[for dale]

[more_flexible]

He had a bed and his own room. He had the Doctor and House and Ace and everyone and didn't even really need it, but it was nice to go in and close the door and...and feel guilty for being alone in a place where everyone could really use something that he could give, whether it was a smile or conversation or sex or just a warm body. His own bed offered nothing like peace because it was too new and it was empty; it barely smelled like Jack, let alone anyone else.

With all that in mind, he left without a word. He just needed to get away. Get away from anyone he had to be on for. Anyone who needed Jack to be fine. He wasn't fine and chips and cracks were starting to appear.

As he sat on the beach watching the sunset, all he could think about was how much he wanted to just be able to leave. Go somewhere. Cuddy had asked him about home...only one place felt like that and he'd left that behind. Sure, he had an open invitation, but how weird would that be, he thought as he tossed pebbles into a tide pool just to watch the sparkle of apricot light dance on the ripples.

Comments

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale nodded his head and was silent for a few moments, just letting his hand settle on Jack's shoulder. "Come home, Jack," he said finally. "Maybe you can handle it, but so can I."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack closed his eyes, sort of wishing he wanted to protest. But that was a game he just didn't have to play with Dale, so instead...he nodded.

"Yeah. You're right," he said softly. "When?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Now. Later. Whenever you want," said Dale. "I don't mind a couple of sleepless nights, you know that."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I want to come home," he admitted. "You really don't mind?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I want you there, Jack," said Dale honestly. "We have good times together. I think I got used to having you around; it's been too quiet since you've been gone."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I took all the noise with me," he snorted. Jack tossed the last few pebbles in the tide pool and watched the diamond fire shimmer and then return to placid. "Let's go. We can...whatever."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Yes, we can," said Dale, looking for his shoes so that he can stand up again. It's a bit of a hike back to the hut. "Whatever you want, Jack, I'm pretty easy."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Not as easy as me," he teased as he hopped off the rock and brushed his pants clean. "And hey, I even have a clean shirt to sleep in," he added as he offered Dale a hand up.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"That's a whole different kind of easy, Jack," said Dale, accepting the hand up and brushing sand off his pants. "And since when do you wear a shirt to bed?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Since I've been crashing with Ace. She has nightmares too, so I lay with her and it's...nice. Helping."

He brushed his own pants off and looked up.

"I don't do anything else with her," he added for clarification.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I didn't think you had," said Dale, though it would have been a very easy assumption to make. He remembered Jack talking about Ace before. "Well, you know it won't bother me if you don't."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I know," he replied. "It's just gotten to be a sort of habit."

Jack walked on, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "You know this time of day is called the gloaming?" he asked.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I did know that," said Dale with a smile. "The English language has a variety of wonderful words that aren't used nearly enough anymore."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"The falling veils have hardly been secretly unloosened before they are punctuated by the white or yellow flare of the street-lamps. Hardly is breathing-space, there, between the stepping out of day and the stepping into night," he recitd as he walked. "That's one of the things I really like here. Night is night...we haven't tried to make it into something else."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"You really do have a poetic soul," said Dale appreciatively. "I should really pick up a few books to keep around the hut, once I get someone to teach me how to make a lamp."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Not really...just enough training to fake it," he replied as he looked down to watch his feet. It really didn't surprise him at how Dale seemed to see right through him, but it was still unsettling. He'd never let anyone know him this well and yet Dale just did. Whether he wanted him to or not.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale looked at him skeptically, but just kept on smiling. "You don't need to fake anything," he said finally as they walked. "Not with me. Not even being okay."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack kept on moving in silence. It was beyond natural for him to fake it, whatever it was. He was good at it, not to mention the fact that if he pretended he was fine then he could believe it himself.

"Hardly breathing space there," he repeated with a soft huff. "You are such an enigma, Dale. I can't be anything with you but genuine."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm not an enigma," insisted Dale. "The world is an enigma, a vast and sometimes wonderful one. But me, I'm just a plainspoken man."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Don't try to con a con," Jack teased. "You probably have just as many secrets as I do, Dale."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale's smile twisted a little at one corner. "Maybe not quite as many," he said. "You've led a very interesting and convoluted life, Jack Harkness."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Dale?" he asked, stopping on the footpath and turning, the hut not far beyond. "Why do you always do that? You always turn it back onto me."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Do I do that?" said Dale, though even he knew the answer was a little disingenuous. "I suppose I find talking about you interesting, and you've had a lot you've needed to talk about."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You know it goes both ways, right?" he asked, not pressing the subject. It wasn't that he minded having someone to talk to about it, but it didn't seem fair sometimes.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"You might regret that offer when I finally take you up on it," said Dale, his smile remaining on his face, but growing a bit strained about the edges.