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]

If the action itself wasn't amusing enough, Reinette's reaction was even more so. She seemed, Jack thought, utterly shocked. And not the mock shock that he'd displayed, but genuine full on shock.

Of course that fact only made him continue. Continue until her throwing grew a little more skilful and with greater force.

He ducked himself down away from the onslaught of cushions, still laughing.

"Okay, okay," he said, "I surrender, you win."

And he looked up and over at her. Smiling like this almost hurt. It had been so long and the memory felt distant. But it felt good.

His laugh faded away, but his smile didn't, and looking at her, he nodded. "I'm glad you're here."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

For several moments the battled continued, pillows arching between them and the only sounds when their weapons made contact. Reinette did not precisely understand how she got there.

Wales, yes. Jack's home? Certainly. There was a rather unforgettable man with a remarkable bit of leather at her wrist and as a consequence of one meeting the other, they were here. But a pillow fight? She still did not understand.

Still, she applied herself to it as she would apply herself to anything else.

Her hair was mussed and her gown askew one more and she suspected she might have broken a nail when it caught on a bit of fabric. Yet at some point, there was a small possibility she might have begun to enjoy herself.

Only possibly.

"If you let me win," Reinette gathered her breath as the battle ceased as quickly as it began. "Then you and I will have to have a discussion."

And then her brow knitted as she absorbed the rest of her words, and Reinette sound that both of her hands each wrapped around two corners of the largest of the pillow, swinging at Jack's side without releasing it.

"And that? Sounded dangerously close to thanks. We agreed."

She, of course, was glad as well.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Let you win?!" Jack replied with an incredulous tone. "You're kidding right? You were going to bruise me with those things!"

She wasn't of course, and his overreacting was all part of the fun.

He braced and lifted an arm to shield himself as she hit him with the pillow again, and he let out another small laugh.

"Hey now I said nothing of the sort," he said, "I think that was just another excuse to get one last shot in. I see right through you, Madame, I know your sort."

He dusted himself down, as though he needed to, and nodded.

"Just you wait now, in your sleep, first thing, bam. When you least expect it."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"My sort," she echoed, incredulous. "The sort that does not allow herself to be ambushed with pillows? Yes, Jack. I am precisely that sort."

Still, Reinette finally laughed then. It was soft, and still slightly unfinished and unstitched. Something she was trying on, much like the battle from moments before.

As Jack righted himself she took a moment to do the same. Her nightgown smoothed down and returned to its proper place. The worst of the tangles on her hair brushed down. To the outward eye, the battle might never have taken place.

Her gaze narrowed at his threat.

"I will sleep without pillows," Reinette decided blindly, reaching for the most obvious answer just as she had reached for ammunition moments before. And when that logic was flawed? "I will hide yours as well."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh now that's not fair," Jack said, and followed it up with words that really? Were incredibly sharp. But then he didn't hide things, not like that, and not with her who knew, he'd rather make a joke out of them.

"take away a guy's pillows!" he said, "I haven't had pillows for 14 months and you want to take them from me now!"

He let out an indignant sort of huff. False, of course. Staring at her with a mock solemn expression, but then that dissipated too, a smile taking its place.

"Careful," he went on, "or I might have to just say thanks."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

She was glad then, that she had taken a moment to right herself to moments before. It left Reinette better prepared to deal with the stark honesty of Jack's statement. It did not matter that it was edged with humor, or that the words ended as quickly as they began.

They were still there. They were still true. And they were both aware of them.

For some reason, in that moment, it felt like enough. Perhaps Jack was right to speak of it then, even in slightly bright humor.

"Careful," she met him in word and tone. "Or I shall have to make you stop."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Make me?" Jack said with the raise of one eyebrow.

There was only the briefest pause before he spoke his next words, and if a decision to say them had been there, it was one made swiftly.

"Sounds dangerously like a challenge to me."

He smirked, just slightly then. Actually smirked, a proper wicked sort of expression that fit on his features as though it were meant to be there.

"Of course," he went on, gesturing towards the cushion in her hand, "I've learned your tactics."

Though it wasn't entirely clear it was the cushion that he meant.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Her smile angled itself, sharp yet oddly suited to them at Jack's words. A challenge. There was no way they could ever pretend the previous fourteen months had not happened. But in that moment they did feel further away.

The actress flickered into play then, for a moment her features utterly and completely innocent as Reinette met her companion's gaze.

"My tactics?" She glanced at the pillow. "Need I remind you who ambushed whom?"

And then innocence flickered, and the mask was set aside. Something eased into its place. Teasing and familiar, at ease with Jack even if not completely with this place.

"And yes. Make you." Reinette smiled. "Now I must think. How would one stop your mouth from uttering ridiculous things like 'thank' and 'you'?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's smirk had become a firm feature of his face. His eyebrow was still raised as if held by a magnetic force.

"Well I'm sure I've got no idea," he said with all innocence. "But you're a clever woman, I'm sure you'll think of something."

