He walked through to the living room see a couple of sheets flung over some furniture in what looked to be a makeshift tent. He heard Noah giggle inside it and then heard Boone laughing too.
"What the hell's going on?" Jack asked.
There was some movement and Boone's head popped out from what Jack assumed was the entrance. "Hey, Jack," he said. "We made a fort."
"Yeah," Jack said, surveying the mess before settling his eyes on Boone again. "He should be in bed."
"Well, yeah, I know," Boone said.
"And if he isn't in bed he should at least be winding down," Jack told him. "You're not gonna get him to sleep for hours."
"He'll go down in a little while," Boone assured him.
"No," Noah shouted from inside the tent. "No sleep."
Jack gave Boone a look. "Noah, I want you out here right now."
"No," Noah repeated.
"Noah," Jack warned.
"No," Noah shouted once again.
"Noah, I want to talk to you, come out here," Jack ordered.
"No," Noah called out.
"Jack, why don't you just come in here?" Boone suggested.
"I am not getting in that thing," Jack replied. "Noah, I am giving you until the count of three."
Boone climbed out of the fort and went over to him. "Jack, will you just calm down?"
"One..."
"Jack..."
"Two..."
"Come on..."
"Three..."
Noah was clearly making no move to leave his little fortress so Jack went over and ripped the sheets away, leaning down and picking Noah up, who screamed and a squirmed the whole time.
"Jack, can you just relax?" Boone requested. "What is the big deal?"
"The big deal is that he's supposed to be in bed, Boone, and he is disobeying me," Jack stated.
Boone gave him an incredulous look. "Can you try not to have a power trip, please? He's five!"
"Put me down!" Noah yelled, thrashing against Jack, the predictable tears welling in his eyes.
"We're supposed to be a team, Boone. You and me," Jack stated. "You're supposed to be on my side, not his."
"Christ, I'm not on anyone's side, Jack, though I do take offence when you make my son cry for no good reason," Boone replied. "Just give him here."
He reached over and took Noah off Jack. Noah wrapped his arms around Boone and cried, rather theatrically, Jack thought, on Boone's shoulder, all the while making sure Jack was still watching him.
"See, you just took his side," Jack side.
"Are you kidding me?" Boone asked, giving him a look while he rubbed soothing circles on Noah's back. He seemed to be waiting for an answer but Jack didn't bother saying anything. Boone sighed. "I'm gonna take him upstairs."
Jack watched as Boone left the room with Noah and then looked around at the mess. He lifted the sheets up half-heartedly in an attempt to tidy up but wound up just tossing them to the side and collapsing onto the sofa. He sighed heavily and put his head back, closing his eyes and massaging his temples with a hand, finding his earlier headache catching up with him again.
Jack let his hand slide down his face and into his lap but he kept his eyes closed, getting the familiar feeling that sleep was going to be evading him tonight. His schedule had been all over the place lately, switching from days to nights and back again, never finished at anything resembling what it said on the rota, he really didn't have the energy for a drama when he came home. But he had to admit that he was pretty responsible for what had just happened. But Boone should know better than to let Noah stay up so late, he was the one that was so obsessed with timetables after all. And Noah was at an age when sleep was important, his concentration would suffer and if he didn't get a full night's worth in he'd be all over the place at school the next day. But Jack figured he probably wasn't going to get much sleep in the state he was in now anyway. Actually, he'd probably cry himself to sleep before too long, the condition he'd managed to work himself into in a very small space of time.
"You're a poopyhead."
Jack opened his eyes and brought his head up to look at Boone who was leaning in the doorway. "Noah's words?"
Boone nodded. "I got some words for you too but they're a tad stronger than that."
"We're supposed to be a united front, Boone," Jack said in his defence.
"You didn't have to do that, Jack," Boone told him. "What was the point of upsetting him like that?"
"Did you get him to calm down?" Jack asked.
Boone nodded and headed over to the couch. "Eventually." He sat down but Jack noticed he was keeping his distance. "He's still teary but he's nearly asleep." Jack nodded. Boone looked at him. "You're not even gonna say you're sorry are you?"
"You shouldn't have kept him up so late," Jack said. "He probably wouldn't have thrown a tantrum if you put him to bed at eight like you were supposed to."
