I need to ask you a favour. You know about what's happening here. I'm trying to fix it, but I'm not sure I can be here much longer. I might have to go away and if that happens, I'll need your help in bringing me back.
You were right about him all along, see. He never changes. Maybe it sounds like an excuse to say that what happened four years ago was his fault, not mine, but there you have it. I liked being here so I grabbed on to the first thing that would keep me focused. But if he comes back, and I have to leave, he'll be out for blood and I'll need you here to make sure it's the right blood. He's not happy that I've been hanging around for so long; he might not let me come back. I'll try my best, but if I don't make it, I need you here to pick up the pieces.
You should be getting everything I've had gathered for me with this letter, so you know as much as I do. Take care of her for me.
***
"Love of my life!" Hideki jumped out of the car and ran up to Rachel, swinging her around in a bear hug as they both laughed. "I've missed you so much! Too good to come visit your husband, huh?" He gave her a big kiss on the mouth and Rachel squealed when he slipped his tongue against her lips.
She jerked back and smacked the side of his head. "Ew! Hideki! No tongue!"
"Tongue?" Jack asked as he got a hug, too. "Are you trying to slip Rachel some tongue, Hideki?"
The younger man laughed as Raoul got out of the car. "Yeah, I'm sorry."
"You should be. Rachel only gets tongue if I get tongue, too." Jack grinned down at Hideki, who turned to his boyfriend as he was hugging Rachel.
"Can I French Jack?" he asked.
"Yeah, can he?" Jack seconded with a lopsided, teasing grin as he put his arm around Hideki's waist.
Raoul rolled his eyes as Rachel shook her head. "Have fun," he said.
"Don't give him cooties," Rachel told him as she leaned down to pick up an overnight bag, fully expecting laughter before the two came to help.
What she got was Hideki turning back to Jack and pulling him down to plant a serious kiss on his lips, a kiss that Jack returned as her jaw dropped. Hideki held Jack's face between his palms and Jack wrapped his strong arms around Hideki's waist, angling his head a little more as they moved closer, bodies flush against each other. Both men were obviously enjoying themselves and Rachel had to swallow past a suddenly dry throat as she and Raoul watched.
"Is it weird that this is kind of turning me on?" she asked him in a low voice. 'Kind of' was a little bit of an understatement. She should be horribly jealous, seeing red, to the point of murder with rage that Jack was so enthusiastic about what should have been a joking peck on the lips at the most --- which meant that he'd wanted to kiss Hideki to begin with --- but she wasn't.
"It's sort of a weird situation," Raoul replied distractedly, "but no, that's not a weird reaction."
"But he's my husband. And he's kissing someone else."
"Yeah, my boyfriend."
They'd both meant to stop the kiss, but each lapsed back into silence as Jack's hands wandered down to Hideki's rear and cupped it, pulling him even closer. He broke the kiss, panting, and then whispered something in Hideki's ear that made the younger man laugh.
Jack looked at Rachel and Raoul and grinned. "Yeah, uh, I need to borrow Hideki for a bit . . ." He took the man's hand and tried to walk away, but Rachel snorted.
"I don't think so. Get your ass back here, Jack."
"Yeah?" Hideki murmured as they obediently stood before their lovers.
"Maybe," Jack replied. Louder, "But you don't give blow-jobs, Rachel, and Hideki does."
"My dick's the only one he puts his mouth on," Raoul said with narrowed eyes, but he was trying not to smile.
"And you don't stick your dick in anyone but me," Rachel seconded as she reached up to grab his ear.
"Ow!" Jack laughed and kissed her; she could taste Hideki's mouthwash. "Well, then, come on." He took her hand and tugged her toward the house, but Rachel resisted.
"And just where are we going?"
"We're all going to bed!" he declared as Hideki burst into laughter.
Rachel stared at her husband, not sure if he was serious or joking. "What, all four of us?" His grin got wider. "Jack, you are not inviting other people into our bed!" Hideki came up behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder, arms around her waist. Rachel was ready to scream. "Raoul, make them stop!"
He pushed them off of her as he laughed. "All right, all right, break it up. No foursomes, you two."
"Why not?" Hideki whined. "Party-pooper."
"You're no fun," Jack agreed as he picked up two bags. "It's not like it'd be my first, y'know . . ." He and Hideki headed inside as Rachel stared after them.
