the word file first – what point was there when the bloody thing had just been blank anyway. JJ stuffed it into his bag, waving off the barista through the window as he turned. She’d held up another cup, wiggling it in offer, one brow winging at him – another offer undoubtedly. For a second he stared at her. Brush one off, take the other? Ugggh. He waved that off too, shoving the laptop into his bag before he started off. Chances of him getting more work done at home were just as small. Maybe though. A stop at the supermarket first – coffee he’d have to brew himself, something to shove in the microwave later. The essentials, especially if the place sold booze, not always a guarantee here. One stop shop his arse.

The basket dangled from his fingertips as he strolled through the produce section. Why they did always put it at the front of shops? Did they honestly think you were suddenly gonna stop pigging out on the junk if you spotted the apples before the bags of crisps? Fat chance of that – he did slow down long enough to toss a couple of limes in the basket though, he wasn’t a total pig. JJ strolled the aisles, the coffee stuffed in the basket with bread (always fucking awful here, cakey shit that wouldn’t have flown anywhere else), a couple of them hungry man meals that were slightly more palatable than the dubious Chinese from three days ago that was still stuffed in the fridge. Milk. Cereal … where was the cereal …?

Ha! The only thing they got right here. None of that reduced sugar shit they’d switched over to back home. He crab walked along the aisle, looking back and forth between the neon coloured boxes – Froot Loops (the limes were probably enough to stave off scurvy already), Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cap’n Crunch, Lucky Charms. Bingo. JJ reached up to grab them, felt the bump as he landed back. That shark like nudge and go he’d felt a dozen times in rat runs all over the world. Usually kids, hands small enough to dip into pockets, faces cute enough to look up at him like this one was now. Unlucky for them he didn’t have that biological instinct to preserve the small and cute, fuck primitive thoughts when it was your wallet or passport vanishing into a crowded street. ”Whatcha,” he said slowly, offering up a smile at the kid. ”Oh no, you don’t. Oi!” She’d turned, quick as a damn eel and bolted.

It only took a slap of his back pocket to release he was light now. Fuck. JJ dumped the basket on the floor, bolting after her down the aisle. There was only one way in and out of the place, but he got to the end of the aisle and didn’t see her scurrying out of it on little legs, waving his wallet in the air like a banner. Glancing back and forth between the exit and the rows that stretched away from it, JJ made his way along the end, carefully ducking around each corner until the last one. The kid was there, halfway down, ducking behind a slender figure that wouldn’t have done anything to hide her if she’d been much bigger.

He strode down the aisle after her, baring his teeth in a sharp grin at the kid as he approached. ”Nice try, but you can pass it back now. Come on…” He wiggled his fingers at her, pausing as the woman turned around. Double fuck. JJ huffed a laugh out through his nose, pulling his hand back to drag her knuckles under his nose. ”I’d say I’d hope she wasn’t mine, but that woulda been some sort of a miracle. Take it she’s yours though?” That’d go some way to explaining it. Looked like his wife hadn’t exactly offered up the whole story.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 1080