I woke up alone hours later. Concerned, I threw on just enough clothing to cover up and took the elevator up to his office. When the doors opened, I found him standing with his arms crossed by the big windows lost deep in thought, a crystal glass of cognac in his hand and his grey jacket draped over a chair. "Jack?" I said softly, making him jump a bit anyway. "Everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, cupcake," he said, feigning confidence. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" I approached him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, you know. The most excruciating way to kill those vault hunters, hair maintenance tips, and—"

"Angel?"

"...Yeah," he admitted after a few moments, hanging his head and inspecting his glass. I hugged his side, and he put an arm around me, tucking my shoulder under his arm. He was almost a whole head taller than me. "I… I couldn't protect her. All my wealth, and knowledge, and power… and I couldn't even protect my own baby girl." He pulled me tighter then with both arms, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"I'm sorry Jack. It's not your fault, though. You can't blame yourself. You did everything you could."

"I don't know." I wasn't sure what else to say. I figured words wouldn't do much to help him through his grief anyway, so I just held him for a long while, standing there in front of the giant window, surrounded by Pandora.

"Do you know where they are now, Jack?"

"Yeah. They're in the Arid Nexus."

"Where's that?"

He studied the planet's geography for a moment, then stooped down and pressed the side of his face to mine, pointing out a pale desert-looking area. "Right around here, in the Badlands."

"What do you think they're doing there?"

"Damned if I know, kiddo. Probably looking for more skags to fuck up the ass."

"Skags don't have assholes, though."

"I know that, it's a figure of speech. Shut up." He nudged my chin playfully with his hand still holding his drink, which reminded him of his manners. "You want a drink, cupcake? I won't make it as strong as last time."

"No thanks, I'm good."

"Okay. Will you sit with me for a bit? I feel like there's something big coming and I could use someone to bounce ideas off of. Maybe you can give me some insight."

"Sure, I'll do my best," I said, curling up on the sofa beside him once he'd sprawled himself out on it. "Ooh, Jack, I have a very valuable piece of knowledge for you that could really turn the tides in this war."

"I'm all ears."

"So, you know all those New-U stations down on Pandora owned by Hyperion? Maybe you should remove the vault hunters' DNA from the system so they don't keep getting digistructed after they die."

"What?! You mean that actually happens?"

"Mmhm, I've died a bunch of times already, to be honest. And you probably should scan your DNA in there just in case, if you haven't already."

"Ohh ho ho, I'm going to enjoy peeling the skin off the idiot's face who overlooked THAT little detail," he said, rubbing his palms together. "Thanks for the tip."

"You're welcome," I said, grinning at him. His mouth caught my eye and my thoughts began to wander. Doesn't take much, being around him. Mm, those lips. They were classically ideal, like they were stripped from a statue of Adonis himself.

"What'cha thinkin', kitten?" he asked, like he already knew the answer.

I sighed. "You wanna have that conversation about how frickin' perfect your lips are now?"

"I'd rather just show you," he smirked, setting his drink down and snatching me up in his arms.

"That'll do." I kissed him softly, then he took over and made use of his talented tongue. He allowed me to position myself more on top this time, and I took full advantage of it. As we kept our mouths busy, I unbuckled his vest and opened his long white dress shirt to reveal his yellow shirt, with its faded white Hyperion logo. "You've had this a long time, haven't you," I said, tracing my fingers along the letters.

"Yeah, it's my favorite shirt. It was the first one I got when I started working for Hyperion. They don't make them like this anymore. It's vintage."

"I like it." I ran my hands over his chest and down his stomach as he squirmed slightly beneath me. Exploiting his perpetually half-untucked shirt, I snuck my fingers underneath it and freed the rest from his belt, too. His skin was warm and smooth and I couldn't keep my hands off him, like he was magnetized. I noticed his abs seemed to tense whenever I got too close to his hip bone, which was left largely exposed since he liked to wear his pants so low. I threw my leg over him, sitting in his lap to get a more stable position to execute my plan and grinned villainously. "Are you ticklish, Jack?"

"What? No," he said, a little too adamantly. I wiggled my fingertips on his hip and he quickly grabbed my wrist, shooting me a playfully threatening expression.

"Oh really…" I got him good with the other hand, causing him to squirm violently, like ya do.

"Hey! Hey come on, don't make me—" he giggled uncontrollably, cutting himself off as he gasped for air.

"Don't make you what, Jack?" I taunted him, not letting up. In desperation, he pushed me off him and I fell to the floor laughing, dragging him down with me. He fought back, testing out various common ticklish spots and trying to keep me still by using his entire body to pin me beneath him.

Aaand Meg walked in, wielding a gun. "This? This is what was so important you had to make me stay late and miss my 29th birthday plans, JACK?!" She looked completely unhinged as she raised her pistol in our general direction.

Jack slowly got up off me, his hands casually in the air. "Come on, Meg...29? Really?" he said skeptically. I smacked his leg, and she shot a hole in his ceiling to prove her gravitas. "Meg, caaalm down, ahh pumpkin? I'll buy you something real nice. It'll be expensive, and shiny... I'll give you a whole 'nother vacation day, huh? Just put the gun down." He knelt on the floor now, and I gradually followed suit. I cursed myself for leaving my guns behind. Even my damn shields were still in Jack's bedroom.

"You treat me like shit, Jack! You never called or said a single word to me about it after what we shared that night after the New Year's party, and now you've got the nerve to move on to...to fucking this VAULT HUNTER!"

"Heh heh, what are you talking about, Meg? Me and…haha... me and you never—" he chuckled, motioning back and forth between the two of them before being interrupted.

"You don't even rem—" Meg fumed. She couldn't even finish her sentence, she was so furious. She narrowed her flaming eyes and raised her gun, taking aim. "Go to hell, JACKASS!"

I saw her finger tighten on the trigger, and without a thought flung myself in front of Jack. Two gunshots rang out, almost simultaneously. I heard a thud as Meg's body fell to the floor, having been shot by Jack's surprisingly quick draw. But he realized then what had happened, as I clung to his chest, wide-eyed. "No! No no no no, Jill, no!" he cried as he caught me in his arms and held me to him, rocking me back and forth. Dark foamy blood began to pool on the floor beneath me, and he kept looking at his hands, covered in red. I coughed, unable to breathe. Things seemed to be moving in slow-motion as I gripped his shirt in disbelief.

"Jack…" I said weakly, looking in his eyes, the edges of my vision beginning to close in.

"Just hang on, okay?" he begged me while feverishly punching a couple buttons on his wrist.

"Jack… I… love you," I managed to say, before my view completely went black.