To make up for the delay I'm giving you a scene I hope you'll like. I added this into the original chapter.
DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS RATED T FOR A REASON.
"Something Forgotten"
"It's been awhile since I've seen the way the candles light your face. And it's been awhile but I can still remember just the way you taste"
"It's been a While" -Staind
"Hey" she tilted her head to catch his eyes "is everything okay?" Jack blinked a few times turning away from the spot he had been staring at for the past five minutes. "Yeah I'm fine" he said giving her a small smile while taking her hand in his across the table. He should've been completely enthralled by her in her tight black dress, cut low in the front, her hair down in waves, her eyes changing colors from the candle on the table. Any other time and he would've been but tonight he was preoccupied, however still by her but in a different sense.
Earlier that night they had gone to a work function where politicians discussed their agendas and everyone else eat and enjoyed a free meal. Jack was at the bar waiting for Audrey's drink, when he saw one of their co-workers come up to her. He had heard the man talking about Audrey after an office meeting. He watched them talk casually at first, until his hand landed on her elbow a few times.
He knew he shouldn't have been jealous but he was. He could feel it start to take hold, and had to force it down. They had only been seeing each other for two months and already he was starting to think of her as his.
As he got their drinks from the bartender, Audrey shot him a glance, what she meant by it though, he didn't know. He made his way back to her, handing her a glass. "Thank you Jack, Alex I'll talk to you later, my partner and I have some unfinished work to catch up on here". The man nodded solemnly and turned away back into the crowd of people. She looked around the room for a second before turning to him, "when do you think we would be able to get out of her without my father noticing?" Jack was still thinking about what he had just seen, but looked around finding the secretary in deep conversation with a senator he didn't know. "I think about now would be fine"
Looking down at her ring finger, he was reminded that she was never going to be his, that she would always truly belong to someone else even if the ring wasn't there to prove it. "You're quiet tonight"
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry, my head's somewhere else right now" Sometimes he wondered to himself why he was doing this, why he was letting himself get involved with her. If anything tonight had only shown him the trouble he was in. She was separated yes but not divorced, and he knew from experience she could go back to her husband. Looking at her from across the table he could feel the sparks fly through his veins, 'why'd she have to be so goddamn beautiful?' he thought to himself. But if he was honest his attraction to her went far deeper than looks; it was everything. He saw trouble coming, when or how he didn't know but one thing he did was that he wouldn't be the one walking away from this, he couldn't.
"I can see that" she said stroking the backside of his hand in small circles. He watched as she took a sip of wine, their eyes locking for a moment as the glass touched her lips. In a single look they saw each other's insecurities, and soon enough they had paid the check and were on the way to her place.
As soon as he had her inside the door he pushed her up against it kissing her hard. She kissed him back pushing his coat off his shoulders, and loosening his tie. He got rid of her coat as well, pushing the straps of her dress over her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. She pulled him to her for another kiss, her tongue meeting his as her fingers struggled with the buttons of his shirt. Finally getting it free she pulled it off, as he leaned against her, his lips hastily making their way down her neck, down to her shoulder, then her collar bone… She moaned his name as she pulled him towards her again by his belt, her hands tracing their way along his shoulders, to his chest, then his abdomen, and ever so slowly across the front of his pants…
"Dammit" was his first thought upon waking up. His alarm clock was going off telling him it was six thirty. He hit the snooze button but it was no use. No matter how hard he tried to imagine it, the realness of her touch was gone. "Dammit" he said out loud this time, flipping the sheets off his bed. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get those images out of his mind but it was no use.
He went through the rest of his morning routine, cold shower and all, knowing that the memory in his dream was going to haunt him all day. It was one thing to think about her, another to have her there in front of him, but not be able to touch her. It was something he had been struggling with for the past two weeks as he worked beside her for hours on end.
His bad mood continued as he checked his email and found one from Dave saying that Audrey would be in an emergency meeting with Mike all morning. 'Great' he thought dropping his briefcase to the floor. He worked steadily until about one or so until he couldn't take it anymore and found an excuse to walk by her door. From the quick glance he got, all he could see was her profile as she stared at her computer screen. Just seeing her froze him in his tracks, and for a second it felt like he was back at that bar, watching her talk to Alex. Once again he felt the jealousy rise through him, but it was so much stronger.
When he got back to his office he got a call from Gregg asking him if he wanted to have a late lunch around two. A half hour later he was walking into the Lantern.
As soon as Jack walked in he recognized the leather coat of the man sitting at a table in the corner, reading a newspaper, a cup of coffee in his hand. Gregg had short brown hair and a beard almost as shaggy as Jack's, but the same color brown as his hair. He worked as a lawyer in D.C., and was often contracted into doing projects for many politicians and lobbyists.
Jack had considered Gregg a friend back when he worked in D.C. all those years ago; he had even been invited to his and Sarah's wedding with Audrey only a week before they had gone to California.
"Jack!" Gregg said getting up to shake his hand. "It's good to see you, how've you been?"
"Alright, I hear you and Sarah have kids now" Even as he said it he felt his chest hurt. Who knows what would've happened if they had never left for California that morning, where he and Audrey would be in their relationship. "Yeah two, Jacob and Madelyn, two equally destructive terror"
Jack chuckled, "You have your hands full then". The waitress came over and took down their lunch orders, before leaving them again to talk.
"I still almost can't believe your back. I haven't seen you in what? Six years?"
"Just about"
"And I heard you've seen Audrey already, how's it been working with her?"
