Disclaimer: It's not mine! :)
Thank you to cheliosfan, Huck05, SailorJP, Fanpire101, JaS2g, felicity18, Creek-IB-08, and Countrygirl09 for your reviews! And thank you to those who read. Here's a bit of pure and utter fluffiness, just because a long story with many ups and downs needs it!
I'm going to rate this one M. It's slightly graphic, but little more than I've published before. The situation is between husband and wife and, I hope, tastefully written. Thank you.
Thank you, sir, Jack scribbled quickly on a sheet of his paper, pulling out a few bills and pressing them both into the bell boy's hand. That will be all. Please, we won't require any services in the morning. If we do, we'll come down.
"Yes, sir. It's been my pleasure, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson," the young teenager answered, fumbling around in his pocket for the keycard while trying to maintain a grip on the two suitcases in his hands and accept the offered tip from Jack.
Jack waved him down a bit, indicating that he should drop the luggage there.
"We have it from here," Sue said with a light smile, tucking a lock of her remaining curls behind her ear. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome ma'am," the young blonde boy replied with an amiable smile, but seeming somewhat shy, however. "Oh...and um...congratulations."
Thank you, Jack signed, pulling an suitcase under his arm and grasping the other with his hand. He continued with his free hand. How you know?
"He said 'thank you'," Sue translated at the young man's narrowed brows. "And, he wants to know how you knew."
"An Australian gentleman that knows our manager called and informed us that a newly wed Hudson couple would be arriving tonight," he answered, seeming far more interested in how Jack had communicated, rather than why. "Was that sign language, there?"
"Yes," Sue said and signed as Jack opened the door with the card that the bell boy had surrendered to him. "My husband is mute and I'm deaf, but I can tell what you're saying, so long as you make sure that I can see your lips."
"Really? Is that from that large scar on your neck?" the boy, Tom, according to his nametag, asked. But his expression immediately fell into the picture of shame and horror. "I'm so sorry, sir! That was rude of me...I...I apologize. Ugh...my mother is always telling me that I never think before I speak...I'm sorry...I mean...uh...I'll let your maid know to look at you for when she comes tomorrow...I mean...whenever you tell us that you would like her sent up."
It ok, Jack answered, brushing his comment aside, but rather impressed by the boy's true sorrow. It really had not been bothering him all that much, anymore. Good night.
Sue translated, patting Tom on the shoulder, and Tom disappeared down the empty hallway.
"You know," Jack mouthed, his hands full with their luggage as he also held the door open for Sue, a grin on his face. "I really liked hearing you call me your husband, just then."
Sue smiled shyly, pulling his large jacket closer about her small frame. Passing through the door that he held for her, she brushed her hand over the side of his face.
"I liked saying it," Sue replied, shutting the door behind them just when he stepped out of the way. I love call you my husband, Sue signed, comfortable with her more natural way of speaking.
I love my wife, Jack replied, their luggage dropping from his hands where they stood and he reached behind him to secure the deadbolt lock, ensuring privacy.
He swooped Sue into his embrace in an instant, trapping her lips with his hungrily. He was not certain why, but he felt an enormous sense of relief and a surge of happiness as she reacted with just as much fervor. It was not rough or hurried, but simply intoxicating with the smooth and fluid way that they seemed to form together.
I love you, Jack pressed into her side with one hand as his other moved from her jawbone to the end of her shirt, shifting it upwards gently to feel the soft warm skin beneath.
"I love you, too," Jack heard Sue reply, her voice breathy against his ear, her breathing quickening as his lips moved down her jaw and to her neck. "Jack...?"
Yes? Jack asked, pulling away to look deeply into her soft hazel eyes, the absolute innocence and trust that he saw there somewhat daunting; he had never really pondered on it before, her being with another man not exactly a thought that he wished to dwell on...but, somehow, he knew what she was about to say.
"Jack...I've...," Sue began, seeming somewhat shy as she spoke, casting her eyes down and bothering her lower lip with her teeth. "I've...never...umm."
He was not shocked...but he would be lying if he tried to say that he was not suprised in the most pleasant of ways. He touched her chin lightly with his fingers, drawing her inebriating hazel eyes to meet his own dark ones.
"You've never...?" Jack mouthed, not wanting to release her or move far away enough for her to see his hands properly.
Sue shook her head in the negative and slowly moved her hands from their place around his broad shoulders down his arms, unaware of the complete seductiveness of the motion. Both of her hands met his one at her waist and brushed lightly at his fingers.
