(Sooo, well yes...it's been months since the last chapter and it's time to continue it. This chapter has taken me like months of writing since I wrote down a few lines every now and then. I'm not really happy about the chapter but I also don't want to let you wait any longer plus I want to carry on with the story. So here it is and it's finally off my desk HA)

Chapter 5

The side-lamp next to the couch turned the apartment into a warm atmosphere and put the multiple lights of the city into the background. The wide panorama window represented the nightly skyline of Paris beautifully. Like a sea of a thousand lights that were either sitting still on their spots or were moving around quickly. The view upon the city during the dark hours was different than it was during the day. The life however didn't change. It was the same ongoing hustle and bustle as it was in daylight. A city that was never standing still. Jane's apartment provided a nice distance to the chaos that was still echoing in Jack's ears. He wasn't used to all the noises and enjoyed the silence in the living room.

It was about nine o'clock in the evening and the couple had just returned from their sightseeing tour through Paris that they ended with a fabulous and also expensive meal in one of the best restaurants of the city. It had taken Jack a bit to adjust to the unfamiliar cuisine, but after the waiter returned to their table a third time, he finally chose one of the meals that actually sounded like something he had heard before. As always Jack had looked somewhat lost and uncomfortable at the place. The fancy and expensive interior furnishing didn't quite match with his appearance and let him shrink even more in his confidence. Yet, Lisa tried to cheer him up a bit until their meals were served.

The dinner had been expensive, but Jack paid for it nonetheless. Of course the prices were out of his imagination and Lisa could see him struggling with himself, his silent thoughts almost audible in her own head. She knew that Jack didn't like to spend a fortune on food, yet got rejected as she offered to at least split the bill. He was being a gentleman. She gratefully squeezed is hand before they left the restaurant and made their way home.

Now finally back at the apartment, they sunk into the cushions of the sofa. Their feet hurting and the tiredness written into their faces. Both of them recalling the day with different emotions.

"I won't have any problem sleeping tonight.", Jack said eventually. He was leaning back against the couch. His eyes shut and Lisa sitting to his left, mirroring the exact same position.
A soft laugh rustled through her throat, before she responded. "I bet."
"Now it's on me to apologize.", Lisa added after a little pause in which her eyes had been following a car's tail light as it moved up the street that lay right in front of the apartment.
"For what?", he asked and led her attention back to the slowly evolving conversation.
"Dragging you through half Paris."
Amused and also exhausted he snorted slightly.
"Let me consider my forgiveness."
She laughed.
"You know what? It was all worth it." Her arm hooked into his when she shifted to lean against his side. Her head dropped tiredly into his shoulder.
"Well, thanks." the obvious ironic tone resonated in his voice, but the faint smile on his lips let her know that there was no need of consideration.

Her thoughts drifted off to all the things they had done today and all the things she wanted to do with him in the future. Maybe some travelling. Maybe spending alone-time in their vacation house that she was thinking of buying. Maybe here in Europe or maybe in the States. Maybe one in both. Who cares. As long as she could be with him. Lisa smiled to herself, calling herself lucky to have so many opportunities that were waiting for them to be taken and lived out.

Those things were kind of new to her. New and exciting. Sure, she had built up a life with Dan during their marriage, too. Still, those things had been more business-related than they were actually any good for their private relationship. This one kind of fell by the wayside. Business had always been more important and at the end destroyed whatever they had.

With Jack it was different. They shared a love-relationship that opened many doors of opportunities. It wasn't about the business. It was about them only.
Although they had briefly stepped across the marriage-threshold, but returned quickly to the primary route, Lisa wanted to see where the other doors would led them. Having Jack come to France unasked, rose the hope to have him here more often. Every now and then he could join her on her European travels. This at least would be a nice start to combine her love to France with the love to him.

"It's been an amazing day.", the tone of her voice had dropped as she sunk more and more into this imaginary life. She knew she was being naïve, but she liked swimming in this pond of fantasy.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it.", Jack said and his hand patted hers.
"I hope you did, too."
"I-", but he was interrupted by the bell at the door. The shrill noise was even more earsplitting now that neither of them had expected it. With frowns on their faces Jack and Lisa turned towards the door as if expecting to see the visitor already standing there. Of course it was still shut, hiding the intruder like a wooden shield. The door bell rang a second time, urging to be answered.
"Who might that be?"
"I don't know.", he mumbled, but Lisa was already pushing herself out of the comfortable position that she most probably wouldn't have changed for the night and walked almost a little hesitantly towards the entrance.

"Jane! Hi!", Lisa shouted surprised the moment the door swung open and exposed a tall, thin woman. Her white teeth shone bright in the dim light of the hallway, but were outshone by the blonde tone of the woman's hair when she stepped into the apartment. It was almost whitish and Jack couldn't say if the little lamp to his left gave it a soft colour or if it was in fact white.
The two friends fell into each others arms.