There was perhaps a degree less forwardness than he'd usually have. No leaning forward and shifting his piece on the chessboard they played on. No dramatic move to check mate, simply a shift of a pawn. But it was something, and almost? Almost like he was asking her for help. Under those layers of laughter and smirks. Asking her for help. Helping him be him.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

It was there, between them still. The thread, whisper-soft and then and all but impossible to see. And though they did not speak of it, it still sat loose and pooled. Which might be unremarkable excepting for the taunt pull of it that had existed between them from almost the moment Reinette and Jack met.

She had accepted its state, and was prepared to address it later. But there it was. A quiet tug, a subtle pull. Reinette might not understand pillows as weapons or mysterious lights in cold boxes. But she did know this.

She hardly moved, but Reinette picked up the thread all the same.

"I could, think. I suppose."

The distance between them closed, an act she asked him to take no part of. She yielding, placing herself fully in Jack's space. Her only nod to uncertainty was to place a careful, quiet hand on his chest. Again she noted the way her skin contrasted against the blue.

"Or I could not."

Reinette lifted her mouth to his own. It could hardly even be called a kiss. Just a touch of her lips to his, warm and present.

A touch.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack wanted this. He wanted him, he wanted familiar. He wanted something to bring him back and ground himself and to make him feel like he oculd continue to be himself. But at the same time, he felt nervous. He felt almost worried, and his heart raced faster than usual as she leaned towards him.

She hadn't required that he move, and so he was thankful of that. But still he wanted to be him and not a shell, so he did what he could, and he edged towards her slightly, his eyes blinking closed as he returned the touch.

His hand reached out too, and that touched gently to her arm where she held her hand to his chest. He let the kiss linger a moment and pulled back, head ducked slightly.

And again, like before, he spoke with almost raw honesty.

"Getting there," he whispered and smiled a slightly tight smile. He suspected she'd know what he meant.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

They held there, somewhere in between.

Something altered to just more than touch. But still somewhat less than a true kiss. It allowed Reinette to notice the smaller things. The sweet, salty taste of his mouth when unaltered by wine or a meal. The heat of Jack's breath as it escaped and mingled with her own. The thrum of his heartbeat just beneath her fingertips.

She was able to soak in his presence. Jack was there, she was certain of it. A realization he should soon come to as well.

Her face tilted back to a more conversational distance, even as her hand remained pressed lightly against Jack's chest with his hand over her own.

"I must confess I am curious to see exactly where there takes us."

A quiet, but unmistakable reminder. Jack was far from the only uncertain one here. He was not alone.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack didn't drop his gaze or shy back. It took a little effort, but he remained in place, watching and listening, to both the things that could be seen and heard, and the things that couldn't.

She spoke and he smiled. Smiled a personal sort of smile and dropped his eyes down a little. There was a comfort in it somehow. Neither one of them was alone here. In any sense of the word.

"Oh come on," he said softly, "I know it's been a while but don't tell me you've forgotten already?"

And he drifted his hand from her arm to touch his forefinger lightly under her chin and lift it just a touch before brushing his thumb to her cheek and returning his hand back to her arm.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Forget.

As if that were possible.

It was part of what made his initial disappearance so difficult. It was not that he left, or that he might have found that grand adventure she so recently suggested. It was not even that he might have run, as she once implied Jack might. It was that she remembered.

And more, Jack's direct involvement in that memory. This was not a thread merely pulled. This was woven and knotted and impossibly tangled as he was always inclined to do to her sheets.

She had not expected to share what she did that night, or that she would leave herself so exposed. Nor could she have anticipated his reaction. Of course, there was a strong change it was not what Jack was asking. The evening was not brief.

Reinette felt herself smile as Jack's thumb brushed her cheek.

"I choose to remember Jack, if you do not object. One is the act of keeping, the other the act of letting go. I find the former far more appealing. In any case, do I seem all that forgetful to you?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's answer was swift and utterly emphatic.

"You know you're not," he said, looking firmly into her eyes. Oh she knew. He knew she knew. He'd proved that, he hoped, in ways he could hardly imagine him doing again.

His mouth parted as if he'd say something else, but then the doorbell rang and he turned his head towards it. The pizza, of course.

"That'll be the food," he said, clearing his throat somewhat and moving to stand up. "Best get some money." And so he scuttled himself off to the kitchen to pull some from a drawer.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette stood as Jack did, something of the thread between them back at play. Not entirely, of course. Jack was correct on that point. But it was there all the same. The idea of not being on equal footing still compelled her to stand.

Her head tilted towards the door, somewhat confused why Jack had chosen to move away from it.

Smoothing the silk of her down and carefully navigating pillows that still rested on the floor and moved towards the door. She opened it to find a smallish man with blonde-brown hair and some unfortunate facial growth opening what appeared to be a large envelope and sliding two boxes free.

"Your pizzas..."

He placed them into her arms without any further preamble, and they were almost hot to the touch. She could feel the warmth pooling through her nightgown. A collection of some sort of cans was dropped on top of them.

"All right," Reinette finally managed, somewhat confused as to why he was not carrying them inside.

"Thank you."