"I made a promise to God a long time ago," Sue began slowly, her eyes meeting his again. "That I wouldn't...with anyone...but the man that would be my husband...I promised myself that,...but, later...I realized that I had promised him that, my husband, I mean. That I had promised you that."
Jack suddenly felt very sobered, at her words, but he pulled her closer as he closed his eyes to listen to her voice. He was a man and, honestly, had never really given much in-depth thought to intimacy before he had met Sue. But then they had met, and everything had changed for him. He had never wanted to dwell on this, but he needed to think about it, now.
"Sue...," he began to mouth, again, his eyes still shut as he concentrated on getting his words out, but still holding her very close. "I...am never going to be able to give you...what you're telling me that you're about to give to me. I..."
"I know that, Jack," Sue answered him a bit nervously, rubbing at his arms with her hands. She sincerely had not meant to cause this; she had only intended to ask him for his guidance and understanding, as she was quite nervous. "I...didn't mean..."
I know, Jack answered, relunctantly pulling away one hand. "But I am still sorry. I wish...I wish that I had something that special to give to you...but I don't. I can only assure that...well, that...ever since I met you...I haven't been with another woman."
Sue seemed humorously surprised by that and her eyebrows rose, a small smile breaking over her face. "What? No picking up women in bars?"
No, Jack assured her with a smile of his own, perfectly aware that she was trying to lighten the atmosphere that they had created. It had been a difficult confession to make, having always rather secretly liked the fact that Sue had appeared somewhat jealous when other women had paid him attention. But she was his wife...the one the he loved and trusted above all others, now. He wanted her to know; he wanted it to mean something to her.
"Well, what about...?" Sue began again, but Jack silenced her with a soft kiss on her mouth, halting the progress of her moving lips.
I no want talk this now, Jack answered when he pulled away. Please, I explain in morning.
"Ok," Sue agreed with a delicate smile, pulling her arms back around his waist. "Just...promise me something."
"Anything," Jack vowed silently, tightening the grip that he had taken around her lower back and minimizing their distance apart.
"I just...I've never...," Sue began again, trying to explain, but Jack's soft smile quieted her, yet again.
"I know," he mouthed, tracing the center line down her back with his fingertips. "I promise that I will be very, very gentle...We can take as long as you need or want...I promise...I never want to hurt you."
Sue smiled in reply, moving a hand to his jawbone. Ever so tenderly, she lifted his chin to view that scar that she had become so accustomed to admiring. Moving lightly to the tips of her toes, she traced a light kiss over the large circumference.
"You know," she began to whisper, feeling quite silly, but completely honest. "I hate how you got it...but I really love that, there...It just shows what exactly you can make it through...and still be a wonderful man."
She felt Jack's hand move into her hair and he backed away to look at her face, his eyes feeling as though they were roving over her every feature. His lips were on hers, in a second, and Sue immediately reacted by stepping backwards, her arms still around him, pulling him across the unfamiliar hotel room towards where she had noted that the bed was. When she felt the coolness of the bedframe against the backs of her legs, she lowered herself onto hit, Jack following the lead that she had taken, both somehow managing to kick off thier shoes, in the process. She knew that he would never have really initiated it until she left him with no doubt, not when she had expressed the slightest bit of worry.
His hands burned pleasantly against her skin as they drifted upwards, pulling her shirt upper undergarment over her head with them. When the one on her wounded side met the large bandage, she felt it immediately soften its touch to a velvet smoothness and Sue felt as though her chest really would burst. Her lips danced and molded over his as his tongue pressed lightly to them and she admitted him entrance.
I love you, she pressed into his side, feeling the weight of him atop her as she became vaguely aware that they were absently situating themselves in a more appropriate verticle angle upon the mattress.
I love you, his larger fingers formed, also, against her own side.
Sue moved her grasp down his side and tugged at his shirts, untucking them from his pants and working on the buttons as his lips moved from hers to explore her neck, again. When she finally managed to unfasten them and Jack pulled off his collared shirt and undershirt, Sue drifted her hand lower to unhook and pull off his belt, but Jack's hands stilled hers when he felt them shaking slightly.
Taking her soft hands into one of his own, Jack pulled the comforter and sheets from beneath Sue and covered them both within their warm depths. Easily removing his trousers and underclothes, Jack turned back to Sue with an understanding expression.
