It was exactly a week since Liz had kissed Jack, and she had not received a phone call or text, they'd exchanged no words, nothing. She tried to make believe that it wasn't affecting her, but she was not the same. Even in her work she was absent. "Liz? Liz?!" A loud noise rang in her head and then she felt a violent pain in her shoulder. She snapped out of her thoughts by massaging her shoulder "Ow…" She saw a book on the table, and one of her writers looking at her like he was waiting for something. She looked at the writers interrogatively and they looked back at her. She cleared her throat. "Great… That's great, I love it!" She hoped that nobody noticed her hesitation, but her hopes were dispelled when her assistant and also her closest confidante came to see her later that day.
"Liz?" Liz looked up to the door. Karen was one of the best assistant writers she had ever had. "Can I talk to you?" Liz nodded, and Karen came into the office, closing the door behind her. She sat and looked Liz in the eyes. She seemed to hesitate but after a deep breath she started to talk. "Is everything alright?" Oh no, it's happening. She needed a good excuse, and quick. "The writers and I have noticed that in the last week you've been…less present," she explained. Okay, I can say that I have my period, right? Liz thought. No, she'll know I'm lying, she knows my cycles more than I do. Liz kept her composure but inside she was like a cow at a rodeo. "…Well, we're worried about you, you don't talk that much about Jack…" At hearing his name, Liz said, "Jack?" The assistant seemed confused. "Yes… your son…" Liz laughed, relieved. "Yeah, my son of course, who can it be unless my son? There's only one Jack in my life right now! Haha!" She cleared throat in front of the "wow-she-is -crazy" face of her assistant. Her tone became more serious and she said, "Don't worried about me, I'm okay, I'm… I'm…" She was looking for something which gave her a good idea to explain her behavior, and she saw a bag of Sabor de Soledad coming out of one of her drawers. With a big smile she said, "I'm on a diet!" Karen frowned. "A diet?" Liz swallowed her saliva, this was the stupidest excuse she could come up with. A diet? Her? Come on! But this was the only one she had in mind, so she settled with it. "Yes, it's … uh, a very hard diet, it makes me very weak, that's why I seem… absent now and then…" She raised her head and bit her lower lip. The assistant stared at her for at least one minute, and Liz had to look away. "Well, um…" She suddenly got up, and came to the door, she grabbed her coat, and while she opened the door, she turned toward Karen, who was still seated. "I have to go… I'll see you tomorrow!" and she left the room without waiting for Karen's answer.
Once outside, the cold air made her feel better. She took a deep breath and began to walk. Liz put her hands in her pockets, she felt her phone in one of them, took it and checked her phone calls. Nothing from him. She stopped in front of a window, and watched her reflection in it. She looked very tired; she had hardly slept since the kiss - she couldn't. Her brain was constantly reviewing the scene in detail. She readjusted her hat and her hair, and decided to go see him at his home. He hadn't moved so it was easy to find him.
She called a cab and a few minutes later she was in front of his door, ready to knock. But as she raised her hand, she heard muffled voices from behind the door. She had just enough time to duck behind some plants in the hallway before Avery came out from Jack's apartment, holding the hand of a little brunette girl. Liz assumed it was Liddy. "I told you Jack, not this weekend! It was in the contract!" Jack seemed desperate. "Please Avery, it's the only free weekend I will have for a long time…" The little girl was speechless, she was looking down, playing with her coat. Avery tightened her grip and said icily: "You have chosen." Jack didn't say anything. He looked away while Avery and Liddy were leaving. While they passed in front of the plant behind which Liz was hidden, Liddy looked at Liz, and she was almost certain that she smiled at her.
Jack leaned on the door-frame, a hand on his forehead. Liz had never seen him like this - he seemed so vulnerable. She hesitated before going out - she was not sure that she wanted to talk to him under the circumstances. But he was also her dearest friend, and it was her role to comfort him.
She came a little closer to him, and when she was a few feet from him she cleared her throat. He raised up his head, and smiled when he saw her. She smiled back. "Hi!" She said. "What are you doing here?" He asked. She didn't want him to feel worse than he already did, so she took a deep breath and then said. "I wanted to say hi…" He smiled, but quickly looked down, tears filled up his eyes. Liz hesitated but thought it was important that he know the truth. "I heard the… whole…thing." He looked at her. "She won't let me see her, Lemon. Avery will take her away from me, and I will lose her forever." He began to cry. "Don't say that…" She sighed and came closer to hug him. He let her take him in her arms. She felt a certain shame, appreciating their embrace despite the context. But this feeling did not last. The warmth of his body was the one thing that reassured her most in the world, and she noticed that he was not indifferent to her too.
He invited her to come in, so she took off her coat and sat on the couch. He came with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and suddenly he was the man she knew again. He poured her a glass of wine and sat near her. She took a sip and kept the glass in her hands. The silence between them grew more and more intense with each moment. "It's very good." He nodded but didn't say anything. Enough, she thought. She had to talk. She set her glass down on the table and looked at him. "Jack, can I ask you something?" He looked into her eyes more deeply and answered, "It meant something." She seemed surprised. "What?" He drank a sip of wine and said, "You were going to ask me if the kiss meant something." His voice was different, as though he was waiting an answer from her, but told her in a whisper, "It did." She looked away. "Okay…" She took her glass and drank the whole beverage in one go. She put down the empty glass, and looked away. "What now?" Jack was amused by her behavior since it was her who kissed him the first time.
