|
|
*all standard disclaimers apply, I don't own Jessie, James or Meowth, but the story line and ideas presented within are mine, please respect that.*
pa.tience \'pa--sh*n(t)s\ n 1: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint 2: manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain 3: steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
Jessie sighed as she sat down in front of the struggling campfire. It had rained recently, and the wood didn't burn as well as it should..
She could still remember when she was young.. her mother always told her, 'you should show more patience.' "You know where patience got me though? It got me into Team Rocket. Now I spend my nights in a sleeping bag on the cold ground and my days with a loud-mouth cat and a brainless guy.." she thought to herself as she rested her forehead in her hand.
"Jessie, you ok?"
James gave up on stoking up the fire and sat down next to her, placing an arm around the back of her shoulders.
"Of course I'm ok!" she snapped as she shoved him away.
"Sorry.."
James took another seat a comfortable distance staring into the crackling fire as it danced for them in the dark night.
Jessie closed her eyes and thought back over her life.. about her parents.. the day of the funeral: she'd never forget.. That was also the first time she'd met Giovanni.. Even on that day of mourning he'd seemed cold and callous.. She'd never been comfortable dealing with him in person, and she hated that.. she never wanted to appear weak.. and he made her feel like a little girl..
She sighed.. she had a lot to begrudge Giovanni about.. of course, she also had some things to be thankful for..
Jessie knew now how her mother had died in the line of duty for Team Rocket.. and even though she knew it wasn't directly Giovanni's fault, she couldn't help but harbor a bitter resentment at the loss of the only person she felt had cared about her..
Of course.. some of the best times of Jessie's life had been financed by the wallet of Giovanni.. After Jessie's father ran away and she was left to live with her uncle, Giovanni came to her and made the generous offer to send her to Pokemon Tech.. at least, at the time it seemed generous. Looking back on it now, however, she realized that he had only sent her because he had plans to bring her into the organization..
She looked over at James, who was sitting with one of his trademarked idiotic grins. "Probably thinking about donuts, money, or some little whore like Gazelle.." she thought to herself as she turned back to look into the flames in front of her.
He was kind of cute.. in a stupid way.. sometimes she even felt sort of sorry for him.. Following her into Team Rocket and everything.. plus she really couldn't imagine living as such a complete and total idiot... "of course.. some say ignorance is bliss.." she thought to herself with a wry smile.
"James."
James' expression came back to life as he looked over at her.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Meowth?"
"Oh.. um, he had to go on ahead to set some stuff up for tomorrow's mission or something."
Jessie scowled slightly when she heard this..
"Oh, James, sweety, could you come over here for a minute?"
"Sure!"
James eagerly stood up and hurried over to her.
"Now close your eyes.. I have a surprise for you."
"OoooOo!!! I love surprises!" he said as he shut his eyes an innocent smile covering his face.
"Ok, now open them!"
"Yay! Oh! A fan! you shoul-"
Jessie ended James excitement with a sobering blow to the cranium.
"I'm going to sleep now, and don't wake me up tomorrow!!!!"
Jessie huffed over to her sleeping bag as James laid on the ground in a daze.
"The nerve of him and that stupid cat..." Jessie thought to herself as she lay in her bag looking up at the stars. She sighed and felt a little tear in the corner of her eye and a knot in her throat.. "wanting me to work on my sixteenth birthday.."
She closed her eyes and ignored the sounds of James groans until she finally fell to sleep..
James sighed as he looked down at his partner, still in her sleeping bag.. He knew they had things to do, and he should have woke her up by now.. it was about 9 AM, and normally she'd have been up a couple of hours by this time, but she'd told him not to wake her up, and he wasn't going to upset her anymore than she already seemed to be.. She'd be over it soon enough though, he knew that.
"Hey James, you going to wake her up? We needs ta get go'n if we're gonna keep on schedule."
"Why don't you wake her up?"
Meowth looked at James' imperative stare for a few moments.
"Yeah.. um.. why don't I just do that.." Meowth said as he cautiously walked over to the sleeping-bag and nudged it a few times and whispered, "wake up Jessie.. it's time to get going.."
Meowth nudged it a few more times then covered his head with his arms as the bag started to move.
Jessie slowly rolled over and looked over at James with a blank expression.
"Ok.. ok.. I'm getting up.."
