Reason's why
Glowing stripes of warm yellow light rolled over Gwen's face as they drove in silence under the passing street lamps towards home. It was just the two of them, just Jack and Gwen. It had been a simple mission. They had handled it well. It had even been fun. But by God they were tired. Jack stole quick glances at her every now and again, her eyes closed, her breathing deep and rhythmic, the warm light of the lamps above illuminating her sleeping face, for small, snatches of a moment.
When the pulled up outside the back entrance of the Hub Jack walked quietly around to the other side of the car, opened her door, and very carefully eased her out of her seat. She stirred slightly in his arms and he couldn't help but smile to himself. He knew he shouldn't feel like this. He knew he didn't have the right to feel like this. But he had never exactly been wise when it came to this. He couldn't help it. There was something about her, perhaps the fact that he knew he shouldn't, that made him want her even more.
Once down in the Hub he laid her gently on his bed and pulled a blanket up around her. He sat for a while, simply watching her as she slept. He knew he should really take her back home, but Rhys was away and he hated the idea of disturbing her. And then there was also that small, purely selfish reason, that little part of him that wanted her to stay, to keep her with him, besides him, simply because he didn't want to be without her.
As he moved to get up Gwen stirred, moving so that her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder, one hand over his heart. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and smiled to himself. It wasn't because she was beautiful, thought there was not doubt in his mind that she was. It wasn't because she was feisty, and flirty and passionate. It wasn't even because she was forbidden. It was because, on some level, he knew that she needed him just as much as he needed her. It was because she had made an excuse for getting engaged, because she had waited by his side for three days for him to come back to life, because at her own wedding she had danced more with him than she had with her husband. It was because she knew, just how much he lobed her, and because she felt it too.