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?"

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Your own clothing," Jack repeated back. "And your shoes, and a little... well this stuff that was in a bottle, I'm guessing perfume. Bit of jewellery there too. Really, I just took what was to hand." He grinned at her, and shot her another wink. In truth, he'd been somewhat more selective than that, but that hardly told such a colourful story.

"And how the hell do you wear those things, by the way," he asked, "they're heavy. And I'm a big boy."

He grinned at her as he stood, his hands clasped behind his back, rocking a little on his feet.

"How about you put it on and we make ourselves a bit of an entrance."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Jack's statement was accurate enough, the gown was heavy. But it was a full, reassuring weight that Reinette quite openly enjoyed holding in her arms. It occurred to her that she had not worn her own clothing since she ordered the dress that she wore to get Jack from the Bastille burned. The faint scent of lavender, kept in the trunks were in dresses were stored, wafted upwards.

Reinette smiled.

"I should just put it on, Jack. You suppose? Do you truly think it is so simple or are you waiting for me to ask?"

Privately Reinette suspected either was possible. Jack could be quite dimple and direct at times, in a most appealing well. But there was, of course, the old game between them as well.

In either case she began sorting things so that she might be dressed properly.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Slowly, Jack grinned at Reinette.

"You know I'm more accustomed to the opposite," he said, "but I'm sure I cam manage."

The dress, of course, was quite the item, huge and layered and with something that Jack thought reminded him of a torture contraption attached to the hips. Corsetry and underskirts and so many layers (which of course, he'd had experience with before).

Reaching down, he lifted the gown, pulling aside what he needed.

"Well then," he said, stepping closer and reaching his arm around to find the zip on the dress she wore.

"Lets see," he grinned and lowered the zip.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette exhaled a warm sigh that could not quite be called a laugh at Jack's statement, the corner of her mouth tilted up in an all too knowing smile. There was still a great deal about Jack that remained a mystery. But there were some? That were understood.

"Truly?" There was a laugh then. "I am sure that you can. It is there, I think, Jack. Somewhere within you, the requisite skill."

And from the point onwards that Jack unzipped the gown? Reinette had a certain business on her mind. The business of redressing herself, of claiming her clothing and her name. Of reentering that room and showing certain guests just how it should be done.

She did not linger over familiar stockings on chemises, but rather treated them as the tools that they were. Jack had chosen a particularly favorite gown of hers. She could not be more pleased. And it was only when she stepped into the gown itself that Reinette hesitated. Smiling to herself as the familiar weight of satin and lace settled over her.

Reinette turned and presented her back and its lacings to Jack.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack reached out and assisted as required, his hands available to hold fabric and lift it where she might step into it as needed. She was, of course, an expert when it came to these layers. Layers, he knew being something so much more than mere fabric.

They were, as much as anything, who she was. Just as the coat he wore now once again could be said to be him.

He teased her a little as she dressed, and he smiled as he spoke. "You know it's pretty cruel to do that to a guy," he said, referring to Reinette's state of undress before covering herself once more.

She turned about, and he stepped forward, taking hold of the laces. He tugged firmly on the first, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Though those glasses?" he whispered, "you were right, they really don't capture you."

He tugged on the second, lacing it higher as he slipped one hand about her waist, his fingers flat against her stomach as he pulled another.

"You've got to admit," he said, shifting slightly so he whispered now in her other ear.

He tugged tightly again. "I even make this good."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Reinette had been particularly focused on the placement of the last of her silk stockings when Jack chose to teasingly point out her particular placement directly between one state of dress and another. She had chosen not to comment on it aloud. Merely instead to lift her head high enough to meet his gaze over her shoulder.

There was a smile. A shared glance. And an arched eyebrow she more than trusted Jack enough to translate.

Cruel, perhaps. But surely crueler still had I not allowed you see too me undressed at all.

He understood, she knew. And Reinette continued with her task at hand.

But at the first tug of her laces, and Jack's chosen subject? Her gaze narrowed.

"Really Jack, that really is not the point."

Yet afterwards, Reinette fell silent. She allowed herself to simply enjoy the moment. Jack's hand at her waist, warm enough to be self through the fabric. The song of silk against silk as he worked. That constant rush of pleasure edged with pain as the lacings were tightened and her armor was complete.

Reinette turned slowly then. Precise to the point that Jack's mouth nearly caught the line of her jaw as she did so. She took her time, enjoying herself still. The bodice of her gown, a testament to Jack's skill brushed against his chest with particular care.

"You have to admit. I make it look better."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh Reinette," Jack said as he finished the last thread or two with tugs that were equally firm as the ones that went before, "that's always the point."

She turned, but his hand barely did, instead staying still as her body shifted, so that when she stopped, it had moved only to her waist, just above where the dress fanned out.

He made no move to step backwards.

His eyes glanced down, took in his own handiwork and the image of her in the gown.

"Oh no arguments from me there," he said.

