Chapter Fourteen: Stargazer In A Puddle

'Angela is already married?' Jack's voice nearly breaks as he looks at his fiance, beautiful in her white bridal gown.

'Angela is totally, unmistakably, legally married.'

'As Federal employees with a security clearance,' the suit from the state department says. 'your marriage license underwent special scrutiny. Especially since your wedding was so hurried.'

Jack glares at him. He doesn't like the suit. Anyone who would happily ruin their wedding is evil in Jack's books. He glances at Caroline, willing an answer from the lawyer.

'You were married in Fiji four years ago.'

Angela nearly laughs. 'I jumped over a broomstick with a guy.'

But the suit doesn't laugh. He only gives a small nod. 'I'm sorry.' And he walks away.

'Jack,' Angela sputters. 'I-I'm sorry. This is my fault.'

The step beneath them is feeling harder and harder as he looks at her. 'No worries,' he says. 'No worries, we'll just um- we'll just...' But he doesn't know what he can do. He lets a sigh escape his lips. 'There's just a lot of people in there expecting a wedding.'

'Yeah, I made this huge deal out of getting married and they all, they all-'

'Run.'

'What?' Angela asks Caroline, shocked.

'Run. Flee. Skedaddle.'

Jack lets a smile escape his lips. 'I like it.' He catches Angela's hand in his and pulls her into the chapel. 'Change of plans, everyone,' he calls to the crowd. 'Go directly to the reception. On us.'

'Thanks for coming!' Angela finishes, and together, they run from the chapel and into the world; not married, but in love. And to them at least, that's all that matters.

Out on the street, Jack opened the door to the limo that was waiting for them, holding it open for Angela to slip inside.

'Take us to the best hotel you've heard of,' he said to the driver as he positioned himself in his seat.

'Uh, are you sure about that? It's pretty expensive.'

Jack only raised his eyebrows.

'And I don't think they take people on such short notice.'

'I hired you on short notice, didn't I?'

The man shrugged. 'I guess so.' And he pulled out from the curb and onto the road.

'What now?' Angela asked, sliding her hand into Jack's and leaning into his shoulder.

'We get to his hotel, and we spend the rest of this weekend having great sex and not worrying about this guy you jumped over a broom with.'

She smiled. 'But you're worried, aren't you?'

He sighed. 'Yeah.'

'We'll sort it out, Jack.'

'I know we will.' He squeezed her hand. 'Doesn't mean I'm not worried. A week ago you told me we had to make this quick so you wouldn't change your mind.'

She looked at him then, eyebrows raised. 'And you think because we didn't get married in a week, I'll change my mind.'

'I'm not saying you will.' He couldn't look at her.

'But you're thinking it.'

He sighed. 'I think it's a possibility.'

'I think it's a possibility that you're an idiot, but you're not.'

'I am an idiot.'

Angela reached up a hand to run her fingers along his beard. 'No, you're not. You're a great man, Jack.'

'You're the only one who believes that.'

She shook her head adamantly. 'No.'

He looked at her then, leaning his cheek into her hand. 'Sometimes your impossible, you know.'

'Sometimes you have no clue how beautiful your soul is.'

He laughed. 'My soul is not beautiful. If my soul was beautiful, I wouldn't feel like running away with you and eloping right now. I would be a good little boy and give up on you now before I got myself hurt.'

A smile graced her lips and she kissed him gently. 'The beautiful soul isn't the one that does what everyone else thinks is right. The beautiful soul is the one that does what he knows is best.'

'You know, Ange, you should get into the poetry writing business.'

'No way. Art is my thing.'

'Poetry is a form of art,' he argued.

'One that requires talents in many areas that I do not have. Spelling, for one.'

'Well, Shakespeare didn't know how to spell. And he's pretty big in the poetry business, I hear.'

'You do, do you?' she laughed, and nestled herself into his shoulder.

'Yep. I don't think 'you' is spelt with a 'th'.'

Angela let a laugh escape her lips, and felt a bump beneath her as the limo slid into a parking space in front of a tall, fancy-looking hotel.

