[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]

The wine wasn't good...but it wasn't horrible compared to some things he'd had. He swallowed his measure and refilled his glass, offering more to Dale as well.

"So what can we play if we're missing cards? I know a couple games but they're mainly for children. I think strip poker is out."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Strip poker's just foreplay when there's only two of you," agreed Dale, holding out his glass. "I'm open to suggestions, Jack. Whatever you've got a taste for."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Everything's foreplay when it's just two," he shot back with a wink. "Let me see what we're missing," he said as he held his hand out for the deck.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale handed it over after taking another sip of his wine. "And what did you waste away your afternoon on?" he asked. "While I was busy getting some sun."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Sex," he said with a shrug. "Talked to a really wonderful girl about time travel and governments interfering with our brains. Then some more sex. And I got to talk to you and Rob and then I had a shower and sex again. Usual day," he explained as he took a sip and began to sort the cards.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"That, my friend, is a whole lot of sex," said Dale, "even when punctuated by conversation and showering. I can't even imagine how you do it."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack shrugged as he seperated hearts from diamonds. "I just do. It's easy when people are willing and gorgeous. And I know...the Doctor criticizes me for it, but it's not something I can stop. We're engineered that way," he explained, taking another sip.

"But you can pretty much bank on not having to tell me no tonight. I'm too tired to even flirt."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I generally like to think of myself as a virile young man," said Dale, picking at the spaghetti between sips of wine. "Perhaps not as young as I used to be. But that's still an impressive track record, Jack. I can imagine you're tired."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He shook his head and moved on to counting out the spades and clubs as he chuckled. "See? That's why I don't settle down. If I had one person, I'd break them. Or they'd chafe...see?" he asked as he figured out what was missing.

"Ok, we've got no Queen of Spades but we've got a joker, and we're missing three out of four Aces so let's just chuck the last and play without them," he said, shuffling expertly and dealing Dale seven cards.

"The game is Rummy. Know it?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I know about five kinds of rummy," said Dale, picking up the cards, "you might want to go over just which one we're playing here, Jack. Before I help myself to some more of the wine."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"The one where we don't count points or try to do much more than empty our hand while we get a little drunk," he explained as he moved his cards around and put them in something like an order. "Sound okay?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I think I can manage that," said Dale as he sorted his own hand. Not really much to work with there. "I'm not sure we can get very drunk on one bottle of wine, but it's worth a shot."