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When she was quite young her mother had always told her, with a quiet fondness that never failed to make Ollie feel like the most important thing in the world, that she was an unfailingly free spirit— it often resulted, at least since she’d been back in London, in her taking wandering walks through the city. Rediscovering everything in every nook and cranny for the pure joy of finding it at all; she’d spent most of her day finding random spots to sit and play her bass, signing autographs when people recognized her in passing and generally mucking about at her leisure. She was finally on her way home, sauntering through the darkening streets and digging through her pockets for a cigarette. She patted her pockets lazily, noting with some frustration that she’d found her lighter but appeared to have forgotten anything she could use it for somewhere at home, “Oi! ‘Scuse me? Mate? Can I bum a smoke?”

Jace hung outside of the bar on his break, needing to get some fresh air compared to that of awful stench of stale alcohol and smoke from behind the counter inside. He was on his phone, leaning against the building, letting Celeste know that he would be home later than he assumed. They had asked him to stay out. Looking up when he heard a voice, he shook his head, smiling apologetically. “Sorry,” he told her. “I don’t smoke.” He licked his lips, waiting for a moment. “But I’m sure someone inside could help you out,” he told her, pointing to the doorway back toward the bar. 

Gabriel smiled when he saw Jace. “Please” he said with desperation in his voice. “Anything for a toddle that isn’t Goodnight Moon.” Wes had gotten stuck on that book lately. “Because if I have to read that book one more time, I’m going to lose it.”

“Ah, come on, that’s one of my favorites,” he teased, chuckling under his breath. Sabine was too young to understand a word that he was saying, but when Jace was home when she was being put to bed, he took the time to read to her. Goodnight Moon was on his list. “Come on, the kids’ section is this way.” Turning, he didn’t wait to see if he would follow as he walked in that direction. 

Charlotte looked up when someone spoke and she turned to face him. “I was finding something on cookbooks. Like, old Southern stuff.”

“I assume you mean the American south, as there aren’t many cookbooks about recipes from Sussex to Cornwall,” he replied, smiling gently in her direction as he stood up straighter. He gestured the way he would take her. “They’re this way. I’ll show you.” Turning around, he started toward the corner of the library where they kept the literature she was in search of. 

Gracie was an inherently social person— in spite of the fact that she knew full well being around people had the potential to be utterly exhausting it was a habit she had never been able to break, not that she wanted to. Going out to bars with her friends in the city was always an adventure and usually one she wasn’t willing to pass up if she could help it. Of course, trying to ignore the advances of a particularly persistent man in the bar had gotten exhausting far more quickly than she’d thought it would and she’d found herself tucked against the wall of the bar to have a smoke and relieve some of the stress she was feeling. She patted her pockets absently, mindful of keeping the cigarette in her mouth firmly between her lips rather than allowing it to fall to the ground ( she’d only brought the one with her, as she smoked so rarely it was usually all she needed ). Her lighter, of course, was nowhere to be found and she exhaled a frustrated breath through her nose in response. “Damn it,” She mumbled around it, raising her head to grin crookedly at the nearest person, “You wouldn’t happen to have a lighter would you?”

Jace looked up as he walked through the back door to the bar, a slow smile taking over his face as he realized who the customer was who had asked him for a lighter. Licking his lips, he found himself bringing a hand up to fix his hair and move it out of his face. “Hi you,” he said gently, using his other hand and reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket he wore when it was cooler outside. Grabbing the lighter, he handed it to her. “Here. Keep it.” Looking at the bar and over to her, he couldn’t help but pause. He was going to head to the back room, get ready to start his shift, but he had time. And a large part of him wanted to spend it with Gracie. “You good?” he asked, watching her closely. 

The corner of her lip upturned in a quick, fleeting smile at the compliment before she responded. “That’s good though! That’s a good preference to have in a job like this.” Savon herself needed to be more careful with her own divulges into alcohol. 

“Would it be bad to tell you I had to learn from my mistakes?” he asked, laughing softly under his breath as he picked up a glass of water he kept filled for himself under the bar and took a sip. “I was young and dumb once, and my boss threatened to fire me.” 

