A/N: Okay so just a note on timeline. Jack's part of the last chapter took place on a Tuesday. Mikayla's part takes place on the following Wednesday. This chapter is the rest of that Wednesday. Okay? Oh, and thank you for all your support!
Chapter 2
The next day, Jack strolled into the bullpen, automatically ducking as Levi's stuffed bunny soared over his head. He quickly dodged as the Golden Retriever bounded past him, grinning as he remembered the day they had bought Levi his new toy after the cleaning crew had thrown the old one out. Sue had been so happy for her companion. Speaking of Sue Thomas, Jack spotted the blond beauty perched on the edge of Bobby's desk, chatting amicably with him and Myles before their day got too busy. He smiled at the sight of her as his heartbeat sped up.
The two of them had been dancing around each other ever since they had met. They were both by the book, so neither of them would make a move with that stupid 'No Fraternization' rule in place. Jack had attempted to date other girls, but none of them compared to Sue's sweetness and kindness. Jack just couldn't get over her, which was driving him insane. "If I don't figure this out soon, I'm going to end up giving myself another heart attack," he thought ruefully, rubbing his chest.
Levi ran past him again, the multi-coloured rabbit hanging out of his mouth. Following him to Sue, Jack called out a greeting to his team.
"Morning Sparky!" Bobby, his best friend, called out.
"Mon capitaine!" Myles saluted him in a way that only Myles could. Jack shook his head while laughing. "What?" Myles asked, seeing the team leader laughing at him. Taking a wild guess at what Jack was chuckling at, Myles added, "Well excuse me for trying to add some culture to the group!"
"You know, I'd love to start the day without hearing you complain about anything and everything!" Lucy said as she and Tara walked in. Lucy said it with a smile, however, so Myles knew she was just teasing.
"You know, a recent study showed that a little bit of negativity and complaining is actually beneficial to your health." Tara remarked.
Myles gave Lucy a 'cat-ate-the-canary' smile, causing Lucy to lean over to Tara and whisper, "You know, you basically just gave him permission to complain all he wants."
"It's true!" Tara replied in defence, before settling herself down at her desk.
Sue rose from her perch on Bobby's desk and walked over to him. "You're here late," she commented.
"Yeah, I had to clean up my apartment. A potential roommate is coming to view the place today at 5." Jack had gotten a call early that morning, saying that the woman on the other line was interested in co-leasing his apartment, and that she needed to find a place quickly. Jack, always eager to help, had immediately responded by saying that the woman could come check the place out that day.
"That's great Jack! That' really quick too, since Tommy just moved out yesterday." Sue replied enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I hope, if this woman decides to sign the lease, that she stays more than a few months. But she did say that she needs a place urgently. So fingers crossed."
"I would, but I kind of need my fingers today." Sue pointed out with a sly smile on her face, referring to the fact that she sometimes needed her fingers and hands to speak ASL.
"You know what I mean!" Jack waved her off laughing as Dimetrius appeared to brief them on the new findings in the case they were working on.
At five to 5, Jack exited his silver sedan and rushed up to his apartment building. Despite the chill, the sun was shining brightly but his dark sunglasses cut the glare.
"Hey Vince," he addressed the security guard in the booth as he entered the building. "Has anyone come to see me?"
"Yeah Jack, I let her in. That's her right there." Vince pointed to a pretty brunette sitting by the fountain in the lobby.
"Thanks." Jack swiped his key card and swung the door open, making his way towards the woman who was staring at the fountain, lost in thought. To Jack, she looked slightly familiar. In his rush not to be late, he had left his sunglasses on.
"Excuse me," he started. "Are you –" Jack was shocked into silence as the woman lifted her head and met his gaze. He ripped the sunglasses off his face to ensure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. "Mikayla? Mikayla Kennedy?"
The woman looked up at him, before gasping in recognition. "Jack! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" She jumped up and hugged him, but Jack didn't return her hug, causing her to pull away, looking embarrassed. "So, um…" Mikayla tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and looked around the lobby. "H-how are you?"
"You mean since you left Wisconsin?" Jack wanted to reply. "No, that would come off as bitter. But what can I say!" Jack blurted out the first thing that came to his mind: "What are you doing here?"
Mikayla sat heavily on the ledge of the fountain, as if he had cut the legs out from under her. "Well…I need a place to stay…so I guess I'm answering your Want Ad. Assuming you're the J. Hudson that placed this ad." she added quickly as she pulled that day's Washington Post out of her purse and showed him his 'Roommate Wanted' ad.