"They're serious, aren't they?" she asked Raoul.
He scratched the back of his neck and arched his eyebrows. "Uh . . . I think they might be."
"Oh, no! No no no!" Rachel grabbed another bag and hurried after Jack. "Jack Dawes! I am not having sex with three men at once! Two of them don't even like women!"
"More for me, then!"
She barged through the door and threw the bag at him. "You're not sleeping with them, either!"
He'd caught the bag and held it in front of him like a shield as Rachel smacked at him. "Hey, hey! Calm down! It was just a thought! Man, you let me tie you up and whip you, but the moment I suggest someone else play with us, you freak out! I'm sorry! Ow! I'm sorry!"
She'd beat him down into a crouch, tears of laughter streaming from his eyes even as he begged for forgiveness. One more good clock upside the head and Rachel was finished, panting as she glared down at her breathless husband.
"You just watch yourself this weekend, mister." Then a wave of nausea hit her and Rachel covered her mouth with one hand, the other grabbing at the back of the couch as dizziness followed. "Oh . . ."
"Are you all right?" Jack asked from the floor. He was still hiding behind the bag and peeked around it with a frown.
"Yeah, I'm just . . . I need some water."
He got up and took Rachel's hand, bringing her around to sit on the couch. "Okay, I'll get some."
"I think I caught the flu in California," she told Hideki and Raoul as Jack went into the kitchen. "Jack's been taking care of me."
"It's sunny in California!"
"Not in San Francisco, not this time of year." Rachel smiled up at Jack as she took the glass of water he handed her and sipped at it. She was suddenly exhausted. "Guys, you'll be in the room down here ---"
"Actually, I sort of promised the girls that they could stay over tomorrow night," Jack said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and examined his feet. "They stay down here when they sleep over."
"Two of the girls in Jack's dance class stay over sometimes," Rachel explained. "But I'm not sure I want you sleeping so close to Hideki, Jack." She glared at him but it held no heat, then smiled when he kissed her forehead.
"I promise to only have sex with him if you and Raoul both say I can."
"Your consideration of my feelings never fails to amaze me, dear."
"I'm a considerate guy." He wrinkled his nose when she kissed it. "I'll get them settled; you stay here."
"I'm fine now," Rachel protested, but Jack pushed her gently back onto the couch when she tried to stand. "Jack, I feel fine."
"If you might be getting sick, I don't want you making it worse. I'll bring you some medicine. C'mon, you two."
"She does look a little pale," Raoul commented as they headed up the narrow stairs. "Nice place."
"Yeah, I fix things in exchange for sex." Jack grinned. "Doesn't mean I always get it." He opened the bedroom door opposite his. "This big enough?"
"Yeah, it's great." Jack ducked into the bathroom at the head of the stairs, grabbing some cold medicine from the cabinet. "What's this door for?" Hideki called. "And why's it dead-bolted?"
"I asked that when we first moved in," Jack replied as he came back in to the room. "It's like a crawlspace/attic thing, and it goes between the two rooms up here. Our door to it is dead-bolted, too. I'd just read It and she was trying to scare me," and here he scoffed a little, "so when I asked why her mom was trying to keep us out of the space, she asked what if the dead-bolts weren't to keep people out, but to keep something else in?" Jack laughed. "Yeah, we slept downstairs for about a week after that."
Hideki had edged behind Raoul, and glanced at the small door nervously. "So . . . you don't know why it's locked?"
"Open it and find out," Jack told him with an evil grin.
"You're an ass."
"Yes, I know." He walked out of the room and down the small hallway to look out the window, staring down the driveway. "The Fines are here. Looks like they brought the Mitzi-thing."
"What's a Mitzi-thing?" Raoul asked as he and Hideki joined Jack.
He pointed to the car seat Helna was holding. "That. That's a Mitzi-thing. It's their progeny-creature. I'm training it to be a criminal mastermind."
The other two laughed. "Like some pet, huh?" Hideki asked.
"Yeah. C'mon, I'll introduce you. Don't worry, I didn't tell them you're gay." They got downstairs just as Tom knocked on the door and peered in at them. "Hey, Tom. Come on in. Rachel, take this and stay there." She gagged over the thick syrup he made her drink as Tom held the door for Helna. Jack took the Mitzi-thing out of the carrier and grinned at it. "Hey there, ugly. Here's some politicians and cops to buy off." He took it over to Hideki and Raoul. "This is Hideki; he's the District Attorney for Gotham City. And this is Raoul; he's a police officer at the Major Crimes Unit in Gotham. Buy them off and you'll be okay for a while."