"I think the 'tantrum' was because you destroyed his fort and grabbed him like that," Boone said.
"See, you always have to make me the bad guy," Jack stated. "You can't instil a little discipline, you have to leave it to me and then I wind up being a poopyhead."
"Jesus, Jack, I look after him ninety-five percent of the time, and you're not around to see that, so don't tell me what I do and don't do in regards to my son," Boone warned him. "Maybe if you bothered to come home at a reasonable time..."
"Did he want to stay up and see me?" Jack asked.
"No, I think he's well used to going to sleep without you, Jack," Boone told him.
Jack gave an understanding nod. "So you were keeping him up until I came home because you didn't want to sit around on your own."
Boone didn't answer, he just stared at the floor and clenched his jaw, and it broke Jack's heart a little to look at him. He knew that he flew off the handle with Noah and it really wasn't called for but Boone should have put him to bed ages ago and he really wasn't in the mood to get ganged up on, which inevitably happened when Boone and Noah were together.
"I am sorry," Jack offered.
"That's great, Jack," Boone said sarcastically, still not looking at him. "It's always nice to get an apology that sounds so much like an afterthought."
"I had a bad day," Jack explained.
"Sucks for you," Boone commented. "That's so unbelievably not my problem. And it's certainly not his."
"I know that," Jack said. "I just expect a little support when I come home."
Boone looked at him. "Jack, you can't talk to people like that. You can't just start yelling at him like that, he doesn't even know what he's done. Hell, I don't even know what he's done."
"Look, I get that you're lonely, I get that you're bored, and I'm sure he's great company for you, but he's five-years-old and bedtime means bedtime," Jack told him. "I understand why you did it but you have to understand that it was selfish of you."
Boone looked at him sharply. "I'm selfish?" he asked. "What about you? You don't look out for anyone but yourself."
"I look after everyone in this family," Jack insisted.
"Yeah," Boone agreed. "From a distance."
"See, I knew this was gonna happen," Jack commented.
"Oh, you wanna add all-knowing to your list of godlike skills?" Boone asked.
"Can you just shut up for a minute?" Jack requested. "We need to sort this out, Boone."
"Sort out you being an asshole?" Boone asked. "I've been trying for the past nine years, hasn't gotten me anywhere."
"I love you," Jack said.
Boone looked annoyed. "You can't just say that in the middle of an argument."
"I love you and I'm sorry that your life kind of sucks right now but we talked about it and you said you were doing okay," Jack stated.
Boone looked down again. "That was a whole week ago, Jack."
Jack nodded. "So you're not okay."
"I'm okay," Boone said. "But you're going on about support and maybe I could use a little support every once in a while. You think it's easy dealing with him all the time, having only a five-year-old for company, followed by being by yourself in an empty house for hours at a time? You seem to think that I just sit around and watch TV and play games with Noah while you work your ass off being the big important guy. You're right, my life kind of sucks, and Noah and I were having fun here and time kind of got away from me, all right, I'm sorry."
Jack sighed. He shifted up the couch and put his arm around Boone, happy when he let him pull him closer. He put his hand in Boone's hair and rested his head atop Boone's. "We're gonna have to work something out for you."
"You were completely out of line tonight, Jack," Boone told him.
"I know," Jack said.
"I'm seriously pissed off with you," Boone continued. "And you really upset Noah and that is really not on. You ever do that again, you're not getting away with it."
Jack sighed and nodded. "I guess I'm more highly strung than I thought I was," he said. "I was in the wrong, I know I was."
"You should get some sleep," Boone suggested, pulling away from him.
"You coming?" Jack asked.
"I'm gonna tidy this up," Boone said, looking at the room.
"I'll give you a hand," Jack told him.
Boone shook his head. "I got it. You need some rest."
"It's okay," Jack said. "I don't feel like I could sleep anyway."
Boone sighed. "Just go lay down, Jack."
Jack nodded, taking the hint. "You'll be up in a bit?"
"I don't know," Boone replied.
Jack sighed and went to leave.
"Go see Noah," Boone told him. "And if he's still awake, give the kid a hug and tell him you love him."
"You don't think he'll just call me a poopyhead?" Jack asked.
"He might," Boone shrugged. "You deserve it."
Jack nodded, he couldn't really argue with that. He took a last look at Boone and then headed for the stairs.