"You okay?" he asked.
Boone looked up at him as if coming out of a daydream. "Yeah," he replied. "Yeah," he repeated, a little quieter.
"You sure?" Jack asked him. "You seem kinda quiet."
"Wasn't that kinda gross?" Boone asked, apparently out of nowhere.
"What?" Jack asked.
"The whole, y'know, clinical, y'know..."
Jack threw him a look. "Could you be a little more vague maybe?"
Boone seemed a little uncomfortable. "You know," he said. "The whole cup thing."
Oh, right, Boone was being repressed again. "Boone, it's just a medical act."
"No, it's a sexual act," Boone corrected him. He seemed to give up though as he leaned forward and started playing with the car radio. "What did you think about?"
It was a dismal attempt at sounding casual. And it was an impossible question to answer. Whatever he said, he could bet he'd be playing damage control for the rest of the afternoon.
"Sex," Jack replied simply.
"Like with who?" Boone asked in the same trying-to-be-neutral-but-so-failing tone.
"Boone, I'm not gonna answer that," Jack replied plainly, praying he'd drop the subject.
"Guess that means not me then," Boone said, almost as an aside.
Jack took a deep breath. "No," he began, "It means I'd really rather not talk about it. You were the one who said it was gross."
"Yeah, and you were the one who said it was a medical act," Boone countered.
"My sexual fantasies aren't a medical act, thank you," Jack stated.
He saw Boone smiling beside him. "Okay, but anytime you do wanna share sexual fantasies with me I'm all ears."
"I'll bear that in mind," Jack replied nonchalantly, but was sure to make a mental note of the fact.
Boone sat back in his seat and looked out the window. "So what happens now?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"Well, we did the whole fertilisation thing with Tayla, how long do we have to wait now 'til we know if it worked?"
"Pregnant women have a hormone present called human chorionic gonadotropin. If she's pregnant it should show up within around six days. I'd say wait a week to be on the safe side. Blood test is the most accurate way to check for it," Jack explained.
Boone nodded a little. "So, medical jargon aside, we'll have an answer in about a week?"
"Yep," Jack replied. "And just for the record I put that in layman's terms for you."
Boone gave him a look that he probably thought Jack couldn't see. "It's a little bit weird to think about though, isn't it?" he suddenly stated quietly.
"Y'know, it would help me out over here if you let me in on what you're talking about," Jack suggested.
"Well, the fact that Tayla has our baby, or might have our baby, inside of her. The fact that she gets to carry it around for nine months and we just have to sit around and wait," Boone explained. "I mean, we're the ones that are gonna raise it but she's pretty much the sole parent until it's born." He paused and shifted a little. "I don't know. It's like she's got something that belongs to us."
Jack nodded. In a way it was a little strange. When Sarah was pregnant, Jack remembered rubbing her baby bump when they watched TV in the evening, reading birthing books together, even though Jack knew everything there was to know about delivering a baby. It wasn't quite so intimate when you barely knew the woman who was carrying your baby. When she wasn't even going to be around in nine months anyway.
"Sorry, I'm going on again," Boone said, sounding dismissive.
"No, I know what you mean," Jack told him. Boone looked at him like he wasn't expecting that. Jack laughed a little. "I do agree with you sometimes."
Boone smiled. "I know," he shrugged. "I keep getting into trouble for saying inappropriate things about this whole surrogacy deal though."
"Boone, you do not get into trouble with me. It's not like I'm an authority figure for Christ's sake. I'm your boyfriend. We're equals," Jack pointed out.
"Okay, fine, not in trouble, but you do think I keep saying inappropriate stuff," Boone insisted.
Jack was getting a little lost here. He tried to remember what the original point was. "Look, I know the situation isn't perfect but until medical science allows men to have babies we're just gonna have to compromise."
"I know," Boone said quietly.
Jack looked at him. "Are you having second thoughts here?" Jack asked carefully.
Boone looked up at him. "No," he said, seeming a little offended. "God, Jack, I didn't mean that. I just feel like we're missing out on a bit of the whole parenthood deal. I don't care though. There's no one I'd rather be missing out on stuff with than you."
Jack wasn't sure what to say to that. Boone was right, they were missing out on a whole chunk of having a child. They could see Tayla pretty much whenever they wanted and they'd be there at all the check-ups as well as at the birth but it just wasn't the same. They wouldn't be there for the morning sickness, they wouldn't be there to get the sharp end of all those pregnancy hormones and they more than likely wouldn't be there the first time the baby kicked. And part of Jack still wanted all that. Getting handed a baby seemed like the easy way out but it also felt like being cheated.
Jack pulled up at the house and shut off the engine but made no move to get out. Boone opened his door and then stopped and looked at Jack.
"Did I do something?" Boone asked.
Jack looked up at him a little vacantly. "What?"
Boone seemed to consider something for a second and then shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "You gonna get out the car?"
"You didn't do anything," Jack told him.
"So, lest I turn into a nervous wreck again, you wanna tell me what's up?" Boone asked. "Cos a second ago I was the one being all introverted and now we seem to have swapped positions."
"No, I was just thinking about what you said," Jack explained. "About missing out on things."
"You feel like you're missing out on something?" Boone asked. But he didn't sound as worried as Jack would have expected.
Jack shrugged. "Different life now," he said. "Whatever you're doing you're always going to be missing out on something, right?"
"Yeah, you are," Boone agreed. "You just gotta make sure you're missing out on the right thing."
Jack looked at Boone. Pretty, slightly dim-witted, getting better at being an insecure mess Boone. Jack didn't really think men could be pretty, girls were pretty, but looking at Boone the word just fit. Jack also didn't think men could be attractive and really good in bed. Well, not with other men, anyway. Not with him. But Boone had proved him wrong again. He had eyes to die for, gorgeous cheek bones and a smile that lit up every corner of Jack's world. And that was pathetically poetic, Jack noted, but also very true. So, Boone or morning sickness and birthing manuals. Yeah, Jack was definitely missing out on the right thing.
"I love you," he said.
Boone smiled that smile and Jack's heart swelled a little. "Thanks," he replied. "So you're done having a meltdown now?"
"I wasn't having a meltdown," Jack told him.
"You were a little bit," Boone said, giving him a faux-superior look. "I think I held it together pretty well, personally."
"Well, you have a lot of practice watching me hold you together," Jack countered.
Boone rolled his eyes. "Right. So long as you're not having a mid-life crisis or anything."
Jack gave him a look. "I am not having a mid-life crisis."
Boone shrugged. "You're old," he said, climbing out of the car.
Jack followed closely behind him. "I'm mature," Jack corrected him. "You'll learn all about maturity when you become a grown-up."
"Oh, I'm sorry, have you ever run a business?" Boone asked him.
"Stop bringing that up, you didn't even like that job," Jack stated light-heartedly, opening the front door and letting the two of them in.
"I like you," Boone said, clearly trying to change tactics.
"But I'm old," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, you are," Boone replied as he headed into the kitchen.
Jack looked after him. Boone was gonna have to pay for that one.