"What a wonderful surprise!" Lisa laughed and leaned back to examine Jane a bit closer. Expensive looking clothes were hidden under a wide beige trench coat that seemed two sizes too big for Jane's slim figure, but had been chosen on purpose to match the recent fashion. So was the rest of her appearance. With the bright blond hair, that fell straight onto her shoulders, the black pumps and the brand-named purse she could have been a cut-out from one of the fashion magazines that were decorating the apartment like important utensils.
"You look fantastic!"
"Oh so do you! As always." Jane's voice was rougher than Jack would have assumed it to be.

"Sorry to come in here like a wrecking ball, Lisa. I figured by the light that you are still here so I thought it would be polite to ring the bell.", Jane apologized and walked further into her home, her eyes already spotting the man that now stood near the coffee table with a smirk on his lips but a inconvenient look in his eyes.
"Oh don't be silly, Jane. It's still your apartment. And wrecking balls don't ring the bell, are they?", Lisa joked while she was closing the door.

"Sooo...", Jane started and turned slightly back to her friend. A question mark above her head was almost visibly jumping up and down. Of course, she hadn't expected the male company which made Jack feel even more uncomfortable, yet he chose to preempt Lisa who just turned back from the door and searched for words to introduce the two to each other.

"Jack Bartlett. Nice to meet you.", he said, stepped forward and held out a hand to greet Jane.
"Oh?", it slipped from her lips when she realized who was stand in front of her. Lisa must have told quite a few stories. However, Jack wasn't sure if Jane actually had pictured him the way he stood there in her apartment. Still, she took his hand to shake it and smiled: "Well, isn't that a surprise."
"Believe me, my response was quite the same, wasn't it Jack?"
"Quite the same."
"Lisa, I'm sorry. I really don't want to bother you two. It was stupid to not check on you first."
"Jane, really it's no problem. We are heading to Toulon tomorrow anyway and I think the apartment is big enough for three people.", she explained and looked at Jack to make sure that he was fine with it, too.
"If this is okay with you guys.", Jane's eyes moved back and forth between the couple.
Jack shrugged his shoulders: "I'm just a guest in your home, so you two decide."

"So, you have to tell me everything about your stay in Dubai."
"Oh I will but not without a glass of wine and when I tell you that I got hold of a bottle of the best wine you will ever drink in your life, I am not lying.", with this Jane drew out a dark green bottle of a paper bag, she still held in her hand.
"Jane! Are you serious? How did you get one of these?"
"Well, you know...connections plus a little luck.", she winked while kicking off her shoes that flew against the wall and landed next to the door.

"Are you sure you want to share it with us?", Lisa asked while examining the tag on the bottle.
"Wouldn't want anybody else to share it with. Size the moment, right?", Jane laughed and made her way towards the sofa.
"I will get the glasses then?"
"Yes, thank you Jack. Let's sit down. I have been on my feet too long."

The two women dropped onto the couch and immediately fell into a light and comfortable conversation that was evolving around their work and travels.

When Jack came back with three wine glasses in his hands, he listened to their talk closely, but couldn't contribute much on the matter. He wasn't upset about it. The exhaustion of his own journey was still sitting deep in his bones that ached with every move. It was clear to him that once he was back home at Heartland, he wouldn't leave his place that soon again. Or rather never again. It was too stressful and the more time he spend here in France, the more Jack knew that he wanted to stay close to home as much as possible. He couldn't follow Lisa on her travels and some day he needed to find the time to tell her. She would understand, Jack was sure. However, right now she looked too happy while she was talking about their foot-trip through Paris. That she was still so full of energy surprised him. Perhaps as much as he surprised her walking all day through a crowded and noisy city. Still, his energy was eaten up and joining into her enthusiasm was hard.

After another hour had past and the hour hand of the clock moved constantly further up, Jack hid another yawn behind his hand. It was time to leave the little gathering and turn in for the night. He wasn't playing a big part of their conversation anyway and hadn't followed it for the last ten minutes.
Jane was just about to fill up his empty glass a second time.

"Thank you, Jane. I think I will go and turn in for the night. As you have already heard, it's been a long day." With a subtle smile he winked at Lisa before getting up.
"I understand." Jane responded and emptied the wine bottle in hers and Lisa's glasses instead.
"Okay. You go and get some sleep, honey.", Lisa reached for his hand to ask him for a good-nights-kiss, but he didn't like to create an awkward situation between the three, so he placed a quick peck on the top of her head and briefly rubbed his hands over her shoulders.
"Good night, Jane and thank you for the fabulous wine.", he nodded at her.
"You're welcome."

It became quiet for a moment. Lisa sensed that the conversation was changing now that Jack left. He hadn't said much and Jane probably had quite a few questions about him. Questions she would rather ask her friend than Jack himself. The night was still long and Jane didn't seem tired at all.

