Christmas With the Phillips

Jeremy never liked long trips. It wasn't that he disliked any of the destinations he'd been to, but the monotonous train rides there always left him in a mood that was worse for wear than when he'd first board. Other than sleep, there wasn't really anything for the Scout to do to burn off the excess energy that was always running rampant in his adolescence, so he'd usually spend train rides sleeping until his body refused to sleep more, and then he'd end up fidgeting restlessly the rest of the way there. This time however, Jeremy found that he was able to tolerate the trip back North with a little less impertinence and heck, he even found himself smiling a few times when he pictured his Ma sitting at home waiting for him with a Christmas tree just waiting to be decorated. Sure, he'd wrestle with the damn lights and drag his feet about it, but it was a family tradition he'd come to miss after being away from home for so long.

The cab ride from the station to his childhood home barely even registered once he arrived at his familiar doorstep. He could already see a couple lights in the windows and his ma's favorite record was playing somewhere inside the house. Man, it was almost like he'd never left as he glanced around and took note of the still well-kept lawn he and his brothers had often wrestled and horsed around on, and that stupid little rabbit statue with the glued-on ear that stood off to the side of the front door; a victim of one of those old war games they'd used to play.

Exhaling a quick chuckle, Jeremy re-positioned his duffel bag on his shoulder and turned his key to the front door and pushed it open with a wide smile. "Ma, I'm home!"

There was the sound of a needle scratching across a record that made Jeremy wince a little, but the sound was quickly forgotten when the familiar clicks of his Ma's heels came quickly through the hall, soon followed by the woman herself running as fast as her dainty little feet could carry her down the stairs with open arms towards her youngest little boy. "Jeremy! My littlest angel, you're home!"

Dropping his keys and his bag, Jeremy opened his arms to catch his Ma in a firm hug while the woman kissed both his cheeks and hugged his neck just as tight. When the two finally loosened their holds, Arianne gently cupped her boy's cheeks in her hands and carefully inspected Jeremy's face, just to confirm to herself that her baby was as fit as he was the day he left her. Of course, thanks to respawn, not a scratch was to be found, which Jeremy would never tell her about due to the rules of his contract. "Oh sweetie, I'm glad you made it home safe. You didn't harass the cab driver too much this time, did you?" Arianne smiled, remembering the last time of how she'd caught her son and the driver arguing over prices when he'd arrived.

Jeremy snorted and bent over to pick his things back up. "No, Ma, I was good this time. Helped that this guy wasn't tryin'ta cheat me outta my money. I already told ya how the last one caught a peek in my wallet and doubled the prices on me thinkin' I wouldn't notice." He was eager to unpack, so he continued chatting with his Ma while making his way up the stairs to his room, that is, until he noticed that the record had started playing again. Looking back at her, his brows furrowed in confusion when she gave him a quizzical look in return. "Is something wrong, hun?"

"... Ma, is someone else here?" Of course there was. Records don't just start playing by themselves, and no ghosts lived in this house from what Jeremy remembered.

"Oh, yes!" Arianne perked up and stepped a little ahead as she called down the hall. "Blaise, dear, come out and introduce yourself!" Turning back to Jeremy, she gave her son a stern look as she squeezed his forearm softly. "Now I want you to be nice and get along with Blaise. He's a dear friend of your momma's..."

Already, Jeremy was getting that familiar surge of protectiveness at the mentioning of another man coming into his mother's life, but he gritted his teeth to try and refrain from saying anything too disapproving.

"and he's going to be staying with us too while you're here."

... Well shit.

Blaise left the base after their last match before the Holiday, taking his small bag with just enough in it. He caught the last train for the evening, telling no one where he was going or why. They had come to expect this from him and didn't question it due to no one knowing a single thing about him anyways.