Rachel sighed from the couch as she turned around. "Tom, Helna, these are our friends, Hideki and Raoul."
"Glad to meet you," Tom said as he shook hands with the two. "I'm Tom Fine, and this is my wife, Helna. You've been introduced to our daughter."
"I can't believe two good-looking people like you produced such an ugly abomination," Jack said cheerfully as he walked past, Mitzi curled up in the crook of his arm.
"Glad to meet you," Raoul said as they all sat down.
"He's like an oversized kid," Hideki said as Jack disappeared into the kitchen. "By the way," and he flicked a glance at the Fines, "two people we know are exchanging vows soon. You're invited."
Rachel's face lit up. "That's wonderful! Tell them congratulations. I wish I could tell you that someone's having a baby, but . . ." She shrugged and pursed her lips.
Helna reached over and squeezed her knee as Tom laughed. "Give it a month or so, Rachel, and you might just find your birth control's missing."
"Are you mad at me for forgetting to get that filled?" Jack asked as he came back in, Mitzi over his shoulder and two trays of finger-food in his hands. "I said I was sorry; you didn't need it last week, anyway." He handed the trays to Tom, who had stood to take his daughter back. The man just raised his eyebrows as he set the trays on the coffee table. Jack settled next to Rachel and transferred Mitzi to his lap. "Rachel's not feeling well today; I don't know if we should go out."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Jack, I'm fine. I'll go to Dr. Howard tomorrow, all right?"
He kissed her cheek. "Thank you."
"This place we're going to for dinner has karaoke, right?" Hideki asked during a lull in the conversation a while later.
Raoul shook his head with a sigh as Helna nodded. "Every night. It's the only karaoke place in town. Rachel said you loved karaoke."
Hideki grinned at her. "Yep; used to do it every summer when we visited my mother's family in Japan. What are we doing about the baby?"
"Oh, Janet's watching her tonight."
"Is that the one with a huge crush on you?" Raoul asked Jack.
"No, her little sister's the one who wants to marry me." He still hadn't realised that Janet was in love with him. "But you'll meet them tomorrow." He'd reluctantly handed Mitzi back to Tom, complaining all the while about how terrible she smelled. "So, you two are coming with us, and Tom, you and Helna are dropping that awful creature off with Janet and meeting us there?"
"That's the plan," Tom replied as Hideki and Raoul cleared the now-empty trays. "Reservation's under Dawes?"
"Yeah." He looked over his shoulder at Rachel, who was nodding off. "We might need to cut out early, though."
Tom nodded. "It's not a problem. See you there."
"Yep." Jack turned back to Rachel and reached down to touch her shoulder. She jerked a little and looked up. "Are you okay? We don't have to go out if you're not feeling well . . ."
"No, I'll be fine." She yawned. "Just don't swing me around too much."
"I'll try not to. Come on, let's get you ready for dinner."
Half an hour later the six of them were sitting in Sundance Bar & Grill, hollering encouragement at the singer on the stage as she belted "I Will Survive." Hideki had commandeered one of the songbooks and had already put at least three songs in, in addition to the one he'd sung as they'd waited for their meals to arrive.
While initially starving, Rachel's stomach had heaved a little when her food had been set in front of her, and she'd been mostly pushing it around her plate and hoping Jack wasn't noticing that she wasn't really eating. He was howling with laughter, and then the singer bowed and scurried back to her table.
"All right, give Mandy a big hand!" the K.J. said, pushing a few buttons. "We've got a new singer coming up, folks, let's give a big hand to Jack!"
"What the hell?" Jack asked, looking around to see if anyone was headed up to the stage. Hideki burst into laughter and Jack glared. "I am not going up there."
"Come on up, Jack! Don't be afraid, we don't bite," the K.J. called. "Going once . . ."
"Oh, go on," Rachel urged. "Sing me something good."
Jack stared at them as they pushed and prodded, then got up with a roll of his eyes and tromped to the stage. "What am I singing, Godie? I didn't put a song in." The title appeared on the screen and he raised his eyebrows, raising the microphone to his mouth. "I'm going to hurt you, Hideki," he said during the introduction.
