Saturday, March 16th, 2013 -- evening

Despite the hangover from the night before, the day hadn't been all that bad. He'd gotten a few extra hours of sleep, and Hayley had even dropped Adam off (and picked Jackie up) so he didn't need to drive anywhere until the evening. Even after Adam was back home, things stayed calm in the house. He had homework to do -- midterms were coming up, and Adam took studying for them seriously -- so Ben caught another nap in the meantime.

Eventually, Hayley was back over (with a pizza for she and Adam to split), and Ben was off to Jackie's. He's decidedly more haggard looking than he'd been on the previous Saturday, when he'd attempted this the first time, but lucky for him, it just made him roguish, bad-boy. Didn't detract from his charm. After the night before, and all that Jackie probably had to endure during it, he felt like he probably needed all the charm he could get.

He knocks on the front door of Jackie's house, takes up a lean against the doorjamb, hands in his coat pockets. Just jeans, boots, a hoodie, a tee beneath it. The suit and tie would have made it too formal (and maybe unfairly swayed her, besides), and he can't help it -- after the argument they'd gotten into, he's a little hesitant to look quite so put together around her. He's sure, though, that that hesitation won't last long. She'd always liked ties; he was pretty sure that wouldn't ever change.

After his knock the usual pitter-patter of bare feet was missing, but it was only a short while later when the front door was tugged open. "Evenin', sweetheart." Her greeting was lacking its usual volume as well though she looked happy as ever to see him. During their first attempt at this date she was launching herself at him right about now, tossing her arms around his neck to say hello. Maybe she was trying to take it easy on him because she was far too aware of the rough evening he... Harry... had the night before. Or maybe it was the little nagging bit of uneasiness in the back of her head wanting so badly for tonight to go better than last time. As long as they didn't get into a screaming match they would come out ahead, but the thought didn't soothe her much.

Jackie had the same mindframe as Ben when it came to comfort for the evening. A deep red off the shoulder sweater which hinted at a black bra strap was paired with jeans, blonde locks hanging in their usual loose, unruly mess down her back. She stepped aside to let him in and closed the door behind him. "Hope y'got to relax for the rest of the day. Y'look..." She's pausing and eyeing him as if her next words were very important, complete with a serious expression. It collapses with a chuckle. "Handsome as ever." Arms were slid around his waist and she craned her head up towards him, lips pursed to urge him to meet her halfway.

Uneasy was a good word for it, and Ben felt it too, way at the back of his mind. It doesn't show, though, not even when Jackie eyes him as he steps inside. His brows do lift a little, and there's just a touch of an unspoken challenge in his expression, a dare to tell him he looks like hell or like he still needs sleep -- but she doesn't go that way, and he really isn't surprised, and he's laughing too. He gathers her up in a hug when she puts her arms around him, no hesitation to tip his head and kiss her. He keeps his cheek pressed to hers for a moment afterward, just savoring the closeness. When he finally pulls back, his fingers trace down her arms, and he takes both her hands in his. "And you look beautiful. You always do." A little quirk of a smile -- stupidly smitten, just a touch, but still -- but then he clears his throat, lets go of her hands, drops his gaze for a second, then tilts his head in the direction of the kitchen. "Need any help?"

Jackie wouldn't have gone anywhere near telling him he looked liked hell considering she wasn't sure she was really at the top of her game either following Harry wrangling the evening before. Really, it didn't matter how either of them looked or how they felt so long as they got to spend tonight together. A home cooked meal and a movie? She couldn't have thought of anything she wanted more. She sinks into his grasp and nuzzles her cheek against his, even trailing after him when he pulls back. She might have simply settled for making out in the foyer if he would have allowed it, but his compliment left her smiling all the same. "Thank y', sweetheart. I've trained my body to glow after a night of drinkin'. Would have been screwed more times than I can count otherwise."

