"Frank says you're driving to this convention."
Jack Quade looked up from his book at his colleague and housemate Gabrielle Jaeger. "I'm not fussed on flying and besides, I have friends in Canberra so I want my car to visit them. Why, are you hitting me up for a lift?"
Gabrielle nodded sheepishly. Flying scared the crap out of her, had done since she'd been a little girl and her dad had taken her on a joy flight with so much turbulence she had thrown up for three hours afterwards. She and Jack were representing the hospital at a three-day convention on emergency medicine in Canberra, and she so dreaded flying she was tempted to give the job to one of her subordinates. She had broached this with Frank, the head of the ED, who'd cut her down completely. He and Charlotte Beaumont, his 2IC, couldn't make it so they were sending in Jack, they needed at least one of the two going to be a HoD. But if she was afraid of flying, she could always ask Jack for a lift.
"Sure, the company would be nice," Jack said agreeably. He hadn't much been looking forward to hours of driving by himself. Solitude he liked, but not when you had nothing else to do but concentrate on the road.
"How do you know people in Canberra?" she asked him a couple of days later when they hit the road. Steve had raised all hell about her spending so much time with Jack – Steve could be very touchy about her friendship with Jack. Well, it wasn't like he had a right to be, not anymore. And it wasn't like there was anything to be touchy about. Jack had made that perfectly clear when he had forced her to face up to her feelings for both of them after kissing him at Dan and Erica's wedding.
The kiss… she still remembered it, the split second when he kissed her back before pulling away. Jack was a good kisser and the memory of touching him, feeling his lips pressed up against hers, was not something she could let go of. And the chemistry – she didn't think it was possible to have chemistry with someone like that. But Jack wasn't interested in her. He had no interest of getting involved with a colleague, not interest in getting involved with someone he didn't think was entirely over her ex.
That was the kicker. Jack's bluntness with her had forced her to acknowledge that while she loved Steve, she would never be in love with him again. Too much had come between them and now they were just friends. She didn't trust Steve to get involved with him, not the way she trusted Jack.
And she did trust Jack. She was surprised at how much. She had thought him to be untrustworthy, given the way he slept around, but since he'd come back to the ED he'd been nothing but professional and discreet in his personal life. Since he had moved in with her, she'd never seen him with anyone. Of course, that could just mean he was going over to other women's places, but she doubted that somehow.
She had once intimated that they were such good friends and that close friendship was a good foundation for a relationship. "I wouldn't want to complicate things," he had said, thinking they were talking in theory, not realizing she was putting her heart on the line. She never brought it up again and he never made any comment, any gesture that made her think there was any hope. SO she settled for his friendship and tried to put it out of her mind.
"I went to uni there," he said, breaking her out of her reverie. "Still have friends based there."
She frowned in concentration. "I'm sorry, did you go to AUMEL?" she asked. Jack nodded. The Australian University of Medicine, Engineering and Law, considered by many to be the top university in the country for those three professions. You practically had to be a member of MENSA to even be considered. "That's quite an accomplishment. How come you never talk about it?"
Jack shrugged. "It was just when I went to uni," he said, and Gabrielle added modesty to his list of good attributes. "I have a few friends who still live there and I figured I may as well drive and have my car."
They talked on and off most of the way there, but Gabrielle had a hard time getting over just how bright he was. If she'd found him attractive before, now he was incredibly hot.
She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to go to bed with a man so intelligent.
They got to the hotel the convention was being held at. Gabrielle whistled appreciatively. "I could get used to this," she said. They checked in and made their way to their rooms, which were next to each other. "I meeting a friend in two hours at the bar, why do you say in the meantime I'll go smuggle in some beers and we can hang out." Gabrielle agreed.
"…So Peter thinks it's incredibly funny to tell the Dean the reason I was late to dinner was because I was sleeping off a hangover. He then goes into a lengthy speech about how he considers my ability to drink everyone under the table a virtue. I was mortified."
