Title: An Affair to Remember Jack/Gabrielle
Imagine if Jack and Gabrielle had a one-night stand without knowing who the other was. Follows the events of seasons 9 and 10 based on this idea.
Of course I don't own anything. If I did I'd be writing scripts, not fan fiction. But my mate went to WAPPA to Virginia Gay if that impresses anyone :p
Rating: M
I said this before with The Bet but please, people, do not read this if the idea of sexual abuse makes you squeamish, espiecally m/m peadophile rape. The way Jack has been written and Traval plays him I always got the feeling Jack had a lot of sexual hangups and knowing he'd been abused made a lot of sense. I've known people who've been sexually abused and use sex and promiscuity as a substitute for healthy relationships and wanted to explore that element in Jack's life. I'm happy to explain this more in an email. This is my own interpretation of it. If you disagree, feel free to email me , I have been known in the past to edit material when someone has made a valid point. (Having said that, this is a WIP, not a finished story like The Bet, so it may be a hackneyed editing.)
Now, onto the story...
"Can't say I've ever seen a guy looked so interested in a book."
Jack Quade looked up to see a reasonably attractive woman standing in front of him, beer in hand. He smiled. He was kind of i the mood for company. "And no pictures, either," he deadpanned.
He closed the book and she saw what he was reading; Gone With the Wind. "Ooh, I love that book," she said. "Never known a guy to read it, though."
Jack shrugged. "I've always liked historical fiction and there was something very gutsy about Scarlett that appealed to me. She was a far better role model than anything I had at home."
The woman was intrigued. "Can I sit down?" she asked. Jack nodded and gestured towards the empty chair across from him. She sat. "My mane's Gabrielle," she said. "I got here two days ago from Queensland and I don't know anyone. I'm a nurse and I was told this is where everyone hangs out."
Jack made a face. "God, you guys give me so much trouble," he said, thinking about Deanna and Terri. "And it's Jack."
"You're a doctor, I take it?" she asked. Jack nodded. "I haven't exactly been impressed with you guys at times, either."
Jack found himself laughing. "That's not it, I have a tendency to fall for women who are completely wrong for me. The last one - well, she managed to wreak havoc on the ward before being ousted. I haven't lived it down yet."
There was a reflective note in his voice that intrigued Gabrielle. This wasn't an arrogant doctor who expected any nurse he wanted to put out for him. There was loneliness and regret there. "You want to tell me about it?" she asked gently. "I know you don't know me but maybe it will be easier when it's not someone you work with. I know that well enough," she added, thinking of her very ex Steve and how he'd humiliated her into quitting one hospital after he'd slept with her best friend, another nurse.
Jack smiled ruefully. He didn't know why but the idea of talking to a stranger appealed to him. "I thought she really liked me and that we were really compatible, but it turned out she was using me as a backer to get the job she wanted. She went so far as to accuse the head of department of sexually harassing her and using me to back her story. He had a hart attack from the stress. Everyone hated here ad I felt awful that my support of her meant she could do the things she did." He shrugged. "Still feel a bit awful about it, to tell the truth."
Gabrielle whistled. "That's pretty bad," she agreed. "Have you seen her since?"
Jack shook his head. "She tried to get back with me - I really don't know if she really liked me or just saw having a surgeon as a boyfriend as a good career move. I look back on our relationship and wonder if any of those little things counted, like the way she felt like she'd just melt into me when I held her - did I really make her feel that way or was she just putting it on because she worked out I like to feel needed and pushed my buttons?" He took another sip of beer and shook his head as if shaking of bad memories. "But I'm being all sooky and boring you."
Gabrielle shook her head. "No you're not. I kind of get where you're coming from. My ex drank a lot and cheated on me and even though I know the problem lay with him, not me, I still wonder if there's something I could have done, like what is it about me that couldn't keep him faithful?" She didn't know why she had just told Jack that, only that it felt good to talk to someone who didn't know her - the same advice she had given him minutes before. All her girlfriends back home judged the situation based on what they knew, but with Jack, he was completely objective.
"My dad screwed around on my stepmum all the time - that's how I was conceived, so you can imagine how well she took to me - and she was gorgeous, the perfect wife and mum, at least to her two sons. It wasn't about what she did or didn't do, it rarely is, or at least from what I've seen. Some me are just jerks."
