Chapter Twenty-Seven

November 20th, 1913
New York City, New York

Rose set the groceries on the counter and sighed, smirking at Jack. He was still standing by the door, his hands in his pockets. He hadn't been to her apartment since the art show. He hated even thinking about that night. When he noticed her facial expression, however, he cocked his head slightly to the side.

"What?" He said, nodding at her.

"She is just absurd," Rose chuckled, shaking her head as she began pulling butter and eggs out of the bag, "Guess how old she is."

"I dunno," Jack shrugged, wandering towards the breakfast bar, "Fourteen?"

"Close," Rose wagged her finger at him as she opened the ice box, "Sixteen."

"Sixteen?!" Jack arched his eyebrows. He set his elbows on the bar and glanced towards the door for a moment, "Christ, she's only two years younger than you."

"I know."

"She asked if I was single," Jack deadpanned, giving her a look that had her laughing again.

"She told me once," Rose said over her shoulder as she put a package of meat in the ice box, "that her dream man had blue eyes and blond hair."

"Oh, lucky me," Jack pat his jacket and pulled his cigarettes out, "Can I?"

Rose peered over her shoulder, tucking a loose curl from her bun behind her ear, "Oh, yeah," She nodded, "Just open the windows, please."

Jack did as he was told. He then leaned against the wall, one arm tucked behind his back, as he smoked his cigarette, doing his best to have the smoke drift away from her furniture. He glanced to the grandfather's clock and then across the room to her writing desk, messy as usual. Her waitress apron had been left to dangle carelessly over the back of her leather chair. Jack looked to the kitchen, seeing Rose's head bob just above the counters as she organized the cupboards. He then noticed a pack of Fatima's sitting on the breakfast bar. He smirked, lowering his eyes to his same preferred cigarette tucked between his thumb and index finger.

"So, how was your day?" Rose called, standing up and whipping more hair from her face. She continued taking out the last few things from the grocery bag, folding it up afterwards. Her green eyes looked to him as he took his time with a drag of his cigarette.

"Pretty shitty, actually," He replied, tapping his ash carefully out of the window.

"Why's that?" Rose grabbed herself a cigarette from her pack, coming to stand beside him at the window. Her green eyes never left his as she lit her cigarette, holding it between her lips for a moment, "Did something happen?"

"Well," Jack hunched his shoulders as he heaved a sigh, "Iris and Frenchie know about you," He smirked weakly, looking to his cherried cigarette, "They're not very happy with me."

"What?" Rose knit her eyebrows together, "Why wouldn't they be happy?"

"Apparently Irene, that's their mom... she wants me to be with Iris," Jack shrugged, nearly rolling his eyes, "No one really asked me about the matter, just assumed it would happen, and now I guess they're all mad at me 'cause I hurt her feelings. But I mean," Jack sighed, raking his hands through his hair, "I never once even attempted to be romantic with her."

"How did they even find out?" Rose cocked her head to the side.

Jack glanced to Rose's waitress uniform before finally willing himself to look at her eyes, "Iris came back last night for some pencils. And... she heard you. Saying my name."

Rose's face became as red as a tomato, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. That's... oh, that's so embarassing," She touched her hot cheek at the thought.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Jack lowered his cigarette from his mouth, "That's my room. If I want to hear my girl say my name, I should be allowed to."

Her heart fluttered at the thought of being 'his girl'. Still, she shook her head, "That's still extremely embarrassing..."

"Well, I'm not embarrassed," Jack grinned towards Rose and coyly, she returned it.

They stood in silence for a few moments, side by side, ribbons of smoke trailing between them. Rose relished in the security and pleasure she got just from having Jack in the room with her. His presence exuded a serenity she had longed for. Rose perked up suddenly, catching Jack's attention.

"Oh, I have something for you," Rose told him, crossing back to the kitchen, uncaring of her cigarette trailing beside her. She pulled a drawer open and began rummaging through, "I've been meaning to give you one. I knew we couldn't always be at the studio, and now it's become even truer," She glanced to Jack as she continued sifting through the contents of the drawer, "And so something like that never happens again," She jabbed her head in the direction of the door. Finally she pulled something out and closed the drawer, crossing back to Jack while extending a small brass key to him, "The spare for my apartment. You can come and go as you please."

Jack stared at it for a moment before finally taking it into his hands, "I won't abuse it," He smirked, reaching for his own set of keys, mostly to different parts of the studio and Frenchie's house. He hooked Rose's key securely on, his lingering on it.

"I don't care if you do," Rose shrugged and pressed her shoulders to the wall beside Jack. She took a drag of her cigarette and looked up to him, "Your living space is intruded on by a business. I can't imagine you get much quiet time. If you ever need a quiet place to decompress, be my guest," She gestured around the space, "You can paint, but only on my kitchen tile," Rose shot him a look and he grinned crookedly, "I have plenty of books to share. Help yourself to anything in the ice box. Really, you can just come here."

"Are you testin' me to see if I'd be a good roommate?" He teased.

"It's a..." Rose twirled her finger in a second while she pondered her vocabulary, "precursor."

"Precursor," Jack echoed, "So, when are you gonna do it?"

"Probably after Thanksgiving," Rose replied, tapping more ash out the window. She glanced fleetingly towards the street, but not many people were out despite it being a mild and beautiful day.

"Does Tim have a key?" Jack's question drew Rose's eyes away from the street and she looked to him, masking any incredulous feelings that may have been present.

"No," She said softly, "of course not."