Maybe skipping dinner and making out wasn't totally out of the question with the way he was looking at her, but then he was releasing her hands and nodding towards the kitchen. She would get him later. "Nope, once again y'got perfect timin'. Even better than before considerin' I even got the toast done." She reached out to take his hand and lead him towards the dining room. "Let's eat before dinner gets cold."

She'd get him later, and then some. Ben was determined for this night to go well -- just another reason to keep the easy banter going as he follows after her into the kitchen. "Better than perfect? That might be the first time anyone's told me that, believe it or not." And of course, it comes with one of those crookedmouthed grins.

Even though she hooks her fingers into his shirt all the time, he notices it every time too. It's always been something that makes him feel wanted by her. Automatic, he ducks his head a little when she leans in. "Yeah, sweetheart. I think he likes it when you're there. He doesn't have to..." Pausing, because how to phrase it? "He doesn't have to worry about me so much. He can just be a kid." It's sort of a sad reason, and he realizes it, so, "And he likes having someone to gang up on me with." A little flash of a grin, and then he just pulls her in close, cheek to cheek, one hand in her hair. "I think he sees how good things are when you're there. He has a lot of fun with you, and he can probably tell how happy you make me." Just a ghost of a kiss snuck to the side of her neck. "Because you do make me really, really happy. It feels fine when it's just me and Adam, but it's more like home when you're there too."

There was a brief moment where Jackie glowed internally at how easily they fell together. She preferred being curled in his lap or perched like this when they could during more serious conversations, a way to keep them even more connected than they already were. On the plus side, Ben never seemed to have any complaints about it. Her smile widens, first when he tucks his head in towards her to help keep her secret and then it continues when he goes on about Adam. She always felt that she got along with Adam really well even if it was hard to tell at times with all his shrugging and non-verbal teenage answers. But to have it laid out so plainly that he liked having her around and he wasn't opposed to her being with Ben, that warmed her even more. His joke about them ganging up on him made her chuckle. "I learned everythin' I know about givin' you a hard time from him." Lies, she had taught Adam a thing or two but she would leave the credit to him.

It barely took the tug for her to lean in closer to him, nuzzling her cheek to his while making sure to not disturb that hand in her hair. "It means the world t'me, sweetheart. That y'all want me to move in. You sayin' I help make your home feel a little more complete. That's a really big deal an' I'm not good enough at stringin' together words to tell you how it makes me feel, but you make me really, really happy, too." Her head turned to press a kiss to his jaw in exchange for the one at her neck. "Both of y'do."

Sometimes Ben thinks about it too, how well they go together -- not just physically, but emotionally, in general. With so many reasons why they shouldn't work together at all, it still strikes him, sometimes, how well they work. "That's a good way to put it, sweets. You make it feel more complete. Kind of... Kind of like a little family, aren't we?" His heart moves to his throat for a few beats, but he fights off the emotion (or tempers it, at least), pulling back and letting go, though he doesn't move to get her out of his lap, only to go into one pocket of his hoodie, retrieve a little black box -- familiar, the same kind that her charms always come in. He offers it to her wordlessly. Sometimes he doesn't say anything when he gives them to her because he wants her to figure it out for herself, or it's something self explanatory, but this time, it's because the little oval locket charm inside doesn't really represent a memory, but an experience yet to come -- and maybe he's struggling to find the words for it, maybe he's wondering if it's too much, too presumptuous, a sort-of-promise they aren't ready for.

When he calls them a little family her bottom lip is captured between her teeth and it obviously takes her a couple seconds as well to calm herself before replying quietly. "It feels that way, doesn't it? Has for a lil' while." Telling him she liked the sound of it went without saying considering how bright her expression was. Jackie is content while he moves to retrieve the little black box, no worries that he was attempting to disengage himself from her or kick her off. There was a little clap of delight when the box was offered out to her and cupped between her palms. She never could have previously imagined how much she would look forward to getting these keepsakes, but Ben somehow always managed to capture the best of times for them and represent them perfectly with the little silver charms.