There was cool dismissal in her tone as Reinette moved to close the door.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack was just retrieving the money from the kitchen when he saw Reinette in the doorway. Reinette in the doorway unceremoniously laden down with pizza boxes. Reinette in the doorway, shutting the door on the delivery guy.

"No, no no," he said quickly, brushing back his laughter as he reached out to catch the door.

"Here you go," he said, shoving £30 in the delivery guy's direction. "Keep the change."

The man looked confused, but took the money and nodded. Jack shut the door and let out a small laugh.

"Reinette, you gotta pay people. They're not servants."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

From over the top of the boxes Reinette could see Jack rushing to catch the door, his fingers just catching the edge. The heat on her arms was beginning to grow past pleasant to vaguely uncomfortable. She shifted slightly as the door shut.

"How was I to know. He never asked for money."

It seemed logical enough.

"I do understand the concept of paying for things Jack. I have not always lived in Versailles. Did you not read that is your books?"

She was, perhaps, smiling.

"I was once decidedly middle class."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"They tend to just expect it," he said, still a soft smile on his face, amused at the sequence of events.

"I'll take those, Madame" he went on, gently teasing as he lifted the boxes from Reinette's arms to take them over to the coffee table by the couch.

"Now I got two kinds," he said as he headed back to the kitchen and returned with a glass and a few sheets of kitchen towel. "help yourself to either. See which you like."

He opened one of the canned drinks and poured it into the glass for her, leaving it on the table where she'd previously sat, leaving the kitchen paper to the side for her.

"Bon appetit," he said, gesturing towards the boxes as he sat down.

"Tuck in."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette arranged herself back onto the sofa, the break between their exchange on it before and now only allowing for her more rigid posture and formality to return. It was her nature now.

If not for the pillows scattered on the floor, it might have been a figment of imaginations.

She hardly had a moment to somewhat dubiously study the glass before Jack indicated the box in front of her. Not to be found lacking, she opened it briskly, discovering that the lid flipped back.

It was rather like a pie, she thought. Or cake. It was even divided as such.

But there were no utensils. Surely she was not supposed to eat it with her fingers? Reinette glanced at Jack.

No, she amended. Somehow it seemed likely she was expected to do just that.

Carefully she pulled one of the pieces free.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack dived into the food as though it would disappear if he didn't eat it immediately. There were a few factors that lead to his eating style, of course. Mainly an archaic military sort of programming, to eat quickly and be ready. But largely, on this occasion, it was just that he hadn't eaten a full meal in 14 months.

He was more than a little peckish.

"You like it?" he asked around a mouthful of pizza before washing it down with a mouthful of coke from his can.

He doubted, to himself, that he'd manage much more than a slice or two. His body might have been reset, but then that didn't mean he would be used to eating much.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Through the corner of her eye Reinette watched Jack take his initial bite of food, confirming what she suspected. While his attention was elsewhere, she somewhat awkwardly managed to bring the collection of bread and sauce and cheese to her mouth, taking a delicate bite and chewing it fully.


It was not all together unpleasant.

Another carefully managed bite followed.

A glace at that point revealed Jack well through his second slice. She could not quite fathom it. There was another bite, small and measured. She had just swallowed it when Jack spoke, somewhat startling her.

Reinette had been far too focused on managing the foot in front of her.

As she started, part of her meal slid unceremoniously free, landing on the silk of her gown. Reinette stared at the result, mortified.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

At the end of his second slice, Jack was deciding that it would be his last for now. He was just reaching to place his can back on the side when from the corner of his eye he saw a mass of cheese and meat fall towards Reinette' s lap.

He thought, perhaps wisely, that laughing wouldn't help. But still, it was hard not to.

Quickly, he reached for one of the kitchen towels and pressed it against her gown.

"I'll get it cleaned," he assured her, "it'll come right off." And he glanced down, really having to hide his amusement.

"Takes a bit of getting used to, right?"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

It was one thing for her to be so undignified as to fail to manage her meal. It was quite another for Jack to actively take note of it. Reinette felt hot color come to her cheeks as he reached to blot the stain on her gown.

Her fingers itched to press his away, but on some level she recognized how inopportune that might be so instead the caught on silk as she willed them not to move.

"Truly, Jack." Reinette closed her eyes briefly on the idea that when she opened them this particular embarrassment might have passed. "It is fine. It is just a gown and I suspect hardly suited to this place anyway."

Reinette reached past him to place the food down, not accounting how awkward it might be. She only wished to prevent any more incidents.

"And I will master it soon enough."

That was directed towards her offending dinner, now matter how pleasant it tasted.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Well maybe it doesn't," Jack said, "but it's suited to you, so I'll get it cleaned anyway."

He might have taken her out of her time, far away, but he didn't expect her to be anyone other than her, and he wouldn't take everything from her like that.

He leaned himself back into the sofa then, relaxing somewhat.

"Tomorrow," he said with a nod, "I'll go out, drive out and get you a few things to wear. Just a couple of outfits, then you can go to the shops and pick some more for yourself. I can take you out if you like. See the countryside."