fandomhighdorms | First floor lobby: Tuesday morning

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First floor lobby: Tuesday morning

Having woken early, Jack decided to put his newly healed state to the test and take himself for a run. About halfway in, he realised that Katara had been absolutely right: he wasn't completely healed.

He was enjoying being able to move freely too much to care - and he was healed enough that all he felt was a dull ache - so he kept running, doing a rough circuit down to the beach and back, ending up in the first floor lobby.

Panting heavily, because it had been a very long time since he'd run, he grabbed a bottle of water and sprawled out on one of the couches, grinning up at the ceiling.

[open, of course!]

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River had spent the evening after talking to Blair under her bed. Finally she'd decided that wasn't comfortable enough and that being in her bed would probably make sleeping easier, which had turned out to be a correct assumption. Still, she'd woken early, and not wanting to disturb Buffy she'd quietly left the room, picking up the reaver knife she'd promised Jack on her way out. He probably wouldn't mind if she sought him out.

Finding him on his own in the first floor lobby, River stopped for a second, waiting quietly, listening to his thoughts.

"Jack? Shoulder's healed?"

River, hey." Jack craned his head around and beamed at her. "Yup! Well, almost," he amended, remembering Katara making him promise to take it easy. Which he really hadn't been doing. "Is that my knife?"

"It is," River replied, sitting down next to Jack, handing him the knife. His happiness was infectious, and she tried letting it flood her own mind. "And I'm happy about your shoulder."

"So am I, River, you have no idea." He was turning the knife around in his hands, looking at it, when he suddenly laughed. "Actually, you're the one person in the world who knows exactly how happy I am."

She chuckled. "I do know. It makes me happy to listen too." It did, and it was so much better than what she was feeling right now.

She pointed at the knife, an oddly irregular and spiky thing. "Hope you like that one. Buffy and I put some of the others up on the wall yesterday."

Jack was happy to truly be able to share it with someone. "I do like it, it's interesting, but I'm very glad this wasn't what hit me." He held it up, slid his thumb down the blade, and ouched when it drew a bead of blood. "Sharp, too. I'll have to come up and see what they look like all together. I bet it's impressive," he added on a bright, clear flash of how River and Buffy had acquired those knives. "Much like you."

That comment, and the memory, came too close to what she was trying not to think about. Jack's admiration of her fighting the reavers mingled with Blair's horror at the same thing. She hid her face in her hands, her body shaking.

Jack dropped the knife and it landed point first in the floor, quivering, but he didn't notice. Moron. Just because he thought it was impressive didn't mean River did. "River?" Thinking apologies as loud as he could, rapidly followed by warm, comforting feelings, he slipped an arm around her. "I'm sorry, seriously. It's okay."

"Blair broke up with me last night," she said quietly. She didn't move or look up at Jack, just fought not to let the emotions running through her show.

And that had all his thought stuttering to a halt in sheer surprise. "What?" he asked blankly.

River raised her head to meet his eyes. She didn't bother to repeat what she'd just said, so she added: "It hurts." That was perhaps stating the obvious.

Her words knocked him free of his surprise and he wrapped both arms around her. "I'm sorry," he repeated, which was lame and he knew it, but he closed his eyes and focussed on the warm thoughts, the happy thoughts, trying for a mental hug. And also trying not to the think that Blair was a moron. "Why?"

River leaned against Jack, the closeness and his thoughts being comforting to her. "Violence and killing. He doesn't like that," she mumbled. "Can't change that." She wasn'r even sure if she was referring to Blair or herself.

Jack's nostrils flared as a sharp rush of anger hit him. He tried to block it, but he doubted he was successful. "Of all the-- This is the guy who wanted to rehabilitate the Reavers, for frak's sake, because it 'wasn't their fault'." But River he'd just blow off. Oh, that anger wasn't getting any less.

Struggling to keep Jack's anger out of her mind - it was too much to take in in addition to everything else - she tried to explain: "Not now. Love that part of him and it hurts me."

That had to be the bitterest irony. River loved the part of Blair that couldn't handle her. Jack sighed deeply, breathed deeply, and pushed the anger down, saving it for later. "I'm sorry, River," and somehow he kept saying that. "Is there anything I can do? Anything?"

"Just... be here," she said. "Think about something happy for me?" It had worked before, when she'd had nightmares. Jack had control over his mind in a way that she lacked, and that made her feel safe, somehow.

"I can do that." Something happy, something happy... Delving into memory, Jack found the first time Cedric had shown him magic, the joy and wonder he'd felt. Flying on the broomstick. They were simple memories, with no negative taint to them, and he ran them through his mind, replaying them. "How's that," he murmured.

Smiling a little, River experienced the memory with Jack, feeling what he'd felt. She leaned against him, closing her eyes. "I'd have liked that too. Especially the flying." Emotions were a strange thing, both powerful and fleeting.

"It was incredible. I've seen a lot of things," too much, he sometimes thought, "but I'll never get tired of magic." He rubbed her back, slow soothing circles, and asked, "Want another one?"

"Yes," River said, "Please." The touch was comforting, made her relax and made the memories even more vivid. "Seen too much too," she added in reply to his thought, "but that makes the good memories more precious."

"It does, it really does." And it made Jack think, all unintended, of Parker. It wasn't a specific memory, just a series of flashes - her touching him, for comfort, for affection, twhapping him when he was an idiot, knowing she'd lost her temper for him, that he was hers forever - all overlaid with the absolute faith he had in her. Faith he knew wasn't misplaced, because she'd never let him down, and she never would.