His train ride was uneventful, glancing out the window, reading his book, and changing clothes in the bathroom on the train. He slept occasionally, drifting in and out for a few hours. When the train reached it's final stop in the wee hours of the morning, he got off and looked around. It was not a familiar station, but then again he had never been there before. He sat with a coffee until it was a normal time to go anywhere, taking a taxi and telling the driver the address he had been sending letters too for months.

He paid the cab driver, climbing out and taking his bag from the seat, watching the house as it drove off. He walked to the front door, glancing at the quaint neighborhood with a soft smile. He knocked on the door softly, waiting patiently. Curious heels came to the door, opening it slowly. He smiled warmly and hugged her tightly, glad to see Arianne.

They spent a good portion of the day just speaking with each other. He helped her when she was bustling around the kitchen, listening to her tell stories of her sons and what they were doing. She knew about his job situation in relation to the Jeremy and promised not to tell her boy much about Blaise. He helped her do basic decorating and things, although she made him leave most of it for Jeremy.

He was sitting and speaking with her while listening to a record when he heard the taxi pull up outside, glancing at the window. Seeing the scout walking up, he knew he had to be careful. The Frenchman heard "Ma, I'm home!" come up the stairs and smiled softly as Arianne ran down to meet her youngest boy, jostling the record player on the way. The record skipped and the needle slid off. He readjusted it, putting it on again after a moment and listening to it quietly.

When she called down the hall to him, he walked cautiously over to where she and Jeremy were. He was almost impossible to recognize, his distinctive mask and suit gone. He was just wearing a neat shirt and slacks, hair trimmed short and slightly out of place. Blaise worked to make his accent less strong, something that took effort but he was good at otherwise, standing beside the Scout's mother and looking friendly. "'Ello. Your mother has told me a lot about you, Jeremy. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Jeremy opened his mouth to raise his own objections about having some strange dude he'd never met before staying with them for Christmas, but one more stern look from his ma shut him up just as Blaise stepped into the hall. However, even with the slight scolding, he still couldn't help the almost involuntary twitch of his mouth the second he heard the French accent rolling off the man's tongue. Not that he had any particular grudge against the country, but he didn't exactly have the best experiences with the two Frenchmen he dealt with most often on either sides of the battlefield.

"Ma's told you about me, huh? Guess I can just skip my own intro then and go straight to who the hell're you?" Jeremy's refrain from sprinkling his language further with profanities was the boy's version of being polite, but of course that wasn't enough to satisfy his mother who smacked him lightly on the bicep with a frown. "Oh, honey, stop it. Blaise has come a long ways to get here too, and he was keeping me company before you got here. Now, play nice before I ban you from the pie for tonight."

It never did take much to get Jeremy to behave when food was involved, and that same trait of his is what got him to stand a bit straighter and offer his hand out for the other to shake despite his still growing urge to play the interrogator and drill the other man with questions, namely why he was around his Ma in the first place. "Hi... Nice to meet you..."

His clenched teeth and slightly scowling face made it clear what his first impression of their guest was, but his mother decided that the two of them would somehow learn to get along as she stood aside with a pleased smile and clasped her hands together. "Blaise, why don't you go ahead and help Jeremy unpack? I'm sure you two can share a few stories while I go and start dinner."

Jeremy whipped his head over and once again to complain that he didn't need help, but he was cut off and brushed aside when his ma turned on her heel and headed back down the stairs while tacking on a "both of you are banned from the kitchen until dinner." Looking very much like a puppy who was kicked out into the yard, he watched as his ma disappeared into the kitchen before turning back and giving the Frenchman a once-over. "So... you're a friend of my Ma's?"

Blaise watched Jeremy's silent protest with amusement, smiling softly. He watched as the scout grew more frustrated with his mothers attempts to make them get along. He watched as Arianne left them, frowning slightly.

"Jeremy, I want to get along with you. But clearly you already do not like me. Which is a shame, but it is nothing I can fix." He smiled sadly at him. "What if we at least pretend to get along, for your mother's sake, and I leave you be otherwise." The man left the offer on the table, thinking about how to answer his question with increasing difficulty.

