"It's
open, Mo!" I holler.
"It
shouldn't be," Jack snaps back. "And if I'm Mo, does that make
you Curly? Er - Daniel? Whatcha doin'?" he asks in a low,
warning voice that says 'STOP!"
I
glare at the light-bulb in lieu of Jack. Okay, I admit I'm poised
a little precariously here, one foot on the bureau and one balanced on
- um - air, but it's fine, I'm fine. Still pissed I don't own
ladders and Mrs. Lewicki's blocked toilet takes precedence over my
specially installed - for ambience and art appreciation - track
lighting according to the maintenance guy Mo, for whose alleged
services I pay vast sums every month, but otherwise, fine. I'm
trying not to think about how much Mo charged me to install this little
bastard in the first place.
I
may calm down in another month or so. Changing a light-bulb
should not be too much to ask of my legally binding 'you want the loft
you gotta pay through the nose and no, we don't DO fish' maintenance
contract, and it's not like I have a choice here. The electricity
is off until I get this little bugger out, since the whole goddamned
track looks as if it's wired and it keeps tripping the power thingie,
which I am SO not messing with, and that means my impeccably balanced
humidity and temperature controls are O-U-T, out. I can strip off
and sweat but my books, my artefacts - my God. I can't just LEAVE
them like this!
And
I'm docking Mo a month's pay for giving my Sussurian grisaille tablet
attitude.
"Can
you spell 'dumb-ass'?" Jack asks witheringly.
"I
don't need to," I snap. "I just watch you live it." Jack's
putative stupidity fools Sam repeatedly and annoys me intensely.
She gets upset when I get snide with him in briefings, but the man
drives me CRAZY. I KNOW he's not that dumb. "What are you
doing here, anyway?"
"My
opening line was going to be 'hey, there, Mohammed'," Jack says easily,
"But now I'm going with how many archaeologists does it take to - "
"Out!"
I snap back, gloating as the worn out little bastard bulb FINALLY gives
a - okay, not an inch. Maybe a soupçon.
"Daniel,
you are seriously one pfennig short of the mark, but I'm not about to
have my team come up short one archaeologist because of a fucking
light-bulb, so the next thing you feel will be my hand on your
thigh. Try not to get overexcited. I know it's been a
while."
Sarcastic
fuck.
"Kiss
my ass, Jack," I snarl.
"That's
an offer I don't get every day," Jack says pleasantly from right behind
me. "Lemme do a check it out thing and I'll get right back to
you."
Large,
warm hands cup my knees and slide firmly up my bare legs. Um, all
the way up, and kind of - of around. Between. Good strong
grip he's got going there, on my thighs. Really. Good and -
um - strong. He wasn't specific as to the final destination his
hands were making tracks for, but I've got thumbs one station from the
terminus, here. One tiny station. And it's probably me
moving, not the - not the thumbs.
The
overexcited thing may be a TAD more difficult than I - I didn't think
it would be difficult at all. Why would it? This is
Jack. As in COLONEL Jack. I swallow hard and try not to
think about thighs, inner and thumbs, stroking, and hard, anything.
Everything. Um -
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
His
voice is full of laughter.
"Your
- " I swallow and try again. "Your hands are on my thighs," I say
carefully. It needed to be said and I feel better for registering
a vague protest.
"Virgin
territory," Jack snorts. "I know people who'd pay good money to
have their hands where I've got mine."
Feel
the leer. I keep up a steady pressure on the little bastard bulb,
which finally begins to turn, a fraction at a time, while Jack keeps up
a steady pressure on me. "How much?" I ask, curious. "And
which people?"
"Second
born son for the cut-off's alone," Jack says solemnly. "And
whaddya mean, which people? The same people who walk into walls
or drop their weapons when you smile at them. THOSE people."
"Earth
to Planet Jack, come in Jack," I drip scorn. "I think I would
NOTICE if people were walking into walls. I've been SHOVED
against a few walls in my time, does that count? The people who
would quote 'pay good money' generally just ask me," I mutter absently.
When
Jack's thumbs stop I realise with a little jolt it was him, not
me. He's taking the touchy-feely thing a little too - you can't
just go around caressing another man's inner thighs. It's - it's -
"Which
people?" Jack asks tersely.
"I'm
not telling you that!" I stutter, shocked. "It's private.
I'm not going to betray a confidence, Jack, and you wouldn't want me
to."