The box was folded in her fingers and she watched him briefly, waiting to see if he did have some sort of explanation or prompt to go along with the box. When he says nothing, only gives her that patient smile, it's her cue to carefully open the lid to peer down at the charm. It's so simple and it's an added moment before she realizes it's a locket. "Oh, Ben, I really love this one." She loved them all, but the newest ones were always her favorite. Her nail was delicately slid along the seam of the locket to open it, honestly expecting to see a picture of them inside it, but it was empty and the amused confusion that sprawled across her features was instant. "It's empty." Jackie even turned the locket towards him like he might not believe her. Nothing in her features was disappointed, but it looked as if she knew she was missing something.

He looks a little amused too, just when she turns the locket toward him. "Yeah, I know." He takes the charm from her, takes her hand, too, turning the nearly-full bracelet around her wrist until he finds an empty space. "There are a lot of important people in your life, right? I'm not sure I would have picked the right ones." He takes his time in clipping the little silver locket to an open link, because it means his eyes can stay there, on the glint of silver, the collection of memories, even the delicate skin at the inside of her wrist, instead of looking her in the eye, when he goes on to say, casually, nonchalant, especially considering the gravity of it, "Besides, maybe the people that belong in there, the ones most important to you -- maybe you haven't met them yet. Maybe they, uh," he glances up from her wrist to her face, maybe trying to gauge her comprehension of what he was trying to say-without-saying; he gives her a flash of a smile, clearly nervous (unlike him), and then his focus is on her wrist again, and he's absently hooking his index finger into her bracelet, "Maybe they haven't been born yet." This time, when he lifts his gaze, his eyes stay on hers.

Usually Jackie was so good at figuring out what the little charms represent even if a few of them had taken longer for her to piece together than others. When Ben says that he knows the locket is empty and proceeds to take it from her, she's no closer to an answer and assumes he'll be kind enough to notice her lingering confusion then walk her through it. Her wrist is lifted, offered while he searches for the next little spot waiting for a charm amongst the growing memories. Jackie nods when he mentions all of the important people in her life, smirks when he says he might not have picked the right ones for the locket. He's not looking at her but she thinks nothing of it and assumes it's because he's so focused on the task at hand which she is watching as well even if she can't really offer any assistance.

It's when he says those who belong in the locket might be people she hasn't met yet that she looks to his face, still clearly amused because it has yet to click in her head what he's talking about. He meets her gaze and he's nervous. Why would Ben be nervous? That's the question that lingers at the forefront of her mind until he continues on and drops that last line, Maybe they haven't been born yet. Jackie is still staring at him through a gentle, confused smile but slowly he could make out each and every moment of her finally understanding what he was saying. Her eyes slowly went wide, lips parting into a soft 'o'. "Ben..." Barely a whisper. Just when her surprised look lingers into the territory of possibly becoming worrisome for him, one corner of her lips pull back in a crooked half smile that could rival his. "You're talkin' about babies, aren't you? Our babies?" It was impossible to reign in her grin at the last two words. They had spoken before about the possibility of children between them, something they had to agree on before they got even more serious than they already were, but that conversation was laced with maybes and what-ifs. This was something much more solid, a way to say it was not a matter of 'if' but only 'when'.

For that moment, after she figures it out, says his name, seems frozen in surprise, he's convinced he's made a horrible mistake. He's about to backpedal, try to take it back somehow, explain or apologize -- but then she smiles, crookedly, and he can't help but mirror it. "Uh-huh." He takes her hands in his. "Not now, I'm not saying we should get started on that now. It's way, way too soon for that." Take it slow. "But I wanted you to know I was serious, that I meant it when I said I wanted to be the father of your children. That locket might be empty now, but it won't always. You'll have the perfect pictures for it someday. Perfect pictures of your perfect kids. Our perfect kids."