"Don't worry, Sue," he mouthed again, moving closer to her and pulling her back into his arms warmly. He pressed a tender kiss on her forehead before continuing. "We can take all the time that you want...don't think that I want you to rush. Please...just...do everything at your own pace and tell me if I'm going too fast."
Sue nodded, a small smile and a tear escaping her simultaneously at his words. Jack brushed away the dampness with his thumb and lowered his lips back to hers. His chest was pounding more than it had the night of his heart attack, but this time was far less painful. It was a wonderful pain. He loved the woman in his arms so much that he could not explain it, even to himself. The last thing that he wanted was for her to remember their first time together as a painful or unpleasant experiance.
"Just...show me, please, Jack," Sue requested, the nerves still slightly audible behind the certainty of her whispering voice. "I love you...I trust you."
Jack smiled at this, as well, feeling as though the tears would betray him, soon. He kissed her forehead, again, then both eyes, and the edge on either side of her jawbone.
I be gentle, Jack promised, one last time, his hands moving towards her waist, taking the light fabric of her skirt downwards with them. I love you, Mrs. H-U-D-S-O-N.
Sue blinked tiredly against the bright light invading the sleepy darkness of her mind and buried her face deeper into the expanse that she had been employeeing as a pillow. The warm moisture made the flesh of Jack's chest feel rather damp, but she was certain that her own skin felt the same way. Using one hand to pull the thick comforter farther over them, Sue snuggled deeply into Jack's arms that still encirled her, one large hand coming to rest on the lowest part of her back.
Morning. Usually, she was very much a morning person, but just not today. The memories of the previous night and the dreams that it had initiated were still too real...still too intoxicating. She was not quite ready to leave them; not until Jack had awoken, too, at least.
But she did not have to wait very long before she felt the muscles that she was resting upon tense and then release and his warm hand moved up her back, only to pull her closer into him. Sue smiled lightly as she felt Jack press his face into the crook of her neck and her hand felt the vibrations of his morning groan in his chest. Sue closed her eyes tightly at the sensation of his lips on her neck as his other hand was tracing over the warm flesh of her hip and upwards towards the side of her chest.
Good morning, she felt Jack fingerspell against her, still hiding from the imposing sunlight within the safety of her neck and shoulder.
"Good morning," Sue answered, moving her hand to finger with short brown hair at the nape of his neck.
She felt Jack press his lips and the tip of his tongue against her neck, once more, before finally braving the rays of sunshine that shone brightly through the white curtains that were obviously not doing their job very competently.
Bright, Jack stated, rubbing at his eyes with the hand that was not still wrapped about her possessively.
Sue nodded her concurrence, nibbling at her lower lip, again. She knew that it was really still too early to start any conversations deeper than a tender 'I love you' or 'how did you sleep', but what he had said the night before had gotten her really thinking.
"Jack," Sue ventured slowly, tracing small, unindentifiable shapes on his chest and lifting her eyes to meet the welcoming dark brown of his own. "Can I ask you something?"
"As long as it's not for a divorce or an annulment...anything," Jack mouthed playfully, his limbs stretching, constricting and releasing beneath the blankets.
"Never," Sue assured him with a small smile of her own, before continuing. "I was just wondering, really...about...what you said last night...When you said that you haven't been with anyone since you met me. Were you serious?"
"I wouldn't have joked about something like that, Sue," Jack answered silently, his expression growing serious, but not severe.
"I know...I just," Sue went on, trying to explain herself. "I mean...it's just...we've known each other for years...but we've only been together for a few months. I just...I never expected to see you say that."
"Oh," Jack replied noiselessly, pulling both arms back around her as he sat up a little straighter and pulling her up with him to settle into his chest, covering them with the sheets. "Well, believe it, or not, I actually meant every word of it. I really haven't slept with anyone, other than you, last night, in quite a few years."
"But why?" Sue asked, still curious. It was not that she did not approve or even like that fact, but it honestly intrigued her that a single, highly available, bacholar such as Jack had not actually lived the lifestyle for years, when he had no duties or reasons not to. The thought that he had not, since meeting her, had actually warmed her heart, but she still wondered at it.
