After of Mites and Men
Allison came awake slowly. It took a few seconds for her to remember where she was. Then she smiled without opening her eyes and curled into the man lying beside her. She loved waking up in Jack's bed. This was definitely something she could get used to.
"Hey, beautiful," she heard Jack's voice, still groggy from sleep. Her smile widened and she opened her eyes.
"Hey yourself." Allison replied. God he was gorgeous and so loving to both her and her kids. She felt a prickle behind her eyes and she thought about how wonderful he'd been these last weeks as she recovered from the ... brain-jacking. She blinked back the tears.
"The kids will be home today." Jack muttered, "I've missed them."
"Me, too." she replied.
Allison was certainly glad they'd be home. She needed them with her – to see they were unharmed after their time with Beverly, but she was sad too. They'd need to be at their own home and need her to be with them. She wouldn't be staying with Jack anymore.
"Good morning, Sheriff Carter, Dr. Blake." S.A.R.A.H. greeted them. "Dr. Blake, your plane leaves in 2 hours."
"Thanks Sarah" they replied in unison and got up to begin the day.
An exhausted Alison was thrilled to see Jack waiting for them when she stepped off the plane, Jenna in her arms and Kevin behind her. She walked up to him and kissed him. Then he bent to kiss Jenna's head as well.
"Hey, Kev" Jack said, "How was your trip?"
Kevin's reply was little more than a grunt. "Fine," he said, his attention never leaving the game in his hands.
Allison and Jack shared an amused glance over Jenna's head that said, "teenagers!"
"And how was your trip, little miss?" Jack said to Jenna. She babble back at him with a smile on her face. He returned the grin and then looked at Allison.
Jack said, "Let's go." and started leading them to the jeep. "How did everything go?" he questioned.
"Pretty well." replied Allison, "Mom had some tough questions that I couldn't really answer but I think she's somewhat satisfied. The kids seem to have done alright and didn't seem to notice much. I'm not sure that's a relief or not..."
Jack nodded. She hadn't want them traumatized by what hapened when they had been in Beverly's control but a part of her didn't like that they hadn't noticed the difference between her and Beverly.
Jack interrupted her thoughts, "How was the flight?"
"Fine," she replied, "but it's been a long day."
Jack leaned over and kissed her forehead, "I know, honey. Let's get you three home. Tell you what, I'll drop you all off and then run over to Cafe Diem for some dinner. We can eat. Then I'll help you get the kids to bed, OK?"
"Sounds perfect, Jack" Allison replied with a sigh. It was so nice not to have to do it all alone. They climbed into the Jeep and were quiet for the short ride to her house.
Jack returned a short time after dropping them off with dinner for the four of them. God, how he loved feeling like part of this family and watching Allison, usually so business like and in charge, laughing and loving her babies. It made his heart swell every time.
A while later they had the kids settled and Jack turned to her, "I know you're exhausted. I'm going to go now. See you tomorrow?" He didn't want to go. Hell, he never wanted to go. But he knew today had been hard for her and she needed to rest.
"Wait, Jack. Don't go." she stopped him. His heart leaped at the words. "Come sit down. I'll be right back"
Allison went into the kitchen and shortly returned with a glass of wine for her and a beer for him.
She started, "The flight gave me time to think, about us. We need to talk. I know we haven't been a couple for long, and maybe it's too soon, but..." She looked worried, like he might not like where she was going.
Sensing her fear, Jack assured her, "Allison, we both know this- us - isn't going to go quite like a normal relationship. We've been too close for too long and been through too much together. We're going to have to find our own way through this. It might be too soon for a typical relationship, but neither of us would have risked our friendship if we didn't expect this to get serious. I realize you're not ready yet but at some point I'm going to ask you to marry me. You know that right? "
She looked down and nodded shyly, "You're right, I'm not ready, yet, but I will be someday, " she agreed. Her smile widened as she met his gaze, "and I'm going to say yes."
At that, he thought his heart might literally burst. He leaned in for a gentle kiss and asked her, "Now, tell me what were you thinking on the flight."
She rested her forehead and both palms on his chest and almost whispered, "Stay. Move in with us. I need to sleep next to you each night, to see your face first each morning." The rest of the words seemed to tumble our of her mouth, "I don't know what to do about SARAH and telling Kev-"
"Shhh," he stopped her He gently tucked a strand of silky hair behind her ear and reached down and lifted her chin with one finger. "I was hoping you'd ask." He kissed her again, "Be right back."
When he returned a few minutes later, he had an overnight bag in one hand and a hangar with a clean uniform in the other.
When she looked open-mouthed at him, he said grinning, "I was ready to give you whatever space you needed, but I was really, really hoping you'd ask me to stay."
She laughed out loud and took the uniform from him. They locked doors and turned off lights together and headed up to her, no, their room. There were still tons of details to work out, a moody teenager to inform, and who knew how SARAH would take the news, but they were together, all four of them – five when Zoe came home. That was all that really mattered.