"You're
a civilian consultant under MY command. Your welfare is MY
responsibility. If USAF personnel have been harassing you on base
for sexual - "
"Whoah!
Time out, Jack. Who said ANYTHING about harassment?" I demand,
bewildered by his abrupt change of mood.
"The
proportion of female to male personnel on base is something like
twenty-five to one," Jack says crisply. "So unless every woman on
base asked you out, some of those 'which people' are men."
I
don't need to see Jack's face to know he's smirking his ass off when
this blush bottoms out somewhere near his thumbs.
"USAF
policy on same-sex relationships aside, it's totally fucking
unprofessional to be making passes on base and on DUTY, and it couldn't
have happened anywhere else. You're not exactly noted for hangin'
wit' de home boys after your shift is up."
There's
a short, crowded silence.
"Not
that your shift is EVER up," Jack snaps. "I mean, do you even
HAVE a boredom threshold? In the purely non-sports, beer and
pizza context, of course."
"I'm
not a snob, I'm not a loser workaholic, just busy and chronically
understaffed as you very well know. I happen to enjoy the Friday
night ritual and I'll be scuffing your coffee table again as soon as
you can work out a way for me to do the work of three men and still
have some kind of life. Oh, and I'm not the helpless victim of
sexual harassment," I correct crisply. "I can take care of
myself. Jesus, Jack, I was fostered, I was in college two years
younger than my classmates. I know a hell of a lot more about
predators than you do."
"The
military is just as closed a society as academia, but with the rules
and regs, the chain of command and the frigging MPs it's a hell of a
lot safer, believe me. You've seen and done stuff I haven't,
Jack, I know that, but you have your own naïveté. Sam
too. Her civilian alternates were much tougher, and far less open
than she is, because they've fought their way through grants
committees, research proposals and fellowships, the daily Darwinian
grind for recognition, funding, respect and tenure. The average
faculty would chew you both up and spit you out," I say wryly.
"Your
rank commands obedience and respect, and personal doesn't come into
it. It's a safety net, protection the rest of us don't have the
luxury of. To answer your question, yes, some of the people who
asked me out were men. I dealt with it just like I've been
dealing with it since I was sixteen," I tell him lightly. "You
just didn't notice."
"Naïve
AND repressed. Isn't that special?" Jack drawls.
The
bulb gives suddenly and I almost give with it, pitching abruptly
forward, off-balance. Jack's arms grab and tighten like a steel
band around my hips as he steadies and centres me.
"Thanks,"
I mutter breathlessly. Nearly sucked wall and/or floor
there. "Bulb," I prompt. Jack relinquishes his grip with
one hand, fumbles between my feet for the bulb and silently hands it
up. I give him the broken one in its place, and the new bulb just
glides into its spot. Finally! Now all I have to do is hit
the trip switch and my babies are back in business. I plant
myself solidly on the bureau and back up, Jack walking with me, still
holding on as I turn in his slackening grip. I'm expecting him to
back away and let me jump down, but he doesn't.
I
look at his face for the first time since he got here. He looks
as if he's over the pissed horizon and still accelerating. I
wince at his wintry eyes. I bet it's not every day a man like
Jack gets told he's naïve, though I never said or implied
repressed.
"Jump
down," Jack orders sourly. "I've gotcha. I can just picture
myself explaining to ol' Doc Fraiser and Hammond you broke your ankle
leaping from furniture you shouldn't have been on in the first place,
right in front of me. Just think of it like one of those lame-ass
executive trust games," he adds dryly.
Lack
of trust is one issue we don't have in our friendship. I shrug
and step lightly off, dropping through Jack's enfolding arms until he
tightens his grip. "Ass," I yelp.
"Isn't
it, though?" Jack agrees equably.
"Um
- Jack?" I have to rest my hands on his shoulders for balance as he
backs up a step and swings towards the living room. Part of me is
impressed he's taking my weight without so much as a grunt, the rest of
me is borderline confused/pissed.
"Naïve,
huh?" Jack muses gently, angling so when he lets me drop, the ass in
question lands with a thump on the couch and I go sprawling. I'm
kind of impressed the couch could take my weight, especially with the
velocity of my ass-to-cushion collision. I surge up and find
myself disconcertingly face to face with Jack.
"Repressed?"
he enunciates crisply, eyes glittering.
