The hot sun bore down through the gap in the trees, and eventually woke the two sleeping figures. Jack opened his eyes but quickly shielded them with his white cast arm, the sun too bright for his fragile eyes. He waited until his eyes adjusted and sat up stretching. He looked over to his left to see Claudia laid on her back watching him, ignoring the suns fierce glare.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, always worrying about him.

"Fine," he lied.

"Don't lie to me Jack I know when you are telling the truth or not." She said, humour dripping from her voice.

"Really. And how do you know when I'm lying?" He asked, sarcasm creeping into his voice to try and join her good mood.

"You always take a millisecond to think before you respond, like, the tiniest of hesitations, then look to the ground before answering. Normally you just fire out and answer." She said laughing.

"Oh." Said Jack, wondering if this was true.

"So, how are you, really feeling?" She watched him carefully, and could see him watching himself to see if he did the things she claimed he did, before he replied.

"Ill be fine. Banging headache, but that is probably from something else that happened last night!" He broke off laughing and leant in to kiss her softly on the cheek. This action made her blush, which Jack noticed immediately, and backed away worried he'd said something to upset her.


"Sorry." He looked like a scolded schoolboy.

"Jack, you don't have to tip toe around me 24/7! Be yourself!" She had noticed earlier how he was careful not to displease her, but she didn't like it.

Once hearing that Jack cracked out laughing, he could never be himself around her, or anyone else while he was down in Mexico. Although, in Mexico he wasn't far from his real demeanour, he thought grimly.

Claudia noticed something shift inside him, and pulled herself up from the ground, as did Jack. They began to dust the grainy sand from their clothes, until an uncomfortable silence formed between the two. Again, Jack broke it,

"Will anyone notice you weren't home last night?"

"You mean Ramon?"

"I mean anyone?" He replied, a little angrier than he intended.

"I'll say I stopped over to make sure you were okay." She asked, getting annoyed with his changing moods.

"Okay. I'm gonna go take a shower, take Ramons car back, tell him where we went. Hope he doesn't get too pissed....." His voice trailed off. Claudia came over to him and softly grabbed his hand.

"Be careful." She said, then gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading off back though the woods towards their complex. Jack stood motionless and watched her walk away, his insides churning once again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One word..... review!