Bitch (Breaking Bad/Jesse Pinkman)

Chapter 9

Almost an hour later, Winnie reluctantly pulled herself away from Jesse to go into work. She may have been partnering with Jesse, but that didn't mean she could just give up on Saul. Saul never gave up on her and she wasn't about to give up on him.

Winnie pulled on a pair of Jesse's baggy sweatpants and her shirt from the day before (hoping Saul wouldn't notice) before saying goodbye to Jesse and heading off to work.

Winnie arrived to Better Call Saul's and greeted Francesca with a cheery, "Hello!"

Francesca was a bit taken back by Winnie's genuine polite and happiness. Instead of her usual grunt, she replied with, "Good morning, Winnie."

Winnie's smile brightened. "Is Saul in yet?"

"He's basically been here all night. What's going on with Heisenberg?"

This was the longest conversation Winnie had ever had with Francesca. Finally opening up to Jesse was already starting to make her life better.

"Fuck if I know," Winnie shrugged. "I only witnessed the yelling match between Jesse and Mr. Wh - I mean Heisenberg. I guess he and Saul are partnered up again."

"What about you and Pinkman?" Winnie's eyebrows furrowed together. "Don't play dumb. I saw you two leave together yesterday. I also saw him throw a chunk of concrete into Heisenberg's car."

"Rage can be a terrible thing sometimes," Winnie said. "I better go check on Saul and make sure he hasn't gone out of his mind or anything. Nice chat, though. We'll have to do this again sometime."

Francesca smiled in response. Winnie returned the smile before heading to Saul's office.

From the looks of things, Francesca was right. Saul's office was pitch black. When Winnie flicked the lights she could see Saul better. He had his head down on his desk and he was asleep. Winnie rolled her eyes before slamming her hands down on the desk, startling Saul awake.

"I'm up," he said. "God, Winnie. What time is it?"

"It's nearly 1:30 in the afternoon," Winnie replied. "I was just talking to Francesca. Were you here all night?"

Saul nodded. "Work and whatnot. I have a feeling I'm going to be a lot busier now that Walt is a client again." Winnie took her place in her normal spot, in a chair next to Saul's desk, while Saul tiredly rubbed his eyes. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Winnie asked.

"You left yesterday. You ran after Jesse. I haven't seen you since. Did everything go alright? I sensed a bit of tension between you two when Walt and Jesse were here. Although, there was so much tension in the room I could barely tell who it was from."

Winnie chuckled. "There was tension. We solved it, though. Everything is fine between us. If only it was still fine between Walt and Jesse, though. They both seemed really pissed off at one another."

Saul shook his head. "It's like you're reading my mind. It's like they can't get along for more than two days in a row."

Winnie couldn't deny that. She couldn't tell what compelled Jesse and Walter to work together in the first place. Besides the cash for Walter's medical bills and all. But once things fell apart, Winnie didn't understand why Jesse and Walter didn't just end the partnership. It's not like either one of them was happy at this point.

Saul got up and exited the office. While he was gone, Winnie decided to clean up his desk a bit. She felt a whole lot more productive that day. Who knew one person could change her (for the better) this much?

When Saul returned, his had a mug in his hand. Winnie was familiar with Saul's coffee and alcohol mixtures he drank when he was stressed, or when he just fancied a drink. When he seen what Winnie was doing, he raised an eyebrow.

"You never clean my desk," he said. "In fact, you rarely do much of anything unless I ask you to or you feel like it. And I didn't ask you to do this, so you're cleaning my desk out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I wouldn't say the goodness of my heart," Winnie teased. "I thought you might need help straightening things up a bit, with both your desk and what's going on with Walt and Jesse. You know what they say: a tidy working place leads to a tidy mind. Or something like that. I heard it a lot in school."

Saul placed his mug on his desk and put a hand on Winnie's arm, bringing her attention to him. He looked serious, which was never good thing with Saul, Winnie learned early on.

"What's going on, Win?" he asked. "You're very chipper today."

"Is that a bad thing?" Winnie asked.

"No, it's certainly not. But for the past couple of months you've been working with me, you've been negative and maybe even miserable. Then yesterday, you leave with Pinkman, then you come back and you're all smiles and sunshine and...happy. It's definitely not a bad thing but...what happened with you and Jesse?"

Winnie sat on the edge of Saul's desk. She wasn't sure what to tell Saul. He wouldn't be mad if she said she was working with Jesse now. In fact, he'd probably be proud of her for taking initiative and becoming a "real business woman" (as he'd probably put it). But how could she tell him that she and Jesse were sort of...together?

Saul was pretty well Winnie's dad, and that meant he was protective like Winnie. During her trial when her parents sued her, Saul got defensive over Winnie, even more than a regular lawyer should. She was worried for Jesse's wellbeing if Saul knew that the two were together.

Winnie tried to put the words together in her head, but Saul cut her off before she could speak.

"You know I want you to be happy, Winnie," he said. "I was the only person who saw the real you after your boyfriend died. You were a wreck. I haven't seen you truly happy since, until you came in here this afternoon. You don't have to give me the details, God knows I don't want them anyways, but I just want to know if you and Jesse are a thing or not."

Winnie felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips. She and Saul rarely had these father/daughter like moments. But when they did, she felt happy inside. She never got to have moments like this with her real father before she and Mack started dating and after Mack died and both her parents decided to sue her.

"We are," Winnie said. "I mean, I think we are. It feels like we are."

"And he makes you happy, right?" She nodded, a smile breaking out on her face. "Then I'm happy for you, Winner."

She laughed. "I hate that nickname, you know."

"Too bad because I don't."

The two laughed together. Winnie's good mood made the working day more bearable than it usually was.