"Don't
take it pers - oof!" I yelp as his hands strike out and cup my
face firmly, pulling me implacably toward him as he leans in and kisses
me hard. A few seconds, no more, hard enough to leave me ruffled
and gasping. I'd say he shocked my socks off, but I'm not wearing
any. I blink madly and Jack's face tightens. He pulls my
glasses off and casually tosses them behind him to land on the other
couch. I'm kind of sensing he's just getting warmed up to make
his point, especially when his hands settle back on my thighs in a
manner I can only describe as possessive. I'd say something if I
could think of anything to say and if I could in fact speak, but my
vocal chords are apparently paralysed along with the rest of me.
I
just sprawl here, breathing harsh and quick as Jack pushes my thighs
apart like he owns me and strokes his palms slowly over them, turning
his hands and spreading his fingers to trace the path of my
muscles. Okay, I admit it, I'm shit-scared, so my legs are
quivering. Much like the rest of me. It's - HE'S being so
overtly sexual there's no room for misinterpretation, his hands grasp
my hips and pull me forward as he moves in and I'm too slow, reacting a
beat behind him, he's leaning in and his firm, focused mouth is hard on
mine again.
He's
not holding me at all, not forcing me, he's just too - too much, too
damn long since I - I - I've no defence against warm, coaxing kisses
and maddening caresses, and God, his fingers are BRUSHING and I'm
getting hard. I'm hard, swelling against a suddenly eager hand as
Jack groans, his tongue thrusting into my mouth and the kiss is all we
are.
I'm
dimly aware of Jack fumbling at my buttons, each clumsy swipe of his
shaking - shaking? - fingers shocking a jolt of almost forgotten
sullen, low pleasure from me but more immediate, more real to me is
this, this kiss. Mint, coffee, spices and Jack behind it, sharp
and rich, dancing over my tongue. I sob my shock into his mouth
as he frees my erection, one finger gentle on me, stroking lightly over
the head as I gasp and shudder convulsively. I can't bear that
knife edge of pain and pleasure, reach out to him blindly, clenching my
fingers deep into his shoulders as he strokes me, perfectly sure and
slow, keeping time with the deep, aching thrusts of his tongue over
mine.
His
arm clasps my shoulders, cradles me close as I shake apart, writhing
desperately, wanting and fearing release in equal measure. Jack's
grip firms, the strokes lengthening to a sweet, relentless compulsion
my treacherous, needing body can't deny. I wrap my arms around
his neck and hang on desperately, wrenching free of the kiss to bury my
head against his shoulder as he quickens his hand to keep pace with my
spasming hips. I'm shuddering, wracked with the fierce pleasure
flaring and shocking clear through me, spilling out onto Jack as I arch
into him, crying out, coming hard and long into his waiting hand.
He
folds me into a bearhug and just hangs on, crooning wordless
reassurances until I stop shaking, stop clinging, can actually lift my
head and face him, not an easy thing to do when the scent of my own
semen is heavy on him and he's just turned everything I ever knew,
everything we ever were inside out.
Jack
looks at me gravely, his fingers flickering up to fuss with my
sweat-soaked hair, ghosting down over my cheek to brush over my lips.
"If
you have to ask why, I'm doing it wrong," he says simply. Then he
smiles. "Look at you," he shakes his head, eyes wide and candidly
admiring.
I
look at myself, easier right now for me than looking at him.
Flushed, sweaty, cut-off's gaping open, pooled around my hips, one
'last puppy in the shop' pitiful limp penis and an embarrassing amount
of come smeared liberally all over my thighs, my belly, and Jack.
"I've got that just-fucked look," I say weakly.
"Oh,
no. You won't have that for another hour or so." His arms
tighten around me and he pulls me up with him, backing me erratically
towards my bedroom. "Bed," he whispers caressingly.
"Jack
- "
"It's
okay, Danny, I swear. I want you, you can feel how much I want to
make love with you."
Um,
yes, I do indeed have an unmistakeably urgent erection butting against
my hips with every stuttering step.
"Jack
- "
"But
we don't go one scream farther than you're comfortable with," Jack
promises, laughing at me. "I can't wait to see you in action,
with all that experience you've got of putting down predators.
Sure you didn't mean going down?"
"JACK!"
"Nope,
sorry," Jack says clinically as we clip the door frame and his
objective is in sight. "The blush just makes you look as fuckable
as you truly are. Of course, I'm the repressed one, what would I
know?" He shoves me back and yanks at his T-shirt.
