A/N: Yup, I'm completely messing up the Dark Angel timeline but it's fan fiction so hey.
Walking silently was a skill that CJ had long since perfected, it wasn't a challenge in the slightest for him to slip back into the habit. He balanced the tray precariously on one hand as he pushed open the door to the room, stopping it just short of the place he knew that it began to creak.
Quickly manoeuvring around the bedroom he kept his eyes on the girl lying in the bed that took up the majority of the room, her blonde hair fanned out on the dark blue pillow, boy's pillows, she'd proclaimed with a laugh. He unconsciously followed the path he'd mapped when he'd gone down to the kitchen. Three steps, Jen's shoe. Four more steps, the book he'd been reading when he went to bed and had carelessly dropped on the floor. He absent-mindedly noted that and made a mental note to place it on the bedside table the next night. Placing the tray on the table he was careful to sit on an area of the bed he knew didn't squeak.
"Jen," CJ said softly, reaching out a hand to gently shake her shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered, revealing sleepy blue orbs for a second, before she drifted back to sleep, not realising that CJ was there. "Jen," he tried again, shaking her a little harder.
This time her eyes fully opened and she raised small hands to rub at them wearily. She caught his eye and grinned. "Well, hello," she whispered, leaning over to kiss him.
As she leaned away he grinned back. "Hello to you too," he gestured at the tray behind him, "I brought you breakfast."
She smiled even wider, moving over further to his side of the bed. She casually draped her legs over his lap, as though it were a motion of habit and rested her head on his shoulder. CJ felt his muscles tense momentarily as they always did when someone got too close to him, a thousand less pleasant memories crowding his head and the unwelcome intrusion of some that were too pleasant and had tried to be forgotten.
And then he breathed in the familiar scent of her shampoo and his body relaxed, the sense memory reminding him who he was holding. She smelled of apricots and mangos, the second bottle on the shelf next to the shower and he could smell some of last night's perfume still clinging to her neck. A fragrance he didn't recognise but remembered that she'd borrowed off Joey.
"Hey, so what we up to today?" Jen asked around a mouthful of toast.
CJ snagged a slice of the plate and shrugged. "I don't know. What's everyone else up to?" The toast was dry and he wanted jam on it but the jam was in the kitchen and Jen was draped over him so the outcome of moving wasn't really worth it.
Jen shrugged and moved off CJ. He registered the loss of her weight and shifted so that he was facing the window. He watched the three birds that were sat on the windowsill and rid himself of the unease he'd felt since he'd sat with his back to the outside.
Jen began to brush her hair, CJ counting thirteen strokes before she began to speak. "I think Pace is working, David's at that rally and I don't know about the others." She turned to face him, her pink tank top riding up, revealing a strip of lightly tanned skin that CJ wanted to run his fingers across. She haphazardly tied her hair back into a loose ponytail. "We could go and watch Activist David in action. Maybe get involved. It's a good cause."
CJ laughed. "What's he campaigning for this week? Last week it was for those poor monkeys in Peru and the week before there was that whole thing with the dogs in Chicago."
"Hey! They were being poked with needles full of…" she waved her hands around, getting agitated, "some sort of bad stuff." CJ grinned and came forward to grip her wrests lightly, unconsciously controlling his strength.
"Maybe we should just stay in bed today," he leaned down to kiss her neck.
"Well," she moaned as he nipped at her pulse point, "I would've said yes, but I already told David we'd see him there. And Joey's going too."
CJ groaned and leaned back. "Jen!"
She held up her hands in surrender, ducking around him and grabbing her towel. He started towards her as she held up her towel in defence, giggling. "So not my fault!" CJ sighed and caught her around her waist, throwing them both on the bed. She looked adorably up at him. "I'm sorry. It sounded kinda interesting." She poked him in the chest and he rolled over onto his back and Jen stood up again.
"So, what is this thing?" CJ asked, a definite whine to his voice. He stared at the ceiling, unconsciously cataloguing the number of cracks in it and how far the damp patch had spread. 3.7 inches. "I hope it's not boring."
"Shouldn't be," Jen grabbed her dressing gown and headed for the shower. "Campaigning for transgenic rights."
If CJ's body hadn't been built for prime functioning even in times of great stress he'd have sworn that his heart stopped for a second. Jen poked her head back in the room. "That can't really be boring, now. Can it?"
She didn't reply, just left CJ lying on the bed, his body perfectly still as his mind went a mile a minute.