"So," he grinned slowly. "Madame de Pompadour. Care to join me in the main hall?" He offered his hand towards hers, upturned, so that she might take it in quite a courtly handhold.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

One day, Reinette thought to herself, she was going to fetch one of those glasses for the mere purpose of throwing it at his head. She would take great pleasure in it. The thought made her mouth life into a smile, small and private and completely unrelated to how they now stood.

"Such peaceful accord between us Jack. I feel I should note it somehow."

It was not, of course, that there was lack of accord or friendship between them. Hardly that. But there was competition as well. And that was almost ever present. There was something, though, about that particular evening that had dulled the edge. And yes, Reinette attributed it to the evening rather than the events of the past month. No, near two years. This was something else. This was them, versus the rest. Two different than everyone else that waited outside in the main ballroom.

Chin uptilted Reinette linked her hand into his own.

"Lead the way, Monsieur Harkness."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack ducked his head towards her, half bowing in an over the top gesture. He let out a brief laugh and started to move towards the door.

From just in the corner of his eye he noted her. He noted the way she carried herself and the way she moved. It seemed wholly difference in this gown, and this gown which made that which she'd been wearing before nothing short of a laughing stock. She looked, and was every inch, the woman she should be.

It struck him then, that phrase. The woman she should be.

Whatever that was or whatever it might be? She wore that now in the fabric that sat so elegantly on her frame.

Reaching the door, he opened it gently, and released Reinette's hand to step through and whisper to the elaborately dressed footman. He nodded, and gestured to another man, who held a trumped.

Jack took a step back.

"Madame," he said, "we have our entrance."

And ahead, the trumped sounded, and the man Jack had spoke to shouted out, announcing them as Madame de Pompadour and Captain Jack Harkness.

Exactly who they should be.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

As long as they did not have their exit.

The thought came quickly, and unbidden, as their names -- their titles were announced in a clear, carrying tone. As the dull, muted tones of the crown silenced to observe their entrance, Reinette was left to the clarity of her own thoughts. There was nothing left to distract.

She was glad, she thought, to still be here. With Jack. Traveling. Experiencing. Learning, and even still learning him. But there was something about tonight that was different. Because for the first time in the strange world that Jack called his own? He had given her the gift of fully being able to be herself. Oh, not just in the privacy of his home. But to the world in its entirety. She could experience it as herself.

They were all looking, Reinette knew. Each and every one. It was as it was before, and as it was now. They should have, she thought, something to see.

So much that Reinette? The woman that was so aware of position and positioning? Of her place and the near constant effort required to maintain it? The fierce competitor that hid her sharper edges beneath powder and silk?

Placed one hand skillfully over her chest -- the one that Jack had put his talents too -- and rested it over her heart before sinking into the deepest of curtsies at Jack's feet. One Louis could not find fault with.

Thank you, the gesture said.

But silently, of course. So she could not be taken to task for it.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's smile at the room around him was wide and every measure of the man he projected himself as. 'Captain Jack Harkness' at his best.

He turned his head to look at Reinette, and catch her gaze in his. But he didn't expect what came next, and so the confusion for the scenario, if not written across his face, was most definitely visible in his eyes.

There was a facade to maintain. Not a lie, but the facade he always displayed to those who expected something from the Captain. And as such, he didn't make his confusion known.

Instead, he turned towards her and he bowed his head as though it were planned.

But as he moved down, and his ear was nearer hers, he whispered, his voice laced with confusion.

"Reinette? What are you doing? Get up."

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Truly, it was no less a curtsy than Louis might have expected once. And now it seemed it was utterly lost on Jack. Just barely hidden from the brown behind the length of Jack's profile, Reinette's expression was a mixture of irritation, exasperation and amusement. Though she did favor the later. Her eyes sparked with up as they lifted to meet Jack's.

"Really, Jack."

Was all that she said on the matter.

She would have to find another way to thank him, Reinette decided then as she stood. She might actually have to says the words. What would he do with them then?

Reinette brought herself to her full height, and turned to survey the crowd even as the sense of her attention never left Jack.

"There, I am standing," she teased. "Are you satisfied?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's hand reached out to again take hers. His confusion melted away and again he wore a wide smile, that reached from ear to ear.

"Well," he said, wiggling his eyebrows just a little. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

He turned back to the room and nodded to a few people who's gaze remained on theirs. In particular the pair they'd spoken to earlier, who were looking at them with less than impressed looks on their faces.

He took a step around her and leaned to whisper in her ear. "How about we show them how it's done?"

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

The gaze that slid once again towards Jack's was warm and amused. This time when the palm of her hand pressed again her chest, there was far more teasing there -- and of course> She was standing.

"Really, Jack," she whispered. "We are attending a gathering where we are now fully on display and there are lukewarm copies of our person wherever I seem to look. And yet suggest to play the part of a man only possibly satisfied? Have you no care at all for my reputation?"

For a moment, only a moment, there was a smile meant only for Jack. And then the mask slid firmly in place at his suggestion.

"Yes," Reinette agreed, already crossing the room towards the couple, her chin caught at a determined angle. "We shall."