The Perk [Monday afternoon]

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime needed coffee.

And space.

Not really to think about things. He had no idea what he'd even think about. Or, more accurately, he wasn't sure what thinking would accomplish. On the one hand, seeing kids that could potentially have been his as relatively well-adjusted teenagers had been kind of cool. On the other hand, they really just served as reminders that he was... unsettled ("unhappy" wasn't something he was going to admit quite yet). They seemed to come from a happy family, one where he and Momoko, somehow, worked out.

A family that he was never going to get to see, except through these brief glimpses.

So: coffee. And some breathing space. To just... wallow think.

Comments

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

Toss a coin, Jaime: do you want Dinah, or her teenage daughter to come talk to you about the moping and moooooodiness? Either way, you probably lose.

Lena bopped in, got a chai, and then sat down at Jaime's table. "Hi! So. How's it going, Not-Uncle Jaime?"

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime looked up, startled. And somehow dredged up an expression that could charitably be called a smile.

"Not bad, Lena. You enjoy the weekend?"

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah. Food, hanging with Mom, hanging with Aunt Karla and Auntie Momo, going drinking with Kayla and 'Berto, flirting with a guy at Caritas, it's all good."

She beamed.

"Now. How about you?"

[hijas_kawaii]

Elena detested coffee, but she liked the sweets the Perk always carried, so she was a fairly frequent visitor. Of course they didn't carry her cakes yet, so it was a grumpy teen who plopped down at the table, tray clattering.

"No Caff-Pow, no Sugar Cakes... How did mom live in this time?" She pulled the wrapper off one of the pile of small tea scones and plopped it in her mouth.

[weldedtomyspine]

"Hey, you know me. I always like having company around."

That was even usually true!

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

That look ought to be familiar, Jaime. The one you're getting just now.

"Then why are you being all alone and distanced in a coffee shop when two of your adorable children and one of your adorable nieces are visiting?"

Hello! No lying, Uncle Jaime! Not-Uncle Jaime.

[weldedtomyspine]

"She's pretty tough, you know," Jaime pointed out fondly. "She can go whole days without sugar."

[weldedtomyspine]

"I just needed some downtime, you know?" Jaime shrugged. "You can all get pretty overwhelming, you know."

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

Lena snorted. And sat back, folding her arms, watching him. "I've known you all my life. You go away when you need to think stuff out." She stared at him. "'Berto's really upset, you know."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime sighed, looking down at his coffee. "I noticed." And he felt really crappy about it, too.

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

"So why aren't you fixing it?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"What am I supposed to do?" Jaime asked a bit helplessly.

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

"Tell him you think he's awesome! Tell him you're glad he came to visit. Tell him you're eventually gonna be happy, even if it's a lie, without Auntie Momo." Lena stared at this guy who was only a couple years older than her. "Tell him it's a big universe and we never know what happens. That's what my mom told me."

Essentially.

[hijas_kawaii]

"Days? We are so not talking about the same person," Elena rolled her eyes at that, but showing a hint of a smile. "So. Are you the same dad I came to visit last time?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"Yeah? Well you're mom's tougher than me." And he hadn't been in the best place to start with.

[weldedtomyspine]

"I think so?" Jaime shrugged. "You were a lot smaller back then, though."

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

"Why can't you tell him that?" Lena asked, wounded.

[hijas_kawaii]

"I was seven; I totally hope I've grown." Another tea cake gone. "You were fun. Thanks for that; I didn't want to admit it, but it was kind of scary suddenly being here when I was just in my back yard. And then having the others run off..." Elena shrugged and unwrapped another cake.

[weldedtomyspine]

"Because it doesn't help," Jaime sighed. "I hate seeing her like that as much as he does." More, probably. And knowing that she was tough, and could deal with it, didn't make it any better.

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime managed a slight smile. "Well, you were pretty cute back then." No way was he going to say that about her now. Not when she was seventeen.

[nonenamedboaz.livejournal.com]

Lena made a face, then took a sip of her drink. "So tell him you wish it would work out," she said more gently. "He thinks you don't care. That's all you need to do, seriously."

She might have sounded an awful lot like her mom right then.

[weldedtomyspine]

"He thinks I don't care?" Seriously?

Well, actually, that probably meant Jaime was doing a pretty good job of keeping it buried? Or something?

[hijas_kawaii]

"Thanks. I'll refrain from asking about now," Elena laughed. "My real dad is usually pretty good with the compliments. Or at least with the glowering at my boyfriends and telling me to go back and get dressed before leaving the house."

She bit into another tea cake, a bit of the sugar topping sticking unnoticed to her lip. "I wonder how he ever let me come to school here? It must be driving him totally mad."

[weldedtomyspine]

In that moment she reminded him almost painfully of Momoko. Smiling, sugar stuck to her lip, amused.

It took him a second to re-gather himself. "I imagine you inherited your mother's eyes," he suggested.

[hijas_kawaii]

"Nah. That's Sophy." She leaned forward, grinning. "See? Chocolate! I got yours! Even mom says so." Elena's voice almost purred with pride at that, too.

"It's how she knows I'm yours, she says."

Well, that and the pieces of various appliances littering Elena's room.