"You know, Jack, I really can't see you being friends with someone like that," Gabrielle said. Jack had been telling her stories about live at uni and it didn't sound at all like the man she knew.
Jack smiled ruefully. "I've changed a lot. And Peter – he kind of adopted me as a brother when I first got to uni. I was sixteen and knew no-one. He always had my back even though he could be so indiscreet. He's just as crass as he always was but I'm really looking forward to catching up. You'll actually get to meet him if you want."
"Do you think he'd like me?"
Was that a note of insecurity in Gabrielle's voice? Jack didn't see that it mattered weather Peter liked her or not – what he loved about Gabrielle was her deep sense of security in who she was. It amazed Jack that this sense of security prevailed even after what Steve had put her through. He knew she questioned herself as a girlfriend and lover, wondering if there was something she had done or not done would that have kept him from straying, from drinking?
Poor girl, he often thought of her. He'd been cheated on and it sucked but it must have been so much worse to have it be your childhood sweetheart. He admired her greatly for her determination not to let it get her down. Actually, he admired her greatly for a lot of things. Her intelligence, her humility, her sense of humour – she made him feel good about himself, really good about himself, and that was a rare thing for him these days.
He had been shocked at how good it had felt to kiss her. And it had been as if he'd known all along what she would taste like – sweet and soft and he'd just wanted to back her into a wall and devour her. Instead, he'd done the right thing and broken it off after common sense kicked in. She was drunk and not entirely over Steve, who had been flirting with the new nurse all night. She didn't care about Jack, she cared about making a point to Steve.
So he'd called her on it, and forced her to admit she still had feelings for the guy. He decided it would be best to not get involved rather than kid himself that her mind was entirely on him. Jack Quade, getting involved with the ED NUM who's heart belongs with an ax. How was that for a joke. No thanks.
But he couldn't forget what kissing her had been like, and a couple of times she'd hinted at what it would be like to be in a relationship with him. He let himself wonder if she was serious and decided she wasn't. It wasn't worth risking his heart being stomped on again.
She was looking at him expectantly and he realized she'd asked him a question. "Peter can be very crass and very shallow when it comes to women," he said slowly, and he knew from the look on her face he'd said the wrong thing. "I'm not saying I share his opinions but he wouldn't appreciate you for the same reasons I do."
"You mean because I'm a good friend and very competent nurse – that doesn't matter to him because I'm not attractive." It was her greatest insecurity, that Steve hadn't found her pretty enough to be faithful to.
"Hey know damn well you're attractive," Jack said. "You just don't look like Jennifer Hawkins. Look, if circumstances were different, I'd date you and I'm a much better boyfriend than Peter is."
Gabrielle held back the tears that were threatening. Jack was so sweet, the way he cared about her feelings. She leaned over and squeezed his thigh. She'd had too much to drink and started thinking about what it would feel like to be ensconced in his arms and kissing him. "You're a good friend," she said.
If she left her hand there much longer, his body was going to get ideas and embarrass him. She was tipsy and just being friendly, but still… "I have to go meet my friend," he said, hurriedly jumping up and forcing Gabrielle's hand to jump away, leaving Gabrielle feeling rejected. What the hell was the matter with him? They had chemistry, didn't they? Why wasn't he interested in her?
Because you're not pretty enough, she told herself without meaning to.
The next day, Jack was late getting up so Gabrielle went to get him. He was probably sleeping off one of those hangovers he seemed to get whenever his uni mates were involved. She knocked through the door and got no answer, so used the spare keycard he'd given her to let herself in…
Only to be greeted by a very beautiful and very naked woman on top of him, the two of them completely oblivious to the rest of the world until she heard Gabrielle gasped behind her. She turned around and gave a poisoned glare. "Excuse me?" she asked in a heavily accented voice. "did you want anything?"
"Uh, no," Gabrielle said, backing towards the door, her face red as a tomato.
"Then please go away. We're in the middle of something."
