for ambitious_woman: Time for a party

[quitehomoerotic]

Follows this.

It had been five days since Reinette woke up. She was doing much better now, her health had picked up considerably and she had more colour in her cheeks than Jack thought he'd ever seen her with.

Still, he knew, time ticked on, and the better she became the more restless too. That, and as time passed yet more and more questions were raised as to her identity. Jack could deal with them, of course, but he much preferred that he didn't have to.

Of course, he wanted to take her home. And home, of course, he meant 1752. But that was hardly that simple, and turning up to take her back there now felt cruel. Jack could be cruel, of course. He'd been cruel on many occasions. But he didn't want to be, not to her, not after everything. So he needed an alternative.

Luckily, an alternative presented itself.

So it was with an idea fully formed and a oversized set of bags in hand that he walked into Reinette's hospital room, a grin painted on his lips.

"Bonsoir," he said. "How about a trip?"

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[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

There was a definite sense of finished as Jack assisted her getting fully in the gown. For all its ridiculous shade, and suspect stitching? There was still a sense of familiar about it. She had her armor again.

And at that thought, Reinette smiled.

Her very carriage changed.

"I cannot address what is a chalange or not to you Jack. I only know you chose it. There might be some sort of meaning there, though I am not sure. A great many possibilities, at least."

But?

Paris.

She had missed her, though she was won't to admit it out lous. But she missed her all the same. With little preamble Reinette pulled her hair back, and affixed the less than perfect wig. It would do. She looked to Jack.

"Shall we?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

In the back of his throat, Jack laughed an incorrigible little laugh. "Oh Reinette I think we both know everything is a challenge to me."

He winked at her.

And he tried not to laugh at the wig. A perfect picture of a woman in costume. If only anyone knew.

"I think we shall," he said, and offered out his ready-programmed wrist strap towards her.

"Care to do the honours, Madame?" He grinned. "That button there."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

At the sound of his laughter Reinette could not help but match it with her own. He really was impossible. And she would have him no other way.

"Now Jack. I can think of one or two things at least that you would find positively dull. My husband being one of them."

She brought herself close again Jack, the required expectations of their journey now understood. She braced herself against the usual wave of nausea and thought back to the last time they had traveled thus together. A great deal had changed. For the better.

He seemed to be a great deal improved. Her smile now was small, and private as she drew herself across Jack to reach for the strap.

"One day Jack, I really will insist you teach me how."

And with that the button was depressed.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack merely smirked at Reinette. A knowing sort of smirk that said a great deal he suspected she already knew quite well.

And he liked that. That quiet conversation they could have without ever speaking. An understanding that would (and did) pass between them.

If he were to reply at all, it wouldn't be now, because where once was a hospital room, was now a small quiet Paris street. There was a chill in the evening air, but it wasn't cold, and the streetlights paved their way to their destination.

Jack shook himself, shaking off the sensation from the travel, and he offered her his arm.

"Shall we?"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette's arm found Jack's naturally, as she breathed in deeply to center herself after the travel. Each time it seemed to bother her less, but it was still unsettling.

She could not help but be aware of how much less the cool air bothered her. Even now, she would have battled such temperatures with a roaring fire. Spring or summer it did not matter.

"We shall."

And she gave Jack another of her best smiles, one far less practiced.

As they walked, Reinette fell silent. It was one thing to see electric lights and cars and all the modern amenities she had come to understand in Jack's home. It was yet another to see her own home altered by them. She took it all in.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Luckily, Jack had programmed the manipulator with some degree of accuracy, and they were barely more than a street or so away from their destination.

As they walked, he shifted a little, his wig itching. He wondered how men coped with these things.

"You know one thing?" he said, tilting his head to look at her. "One thing about places. They always smell the same. Okay maybe not on the surface, with car fumes or factories or any of that. But smell a little deeper and it's all there. Doesn't change. Not over any time."

He smiled. "Paris will always be Paris."

And on that, they turned the corner, and ahead of them, was the Elysée Palace with people flocking around the doorway.

"Welcome home."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"Paris will always be Paris."

Her entire person warmed at Jack's words. Even moreso because Reinette did not believe that had been Jack's original intention. It was his own love for travel and adventure. And his own deep understanding of the places that he visited that was in his words. That she felt them deeply as well was merely secondary.

He was not trying. He merely was.

It was one of the things she found most appealing about him.

"And Jack will always be Jack."

Reinette felt those words as well. It did not matter that it was not truly his name. Or the costumes and masks they both favored. Jack? Was simply Jack. There was very little chill remaining in the air.

Her gaze cast upward towards her home, now lit more brightly than she had ever seen. Reinette could not help the pride that swelled within her.

"She is still here, Jack," she said softly. "She is still beautiful."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Couldn't be anyone else if I tried," he admitted. And there was a strange truth in that. Over the many years, he had tried. He'd tried to hide from 'Jack Harkness', but somehow, he always found his way back to him.