"We met by accident." It wasn't a lie, they really had only met by chance. "It was a while ago. We kept in touch and I was passing by and decided it would be nice to spend the holiday." He shrugged, glancing at Jeremy. "Besides, she talks about you constantly. I decided I would like to meet you."
That was also true. In every letter there was some mention of Jeremy, wondering how he was doing and what was going on. If she wasn't reminiscing about her boys, she was asking about them.

"Definitely woulda been nice to get more of a heads up that Ma was having anyone else over," he muttered. As difficult as he was being with the other, Jeremy honestly didn't mind if his Ma was out meeting other men. After all, the woman had raised eight energetic kids all by herself, so she more than anyone deserved someone she could rely on after all she'd been through, and her boys knew that. However, that didn't mean Jeremy or any one of his brothers would be easy to get passed when it came to whether or not another man deserved her, and a surprise visit wasn't the best way to start off in Blaise's case.

Raising an eyebrow curiously, he couldn't help the mirthless laugh that bubbled up at the man's proposition. "Sorry bub, but I don't put on an act for anybody. With me, we either get along or we don't. Fucking simple as that." Shifting his bag over to his other shoulder, Jeremy abruptly ended the conversation by turning his back to the man and heading back to his room to unpack. "I'll take you up on that part where you leave me the hell alone though," he added with a clear tone of mocking cheerfulness as he waved and disappeared behind his bedroom door.

Blaise allowed him to leave without much protest, sighing heavily. It was going to be VERY difficult to get Jeremy to realize he wasn't just going to leave like that. They spy wanted to be there for Arianne because he cared about her.

He went back to the room with the record player, sitting to read quietly. He was a little less heavy hearted when he remembered that he had left a present on Jeremy's bed for him. It was a brand new slugger, perfectly weighted and just the right length. He had left a note attached around it, hoping Jeremy would read it.
"I know you probably already do not appreciate me being here, however I hope we can get along. Your mother told me not to give this to you yet, but I did not want to wait until the holiday. Merry Christmas, Jeremy. -Blaise"

If Jeremy was going to give Blaise any kind of credit, it was definitely a good thing that the man didn't pester and follow the teen into his room. If anything, all Jeremy wanted when he got home was a bit of peace and quiet to pull him out of the constant state of alert he had to be in when back on base, and this brief respite in the silence and comfort of his own room was a godsend. After tossing his bag off to the side of his dresser, he spun around to flop back onto his bed with a heavy sigh.

Or, he would have had he not shot back up with a yelp when something long and hard smacked against his back. Rubbing the sting from his back with a scowl and pulling the unfamiliar bat from behind him, Jeremy stared at the item confusedly for a few moments while inspecting it with a keen judgmental eye, a force of habit since baseball had been a very central part of his life before joining RED. "What the hell..?" At first, irritation at the fact that someone had been in his room nagged at Jeremy's expression, but the longer he held the beauty of a bat, the softer his smile became as he rotated it, and even flipped it in the air a few times to expertly catch again in his hand.

Not top-heavy at all, just the perfect length, and not to mention not beat up and bloody like the bat he had back on base, Jeremy grinned wide as he swung the bat once with one arm, the wood feeling more like an extension of his own limb than anything else. He'd noticed the note attached to it when he first picked it up, but it wasn't until after he'd already played around with it a little that he removed the note to read it.

After reading the first half of the opening sentence, Jeremy snorted with his mouth twitching into a smirk, knowing right off the bat who it was that had left him this. "Yeah, no kidding." He skimmed quickly through the rest of the note and tossed it back onto his bed once he was finished with it. Flopping back down with the bat in his hands, he contemplated bringing the slugger with him when he returned back to base. He probably would never use it in battle, this bat was way too nice to be dented and splattered with guts and shrapnel like his other one, and it would be nice to have a baseball bat to use for its intended purpose.

