A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the previous piece. I had a feeling anything with Jess & Tori was going to be fairly popular :) Now, this is something a little different...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see 1.)
17. In Good Company - 19th June 2028
"Please, don't do this to me!"
Jack stopped a moment at the break room door when he heard the desperate plea in a female voice. He didn't really expect to see anything too untoward, and yet she certainly got his attention. As his eyes travelled over the back of the owner of the voice, he certainly couldn't say he was disappointed with the view either and was absolutely sure he had never seen her before in his life.
"Hey," he said, immediately wishing he hadn't when the woman jumped violently and clanged her head on an open cabinet door. "Geez, I'm sorry," said Jack as he rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"
"I've had better days," she admitted, one hand to her head as she winced. "You know, I really thought I was ready for this day, for this job. Apparently not!" she said, just a little too loudly give Jack was stood right next to her.
"Okay, first thing's first," he said then, reaching for the hand at her head and prising it gently away. "No blood. That's a good sign."
"I didn't hit it that hard," she said, heaving a sigh, "but I am about to kick the crap out of this coffee machine. Why is it not working?" she asked him crossly.
Jack held up his hands in mock-surrender, feeling more than a little attacked. She must have noticed, because she immediately apologised, looking too close to tears.
Taking control, Jack pulled out a chair by the nearby table and gestured for the pretty stranger to sit down, which she did. Taking a look at the errant coffee machine then, he had trouble finding anything wrong at first. There was water and coffee and all the switches were on, and then, he noticed.
"Ah," he said, picking up the plug from the counter and turning to show it to his new acquaintance.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed, looking momentarily stunned, before she suddenly broke into great peals of laughter.
Hysteria aside, it was kind of a beautiful sound actually.
"That is... I don't even have words!" she said as the laughter finally subsided and she carefully wiped under her eyes, trying to save her mascara, no doubt.
"Hey, it happens." Jack shrugged, pushing the plug into the wall socket and watching the coffee machine chug into life. "Hey presto!"
"Amazing," she told him as she rose from her chair. "You should go into show business with magic tricks like that, Mr...?" she trailed off, hand outstretched in a gesture of introduction as she waited for his name.
"Jack Mariano," he said, taking the hand and shaking it firmly.
"Isla George," she told him. "If you hadn't guessed, it's my first day," she explained, "and I think you just saved it."
"Yes, probably," Jack agreed, completely deadpan. "I mean, you might've taken a whole other minute to spot the plug was out of the socket if I hadn't come along when I did."
"Come on, don't do that," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's the little things that count, you know? God, if I had a nickel for every grand gesture I got from some guy I was dating, only for him to turn out to be a complete asshole in every other way possible."
Jack was a little taken aback by her comment, and perhaps even a little amused too. He just met this woman, literally five minutes ago, and now she seemed to be throwing him into the category of guys she had dated? He opened his mouth to say something about that, when Isla suddenly pulled her head out of the cabinet and looked right at him.
"I didn't mean for that to sound weird," she said definitely. "I wasn't... I mean, I'm not some lunatic that thinks we're going to date just because you helped me with the coffee machine. Wow, how conceited would I have to be to think that one look and you'd fall for me?" she said, laughing almost too loudly, but it was still a great sound.
It was certainly contagious apparently as Jack found himself joining in.
"Don't take this the wrong way," he told her, figuring he was fairly safe in saying what came next, "but you're a little crazy."
"It's been said." Isla nodded. "Does that scare you?"
"Nope," he answered without pause. "I grew up with a lot of crazy. Not my family, well, not really, but my hometown," he clarified. "It's... not uncrazy."
"Hmm, interesting."
They shared a smile that might've been more than that if the coffee machine hadn't finally finished with the task at hand. Isla reached for the pot and filled the two mugs she had waiting, adding milk and sugar to one and then picking them up, ready to leave.
"These are for my supervisor and his manager," she said of the coffees she carried. "Probably shouldn't keep them waiting any longer than I already have."
"Probably not," Jack agreed, though frankly he would like to have told her it didn't matter and that maybe she could just stay a little longer to talk with him some more. "Um, you need help with any doors or...?"
Isla opened her mouth to answer then stopped. "Actually, yes. That would be great."
The way she said it, the smile playing at her lips, Jack couldn't help but wonder if she really did need assistance or if she was feeling the same thing he was, that it would be nice not to have to walk away from each other just yet.
Heading to the door, he held it open and waited for her to pass through, then followed her down the hallway, falling into step beside her when space allowed.
"So, are you on this floor?"
"One down," she told him as they reached the elevators and he hit the button. "Am I taking you out of your way?"
"Not really." Jack shook his head, hoping she didn't ask any further questions since he actually worked one floor up from here and was going completely out of his way for her. "Things are looking up," he said then as the elevator car arrived in seconds and they stepped inside.