James and Meowth breathed a sigh of relief and turned around as she changed back into her uniform in relative privacy.
"Ok, I'm done.."
"Well that was faster than usu-AAAHHH!"
Jessie was wearing her rocket uniform as usual, but she hadn't styled her hair.. it just fell loosely behind her, and she wasn't wearing any makeup (not that she really needed any..) There wasn't anything bad about her appearance, just very unusual.
"Are you ok, Jess?"
"Of course I'm ok! Now lets go."
Jessie started to walk away, heading down the path towards Valentine city, which they'd reach soon. Meowth and James followed quickly behind her catching up and matching her pace.
"Yum! It sure is a scrumptious day!" James said with a smile, "but do you know what would just make it perfect?"
Jessie rolled her eyes, "what would make it perfect?"
"A nice chocolate doughnut!"
Jessie scoffed and shook her head as Meowth laughed at James. She wasn't sure if he was serious or just trying to be humorous.. it didn't matter either way though, she felt like he was just being stupid as usual..
"Ok.. what are we supposed to be doing in Valentine today anyway?"
"We're supposed to be picking up some equipment for the boss."
"Ugh! I'm getting so sick of his piddly little jobs that involve me busting my butt carrying fifty pounds of equipment on my back!" She paused to catch her breath after the outburst, "What are we supposed to be getting?"
"Um.. some machinery I think..."
"You think?! Aren't you sure?"
"I uh... er.. I lost the list..."
"God! You lost it? How will we know what to take?"
As she said this Jessie pulled out her little white Team Rocket fan and beat him handily until he was curled up on the ground praying for mercy. After a few moments standing there looking at him she put her fan away and started walking away again.
"Are you sure this was a good idea James? Seems a little bad for your health.."
"If this is sweet sixteen, then..." James shivered as he got to his feet and the two ran after her to catch up.
The three didn't speak the rest of the way into town..
James walked along beside Jessie, not looking at her, just straight ahead down the path, and Meowth took the opposite side of James from her.
Jessie looked briefly over at James, the Rolex she'd stolen him for his birthday peeked out from under the edge of his Team Rocket jacket.
She seethed inside.. he hadn't mentioned a thing about her birthday, his had only been a few months earlier and she'd thrown him a great party.. cake, gifts.. heck, she even gave him a birthday kiss.. Now she felt like he didn't deserve any of it. She wondered if there was anything he remembered..
She thought about all of their years knowing each other, "He probably doesn't remember the day we met.. or the day we joined Team Rocket, or the first time we held hands or the first movie we saw.." She quietly grit her teeth and thought about all the ways she could punish his unfortunate oversight..
Then she looked down at the cat.. "He probably knows it's my birthday.. Meowth never forgets anything.. he just wants me to feel bad.." Jessie shivered a little bit and pushed her hair back.
"Hey look, it's Valentine!" James announced when they'd come within view of the buildings that comprised the outskirts of the city.
"Great.." Jessie mumbled as they resumed their hike into town.
It was getting to be the early afternoon when they made it into Valentine proper, and Jessie was feeling a bit hungry..
"Just wait until after we're done, I promise this won't take long.."
Jessie growled, but for once James didn't give in..
"Meowth, you want some food too right?"
The pokemon looked at her, then up at James, "Um, I think I'll be ok until we're done.."
Jessie turned her back to them and clenched her fists.. Couldn't they even let her have her way on her own birthday?
"Come on Jess, the quicker we're done the quicker we'll get some food."
Jessie spun around, intent on knocking him out, but instead looked at his innocent smile and sighed.
"Ok.. where are we going?"
"It's just a few more blocks.."
"Alright, lead on.."
Jessie's shoulders sagged as she followed them on down the bustling sidewalk.
It was a typical day in the big city, balding business men strolled along from building to building, children covered the candy store windows as their mothers tried to drag them away, and a few people that looked to be about Jessie and James' age loitered around the streets.
"Alright, this is the place." James said with a smile.
"What could we possibly need out of a dump like this?" Jessie said as she appraised the outside of the large, run down looking brick warehouse that sat a couple of hundred feet back off the main roadway.
"Come on, Meowth, you go in this window and go open the door up for us."
"Right!" Meowth exclaimed as the two walked around the side of the building and James lifted him up to a small window that the pokemon slunk into.