"Sing it, baby!" the man called out, still laughing.
Rachel's eyes widened and she turned to Helna. "Is this . . . ?"
"I think so," Helna said with a nod.
Jack cleared his throat and shook his head as he started singing. He didn't need to watch the lyrics light up; he knew the song by heart. "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you . . . You'd be like Heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much . . . At long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive . . . You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you . . ."
Rachel was squealing with wide-eyed, shocked laughter; apparently she hadn't realised his musical interests lay in other genres than death metal and rock. Jack licked his lips and stepped off the stage as he continued, making his way over to their table.
"Pardon the way that I stare, there's nothing else to compare . . . The sight of you leaves me weak, there are no words left to speak . . . But if you feel like I feel, please let me know that it's real . . . You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off you . . ."
Rachel was red with laughter by the time Jack knelt on both knees in front of her, raising his hand to her. "I love you, baby," he sang as he took her hand and pulled her up despite her protests, "and if it's quite all right, I need you, baby, to warm the lonely night." He held her against him as they swayed on the dance floor, and a few other people got up to dance, as well. Jack grinned at Rachel. "I love you, baby. Trust in me when I say: Oh, pretty baby, don't bring me down, I pray." He spun her around gently, then pulled her back against him again as she laughed, singing along. "Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay, and let me love you, baby. Let me love you . . ."
Jack dipped her gently at the end of the song to raucous applause, and she tweaked his nose. Godie came down to take the mic from him, encouraging more applause as Jack helped Rachel back to her seat.
"Was that too rough?" he asked as she reached for her water.
"I'm a little dizzy, but I'll survive. I didn't know you knew that song!"
Jack laughed and rubbed at his scars a little before scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I know a lot of songs."
"Hey, I didn't even know you knew how to sing!" was Tom's exclamation as he clapped Jack on the back. "That was amazing, man."
"You were great," Helna agreed.
Rachel leaned back in her seat a little and waved her hands in front of her. "Whoa, ego! Down! Now!" Jack just rolled his eyes at her as he took their compliments a little smugly.
"That wasn't romantic enough for you?" he asked teasingly.
Rachel shot him a sharp look, then rubbed her eyes gently. "Oh, no, it was romantic. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed his lips gently. "You're incredibly romantic when it benefits your ego."
"And it almost always does," he replied with a quick kiss of his own. "That's why I send you flowers at work."
Rachel smiled widely, then yawned. "Oh, oh . . . I'm so sorry," she mumbled through it, covering her mouth.
Jack rubbed the small of her back gently. "Can you two bring Raoul and Hideki back when he's done making a fool of himself?" he asked Tom. "Rachel hasn't been feeling well all week."
"Jack, please ---"
"Go on," Tom said as he raised a quick eyebrow at Helna. "You're seeing Dr. Howard tomorrow, right?"
"I can fit you in during Jack's class," Helna offered. She worked in his office.
"As long as it will make Jack stop fussing over me, that would be great."
"I'm sorry you don't feel well, Rachel," Hideki said as she and Jack got up. "Are you sure you want me and Raoul to stay? I mean, it's no problem ---"
"No, please, have fun," she interrupted with a smile. She was nauseous again. "Jack can come back an---"
"No." The forcefulness of his tone made Rachel jump a little and stare at him. Jack shook his head, his lips pursed tightly. "No," he said in a more gentle voice. "I'm not leaving you home alone." Then he kissed her to take any lingering sting from his words.
"Go on," Raoul said. "Get some rest. We're here until Sunday night, and we're here to relax; you don't need to entertain us all the time." He was smiling, too, and Rachel had to gulp back sudden tears as she nodded.
"Okay, then. Come on . . ." Jack led her to the car and wouldn't listen to her apologies for interrupting their evening. "Are you okay to drive?" He'd fret if she didn't let him drive, so Rachel grudgingly handed over her keys and got in the passenger side. "Thank you."
"I'm not dying, Jack. It's just the flu or something."
"Well, get it checked out tomorrow." He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. "You're not fevered."
Rachel smiled as she lay her head back against the head rest. "That's good." Then she reached over and took his hand. "Thank you, Jack."
"For what?"
"For taking care of me."
He chuckled. "It's what I promised to do, you know."
"I know. I love you."
"Me, too."