"Well, isn't he a mystery.", she started while leaning closer for a moment as if she wanted to share a deep secret.
"Guess he is, but you know...", she turned her head to look after Jack who had already disappeared in the darkness of the small hallway that let to the bedroom. Only the faint glimmer of light at the end of it indicated that he was getting himself ready for bed.

Lisa kind of wished he would have given her a real good-nights-kiss, but she understood his reason to leave it with the little peck. Jack had always tried to keep their relationship as private as possible. Of course, he wasn't keeping it a secret and would also kiss her in public, but generally he tried to be polite and careful. However, his quietness ever since he came to France worried Lisa a bit. He was more withdrawn than usual. Yet, it had been only two days and a night in which he barely got any rest. Hopefully the change of settings when they travelled to Toulon tomorrow would give him some time to relax. It was much quieter over there and the sea air would probably have a therapeutical effect on him. She couldn't wait to spend much more alone time with him in her private residence.

"You love him, right?", Jane already figured and Lisa realized that she had been staring at the hallway much longer than she wanted.

The smirk on her face must have looked really girlish since Jane was trying to hold back an surprised and excited laugh.

"You two are so unlike. How do you make this work, huh?"

"It just works. We share our ups and downs of course, but I love being with him. He makes me happy.", Lisa smiled and took another sip of her wine, her eyes sparkling over the rim of the glass.
"I can see that."

With care Lisa pushed the door open slowly and sneaked into the dark room. It wasn't completely dark. The street lights sent some dim light through the closed curtains and helped her to find her way over to the bed. She hadn't planned to turn in that late. After all it was already far after midnight, but Jane's sudden return was a great chance to catch up with the good friend. Usually they didn't see each other very often. Jane was travelling much more and further than Lisa did. To her it wasn't just Europe. She spent a lot of time in Asia like India, China, Japan and even Saudi Arabia. They had met at a race about three years back and stayed in touch ever since. Thankfully, Jane let Lisa stay at her apartment whenever she needed it. Yet, this also meant that she was mostly gone before Lisa even arrived and vice versa.

Lisa tried to crawl onto her side of the bed as quietly as she could. Carefully she grabbed the edge of the blanket and slipped underneath it when she realized that Jack was laying partly on the duvet. He must have been rolling around again before finding sleep and accidentally ended up on her part of the blanket.

He grunted sleep drunken when she tried to pull it free.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.", Lisa apologized but took the chance to draw it over and cover herself with it while tiredly sinking into the mattress. The exhaustion of the day was overcoming her, too now.
"You're good. What time is it?"
"Around two. Really sorry. Go back to sleep."

For a moment it seemed that he really had fallen back asleep when suddenly he spoke up again. His voice sounded much more awake than she had expected it to be.
"So, I make you happy, yes?"

It took her a second to figure out where that was coming from but quickly remembered her little chat with Jane about it.
"You heard that?"
"I did."
She could feel him turning onto his side to look at her, awaiting an answer, but she remained silent for awhile.

It was one thing to tell her friend how she felt about her relationship with Jack, but it was another to talk with him about it. It weren't just the words that left her mouth. It were the emotions, too. The emotions that he was able to set free within her. Telling him meant much more than telling Jane and Lisa wanted to make sure to get it across just the way she felt deep inside.

"Lis'?", he started to get impatient and confused now, but Lisa still was not saying anything until the mattress started moving underneath them again as she turned around to lay on her side too, facing him.
"Jack," her voice had become quiet now. One hand rested under the side of her head. In the dim light they looked at each other, both of them on their side, head half sunken into the pillow. "I have never been any happier than I am with you."
Her free hand reached out for his and pulled it closer to press it firmly against her chest. His flat palm rested on the spot of her heart which pounded rhythmically against his skin. She could see him smile but maintaining the intense eye contact.

"I figured that it's been hard for you to travel to France but I want you to know how much it means to me." Her voice had dropped to a faint whisper. The words she spoke were loaded with meaning about the fact that he was here with her. It was a wonderful feeling to know that they could cross borders to be together. Not only the social ones. They had already proven that, but also the geographical borders. The many distances between them had always bothered her a bit. She wanted to spend time with him. As much as she could.

His hand slipped from hers and moved up to cup her cheek before he leaned over to close the gab and kiss her.

The moment she felt his lips upon hers, a tingling sensation went through the lower part of her stomach. If she hadn't known better, she would have blamed it on the wine, but beside the little amount of alcohol that was still running through her veins, she felt the hot emotions boiling up inside of her now.
Lisa knew that it wasn't the right time to go any further into this with him. They weren't alone in the apartment and after all this time they kinda got used to the seldom chance of intimacy. So, it was okay when they pulled apart, swallowing their desire for each other and postponing it to yet another night. Instead, Jack pulled her closer by the waist and she sunk into his arms. Her face snuggled into his chest. This was her favourite place to be. Her safe place. No other place would give her that warm feeling of security and love.
Silent thoughts of how to be together with him more often were still crossing her mind when eventually she drifted off and fell asleep for the rest of the night.