Title: Abandoned by Fate
Author: willowwood
Character(s)/Pairing: Angela Montenegro/Jack Hodgins
Rating: PG
Words: 2,530
Disclaimer: If I owned this show, something like this could have possibly happened.
Authors Notes: Yeah, so this very possibly falls under the category of 'pointless holiday fluff' rotflmao, which is technically a day late to fall into the festive season but still, my muse is a temperamental little soul and I have to take and post what she's offering. Enjoy!
Summary: "After all we've both been abandoned by fate-" she joked, worrying briefly if her tone sounded as hopeful to Jack as it did to her "-and it'd be insane for both of us to have to cook a dinner, and spend the day alone-"
Abandoned By Fate
Sitting at the bar, staring down the neck of the same bottle of beer he'd been nursing for the past two hours or so, wondering whether this Christmas could possibly get any worse, the last person Jack had expected to walk into Wong Foo's that night - the evening of Christmas Day - was Angela. Hell he hadn't even expected to end up there himself tonight.
He watched as she stood in the archway, eyes slowly scanning the surprisingly crowded bar. Gone was the ensemble of regular clothes and the previous day's elf costume she'd been wearing earlier that day, now replaced by tight fitting jeans, barely visible between knee high boots and a three-quarter length coat, and topped off by a matching hat and scarf that were covered in a generous amount of melting snow. After a moment her gaze came to rest on him, her pink tinged cheeks quickly lifting into a relieved smile as she made her way towards him, pulling off her hat and scarf in the process.
"Hodgins am I glad to see you!" she exclaimed with a sigh, climbing up onto the stool besides him "My cars broken down a couple of blocks over and I've come here in the hope of maybe finding Brennan or at the very least a phone so that I can use to call her and ask her if she'll come and pick me up-" She immediately began to explain dumping her hat and scarf onto the bar in front of her, before eventually stuffing them in to the bag she'd haphazardly rested on her lap "Of course I would have called her with my cell if the stupid thing hadn't died half way through the mechanic telling me he wouldn't be able to come and pick my car up until tomorrow morning at the earliest" as she continued to ramble, she pulled out the cell phone in question and glanced at it's screen as though hoping it had somehow miraculously come back to life. When it was clear the screen still remained a blank she tossed it back into her bag, along with her hat and scarf "and so…." She continued finally stopping for a breath and turning to look at him, a somewhat sheepish smile pulling at the edge of her lips "considering that you're already here, how about you give me a lift back to my place?"
Jack's brow wrinkled in confusion as his mind quickly tried to process everything the artist had just unloaded, eventually as Angela's brow raised in anticipation he couldn't help but chuckle "Hey Angela-" he greeted, the confusion he was feeling clearly evident in his voice "-you know if you hadn't already wished me Merry Christmas once today, I might actually be offended"
"What?-" she asked suddenly looking as confused as he still felt, eventually her faced softened and she smiled, seemingly embarrassed, as she suddenly realised what she'd done "-Oh! Hey Jack!" her hand came up and she gently pressed two fingers against her temple, before moving away and batting at the air off-headedly "-I'm sorry, it just really has been one of those days, you know?" at his raised brows she added "…Well more like three days huh?"
"Oh yeah!" Jack agreed taking a drink.
"So about that lift?"
He tuned to look at her "Oh yeah, sure, just let me finish up" he waggled the still full bottle to emphasis his point. The artist nodded, smiling "Yeah, sure, no rush, not like I have anywhere better to be" Jack couldn't help but recognise the smallest hint of a sigh in her tone.
As the two of them slowly settled into a comfortable silence, another figure on the other side of the counter approached them, this one baring a steaming cup of something clasped between there hands "A cup of HoCho for my favourite artist" Sid greeted placing the cup in front of Angela.
"Thank You" she greeted instantly, a huge smile spreading across her features as she wrapped both of her hands around the ceramic mug "There has got to be at least eight inches of snow outside, and it's still falling. After walking two whole blocks I am freezing!" As she lifted the cup up to her lips, she paused, suddenly smelling a distinct aroma of something other than just the cocoa powder "Just hot chocolate?" she asked with a sceptical brow.
