"Shannon came round with Zara today," Boone said, glancing up at Jack.
Jack looked down at him. "Yeah?"
"Uh-huh," Boone replied.
Jack wondered why he bothered to bring it up, he clearly wasn't in the mood for a conversation. Which was a shame because Jack really wanted to talk to him. But he was being careful not to push the issue of babies onto Boone. The last thing he needed was his boyfriend freaking out on him. Probably best just to leave that stone unturned. That didn't change the fact that he was dying to hear what Boone had to say about the whole thing. Or maybe not, he reasoned, depending on what the answer was.
"What did she want?" he asked Boone.
"Nothing really," Boone slurred.
Yep, he'd be asleep within about ten minutes, Jack guessed. Which meant it probably wasn't the best time to bring up life altering questions.
"I told her about Tayla," Boone announced, sounding slightly clearer.
Jack looked down, interested. "And what did she say?"
Boone made a small shrugging movement. He slid his hand slightly under Jack's T-shirt and started to lightly rub his hip, just above the waistband. Well, that was a little distracting.
"So you told her," Jack continued, attempting to stay focused. Boone brought it up so he was allowed to ask, he reasoned. "That mean you're serious about it?"
Boone hooked his thumb on the outside of Jack's T-shirt and ran his hand up Jack's chest, taking the shirt with him. He shifted his weight a little and kissed a line down Jack's side. Soft, lazy, teasing, almost there kisses. Which kind of annoyed Jack because Boone was clearly just trying to get out of answering. He moved his trail of kisses along Jack's belly to his naval and started to follow his happy trail down. He was interrupted by Jack's waistband and Jack had half a mind to rip his pants off but he knew that Boone wasn't trying to be a good boyfriend, he was trying to get out of talking, and he was fairly sure Sabrina would have taught him to never talk with his mouth full.
Jack shifted and reached down to pull Boone's face up. "Can you stop that a minute?" he requested. Which felt kind of wrong because that would actually be a very nice way to end the evening. "I just wanna talk to you a sec," he explained, hoping he conveyed the fact that he fully intended to pick this up again afterwards.
Boone looked a little, not upset, inconvenienced, maybe. But he moved up so he was more at eye level with Jack.
"What?" he asked.
"Why did you tell Shannon about Tayla?"
Boone leaned his head into Jack's neck, stroking behind his ear with a finger. "Dunno," he mumbled.
Jack was determined to stay focused. Even though that did feel very nice. But he was smarter than Boone and he was going to damn well show it.
"Boone?" he asked levelly.
Boone looked up at him, his face impartial. He then smiled and leaned up, capturing Jack's mouth with his. And Jack kissed back. He was still smarter than Boone though. Definitely.
But then Boone was the one that pulled away. "I thought she could help me," he said, no more than an inch away from Jack's lips.
Jack was lost. He was fairly sure he asked a question but he wasn't quite sure what it was. And then Boone kissed him again. Stupid Boone. It was just a brief kiss though and he pulled away again, but not too far.
"Shannon," Boone elaborated, picking up on the fact that Jack had lost the thread somewhere along the way. He placed another small kiss on Jack's mouth before adding, "Cos she's a mom."
Another kiss.
"Did she help?" Jack asked.
Kiss.
"I think so."
Kiss.
"So what did she say?"
Kiss.
"Just some stuff."
Kiss.
"So did you decide something?"
Kiss.
"Maybe."
Kiss.
"What?"
Kiss.
"I think I want Tayla..." Kiss. "...To have our baby."
Kiss.
And, okay, this kissing thing was getting a little distracting now. Jack pulled away to look at Boone. He wanted to see his face, wanted to see if he was serious, wanted to make sure he'd really thought about this.
"I thought that's what you wanted," Boone said, looking a little unsure of himself all of a sudden.
"Yeah," Jack replied, still not 100 per cent sure what to make of it. "It's what I want," he continued. "I just wasn't sure it was what you wanted."
Boone smiled a little. "Yeah, me either," he admitted. "But I think it would be kinda cool. And I know it's a whole lot of hard work and we're gonna have to make a lot of compromises and our relationships probably gonna take a hit and all that but... I think about all that and I still think it's gotta be worth it, right?"
"Kids aren't easy," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, Shannon keeps telling me that," Boone replied. "Still, everyone I ever spoke to said it's worth it. And if I can take that from Shannon I can take it from anyone. I mean, she's not exactly the most maternal person I've ever met."
Jack knew all too well that that was true. And Boone sounded like this was what he wanted and Jack knew from experience that when Boone put his mind to something, he saw it through to the end. So he wasn't perfect at everything, he always gave it his best shot and that was something that Jack admired, even if he didn't say it quite as much as he probably should. So if Boone said he wanted to be a father, Jack should accept that.
"They're messy," he found himself warning Boone.
"I know," Boone replied with a slightly condescending smile.
"You're gonna be tidying up a whole lot," Jack pointed out. "When you're not changing diapers and mixing formula and rocking them to sleep."
"I know all that," Boone said. Did he sound bored?
"And our sex life is gonna decline. Probably quite drastically at first."
"Yeah, Shannon warned me about that one too," Boone nodded.
"And they're really loud," Jack continued.
Boone laughed a little. "Are you trying to put me off?" he asked.
Jack looked at him. "I'm not sure," he admitted.
Boone smiled at him and shook his head a little. "Jack, I wanna have a baby. With you. And Tayla I guess," he informed him. "I'm supposed to be making your dreams come true here, why can't you accept that?"
"I guess that's kind of the problem," Jack admitted. "Someone offers to make your dreams come true, you kinda figure there's a catch."
"No catch," Boone assured him. "Me, you, a baby and no sex life, that's what I'm offering you."
Jack smiled at him. "Well, when you put it like that..."
"So we should ring Tayla tomorrow I guess, right?"
"Yeah," Jack replied, a little distant.
Boone settled down again, placing his head back on Jack's shoulder and turning his attention back to the TV. Jack was a little upset that he wasn't trying anything anymore. So all those kisses really were just a distraction. Which was a little weird considering Boone had just told him exactly what he'd wanted to hear so he couldn't imagine what the point of drawing it out like that was.
But those kisses had got Jack in the mood and now he was feeling a little disappointed. He reached his arm down to Boone's lower back and started rubbing little circles, trying to get Boone's attention. Boone made a little pleased noise and sunk a little further into Jack. Which wasn't exactly the reaction he was going for.
"Y'know," Jack began, trying to sound casual but probably failing miserably. "We don't have to give up our sex life just yet."
Boone looked up at him. Jack guessed he was trying to look unimpressed but there was a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Early night?" Jack suggested, ignoring Boone's attempt to play it cool and make him beg.
Boone tried to keep his face neutral as he climbed off Jack and stood up. "I was feeling kinda sleepy," he mulled.
Jack stood up. "Well, all you have to do is lay there," Jack said. "I'll do all the hard work." He gave Boone a tap on the ass and headed towards the staircase. He hoped Boone was watching after him.