Last Name -> Jay Halstead

Chapter 8- Winter Wonderland Pt 1

Bess wakes up, seeing Jay asleep next to her. She looks at the TV thats been on all night, turning it off with the remote. She grabs her suitcase and bag, bringing it to the front door then goes to get ready for the day. When she comes back out, Jay's sitting up in bed yawning.

"Good Morning!" Bess says happily, going to sit next to him.

"What time is it?" Jay asks, finding his phone. He looks at the time and groans, flinging it across the bed.

"Why did you get up?"

"I knew you were leaving today so I wanted to see you off." Jay grabbed her hand as Bess smiled at him.

"Thank you. It's going to be a five hour drive so I gotta get going." She stands up and does a once over, making sure she hasn't forgot anything while Jay stands up and goes to the living room. Once Bess is satisfied, she goes to the living room where Jay has coffee waiting for her.

Bess grins, taking the travel mug and kissing him on the cheek, "You're the best!"

They hugged, holding onto eachother tight since they won't see eachother until after Christmas. They both agreed not to open eachother's presents until they were back together.

"Have fun with Will. I'll call you every night!"

"Call me when you get there." Jay kissed the top of her head.

Bess nodded and they pulled away, Bess grabbing her things and walking out the door with one more smile towards Jay.

After a five hour road trip singing along to 90's hits, She pulls in front of her family home, seeing Trudy and Randall outside waiting for her.

"So how bad is this going to be?" Randall asks, looking between the two of them.

"Rich family, a bunch of drama and me, Harley and Victor in the same room? On a scale of one to ten, i'd say an eleven." Bess says, laughing at Randall's face.

Harley immediately rushes to Bess once he sees Trudy, Randall and her walk in, "Did you bring it?"

Bess grabs his hand, leads him to the side and grabs the device out of her bag. She hands it to him and he smirks. They both walk into the living room, having their hands behind their backs. Harley twists the device in his hand and throws it onto the couch without anyone seeing.

"BESS!" Her mother shouts as she hears the device as her dad starts laughing.

Victor chooses at that time to walk in the door with the Red Velvet cake, "Who the heck is playing the Saved By The Bell bop it without me?"

Bess and Harley sat on the floor laughing as Victor grabs it from the couch. He presses the bop it button on the device and Bess and Victor's moms groan.

"Every year." Trudy says, taking the cake from Victor.

Bess gives everyone hugs as she moves around the room, going upstairs to her old room to put her bags down.

She sits on her bed to take a moment to herself. She knows that Victor and Harley are downstairs charming all of the women as they arrived while they gossip and the men are watching the game so she doesn't have to worry about anyone bothering her.

Nothing in her room has changed. The old band posters, the pictures of her and Harley on the walls, Victor added once he joined their friend group and the stack of letters in a box hidden under her bed. She reaches under her bed to grab them, wiping off a thin layer of dust that had gathered over the year since she last opened them. She opens the box and smiles at the first thing she sees.

A picture of her and Owen Hawkins, the man who swept her off her feet after Harley and before Grant. Owen and her dated for two years, eventually leaving the other without any closure. She tried not to think about him until she arrived here because she feels his ghost still in this house. She lays the photo down carefully and starts going through the letters one by one. She doesn't read the last one just like every year because she can't bring herself to. She used to cry reading the letters but now she has a fond smile on her face. She lifts the engagement ring that belonged to his grandmother out of the box and kisses it, putting the ring and letters safely back in the box and under the bed, waiting until this time next year to be open again.

She walks down the spiral staircase, smiling at Harley, lettimg him know she was okay. He walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her, knowing how this time of year was for her. It's her favorite holiday but it's bittersweet because of Owen. She noticed everyone has arrived and she goes to listen to the women gossip, Victor nodding his head intently when her Aunt Marissa was talking about a scandal at her country club with a prominent member and a lifeguard. Bess grabbed a sprite from the fridge and laughed quietly at the story that Aunt Marissa was telling. Trudy walked to her and stood beside her, rolling her eyes at Marissa's story.

"When the lights go out, hold onto your diamonds for dear life." Bess quoted Nancy Drew quietly, causing Trudy to laugh.

"I'm so glad I got out of the rich and fancy life." Trudy said as Bess looked at her.

"You don't miss it?" Bess asked curiously.

"Not really, I have the money that your grandfather gave me and it's enough to survive on for the rest of my life but I didn't want to give up policing so I stayed and it's the best desicion I ever made." Trudy said and Bess lifted her glass to Trudy's in a toast.

"To grandpa Robert who gave us enough money to survive comfortably but we still are working women who don't need to be housewives even though housewives are rockstars." Bess said, looking at her Grandpa Robert, who came with Trudy and Randall.

"Amen." Trudy clinked her glass with Bess and both drinking their drinks smiling at eachother.

Later that night, it was the dinner of the century. The long dinner table that Bess always thought looked like the table from Beauty and the Beast was decorated in a cream table cloth with groups of candles between each four people, Bess' mother going around to light the candles while everyone brought out the food they brought to the dinner, passing it around to the guests who wanted it. Bess filled her plate with homemade mac and cheese, ham and cranberry sauce with a bowl of chicken noodle soup taking up the rest of the plate.

She sat at the kids table which was the same set up as the dinner table, just smaller. She grinned as Trudy and Randall joined her, Randall overwhelmed by not knowing anyone at the adult table. She sat across from Randall, motioning with her hands to tell him which forks and spoons to use because there was three of each in front of him because her mother liked to be extra fancy. She told him he could only use one but if her mother walked over, switch to a different one so she could see everyone was using the cutlery. Trudy was beside him and Victor and Harley was on either side of Bess. Bess' cousins were talking to themselves, not caring about the adults at the table, while Bess' uncle Theo came over and joined because his girlfriend broke up with him two weeks before but him and Randall got along quite well, making Trudy and Bess smile at one another.

Dinner went pretty smoothly, everyone at the kids table talking and laughing amongst themselves then dinner plates were swept away and desserts were served with coffee for adults and chocolate milk for the kids. Bess grinned as her mother came over with chocolate pie and brownies for everyone at the kids table. Harley helped cut the pie, passing it around while Victor reached for Bess' homemade brownies that she brought after baking them the night before for three hours straight. Bess grabbed a brownie and a piece of pie, eating slowly and enjoying the people around her.

After everyone finished desserts and still had coffee left, they all moved to the living room. Bess was leaning against the wall, drinking her coffee silently and enjoying the noise around her until they quieted down for her dad's reading of A Christmas Carol. Bess closed her eyes, listening to her dad's voice and feeling the coffee warm her and wished that Jay was here with her.