"Why?" Jack repeated, truly pondering on the reason why that he had so avoided for the past few years. He had not wanted to think about it then, because he had known that they would never have been allowed to be together...but now he could. Now it only made sense to. "Because...from the day that I met you when you stomped into the bullpen and then we had lunch in the canteen...I kept seeing your face." Jack mouthed, pausing to think of how to explain this to her in a way that she would understand; or, at least, that he would fully understand. "Like...you know the night of Bobby's birthday party, when I was seeing Rhonda? Well...we went back to her place...but, I just couldn't. It was driving me crazy...but, for some reason, I kept seeing your face."
"So," Sue answered with a wry grin, playfully mocking offense. "My face turns you off of women?"
"Hardly," Jack scoffed, or would have, but no sound erupted from him. "I just...could not, with a good conscious, have done anything with Rhonda when I kept thinking about you. Honestly, I thought that I was going slightly insane...seeing a young woman that I barely knew at all moments of the day. But...then I realized why I kept thinking of you."
Sue shifted her position slightly against Jack's chest to see his lips better, but cuddled up against him, wondering where this was all going.
"I realized that I cared a lot about what you thought of me," Jack finished, knowing that Sue understood just as fully, even though it still felt strange to him to not hear his own words. "The look on your face that night when Rhonda had shown up...you seemed so disappointed. I would never have told you then...but I never wanted to see that look on your face, again, and it hurt me to think that I had caused it.
"And then, once I had broken up with Rhonda, due to her obvious unhappiness at my unwillingness," Jack continued, feeling as though his explaination had become a bit of an awkward speech, but Sue's attention was fully on the movement of his lips and she seemed to be paying close attention to his words. Damn, this was a difficult thing to discuss with one's wife. "It had just went on like that. I kind of grew from seeing your face, to thinking about you all hours of the day, to wanting you to think well of me and being in your good opinion...to desiring your respect."
"You always had my respect," Sue replied, her brows narrowing.
"Yes, perhaps as a friend, a team leader, and an agent," Jack answered mutely, brushing at her hair with his fingers. "But I wanted your respect as a man...as someone that you would want to be with, if the Bureau had ever allowed it. I know that it might sound crazy...but, everytime that Allie and then Jessica had been around...I had never been able to stop thinking of you and what you would say, or think, or feel, had I been with them. I was no longer my own man that made my own decisions...I was yours."
Sue's eyebrows rose at this and she felt genuinely surprised. For all the years that she and Jack had been close friends and coworkers, she had never imagined that she had had such an effect on him.
"I'm sorry," Sue answered, feeling rather ashamed that she had never noticed the trouble that she had been causing him.
Jack's fingers moved to her chin, once more, requesting gently that she look at him. Sue obliged, but honestly did not expect to see the brilliant smile on his face.
"Don't be," Jack mouthed before leaning down to kiss her briefly, but deeply. "Don't be sorry for helping me to raise my morals and wanting to be a better man...one that was trying desperately to be worthy of you. I love you, all the more, for it."
Sue smiled, but it turned into more of a laugh when Jack, his hand accidently brushing over her fraying bandage, looked immediately surprised and distracted from their conversation.
We need change that before shower, Jack signed simply, releasing her after one more quick peck on the lips, and turning to throw his legs over the side of the bed.
Sue watched his muscular back as he pulled one of their dropped bags towards him and pulled out a pair of his pajama bottoms and pulled them on. Tapping on his elbow, Sue held her hand expectantly. Jack rolled his eyes playfully before pulling out one of the nightgowns that she had brought.
Pulling it over her head, Sue stood up from the bed carefully, having not realized just how sore her side had become. Pulling the comforter and sheet back, she sighed in relief that there was no blood visible, and moved around the bed.
No, Jack halted her as she reached for the small bag that Amelia had sent with them, filled with plenty of extra bandaging supplies. I get.
Sue rolled her eyes at him, but smiled, all the same, as she turned, instead, towards the long beautiful wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. Looking out against the bright morning sun, Sue looked down on the expanse of morning commuters and cars that were now roving and bustling along in the streets of the large city. One very large and oddly shaped white building, in particular caught her eye, and Sue stared at it in near awe.
"Bobby was right," Sue said, still staring down from the window as Jack came to her side and dropped to his knees.
How? Jack asked, pulling the curtain to conceal her from the open window as he lifted the side of her nightdress up to her side and ever-so-carefully and gently began to remove the old bandage from her side.
"Sydney is beautiful," Sue answered him, looking back down at the famous Australian operahouse through the line curtains.