The bar tender smirked, spreading his arms in front of himself innocently, the Santa hat perched crookedly on top of his head adding to the imagery "A Wong Foo's special recipe to warm the Christmas Spirit" he explained.
Nevertheless after what she'd already experienced that Christmas, Angela still remained sceptical her brow raised until she took a sip of the steaming liquid, and suddenly felt as though she was melting from the instant warmth that encompassed her. Jack, on the other hand, couldn't help but smile as Sid smirked and tipped his head in the, now relaxed, artists direction before leaving the two of them alone once more, clearly pleased with himself.
As the two of them once again were slowly beginning to fall into silence, the only sounds belonging to the unmistakable jingle of Christmas songs flowing from the speakers above them, and the distinct chatter of the people spread around the room, Jack cast a sideways glance at his co-worker "I thought you were spending today with your dad?" he asked curiously, watching as Angela placed her cup back onto the counter, both hands still eagerly soaking up it's warmth. The instant her already sombre expression dropped even more he quickly found himself regretting his urge to start a conversation.
"I did, but he's got a concert in Australia over New Years, which was why I was supposed to be spending the day with him yesterday-" the disappointment in her tone is palpable "-after what happened at the lab, he postponed his flight to as late as possible, but tonight was the only one they had left available-" her hands tighten on the mug "-I was actually on my way back from driving him to the airport when my car broke down" she smiled, and Jack couldn't help but notice that it appeared almost forced, never reaching her eyes like it would have normally. Suddenly he was confronted by the over whelming urge to apologise - after all if he hadn't of been drinking his eggnog as Zach was cutting into the bones, none of this would have happened.
He's just about to voice his apology, when she turns to him; a curious expression spread across her features, what little semblance of a smile still remained, suddenly appearing more genuine "What about you? Shouldn't you be in a log cabin somewhere in Canada right about now?"
"I should-" he agreed "-but my flight was cancelled. Apparently it's done nothing but snow out there for the past week and so ironically the one thing I was looking forward to the most is the one thing that's keeping me away. Even if my flight was able to take off with all the snow we've had over here, I wouldn't have anywhere to land over there"
"What about your girlfriend?"
"Nancy?"
"If that's what this one is called-" she teased "-I thought she was going with you? Where is she?" Angela looked around the bar as though she expected to see the other woman sitting in a booth or emerging from the bathroom suddenly.
"To add to the irony-" Jack began taking another sip of his beer "-she's probably with some burly, overly good-looking, French Canadian masseuse-" at Angela's raised brow he couldn't help but laugh "-at the lab yesterday I told her to carry on without me and that I'd meet her there"
"Let me guess, Nancy's not exactly the type of girl to stick around and wait?"
"Looking the way she does, she doesn't have to be. Plus it's not as though I'm Brad Pitt or anything" The last bit was barely mumbled.
"Yeah but burly, and overly-good looking is severely overrated" Angela replies instantaneously, quickly moving to take a sip of her drink when Jack turns to regard her, a confused expression pulling at his features as he tries to over-analyse her words. She's more than a little relieved when he finally pulls his gaze away from her and laughs to himself.
"Merry Christmas huh?" he finally declares lifting his bottle at the same time as Angela is lowering her cup. They tap glass against pottery in a mock toast.
"Oh yeah! Not exactly one of the best Christmases I've had" Angela replies with a somewhat relieved sigh. Finding herself only half surprised when Jack doesn't rush to agree with her, simply takes a more elaborated swig of his beer.
"So-" she begins finally, offering him another one of her own sideways glances as she takes a sip of her hot chocolate "-I know why I've ended up here on Christmas day, but how come you're here? Shouldn't you be feeling sorry for yourself back at your own place?"
Jack shrugged.
"What? That big old mansion, Zach told me about too lonely for you?" she asked, watching him closely.
This time Jack rolled his eyes "Something like that" he admitted from behind the rim of his bottle "Lets just say my house isn't exactly the spirit of Christmas this year"
"Why? No presents under the Christmas tree?"
"No Christmas tree" He dead panned
"Are you serious?" Angela couldn't disguise her shock.
"Well I didn't exactly plan on being there" again he took another overly forceful swig of his beer.
