Chapter Text
"Mom, you will be too cold in that," Arlo sounded very serious from his perch on her bed, legs kicking against the side.
Jyn peaked out from her closet where she was attempting to pick out an outfit for her date with Cassian, brow furrowing, "How do you know?"
Arlo tilted his head and said with a casualness befitting a much older person, "Because Cassian said you'll be outside and it snowed last night and actually you should really wear your snow pants. Yeah, that would be best."
Jyn froze, "And just what did Cassian say, my dear?"
Arlo leaned back on her bed and proceeded to throw a ball up toward the ceiling catching it when it returned, "Um, he said I wasn't supposed to tell you."
"Did he now?" Jyn couldn't help the smile that warmed her cheeks as she turned back to her clothes.
"Are you guys gonna get married? Because Evie and I saw you kissing. Like a lot. And we think that you should get married. So we can have sleepovers every night!" Arlo apparently had everything all figured out.
Jyn leaned her head against the top shelf. She thought they had been careful to not make out in front of the kids. They needed to have a conversation before they officially dragged the kids into it. They had been getting sloppy in the last week, however, and their children appeared to be very nosy. How to answer Arlo's question tactfully. She popped her head back out and watched as he continued to throw the ball up in the air, "Well, it's not that simple, dear. I like Cassian and I think he likes me. So first we go out on dates…movies and dinners and such, get to know one another. And then-" she paused for a moment, her heart fluttering at the thought, "and then, if we still like each other, and you and Evie approve, then we can talk about what to do next."
"Well, I think it should be that simple," Arlo stated with the assuredness of one who had not yet felt the universe's cruelness. At least she had so far been able to spare his childhood of that.
Jyn approached the bed, sat down beside him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his hair. She said quietly, "Yes, my love, it should be that simple."
"Mommy," Arlo was petting the maroon cashmere sweater she had just put on, "You should wear this shirt. It's so soft!"
Jyn chuckled in agreement as she pulled him tighter into herself.
………………
Her father had come to pick Arlo up shortly thereafter and then Jyn waited. She had no idea what she was in for on this date. She shouldn't be nervous (she had already seen Cassian naked, multiple times) but her stomach churned in pleasant excitement.
After presumably dropping Evie off at her father's house, Cassian knocked on her door.
"You could have just come in," Jyn rolled her eyes as the door opened, "You practically live here these days."
"Yes," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, extending a bouquet of peach and white amaryllis," But this is a date so that didn't seem right."
"Cassian Andor, you are a big softie," she teased as she wriggled into her wool coat.
"You have no idea," he smirked back.
Jyn did not like being in the dark about this date so she was relieved when he at least let her in on his intentions as his car pulled out of her driveway. "We're going to-" he started and she thought that he was so attractive when he was nervous, "I'm taking you on the date that I had planned when we were teenagers. The one I should have taken you on a long time ago. With a few seasonal and age appropriate changes, of course."
Jyn looked at him and the feeling that was bubbling up inside now was putting her on the verge of tears because that was the sweetest thing she had ever heard of. "Okay," she managed quietly, "Where to?"
He grabbed her hand across the console, resting it on the top of her thigh as he said, "Well first, food because I know how you get if you're hungry. Indochine."
Jyn was slightly puzzled and mildly impressed, "Eighteen year old Cassian was cool enough to choose a Vietnamese restaurant for a first date? Jolene's was the place for first date dinners back then if I remember correctly."
Cassian looked amused, "Yes but did you like Jolene's? You didn't strike me as the Jolene's type…"
Jyn laughed, "I'm not! Give me spicy rice noodles over that overpriced knock off Italian any day!"
Dinner was a dream and they both remarked how, although they loved their children dearly, it was nice to have a meal alone. Jyn got Bun Thit Heo Nuong and Cassian got Pho Dac Biet with a plate of Spring Rolls shared between. Their waiter was a very tall, odd man named Kay who rubbed most people the wrong way but who Jyn had always thought of as part of the ambience of the tiny place. "You know that has tripe in it?" he addressed Cassian when he ordered, "You do know what tripe is? Because most people don't and then I get cranky because they blame me."
