for ambitious_woman The Bastille

[quitehomoerotic]

Relaxed.

Relaxed was something Jack Harkness rarely felt. In fact the concept of relaxation seemed an alien one to him. But yet here he was, that was how he felt. The muscles in his body were looser than they'd felt in far too long, and pains that had held there through stress and worry had, at least for now, melted away to nothingness.

It was morning, and he opened his eyes to a world he'd come to find he liked. A place that while it was nowhere that he belonged, he'd been surprised to discover that there was a space for him. A welcoming space with a welcoming face. He wasn't sure if it was something he deserved but for once, for a time, he wasn't going to worry about that.

When he woke, beside him he saw Reinette sound asleep. It made him smile and he pressed a delicate and small kiss to the skin at her shoulder. He stayed there a moment, just smiling and watching, and he whispered to her, "I'll be right back."

And so he rose from the bed. His intent was to find food. He'd take a morning walk, just a short one in the pleasant summer morning that he could see filtering through beyond the window, and then he'd venture to the kitchens and procure themselves something.

His clothes were near, and he dressed in them, item by item and then his coat (as if he'd go anywhere without it), and out into the corridors and halls of Versailles he went.

He wasn't on his guard, of course, why should he be? Short of clockwork what need he worry about right now? And really, should he encounter clockwork, he'd merely turn it off. No, here he felt happy, he felt safe, and so that guard he had learnt to keep up, was down.

And so it was his downfall.

He found his way to the rear gardens, nodding politely to footmen on his way (people that usually he made no effort to even acknowledge). But they had noticed him. In fact they had noticed him long before he noticed them. They had been noticing him for quite some time. They had noticed him in gardens and they had noticed him behind closed doors. And Jack had no idea.

And he wasn't prepared.

Entirely unprepared for the troupe of guards that met him in the gardens. It was as though they had been waiting, as though they had sought him out (and they had, of course). And as strong as Jack could be, he was not prepared, and so he could do nothing when he was met with a blow to the head, and another blow that knocked him to the ground. Another and another until he felt metal shackles on his wrists held behind his back and a tear of fabric between his lips to quiet his shouts.

And he was taken away.

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[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you are," Jack conceded. But he wasn't. Not certain, not sure, but curious, and with a little more confidence than he previously held.

"But I still think," he said, lower still, "that everything should be tested." And then a whisper, "Just to make sure."

One hand then, slipped to her waist, and with it there he gently pulled her a little closer. He wasn't certain, no, and his heart raced, but this? It was more than just a test to himself.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"Just to make sure," she said, more an echo of Jack's words than a statement of her own. She was close enough to catch the scent of the coat, which still carried wisps of lavender from where it had been stored. But whatever made Jack Jack? Was quickly overtaking it.

He pulled her close and Reinette felt herself take a half step closer still. She could be nothing but herself. Even still she naturally stopped to allow the expected room required for silks and hoops only to remember they were not there. She could actually feel each one of her fingertips against her waist.

"A test, you think."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Something like that," he said, and he lifted her fingers again, and again pressed his lips to them. A gentle touch on the back of her palm, then the back of her wrist as his fingers twined with hers.

"Can't remember," he said idly. "Did I show you upstairs?" He smiled, slowly. "Because I could take you. If you like."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

She did not laugh, exactly. Rather expelled a breath that was both sound and air. It was a good deal more than concern, where they began. Or contentment. Reinette imagined it to be happiness. In a sheer, uncomplicated form.

She glanced to where his mouth had touched her hand.

"Did you know Jack? That until I met you I had never stepped foot from my own country. London. Wales. And now upstairs?" Reinette smiled and glanced at the stairs behind him.

"I am becoming a world traveler."

Her chin lifted slighted, changing the dynamic of the narrow air between them.

"Show me then, Jack."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Well it's like I told you back then," he said, using his free hand to cover over the top of hers that he held. "I'm a tourist."

He grinned at her and his heart seemed to race slightly. And yes. Yes, he decided, he knew it then, he could do this. He could be Jack. And was it proving it? Did it matter if it was? Because either way, he knew that he could.

"Well," he said, and he grinned a little. "Lets see..."

And slowly, he grinned. And it was that grin that was an almost warning he was going to do something cheeky. Which of course, he was.

He paused only a moment before he shifted. One arm moved down and he shifted it under her legs, the other went around her back and he lifted her up in on movement.

And he carried her up the stairs.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"Back then," Reinette echoed. "Yes." It stood repeating because there were moments that she needed reminding of it. That for all their fits and starts, and the fairly brief amount of time spent together? It did begin some time ago. She pulled herself from those thoughts.

