For Atia

[more_flexible]

[After Roger]

Jack sat in the kitchen and pondered what had just happened as he slowly picked the pomegranate apart and ate it. Thoughts of Roger led to Roger and Brian, which led to a dozen other thoughts and before he knew it he was sucking juice off of his thumb and wondering what he should feed his cat tonight. He never devoted much thought to other people's relationships. They were good or they weren't, but they weren't really any of his business. The only thing he cared to know was if someone was available or not.

As the pomegranate shrank, Jack ate the seeds slowly, one at a time. There was another on the counter and with the magic snow, there would probably be more tomorrow, but for now he was content to slowly savor the fruit, one small burst of sweet-tart juice at a time.

Comments

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

Atia had spent the majority of the previous weeks thinking of anything but her daughter. Her daughter who had left her here, alone. Abandoned her. The thoughts came, whether she wanted them to or not. Luckily it seemed, there was distraction this day. She walked up to Jack at the counter, her fingers digging into the flesh of the fruit and letting the staining juice spread. "I love these. Did you know?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I did not," he replied smoothly, catching her wrist and looking at her fingers. "You're a very messy eater, Atia. Maybe you should let me feed you." He parted his lips and his tongue darted out, catching a drop of juice clinging to her fingernail. Couldn't have those claws at anything but full working order. It had been a while since he'd sported the telltale signs that he'd shared her bed.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"Does a little spilled juice scare you, Jack?" She raised an eyebrow, stepping against him as his tongue touched her finger. "Am I a messy eater, or was this merely my intention?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Does it matter, either way?" he asked lightly. He smirked a little and his eyes flashed dark before he drew he finger into his mouth and sucked it clean. He moved from one to the next, to the next, until the were all clean. Pulling back with a satisfied smiled, he reached up to touch her face.

"I still think you should let me feed you, gorgeous."

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

There was no way to call the action anything but intimate, yet even in the crowded kitchen, Atia did not care. In fact, she saw no wrong with what he did; rules that applied to others not applying to her as well.

"Should you?" She raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking to consider it for a moment or two. "I imagine, if you must."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I must," he purred, thumbing a half dozen seeds free gently, making certain they stayed in tact. He rolled them forward and offered her two. "If only so I can watch that beautiful mouth do something more than smile."

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

Looking at him through lowered lashes, her lips parted slowly. Her hand closing around his wrist she pulled his hand closer, her tongue touching first the end of his finger before her teeth closed about them.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack parted his fingers enough to let the seeds drop, but only just. The sensation of her lips and tongue made him smile faintly, his own tongue darting along his lips as he imagined just how her kiss would taste.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

She was less interested in the food than his fingers, sucking lightly as her eyes stayed on him every second. More than a few moments and it would have been obscene, slowly letting his fingers slide from her mouth and letting the juice from the seeds sit on her tongue instead. "Passable, I would say."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I always liked them," he replied, watching her speak and the way the inside of her lips became discolored. "How's life, Atia? I haven't seen you much with the snow. Been keeping to your bed?"

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

She had been keeping to the warmth of her villa-turned-tent, but not entirely for the reasons he might imagine. "My daughter is gone," she said simply. "I have not felt up to company most days."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied, genuine in his sympathy. There was nothing more to offer other than a touch of comfort in the form of his palm laid lightly against her jaw.

"When you feel like company, I'm available," he continued. "Very."

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"Are you then?" An offer such as that could be seen as insulting. Yet at the moment Atia clung to it, not finding it so at all. "Will you bring the pomegranate?"

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

Sympathy is not what she wanted, as it only served to remind her of the loss. That she missed Octavia, and felt betrayed by her.

"I could be interested," she turned her head into his hand, her eyes closed, "and available as well."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he did nothing to suppress it. With its arrival, sympathy vanished. He was finding it harder and harder to feel sorry for himself...other people's losses usually hardly warranted more than a brief statement.

"Could be? And what might I need to do to turn that into 'definitely'?" he asked.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"The rest of that fruit of yours, and a trip to my hut. I have a litter now," her daughter's of course, causing a slight frown, "we need not even walk. Company on such a cold night could be... refreshing."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"And who, exactly, have you charmed into carrying your litter around?" he asked, already moving to escort her out of the Compound.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"It moves itself," she rested one hand on his arm, making a vague motion with her other. "How, I am not sure. One of these things from this future you all talk of."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, very chic," Jack replied. He slipped his coat on and scanned the hooks for something Atia might deem appropriate, but decided he'd have to wait for her to claim her own.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

She did not have a coat, but a large fur cloak she had found the week before. Wrapping it about her, she offered a hand again. "We take what we are given. It does make getting about much easier."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack took her hand and then wrapped it into the bend of his elbow as he led her out to the waiting litter.

"It does, doesn't it? I feel bad for the people who have to walk everywhere, especially in the cold. If it wasn't for training, I don't know that I'd leave my hut."

Which wasn't entirely true. Jack would brave any weather or calamity to get to the compound. The idea of being all alone for any extended period of time was like hell. His own, personal hell.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"Loneliness," she said, the word escaping her before she could properly stop to think how it might sound. Yet once she had spoken it, it was hard to not continue, pulling her legs beneath the warmth of the cloak. "I could not manage to spend all of my time alone."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't expect a woman like you to have a reason to be alone...unless you wanted to be," Jack replied, leaning in close to press a nearly chaste kiss to her jaw.

[bitchofthejulii.livejournal.com]

"You might be surprised," she said quietly, her words barely heard even in the silence of the night. "There are few who see things your way, something I do not understand."