Jyn regarded Cassian with amused wide eyes at the waiter's pointed tone. Jyn whispered around a giggle after the man had lumbered off towards the kitchen, "I wonder what he's like when he's actually cranky because his normal state leaves something to be desired." She secretly enjoyed the man's strange, almost robotic sarcasm and looked forward to it almost as much as the food itself.
A half lit tiny Christmas tree illuminated the table with mismatched chairs and colored lights were strewn haphazardly around the sparsely decorated restaurant that Jyn knew used to be a Wendy's. It was perfect. The food was excellent and they were able to talk about some of the things that needed to be discussed.
"So the kids already know…" Jyn led with.
Cassian swallowed his soup quickly before huffing a quick laugh, "Yeah…they kind of blindsided me the other day. We weren't as careful as we thought. At least they seem pretty ok with it?"
"Suspiciously so," she remarked.
He nodded and then closed his eyes with a laugh. "What?" Jyn's brow furrowed.
He looked at her with soft eyes, "It's just-I find it hilarious that the first person I open up to this way after Teresa ends up being the first person I ever wanted. And it just all fits. Perfectly."
Jyn licked her lips as she thought of what to say next, "What was she like?"
He looked down at his meal, swirling his spoon in the murky broth, "She was kind, fun, easy to get along with. I met her in college when Kes started dating Shara. She was the first person that I felt connected to since, well you, in a different way of course. Things moved quickly. We got married at twenty-three, had Evie at twenty-four."
"She made you happy," it wasn't a question that left Jyn's mouth and Cassian nodded bittersweetly.
Jyn thought for a moment about what to say but since they were talking about parentage and the mood had already taken a somber tone she decided to get it out there, "I don't know who Arlo's father is and I don't even know where to begin to find out."
She proceeded to tell the bits that she did know and about the guilt she carried for not being able to give a straight answer on the rare occasion that he asked about his father. "I'll-" she started, choking a little on the words, "I'll help him search for him if I can, if he wants to someday."
Cassian nodded, his thumb now moving in soothing circles on the top of her hand on the table now messy with the remnants of their meal, "I think that's all you can do and that's ok."
There was a pause for a minute before Jyn could pull herself out of the mood. "So what's the next part?" Jyn said with a deep breath, wanting to change the tone of the date now that some of the tougher discussions were out of the way, "Does it have to do with the sleds in your backseat?"
Cassian looked up at her from under his lashes, that smirk back on his face, as he signaled for the check, "Possibly."
Jyn laughed, "If sledding outside is intended, we need to stop at the Falcon first. I need wine for that! Also, those sleds are ruining my nefarious intentions of ravaging you in the backseat. Again. If you want this to be an authentic teen date, that needs to be on the table."
"You just suggested we get wine. THAT is not authentic to a teen date," he placed his hand on her lower back as they exited the restaurant, crisp winter air hitting their faces.
He chuckled when she threw back playfully, "Do you suggest we get Natty Light?!"
……………
A giant dog in need of detangling bounded up to Jyn as the bell jingled upon entrance to the Falcon. "Don't mind Chewie, he's friendly," a surly voice from behind the checkout counter to their right yelled. Jyn and Cassian looked at each other in amusement as they pet the dog's head.
The Falcon Liquor Store was packed as it was three days before Christmas and everyone was stocking up on provisions. Jyn and Cassian wove around people and carts back to the corner with all of the wine. Cassian perused the reds but Jyn got sidetracked by an end cap. She heard his voice ahead of her, "Anything in particular that you're feeling?"
She put on an antler headband she had found and grabbed a sprig of plastic mistletoe from the display and sauntered up behind him. "Oh, I don't know…"she purred as she popped up in front of him, her hand playfully lifting the mistletoe as far above him as she could reach, which wasn't really far. He smirked and took the bundle from her hand, their fingers brushing slowly as he jested, "You really are short."
He raised the mistletoe above her head and she pouted without any heat behind it and said, grabbing the collar of his coat, "Well then get down here."
She felt his smile on her lips as they made out in between the Cabernets and the Pinot Noirs, his hand grabbing at her waist and lower and lower…
"Ahem," they pulled away at the sound of an annoyed third person.
Jyn almost started laughing when she saw the look on, of all people, Kate's face. "Oh, sorry," Jyn started, fake embarrassment on her face, "Hi, Kate."
Kate looked between the two and shifted her weight between her glittery red heels. She stared awkwardly for a few beats more before dodging to the side and disappearing into the next aisle.
