island_juliet | ghosts. [[closed to Jack]]

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ghosts. [[closed to Jack]]

Juliet normally has no problem with confronting someone threatening her. But that was before she had Jonah. Before she was afraid of what would happen to him if something happened to her. So she does what she thinks is right, messaging John and Jack, then telling John not to worry about it when Jack responds right away. She doesn't hear the yelling anymore in the living room. And they sounded young, but she's grateful that Jonah is asleep in any case.

She has no idea how Jack is going to get in, but she figures he'll work out the lock as she sits down on the floor on the side of the bed where she and Jonah can't be seen from the door.

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The door was locked but Jack had never let a little thing like that stop him. He picked it, less finesse than Carter or Daniel, but eventually the door swung in and he called out for Juliet.

"Juliet? You here, you okay?"

When she hears Jack's voice, Juliet immediately relaxes and looks at Jonah who's asleep peacefully in his portable crib.

Making her way tentatively to the living room, she closes her eyes for a second to see him. "Jack...

"Hey," Jack said softly, touching Juliet's chin lightly in just a friendly maybe more than friends gesture. It was ambiguous and Jack didn't normally do ambiguous but he felt like he had to be careful with her, in a way. Cautious.

"Everything okay? Anything I need to kill off or barricade against?"

Juliet swallows softly. "I don't even know what that was," she says as she looks at him. "Two people arguing in the middle of my living room, and then they were just...gone. Talking about...why he killed someone. Or more than one person."

"I think it's been happening all over," Jack said, keeping close. "You mind if I stay? Not like there's much I can do but I want to keep nearby in case there is."

It had been a while since he...felt feelings for anyone and maybe Juliet didn't need anyone to protect her but Jack damn sure wanted to.

Juliet looks up at him and nods, then leans against him, closing her eyes. "With Jonah I didn't want to come out here, chance anything."

She's more than willing to let Jack protect her - if not for her sake, then for Jonah's. She won't go guns blazing and leave her child without either parent in the village.

"Understandable. I've got nobody other than you and Daniel so, you know. I'm a lot more expendable."

Not really, though, because Jack had never been one to needlessly risk his own skin but if it was to protect someone he cared about? In a heartbeat. He just didn't crave the adrenaline.

"Seems fine for now. I'm good to stay as long as you want. We can...play cards or something? I'm sure we can uh...entertain ourselves."

Juliet smiles softly. "Or something. I have movies? I have cards and dominoes. I just...I'm just glad you're here."

She pulls back, running a hand through her hair. "Ghosts, now, we're dealing with. Unless I'm just nuts."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's ghosts," Jack said, laughing. "And I'm no ghostbuster, but I try. I feel like we ought to eat marshmallows and watch crappy movies now."

Jack actually kind of had a thing for crappy movies, having missed so many between being off world all the time and not having time to laze around watching tv (other than The Simpsons) when he was on world.

"As it just so happens..." She goes to the kitchen and opens a shelf. She has the giant kind of marshmallows. "You know, with a fork and a lighter, we could even have toasted marshmallows. Class it up a bit," Juliet grins.

"Oh, that's too classy for my blood," Jack teased back, grinning wide at her. "I mean, I'm a complete caveman. I haven't even mastered the power of fire yet. Maybe someday soon, Modern Woman."

She laughs and presses the bag to his chest. "And what kind of movie do you want to watch?" She gestures to her DVD case where not a single sappy romantic movie can be found. Mostly comedies, a couple action movies

"Anything you haven't seen, I'll watch."

"Explosions," Jack decided after a moment. "We need to watch something with plenty of explosions and maybe something where the guy gets the girl at the end, yeah? I'm always a fan of that."

"Hmmm...lets see. That brings us to 'Transformers', a movie called 'The Losers', one called 'The Adjustment Bureau', but I don't think there's any explosions in that one...and the 'Bad Boys' movies, but in the second one they may already have the girl."

Juliet looks over at Jack from her DVD collection. "Anything speaking to you?"

"We'll go with Transformers. Nothing like robots," Jack said, laughing. Granted, as long as they weren't replicators robots were cool, but, hey. He was hoping that wasn't the case in this one.

Putting the movie in, Juliet grabs the marshmallows and sits next to him, putting the back between them.

"I think this one's even funny, too," she says, taking a bite out of their snack, ghosts all but forgotten as she's glad to spend time with Jack.

"See? Perfect all around," Jack said, snaking an arm around her shoulders while he settled in to watch the movie. Maybe it was a little...fast, or something, but it felt right and Jack was the kind of guy who would always go with what felt right on instinct than overthinking anything.

Juliet's comfortable, and a little over mid-way through the movie has managed to lean against him. When it's over, she looks up at Jack, murmuring completely seriously.

"If giant robots ever invade the village, at least now we know what to do."

Which is clearly pray some friendlier robots show up, apparently.

"Oh yeah, this is like a survival manual right here," Jack agreed, voice low and soft. It had been a long time since he'd been able to spend time with a woman like this and it was strange, in a way, that it wasn't Carter.

In some ways, it was better. He never had to be guilty about being with Juliet the way he felt like he might always be when it came to Carter and it was good to feel free of that obligation, in a way.