Jack lowered his eyes for a moment and cleared his throat, "There's something else that happened today that I think I need to tell you," Rose arched her eyebrows, taking a final drag before flicking her cigarette out the window. Jack sighed, "I told you it was a pretty bad day. After the fight with Iris and Frenchie, I was really mad," Jack slowly turned his eyes towards Rose, "Honest to God, I was on my way to the diner to see you. Figured it would have calmed me down, had a nice breakfast, whatever," Jack shook his head, obviously flustered, "Anyway, I was walkin' there and I passed a building with something that caught my eye. It was Tim's law office," Slowly, Rose's eyes began to widen and she hugged herself at her elbows, "I was already frustrated and really down on myself, and I know it was stupid, and I'm sorry," Jack threw his cigarette out the window, "But I went to his office," He held his arms out at his side, "And I pretended like I needed legal advice."

"Why would you do that?" Rose was incredulous now, "Jack, he's not supposed to see your face. He could recognize you anywhere now. What were you thinking?"

"That's the thing; I wasn't," Jack told her, shaking his head.

"Well, what did you say to him?" Rose asked.

"I pretended like I was gettin' a divorce-"

"Does he know your name?"

"I told him it was Jack Barnes."

Rose stared at him for a moment, her eyes darting between his, "And what legal recourse did Tim suggest for you?"

"Well, he just kept asking questions about the woman involved," Jack replied, digging his hands into his coat pockets and shifting the weight between his feet, "And so I asked him what he thought the key to a woman's heart was. He said nurturing an intelligent one," Jack shook his head and ran his tongue along the ridge of his teeth, "And that's when I understood why you liked him. That's when I realized he really was a good guy. And I felt even shittier about myself."

"Jack, why did you go there?" Rose asked.

"'Cause I wanted to know what I had on this guy," Jack said, looking directly at her, "He's rich, he's composed, he's established. I got nothin' on him. So why me, Rose?"

"There's more to a relationship than just money and stability," Rose replied, "Didn't we learn that the first time around?"

"Yeah, but the difference is he cares about you," Jack gestured towards her, fleetingly recalling Tim's words about proposal. He decided to withhold it. He couldn't even bring himself to say it. He bit his tongue for a moment before shaking his head, "He loves you, Rose."

"But I love you," Rose insisted, "I've never even told him that."

"But why?" Jack asked, "He hits all the targets. What do I have on a guy like that?"

"I'll show you," Rose told him, gripping his coat, "Now just shut up and kiss me."

Rose's lips lunged forward, claiming Jack's in the next instant. For a moment, he was nearly stunned. But he gave into it without a second thought. The entirety of the heavy day melted away from him as his lips endlessly reached for her's. It was as if her lips held a special medicine, one that made him feel so incredibly high he was certain it had to be illegal. Slowly, his hands came up, gripping her slender arms beneath his calloused palms. Rose forced his jacket over his shoulders and it crumpled to the ground. She then grabbed his suspenders and began guiding him after her, towards the bedroom, their lips still searching for each other.

They stumbled through the bedroom door and Jack immediately reached for her zipper. She giggled as he tugged at the waitress uniform, pulling it down her body. She took the time to unclip his suspenders, untucking his button up. He lowered her onto the bed, tossing her dress on the floor. He ran his hands up her smooth skin and lowered himself on top of her, kissing her deeply while gripping her jaw. His other hand came to rest on her breast and a fire welled up inside of Rose. She fumbled with his shirt buttons as he dipped down, pecking at her neck.

Rose began yanking his dress shirt off and he smirked at her forcefulness. He then discarded his white undershirt. Rose grabbed hold his belt, pulling his closer to her. Their lips met again as he heard the clattering metal of his buckle. She was anxious for it, he could tell. She made it through his belt and zipper, reaching into his pants, guiding him closer to her.

"No warm up?" He breathily joked, grazing his cheek against her. She shuddered at the feeling of his hot breath along her ear. She didn't even reply, she simply wrapped her legs around his hips. A moan escaped her lips in the next moment. Jack smirked, pressing his forehead against her's, the headboard faintly knocking up against the wall. He relished in the noises escaping from her. Jack hovered just above her lips and whispered, "Say my name."

"Jack..."

"Louder."

"Jack!"

A tingly sensation began to invade Jack's body as they continued. Her nails dug into his bare skin and she called his name again, and once more, making his entire body radiate with heat. The only thing that mattered to him in the entirety of the universe was there, beneath his hands. She was his everything. Jack knew he could let anything, or anyone, come between him and her. He wouldn't allow it. They had fought for so much in the past, he bargained, that this wasn't even close to the same immensity of the battle before.

As he finished, Jack returned to Rose's lips. Her moans ran against his mouth. His hand clenched the pillow tightly beneath his hand, his entire body locking up and washing between extreme pleasure and heat. He pressed his sweaty forehead to her collarbone for a moment. She ran her slender fingers through his layered hair. Slowly, he untangled himself and laid beside her, pressing his face into her sea of curls and tenderly resting his hand on her stomach.

"Do you see now?" She whispered, turning her head towards him.

"See what?" He lifted his eyes.

"That there's more to a relationship than money and stability."

Jack slowly lifted his head, "Are you telling me Tim is bad in bed?"

"I only had to do it once to find out," Rose smiled surprisingly and this sent Jack into a wave of chuckles. He fell back against Rose, pulling her closer to him. She turned her head towards him, her curls running along his cheek, "You hit all the targets, Jack."

He kissed her tenderly on the cheek and pressed his face into her neck, inhaling the scent of lavendar and popuri.