While Reinette's gaze was trained on the building ahead, his was trained on her. He watched her as she took in her surroundings and the building ahead, and watched too how it settled on her features.

"Yeah," he said with a smile. "She is."

He wasn't referring to the building.

"Come on," he said, almost a childlike excitement in his voice as he gave her arm a tug. He guided her up to the gates and inside, handing the pair of tickets over to a man on the door.

Around them were people in costume, just like them, so many of them milling around, talking and drinking and having a good time.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette smiled at the playful tension that sat coiled in the whole of Jack's body. She could feel it even then. They way it traveled through their clasped arms and settled in her own core. She followed after him easily, her gaze still alert and taking in the changed in her home.

Did Jack even recall that this was where she had brought him to recover? Somehow she thought not.

The crowd was a strong one, all of them in costume and upon seeing them Reinette understood why Jack was so certain theirs would be acceptable.

She was fairly certain she caught sight of Marie, several Louis-- though all were far more portly than he was -- two Casanova's, Voltaire and....

Herself.

"Well then," she breathed.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Well then," he said back, watching her half cautious but half to simply observe her reactions. This was her domain now, and in more ways than one. And where those might tread and masquerade as people she once knew, they were merely reading from a story that she herself wrote.

"Come on," he whispered in her ear. "Lets go find the gossip."

He walked inside and a waiter stood with a tray of champagne. Rightly speaking, Jack knew he ought not be giving Reinette drinks. Not least when she'd been on so much medication. But then he doubted it would hurt, a glass or two, and so he lifted a pair from the tray, holding one towards her.

"Madame," he said, a glint in his eye.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Surrounded by so many strangers Reinette easily fell into her old, well-practiced ways. There was a cooler look in her eye, a harder tilt to her chin. Whatever concealed warmth remained was held for Jack, and Jack alone.

"It is not that different from the night we met, Jack."

That thought, however, was interrupted by the glass Jack placed in her hand. She took a sip of what was especially fine champagne before she took note of what it rested in.

Reinette's gaze narrowed.

"They are not using these glasses."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Better watch out for alcoves then," Jack said with a wink in her direction.

The night they'd met seemed so very far away now. So much time had passed since then with the woman he'd known both two years and yet still? A matter of weeks.

That first night, an opportune party, when Jack started to be watched because of cogs set in motion through actions he hadn't yet taken.

Jack saw Reinette's expression change and he laughed into his own glass.

"Oh yeah they are," he said, overly amused.

"You know to be honest," he said, holding his glass in his hand, and taking a good look at it, "I think they got the size just right."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Her gaze narrowed by very specific measures.

"You are very lucky Jack," she said through clenched teeth that were only partially show. "That this is especially fine champagne and I do not wish to waste it by throwing it in your face."

There was a smile there, behind her expression. But one had to search to fine it. She imagined that Jack would be able to navigate it easily enough. But to the rest of the room she would seem quite put off.

Pointedly ignoring him, Reinette turned to examine the room they now stood in. Her wallpapers were gone. Her furniture as well. She did not think it looked near so well as before but there was still great beauty there. And familiarity.

She moved to walk the perimeter of the room.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack wasn't put off by Reinette's expression or the tone in her voice; if anything he was spurred on. He continued to grin and laugh into his drink, the corners of his eyes creasing. He enjoyed that there was an expression that sat somewhere below her surface. It was like reading another language, and one Jack was quite confident he was now quite proficient in.

He supposed too that Reinette was quite proficient in readinghis language. But he found? He didn't mind. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. And that was quite the turn up for the books.

Following behind her, Jack looked up at the portraits and prints that had been hung on the wall for the occasion. In front of him hung a portrait of Marie Antoinette. Beneath it was a year 1783.

Jack immediately realised his mistake.

"Oh I've done it again," he said, touching his hand to his face.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette turned back to see precisely what Jack was commenting on, only to feel her back jostled quite sharply. She turned, only to find herself face to face with ---

Casanova.

Only, not entirely at all. His face was fainted like Jack's, only with a great deal less skill. And his mouth was an unnatural, garish red that was already somewhat smeared. She supposed his clothing what cut to call attention to particular endowments, but truly there was not a great deal there to note.

She was staring at a very poor caricature of a very dear friend.

Who was even now aware of her study of his person and misreading her intent.

"You, sir," she announced cleanly. "Are not Casanova."

The man grinned widely.

"Oh but I am!"

He seemed to fail to comprehend her meaning. His eyes crinkled with interest, and Reinette was briefly introduced to the notion that this man had imbued in more than champagne before his mouth closed over her own. She held herself perfectly still while the man attempted to further his playacting. Really, then.

When he pulled back, Reinette stared him gown her gaze unwavering.

"I assure you," there was no room for argument, and she was obviously unfazed and unimpressed with his kiss. "You are not."

For a moment he just stood there, color floding his cheeks through the make up. And then he was gone.