"But you're not." She felt lightheaded, and she knew it wasn't from the beer.
"If you mean and I inclined to screw around on my girlfriends, no. I saw how destructive my dad's behavior was and I never wanted to turn out like him. I try to be honest with what I want out of a relationship. If nothing else, you get nothing but trouble out of promising a relationship when you just want to get laid and promising to be faithful when you know you can't do it."
"That's very mature," she said, and she wondered how old Jack was. Mid-late twenties... younger than Steve, but wiser, at least when it came to relationships. "How come you keep having trouble in relationships then?"
He smiled ruefully. "Appalling judgment in women," he admitted. "My girlfriend before Deanna - this was the one who cried sexual harassment - was hung over over her late husband but I was determined to make her fall in love with me. You know the bit in Gone With the Wind where Rhett's talking about feeling like there are three people in bed when Scarlett's mind turns to Ashley?" Gabrielle nodded. "It was like that. She ended up calling it off 'cos she couldn't take the talk about us and I vowed I was never getting involved with a colleague again... that lasted me all of fifteen months."
"At least you're honest about it," Gabrielle said. "I've seen so many people - women in particular - who just never learn. i was only ever involved with one colleague and that was enough for me. It can backfire so easily."
"Amen to that," Jack said, thinking momentarily about Charlotte and the fact it still hurt to think about the baby. "But this talk's making me sad. What brings you from Queensland?"
"Got bored of being a farm girl," she said. "Growing up I always wanted to live in the city and a few weeks ago I finally decided to just do it."
"How are you finding it."
"It's big... and yet small. I'm used to having wide open spaces everywhere so everything seems so cramped. But there's a vibrancy here that I like."
"I've lived in Sydney all my life. I've traveled but I can't imagine living anywhere else. It's a great place, I think you'll really like it once you settle in."
The ended up talking for several hours. Jack was surprised at how much he enjoyed himself. He'd been distancing himself from his female colleagues since the Deanna debacle, not wanting to let anyone get to close. He was surprised at how much he missed interacting with women on a personal level... and the fact Gabrielle wasn't exactly bad-looking didn't hurt...
Gabrielle couldn't believe she had found a good-looking, intelligent, informative guy just by walking into a bar. They certainly didn't make them like Jack where she was from. He was so interesting, made her laugh - and made her feel something she hadn't felt in ages.
When he went to go, she asked him if he was driving, because she'd watched what he drank - years with Steve and she was very good at monitoring how much people drank - and when he said he only lived a few minutes walk away, she offered him a lift. She was strangely reluctant to have the evening end yet.
Jack was grateful for the lift. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet. Like a gentleman, he helped her with her jacket, and there was no denying their chemistry when he fingers brushed her bare arm. She jumped slightly, and he found the reaction enchanting. Gabrielle clearly wasn't a woman used to working a man's sexuality and he liked that. Her reaction may have been awkward, but it was genuine. He wondered if he should put his hand on her back then decided against it, since she was leading him to her car.
They talked for a few more minutes on the short drive home and kept talking sitting in the stationary car in the driveway of the house he shared with his colleague, Dan Goldman. Finally he took the plunge and leaned over to kiss her.
She tasted nice, like beer but also something fresh and sweet. He ran his tongue over her lips and felt her trembling against him. "Scared?" he asked, even though he knew she wasn't.
"No," she whispered. She hadn't been kissed like this before, and Jack hadn't even gotten around to putting his tongue in her mouth. He was taking his time, running his fingers along her face... she wondered what he would be like in bed. She had a burning desire to get her jacket off so he could touch her bare arms like he had when she had helped her get it on. She struggled out of it awkwardly.
He laughed softly. "What's so funny?" she asked, a little crossly.
"You. You're cute. You don't have much experience with men, do you?" Gabrielle squirmed. "That's not a bad thing, believe me. It's nice knowing you don't know how to fake a response."
"I don't want to be bad at this," she admitted, thinking momentarily of Steve and wondering if she had been better, would he have been faithful?
He smiled at her in the darkness. No, she wasn't like Deanna, calm and collected in her ability to control men sexually, and he liked that. "You're not bad, just a little inexperienced. I'm not about to hold that against you." He kissed her again, working her out of her jacket as he did, flicking his tongue into her mouth, kissing her deeply, trying to restrain himself from the hunger he suddenly felt for her, knowing he had to take his time with her or she'd freak out.