I
couldn't even have told you what Jack was wearing until he started
tearing his clothes off. I back away as he shucks and flings
without finesse, my contribution to the ongoing debate about my willing
participation or lack thereof being to shove my cut-off's down, kick
them away and slide under the covers, sure of one thing only. I'd
bet my Budge I have a lot of cracks about naïveté and
repression in my future.
"Don't
read anything into this," I mutter defensively when Jack shoots me a
quick, approving nod. I'm tempted to point out I've got a death
grip on the quilt even Teal'c couldn't break, but I think I'd blow any
chance I had to come off as nonchalant instead of abject.
I
wish I hadn't thought 'blow'.
Jack
strides briskly up to the bed, and of course my gaze has to blatantly
fixate at groin height. I used to think Jack's ego was bigger
than the both of us, but this looks even bigger than that.
"No
way, no WAY that is going to fit!" I bleat. I mean, I can't
IMAGINE. "Um - "
"Don't
read anything into that?" Jack says lightly, all wolfish grin and
innocent eyes as he prowls towards me. "Do you have anything we
can use?" He looks at me for a moment. "For lubricant," he
prompts. "Anything? Don't you have a drawer? Every
guy - every gal - has a make your own entertainment drawer."
I
have a drawer. It's got three books, a half-eaten pack of
chocolate walnut cookies and a tube of muscle relaxant. Herbal
scented. I will die at the stake before I'll admit that,
obviously. I glare at Jack, who grins, shakes his head at me
indulgently and swaggers off muttering darkly about me having to have
Sunblock. Something. Somewhere. He's gone just long
enough for me to panic completely, but he has returned in triumph
clutching a bottle of massage oil and the Sunblock, which I lost in the
kitchen the last time my books and I ate out on my balcony.
Not
that I REALLY needed the evidence of a frenzied high-speed search as
proof he wants me. I glance at his engorged penis momentarily and
gulp.
"Oil?"
Jack queries casually.
"Archaeologist,"
I shrug. Agonising muscle spasms are just part of the romance of
fieldwork.
Jack
waves the bottle beguilingly. "Neck rub?"
He
bursts out laughing as I scramble out from under my quilt,
embarrassment forgotten.
"Guess
that's an offer you don't get every day."
"No,"
I agree steadily as Jack slips the Sunblock under the pillows and
climbs up on the bed. I turn and sit facing the dim light
filtering through the frosted windows as Jack spoons up behind
me. A few moments later his hands are cupping my shoulders,
thumbs stroking firmly over the nape of my neck.
"Okay?"
Jack asks.
"A
little more pressure. I won't break," I encourage him.
"Actually
- never mind."
"Jack."
"Yeah,
yeah," he grumbles, working his fingers blissfully deep into my
muscles. "Jesus, you're tense."
"Occupational
hazard," I murmur, hunching my shoulder when he slows his movements.
"I
didn't realise. You should have said. I'd have helped you
out, no problem. We'd have wound up having sex a lot sooner, for
one thing."
"We
- we would?" I ask weakly.
"I
think we've established fairly emphatically just which of us in this
relationship is naïve and repressed and it isn't me," Jack says
gently, kissing the nape of my neck consolingly. "You were just
one big orgasm waiting to happen and if I wasn't the sappy one, the one
who cares about shit like not on base, and not on duty, I'd have gone
down on you right there in the showers."
"The
showers?" I seek to clarify the least relevant point, a little dazed at
the thought of Jack's mouth being anywhere on me.
"I
have other plans for your office. Sunblock type plans."
"Oh."
"I
find the thought of fucking you at your own desk incredibly arousing."
Standing
up? I'm still trying to puzzle out the logistics when Jack's
magical fingers start to massage in small, firm circles and all I get
out is a helpless moan of appreciation. I certainly have no
objections when he tips me gently onto my side and then onto my
stomach. He straddles me, but not even his expert touch on my
tense neck deflects my attention from his penis, heavy and hard against
the small of my back. Jack drizzles on cool oil, making me
shiver, and glides his palms over my back, smoothing over the oil, then
working deep into the muscles with the heels of his hands.
It
feels incredible. He - Jack is incredible. Perfect pressure
and pace and caring, melting away the tension. I feel loose and
limber, incredibly light and boneless in a way I can barely
remember. Libidinous too, but I've had mine already and fair's
fair.