"So, what do you do here, other than saving unlikely damsels in distress?" Isla asked as they rode downward.
"Oh, you know, the usual," said Jack, hands in his pockets as he rocked on his heels. "Fighting dragons, being generally handsome and heroic."
"Right. Well, somebody has to, right?" Isla replied, just as deadpan as he had been as she smirked at him.
Before Jack could answer, the elevator doors pinged open and they were once again in motion. He watched as Isla looked both left and right down the hallway before choosing a direction, thinking he probably shouldn't make a comment. After all, she was new and it was a pretty big building. It might have helped if he knew where exactly they were headed, but he didn't like to ask a second time. Instead, he just opened the double-doors she was waiting behind and ushered her through, then followed her on to another single door with a name written on it that he presumed to be her boss.
"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slow. "Um, could you just...? Please?" she asked, nodding her head towards the handle she would have problems with yet.
"Sure," Jack agreed, reaching down to grab it and pushing open the door.
"Thanks" Isla smiled as she slipped through the door closing behind her with a thud.
It was strange how disappointed Jack felt when he realised she was gone and that he had no idea when he might see her again. They met all of ten minutes ago, but it had taken barely two of those for him to realise how much he liked her. If only she had needed to travel a little further to get back to her boss. If only he had taken a little longer in realising the coffee machine wasn't plugged in.
Heaving a sigh, Jack moved to walk away, only to be startled by the door opening again and Isla stepping back out into his path.
"Oh. Still here?" she checked, smiling as if she might be pleased that he was. "What? Nobody else yelling for help just now?"
"Not that I heard," he told her, shaking his head. "Uh, you don't need to be in there?" he said then, gesturing towards the office door.
"Nope, they just needed me for refreshments. Now they're right back to some deep, meaningful managerial type stuff... or baseball. Who really knows for sure?"
Jack laughed at that.
"Yeah, I know. I'm a little crazy," she repeated what he had said to her in the break room. "But you're hanging around here with me, so what does that say about you?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest like she just won something.
Maybe she had, but something inside Jack just wouldn't let him tell her so.
"You got coffee for everybody else but not for yourself," he pointed out, "and in helping you, I never got mine either. How about we fix that?"
Isla opened her mouth, presumably to answer, but then closed it again, her eyes moving past him down the hall. "I should probably get back to my desk. First day, remember?"
"If they really are talking baseball," Jack considered, looking to her boss' door, "you probably have a few minutes, right?"
"Okay, Clark Kent. I'll take a chance on you," she said, turning to walk back towards the elevators.
When Jack didn't follow immediately, she looked back over her shoulder questioningly. It didn't take him long to take the hint and follow her. They were back in the elevator heading up before he spoke again.
"You do know Clark Kent was a reporter and never worked in insurance, right?"
"You do know Clark Kent was a superhero who hid behind a mild-mannered facade, right?" she shot back at him, smirking hard.
They stepped out of the elevator then, Jack following behind Isla, pretty sure he would follow her anywhere at this point, through fire and flood and over broken glass, though their destination was only a simple walk down the hallway to the break room for now. It was nice to realise it was still empty, no-one to butt in on their conversation and ruin the moment, Jack thought, as he set about pouring out coffee for himself and Isla too.
"A little milk, no sugar, thanks," she told him.
"Huh, weird coincidence," he said as he showed her, he was having exactly the same.
As he turned, she got up from her seat to take her own drink from him, the two of them ending up that much closer than Jack had really intended. He wondered if Isla meant to cause such a moment. He really didn't mind if she had.
"You ever have one of those days," she said then, soft enough he might not have heard clearly if she wasn't as close as she was, "you just feel like everything is going wrong, and then, suddenly, it's all going so right?"
"I've had them." Jack nodded, eyes locking onto hers then. "Isla..."
Before he could say more, she had closed the final distance between them, her lips meeting his in a sweet kiss. A second later, there was a splattering sound and Jack felt something warm and wet soaking through his sock and the cuff of his pant leg.
"Oh, crap!" Isla cursed, pulling away and realised she had poured coffee all over his foot and ankle. "Jack, I'm sorry, I..."
"Hey," he said, hand at her shoulder keeping her close when she looked set to bolt, glad to get her eyes back on his own so easily. "I have other shoes," he promised her.
That earned him a slow smile that spread all over her face and reached her eyes within seconds. It also earned him another kiss that didn't wet his feet, but instead sparked something deep inside of Jack Mariano that he hadn't felt in too long.
A/N2: I mentioned in the piece where Jack & Jaime finally got together that he had dated Alison, Becca, Mandy, and Isla before her. The first two he dated in high school and were featured in Stars Hollow Next Gen. The third was in college, as seen in Our Little Corner of the World Vol2. I figured Isla, who he met at work, deserved her own entry too, even though she and Jack didn't work out in the end :)
