Author Note: so this is a strange little fic for me for some reason. I hope you guys like it! It's a little random!
—-
For the season wrap of TGS, Jack decided to hold the party on his boat this year. Liz tried to remind him of the last time the staff had a party on a boat, but he assured her that this was his boat, not a stolen one with a kidnapped cleaning lady. She ended up being okay with it is long as it remained docked or very near shore.
"I'm planning on getting super drunk, so I wanna be close to dry land, okay?"
With a chuckle, he agreed to her terms and sent Jonathan to plan the party while he and Liz continued to work on plans for the season finale.
—-
By the time they had gotten to the docks, Liz was already quite tipsy due to the champagne the cast and crew had given her as they wrapped up the show for the summer. Jack and Liz had shared a few glasses of it in her office before they left.
However, there didn't seem to be any of the TGS staff in sight when they got to the boat. Assuming they had just gotten there before everyone else, they boarded the ship and cranked up the music and tried to get things ready while they awaited their guests.
Half an hour later, Liz was calling the writers. It turned out they had gotten on the wrong boat, which had apparently left the dock 20 minutes ago with everyone except Jack and Liz.
"They won't turn back," Frank said, slightly annoyed. "And they're making us pay for our drinks and it sucks. Jack was going to provide us with an open bar, right?"
"Yes, of course he was. But I guess you guys are stuck."
"Unless you come and save us…" Frank suggested. Liz rolled her eyes.
"How the hell are we supposed to save you?"
"I don't know, bring Jack's ship to ours and we'll jump or something. Hurry, Liz, there isn't much time! Kenneth's about to start DJ-ing!"
So Liz and Jack were forced to come up with a rescue mission. Luckily, Jack was able to get his boat captain to do pretty much anything he asked (for a price, of course). The boat started to pull away from the shore within a matter of moments, and that's when Liz began to get uncomfortable.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked, concerned.
"I'm not good with boats," was all she answered as she sat on the couch with her head in her hands. He sat down next to her and started to lightly rub her back.
"We could've just left them to fend for themselves…" he reminded her, but she shook her head.
"Nah, I'm their leader Jack. I can't do that to them, especially after they got me that really nice bottle of bubbly."
Nodding in understanding, he went off to get them some drinks, hopefully to ease her nerves. She accepted the cocktail gladly, and then checked her phone.
"Frank says, according to his GPS, they're about an hour and a half away from the dock. This could take a while."
"Then, how about we dance?" Jack asked, quietly. He expected her to say no, but she instead offered a bright grin and grabbed his hand.
"Yeah, I think I'm drunk enough for that."
—-
Two hours had passed and the other boat was no where in sight. Liz had been relaying the coordinates according to what Frank and Toofer were getting from their GPS apps and texting her and finally she just gave the captain the cell phone so that he could take control. In between conversing with the captain about the rescue plans, Jack and Liz would find themselves on the dance floor. He'd laugh at her for dancing like an idiot during the quick songs and they'd talk about more serious matters during the slow songs. The dancing was a good distraction for Liz, who didn't seem too nervous about the whole boat situation. Plus, Jack was glad to dance with her at any chance he could get.
However, one song in particular made Liz very uncomfortable as she and Jack moved slowly on the empty floor.
"This was our song," she muttered, answering Jack's unasked question. He nodded and pulled her closer.
"I'm sorry, Lemon. Do you want me to change it so you don't have to think about him?" he whispered. She shook her head and rested it on his chest.
"No, it's fine. I gotta get over Criss at some point." Neither of them said anything more about Liz's rough divorce. Instead, he held her close and kissed the top of her head.
The next song was another slow one, but Liz couldn't help but smile.
"Aren't you a huge fan of Harry Connick, Jr?" she teased. He blushed a little.
"You know me too well, Ms. Lemon," he admitted as he twirled her around. He pulled her back into his arms and her face looked a little pale.
"Whoa, careful with the spinning there, Jack," she muttered. Realizing that she was probably sea sick along with being drunk, he muttered a quick apology and slowed he movements down to let her get a few good deep breaths.
"Better?" His voice was low and raspy and comforting and if he didn't stop this soon, Liz was probably going to fall for him.
That is, if she hadn't already.
—-
After a couple quick songs that were much faster in tempo and led to much laughter and terrible dance moves between the two, now very drunk, the captain informed that they would be approaching the other boat very soon. She called Frank to tell him to round up the TGS cast. He could barely hear Liz's directions because clearly Jenna had found a microphone and was belting out "Muffin Top" as loud as possible.
When Jack's boat pulled up next to the other, they made sure to find a good even point to lay the ramp in between the boats so that they others could walk (or crawl, as most of them had chosen to do) across. Sure it wasn't very safe, but they finally got everyone onto the boat and the party could really start.
The music was loud and the drinks were flowing and Jack and Liz were more drunk than they had been in a while. Well, mostly in Liz's case.
For some reason that meant that they were basically glued together during the whole party as the boat made it's way back to shore, much to Liz's delight. The drunker she got, the more nervous she got about being on the boat, and the more sick she was starting to feel. But that didn't stop her and Jack from dancing even more.
"Lemon," he yelled over the blaring music while she did the robot, even though the green tint in her face had gotten worse.
"What?"
"You look like you're gonna puke."
"Yeah that sounds about right," she said, not really comprehending what he was saying, but he pulled her aside and took her out to the edge of the boat.
"Ok, let's take a deep breath okay?" he muttered, rubbing her back again. She gave a half nod but then shook her head and threw up over the edge of the boat. He held her hair back and when she was done, she realized she was crying and started to wipe her tears away.
"I hate puking ugh. And I'm sorry if I ruined your boat."
"Nah, you're good."
"Okay can we please get away from the edge now?" she asked, practically clinging on him in fear.
Jack led her away from the edge, but not back inside to where the party was, because he needed her to relax. He waved Kenneth over and had him get Liz a water while he tried to calm her nerves.
"We're almost home," he said, taking off his tux jacket and putting it over her nearly bare shoulders. They were quiet as she sipped her water and tried to get the bad taste out of her mouth.
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think I'll ever move on?" she asked, looking up at him with sad eyes. He smiled back at her.
"Of course you will, Lemon. It's just gonna take a little time."
"Yeah, but not many men go for women in their late forties, or older."
"Hey, you never know. There could be some guy who's been there all along and you just haven't figured it out yet," he said, dropping the biggest hint he's probably ever given her about his feelings for her. But she was a bit too drunk to quite grasp the concept. She narrowed her eyes and he attempted to change the focus of the conversation. "We're almost there! What do you say, one more dance for your old friend?"
She gave him a look for a moment, and then it seemed to finally click. Liz slipped her hand into his and smirked.
"Of course. But, who said this can't continue after the party?"
Jack couldn't hide his grin and he slipped his arm around her waist and they made their way back to the dance floor.