Jack
hitches down, straddling my thighs now, working his wiles on the small
of my back. I cave with a lot of whimpering, raise no real
protest when he hitches down again and eases my thighs apart to kneel
between. His touch has been careful and caring, so I'm not really
prepared for him to kiss my ass, and not just kiss, but lick and grope
and take tiny bites at until I'm quivering from head to foot, squirming
and groaning beneath him.
"You
like that?" Jack asks, sounding pleased.
"I'm
inexperienced and celibate, Jack, not - not - " Not frigid. Not
by choice. I don't do casual, and I couldn't give up on Sha'uri,
couldn't, not when I knew she'd fight to the death. Not even
after - she did, though, fought Ammonet to the death for me and the
boy, and I couldn't let go, even after all hope was gone.
Jack
tumbles me over, stretching out at my side, and this time I'm ready and
wanting. I lift my head and kiss him, revelling in the crisp
lines of his firm lips and his filthy, filthy tongue as he opens, sucks
me in and bites down. His arms wrap around me and pull me in
close as we launch into some serious kissing.
I
didn't know, I really didn't. I never suspected how good it would
feel to be held by strong arms and a solid, capable body. I don't
know how Jack knew when I didn't, but it feels good, it feels right,
right enough and close enough to make my eyes sting. He knows
that too, lips and hands urgent on me but never less than gentle as he
kisses, licks and strokes all of me, knowing what he's doing to me,
knowing I'm shaking apart, all the fear, and loneliness and bitter
regret rolling right over and through me and I let it. I let it
all go, give it all up to Jack, let him pull me wide open.
He's
on me, doing things to me, with me, in me, all of him smooth and warm
and wanting. I want too, can't get enough of this unsuspected
pleasure of strength and weight, heat and hardness, broad bones, hair
every damn place. I want all the things he's whispering he's
going to do to me. I want. He has me maddened with wanting,
so damned turned on I can't see straight.
I
find myself on my stomach again, chin propped on my hands as Jack eases
a pillow beneath my hips. Carefully stroking fingers inside me
made Jack shiver and shake, but watching what I did for Jack gave me
more pleasure than what Jack did to me. I've got nothing but
trust, a killer erection and the certainty no matter how bad I am at
this, he loves me anyway.
Christ,
Christ, FUCK.
Loves.
Me. Jack loves me. The truth of who I'm with and what we're
doing and why, what this all MEANS hammers home. "Tell me," I
manage to gasp it out as I feel a slick, snub touch probing behind me.
"Didn't
I tell you if you had to ask WHY, I was doing it wrong?" Jack demands.
"Jack,
please."
"Aw,
for cryin' out loud," Jack bitches. "If it'll make you happy to
know what a pathetic sap I am, fine," he calls as the touch becomes
insistent pressure. "I love you."
"I
love you too," I gasp and blinding orgasm sheets over me and through
me, just like that, just from KNOWING. I'm coming hard, spurting all
over my bed and - and Jack isn't waiting, I thought he'd wait, give me
a - "Jack!" I cry as he pushes into me and I just open to him, letting
him stroke right into me, in deep, and there's pain for all his care
and I'm still coming, still letting go, finally letting him in.
He
waits until I claw myself back from it, stop shaking, start breathing,
his hands and mouth soothing and careful, a little anxious. The
sense of his litany sinks in as I unclench myself, one aching piece at
a time.
"Okay,
I'm okay. Just - wasn't expecting - "
Wasn't
expecting to wind up with tears soaking my pillow, filled, filled
almost beyond bearing with joy and life, sorrow, pain, embarrassment
and Jack. I flex a little and Jack slips in deeper,
hissing. God, he's on me, in me, all around me. I clench my
muscles around that hard, hurting presence, deep inside, Jack groaning,
a greedy, needing pleasure sound. This, the physical act, doesn't do
anything for me, but that, what I do for Jack, that's everything.
I consciously relax and slow my breathing.
"God,
you are perfectly fucking wonderful, Danny," Jack groans and moves deep
inside, a subtle, sure stroke, and he moves again, and again, each
stroke deep, slow and easy.
I'm
more interested in Jack fucking me than being fucked, trying to absorb
the unreality of it all, of having him here, having him inside
me. Having Jack. I had him all this time, and didn't know
it. Didn't know myself. Regret will eat me alive, that I do
know, so I focus on the now, on Jack, stroking sweetly into me, moaning
his pleasure, raining passionate kisses over my nape and into my
hair. I focus on small things, like how heavy Jack is, how I feel
every muscle in his thighs flexing between mine, the soft hair chafing
against my skin as he rocks and thrusts. I feel his heat, his
sweat trickling over my back, the smoothness of his skin for all the
dusting of hair. I know his strength, each thrust is jolting me a
little on the bed, but his strength isn't greater than my trust.