"Of course, good point" Angela agreed, wondering why how she'd managed to hit a wrong nerve, but not wanting to ask too many questions. Instead she took another sip of her hot chocolate, and for a long time the two of them stayed silent once more, slowly finishing off what remained of there drinks. It wasn't until Sid resumed his position in front of them that the two of them finally looked up.
"The snows stopped. If you guys are planning on getting out of here tonight I'd suggest you leave now"
"Good idea-" Angela began, following Jack's leads as he stood and began pulling on his gloves and tightening the scarf, that up until now had been hanging loosely around his neck "-I refuse to get trapped inside anywhere else this Christmas" Sid raised a confused brow "It's a long story"
"There was a 50 year old long fungus-" Sid cut Jack off, by raising both his hands.
"As long as you ain't bringing in anymore of those ugly ass pictures of yours, scaring away my customers, I don't need to know" he insisted, collecting their empty items and walking away.
By the time they reached Angela's apartment the snow had already begun to melt, forming a hazardous slush across the majority of the road. Yet despite the fact they'd hardly said a word to each other since leaving Wong Foo's, when they were forced to park on the opposite side of the road to Angela's building, as soon as he'd cut the ignition Jack jumped out of the car, reaching the passengers side door just as Angela was rising to her feet.
"Thanks for the ride Jack, I owe you one" she smiled closing the door and moving to walk across the street. When Jack falls into step besides her, after a couple of strides she glances at him curiously "You know you really don't have to walk me to my building?"
Jack shrugs burying his hands into the pockets of his jacket, his smile never wavering "It's icy-" he begins to explain after a few more steps "-and Brennan would kill me if you ended up off work for 6 weeks with a broken humorous because of me"
"That'd be fitting this year" she laughs.
When they've finally made there way across the road, she isn't surprised that Jack continues to walk along side her, and yet it isn't until she's moving to put her key in the front door that one of them speaks again.
"You know what? You should…" Angela trails off, and turns to face him, wondering if she should reconsider what she's about to say. Yet when she's confronted by his eyes watching, her expectantly, she takes in a deep breath "You should come and have dinner here tomorrow. After all we've both been abandoned by fate-" she joked, worrying briefly if her tone sounded as hopeful to Jack as it did to her "-and it'd be insane for both of us to have to cook a dinner, and spend the day alone-" Jack didn't bother to point out that his dinner would very likely be re-heated takeout "Plus my Dad's a real traditionalist about this sort of stuff, so when he can, he likes to have the whole home cooked meal" She was more than a little aware of the fact she was gesturing nervously with her hands "Which is why I've still got half a 15 pound turkey in my oven - that, if left to my own devises, will probably still be there by about mid-February if I don't get rid of it soon" They both laughed "I can throw together some potatoes and vegetables. It'd be nice - besides who's willing to sit in a house with no Christmas tree on Boxing Day when there's two feet of snow outside?"
She was more than a little relieved when Jack smiled, his grin lighting up his face. "That'd be nice Angela. How about I bring a bottle of wine?"
"Perfect" The huge smile that adorns her lips suddenly fades as Jack leans towards her and gently presses his lips against hers. She freezes, suddenly thankful that his hands are no longer in his pockets and that instead they're gently gripping her waist, steadying her. Without really acknowledging the movement her eyes are closing and she's slowly kissing him back, their breath mingling, his face warm, as her hand comes up and cups his cheek, despite the cold. When after a few minutes a small part of her brain starts analysing the big mistake she's sure they're making, Jack's the first to pull back. Instantly she recognises the distinct flush of her cheeks, and she slowly begins to open her eyes "Jack, I didn't mean.." she begins flustered "I mean that wasn't, we shouldn't…" her babbling trails off as a smirk pulls at the corner of Jacks lips and he cranes his head back to look at the ceiling above her, following his gaze, she spots the sprig of mistletoe that somebody has carefully hung in the doorway. Her blush deepens, but by the time she brings her face back down to Jack's level he's already halfway down her path, walking backwards, the smirk still firmly spread across his lips.
"Goodnight Angela, I'll see you tomorrow, about noon-ish" Before she can reply he's turned his back and is crossing the road to his car, leaving Angela to bite her lip and wonder how much of an idiot she's just made herself look.
The End