My Own Hero

Breakfast

-JENSEN'S POV-

I woke up the next morning to the most beautiful sight in the world. Scarlett was curled up next to me, her long brown hair fanning around her head like a halo and a content smile tugging at her lips in her sleep. I watched her for a few minutes before slipping quietly from the bed to shower and get ready for the day. By the time I was lacing up my shoes, she finally began to stir.

"Morning, beautiful," I greeted her.

"G' morning," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "How long have you been up?"

"Not too long. Why don't you hurry up and get dressed? I'm sure Mama made us a big breakfast."

"That woman is the epitome of 'Southern Hospitality'," Scarlett replied, mostly to herself.

"Can't argue with you there. Come on, Lightweight, time to get up."

Still mumbling to herself, she climbed out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom and I heard the water running a few moments later. I looked at the door a minute longer to make sure she wasn't coming out for a while before taking out my phone. I scrolled through my contacts, my finger hovering over Dani's name. I wanted to at least talk to my daughter, if I wasn't allowed to take my turn with her, but I couldn't bring myself to make the call. I doubted Dani would answer even if I did call them.

I didn't understand why she was acting like this over my relationship with Scarlett. We'd been having this same argument since she overheard me talking to Scarlett on the phone the night she came back early after JJ's surgery. She thought I was making a mistake and trying to replace her as the mother figure in JJ's life, which was most of her reasoning to keeping JJ with her instead of letting me take my turn. As she had told me once before all of this started, if she could keep her daughter away from Scarlett's evil influence, then she would do whatever it took to do so. Of course, she had used some choice words that made it a bit less PG of a statement, but the sentiment still stood.

Sighing, I slipped my phone back in my pocket and left to head downstairs for breakfast. Mama and Kenzie were already up, setting out platters of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit and countless other breakfast foods on the table while they talked quietly. Kenzie was the first to notice me.

"Morning, Jay."

"Morning. It smells great, Mama."

"Thanks, baby. Where's Scarlett?"

"She's still getting ready."

"Kenzie, why don't you go check on your father while I talk to Jay for a moment."

"Yes, Mama."

Kenzie slipped from the room to go track down Pop and Mama beckoned me to follow her back into the kitchen.

"How are you, son?" she asked me, pushing a pitcher of juice into my hands to carry to the table.

"I'm good, Mama," I replied.

"You don't have to lie to me, Jensen. How are you really?"

"I'm worried about JJ," I found myself saying.

It was like that one statement opened a floodgate and all of a sudden I was voicing all of my fears and worries surrounding the situation with Danneel to my mother while we finished setting the table.

"I don't know what to do, Mama. She's JJ's mother, and has main custody. My hands are tied."

"Have you talked to Scarlett about any of this?"

"Not super in depth, but she knows about the situation, at least. I keep trying to tell her it's not her fault, that Dani's just being her normal paranoid self, but I don't think she's listening. She's not stupid, she knows most of the problems started right around the time we went public."

"You really love her, don't you?"

"More than anything... except maybe JJ," I forced a smile on my face.

Mama smiled sadly back at me, reaching up to pat my cheek.

"If you love her and she loves you back, you'll get through this, Jay."

"Thanks, Mama."

By then, Kenzie and Pop had joined us, talking quietly with each other so as not to disturb my conversation with Mama. A few minutes later, Scarlett came down the stairs, her face lighting up when her eyes fell on me. She was wearing faded jeans and the dark green top that I loved on her so much and had pulled her hair back in a pony tail.

"Hi, babe," she said, coming to a stop in front of me.

"Hey, beautiful," I replied, leaning down to kiss her.

"The food smells great, Mama," Scarlett told my mother when we parted.

"Speaking of, we should probably start eating before it gets cold," Pop clapped his hands together.

We all took up our spots from the night before, keeping the conversation light and friendly as we ate. I caught Mama staring at me a few times when I would look at Scarlett as she talked with my family. It made me happy to see how well my girlfriend was getting along with them, and I could tell Mama approved of the way I acted around her. Pop offered to do the dishes after we finished and Scarlett said she would help, so while they cleared the table and disappeared into the kitchen, Mama, Kenzie and I were left alone.

Kenzie was meeting some friends at the mall later and I was planning on taking Scarlett to see some of the sights around town. It turned out Josh couldn't make it, so it would just be the five of us for the week. A few minutes later, Scar and Pop came back in. Scar was smiling as she told Pop a story and Pop was laughing pretty hard.

"Hey, Scar, why don't you grab your jacket and we can head out?" I addressed my girlfriend.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought I could show you some of the sights around town."

She grinned, hurrying up to our room to grab her jacket.