Chapter 29: A Fresh New Engagement

Jack looked around the waiting room and saw that Mary wasn't there so he went outside. There Mary sat on a bench, waiting for him. Jack smiled and Mary smiled back. She asked him, "Feeling better now?"

"Very much so. Let's take a walk okay?" She stood up and Jack took her hand and they walked down to Rose Square...

Meanwhile, Carter lay back in his hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to return for more testing. His head was feeling sort of fuzzy. Something was bothering him, but a thick fog was quickly enveloping his mind. It had started a little bit before Jack's confession, and had kept getting worse.

He tried to roll over onto his side without success. That must be yet another thing which was going to be difficult without the use of his legs. Funny the things we take for granted. Finally he managed to roll over. He pulled the blankets around him to keep him warm. With a yawn, he glanced at the cup sitting on the table next to the bed. The doctor had said the medicine in the tea was to help calm him. It was more like drug him out of his wits. Carter yawned again. What was bothering him? Now he wished he hadn't taken the medicine. He knew Jack had said something important, but through the growing fog of his mind, he just couldn't remember. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep...

Mary sat with Jack in Rose Square. It was a lovely sunny day, the air was crisp and clean. Their was a fresh sea breeze blowing in. It was simply peaceful. Mary felt so safe with Jack. He had his arm around her, holding her close. A bird chirped from a nearby tree. Jack looked deep into Mary's eyes and sighed, "I wanted to apologize for the other day in the library. I... I shouldn't have done that. I understand you don't feel the same way about me now. I'm truely sorry. I just---"

Mary placed a finger on Jack's lips. She slowly brought her hand back down, running it down his neck and letting it rest upon his chest, "It's..." Suddenly, she leaned in and kissed Jack. It was just the two of them, nothing else in the world mattered. And them, it seemed like the kiss had hardly begun when it had ended. Her heart beat uncontrolably. Even afterwords, she could still feel his breath in her, taste his lips upon hers. Never before... "That Jack, is how I feel about you."

Jack sat there, staring into her deep blue eyes. He wanted to say everything, ask questions, but he couldn't get it out of his mouth. But she answered his unspoken questions anyway, "Jack, I've always had some feelings for you, and I knew you had feelings for me too. But when Grey proposed to me, I didn't know what to do. I never would have dreamed that he had feelings for me. I just froze and nodded weakly. I shouldn't have, I was just caught up and didn't know how to say no. I realize now that I was wrong. I should be the one apologizing Jack, not you. I never should have hurt you like that. I love you."

Jack ran his hand down Mary's back and pulled her close to him, "I love you too Mary. But regardless, I was still wrong, and I'm the one who should be sorry."

"No, you were perfectly alright. I hurt you, I hurt you bad, and you were only right to get upset." Mary laid her head on Jack shoulder, "Won't you forgive me?"

"How about we forgive each other? I guess we both made some mistakes."

"It's a deal Jack. Clean slates from now on." They sat for a few minutes, unspeaking.

"Mary, did you know that was my first kiss?" Jack smiled as she looked up at him.

"Oddly enough, mine too." Jack looked at her quizzically, "Oh, Grey never kissed me. I never let him kiss me except on the cheeks, not that he wanted to even do that. I'd swear that if I didn't know any better, I would have thought Saibara forced him to propose to me." Again, silence set in, neither sure what to say next.

"Jack, I still have it."

"Have what Mary?"

She let go of his hand and dug deep into her pocket, "I didn't have the heart to throw it away," Mary pulled out Jack's beaten and mangled blue feather, "I did my best to dust it off and straighten it back out. Anyway, do you want to try again? Let's see if I can do it right this time."

Jack looked at the feather, and gingerly took it from Mary. He turned it over in his hand and tearfully began to smile. It had been so carefully repaired. Where the stem had been broken in two, it had been glued back together nearly perfectly. Every little hair had be straightened back out and set back in place. It must have taken Mary hours of precision work to have done this.

Jack held the feather up in the sunlight, turning it this way then that, before placing it against his chest. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell upon Mary's arm, "Mary... I how can... I just... It's so... Thank you. It's the most beautiful gift anyone's every given me. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before. I don't know what to say..."

"Yes you do Jack."

Jack took the slightly crooked blue feather and tucked it in Mary's hair, by her ear, behind the leg of her glasses. He admired the way the glinting blue of the feather matched her eyes. "Mary will you, my love, make me the happiest man on earth? Will you take this blue feather? Mary, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will Jack. Nothing would make me happier." This time, they both leaned together in harmony, and kissed one another. They sat there, their breath on each other's lips, embracing one another for the longest time. Jack was happy, for the first time in his life, he was truely happy.