Takes place a couple of days after Michael and Jane are released from the hospital. Pretending Nadine hadn't gotten Michael suspended quite yet, since I wanted him at the Marbella a little.
"Knock knock."
Jane Villanueva poked her head into the massive penthouse suite of the Marbella Hotel without waiting for an answer to her called-out greeting. They were past the point of actually knocking and having to receive permission to enter, and Rafael had unlocked the door when she texted that she was on her way. Still, so early into their relationship, Jane felt better announcing her presence as opposed to simply slipping in.
Rafael looked up from the stack of papers he was shuffling through at his desk. "Hey. How are you feeling? Is our apple okay?"
"Good, good. Everything's good. And it's an avocado now, thank you very much." Her hand rested lightly on her growing belly. "And it's a hungry avocado. I'm not due to work for another two hours. What do you say to lunch down in the dining room?"
"I say, let's do it." Rafael glanced back at his papers. "In five minutes. I'm just looking over some numbers my father dropped off this morning."
Jane sauntered over and perched herself on the arm of his chair. "Anything interesting?"
With a sight shake of his head and sigh, both imperceptible to anyone who wasn't sitting less than a foot away with their arm resting on his shoulder. "Insurance stuff from the hurricane."
Jane grimaced, thinking of her grandmother, unconscious in the hospital, of her frantic search for the rosary, of her friends accusing her of having changed since she started dating Rafael... And the whole mess involving her grandmother potentially being deported back to Venezuela. Not to mention being stuck in an elevator with her ex-fiancé. "The hurricane was interesting enough to make up for some boring paperwork."
Rafael leaned back and kissed Jane lightly on the neck. "I was so proud of you that night."
Jane leaned in a little to his kiss, expecting it to deepen, maybe make its way up to her mouth. Her lips parted slightly in preparation, but instead of pressing on, Rafael pulled away.
"Hmm?" She hummed, hoping to encourage him back to his previous intent.
"You smell different." He inhaled deeply. "I like it. Like flowers."
She nodded. "Rogelio bought me a new perfume. Rose. You should have heard him trying to pronounce the French name." He'd spent much more time bragging about how expensive it was than butchering French, but it was definitely a couple steps down from a new car so she had been content to let that slide.
"Very sexy," Rafael murmured in an obviously exaggerated French accent, nuzzling his nose against the delicate skin.
"I'm sure that was what he was going for when he bought it," Jane said sarcastically. "What can I do to make my unmarried, pregnant, virginal daughter sexier?"
"Well it worked." Rafael turned his head to meet Jane's expectant lips briefly before leaning against the non-girlfriend inhabited arm rest of his chair.
"Are you okay?"
Rafael nodded. "Fine. I just thought I was going to sneeze for a second. I didn't want to do it on you."
Jane smiled. "Appreciated. Now come back?"
"Your wish? My command." Kissing was reestablished. For all of ten seconds. Then Rafael pulled back away and held a hand up between them.
"What now?"Jane asked in a mixture of groaning and amusement.
"Sneeze," Rafael replied, though Jane couldn't be sure if he was answering her or just announcing it.
"Sneeze?"
Rafael nodded once, twice, then grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk and directed a loud "HuhChoo" into the white paper.
Jane cocked her head. "Bless you. One"
Rafael rubbed his nose through the tissue, then threw it in the trash. "One what?"
"Sneeze. It's this thing I used to do with my mom, but," Jane waved her hand dismissively, "it's nothing"
"Tell me." Rafael leaned back and folded his hands together, looking at his girlfriend expectantly.
"Well Mom was never good at admitting when she was sick, and I was maybe a teensy bit of a worrier." At that, Rafael snorted. "Hush. So anyway, we came up with a rule that until she sneezed three times, I wasn't allowed to worry or comment on her health. When she did though, I could worry all I wanted. Then I grew up and I wasn't great at admitting when I was sick either, so she turned the tables on me." Jane wasn't sure if she should add this last part, but she threw it in quickly. "And she taught it to Michael after I caught a cold when we'd first started dating."
Rafael nodded. "Sound enough practice. You do worry too much though. Sometimes sneezing is just sneezing."
"Once, sure, but at three I'm allowed to worry."
"I wasn't involved in the development of this rule, so I don't know how fair that is. Can I negotiate for more sneezes? Maybe 5?"
"What? No, absolutely not. You get three. Unless you admit to feeling unwell before you get to three, like an adult, but you can always exercise the three sneeze rule to keep me off your back."
"Maybe I like you on my back." Rafael pulled her back in, but they hadn't been kissing for more than ten seconds, before he launched himself out of the chair, leaving Jane to scramble to find her balance.
"HushhSchoo"
"Bless you! Are you sure you're okay?"
Rafael waved a finger at her. "Hey. I thought I got three. You promised."
"I know, I've just never heard you sneeze before."
Concern was starting to creep up into her voice, though Rafael knew it wasn't an uncommon feature there. Still, "Honestly? I think it's your perfume."
Her hand flew up to her neck, as if she could block the offending scent. "Really?"
Rafael nodded. "I felt fine before you got here. I feel fine over here too. Sharing a chair just made me a little itchy."
"I'll be glad if you aren't sick." Rafael beckoned her over with a finger. "Are you sure? I don't want to make you feel worse."
"I just want to see if that's what it is."
So Jane slowly crossed the short space between them, holding her arm out when they were within a foot of one another. Rafael took hold of her wrist and leaned into it, inhaling the sweet scent.
Within seconds, Jane could see his nostrils flair. But when he took a gasping breath, presumably to sneeze Jane reached forward and pinched his nose shut.
Surprised Rafael opened his eyes in time to see her rapidly backing away from him. "What was that?"
"You don't want me to worry, remember? I'm keeping you from getting to three."
Rafael smiled. "It really does smell pretty."
"Well, as pretty as my boyfriend-repellant is, I'm going to go wash it off so we can enjoy a nice lunch where you can actually smell and taste the food." And with that, Rafael was staring at Jane's back as she headed to the en-suite bathroom.
No, he didn't like it when she worried. But, he mused, if she was going to worry about someone, he was certainly glad it was him.