“My son is two” said Gabriel. “So I’ve been there. I can assure you that it does get easier.” Maybe not easy, but definitely easier. “I nearly cried with relief the first time my son slept through the night.” He was only half-joking. Wes had been a fussy baby because of his colic. “Half of parenting is being scared you’re going to screw your child up somehow. Just keep reminding yourself that most people turn out okay. Even the ones with really bad parents.”

“Sabine just started to sleep through the night,” Jace said, nodding his head. “Though her mother and I still get up, just in case. We got pretty nervous when we slept for more than a few hours at a time without hearing her cry.” Sighing, he nodded his head, the advice relieving him of worries that he didn’t really know he had until that moment. “I know quite a few people that definitely worked out alright despite their circumstances,” he agreed. He grew up without a father and he told himself that he was being an okay parent to Sabine, despite having a lack of experience. 

Morgan nodded rather than returning the bartender’s smile. At his inquiry, she tilted her head at him in mimic. “Does it look like I’m here for a beer?” She waited a sufficient few seconds before TEARING her eyes away, glancing at the line of liquor bottles behind the counter. “I’ll do a Four Roses, neat ––” She paused. “Actually, make that a Maker’s Mark, neat.” She’d just cashed a pretty decent check, and with rent already paid, she thought it couldn’t hurt to splurge on some slightly higher-end bourbon whiskey tonight.

Jace ignored the sarcasm in his voice - he was simply trying to be nice, he did need the tips - and waited for her to make her choice. Smiling back at her despite himself, he nodded his head. “I got you,” he told her, turning to make the drink for her. It didn’t take him long, her order being easy enough, and he turned back to her and handing the drink to her from across the bar. “Can I get you anything else?” he asked, grabbing a towel and wiping his hands on it. 

“Yeah, it’s a pretty new release,” he nodded. He always kept the books from the library for a bit, hoping it would help sales, but now they were selling like such hot cakes, that he didn’t mind letting them go out a bit early. “You should. I hate people who pretend to love books and then haven’t read anything in a year.” A smile curled around his lips. “Trust me, it gets better. There’s a pretty good twist in there.” 

“Well, I can promise you that I love books,” he chuckled, nodding his head as he looked down at his shoes for a moment before glancing back up at the other guy. “I didn’t choose to be a librarian for the pay, certainly.” Though he wasn’t complaining, Jace knew that he could have gone into another field that paid a little more than what he was making. But he enjoyed his work, so he wasn’t going to give it up. “I’ll take your word for it. I’m definitely enjoying it enough to continue toward the end.” 

Sex wasn’t new for Gracie. She’d always been very comfortable with herself and understanding her needs and the things she enjoyed and she’d found sex to be something that she very much tended to appreciate and genuinely enjoy. It was a lovely, oftentimes wonderful way to connect with people on a level simple conversation couldn’t always reach and the sheer level of desire that could spread between her and her partners was borderline intoxicating. So, all in all, Gracie felt little more than a genuine, bright excitement at the thought that being with Jace was arguably going to be much more than a quick make out and she felt generally eager to see what he could do. His approach was equal parts adorable and sexy and she allowed him to push into her personal space with a lazy smirk of her own gracing her features. The moment his lips brushed against hers she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back languidly, enjoying the way his body felt in close proximity to hers and the heat of his mouth against her own. It had been far too long since she’d had a chance to kiss anyone at all, and she found herself groaning softly against Jace’s mouth to convey that she was very much enjoying it. 

Grace’s body curled up against his own, and his hand moved to the small of her back, pressing her hips closer to him. The warmth of her body against his was a welcome feeling; it had been a while since he had anyone in this way, even a kiss felt new to him after so long. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t usually do this, that he didn’t use his job to pick up women, but he didn’t know if she would believe him. And in that moment, with the sound of her groan reverberating against his mouth, Jace didn’t think she cared too much. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he picked her up, carrying her over to a table they kept in the back room to use to sit at, to eat. He made a mental note to maybe wash it later. He spread her legs and stepped between her thighs so he was closer to her, both hands releasing her and finding purchase in her hair instead. His mouth opened up to her, his tongue teasing hers, and he cursed quietly when he pulled back only for a breath of air. Should they stop? Talk about this? His mind was reeling and he fought against it, giving into his urges instead, one of his hands moving to her ass and pulling her closer. 

