Who: Laura and Jesse James What: Jesse's hungover. This, therefore, is the perfect time for Laura to walk in the door. Where: The James farm When: Around nine-ish Tuesday morning Warnings: Um. Excessive drama? It's the Jameses.
She really hadn't intended to come back until Wednesday. One week, she'd said, and she firmly intended to keep away that entire seven days. Even if things were starting to cool off between them, she was determined to prove that she was to be taken seriously in this situation.
But Jesse's blog post of last night --seen while she was aimlessly browsing the internet before bed the previous night-- completely ruined Laura's resolve. She packed their things that night, bundled the kids into the car bright and early Tuesday morning, and was walking up the path to the front door of her own house by nine o'clock in the morning. Mary and Frank had no problem racing off to play after the long car ride, and after a stern admonition that they not get themselves into trouble Laura was only too happy to let them wander away. Having the kids underfoot would only make for more difficulties in having a conversation that needed having.
When she walked into the house, she had a sneaking suspicion she knew where her husband would be. Sure enough, through the half-ajar door of the study she could see him clearly. Face-down on his desk, an empty bottle of liquor at his elbow, still in the clothes he'd likely worn the day before. Well, if she put two and two together, this explained his seemingly random nights of drinking from before -- they were days of particular importance to him, weren't they? Yesterday was the anniversary of his would-be killer's death. Normally she would have made a note to look up the other days she could remember and see what significance they had, but this wasn't the time.
Argument or not, shocking revelations aside, that was still her husband undoubtedly in the early stages of what had to be an immense hangover. Laura stepped into the kitchen for a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol before returning to the study, this time walking in. She made just enough noise to announce her presence as she set the two items on the desk. Sneaking up on Jesse was damn near impossible on a good day, and on a bad day like this? It might have disastrous consequences.
"Sweetheart?" Laura asked quietly, kneeling next to the chair and laying her hand on Jesse's shoulder. "Oh, Jesse. This is what happens when I'm not around to take care of you, is it?"