Jessie waited at the main doors as James walked back.. she could hear her stomach growl and she eyed him unappreciatively.. James saw her tapping her foot on the ground and turned away while they waited, and after only a few uncomfortable moments the door slid partially open.
"It's about time," Jessie said as she pushed James aside and walked in.
The inside of the building was a stark contrast to the outside: pitch black.
"Where's the light switch?" she asked as she stood in the seam of light peeking in through the door.
"Well... We're here!" James said as he walked in after her.
"Of course we're here, you don't have to shout in my ear!"
Just as Jessie spoke, the lights flipped on, and the door slid closed..
"SURPRISE!!!"
Jessie jumped up into the cradle of James arms and looked around.
So many people were there.. Steve, Jake, Erin, Wayne, Sandra, and Karen, as well as a few people she didn't recognize.
"What are you all doing here? What's going on?"
"Happy sweet sixteenth, Jessie," Steve said as he walked up and got James to set her back on her feet.
Jessie smiled.. she felt a little guilty..
"You didn't really think we'd forget about your sixteenth birthday, did ya Jess?"
Jessie clasped her hands together and smiled down at Meowth.
"Maybe I did.. but you should have told me.."
"We thought this would be more fun." James said, grinning from ear to ear.
Jessie couldn't do anything but smile back, and blush..
"Come on, I know you're hungry, so lets have some cake."
All of Jessie's bitterness melted away and the hours of cake, gifts, and conversation with old Team Rocket buddies passed too quickly..
After the last team had departed to get back on their course, James took Jessie up to the roof of the building.
The sun was hung low to the horizon and cast long shadows as the two emerged out of the small hatch that permitted roof access.
James sat down, leaning his back against the short wall that jutted up around the air conditioning unit. Jessie followed his example and took a seat about a foot to his right.
The two looked out towards the orange glow of the setting sun as it nestled down between the taller buildings of the city. Jessie smiled as she squinted her eyes slightly in the bath of light. She felt exactly the opposite as she had earlier.. and more than a little guilty about the way she treated James.. sometimes she wondered why he always stuck with her and was so nice...
"So.. did you enjoy your sixteenth birthday?"
Jessie smiled, "It's not over yet.."
James grinned too as he looked off into the orange sky ahead of him, "Yeah.. I didn't give you my gift back there.. I hope you like it.."
He shifted position slightly as he reached into his right-hand pocket and pulled out a small chain.
Jessie smiled, it didn't look like a rolex, but it's the thought that counts after all.
She opened her gloved hand and he placed it on top. She could see it was just a simple little gold chain with a small charm.
She started to put it on, but he stopped her with a smile.
"Look at the locket first."
Jessie looked at him curiously, she hadn't even realized the small heart was a locket.
After a few unsuccessful attempts by each of them, she finally pulled her gloves off and used her bare fingers.
When she finally saw what was inside she smiled and shook her head.. on one side was a tiny picture of Meowth, and on the other was a tiny picture of herself and James together; it looked like it might have been from the last Team Rocket Christmas party.. She blushed and leaned over to give him a hug.
As she hugged him James whispered in her ear, "This way you'll never forget us.."
"Oh, how could I ever forget you?" she said still leaning on him with a small laugh. Then she got a devilish idea.
"Could you please put it on for me?"
"Sure.." he said as Jessie sat kneeling on her legs facing him.
He had a sort of curious grin on his face as he reached his hands behind her neck, holding her long crimson hair off her neck as he secured the chain. She leaned forward, her eyes were closed, but her smile was confident as ever as he felt the lock click behind her neck and withdrew his hands.
She continued to sit in on her legs, facing him like that for a few moments longer before she finally sighed and looked down. She should have known he wouldn't play along.. he was cute, and loyal.. but not very aggressive..
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing.."
"Then look up," he said as he scooted closer.
He took off his own glove and felt her bare hand on his... He couldn't remember the last time he did that.. He leaned close to her and she closed her eyes, but he stopped for a moment with an evil smile.. (this was his own way of getting back at her for all the beatings and tongue lashings she'd given him)
After a couple of seconds her eyes opened back up and she leaned back, but James wrapped an arm behind her back and pulled her forward.
The moment their lips met time seemed to almost stand still, and she wished it could last forever..