Jack caught up with her half an hour later. "Look, I'm really sorry about Tanya. She can be kind of abrupt if you interrupt her at the wrong moment."
"Hope you used a condom," she muttered.
Jack stared at her. He had, but he didn't like her tone of voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, what do you think it means, Jack? Friend from uni? Yeah, right. She looked like her fees are exorbitant." Which was true enough. Tanya was stunning and made Gabrielle feel very plain and dumpy. No wonder Jack had no interest in her when he could get a woman like Tanya naked.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just accuse Tanya Gregova of being a hooker," Jack said.
Gabrielle went as white as she had been red half an hour ago. "That's Tanya Gregova?" she spluttered. "But – but – Jack, how do you know Tanya Gregova?" She was one of the most respected surgeons in the country, heading the surgical team in a major Canberra hospital despite only being thirty-one.
"She's a mate of mine from uni. She made some insinuations one day in Russian and I turned around and corrected her. In Russian." Jack laughed at the memory. "You should have seen the look on her face. She's brilliant and quad-lingual, she wasn't used to people talking back to her. We've gotten along great ever since and I catch up with her ever since."
"But – but –" Gabrielle couldn't stop spluttering. She'd heard of Tanya Gregova, of course, everyone in Australia's medical community had, but she hadn't realized the woman was so beautiful… or so intimately acquainted with Jack.
"Why does it mean that much to you anyway?" he asked quietly. "Who I sleep with, I mean? You've never struck me as the type to get offended when a mate hooks up with someone."
Of course, she couldn't admit it meant that much to her because she had feels for Jack – feelings that were apparently unrequited. Why the hell would he be interested in her when he could hold the interest of someone as beautiful and brainy as Tanya Gregova? She'd been deluding herself to think he'd ever be interested in her. "It was just embarrassing," she said. "I don't think I ever want to see that much of you again, Jack."
He grinned, hiding his disappointment that that was all it was about. He was surprised to realize just how much he had wanted there to be jealousy mixed in with that embarrassment. "Tell me about it. Look, can you not say anything to anyone when we get home? I don't think I'll ever let it down."
Yeah, right. Like she ever wanted people to know the reason Jack wasn't interested in her was because he could get a woman like Tanya.
Later that day, he introduced her to his other uni friends. They were all older than him. "That's because Jack's a freaking genius despite screwing his way through uni – mate, I always wanted to know what you could have achieve if you weren't out getting drunk or laid half the time – that he was sixteen when he started whereas us mere mortals were eighteen. And he overloaded to finish in five years," Peter said. Despite his crassness, he was clearly fond of the man he considered his younger brother.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't are?" Gabrielle asked. First AUMEL, now a uni student at sixteen and graduate of medicine at twenty-one. Jack squirmed in his seat. He didn't like bragging about his achievements. Once, maybe, but now he realized just how lucky he'd been to be able to use his intelligence to escape from the life he'd grownup in.
"So, are you two getting it on?" Peter asked crassly. "I know you have a thing with nurses, Jack."
Gabrielle blushed and Jack glared at him. "I think my boss would kill me if I lay a hand on one of his staff again," he said, not willing to explain, either in front of Gabrielle or in her absence, that the real reason was that she was in love with someone else.
Peter laughed. "You always were a player, weren't you. I never worked out where you got the energy from."
"I'm sorry, I told you he was crass but that was particularly bad, even by his standards," Jack apologized later that evening.
"It's fine. It was… enlightening." She smirked. "Were you really a player?"
Jack scowled and Gabrielle realized she'd hit on a nerve that made Jack's mind retreat to that dark place where loneliness and pain were his constant companions. "You know about Patrick," he said quietly. "I'm not proud of some of the things I've done, some of the women I've used, but it was the only way I knew how to feel good about myself."
