"What are you sulking about now?" Maria asked as she walked up to him.
Jack shook his head a little and straightened himself up. "I'm not sulking." He turned his attention back to the chart in front of him.
"You look like you're sulking to me," Maria commented.
Jack looked up at her. "Do you want something?"
"Yeah, to know why you're sulking," Maria replied.
Jack threw her an irritated look and sighed, turning away again.
"Come on, what's wrong?" Maria prompted.
"Nothing," Jack said shortly.
"Come on," Maria coaxed. "If you don't tell me I'm gonna go get Alice and she'll school your ass again. She's got a whole load of lectures stored up for you, believe me."
"I think I've heard most of them now," Jack said wearily.
"Not even close," Maria told him. "Like the other day she was having this huge moan about you."
Jack looked up at her. "Why?"
Maria shrugged. "She thinks you don't have enough respect. And that you expect things to fall into your lap."
"I do not expect things to fall into my lap," Jack insisted, getting wound up.
"Well, you're sulking now because something isn't going your way," Maria stated.
"That's not why I'm sulking," Jack said.
Maria sighed. "Okay, so why are you sulking?" she asked, putting on her best resigned voice.
"I'm not even sulking," Jack told her. "And that's not going to work."
Maria rolled her eyes and leaned against the counter. "Spoilsport."
Jack turned his attention back to his chart when he realised that he really would like to talk about it. And then he realised that he really had no one to talk about it with. "I don't think I have any friends," he stated.
Maria looked at him. "That's why you're sulking?"
"No, I just realised that now," Jack said.
"I'm sure you have friends, Jack," Maria told him.
"I guess," he replied. "But I'm not that close to anyone anymore. Just Boone. And when I want to talk about Boone I can't go to Boone."
"Ooh, talk to me about Boone," Maria said.
Jack gave her a look. "You're not allowed to mention how hot he is."
"Okay but we're both agreed he's really hot, right?" Maria said. Jack threw her an unimpressed look. "That's really starting to piss you off, isn't it?"
"Little bit, yeah."
"Sorry."
Jack gave her a brief smile before sighing again. "This morning I told Boone we could have another kid but I'm not even sure if I want another kid. I mean, I know having kids was my idea and I always wanted a family but... I don't know, I'm not in the same place I was five years ago, I'm not the same person I was five years ago, so much has changed. And I love Noah more than anything in the world and I am so happy to have him but right now having another seems like a hell of a chore."
Maria nodded. "A kid's a big deal if you're not sure."
"Tell me about it," Jack commented. "But he wants one and I just want him to be happy cos I don't think he's happy."
"Is making yourself miserable going to make him happy?" Maria asked.
"I wouldn't be miserable," Jack said. "I just don't think my heart would be in it and you can't have a kid unless your heart's in it. You shouldn't."
"You're right," Maria said. "So if you don't want to have one you should probably mention it to Boone before he goes out and gets someone knocked up."
Jack gave her a look. Maria smiled sweetly at him.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
When Jack got home he found Noah watching cartoons on his own. He walked into the living room and Noah saw him and got up, running over.
"Hi, Jack."
Jack smiled and leant down to pick Noah up. "Hey, there. Where's Boone?"
"He's in the kitchen. He's on his computer," Noah replied.
Jack nodded. "How long have you been watching TV?" Noah shrugged. "How many cartoons have you watched?" Noah shrugged. Jack sighed. "Okay, why don't you go play upstairs for a while?"
"Why?" Noah asked.
"Because you can't watch TV all day, it's bad for your eyes," Jack told him. "I'll come up and see you in a little while, I just want to talk to Boone a minute, okay?"
"Okay," Noah said.
Jack put him down and watched as he headed for the stairs before he switched off the TV. He went through to the kitchen where Boone was sat at the table, typing away on his laptop.
"You trying to turn him into a couch potato?" Jack asked.
Boone glanced up at him. "Oh, you're home."
"Yeah, I'm home," Jack agreed. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Okay," Boone replied distractedly.
Jack sat down at the kitchen table with him and wondered exactly how he was supposed to start. "Did you have a good day?" he asked. "With Shannon and the kids."
Boone nodded a little. "Yeah. Fun."
Jack nodded. "Wasn't a bit much to handle?"
Boone shrugged. "It was fine."
Jack nodded again. "Be different if it was a baby though."
"If what was a baby?" Boone asked, not looking away from whatever he was reading on the screen.
"Boone, are you listening to a word I'm saying?"
"Not really," Boone admitted, still not taking his focus away from the screen.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked, moving to look at the screen but not making much sense of anything.
"I'm sourcing materials," Boone replied matter-of-factly.
"For what?"
"Shannon and I are going into business together," Boone explained simply.
Jack looked at him. "What?"
"Uh-huh."
"No, not 'uh-huh', what are you talking about, when did this happen?"
Boone didn't answer him. Jack got annoyed and grabbed his hands before shifting the laptop out of the way.
"We're having that communication problem again here," Jack said, gesturing between the two of them. "Please start the conversation again but from the beginning this time."
"Okay, remember that card that Shannon made me for my birthday?" Boone began.
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, we were talking this morning and we realised that there's really a market for stuff like that, home-made greetings cards. So we agreed to give it a go, we're starting up our own business. Shannon's in charge of craft stuff and I'm taking care of the business aspect."
Jack looked at him. "See, this is what I'm talking about, you hit me with stuff from left field."
"You don't want me to do it?" Boone asked, looking confused.
"I think you should go for it," Jack told him. "I just really didn't see it coming."
"Yeah, I didn't really see it coming either," Boone admitted. "Still, I think it's a cool idea, I think there's definitely potential."
Jack nodded and couldn't help but smile on the look on Boone's face, all excited but clearly still having his business head on, thinking about the books.
"I'm glad you thought of something to make you happy," he told him.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Boone asked suddenly.
"What?"
"You said you had to talk to me about something," Boone reminded him.
"Oh, right," Jack said. "Well, I'm not sure it's particularly relevant anymore, but, well, I've been thinking about this plan to have another kid and I'm not sure that it's the best idea."
A smirk came over Boone's face. "I knew you didn't want another kid."
"Look, if you'd have asked me a couple of years back I would have been all for two, three, four kids. But now's just... not great."
Boone nodded. "Yeah, I know. I don't think I even want another kid anyway."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "You don't?"
"Well, I wasn't overly sold on the having one before we had him," Boone said. "I'm totally sold on him now, by the way."
Jack smiled at him. "I hope so."
"I don't know, I'm not that into kids. I think one is probably enough for me."
Jack nodded. "Agreed." He sighed. "Do you know what hell you put me through today, worrying about telling you this?"
"Sorry."
"You can make it up to me," Jack told him.
Boone leaned in closer. "And how would I do that?"
"Later," Jack told him. "Tell me about this business."
Boone smiled at him and reached for the laptop. "Okay."