Sunday night: fireworks at the farm

[x-crowdofone.livejournal.com]

Jamie and Kitty watch fireworks, and are generally fluffy at each other.



As night fell, the various members of the Madrox and Jessup families flooded into the back yard. The cows were herded into the barn, drinks and popcorn were set out on the picnic table, and everybody scrambled to find a comfy spot while Uncle Jesse hiked out into the fields.

Jamie led Kitty over to a blanket spread out on a small rise near the old tree, a little away from the crowd and all the way on the other side of the yard from the chattering horde of younger cousins. He smiled. "We'll have a good view from here. Should be a good show, Uncle Jesse likes making things go boom."

"Not unlike other members of the family, huh?" Kitty said with a grin, settling down onto the blanket and tugging on Jamie's hand to get him to join her. "Your family is amazing, you know? Now I know where you get all that energy."

"I haven't made anything explode yet. Well, except for the toaster, sort of, that once. And that chemistry experiment, but that was an accident." Jamie hunkered down onto the blanket, snuggling in close. "They're something else, all right. Not
usually this excited-- we don't get to get together like this all that often--but they're fun. I'm glad you could come."

"Me too," Kitty said. "And not just for the fireworks. And I still don't know if I believe you about the Chemistry incident being an accident. It was rather spectacular."

"Most of it got on me. Would I do that on purpose?" The first rocket shot up into the air, exploding in a blue shower. "Wonder if Jubilee's doing her thing back at school?"

"To provide a distraction? Of course you would." Kitty grinned as the blue sparks started drifting in the wind. "I hope so," she said. "It'd be good for Jubes to get back in practice."

Jamie grinned. "It was pretty good, wasn't it? Very slimy. And yeah . . . plus also there's the fun with powers, which everybody needs more of." Red spattered across the sky, then drifted toward the ground in silver sparkles. "Oh, hey, he finally figured those out . . ."

"Pretty," Kitty breathed as a pair of heavy booms forwarned a spectacular green flower of sparks. "Think you're right, your uncle must love this - which is good, 'cause he's good at it."

"He's got a doctorate in chemistry. Mostly because of stuff like this." Jamie grinned. "Don't let anybody ever tell you pranks aren't good for anything."

"You mean anything besides entertaining your girlfriend and friends? Don't worry, I figured pranks had some good sides pretty early on."

"Oh, good. Go ahead and open the end pocket on your bag then." Jamie paused for a moment, deadpan, then grinned as a series of Roman candles exploded down on the field. "Kidding."

Kitty's eyes widened, startled, then she giggled. "You're incorrigible," she said. "Probably why I love you, though."

"Well, one of the reasons, I hope." He leaned in for a kiss.

On the other end of the yard, whoops erupted from the younger cousins as the next series of firecrackers exploded with ear-popping cracks and strobelike flashes.

Kitty snuggled into Jamie's arms. "One of many," she said softly.

"Oh good." Jamie smiled. "Wouldn't want to be boring after only a year."

He watched the fireworks for a while, fingers playing idly with a stray strand of her hair. "So when did you know? About me? I mean, I know what falling in love felt like from my end, but . . . when'd you realize you wanted to keep me?"

"Hmmm..." Kitty said, considering. "I don't know, really. You just... moved into my heart. One day I realized I loved you, and had for ages, and wanted to always."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere. All my stuff's unpacked, and those change-of-address forms are a real pain." He smiled. "For me . . . it was pretty gradual, I didn't notice it was happening at first. I thought you were cute right away, though, and smart, and fun . . . spent the first couple of weeks after that first barbecue figuring out if you had a boyfriend, then being kinda boggled when you didn't. Was working up to asking you out when Lorna pushed the issue." Jamie chuckled. "I almost didn't kiss you that first time, though. I was terrified I'd do it wrong."

"Well, you certainly didn't," Kitty said with a chuckle. "But even if you had we seem to have perfected it by now." Suiting action to words, she leaned forward to kiss him. "I'm glad you did, anyway," she said after a second. "I wanted you to so
much, and don't think I ever would have had the courage myself."

"I'm glad I did too." Jamie grinned. "And more glad you offered that trade the next day, so I knew I hadn't just dreamed that part." He took her hand, stroking his thumb across her knuckles. "Seems like a lot longer than a year ago. We've been through a lot since then."

She nodded. "We really have. And come through it all, stronger than ever..." This last almost whispered as her hand tightened on his.

"Yeah, we did." He smiled. "We're gonna make it, you know. Back to the Roosevelt rose garden, looking for teenagers. We'll be there someday."

Kitty smiled as she snuggled into his arms and another sieres of flashes went off over head. "I believe it," she said. "I've got faith, at least in you and me. In us."

"S'right. We're gonna need a whole shelf for your Nobel Prizes and my Emmys and Oscars, too. And you're going to be just as beautiful as you are now, maybe more." He grinned. "I'm going to lose my nose in a horrible set design accident, though. Will you still love me when I dribble uncontrollably?"

"Yes, of course," Kitty said with a giggle. "And I promise I'll not have more than one or two affairs with the pool boy."

"Oh, good. Rodrigo's a nice young man apart from that regrettable tendency to sleep with his female employers. Wouldn't want you to kill him with overwork. On second thought, though . . . maybe I should just leave the set design to the professionals and completely sidestep the whole dribbling issue?"

"That could work too," Kitty allowed. "If nothing else, it would save me some worry, and extra nights sitting at your bedside in the hospital."

"Let's go with that plan, then. I'm all about you not worrying. Worry bad. Also, I kinda like my nose."

"Me too, now you mention it." Kitty reached up to kiss Jamie on the nose. "It's a cute sort of nose. Suits you."

"Family heirloom, that nose." He grinned. "Pity I don't have any chocolate chips handy."

Her nose scrunched up. "You and your chocolate chips," she said, laughing again. "You have some odd hobbies, Jamie."

"Not odd at all. I like chocolate, and I'm crazy about you, so it's not hard to see the appeal of the combination." He grinned. "Besides, melted chocolate is sexy, and your nose was accessible and not likely to get me smacked."

"Sexy, is it?" She arched an eyebrow at him and grinned. "I'll have to remember that for later."

"Ooh. Remembering is good. Especially that kind of remembering." He deflated slightly. "I wish you could stay longer."

"Me too," Kitty sighed. "But we've covered that. I can't. So... Let's make the most of the time we have."

"Sounds like a genius kinda plan Witness my total lack of surprise."

The sky lit in a brilliant profusion of color as Uncle Jesse lit off the finale. Coruscating blue pinwheels flashed across the sky against a background of scarlet and green blossoms; yellow-white flashes strobed, turning the night to flickering daylight, a demonstration of pyrotechnic art and skill that wouldn't have seemed out of place in a major city.

But Jamie and Kitty hardly noticed.