After a few minutes she was shivering with excitement and lust - and a little apprehension. She had never done this before, never hooked up with someone she'd met that day. But it felt somehow right for all she didn't know what she was supposed to do... "Is this where you invite me in for coffee?" she asked shyly.
Jack felt something stir in him - a cowardly instinct to tell her what she wanted to hear. After all, everyone knew that nothing you said counted when it was just a one-night stand, you said all sorts of euphamisms to get your way. But not this time. He choked back the words that would be easy to say and told the truth. "This is where I ask you to sleep with me and probably don't see you again after tomorrow morning."
His words were cutting in their honesty but she found herself respecting him for it. She had known all along this wasn't likely to be anything more than a one-nighter, for all that people said all kinds of euphamisms to the contrary. To have Jack put it so bluntly was a little confronting, but...
She was a single girl with no ties to anyone and what's more, a fairly good instinct about people. And her instincts told her Jack wasn't going to screw her around, for all that he'd been honest about not being interested in a relationship. And she was attracted to him. God, she was attracted to him. "OK," she agreed shyly.
It was, needless to say, a new experience for Jack. He wasn't exactly used to being told yes after bluntly propositioning a woman. It was easy when he just had to say all the right things and do all the right things in an unspoken agreement between two people who knew all the bullshit you told to get laid, but this... He kissed her quickly and squeezed her hand. "OK," he parroted her, and got out of the car.
She got out and locked it, and as she walked towards him, he wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her in close to her. He kissed the side of jer head, then angled he so he could kiss her mouth. She responded eagerly. This was more like it. She touched him shyly, running her hands down his arms, across the back of his neck - it was awkward and uncertain, like she was sure she was going to be thrown off any second for being too bold or just not doing the right thing, but that was part of her charm and from being very attracted to her he found himself being turned on. "I think I should get you inside before I make a complete ass of myself on the drive," he said huskily. He pulled away from her slightly and took her hand in his, leading her to the front door.
His housemate Dan was, typically, playing playstation. He brightened when he saw Jack, because playstation wasn't nearly as fun on your own, then frowned slightly when he saw Gabrielle. So Jack was otherwise occupied tonight. Which in itself was odd, because Jack never brought women home - and as far as Dan knew, didn't go out with them either. Deanna's manipulation and betrayal had hurt him deeply then he'd ever admitted, but after two months of living with someone, you could work out these things. Jack was terrified of getting involved with someone and having it backfire.
"Dan, this is Gabrielle," Jack introduced them. "This is my housemate, Dan, who is a compulsive playstation player."
"I have a brother just like you," Gabrielle said. Jack smiled. From the way Gabrielle had described him, the guy did actually sound a bit liek Dan; the quintessetial computer and gaming nerd.
"I'm going to be in my room," Jack said, gripping Gabrielle's hands, suddenly feeling nervous. His desire to be honest didn't stretch quite so far as to tell his housemate that he was getting laid and to absolutely not come in. Not that you needed much of a stretch of the imagination to come to that conclusion.
He led Gabrielle to his room and for reasons unknown, she headed straight for his book collection. After all, a guy who would read Gone With the Wind in a bar had some interesting reading habits. She frowned. "I don't understand these words," she said.
He came behind her and placed his hands on her hips, trailing kisses along her neck, laughing softly as he did. "I'm fluent in German, Russian and French, and I won't read the English translation if I can get hold of the original - you always lose something in the translation. I can be a real prat if you want me to and rattle off a whole bunch of dead foreign writers but I never understood how you can be interested in a book you can't read." Dan had made his opinions known on that, saying Jack's book collection was good for a bonfire and not much else.
"You'd be surprised how many women think being bi-lingual is hot. Bet it gets you laid heaps," Gabrielle couldn't help but quipping. She liked that he hadn't felt the urge to brag about an accomplishment like this from the begining. Steve, she knew, would hate someone who was both highly intelligent and highly educated. The thought made her smile.
"I personally never got why someone would think the fact I can read Tolstoy in Russian was hot, but yeah, I did use that one a few times," Jack admitted. He liked that he could be so honest with her. He moved his hands from her hips to around her waist, clasping hers in his, threading their fingers together.
"I can just see you sitting in some dark cafe with - what's the book called?"