"Jack, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it – should have known that's where it came from." She knew about Patrick because it was hard to avoid it when the man came home from counseling sessions looking so emotionally ground-down that she didn't know how he managed to keep moving forward, had been fairly easy to coax him into talking about it. He'd never told a woman what had happened to him, those two years or being raped and coerced into blow jobs as an alternative and a step-mother who didn't believe him and kept forcing him over – and he found like unlike Dan or Mike, he could actually stand to have her touch him, even found her hugs soothing. And the way she let him lay his head in her lap and stroked his hair when he'd had a particularly bad day…
He smiled, and the darkness was gone. "Forget about it," he said. "Why don't we grab a quick drink and have a early night? It's going to be a big day tomorrow."
"So, what's the deal with you and the nurse?"
Jack took his time sipping his coffee. He didn't trust where this conversation was going. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, come on Jack, we've been friends for how long? I know you'll nail anything that moves. So why aren't you making the moves on her? Does she have a boyfriend? Husband? Lesbian? Not that that's stopped you before."
Jack fought the childish urge to throw his coffee in Peter's face. OK, so he'd done some shitty things but he was trying to make amends. Sometimes he thought the main reason he'd fallen in with Peter was that Peter was such a player and didn't judge Jack for sleeping around. Now that he was trying to improve on that, they didn't seem to have as much in common as they used to. "No boyfriend or husband, although her ex works with us, so definitely not a lesbian, either."
"Then what? Is it because she's so plain? You know, the plain ones can be the best in bed – they have to be, they have nothing else to offer."
Jack bit down on a piece of croissant so he wouldn't be able to talk for a minute if he chewed really slowly. Peter could be really mean sometimes. Gabrielle wasn't plain, she just wasn't drop-dead gorgeous. And more importantly, she made him laugh and feel good about himself. Jack started to say this when he realized his words would be lost on Peter. The guy just didn't understand concepts like respecting women, and he certainly wouldn't understand that Jack wasn't interested in just getting laid if he couldn't have her heart and soul, too. And her heart and soul belonged to Steve – or at least, more than they would ever belong to Jack, or so he thought.
"Guilty as charged," he said, then, to really give him something to make his eyes gleam, Jack volunteered, "You know I had Tanya over the night before last?"
Peter's eyes really did gleam. "She as good as ever?" he asked. Not that he knew personally, Tanya had no time for men who couldn't challenge her intellectually.
"Better." Jack hoped he never had to have such a conversation again. If Bianca Frost could hear him, everything she'd ever said about him would be proven true.
Instead, it was Gabrielle who overheard the conversation. Is it because she's so plain. You know, the plain ones can be the best in bed – they have to be, they have nothing else to offer. And worse, Jack's reply, guilty as charged. Had all the times he'd said her looks didn't matter been a lie – for what? What did he think of her exactly? Was she good enough to be his friend but not good enough to be his girlfriend, not even good enough to be his secret lover? Did he find her that repulsive that he could be pally with her while waiting for a supermodel to show up but never be interested in her romantically or sexually.
She was so upset that she went back to her room and cried for the rest of the day, blowing off all her seminar commitments.
"Jaeger, get your lazy ass into gear. I want to be back before dark."
Lazy ass? Did he really think she was lazy? Fat, too? All of yesterday she had cried her heart out while Jack was probably off checking out women far prettier than her. She'd thought she couldn't get his attention because he thought she was still hung up over Steve, but no, it was because she was plain.
Gabrielle opened the door to her room. She'd gone to a lot off effort to rinse out her eyes and do her makeup so her face didn't look so puffy. Jack didn't notice a thing. But then, Jack was too busy being irritated at her for blowing him off last night. She'd agreed to have dinner with him the night before – it being their last night in an all-expenses-paid hotel – then texted him saying she was busy. Doing what? She knew no-one in Canberra. Or had Steve called and decided to monopolize her time? He wouldn't put it past the older doctor. But then, it was as much Gabrielle's fault as it was Steve's – she kept letting him monopolize her.
