fandomhighdorms | Campgrounds, near the Stickbug Campfire: Saturday Night

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Campgrounds, near the Stickbug Campfire: Saturday Night

Halfway between the Seahorse and Stickbug cabins, right at the edge of the trees, was the perfect place to sit and watch the fire, without having to get close to it.

It was way too warm to get that close to a roaring fire.

Feeling mellow, Jack was sitting on a large rock, smooth and flat and big enough for two, contemplating the strange twists that life can take.

[Locked to

mparker17 and details of conversation are NFB]

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Parker came storming by, and slowed down to an angry stumble as she saw Jack. "Hey, you."

"Parker?" Eyes wide, he jumped off the rock and cautiously approached her. "Umm, I'd ask if everything's okay, except it's obviously not, and I'm a bit afraid if I ask, you might hurt me."

"Everything is not okay." Parker stopped, crossing her arms and getting her breath back. "Just had a fight with Rory. Don't wanna talk about it." She clenched her jaw, still furious, and maybe looking a little hurt, too.

"Okay," he said soothingly. "We won't talk about it." Tentatively, he reached out towards her shoulder, not sure if she would rip his hand off, but willing to risk it. "Anything I can do?"

"Tell me I'm not an awful person?" Parker asked, trying to make it a joke, but not quite succeeding. She took a step toward him, and very carefully leaned one shoulder against him, not fighting any hug he might give her. "Tell me that I'm not a hypocrite."

"Oh, Parker." He carefully closed his arms around her, drawing her closer and gently rubbing her back. "You are not an awful person. You are not a hypocrite. You're too brutally honest to ever be a hypocrite."

Parker gave a half-laugh, and relaxed a bit as he rubbed her back. "Thanks. God. Rory just-- forget it. She's wrong, she's just too stubborn to see it. And I... am tired." She smiled at him with more warmth. "And how are you, out in the dark outside the fire here?"

Relieved that she'd relaxed, he eased away from her slightly. "I'm sitting on this lovely comfy rock, enjoying the quiet and watching the fire, so I'm good. Care to join me?"

"Sure. Why not?" She settled in next to him, then remembered the conversation previous to Rory. "I just talked to Isabel, before the fight with Rory. She told me what happened last night." Parker grinned, the dimples coming out. "You parfait gentil knight, you."

Jack blushed, bright red. And said nothing.

Parker chuckled a little, her mood lifting. "Not that I'd expect anything less." She bumped her shoulder against his. "I can't believe that's what it takes to get you to blush."

"Yeah, well, you take it to your grave, okay?" he grumbled, bumping his shoulder against hers. "And thank you. I'm not sure anyone else would have that much faith in me."

"Isabel would. After last night, anyway." Parker paused, then couldn't help herself, since the subject had been on her mind. "CJ would."

He froze, then said, "Isabel's...special. And what else was I going to do?", completely bypassing the mention of CJ.

"Oh, so many things. Some guys might've taken her up on the offer, others would've just left her at the bar, or her dorm room. You turned her down, stayed the night, and told her personal things in bed with her in the morning." She gave him a look. "And why don't you want to talk about CJ?"

Jack looked mutinous. "They wouldn't want to try that with Izzy where I'm around to see it," he muttered then sighed. "I don't not want to talk about it. I don't know how to talk about it."

Parker took his hand, and laced her fingers through his. "Scared, a little? Or just confused?"

Sighing a little, he squeezed her hand. "Yes? To both? I can't figure it out. There's someone out there who thinks of me as her son and I don't feel anything." He slumped sideways, leaning against her. "How do I deal with that?"

"One step at a time." Parker rested her head against his. "You don't have to feel something back toward her, remember. CJ won't push it; it's not like she hasn't been through this before. She'll get it better than I did, probably." She sighed. "Do you want me to tell you about her?"

"All I feel is vaguely guilty, whenever I think about her." He paused. "I got an email from her, the same day I got the Torchwood one, one she sent before she left. It didn't make me feel any better," he said quietly. "So yeah, tell me. Please."

Parker shook her head, thinking about that email, then paused, thinking. "I told you about the morning-after omelettes. That was pretty typical, actually. She took us on a great shopping trip to New York City before Christmas, with Angel. Who you'd made out with. And who she said you couldn't have as a Christmas present. We hit the Rockefeller Center, and a play...." Parker bit her lip, eyes narrowing as she tried to pick out one thing to really give him a picture of CJ. "Oh! I know. The time Drusilla made you crazy."