"Tolstoy's the author," he corrected her automatically in a way that didn't make her feel the least bit inferior for never having heard of the famous writer. "And... guilty as charged." He held her tighter against him, if that were possible, and began nibbling on her ear until he got the result he wanted, she closed her eyes and began sighing in pleasure. Now that he had her mind of those books, he swung her into his arms and carried her to his bed. They started making out, him taking things as slow as he could manage even though he was feeling increasingly turned on by her. He couldn't believe how hot her awkward, inecperienced touch was making him but there it was. He wanted to rip her clothes off and bury himself inside her and had to keep reminded himself that it was her shyness that appealed to him and he couldn't do anything that would make her freak out...
A thought occoured to him. "Shit," he said, so completely distracted for a moment that he dragged both of them out of the enjoyable reverie they were in.
"What?"
"Just wait there for a sec, OK? I have to go make sure of something." He left a slightly bewildered Gabrielle on his bed, wanting him to come back and touch her the way he had been doing. She loved how much time he was investing in kissing her, touching her... he made her pant and long to get his shirt off. She wanted to feel his bare skin...
... "Uh, Dan, I hate to bother you, but -"
Dan couldn't help but grinning like an idiot. "I knew you'd do this." He'd said so to Ricki two months ago."Bathroom cabinet."
"Thanks."
"Uh, Jack?"
"What?"
"What is this exactly? I mean, I've never seen you with anyone since Deanna and... look, I'm sorry if I'm prying but I just want to make sure you're not doing this for the wrong reasons."
Jack looked as though he'd given the matter a lot of thought. "I had no intention of bringing her home," he admitted. "But we talked for hours and really clicked and I was upfront about what I wanted from her - I don't think she wants anything more from me, either." He was silent for a second and Dan could just about see Jack wandering off into those far recesses of his mind where lonliness was his constant companion. "I can't explain it, I know it sounds stupid since I only met her today but she makes me feel good about myself - maybe because she is a stranger and sometimes you can open up more." It took him a few seconds to realise it was what she had said several hours before.
Dan smirked. "I just wanted to know you're OK, Jack, I didn't need an essay."
"Oral report," Jack corrected, heading out the door. "Essays are written."
Dan poked his head out. Bloody intellectual. "Whatever," he said, laughing.
... Jack returned a few minutes later and placed a box of condoms on his bedside table. "Sorry about that," he murmered apologetically. "I know it was irresponsible but I didn't bother stocking up since I moved in."
He was already on top of her again. His brief chat with Dan had fortified him, and he started kissing her with renewed enthusiasm. But his words struck her and distracted her. "Jack, you're safe, aren't you?"
"I'm a surgeon, I have to be." It was a good enough answer; Jack didn't feel the need to explain that being treated for latent syphilis when you were sixteen was a humiliating experience that he didn't want to go through again. It had shocked him over the years how many women there were who were not only willing to take the risk, but hurt that he wasn't. Didn't these people know the game of Russian Roulette they were playing?
"But you just said you were irresponsible..."
He finally stopped kissing her and propped himself on on his elbows so he could look down at her and meet her eyes. It was irritating, but he kind of liked the fact she wanted answers from him about his sexual history. "I meant it was irresponsible to put myself in a position like this where I need them and don't have them. It's an easy temptation to give into so I try to avoid it all together. I was lucky Dan was here and I'm pissed off I didn't think of it sooner. That's all I meant. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I'm reckless about safe sex, because I'm not." He rolled onto his back. "Look, I won't hold it against you if you want to leave. I've really put my foot in it, haven't I?"
She lay on one side so she could look at him. It was hard to read him but she knew he was telling the truth. "I don't think it's something we talk about enough," she said. "Not us specifically but people in general. Maybe it's not the most fun thing to talk about it, but I think it's cool that you're so aware of it." She was rewarded with a smile and it struck her how much it changed his features when he smiled. She leaned down to kiss him.
He responded eagerly, glad to be off the previous subject. The odd honesty of their conversation had given her a new respect for him and with that respect came a greater desire. Boldly she climbed on top of him and he responded by running his hands all the way down her back, from her shoulders down to her ass and thighs. She groaned as he started running his hands up and down that section of her body. He took that as permission to slide his hands down further to the hem of her skirt and then up the inside of her legs. "Jack," she gasped, all nervousness and apprehension evaporated. She started unbutonning his shirt, getting frustrated in her efforts until he had to help her before she tore a button. She ran her hands down his bare chest and he bucked against her until he had to cry out, "Oh, God, stop or I'm going to lose control."