"I know," River mumbled. "Trust Parker too." That reminded her of something she'd told Parker earlier, that she also needed to tell Jack. She opened he eyes and looked up at him. "And I trust you not to let me hurt people unnecessarily."

Jack rubbed a hand across his mouth as he met River's eyes. He understood. It was the same thing he expected of Parker. "If I have to, I'll stop you. I promise. Whatever it takes." He hated to say it, hated to think if what that might involve, but he'd do it. "You have my word."

River smiled at Jack. "Good." She slipped her fingers through his and squeezed his hand. "Need to be sure. Got Parker to promise the same."

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, an absent habit, as he realised, at least in part, how Parker must feel. "You can be sure. And I'll learn that phrase Kaylee used in the bar. Much easier than the other alternatives."

River watched him, always enjoying that kiss and the way Jack never seemed to think about it. As he mentioned the bar, however, she turned serious. "I'm sorry about hitting you that time. Wasn't..." She frowned, not sure how to explain that.

Surprised, he blinked at her, remembering the fight. "You weren't you. You weren't even there, from what I can figure out." A gentle smile and he nudged her shoulder with his. "I just didn't figure it out soon enough, or I wouldn't have tried to grab you. It was stupid."

"Not stupid. Just overestimating yourself," she said with a grin, poking his shoulder teasingly. Not the previously hurt one thought, to be on the safe side.

"Wish I could show you what it feels like. The fighting." Her eyes fixed on the knife, still stuck in the floor.

"Never," he teased, snagging her hand and holding it tightly between both of his. "I wish you could, too. You look..." Jack trailed off, gaze distant as he tried to put it into words. "Perfect. Right. Like a force of nature," he finally decided, shivering almost imperceptibly at the memory, and it wasn't from fear. "Like your body and your mind and the entire world are exactly where they're supposed to be."

River drew a breath, then imitated him by pulling on of his hands to her lips and kissing it. "You see, then," she whispered. Reaching out with her other hand she gently traced her fingertips along his cheek.

Jack smiled and pressed lightly against her hand. "I see you," he told her, brushing his thumb across her lips. "It's part of you." There was heat rushing through him, drowning thought, and it took every ounce of his willpower not to kiss her.

River held still for a few seconds, just looking back at him. Then she smiled, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, using perhaps a little more strength than necessary. The hug was one of comfort though. "Yes, you see me. And hide nothing from me. You'll be one of my most precious memories, Jack." She rested her head on his shoulder.

He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, enjoying the strength of her. "I'm glad," he said quietly, holding on. If he could be River's good memory, maybe it would cancel out all the bad ones he'd left behind him, and maybe people like Kawalsky wouldn't end up being right. Just maybe.

River could see no reason why Jack should be anyone's bad memory. She raised her head. "Kawalsky?" The rest of that memory wasn't hard to find, and River felt her anger stir. "Jealousy. No reason for it." She held Jack's head between her hands. "I can beat him up for you."

Oh, the wicked curl of temptation that slid through him. Jack spent several moments, staring into space, imagining that. Better than Sam or not, he had no doubt River could wipe the floor with him. It wasn't even the physical which was so tempting, it was that River wanted to defend him. No questions, no divided loyalties. "No," he finally said, sounding deeply regretful. "No, it's not worth it. And he's Sam's friend, and she loves him. So no. But thank you."

River accepted this without questioning, but gave him a serious look. "Just don't let him hurt you again," she said, meaning physically or with words.

Anger felt a lot better on someone elses behalf.

"I won't," he promised. "Not getting hurt is top of my to-do list. But," he held up a finger, then brushed it down River's hand, "if he does it again? I'll say yes."

A smile appeared on River's face. "Good," she said. She let one hand run through his hair, then relaxed again against his shoulder, pulling his arm around her. "I'll protect you."

"Besides, we have dancing to do soon, remember? Can't have you getting hurt then."

"I know you will." Grinning, he shifted both of them, shuffling down lower, settling River more comfortably against him. "And dancing, yes. We'll dance up a storm. Maybe we could even go out dancing one night."

River sighed comfortably and glanced up at Jack. "I'd like that. I missed the Valentine's Dance so I should compensate." She managed to say that without too much of regret.

"No, you weren't there, were you?" he realised. "That not okay. I'll take you dancing one night, buy you dinner first." And Sam and Cedric would understand, he was sure. "And ice cream for dessert."

River giggled. "I'd like that. Like that very much." She yawned and stretched. "Both the dinner and the dancing. And the ice cream." Chuckling again, she squeezed his hand, noting how for the moment she felt quite happy.

Happy to hear her laugh, Jack smiled broadly. "Then we'll do it. Maybe next week. I'll have to see what's happening." He looked down at her, running a hand down her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "You tired?"

"Didn't sleep a lot," she confessed. "And next week, yes." She laughed again. "You're good at making me happy, Jack."

"That," he said, with a laugh of his own, "would be because it's fun. And if you want to take a nap, I can sit here and be your pillow."

"Impossible to say no to that," River replied, shifted to make herself more comfortable and pulling his arm tighter around her. "No nightmares this time," she mumbled, closing her eyes.

"No nightmares this time," he repeated, snuggling her closer. "Go to sleep, River. They're not getting past me."

River just made another noise of contentment, trusting Jack to take care of nightmares or anything else in the outside world for just a short while, and let herself drift off to sleep.

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First floor lobby: Tuesday morning

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