Jack smiled at the awe in her voice and expression as he looked up at her, then pulled out a strip of cleaning gauze and a bottle of medical alcohol. Carefully cleansing the sight of her still rather significant, but healing, wound, Jack blew on it softly to help with the stinging. Feeling Sue's hand descend to his hair, Jack ripped away the paper covering from the new bandage and slowly and steadily placed the crisp fresh dressing over her side.
Lightly pressing his lips to the area for several moments, Jack pulled away and began gathering up the supplies and trash.
"You know," Jack mouthed her her, his hands full, but his eyes catching her full attention. "I really hate how you got it," Jack repeated her former sentiments, but meant every word, as though they were truly his. "But I really love that, there." He touched the edges of her already scarring wound tenderly. "It just shows how much you can make it through...and still be a wonderful woman."
The smile that Sue repaid him with made it worth it, and more. With one last kiss, Jack moved to drop the bandaging supplies back into the suitcase and disposed of the bits of paper and gauze.
"Oh, and Jack," Sue called after him as he moved towards the bathroom and put on the hot water. Meeting him in the bathroom, Sue pulled out the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and bar of soap that they had brought with them and placed them on the edge of the shower. "By the way, I've made you an appointment for next month, on the seventh."
Why? Jack asked, his brows narrowing in confusion. Who?
"Do you remember my speech therapist, Ms. Casey?" Sue asked, uncertain of if she was going about this the right way, the way that the team had planned, but thankful that he seemed to be calm and listening. "The one that I told you I called the 'iron witch'?"
Yes, Jack signed suspiciously, but slightly distracted as Sue began to pull of her nightgown and step towards the shower.
"Well, it's with her," Sue answered softly, desperate not to upset him, but she had to tell him sometime and hated keeping things from him. At his serious gaze, she continued. "I was talking to the team...after the whole deal with Diana Grove at the cafe. They said that you definately made a loud noise, because that's what got their attention, just before you knocked me out of the way."
Jack's gaze did not soften, but he was listening.
"Listen, Jack," Sue sighed, pulling him into the shower with her as he distractedly removed his own bottoms again. "I could have sworn that you had said something that night in the park. But, you said that you didn't, so I believed you. I mean...I could exactly argue with you, could I? But when the team told me that...I called my mother to see if I could talk to her. When I called Ms. Casey and told her the situation, she said that it's very possible that you have been making noises and saying a few small things, but haven't realized it, because the noises where small or either more like a shout or a yell to you. You may not have noticed them, or didn't believe that you had made them, because you think that you can't."
No, S-U-E...Jack began, but Sue soon halted him as the water began to pour over them and Sue touched his arm, her mind torn between the seductiveness of their physical situation and need for him to understand their conversation and what she was saying.
"Jack," Sue finally whispered, feeling his hands on her waist as he pulled her closer to him, both now soaked. "I can't tell you any different because I'll never hear you, even if you started singing the national anthem and I know that you aren't comfortable with the team discussing it. They only care, Jack...but, sometimes, it is a bit much, especially when they think that you are regaining your voice."
Jack's gaze was still serious and his face and expression firm, but his eyes never left hers, feeling the need in her eyes as they bore into his. He knew that it pained her, the fact that it did still bother him when he went to say something, but no noise came out. Had it been anyone else, any of the other women that he had ever been involved with, or even his parents, he would have known that the appointment was set up for thier own gain. But not with Sue. He knew that she had done this for him...and he simply would not throw away the second precious gift that she had given him, within the same twenty-four hours.
"Please, Jack," Sue pleaded softly, wrapping her hands around his upper arms as the steaming water dripped from his face and hair as the water poured over them both. "Just go and see her once. You don't have to be nervous or shy with her...it's what she does, and she's very good at it. If you don't want to after, I'll never ask you to go, again."
Jack offered her no other answer than to pull her flush against him and press his lips warmly to hers, his hands becoming lost in her sleek wet mass of hair.
Ok, there is the chapter of nothing but fluff. I hope that you enjoyed and really hope that it remained within the boundaries of decency. Please let me know if I should change anything for future readers that may be a bit too young and sorry if this happens.
A big big thanks to Fanpire101 for correcting me, in respects to Sue's old speech therapist's name. I could not remember it and was just using what I found on Google. Thank you, Ms. Fanpire101!
A/N: I had no idea where to send them for their honeymoon, but I'm pretty certain that Bobby would have been more than capable of convincing them to see his own home country.