[for Dale || Monday, Oct 2]

[more_flexible]

Showered and sated from the day at the beach, Jack left Eric and headed off to Dale's hut with a bounce in his step. He'd gotten some clarity, and not just from the sex. It was the intimacy and the friendship...and talking to River had gotten him thinking about things he hadn't thought he needed on the island. But maybe having a plan wasn't so bad.

But not tonight. Tonight he and Dale would drink some wine, play some cards, and hopefully had gotten all the deep, meaningful things out of the way so they could just have a nice night together.

Platonic life partners. Just the idea made Jack smile.

Comments

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

After the ball, Dale had stashed away a bottle of wine for a rainy day. It wasn't the terrible mango stuff he'd enjoyed with Alan and Sookie on the beach, but it was nearly as bad. Dale had come to expect no less. The cards he'd found in the compound, unattended and scattered, and had stuffed them in his pocket when no one was looking.

"I'm not quite sure it's a full deck," he said, pulling them out again and showing them to Jack when he arrived home, "but then, people have been saying I've been playing without one for years."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack chuckled and closed the distance, giving Dale a warm hug. "No sense playing with a full one. If you do then you have to follow the rules."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"And something tells me that's something that you've never been overly fond of," said Dale, clapping him on the back a couple of times before letting him go. "I found some leftover spaghetti in the fridge and brought that with me, too; figured you might want a bite to eat."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Dale," he replied, "you didn't have to. Thank you, I mean...wow. Thank you."

He hadn't expected such a warm welcome, although if he thought about it, it was just what Dale would do. He shook his head in amazement and moved back, nodding to the chairs.

"I feel like I should ask you how your day was, dear," he said...only half teasing.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"It was perfectly lovely, thank you, darling," said Dale, presenting the spaghetti with a flourish and a grin. "Well, part of it was. The part once I decided to take the day off."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

THat earned him a genuine laugh as he accepted the food. "You're too good, Dale. Did you enjoy the day? Loafing, or whatever?" he asked as he took a bite.

Darling. No one had ever called him that...even in jest. Jack tried not to think about it too much.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I worked on my tan," said Dale, sliding up his sleeves. "You should be sorry you missed that part. Though I think I might've burned a bit about the shoulders. Time will tell."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"A worthwhile pursuit," he nodded as he took another bite. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he started eating. "House would be upset if I didn't remind you about sunscreen," he added. "He harps at me enough."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Considering we live on a tropical island," said Dale, portioning out some of the food for himself, "I really don't get all that much sun. Especially not since Sookie... she liked to spend her afternoons on the beach. After the kitchen, it was the first place I looked for her."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack nodded slowly, looking around for the wine. "You think it'll ever get easier, Dale? Missing her?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's like anything," he said. "It gets easier, but you never entirely forget. It doesn't upset me to talk about it anymore, after all. My memories of afternoons on the beach are all good ones."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

With a nod and a smile, Jack poured them both glasses and raised his own.

"Then here's to Sookie who brightened lives while she was here, and our own are that much more plain now that she's gone."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I'll definitely drink to that," said Dale, raising his glass. The wine was as terrible as he remembered and he enjoyed every drop of it.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack nodded and drew from the deck, staring at his hand to decide what to discard.

"Yeah. Both he and House freaked out about my injuries. Nothing as bad as nearly being executed, but messier than a Dalek death ray. They don't seem to get that I've seen things they've never imagined dealing with," he said as he tossed the same jack back down and took another drink.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I don't think that matters much, to them," said Dale, studying his hand for a few moments before pulling a card. His hand didn't change no matter how long he stared at it. "And sometimes the magnitude of a thing matters less than what the thing is." He added a seven to his run and tossed a nine.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He looked at the nine, then his hand, then drew and dropped the queen like it burned.

"Yeah, I can see that. What do you think?" he asked as he took another drink, his lips lingering for amoment before he took another.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"What do I think?" said Dale, pausing in his play for a moment. "I think you need to do what you need to do, and maybe only you know what that is."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You're really good at that, you know?" he replied with a soft laugh. Laying his cards face down, Jack leaned forward with both elbows on the table.

"I think I need to live my life, have some fun, do the right thing as often as I can, and find something to do around here besides fuck," he said, abandoning the cards altogether. "Not that I don't like it...it's just not very productive."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"That sounds," said Dale, laying his cards down as well, "like an excellent plan. Do you know what it is you might like to do around here?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Not really. No real call for a soldier or a spy," he said with a shrug. "I'll come up with something. Something besides carpentry."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Any thoughts on the subject at least?" Dale asked, with more than mere curiousity. "Anything you've always wanted to try out?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I like fixing things, but there isn't a whole lot of machinery around. I kind of thought...don't laugh. I like the kids. I kind of thought about signinguptoteach," he mumbled, taking another drink.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like a fine idea," said Dale immediately. "There's a lot more than the kids to teach around here, too. I always imagined the school here would end up something like a community college when we got it going: a little something for everyone, at every level.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack looked at Dale over the rim of his cup and was genuinely surprised. He didn't know what he expected, but certainly not a hands down endorsement from him.

"You really think so? I mean...right. I can offer more than just, you know," he said, becomming almost shy about it. "The Academy was pretty rigorous. I can do languages or mechanics or combat or history or...yeah."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I think that the population is in dire need of services such as those," he said, quite seriously. "It hasn't escaped my notice that a number of people are still strugging to find their place here, to find something to do with their time. You wouldn't just be finding something for yourself to do, you'd be doing them a service too."