'Are you sure you're okay with this hotel, sir, ma'am?' the driver asked.

'We can afford it.' Jack takes Angela's hand and leads her into the hotel. He can feel the warmth from her hand radiating into his own palm and revels in it.

'The best suite you have,' he says to the receptionist. She only raises her eyebrows at his dark suit and Angela's white dress.

'Just married?'

'No.'

'Then...?' She lets the question trail off but motions to their attire and Jack shakes his head.

'Oh, no no no. We were getting married, but something came up.'

'Something... came up?'

'Yes.'

'I'm not even going to ask,' she said, and pressed a few buttons on her computer. 'Name?'

'Jack Hodgins and Angela Montenegro.'

'And how are you going to be paying for the suite, sir?'

'Credit card at check out.'

'Sure. And how long will you be staying?'

'Until Monday morning.'

'Great. See you then. Room service menus are in the rooms. Enjoy your stay.'

And with that, Jack grabbed Angela's hand and the keycards and led her towards the elevator.

The room was large, spacious, and the canopied double-bed in the middle of the room was not the largest feature. The largest feature was the hot tub in the huge bathroom.

'Wow. Hot tub,' Angela said. 'That's something you don't see everyday.'

'Have I not shown you the pool room at home?'

Her eyebrows raised. 'No.'

'Oh, well remind to show you that sometime.'

'Are you saying that you do see a hot tub everyday.'

'Well, it's in that bit just off the swimming pool, and its undercover, so not unless I go there, no. But it is there.'

'And why haven't we been there before?'

'I don't use it very often. I guess I forgot about it.' He gave her a sheepish grin.

'Well,' she said slowly, taking a step towards him. Her tone had changed completely, no longer annoyed. 'We'll just have to use this one, won't we?' She took another step so she was directly in front of him, and slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her so she could kiss him.

His own arms slid around her waist, leaving no gap between them. His tongue explored her mouth, tasting her, remembering the way she had felt against him so many times before.

Then, suddenly, she pulled his shirt over his head and ran her fingers down his chest, grazing the skin gently. She pulled away from his lips for a moment to watch the goosebumps that rose on his skin at her touch, and she laid light kisses along his chest.

'Hey,' he said gently, placing a thumb beneath her chin to bring her lips back to his. 'Did you forget the hot tub or something?'

'We'll get there,' she grinned, and kissed him again.

They had moved from the hot tub to the bed by the next morning, and Angela's body was curled into Jack's, her fist resting lightly on his chest. His arm was around her back, holding her against him.

'What are we going to do now?' she asked.

'I'm thinking room service sounds really good right now.'

'I mean about this guy that I apparently married.'

'Hey, I thought we said we wouldn't talk about him,' Jack argued.

'You knew he'd come up eventually.'

'Yeah, but I was thinking eventually could be in at least a weeks time when I've had a chance to wrap my head around it.'

'What can't you wrap your head around?' she asked.

'The fact that you're already married! And by only jumping over a broom! While on a holiday! When I had to try so hard to get you to even consider marrying me!'

'Is Jack a little jealous?' she laughed.

'Maybe a little.'

She leaned across and kissed his jaw gently, her lips brushing the soft hair that sat there. His eyes closed beneath her touch, and his grip on her back tightened a little. With a smile, she pulled away and reached for the phone. 'What do you want for breakfast Jack?'

Hi to all of you lovely readers! I'm soooo very sorry that this hasn't been a lot sooner in coming. I've been reading some really good books and writing some other stories, so I kind of forgot about making sure I worked on this. But here it is! Finally! The season two finale! If you want to think about it like that, of course. To me, its more the end of an era, because after this it changes a little. It's not going to be as fluffy. Hopefully we'll get some pretty hardcore angst in there soon, especially after the start of season four. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'd love to hear what you think, and if there's any episodes you'd especially like me to cover and what you want to happen in them. :)

Fingers crossed that the next chapter will be up soon-ish.

Thanks for reading!

Wynnie