Title: Two Sides of the Same Coin -- Chapter 2
Author: StuckHereWithNoTV
Author's Email: stuckherewithnotvyahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Spoilers for "Arms and the Girl" and "Middleman"
Disclaimer: Jake 2.0 and all related elements, characters and indicia copyright Roundtable Entertainment and Viacom Productions, Inc., 2003. All Rights Reserved. All characters and situations-save those created by the authors for use solely on this website-are copyright Roundtable Entertainment and Viacom Productions, Inc.
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"So, where were you this morning?" Diane questioned Jake while Fran pushed the button inside the elevator.
He watched the numbers light up above the metal doors. "Huh?" facing her with a lopsided grin.
She frowned. "You weren't answering your phone. I swear Lou was going to skin you alive for coming into Sat Ops late and being in a good mood. What's going on?"
He stared down at his shoes continuing to smile at himself, "Ah, nothing. My car wouldn't start."
"Oh, of course. I always jump for joy whenever that happens to me," Diane's frown deepened as the elevator opened and the three walked down the hall into the lab. "Seriously, that would make you happy... why?"
"I'm... I'm just really glad there are nice people in this world, you know what I mean?" he said brightly, unbuttoning his shirt.
"Uh, not in this case. No."
Fran moved into the next room but made sure she was still in hearing distance.
"What I mean is there was this person I helped give directions to and they offered to drive me to work. I thought that was really nice of them."
"Oh!" she said lightening her tone and smiled. "Yeah, that was nice of them to do that." Beginning to attach electrodes to his back Diane paused when she caught a glance of something red on his arm, "What's that?"
"What's what?" he said looking down and then blushed. "Oh, that. That's just a number. You know, didn't have pen handy so..."
"So, you decided to use lipstick that you happened to have on you instead?" she joked with an eyebrow raised.
Jake laughed, "Well she didn't have a pen on her either."
Both Diane's eyebrows went up this time, "She?"
He nodded getting onto the treadmill. "Yeah, the person who drove me to work. She seemed nice. Really nice."
"Nice," she repeated her smile dissolving. "Yeah."
"What?"
"I dunno Jake," She scratched the back of her head, feigning indifference. "I mean, I-I would just watch out if I were you."
"Watch out for what?"
"Well, you know..." Diane shrugged. "I had that incident with Steve and it's not like you've had the best track record with girls either..."
Jake rolled his eyes as he started to run, "Aw, come on Diane."
"I'm serious," she asserted. "Doesn't this sound a little too similar to your thing with Theresa? I mean you've got this girl, whom I'm assuming must be pretty, basically throwing herself at you--"
"This is not like Theresa," he defended weakly, "and s-she wasn't throwing herself at me."
"Mm-hmm."
"She wasn't!"
"I see," she stated sarcastically gesturing wildly. "So it's completely normal for a woman to invite a complete stranger into her car, drive him wherever he wants to go and then scribble all over his arm with her make-up--"
"It didn't happen like that," Jake insisted, noting that she was getting into one of her weird moods again. He started panting as the speed picked up. "She was... just being... accommodating."
"Right," Diane affably said, calming down. She stalked over to the other room and picked up her clipboard beside Fran. "Accommodating in a 'here's my body on a plate' sorta way," she muttered under her breath.
Fran's jaw dropped in shock. Muffling a snicker, she ducked her head and pretended to work.
"What?" Jake hollered. Despite his enhanced hearing, he wasn't able to decipher exactly what Diane had said with his thoughts on Jess and the blood pumping in his ears. Getting off the treadmill, he went to the doorway. "Did you say something?"
Diane spun around. "Yeah. Uh, do you need me to drive you home tonight?"
"Thanks. That'd be great."
"No problem," she answered watching him walk back to the exercise machine. "Hey, can you take over for a sec?" handing the clipboard to Fran.
"Sure." She said looking at it confused. "Why?"
"I need some air," Diane exhaled moving out into the hallway, "...or maybe a new tube of lipstick," she mockingly added.
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Jake sank comfortably into the passenger seat of Diane's beat-up Volvo as the driver ahead of them gave her a courtesy wave for letting him cut in. Looking out into the dark night, Jake felt his eyelids droop and the smoothness of the ride lulling him to sleep.
"You gonna call her?" he heard Diane's voice say quietly.
He shifted his head on the headrest so he could face her, "Maybe. I dunno," he yawned. Taking off his coat and using it as a pillow, he closed his eyes. "I think you're right Diane. Women don't take to me unless they're protecting a family fortune or need to find where their C: drive is."
She cringed regretting her words, "I-I'm sorry for what I said today. It was uncalled for."
"But it's the truth," he mumbled.
"No. No, it's not," Diane gripped the wheel. "Jake, you're a great guy. I mean you're caring and-and you're funny..." she took a deep breath. "You know, you just-- maybe you should just stop looking so hard and try looking at what's in front of you... I'm... I'm in front of you..."
Biting her lip, she kept her eyes glued to the road waiting for a reaction. The seconds dragged on like hours before Diane gathered the courage to look over at him. Slumped towards her, Jake's mouth was slightly ajar with soft snores emanating from it.
Her shoulders drooped. "'Go for this one, Diane,'" she said mimicking her friend Karyn's advice. Sighing, she thought back to their Valentine's Day conversation. Diane had to admit that her old roommate was right about a lot of stuff. Stuff that she more than wished hadn't been brought to her attention. It disturbed her so much that she found herself being on edge all week... Not to mention Jake's out-of-nowhere invitations to fancy dinners didn't help the situation either. That had caught her completely unawares considering she had decided that week to follow her friend's advice. So, when he had made those suggestions, she clammed up out of shock and automatically went into Diane Defense mode.
Coasting to a stop in front of Jake's apartment building she cut off the engine and turned towards him. "Jake," she said gently. When he didn't wake up, she reached out and brushed his hair away from his forehead, "Jake."
"Mmm?" he stirred.
"We're home," she murmured looking down at him. Snatching her hand away, she shook her head startled. "I-I mean you're home. You're home 'cause this is you're building and y-you live here and-- um…"
He opened the door with his eyes barely open, "Mm, thanks for the ride."
"Anytime. And Jake--" she called out before he shut the door.
"Yeah?"
She opened her mouth about to say something but then looked down and started the car, "You have a good night."
Jake smiled sleepily, "You too." He climbed the front steps as the puttering noise of the box shaped car faded into the distance. In his apartment, he collapsed onto the couch and was gratefully shutting his eyes when his phone rang. Grunting, he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Jake? It's Jess. From this morning?"
His eyes popped open, "Ah yeah! Hey, how are you?"
"I'm fine. I've been thinking a lot about you."
"R-Really?"
He heard her teasing laugh come from her end of the phone line, "Yeah! I was wondering if you'd like to go out for dinner tomorrow. Unless you're busy with something else--"
"Oh no! No, I-I'm free," Jake answered ecstatic.
"Great. So I'll drop by your place, say, six-ish?"
"That sounds good."
"Good. Can't wait to see you." Jess's voice lowered flirtatiously, "You have a good night."
Jake flushed although something tugged at the back of his mind, "You too."
The line went dead as he leaned back into the cushions trying to grasp what his befuddled mind was trying to tell him. Giving up, he shut his eyes and drifted into sleep.