Jack ran his hand through his hair "We always seem to work well together… it's everything else that isn't going so great"
Gregg had almost forgotten, upon seeing Jack, his wife's strict instructions not to give him any sort of information on Audrey from while he was gone. But as much as he resented Jack for what he had done to Audrey, or failed to do, he still considered him a friend, and after all the poor guy was completely in the dark about the women he loved. Gregg had thought long and hard about the whole thing, and realized that if he was ever in Jack's place, he would want someone to let him in on the basics.
It was this thought that made him break the silence that had fallen between them. "Look Jack I'm not going to lie to you, Audrey has been through hell. And personally if thought it would help her I would beat the shit out of you for what you've put her through." Not that Mike thought he could, but he would at least try at some rate.
Jack lowered his head "I wouldn't stop you, and I know she deserves better, more, but I couldn't stay away any longer. I had to see her to at least try to give her some closure or… whatever she needed from me. I owe that to her"
Mike's eyes shot up worriedly "you're not leaving again are you?"
"Only if she wants me too, I don't want to hurt her more by staying" Jack replied wondering to himself if and when that day would come where she would tell him she didn't want him anymore.
Even though Mike knew what he meant by it, he knew Audrey would completely freak out if she heard this. "Look Jack, my wife doesn't want me to tell you anything because she thinks it will give you an advantage or something, but I don't want you to leave thinking it's for the best when really it's the worst thing you could do if you truly want her back"
"Alright what do I need to know?"
Gregg paused for a moment deciding on how much to tell him, knowing that in the end it was for Audrey's own good. "Mike and Audrey aren't actually together. We've been trying to get her to go out with him for months now, and it just so happened that the first time she said yes, you came back"
"She has feelings for him though" He hated it but he could see it in her eyes, an almost apologetic look every time Jack saw them together.
"She likes him sure, but I'm not sure that she can ever feel the same way about someone that she felt about you. I think right now she's hiding behind him. I think she's afraid of you to be honest"
"What do you mean?" He asked, his fear confirmed by someone else was almost devastating.
"Now that your back, all those feelings, the memories she's been trying to keep hidden, they're going to come out. I think she's afraid of letting herself fall in love with you again"
Gregg's words were like daggers in his chest. Of course she would be afraid of that, after he'd let her down so many times before. "I'm not going to hurt her again"
"I believe you, but you have to understand, she won't even say your name. I'm sure you've picked up on it by now, but she refuses to. She won't even talk about you"
In fact he had been wondering about that for weeks now "I've noticed"
Gregg leaned over to pat his arm "this front she has going, it won't last long. She's been waiting and hoping for you to come back now for so long, that I don't think it's actually hit her yet. When it does, Mike will be an afterthought"
"Thank you" Jack said as sincerely as he could. The waitress brought back their drinks, and it fell quiet for a while.
"I bet it feels weird being back here in D.C."
Jack shook his head "actually it feels like I'm finally home"
Three hours later…
Jack was just finishing up his work for the day, noticing for the first time how late it had gotten, just barely seven. As he stretched his arms up over his head he heard a soft knock. Thinking it was her, he stood up, slowly moving towards the door.
"Hey… Oh, hi Renee" He tried to hide the disappointment on his face, but she didn't seem to notice either way.
"You haven't called me back all week; I was starting to worry about you"
Jack let her in, leaving the door open behind him. "Yeah sorry, I've been busy working on a proposal" He watched as Renee leaned against his desk. "Anything interesting?"
"Not particularly" he replied "mostly budget differences"
"Sounds interesting" she replied sarcastically. She thought that Jack was wasting time trying to win back an old girlfriend. If she didn't want him then the hell with her, but he didn't see it that way, so she would have to wait until he gave up. "I miss talking to you Jack; we don't ever have time to sit around and just talk anymore, or actually you don't have the time, you're so busy here."
Renee had been there for him when he had been sick and needed a friend. "I miss talking to you too"
She smiled slightly, glancing around at his office. "So how is working at DOD again? It certainly seems to have its perks"
"I like it; it's good to be back" He replied thinking about just how much he had missed the security he felt.
"Better than working in the field?"
"You know I can't do fieldwork anymore, even if I wanted to"
He watched as she picked up the agenda book on his desk before setting it down again "I just can't see you doing paperwork behind a desk" She stood up taking a few steps towards him. "I like the suit though" she said playing with his tie.
There was no denying that she was attractive, and as she looked at him with those blue eyes he was tempted to kiss her, but in the end it was she who kissed him. Before he even had time to think about what was happening his lips were moving against hers. It felt good, different but good, but most of all it felt simple. It was just a kiss, there was no emotion behind it on his part.
"Renee…" he said finally pulling away. He leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, trying to think of something to say to her without hurting her. He did consider her a friend, but he just didn't see them together.
"I know" she replied almost sadly "but I want you to know that when this doesn't work out, that I'll still be here"
Jack didn't know how to respond to that but simply nodded. "Come on I'll walk out with you"
Later that night Jack sat alone in his apartment. There was no denying that he was lonely, the feeling had come across him far too many times in the past. He thought about Renee's offer, and how easy it would be to take her up on it.
But god he wished he could just go over to Audrey's house and end this whole game they were playing just by kissing her senseless. He yearned for not just any contact but for a familiar one. The only thing stopping him was that she had asked for time, and he had agreed to it.
He let himself fall once again into his memory of her like he had so many times in the past, her face coming to his mind until a thought entered his mind. How he could've forgotten he didn't know, but Audrey was supposed to have dropped off a report for him at seven. Maybe she had forgotten about it too.
TBC.
Ok so ten points for whoever figures that plot twist out. Of course like whose line, the points don't matter. Another twenty if you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway again sorry for the delay, I'm really trying to make this story perfect, but I've hit a couple snags on the way including this chapter.
