[date with clarice]

[more_flexible]

It was a date...a real date. With a girl. Jack tried to make everything just right, if for no other reason than to show Clarice what fun could be had out of the basement. He had a bit of whisky from last night. Not enough to do much with other than enjoy. He'd also put together a basket with some coffee, snacks, a tiny bit of cheese, some bacon...a little bit of everything so nothing would really be missed.

Beyond sharing food and talking to her, Jack didn't have any real plans. That was for the best because it meant he was ready for anything.

Comments

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

After affording the aforementioned wildlife a brief glance, Clarice looked back to Jack, watching his profile as they walked. "Could I ask you a question?" she inquired, the flash of curiosity lighting behind her blue eyes.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Ask me anything," he offered, looking down at her with that charming grin firmly affixed. "What do you want to know?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

"Why you asked me out, actually. Not that I'm not flattered. I'm just curious what compelled you." Clarice continued watching him carefully, almost impassive.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He shrugged, buying time as he thought about it. "Do you mean why I didn't just try to sleep with you that day? Or why I thought I might like to get to know you and have a nice afternoon with a smart and beautiful woman?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

Clarice laughed with a slight duck of her head, the sound slightly sheepish. He was honest, or at least seemed to be, and she had to appreciate that.

"The first, actually." Not that she would have slept with him, but he hadn't even tried. "Although you could answer the second as well, if you wanted to."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I can answer both. You strike me as someone I'd actally like to know. Maybe be friends with. Maybe more, I don't know. Whatever, I had the distinct feeling we could have had a great time naked, but after that there would be that weird silence and uncomfortable glances and 'oh, Jack, did you just use me' and stuff. I mean, if I've got it wrong, tell me. It's not like I'm unwilling," he teased.

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

And practical, too. Be still her heart.

"Ah, well," Clarice began, not certain exactly how much she was willing to say, watching the trees instead of Jack as she deliberated. "I very much doubt I'd ever accuse a man I slept with of using me." She simply was not that sort of woman. Sex was sex, nothing more. "Although getting to know you sounds like a better idea, just now." Not to mention the fact that she was far more flattered than she'd likely ever admit.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Getting to know you it is, then," he smiled. Leading her through a stand of bamboo into a clearing, Jack nodded to a blanket he'd already put in place in the hopes she'd agree. "Your picnic awaits."

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

Clarice was still unsure why he was going to so much trouble, but she was impressed nonetheless, her smile curling faintly upwards when she spied the blanket. Had the circumstances been even just slightly different, she might have been a little wary, but there wasn't anything about Jack that felt false, and aside from that, Chris held him in high regard. With as protective of her as he could be, that was quite a recommendation.

Releasing Jack's arm, she stepped carefully to the blanket and sat down, instinctively smoothing the fabric for him with the palm of one hand. "You do this for all the girls, don't you?" she asked with an arch of her brows, just a bit coy.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"No," he said simply, dropping beside her and setting the basket aside before laying back. "You really want to pump me for all my tricks, Clarice?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

She'd known the answer already, had known well enough from Chris' reaction when she'd informed him of the date. Still, Jack's answer was interesting if not especially telling, and she tucked her legs beneath her as she peered serenely back at him.

"You have to forgive me, Jack. I'm a psychologist. So, in a way... yes." She licked absently at the corner of her mouth.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"A psychologist and a FBI Special Agent? I get the feeling I should be pumping you," he purred, reaching into the basket and pulling away the cloth cover. "What would you like to start with?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

Clarice's brows arched briefly in acknowledgement of the innuendo, but she didn't otherwise comment. "I'm not sure," she answered, arching forward to try and peek inside the basket. "What have you got?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack looked into the basket, picking around. "Juice, whisky, fruit, cheese, bread things, little bit of bacon...cooked this morning, and I conned Stu out of some M&M's. Do you like chocolate?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

"You have chocolate?" Clarice hadn't been anything close to a chocoholic back home, but six months without it had definitely been too long. It was one of those little details you found yourself pining for even if you weren't pining for home, precisely.

Laughing quietly at herself, Clarice lifted her gaze to his again. "Ah, yes. I like chocolate." As if her reaction hadn't made that clear enough.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Just because I don't take all the girls on dates doesn't mean I don't know how," he chuckled, pulling a tiny bag of candies that he'd gotten from one of Stu's MREs. "Here...of course, now I have no idea how I'm going to top that."

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

For a long moment, Clarice simply stared at the bag, wondering whether it was terrible to want to eat the candy when they should probably be saving them. Her eyes flicked back up to Jack and she smiled.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't expect anything to top chocolate. It's in a league of it's own."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He just smiled, eyes taking her all in at once. The light in her eyes, the curve of her lips...

Beautiful.

"All right, then. They're all yours. Would you like anything else in here? Or do I get to grill you on Quantico now?" he chuckled.

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, no. You have to share them with me," Clarice insisted. She'd still not even opened the bag yet. "And you can ask me whatever you like. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll answer."

Still smiling, she leaned a bit closer to the basket. "Since we're indulging, I wouldn't mind a little more of that whiskey, actually."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He nodded and poured her a measure and passed it off. "All right, hmm...why psychology?"

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

"People are fascinating," Clarice answered easily, and then accepted the whiskey with a murmured thanks. That was the stock answer, and to a point, it was true. However, were she being completely honest about it, she might have offered that it was easier to try and figure other people out than it was herself, or perhaps that analyzing others made it easier to keep them at a safe distance.

After taking a small sip, she smirked and asked, "Why piracy?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Well," he began, leaning his head on his hand and taking a sip of his own, "I was working for the Time Agency when they wiped away two years of my memories. I started stealing from them, screwing them over, toppling their grand plans and getting to things first. See, they have this policy of..."

His story was cut off as he sucked in a sharp breath. The glass fell from his hand and he rolled so he could hold his face in both hands, willing the thoughts to stop...willing the blinding pain to quit searing the inside of his skull.

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

"Jack?!"

Tossing her own drink and the candy immediately aside, Clarice reached for him, alarmed and eyes wide. "Jack? Jack, look at me. Jack, tell me what's wrong," she pleaded, her hands against his shoulders and voice far calmer than she could have believed herself capable of in such a situation.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Her voice. His name. Jack struggled to focus on her, to breathe, the wait as he thought of the TARDIS, of elephants and of M&M's and of anything that had nothing to do with the damned Agency.

Shaking his head, he flashed a weak smile and laid back. "I...I'm fine. Just getting you close enough to kiss," he said, his voice tight and low and hoarse.

[hustling-rube.livejournal.com]

Clarice shook her head, still visibly concerned. "Just relax," she murmured, hovering over him as she reached to pet cool fingertips against his temple. "Do you want something? Some juice, maybe?"