Reinette simply continued walking.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack was caught up in himself. How could he have been so foolish? Such an obvious mistake. An 18th century party, didn't it stand to reason that would include the whole century, not just the part's she'd experienced?

What he'd tried so hard (and failed before) to keep her from, he was again thrusting right in her face. The rooms were full of paintings and writings and people talking about things that would happen both to her and her country, and he was placing her in the eye of the storm.

He turned from where he'd been and tried to find Reinette, only to spot her with an unappealing man lips locked to hers. He walked over as she left him in a way that seemed to dispatch him in no uncertain terms, and he put a hand to her shoulder.

"Getting the party started early are we?" He paused only a moment. "And by the way, we should go, I'm an idiot. We should really go."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette did not start at Jack's hand on her shoulder, merely welcomed and recognized his presence there. She held silent as she watched the other man fade back into the crowd.

Casanova would be so disappointed. On so very many levels.

Jack's words registered.

Her mouth softening into something that was hardly a readable expression at all, Reinette turned to face her friend. She considered the painting behind him. The conversation that hummed in the call. And what she had so recently discovered.

It was not that she was hiding it from him. Hardly that. But the right time had yet to present itself. That might be now. She looked up at him.

"It is all right Jack. I know."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

The scope of it all was so large that Jack could never easily pin point what she could possibly mean. He thought he'd kept the history-- her future hidden well enough. Well, aside from that rather glaring error he made in Versailles.

But it didn't for even a moment enter his mind that she may have discovered more. And so the confusion was worn all over his face.

"Know?" he asked, frowning. "What do you mean you know?" he very nearly demanded. "Know what?"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"I know enough."

The scope of that carried many meanings. She knew enough that she understood. Enough to follow why Jack might wish for them to leave. But also enough in that she did not wish to learn more. That there was ony so much she wished to take in.

"I know Jack." Reinette signed, her gaze briefly flickering to the portrait behind them.

"It was on your television, one of the afternoons you were away." He often slipped away. To get provisions or clothes or perhaps to any other unknown reason. "I know I should have turned it off. But I could not. It was hardly thorough." Her eyes were shadowed, understanding there. "But I know."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack felt like he'd been hit by a train.

He took the smallest of steps backwards, almost a stumble, and he dropped his head down and shook it before lifting it only to repeat the action again. For a long moment, he couldn't make eye contact with her; he merely looked away, his eyes settled on a blank spot on the wall.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, and finally turning his eyes towards hers. "I'm sorry." His hands moved then to his hips.

"I should have thought. I should have been more careful."

Whatever she knew. Whatever she'd learned? She didn't need to. That sort of knowledge could weigh heavily upon a person.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

"And how would you have shown more care, Jack? Put my up in the closet at the end of each day? You saved my life Jack. That is care enough."

Reinette was calculated enough then that when she took a step forward she brought her fingers up to touch one of the few expanses of skin left by his current costume. Her fingertips just brushed the top of his wrist.

"And what are you sorry for, Jack? That my country chose to tear itself apart from the inside out? That too many people died?" There was a heavy sadness in her words that neither discounted nor dwealt in them. "We are not the first."

"I mean what I said outside, Jack. She survived. She is still here, and she is still beautiful. And you allowed me to see that. Do not be sorry."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

For what seemed like a good long while, Jack was silent. Processing.

Ought he apologise more? And if he did then what good would that do? Would there really be any point? It felt like empty words at this stage. What was done was done, and even time couldn't undo that.

Again, his glance fell towards hers.

"Why didn't you say something?" he said, his voice a half whisper. But he didn't really expect an answer. He shook his head.

And right at that moment, a waiter appeared, thrust a tray between them and asked "Vol au vents?"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

There was a small shift of her head, even as the servant appeared between them. She took the small pastry in her hand, but Reinette observed how effectively it had ended their conversation.

She had no doubt it would be addressed again. But she did not think it would be now.

Reinette looked back up at Jack, taking him in. From the outside of her vision she caught sight of her unfortunate companion from mere moments before.

"Casanova would be most offended to see himself represented in such a manner."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack, for a moment, remained quiet. He wondered if he should do something differently. But what? Take her back now? Take her somewhere else? What good would it do?

Luckily, her words caught his attention, and he followed her gaze to the man who had been so familiar with her such a short while ago.

"Casanova? He thinks he's Casanova?" He swung his head back towards her. For a moment, he was deep in thought. History running through his head. Venice... Paris... (a very condensed history). It dawned on him.

"Wait you know him, don't you?!"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette was not surprised to hear Jack's note of recognition. Firstly, Giac had obviously been echoed by several at the party that surrounded them. But then too was the undeniable presence the actual man held. Of course he would be remembered.

Her smile was wide, with something sly about it.

"I do know him, yes. I count him as a dear friend and like to think that he counts me one as well. We share a great many interests."

That smile grew, tilted towards Jack.

"I should introduce you sometime."