"Made me crazy? Do I want to hear this?"

"Probably not. Just know that you're in very good and multitudinous company." Parker made a face. "Drusilla was our Psych teacher. And she was crazy, a vampire, and she kept a squid. You were taking classes with her. And for one of them, she hypnotized the whole class into having mental disorders. Broots got manic-depression, I think Daisy got kleptomania, you got schizophrenia." She glared at him. "You tried to hug me to death. While naked."

"Naked Parker hugging? Now that I wish I could remember," he laughed. "But the schizophrenia sounds like something I'd be glad to forget. What did I do?"

"Talked about people in your head eating the trees, and how other people couldn't have your asparagus, and then jumped out my window. I never did get that comforter back." Parker squeezed his hand. "And this is the part about CJ. Okay? Take this the right way." She sighed. "You busted into her class and tried to attack her with a knife."

Jack said nothing. He continued to say nothing for a minute then drove to his feet and paced across the clearing. "I attacked her with a knife." He laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah, I can definitely be trusted."

Parker got to her feet and followed him, reaching out to turn him around. "Yes, you can. CJ took you down, Jack. And she decided to adopt you *after* that mess. It wasn't you, it was Drusilla, may she rot in Hell. Dru hurt a lot of people, and CJ hated her guts. About as much as she loved you."

Breathing heavily, he looked at Parker. "You said she made me schizophrenic. Fine. But whatever I did had to have come from inside me." He stepped away, pulling out of her grasp. "I'm glad she took me down. But I don't understand how she would adopt me after something like that."

"I wasn't there, so I don't know for sure, but Jack--" Parker sighed. "You've said you'd kill or die for me, or for someone you care about-- is it so hard to believe that if it got twisted up by a psycho, you could be confused into attacking the wrong person? Or do you want to take that back?" She stepped into his space, and asked, "That's part of you. And it's a part CJ saw and thought was okay. Do you think I'd lie?"

Jack searched her face, body tense, then dropped his head. "No," he said quietly. "If there's one person in this universe I have absolute faith in, it's you."

Parker sighed in relief, and not a little fear. "I'm glad. Even though that weirds me out something incredible."

"Sorry." He took another step back. "I don't - " He drew in a shuddering breath. "Sorry," he said again. "And that makes sense, what you said. About getting twisted, I mean. I guess CJ must be something special if she still wanted me after that."

She reached out tentatively toward him, upset with herself. "Damnit, Jack. Don't back off, okay? The problem's with me. Not you. I don't--" Parker shook her head. "I don't have many people who'd just say that to me. Even if they do trust me."

Parker swallowed, remembering Rory's words from earlier, feeing the sting all over again. "But I trust you too. And since you trust me, trust this: CJ will want to know you're okay. Anything else? She'll just call it icing. She's your family too."

"I'll never say it again if you don't want me to." He took one quick step forward and wrapped his arms around her, burrowing into her shoulder. "Won't make it any less true, though," he whispered.

With a conscious effort, he relaxed his hold. "I can do that. I think," he took a deep breath, "I think the longer I put it off the harder it'll be."

"You can say it." Parker put her head down on his shoulder, and whispered, "Thank you. I don't know what I did to make you trust me, but thank you for that."

She nodded as he pulled away, watching him, and then asked, "Do you need someone to go with you? Or anything else from me? I'll do it, if you need it."

Smiling down at her, he said, "You're Parker. Isn't that enough?" Collapsing back onto the rock, he stared up into the sky. "I could use a phone number. You said you had that, right? We'll see what happens from there."

"Works. I'll get it to you tomorrow." Parker collapsed next to him, and stared at the stars. "Jack? Tell me something happy and fluffy and silly. Something about the stars."

"Fluffy and silly, huh?" He scooted closer until their shoulders were touching. "Well, there was this one time I got mobbed by a herd of aquatic sheep. It was out there somewhere, though I couldn't tell you how to get there from here. They were fluffy - and extremely friendly. Does that count?"

"Of course it counts. Aquatic sheep? Jack, I knew you were a wolf, but that's ridiculous."

Parker started giggling, and didn't stop until a good fifteen minutes after Jack had stopped telling the story.

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Campgrounds, near the Stickbug Campfire: Saturday Night

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