After about a half hour of contemplating who he'd have to bug to play with him, or how long he'd have to pester Engineer to make him a robotic baseball pitcher, he got up again with an exasperated sigh and set the bat down carefully on his mattress when he heard his Ma calling for Jeremy to get both of them to come down to dinner. Looking and feeling considerably less irritable now, he gave the bat a sidelong glance as he closed his door and went over to the study. Hell, if Blaise wasn't as much of a douche as Jeremy had assumed immediately upon hearing his accent, then he guessed the guy deserved a bit more of a chance to make it into his good books.

Knocking on the door twice, he let himself in and leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. "Hey Frenchie, dinner's ready if you're hungry."

Blaise had gone back to reading his book and was quite absorbed in it when Jeremy came back to the room, barely noticing him until he was there for a minute. He looked up when Jeremy spoke, putting his book down. He smiled slightly and stood. "Thank you. I'll be down in a minute." He made sure the record was turned off and put his book away, sighing.

The frenchman felt a bit guilty about leading on Jeremy, however it was for the best. If the scout could see he was not such a bad guy normally, maybe things would improve. He went downstairs and helped Arianne by carrying a heavier tray to the table, pulling out her chair for her and sitting quietly once she was settled.

Jeremy nodded once at Blaise before turning back around and heading down into the dining room first, but poking his head in curiously into the kitchen when he saw that the door was propped open with a doorstop. "Hey Ma, what's cookin'?"

Arianne had her back to the door and was finishing up the last few touches on a small pot of gravy when she turned to address her son. "Oh hey hon, you mind getting the roast outta the oven for me? Should be just about ready."

"We're havin' beef tonight?" If his brightening face wasn't enough, then his watering mouth and the embarrassingly loud grumbling of his stomach showed just how much he missed his Ma's cooking, which was why Arianne always sent the boy a batch of her homemade cookies whenever she got the chance.

"Yeah. So get moving so we can satisfy your black hole of a stomach." She knew how much Jeremy (and Blaise) enjoyed her little care packages, and she chuckled fondly as she kept one watchful eye on Jeremy with the other still keeping tabs on the pot. "So..? How're you and Blaise getting along? Did you call him down like I asked?"

"Yeah, I told him. And I guess he ain't all that bad, I guess." He debated whether or not he should mention the gift he got upstairs, but decided against it for now. "Still, why didn't ya tell me we were gonna have someone over before I got here?"

Arianne sighed as she ladled the contents of the pot into a gravy boat and set it on the tray. "You woulda put up a big fuss about it, and I wasn't about to change my mind on the matter. We can talk about this later, sweetie. I can hear Blaise coming down."

"But I -"

"Don't let the roast burn, hon!" Arianne had grabbed the silverware from the drawer and piled them on the plates to set the table as she spoke and was heading out the door, putting an effective end to the conversation for now.

"I'm not!" Jeremy brought his attention back to food and grabbed a pair of oven mitts. He rolled his eyes at his mother's avoidance of the topic, but the scout could put it off for a while. Outside, he heard his ma telling Blaise to get something from the kitchen, and he said nothing when the Frenchman stepped in to take the tray containing the gravy and other side dishes out to the table. After Jeremy followed after while carrying out the roast, he took his own seat across the circular table from Blaise with his Ma seated between them.

"C'mon boys, dig in! I know you're both probably starving after the long train rides here." Arianne smiled warmly at both of them as she stood, picking up the roasting fork and a knife to start dishing out generously sized portions to each of them while giving herself something of a more modest size.

He chuckled softly at the antics between Arianne and Jeremy, sitting with them to eat dinner quietly.

Blaise waited a moment until they both began eating, sitting and cutting into his food quietly. He was not very good at small talk, and mostly stayed quietly, listening to Arianne and nodding occasionally, mostly just paying attention.

"So, Jeremy..." He said eventually. "What do you do zhat has you away from your mother so much?" He already knew, yes. The ruse would just continue until Jeremy returned to base.