Jyn giggled, grabbing Cassian's arm as she said, "Well, the rest of the school should know about us in the next fifteen minutes or so."
"I'd say that's highly likely," Cassian leaned down to kiss her forehead.
…………
"Hold on. I have a playlist." Cassian fumbled with his phone screen as Jyn patiently sat on the sled at the top of the snowy hill, "It was on an actual CD but I do not have the technology to play it that way now."
Jyn took a swig from the wine bottle, the white twinkle lights that lined the park hill trees glittering in the dark glass, "Seriously. You made me a mix CD? No one ever did that for me. Or so I thought."
"Well I did," he winked at her as The Postal Service began to blare from his phone.
"And you kept it…" she returned.
He nodded as he came to sit behind her, the phone now safely tucked into a pocket where it would not fall out but the music could be heard. She could feel his breath on her cheek as he murmured close to her ear,"Yes. I never quite got over you."
Jyn didn't know quite what to say so she stalled by pushing off, the cold evening air brushing through her hair as they sped down the hill, Cassian's arm wound tight around her waist.
"I'm sorry for not returning any of your calls," she finally huffed out as they trudged up the snowy hill once more, David Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things cutting through the cold air.
He nodded, licking his lips before speaking, "I got it. After I heard what happened. I mean, me of all people. I totally got it. Nothing to apologize for."
They were quiet for a few more moments before he spoke again, "Besides, I kind of like how it all turned out. Not the sad parts necessarily but I like where we are now. Where the kids are now."
She turned abruptly towards him and lunged, making him fall back into the snow with her straddling his hips. "Me too," she breathed, the bow of her mouth upturned, before leaning down to capture his lips.
………
"It would be easier for Santa to deliver our presents if Evie and Cassian stayed over here tonight," Arlo was very serious as he and Evie stood in front of Cassian and Jyn in her kitchen.
"Yes," Evie spoke in so measured a tone that Jyn knew that this speech had been rehearsed at least a few times, "He would have less stops. We don't even have a chimney so he can get into this house easier."
"We're just trying to make his night easier. We'll still leave double the cookies. Please!" Arlo clasped his hands together.
Evie parroted him and the kitchen echoed in a duet of "Please!" and Jyn looked at Cassian with a smirk. He opened his mouth, eyebrows nearly up to his hairline, but when she nodded, a grin on her face, he said, "Well, we can't argue with that logic, now can we?"
Cassian went back to his house to pack Evie and him a bag and also "Santa's" presents in the trunk. Evie had wanted to go as well but Jyn distracted her with hot chocolate. They all put out a doubly large plate of cookies and two cups of milk and wrote a joint letter to Santa.
After a reading of The Night Before Christmas and many hugs and kisses, Jyn and Cassian enjoyed a glass of wine while they waited for the tiny footsteps and small voices above to fall away into slumber. With two people, the work of Santa was cut in half, although Cassian, who had pre-wrapped all of his gifts, was saddled with helping Jyn to wrap hers. "I had good intentions of wrapping these beforehand," she defended cheekily when he looked at her incredulously, "But like every year, it didn't happen. That's something you should know about me."
After everything was wrapped and the tree looked like an exploded confetti bomb, Jyn came back into the room with two newly filled glasses of wine to find Cassian lying on his back, his head under the tree.
"What are you doing?" she asked, genuinely perplexed by his actions.
He held out his hand to take one of the wineglasses to put on the floor. Then he reached for her hand, pulling gently, "Come here."
She bent down to mirror him and looked up through the lit branches and glittering globes of the tree. The smell of pine mingled with the cozy warmth of the fire across form them and Jyn marveled at how lovely this all was. Cassian slid his hand into hers, his warmth enveloping hers, as their faces took on a colorful reflected hue. "Merry Christmas, Jyn," Cassian whispered as he squeezed her hand tighter.
"Merry Christmas, Cassian," she smiled back before rolling over to kiss him gently at first, both of them tasting of wine and sugar cookies, but growing more insistent until Jyn suddenly broke away, realizing something, "What time is it?"
Cassian looked startled at her but checked his watch, "Ugh. One-thirty. They'll be up in a few hours."
Jyn nodded, tugging at his arm insistently, "Yes. Arlo was up at five last year. So come on, Andor. Take me to bed."