He put back his glass on the table and came closer to her; she felt his leg against hers. He took her face in his hand and forced her to look at him. "Liz, I'm not looking for a relationship right now…" She looked away, slightly disappointed. "Oh…" "But I want to be with you." She looked at him straight in his eyes, and frowned. "I don't understand." He came closer to her, she could feel his breath on her face, and she couldn't help but look at his lips. "I don't want to have any regrets, Liz. I want to try… with you… now. I don't want to think about the future, but just live the present, and enjoy it, and for now I want to share it with you." She smiled and tilted her head, she bit her lips, and began to laugh. "You always have been a great speaker!" He laughed with her. She sighed. "Does it mean that… I can kiss you right now?" He grinned."Well that, or I can recite my speech if you prefer…" She kissed him and his arms came behind her to press her against him. "I do not," she said quietly, a smile forming on her lips. His arms were still on her back and he used them to force her to lie down on him. Strands of her hair fell onto his face and he moved some behind her ear to be able to see her face. "I really love your perfume," he said in a low voice. She inched closer to his face, her mouth near his ear, and said, "You know that I put some between my boobs…" She sat up straight, a big smile on her face, she raised up her eyebrows several times. "Oh, you… wait a sec…" Jack took her waist and tried to force her to lie on him, but in a move they both fell off the couch, Liz under Jack this time. "Ouch!" Liz was holding her head, a painful grimace on her face, and looking worried, Jack asked her, "Are you okay?" Liz burst out laughing. Between laughs she managed, "If you could see your face!" He started to laugh too. When they calmed down, she put her arms around his neck, and pulled him closer to her, she closed her eyes, and their mouths met.
It was the first time she did it on the floor, and the first time she did it with Jack. But not the last. It appeared that Jack was an excellent lover, and not only at bed time…
One day while Liz was working in her office, someone knocked at her door, she didn't take the time to see who it was before saying, "Come in." A big bunch of flowers made its way into her office being carried by a big white man with a giant mustache, and it took a few seconds to Liz to recognize Jack under the disguise. He came to her to kiss her. "What are you doing?" She laughed as he took off the mustache and kissed her.
Another day, Liz found him asleep on the couch, shirtless, so she sprayed whipped cream on his torso. He woke up with a cough and he chased her through the house until he'd sprayed the whipped cream all over her, too. She finally took some Chantilly and put it on his nose, which she kissed just after. "You taste good…" He put some on her mouth. "Let's see if you taste as good as me."
After a month together, Jack began to sleep in Liz's apartment. The first time was epic. After spending the night together, the both of them naked in a messy bed were woken up by little Jack who nestled between them: "I had a nightmare, mommy…" Liz was trying to hide her nude breast while Jack looked desperately for something to put on his bottom. This morning Jack stayed for breakfast with Liz's kids. Little Jack and Alice seemed to like Jack a lot. Maybe it was because he made their mother happy, maybe it was because he was the perfect example of a great father; Liz didn't care what it was - she had never seen her children laughing like they did, and she didn't want them to stop.
For Valentine's Day, Jack invited Liz to a fancy restaurant. He reserved it for the two of them only, and he told the chef to make an exclusive ham-and-cheese-based menu. "Isn't it too much?" she asked, and in reply Jack took Liz's hand and kissed it. "Nothing…is too much for you." She took his face in her hand and kissed him. She couldn't believe the dream she was living in - everything was perfect.
In the middle of the night Liz was woken up by her phone ring tone. She got up and felt around for it. When she found it the caller had hung up. She looked for the name; it was her mother. She made a quick calculation, even in Philadelphia it was past midnight it couldn't be an error of time difference. Liz went into the kitchen to leave Jack sleeping, and called back. The ringing seemed to last forever, then she heard her mother's voice. "Liz?" "Yes mom! What happened?" She heard her mom in tears on the other end of the call. "Mom? Mom?!" "Liz it's… It's your dad, Liz, he is… dead, Liz…" Liz felt her legs collapse under her and fell on her knees. The phone slipped from her hand and crashed onto the floor. Jack was woken up by the noise and ran into the kitchen to find Liz lying down on the floor, in tears. He took her in his arms and stayed almost until the sun rose, cradling her.
Jack accompanied Liz to the funeral; little Jack and Alice were there too. Liz was wearing a black dress with a black blazer, though she'd decided to skip makeup since she knew she'd be crying; Jack still thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. She held his hand during the ceremony. Sometimes she put her head on his shoulder and his presence reassured her. Spending time with Liz's family made Jack think about his future with Liz. He had promised himself he would never remarry, but he didn't want to lose Liz, and he wanted to make a real family with her, little Jack and Alice. He watched her thank the people, talk to her mom, and little by little, the idea of the proposal became more and more real to him. He knew exactly how to do his.
Liz drank her coffee in front of the Today show. She yawned; she hadn't slept a lot lately and since her father's death she was woken up every night at the same time when her mom had called her to tell the news. She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing, feeling sick. Suddenly, she heard cries from the TV and opened her eyes to see a giant sandwich holding a card up to the screen. She put her glasses on to read what was on the card: "Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon, would you marry me?" She took off her glasses when her phone rang. She picked it up. Jack's voice was loud as he tried to cover all the background noise. "So, what do you say?" Liz looked at the screen, the big sandwich looking at her holding his phone up to a corner of cheese. "Yes…YES!"