He thought back to his conversation with Peter. No, it wasn't that Gabrielle was plain – which she wasn't – that discouraged Jack from getting involved with her. It was goddamn Steve. The man was always going to be in her life, always trying to worm his way between her and Jack, and Jack didn't want anything to do with it.
She was sullen on the car home, making sarcastic remarks about his car, his appearance and his friends until he finally asked, "Have I done something to offend you? Because if I have, I'd rather you tell me than be a bitch."
"Do you think you've done something wrong?" she asked.
"Gabby, quite with the bullshit mind games. I haven't done anything I'm aware of so either out with it or quit with the snarky comments. You're acting like a child."
"Oh, I'm acting like a child?" she raged, incensed. "Who was it who said they wouldn't sleep with me because I'm too plain?"
Jack paled immediately. No wonder she was pissy. "I never meant for you to hear that. I jut said – look, I could never explain to someone like Peter that I respect you too much as a person to jeopardize that because I wanted to get laid, so when he volunteered that you were too plain, I took it. It was cowardly and I'm sorry but you must know I didn't mean it."
"I find that hard to believe given you drove to a whole other state because you wanted to squire around someone who could moonlight as a supermodel," she snapped.
"The ACT is a territory, not a state, and it doesn't count if it's within the borders of New South Wales," Jack said peevishly. Like he needed to drive anywhere more than a few kilometers to get laid. He wanted Tanya because he had a deep affection and respect for her, not because she had a hot body.
"Don't be an ass, Jack. You crossed state lines, I don't care what you want to call it. God, have you been laughing at me all along? I remember how people warned me you like to chase the ED NUM and you never did me – I thought maybe you'd learned your lesson, but nope, not pretty enough for Jack Quade, connoisseur of women, that's all it was."
"I didn't hit on you because I was trying to make up for what I did to Frank. Jesus Christ, Gabby, you know how awful I still feel about that and… you seriously think it was because I didn't find you attractive?"
"Then why haven't you made a move on me?"
"Uh… maybe because I was hoping you might let go of Steve but since that's not going to happen…"
"Oh, I let go of Steve soon after you called me on it. If you weren't too busy screwing around you'd have known that. Whatever I may have felt in the past, I don't trust him, not the way I trust you… or the way I thought I trusted you. But you – you're just like him, you know. You say all the right things but you've never given a crap about me, not when there are women like Tanya out there to satisfy you."
There was a rest stop coming up, Jack saw. Good. He was so worked up that the only thing he could think about was stopping the car and hashing it out with her. "What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at him when she saw he was pulling over. "What happened to getting back by dark?"
Despite the fact it was raining, he got out of the car, walked around to her side, yanked open the door, leaned in to unclip her seatbelt despite her screaming protests, and hauled her out into the rain, pinning her body against his car. "I'm sorry I didn't make a move sooner," he said huskily. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were over Steve. What do you expect from me, I've been hurt before, waiting for a woman I care about to stop loving her ex more than she loves me."
Too worked up to really hear when Jack was saying, she pounded his back with her fists. "You're not attracted to me! You don't want me like you want – like you want Tanya."
He said quietly, "I've wanted you ever since you kissed me. Sometimes I lie awake thinking about you and I have to talk myself out of going to your room because I'm terrified you'll reject me, or worse, you'll only half-commit to me and while I make love to you, you're mind is drifting to him. I couldn't go through that again." He hadn't realized the depth of his emotion until he'd spoken the words.
His words finally got through. "Jack…"
"Sometimes I'm watching you for no reason and I have this urge to drag you into the nearest private room and rip your clothes off. I want to feel you thrashing against me, I want to feel you come over and over. I want to be inside you so much it hurts and sometimes I don't know how I restrain myself."
"Jack – if you feel that way about me – and you don't do anything now –"
He responded by mashing his mouth against hers. She opened it, letting him in, letting his tongue search out yours, wrapping her arms around his head, her fingers through his soaked hair… he grabbed her hips and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist, wedged between his body and his car. The ran had soaked her white shirt through and left little to the imagination - not that it wasn't anything Jack's imagination hadn't already come up with. He ran his hands boldly over her body, her breasts and thighs. "You're beautiful," he said over and over. "You're beautiful."