Being close to someone like this who isn't James is strange. She doesn't wear her ring anymore, it was a sad reminder of how many times he'd been taken away from her. Even the staff at the clinic were calling her 'Doctor Burke' again.

But Jack is free and clear of any past ache. He's new and there aren't any hangups, no angst ridden history. Still, despite the fact that she'd very much like to kiss him, she smiles softly instead. "It's getting late. Well, it was late. Now it's really late."

"It is. I'm not going anywhere, though. Ghosts might come back," Jack said, then he turned a little so he could look into her face.

"You uh, mind if I stay, then? Out here?"

"That's right. Ghosts. See the plan to distract me with a movie was a good one," she says with a soft smile.

"Couch isn't all that long for such a tall person." She's looking back up at him, and it's not just convenient - it's true. It was the couch that came with the room, and she'd just never remembered to buy a new one.

"I can fold up and manage," Jack promised. "I mean, unless you want to make...alternate arrangements. I'm not going to be pushy or anything."

That was the last thing he wanted.

"If you're sleeping on the couch, you have to at least let me make you breakfast in the morning. Really, probably dinner, too," she smirks.

She sits up a little, stretching, rolling her neck.

"I will take uncomfortable couches in exchange for bacon and eggs," Jack said, smirking at her. "And dinner, well, I'd kind of like to take you out for that, if that's okay? No going dutch or anything, just me taking a pretty lady out. What do you say?"

Juliet looks at him, then lets her hand rest over his, squeezing gently.

"Well. You had me at 'pretty lady,'" she says with a quiet laugh.

"Flattery usually gets you everywhere," Jack agreed, then softened a little. "And you're pretty, so it's not me blowing smoke up your ass. You're gorgeous, Juliet."

Juliet smiles almost shyly before looking back up at him. "Thank you. And you know, you're pretty easy on the eyes, too. Quick question, though. Would it be wholly inappropriate to kiss you?"

"Absolutely," Jack said, grinning wide enough that his eyes crinkled a little at the corners. "But, just for the record, I like things that are inappropriate. On the whole and all."

It was a terrible joke but Jack had never been known to shy away from a joke just because it wasn't funny - sometimes the trick was in the telling, not the words.

Juliet laughs exactly because of the way he said it, and she leans in, keeping the kiss soft and tentative. When she pulls back, she looks at him, blue eyes intent.

"Thank you, Jack. For coming when I messaged you," she says quietly.

"Always," Jack promised, tucking a strand of her hair back behind her ear. "No matter what...this is or what we're doing about dating or not dating, if you need me, I'll be there. That's just the kind of guy that I am."

"I really like the idea of dating you," she says, thumb moving across his jaw. "And you know that Jonah comes first, that means more than anything to me."

"Oh yeah, I'd never try to date you without including him," Jack said, laughing softly. "He's gonna be there even if I'm not, you know?"

He smiled, though, and kissed her again. "But I wanna be there."

"I am really, really glad about that," she murmurs softly against his mouth, very glad to kiss him again, her palm resting against his cheek.

"Well, yeah. You get to benefit from dating my glorious person."

He was more the lucky one, Juliet was a great woman, but when things got too serious, Jack had to be the one to lighten things up with a joke or three.

Juliet laughs again softly. That's something she's missed - just laughing - and she's glad for it.

"Glorious? Tell me more about that. I need to know what I'm facing here."

"Oh well, you know. I'm just a cranky old man," Jack said, eyeing her with a knowing grin. "Not sure a pretty lady like you wants to sign up for that but what I can tell you is that I take care of what's mine. So, if you want to be mine...I'd take good care of you."

"I think I can say, without a doubt, that I want to sign up for that," she says, getting comfortable against his side.

"So now you get to pick what we do. I picked watching a movie."

"I pick relaxing on the couch," Jack said, laughing. "Cuddling may be had but we can't call it that. Sound good to you?"

Maybe it was sappy of him but Jack really, really couldn't find it in himself to care.

Juliet laughs softly, getting comfortable against Jack's side, sighing contently. "Sounds great to me. We can call it 'mutual holding' which sounds like a stock option."

She's happy though, smiling, and she feels like that happiness has been a long time coming.

"I've never been much for numbers," Jack admitted easily, "But I could go with mutual holding. Sounds better than playing doctor, anyway, and if you think I'm not going to use that line on you, well. You've got another thing coming, lady."

She laughs, louder this time as her head falls against his shoulder. "You'll have to surprise me with that one. I don't want to know it's coming."

She definitely cuddles up against him, an arm draping across his stomach.

Mutual holding, though.

"Trust me, it'll be right out of the blue," Jack promised. It was nice, getting to just be easy with a woman after years of tiptoeing around Carter. And Carter was with that guy now, the cop, and...

This was just easy. Jack hardly knew how to act about that.

Juliet kisses Jack again, sighing against his mouth. "You know," she says when she breaks the kiss.

"You're very good at the kissing."

"It's kind of a thing," Jack agreed. "I like it. You know, there's a lot you can do with kissing. It doesn't always have to be a stepping stone to the next thing or anything like that."

"Glad we cleared that misconception about kissing right up," Juliet says with a little smile. "I'm an indulger. I like to indulge in the kissing."

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ghosts. [[closed to Jack]]

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