"Well this is great!" Jack thought. "I want a roommate, and I end up with the best friend I haven't seen since graduation."
"Well, do you want to see the place?"
Mikayla nodded her head and followed Jack past the elevators to the stairs. "Same old Jack," she thought. "Always the health nut. Never takes the elevators, walks as much as he can." She grinned ruefully, but the smile quickly faded from her face. "Times have changed. You hurt him, remember? So there's no reason to be all upset by what happened back there. You deserve far worse," she admonished herself.
They trekked up two flights of stairs before Mikayla got up the nerve to speak to him. "I'm really happy to see you again, Jack." Before her nerve failed her, she added in a small voice, "I missed you."
Jack paused in front of her, and rubbed his neck. "Great job Jack. Now you've hurt her feelings. She thinks you don't care about her." Jack couldn't silence the little voice inside his head that said that she didn't care about him before she just up and left. Mikayla jumped as he suddenly turned. "Sorry. I guess I haven't been…Well, I am happy to see you. I missed you too." He hesitantly opened his arms to her, and they gave each other a warm, albeit slightly awkward, hug. "So, um, where have you been living?"
"New York. I deferred my acceptance to college for a year so I could…" Mikayla's voice trailed off as Jack nodded understandingly.
They stood in silence for a moment before Jack turned and led her through the door to the landing of the third floor, and to his apartment door. He fumbled with his key for a moment before opening the door.
The apartment was by no means large, but the open concept made it appear spacious. The kitchen had updated stainless steel appliances. The breakfast counter/island separated it from the rest of the apartment. There was a black leather sectional forming an 'L' around the rug, with the couch facing the television. That was all Mikayla got to take in before Jack asked her if he could take her jacket. She shrugged off her suede jacket and gave it to him, which he then put into the closet by the door.
"Do you want something to drink?" Mikayla shook her head. "I'm just going to go get out of my work clothes. Go ahead and take a look around." Jack disappeared through one of the doors on the opposite wall.
Mikayla wandered over to the bookcase that stood near the electric fireplace. She looked at the photos of Jack and his family, Jack and Billy, Jack and someone that looked like a judge. The picture that really caught her attention was that of Jack and a taller, extremely attractive man. They were dressed in their graduation robes from college. They had their caps tossed in the air and were laughing to the camera. The photo next to it was of a group of people in F.B.I jackets. "He made it. He actually did it." Mikayla thought proudly, thinking of how Jack had always spoken about joining the F.B.I or the C.I.A when he was older. The same tall man from the previous picture had one arm slung around Jack's neck, while the other arm hung over the shoulder of the petite blond with a pixie cut that was standing in front of him. A pretty blonde woman holding a Golden Retriever's leash was standing on Jack's other side. A blonde, older looking man stood on the other side of the man, while a pretty black woman stood next to the blond with the dog. Behind Jack was a black man, smiling down upon all of them. "He looks so happy. This must be his team."
Mikayla sat herself on the leather couch as she waited for Jack. "I don't blame him for not having any pictures of us as kids. I really messed up." Mikayla felt a few tears escape her eyes as she thought of all the good times she and Jack had had in Wisconsin. Ice skating, watching Christmas movies all of Christmas Eve, school, playing at the park, everything. More tears escaped as she remembered the letter she wrote him before she left. "Why am I such a chicken? If I had just told him everything face to face, this never would have happened!" So caught in her thoughts she was, she didn't even realize that Jack had returned until she felt the couch dip beside her. She quickly attempted to wipe away her tears, but more kept coming.
"Hey," she heard Jack whisper. "What's wrong?" She shook her head fiercely as she tried to contain her emotions. Jack hesitated for a second before putting his arm around her shoulders and gently pulling her to him. She quickly buried her head into his shoulder, sobbing softly. "Shh," he soothed, rubbing her back and stroking her hair gently. "It's okay." He waited a few moments for her loud sobs to subside before asking, "What are you crying about?"
"Nothing…it's stupid," she hiccuped.
"Mikayla," Jack gently pushed her away so he could look at her tear-stained face. "I've known you since the day you were born. It's never 'nothing' with you. So what's wrong? Tell me," he commanded softly.