“It might not be up there with telekinesis or teleportation, but I would consider it my super power” she joked, sliding in next to him. Then she laughed. “That’s definitely a usual talent” she said. “Especially in the middle of the night.” Nothing like getting up at three am to severely impair one’s diaper changing skills. “And people say karma is usually a bitch” she said. She glanced at her daughter in the back seat. “Thank goodness she’s still too young to repeat what I say.” She would have to break that habit before Sabine reached the talking stage. “I don’t want us to get a note from her teacher cause she dropped the f bomb her first day of school.”

“You’re my superhero, if that makes you feel any better,” Jace teased, laughing with her as he settled into his seat. He was always comfortable with Celeste, and he felt more so since Sabine came into their lives. It was a change, certainly, but they were close enough that when they had a problem, or something came up, they could fix it. Jace loved both his daughter and the mother of her so much. “Listen, I think we need to teach her young,” he joked. “Have to make sure that she’s eloquently spoken along with colorful too.” 

“Yes,” the blonde said abruptly, ignoring their previous one-sided conversation. “I’m working through all of them, even if it does take 48 hours to do so. I need to study so I can get into uni and it’s so stressful.” Lalia had always been a big perfectionist, that was how she’d succeeded as an athlete. Now she wanted to be able to get through her university interview and get onto the course she wanted. All whilst trying not to let her parents know what she was up to. “Sorry if I’m being too messy, I’m not usually this bad.”

Jace nodded his head, taking a step back from the table and the girl. She seemed a tad frazzled, and he fought the urge to lift his hands up as if not to scare a wild animal. Instead, he slid them into his pockets. “It’s not a problem, ma’am. I was just offering to pick up the books if you were done,” he explained. “Let me know if you need any help.” Reaching up, he ran a hand over the back of his hair. “I will stop bothering you.”

Gabriel took a grateful swig of the drink, then set the glass back down on the counter. “honestly, my life is great. I really have no room to complain.” He was happily married with a child, after all. “But sometimes working from home can be hard when you have a toddler.” He could probably count on one hand the number of days he’d had go according to plan since Wes was born. “Do you have kids?” he asked. “Because for me, its been one of the most fulfilling and scary things I’ve ever done.”

Jace could understand where he was coming from, certainly. When Celeste had come to him with the idea of having a child of her own, he had not immediately jumped at the idea of being her donor. But, of course, he didn’t regret a single instant of his decision. “I have a daughter,” Jace nodded, answering him. “Only two months old.” He grabbed a rag to clean the counter beside the other man. “It’s been quite scary so far.” He was always afraid he was going to do something wrong. 

2009. Her lips quirked in slight disappointment but she nodded nonetheless. It wasn’t the best year but was certainly better than more recent years. “That sounds lovely,” she insisted, sending him a thankful smile. “Would you like a glass to? On me.” She wasn’t sure if he was allowed to drink whilst working but thought to ask to be polite.

He could see the disappointment in her face, but there wasn’t much that he could do at that point. He could offer an older, more expensive wine, but this was what she had requested, so he stuck with it. “Oh, as much as I would love to drink with such a lovely woman,” Jace began, switching into his charming, bartender persona for a moment. “I don’t tend to drink on the job. Just a personal preference of mine.” 

Bar fights were not usually something Jamie was called to break up. But then again, he had already been at the bar when the fight had started, it wasn’t like they had actually called him. A few bloody knuckles later, the fight had been successfully broken up, Jamie’s colleagues from the Metropolitan Police taking the two guys responsible in custody.

 He took a deep breath. “I mean, my knuckles have seen better days,” he quipped glancing down at his slightly bloody hand. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it,” he said at the offer of a free drink. “This wasn’t exactly how I was planning for the night to go, but things always happen when you least expect them to, don’t they?”

@jacewhitmire  //  closed.  //  cont. 

“Do you want some ice for that?” he asked, gesturing to his hand, which was already bruising. Jace almost felt bad for needing a customer to help him break up a drunken fight. “I might even have some bandages in the back room, if you’re interested in cleaning it up.” 

Moving around behind the bar, he poured the guy some whiskey and put an ice cube or two into the glass with the liquor. Handing it to him, he chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. “I have to deal with a bar fight at least every other day. It’s quite normal, especially with some of the guys that end up here most nights.” It wasn’t that the bar was dangerous, it was just that the men who tended to drink here couldn’t handle their liquor.