She grinned. There was something very empowering about having a man like Jack, who must have been with dozens of women more sophisticated and experienced than her, on the brink of completely losing it and she wondered what it would take to push him over the edge - and what it would be like to be with a man like Jack, having been pushed over the edge. She shivered in anticipation. While he complained about losing control, she doubted he was ever not in control in the bedroom. "So what if I do this?" she asked cheekily, and started kissing his chest, working her way down until she was unbuckling his belt. It was no longer about just losing control; it was about mutual enjoyment, about getting almost as much pleasure out of getting him off as he was... and knowing instinctively that Jack was the kind of man who always repaid a favour.
"You don't have to," he said weakly when he realised what she was going to do. He could never quite forget the humiliation of being made to do it himself; his weak offer of reprieve against an act he'd found disgusting was more a need to know it was entirely voluntary than an actual dislike of having it done to him.
Gabrielle smiled, not understanding the dark history that came from Jack's additude to blow jobs; he just assumed he didn't want to corce a woman into doing it (which was a big part of it, just not for reasons she understood). "It's OK, I want to," she reassured him, and proceeded to give the best blowjob he'd ever recieved. It wasn't just that she managed to take him all the way in, which was treat enough given most women considered him too big to take all the way in, but she knew how to touch him in other ways... he groaned and bucked against her when she did something really stimulating with her tongue.
If he was in a state of mind to think about it, he would have wondered why she was so good at it, given she was so awkward and inexperienced about touching. But that required thinking, and that required bloodflow and she had a knack for pulling it all in the one direction... he bit down on his lip hard enough to make it bleed so he wouldn't scream when he climaxed. Dan wouldn't appreciate it.
If he could have credited her with any degree of sexual manipulation, he would have thought her an exceedingly clever girl. Rather than lose control, he had gone the opposite way and knew he was spent enough to spend at least the next hour on her before he wanted it again. He took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. No way would he be up for even the most lazy caressing for at least a few minutes. "Haven't wanted to scream before," he said, which was kind of the truth, he'd never wanted to scream in pleasure before at least. "Do I want to know where you learnt that?"
"Depends, how jealous do you get?"
Jack laughed. "So long as I know you weren't thinking of anyone else..."
"Nope, just you." She leaned in to kiss him and he turned his head away.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, hating himself for this stupid hangup and breaking the mood. "It's just I hate the taste. I mean, I really hate it. It's made me throw up every single time. You think you're offended now, wait until I'm puking my guts out."
"Where's the bathroom?" she asked. Jack gave her directions. She came back a few minutes later, having so thoroughly rinsed her mouth out with Listerine (he wondered if she'd emptied the bottle) that he almost preferred that she hadn't done it but kissed her obligingly. "You're sweet," he said.
"I've had worst asked of me," she said. There was enough bitterness in her voice to make him cup her chin and force her to look at him.
"I swear to God that's the worst I will ever ask you and I have for reasons for doing it," he said with such dignity and sincerity that she shivered. She had no doubt that he was telling the truth, but more than that... it was the way he said 'I will ever ask of you'... like maybe there was something more to come. Then he grinned at her. "Anyway, I believe I ow you a favour." Just like she thought he would.
He meaneuvered her so she was on her back and started kissing her in much the same way she'd been kissing him, working his way down, undoing her top as he went. He deftly unclipped her bra and started kissing and fondling her breasts. She sighed with delight.
But the best was to come. He worked his way down, unzipping and pulling down her skirt with ease, kissing and caressing her thighs and across her abdomen and thighs, getting off on hearing her whimper and moan. Instinct told him she'd never had an orgasm before and he wanted to go easy on her...
... Gabrielle almost climaxed there and then when Jack pulled down her panties and started using his tongue on her. She'd had guys go down on her before, but always feeling like an obligation, something they had to do so they wouldn't appear completely selfish... she started to moan as Jack applied pressure in the right spots. He'd been right in guessing she'd never climaxed before and she felt giddy for the unfamiliar - but highly pleasurable - sensations that were flooding her body. She was grateful for the steadying hand Jac held over her abdomen, because she was thrashing violent in response to his ministratoins. She reached for the pillow and held it over her face so she could muffle her screams as she climaxed.