I
give myself up to him, learn his rhythm and try to make it better for
him, arching carefully into each thrust, clenching around him when he's
deepest, gloating at the way he shakes when I do. It's not
unpleasant, but I guess I'm like all those women who have to fake
orgasms, and do it because they crave the closeness. I'd do
anything for Jack, anything. I always would, which I guess is why
he never asked, why he had to take a godawful risk to shock an orgasm
out of me and a little sense into me.
Speaking
of which - um - I can't be. Not again. It's just afterglow,
right? He can't be stroking into my penis, whatever it feels
like, can't be connecting, can't be making the blood rush, can't
be. Jack rolls his hips as he thrusts, angling for - Jeez!
I fall on my face, gasping and trembling violently as tight, heavy
pleasure throbs sweet and low.
He's
fighting himself, muscles trembling with the struggle to keep control,
not to drive, not to hurt, but he needs, and his rhythm falters
perceptibly, roughens, quickens, impossibly deepens as I push back into
each thrust, wanting that raw, urgent ass-clenching pleasure again and
again. He plunges into me and I clench and hold him, rigid and
heaving as he howls and comes inside me, and I'm there, I'm with him as
heat pours into me and the pleasure pulses out of me.
I'm
bereft when Jack eases free of me, but I turn at once and grab him,
pull him down into a tangle of limbs, heaving ribs, sweat and sticky
satiation.
"Ewww,"
Jack whines, "Wet spot. Switch."
I
roll happily over him and snuggle in, awaiting his reaction to the
wetter spot.
Jack
hitches his butt, pats the sheet and shoots me a distinctly admiring,
slightly rueful look, before he yanks me close and hugs the shit out of
me. "Daniel, you dog," he growls in my ear.
"You
said it yourself. An orgasm waiting to happen. You were
only out on quantity."
"But
not quality," Jack gloats.
I
stroke my hand over his belly. "Jack? I'm kind of new to
all this - us - so I was wondering? Are you, um, fuckable too?"
"Absolutely,"
Jack agrees promptly, obviously thinking he's buttered me up enough to
start playing with my hair.
"Good,"
I say brightly. I slide my hand down and play with his hair too,
which makes him snort something about his dick runneth over. "I
have fantasies too." If I'm being scrupulously honest, I have to
admit they've never included Jack, but they are bona fide if nebulous
sexual scenarios. "The University library has study
booths." Lockable, which I'll be sure to point out if Jack asks.
"My
observation platform," Jack ripostes, taking the library gig in his
stride.
"Your
couch."
"No."
Jack pats the wet spot meaningfully. "No."
"Flexibility
re the couch," I murmur, idly stroking his balls, "could lead to
graphic demonstrations of flexibility on my balcony."
"Deal,"
Jack agrees crisply. "Just give me an hour or so, and some
protein. Raw meat is probably a necessity if I'm going to keep up
with you."
I
smile up at him.
"NOW
you go all shy on me?" Jack asks incredulously.
"I'm
nervous. You've turned my life upside down in an hour, Jack."
"Or
a second, or a lifetime."
I
sit up, shocked. "Jack?"
"Hell,
if I'd known I'd be waiting over a YEAR for the clue bus to hit you,
I'd have bailed LONG ago," he says defiantly. Then he glares
ferociously. "Shut up," he snarls. "I'm not that
desperate. I've had - offers," he sniffs.
"Thanks,"
I say cautiously, "I think." I'm not actually sure whether he's
just told me I'm the best thing or the worst thing that couldn't happen
to a pissier colonel.
"I'm
noted for my loyalty."
"I've
seen puppies that pale by comparison," I agree earnestly.
"No
matter how undeserving the cause." Jack loftily ignores me.
"Or
how hot," I say, apropos of nothing, letting my fingers do the walking
all over encouraging signs of an early revival. "Do you like
games?" I ask huskily.
"Fetch?"
Jack snaps.
"I
was thinking 'spank the monkey'."
Jack
drops his chin and surveys the state of his terrain. "The spirit
is willing, Danny, but the flesh - " he shrugs.
"In
that case, Mohammed will just have to come in the mountain."
FINIS
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