She sensed, rather than felt, the hardness in his jeans and wanted to be with him more than she'd wanted anything in her life – including Steve. "You have a hatch," she said breathlessly.
"Yeah, so?"
"You can pull the backseat down."
He broke away from nuzzling her neck to look her in the eye. "Is this what you want? It can't wait a few hours?"
"Can you wait a few hours?" she returned. Finally, they were on the same page, both wanting each other desperately. He reluctantly let her go and pulled down the backseat (he had to stash their bags on the floor of the backseat to create extra space, by which time he was well aware of just how freaking cold it was) and he was grateful to have her in his arms in the relative dry. Which wasn't going to stay dry for long given they were both soaked to the bone.
He kissed her hungrily and she responded eagerly. He tried to go slowly but found he couldn't, and he was forcing her head down, forcing her body down by the weight of his, holding her hands tightly, kissing her face and neck hard and passionately sop she couldn't barely keep up. She responded as best as she could, kissing him, freeing her hands so she could run them down his back, wrapping her legs around his waist… she ground her torso against his deliberately until his reaction was obvious. "You are a devil," he grunted.
"You're the one holding me down," she retorted.
"Want me to stop?"
"You do and I'll kill you. Jack, please…" That was what he liked to hear, that pleading voice full of desire… he fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, which was sticking to her like a second skin. He grinned, thinking he'd never be able to see her in a white shirt the same way again. He fumbled with the clasp of her bra, momentarily wondering if this was awkward because their clothes were wet or because he'd never wanted someone so badly in his life and every second he wasn't inside her felt like an eternity. She responded by helping him out of his shirt, marvelling in how toned his body was. She knew how much he liked to be in good shape but this – it was a treat to run her fingers along the muscles of his back, even more of a treat to feel him buck against her involuntarily at the sensation. She didn't have a lot of experience with men and knowing she could make Jack feel this way…
She was wearing a skirt so Jack didn't bother taking it off to get to her panties, instead pushing the skirt up around her waist and pulling her panties down. When he touched her, he tried to be gentle but was shocked by how wet she was already. His fingers slid easily into her. "Jesus Christ," he muttered. Feeling how ready she was for him made the bulge in his jeans hurt. He started to finger her anyway until she begged him to stop.
"I want you," she panted wantonly. "Stop wasting time."
"Yes, mam," Jack said dryly. She'd actually managed to give the order to stop with the hand job and have sex with her in a tone that vaguely resembled the tolerate-no-nonsense one she used on her staff. Obligingly, he struggled out of his jeans – actually, he only got them down to his thighs because he wasn't in the mood to try and get them off entirely, not when the material was sticking to his skin as if with superglue – and pushed into her.
He groaned in ecstasy when he penetrated her fully and he could feel her tightening the grip her legs had on his waist. She was tight, too tight for his liking. "Don't stop," she grunted. "Don't you dare think about that now."
Think about what, that he couldn't stand the idea that sex might be the least bit uncomfortable for the woman he was with? He couldn't help it. He'd experienced painful, humiliating sex too many times not to be aware of how it might feel for someone who wasn't used to his size, and Gabrielle definitely wasn't used to it, he could feel it in the way she was slightly tense, even though she was trying to hide it, even though she wanted him desperately and was prepared to be uncomfortable for the time it took to get used to him, even though the idea of hurting her for any reason in any way appalled Jack… Gabrielle started nibbling on his ear, distracting him something chronic. "I'll stop whenever you want," he promised weakly. He would stop if she asked, but he would find it hard.
"Fine. Just don't stop."