She was still shaking when, a few seconds later, he was beside her, reaching for a condom. "Thankyou," she said.
Jack resisted the urge to frown. He found it vaugely insulting that he should be held in such high regard for making a woman climx, like it was hard - just so long as you weren't abjectly selfish about your pleasure at the expense of your partners - which Jack supposed was the problem with so many men. But that wasn't Gabrielle's fault so he didn't say anything, kissing her instead (and feeling a bit guilty, like he always did, that she didn't have the same issues with it that he did) and got the condom on, moving so he was on top of her, penetrating her slowly, watching her face carefully for any discomfort. There was none. He pushed inside her so he was buried in her then started pumping her, slowly at first, then faster as they both got into it, stroking her as he went, bringing her to orgasm again, silencing her by kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck, digging her nails into his back, and her legs around his waist, wrapping them even tighter as she climaxed until he worried for a second he was going to lose circulation.
Afterwards, he was reluctant to pull out of her but had to or risk the condom slipping. Lying on his back, he pulled her into his arms and felt like he couldn't hold her tight enough. "That was amazing," he murmered. He didn't know what it was about her, maybe it was just the fact he could talk to her so easily and that emotional intimacy bled into the bedroom.
Gabrielle snuggled into him. She felt shaken and elated. She could never in her wildest dreams have imagined sex could be that good. Better than it had been, but not this good. She told herself not to read too much into it, that Jack had been honest about what he wanted from her and had more than delivered on that, but still... "I didn't think it would be that good," she couldn't help but admit in that same shy voice that he found so endearing.
He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back idly. "Yeah?" he asked. She nodded her head against his chest. "I - look, I know this is going to sound stupid but you've done me a huge favour. I felt really screwed up after Deanna, questioned myself so much. You've made me feel a lot better about myself."
She tilted her head so she could meet his eyes and was surprised to find he was serious. Why the hell would someone like Jack ever questoin himself? Especially when he must know how good he was in bed. "Glad I could help," she quipped.
They spent the next two hours talking about everything under the sun - movies, music, politics, medicine, even philosophy. He was delighted to discover how informed she was and found himself wondering if there could be more to this than just a one-nighter.
They had sex another two times that night before falling asleep together. He woke up with her in his arms and smiled at the memory of the previous night. he was feeling horny and he couldn't believe the effect she had on him.
She stirred when she felt his hands roaming across her body, touching her in places that would have her writhing in a few minutes... she gasped when she focused on the numbers on the clock on his bedside table. She was meant to be at her bew job in an hour.
"Jack, stop," he admonished him without much conviction, pushing his hands away weakly when what she actually wanted to do was let him have her again... and again... and again. He'd awoken a desire in her which had been dormant despite having been sexually active - well, that was a relative term - for ten years. "I have to be at a new job in an hour."
He nibbled on her ear. She was no match for him, either in strength or determination. "I dare you to tell them you were too busy having sex with your boyfriend to notice the time," he said.
"Sorry?" She wasn't that sleepy and distracted that she didn't notice his slip.
He grinned ruefully. "Freudian slip." Enough of a slip to ruin the moment which, realistically, was a good thing. He didn't want to get her into trouble. Not before he even got to take her out on a date. "Can you, ah, give me your number? I want to call you and, uh, take you out to dinner, if you'd like." He was surprised at how nervous he felt making the request. He'd asked out women hundreds of times before, and asking them out after a fantastic night in the sake was a no-brainer, but somehow, Gabrielle was different.
She smiled at him that endearing, shy smile. "Really?" she asked.
"I haven't lied about anything else so far, have I?" he countered, and she had to concede he was right. She recited her number and he put it in his phone, making sure he had it down correctly before reluctantly letting her go. He offered to walk her to the door but she refused so instead he watched her leave, waiting until she had shut the door before her before nestling back down in the sheets and drifting off to sleep (he hadn't exactly slept much last night; he felt a little guilty for keeping Gabrielle up when she'd already told him she had an early start the next day) and dreaming about the incredible woman he'd met who made him laugh, made him feel good about himself as a person and amazing in bed.
It wasn't until Dan called him later that day that he realised he hadn't remembered to ask where it was she was starting her new job.