"No Jack, it really is stupid." At the look he gave her, she sighed and continued in a tiny voice. "It's just – it really is dumb – you don't have any pictures of us." There was a tense silence before Jack removed his arm from around her shoulders and scooted down the couch. "See!" Mikayla sniffed. "I told you it was stupid. I mean, I completely understand why you don't. I'm the one that left, I'm the one that didn't say goodbye, I'm the one that wrote you that damn letter!"
Jack removed his arm from around her shoulders so he could sit on the black leather ottoman in front of her. He took her hand in his and rubbed it soothingly. "Shhh," he whispered. When she had calmed herself slightly, she looked over at him. Not wanting to get into an argument with her, he changed the subject. "So, what do you think?" he asked, looking around his apartment.
She used her free hand to wipe the tears off her face before replying, "I love it. It's so spacious and open. It's perfect."
"Good, good. So when do you want to move in?"
"Well, I have to get my stuff out of storage, so…Saturday?"
"Sounds good. Where are you going to stay until then?"
"I've got a hotel room booked for the rest of this week. I'll be fine there."
"Are you sure? You know, you can always stay here." Jack mentally slapped himself. "Stay here? Good job Jack, if she stays here, things will be more awkward than ever. At least with her moving in on Saturday, you've got a few days to prepare."
"No thanks, Jack. I'll be fine at the hotel." Mikayla rose and walked over to the closet to retrieve her jacket. "So," she started as she shrugged into her jacket. "I guess I'll see you Saturday?"
Jack nodded his head. The two old friends stood there next to the front door, not knowing what to do. Finally, Jack stuck his hand out. Hesitantly, Mikayla reached out and shook it slowly before opening the door and slipping outside. Jack quickly closed the door behind her, resting his entire weight against the door once it was shut.
"Well, that was a disaster. What am I going to do on Saturday? I can't just say no to Mikayla; I've never been able to say no to her. But we haven't seen each other in 15 years! We don't even know each other anymore. We've both changed…But it seems like she's changed for the better. She seems so different, more…grown up." Jack paused to think about everything Mikayla had to have been through since he saw her last. "I guess she had to grow up. She went through so much, back then." Punching the door in anger, Jack turned and walked into his kitchen to find something to eat. "I would've been able to help her if she hadn't just…left! She didn't have to go through it by herself!"
Jack thought back to the letter she had written him. A few days past high school graduation, they were supposed to go out to breakfast together with a few of their other friends. Allie wasn't going to go because she and Jack had broken up. Allie had said that she didn't want to draw out the inevitable. Mikayla had been fairly pleased with the outcome, as now she and Jack were both single again, Mikayla having broken up with her boyfriend, Drake. They were going to breakfast with a few of their other single friends to celebrate graduating.
Jack had wandered down the stairs to find his mother sitting at the kitchen table with a letter in front of her.
"It's for you," she had said. He tore it open and read it, recognizing Mikayla's handwriting. Today, only the most important phrase had stuck with him. "Just because I screwed up my own life doesn't mean I have to screw up yours too." Needless to say, this living arrangement was going to be interesting.
The next day, Jack wandered into the bullpen. Unlike the previous day, he was not in a good mood. He had been up half the night thinking about the situation he had gotten himself into. Whichever way he spun it, he could only see living with Mikayla was a bad thing. There was a millisecond before dawn when he saw them living together as a way to renew their friendship, but he credited that to sleep depravation.
He gave himself a shake as he walked over to the coffee cart parked in the side of the room. He poured himself a mug of black coffee, and it had disappeared by the time he reached his desk.
"Whoa-ho! Looks like Agent Sparky had a long night." Bobby exclaimed as he caught a glimpse of Jack's face. "Geez mate, you could carry bowling balls in those bags!"
"Ha. Ha. Ha. You're hilarious. Seriously." Jack replied tiredly as he sank into his office chair. A sharp pain in his leg alerted him to Levi, who had trotted over to his desk and laid his head on his lap. "Hey Buddy." Jack looks up at Sue, who signed 'YOU OK?' to him. Jack replied, 'YES'. He then pointed over to Garrett, who was standing out of her line of sight.
"Okay everybody. We have a new team member. She's here on an internship while she takes some refresher courses at college. Mikayla Kennedy, meet the team."
A/N: Okay, probably not the best place to leave it. But I really wanted to get this out there for your critique. Thoughts, comments, constructive criticism? Please review!