[for gwen]

[more_flexible]

Jack had talked to Dream, the Lord Whatever, and as the sun dropped beneath the horizon the potential of dreaming was something he just wanted to avoid. Horrible was what the man had said, and he hadn't been off.

So, under the guise of 'pain relief', Jack had taken a joint and matches out into the grass near the treehouse and laid back to look at the stars. As he inhaled the smoke he wondered which of them he'd been to. Which of them he'd never be close to again.

Comments

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"It really is. That was a real fucker thing to do, wasn't it?"

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

"You had to do it," says Gwen with a slight shrug. "Pro-to-col," she adds, emphasizing each syllable. "They keep you in little boxes," she muses, her head falling back so that she can look at the stars. "But how do you put someone in a little box?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"...Smushing?" he asked, hoping he'd guessed the right answer.

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

"No!" Gwen protests, dropping her head back down to look at Jack again. "You can't smush a person, don't you see? People have to be..." Sucking in a deep breath, she flung her arms towards the cosmos. "Free."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I smush people all the time," he grinned. "Just not in little boxes."

His hand crept slowly up her thigh...all on its own. His brain was too busy trying to process that way-too-fast movement.

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

For Gwen's part, she scarcely notices, shaking her head instead, wanting to make him understand. "I mean philosophically. You cannot put people into little boxes, you just can't do that!"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Philophosphically, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Labels are so..." he gestured vaguely, "quaint."

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

"You don't know because you weren't there," Gwen replies, leaning over him. Her hair swings forward like a curtain, blocking out most of the little light around their faces. "But that's okay. I forgive you."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You always forgive me," he drawled, pushing up just enough to kiss her softly. "You're pretty."

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

Blinking, Gwen mumbles, "Oh," as if he'd not said that just a few moments earlier, and licks at her lips as if she can't quite believe his mouth was just there. "Am I?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Really pretty," he nodded. "And you taste good, too."

He arched up again, kissing her slower this time, sucking at her lips. His mouth was dry and his lips tingled a little.

"And we're floating, aren't we?"

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

Gwen isn't quite fathoming that she's snogging in the middle of the jungle, or in sight of the Treehouse, or that anyone could happen by. What she is fathoming, however, is that she's snogging Jack, again, and that he thinks she tastes good, and that he tastes good, too.

"Yes," she answers on a breath and kisses him back, because she's not sure she knows how to not.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'll take you to your star," he smiled against her lips, kissing her more clumsy than usual...which was still really good.

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to reply when there's a mouth pressed against yours, so Gwen leans back a bit, frowning. "I thought I got a whole constellation," she reminds him.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You know they aren't made of stars that are close together," he chuckled. "Gotta hit them one." Kiss. "At." Kiss. "A." Kiss. "Time."

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

After tucking her hair behind one ear so that she can see him properly, Gwen lifts a hand to Jack's face, nuzzling in for a lingering kiss. "Jack," she whispers, and draws away just enough that she can look into his eyes. There's a heavy knowledge behind her gaze, clear enough even though she's having trouble focusing.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He kissed her once more and then just stopped with his lips pressed to hers. "What?"

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

It's hard, saying this, and Gwen doesn't want to. There's a pleasantly fuzzy part of her brain that's insisting she needn't worry about it, that it'll sort itself out after, that this is Jack, and he feels so good, and doesn't she want that? Doesn't she want him?

Then she realizes that she's not entirely sure.

"I can't be just a number," she explains, and hopes it makes sense, because she isn't certain she could come up with anything better.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You're not a number. You're a woman," he replied, backing off enough to look at her. "A pretty woman."

A number? Like a phone number? There weren't even phones here and it's not like the numbers of the beds meant much other than...

Oh.

"Oh."

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

Gwen's come to believe that for this Jack, for this person who doesn't really know her at all in spite of her wishing he did, she is either a burden or convenient, depending upon the day.

"I'm sorry," she whispers as she sits back, her expression guilty.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"What for?" he asked, genuinely confused. "It's okay to say no, you know. I'd rather have you out of bed every day than in bed once and lose...this."

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

Her heart's in her throat, because she honestly believes him, and it makes her think that maybe he really is the same Jack, and... Oh, it all just makes her head hurt, trying to figure it out. Why can't they just be the same person?

Impulsively, she kisses him again, and there's nothing timid or hesitant about it.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack groaned softly and kissed her back, his tongue slipping into her mouth even though it was dry and his lips were clumsy and greedy. He twisted just a little and tried to keep himself against her, but after a moment he slumped back into her lap.

"Sorry, I'm...high?"

[be-normal.livejournal.com]

"So'm I," Gwen replies, which probably explains why she's so damned grabby. She sucks on her bottom lip a moment, peering down at Jack as she brushes the hair from his forehead. "Tell me why."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I...hurt," he said softly, looking into her eyes. "That man knew me. Knew everything. Dreams."

A soft sigh accompanied the movement of his arm around her, holding on. "Things I've never said."