"When you were not interesting, if I recall."

Jack had been smiling before. But something in his expression changed and the air that surrounded him seemed to change with it. It brought to bind a certain ruined dressing gown.

And for a moment Reinette was caught in her mind, cataloging drenched dressing gowns and rumpled silk and all the other abuse to her clothing.

And then? She was not.

Her feet no longer touched the floor and she was given a rather intimate reintroduction to the front of Jack's coat.

"...Jack."

For a woman that lived to expect monsters in corners and under beds, he had managed to catch her off guard. He did more than most.

"My feet work quite well, thank you."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh come on," Jack said. "We both know I was always interesting."

He shot her another grin as he started up the stairs, Reinette firmly carried in his arms. He smiled at her, amused by her obvious and inevitable surprise.

"I'm sure they do," he said with a nod, "but I'm thinking you should put them up a while."

At the top of the stairs he pushed the bedroom door open with a foot and carried Reinette inside. Taking her over to the bed, he gently placed her down on the edge.

"So this is my bedroom." He grinned.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette did not even bother with further objection to her current situation. Jack was quite obviously stronger than her and clearly held the upper hand.

And her.

Settled on the edge of Jack's bed, Reinette precisely crossed one ankle of the other and tried to regain as much of her dignity was physically possible.

Glancing about she took Jack's bedroom in. Neat and precise, there were occasional flashes of the man draped across a chair or door handle. The room was flooded with the same lovely light from downstairs.

It was s stark contrast to the room she currently used downstairs.

But Jack smiled, and a weight on her chest lifted. Reinette matched him.

"It seems suitable, with everything that is required. Bed," she acknowledged. "Window. Door."


It was good, to see him like this.

"And Jack."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh no no, see you're missing the most important thing." Jack said, standing in front of her before moving himself down to the bed to sit beside her.

Already he was commanding the space without even noticing it. His back was straight and his arm a little forward, leaned towards her and around her slightly. Fencing her in, but not blocking.

"The most important thing of all."

He smiled.

"Reinette."

Because without her, right now, he was certain. There would be no Jack.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette did not move to close the space between them. But she did not yield either. It would never be in her nature. And not even Jack, for all his ability to command a room, or even the events of the past year would bring her to.

It was simply not who she was.

But with Jack, she was Reinette. Someone younger, less weary. She wondered if insisting he call her than had not been attempt on her own part to reclaim that part of herself.

"Yes," she agreed to the word if not his particular use of it. "Reinette."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

With a small smile, Jack watched Reinette. He watched and lifted a hand, gently brushing his thumb over his cheek.

"Thank you," he said, fully aware he'd been told in no uncertain terms that such words were not permitted. In fact, it was largely part of the reason he spoke them.

His thumb moved around and brushed gently across her lip, watching her, his eyes on those lips before, with no preamble but that, he leaned in and kissed her.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

The reaction was instant, and she imagined read quite plainly across her features. Her lips pressed, her gaze narrowed and Reinette moved to inform Jack quite plainly that --

Except that Jack chose that precise moment, when she moved to speak to trace his thumb across her mouth and drawing from it silence instead of sound.

And then he kissed her.

She supposed she might have lectured him there. They were certainly skilled enough at it. What she would say he would understand. But she did not.

She only met him, and kissed him softly in return.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's hand shifted carefully around Reinette's cheek so that it had a gentle hold there, and with a small smile he pressed the kiss a little more against her lips.

Pressed the kiss and pressed his body too; moving in such a way so as to shift her slowly back towards the bed.

There was a slight caution in it. Not to say Jack was 100% immediately. But it was almost there, and it would take little more to complete the journey.

Against her lips, he whispered. "I'm out of practise."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

As Reinette leaned back, her hands slipped past Jack's coat to rest against the shirt beneath. The palmed there, fingers curled slightly and enjoying the places where the heavier fabric now sat against her knuckles.

She did not laugh at his statement. She would not. But they would not dwell in it either.

"No more out of practice than I."

Reinette kissed him again, slanted softly against his mouth and brief.

"You also taste of your pizza. Old pizza. And ice cream."

And Jack, of course. There was Jack.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"That's okay," Jack said in a whisper that was almost a laugh. "It was good pizza."

He moved his hand gently across her side, feeling fabric and the shape of her body beneath it. For a moment, he glanced over and looked at it beneath his fingertips.

"Hmm," he said, all mock thoughtful. "Between you and me? I think I preferred the complicated dresses," a laugh. "Much more of a challenge."