He started pumping her, trying to go as slowly as gently as he could but Gabrielle had this way of pressing her body tightly against his, of rubbing her legs against his, of nibbling on his ear and making highly erotic noises as she did that brought out the animal in him and he couldn't help it, he started pounding her hard and was rewarded when she started moaning louder. He brought one hand down between her legs and touched her in the most sensitive of spots until he had to use his free hand to clamp over her mouth as she started screaming.
His own climax came seconds after she went limp in his arms. He couldn't remember it being so intense – but then, it had never been with a friend he had both a deep emotional connection with and had been lusting after for months. He bit down on his lip to stop from screaming himself and shaking, almost collapsed on top of her after he was finished, propping himself up on his knees, reluctant to get off her.
When he finally did, he pulled her into his arms. She was shaking worse than he was. "Jack, what did you do to me?" she asked after a few minutes.
"What do you mean?"
"When you touched me before… what was that?"
His eyes went wide as he realised what she was talking about. "You've never had an orgasm before?" She started to protest and looked miffed when he started to laugh. "I'm sorry, but if you had no idea what that was – God, if I'd known, I would have gone easier on you."
"Why, was that the greatest weapon in the sexual arsenal of Jack Quade?"
"Um… I prefer not to think of it as a weapon but yeah, I know how to go easier than that."
She snuggled deeper into his arms, if that were possible. "There's been a lot of women, haven't there?"
"Why do you want to talk about this?" he asked cautiously.
"I want to be good enough for you."
She said this in such a small voice that he pulled away from her so he could meet her eyes, and there he saw the insecurity that plagued her. "That was the most intense experience of my life," he said, his voice laden with sincerity. "I – Gabby, I've never been with a friend before, certainly not someone I love like you. You're not bad and even if you were, it's just technique, I can teach you. But being with my best friend, that's something I can't have with anyone else."
"Wait – what did you just say?"
"You're my best friend and no-one else can give me this kind of experience."
"No, before that. About loving me."
"I do love you. I mean – not in this was exactly, I need time to love you like a girlfriend. But I do love you as a mate."
"I love you too."
The rain was easing up. "We need to get moving before some highway patrol mistakes us for a breakdown." that, Jack thought, would be decidedly embaressing. He got dressed and pulled the seat back up, retrieving their bags. "Put on something dry."
"My clothes are dirty and I'd rather be wet than dirty."
"Don't be stupid, it's another three hours drive. You'll catch cold." He caught the stubborn look on her face. "Fine, but don't expect me to nurse you when you get sick."
"I can take care of myself," she said, and he saw in her face that stubbornness that wasn't worth arguing over. He kept driving, noticing more and more that Gabrielle was shivering, despite the fact he'd cranked the heating up, ignoring his own discomforting warmth. "Please, can you take your shirt off and put my jacket on?" Gabrielle reluctantly accepted the jacket, like he was doing her a favour.
Three hours later, they got home, and he ordered her into the shower. \she went willingly, chilled to the bone, and he didn't fail to notice that she spent half an hour in there, letting (what he hoped was) the hot water soak through the chilled bones. Curled up on the couch, he couldn't help but think about what had just happened. They had slept together. 'Slept together' being a loose term on account that whatever they had done, it had taken place on the back of his pulled-down hatch.
Jesus Christ. Of all the ways for him and Gabrielle to first get together. He had never meant for their first time to be so disrespectful, but…
She emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe too big for her. He realised it was his, and that despite its thickness, she was still shivering. "We need to talk," he said quietly. He needed to say to her all the things he'd meant to say in the past few months but –
"Please, Jack, I don't feel too well. I just want to go to bed." She coughed.
"I told you not to wear wet clothes."
She was well enough, but just barely, to glare at him. "Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you sweetheart, I'm just… frustrated. I wanted to talk to you and now you're sick. Go to bed, OK? I'll talk to you in the morning?"
Gratefully, Gabrielle shuffled off. He hadn't even said something about her wearing his robe; hers had felt too thin for the deep chills she felt despite having been under the shower for half an hour. Just a good night's sleep and she would be fine…
Jack really didn't like the sound of that cough.