And she knew how he liked those, didn't she?

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette watched how his glance fell, taking the moment in and allowing herself to fully study Jack's profile. His hair was slightly spangled across his brow, still blown from their drive home.

She heard the silence, and then spoke to fill it.

"Yes, but perhaps my clothing does not prefer you. Sadly, sadly mussed."

And then she laughed as well, something like amusement in her eyes. Or very nearly that.

"And if you think it is the dresses that are the challenge, you have not been paying proper attention Jack."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Again, Jack found himself laughing.

"Oh now I always pay attention," he said with a smirk. Not entirely true, of course, but he did his best, especially where she was concerned. And oh he knew she was a challenge, from the first day they had met, she'd been a challenge. And that was what made him stay, the challenge. It was her being her that brought him back.

He looked at her for a long moment, thoughtful and contemplative, and then he leaned in and pressed another kiss to her lips, slow and lingering.

And when he pulled back? He had something to say.

"I think I might pay that king of yours a visit."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"So confident," she teased, enjoying the quiet ease of the moment. There was nothing especially harried or rushed in it. They were simply just there. "I might have to test that assertion at some point."

Reinette did not break Jack's gaze, meeting it just as confidently as she met his mouth. Again, there was no rush. It simply was.

And that was all that was required.

Her eyes and thoughts, however, were slightly shadowed when he pulled back.

"Hardly mine now. Not after how we parted." Reinette continued to look at Jack. "Do you think that is wise?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh please do, I do love a good exercise," Jack said with a smirk. It was as though with each passing moment his bravado and cache of teasing and wit was all returning, just as it used to be. That last bit of life returning from death.

"Wise?" he smirked. "Maybe not. Might be fun though."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette allowed his words, and her own laughter in response to them wash through her. As it faded she caught Jack's cheek with one hand, and lifted her face up to press another brief, warm kiss against his mouth. She was smiling as she did so.

And offered no other comment to her actions.

It stood alone.

The rest she had words on.

"Fun," she breathed. "You think it will be fun. First the idea to stroll across the lawns of Versailles unclothed." There was no tentativeness now as she referred to their day together, in France. "And now this. Just have strange notions of 'fun' Jack."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

The kiss made Jack smile. It wasn't his driving it or initiating the movement, it was her. And somehow, that separation made it more important. It only seeked to punctuate the difference and the fact that Jack was... Jack, again.

Her words were firm, but his response was anything but. He laughed a little and shot her a cheeky grin.

"What?" he said with a wide grin, "you expect me to be average?"

That was something he knew they were both quite sure he never would be.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

She had not yet pulled her hand away, and beneath it Reinette could feel Jack's smile against her skin. How it changed when he spoke. She could not help but smile in return, despite her concern that he really would approach Louis.

"Truthfully Jack, I do not know what to expect from you," Reinette admitted, her hand finally falling back to the bed below.

"It is not an all together unattractive trait. Quite the opposite, actually."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Good," Jack said decisively. "Because the minute you start guessing me? We've got a problem here."

Bravado again, of course, because Jack was fully aware of all people, Reinette was certainly rather adept at scratching beneath that surface and seeing what was underneath. She could see what was underneath, and Jack would hate that with most people, but for some reason... not with her. With her, he was glad of it.

He slid to the side on the bed, lying next to her instead, with one hand reached out and placed gently against her stomach.

"Because if you knew what was coming," he said, continuing his sentiment. "I'd stop being interesting."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette shifted slightly, to allow Jack more room within the bed. As she did so her expression reflected something like approval at the decisive nature of his tone.

"Guessing, Jack," she mused, noting the way his hand rested on her stomach. "I will remember that." It was strange, the slight feeling of his weight there. She might not even feel it if her corsets had been properly in place. Truthfully she might not be able to lie like this at all.

"You want me to agree, I think. I say that you are interesting. To perhaps even admit that always were."

Reinette fell silent but there was something there, still sitting warm on her tongue. More words, she expected. She shared them, her eyes making a study of Jack's ceiling.

"Very well Jack," she admitted. "You were always interesting. There was not a single moment you were not."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looked more than a little like the cat that got the cream.

"Oh was I now?" he said with a full of himself smirk and a sparkle in his eyes. "I'll remember that one, you know. Not letting you forget that. Maybe I'll even get a tshirt printed 'Jack Harkness is interesting' what do you think? Think I'd look good?"

He watched her then, a wide smile on his face, and his hand lifted to her jaw, holding her chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"Yeah, well you're not too bad yourself, kid," he said softly.