[Fanfiction] Crash Course in Polite Conversation {Lost}
TITLE: Crash Course in Polite Conversation
SERIES: Family Portrait - Part 12/25
FANDOM: Lost
AUTHOR: nicis_anatomy
CHARACTER: Juliet Carlson/Jack Shephard (mentions Richard/Rachel)
GENRE: het, romance, angst
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 1,890
SUMMARY: Juliet asks Jack to move in with him, but the thing doesn't work as smooth as they both expected ... Written for prompt "Neck Kisses" for schmoop_bingo and prompt #048 "Future" for 100_tales.
WARNING: English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd. General spoiler for season 6.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. I just borrow them from time to time to have some fun with them.
NOTE: This is a series of oneshots that can stand alone. But they work better as a multipart-story. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Bonus.
~*~*~*~*
Setting the last box down on the floor of their new study, Jack leaned against the door frame, panting heavily from exhaustion. He had never imagined that moving in with someone could be so exhausting and nerve-wrecking as this weekend had turned out to be.
For a moment he had even regretted to accept Juliet's offer to move in with her, instead of getting a house together once they were married. That had been his secret plan all these years, every time he'd thought about his future: Meeting someone, being together with that someone, a wedding, house hunting, kids … That was what he had in mind - white picket fences and a dog included. But when Juliet had told him that Rachel was moving to Seattle with Richard, who'd been promoted at Mittellos, followed by the suggestion that he could move in with her, since he was spending most of his time in her apartment anyway, Jack's plan had been crushed.
For a while, he'd been excited and it had been fun for him to listen to Juliet's plan about what to do with this place, once his stuff was here. He liked her idea of turning Rachel's old room into a study and the new furniture they'd bought for the living room was great and as comfy as the huge bed they'd found for Juliet's - their - bedroom. But once everything had been delivered, Juliet had transformed into a Duracell Bunny that did everything in a million mile an hour without ever getting tired. Jack had tried to keep up with here for a few days, but at one point he'd just given up - much to Juliet's disapproval.
For a while, she'd been mad at him, accusing him of not taking this whole business serious or letting her do all the work, while he just put things where they didn't belong to or worked with the rest of the room. The first part was wrong - there hasn't been anything more important to him in his life - but the second part wasn't too far from home. He wanted to help and it was fun and exciting to see how this place, where he'd been only a visitor for so long, was slowly turning into a place he could call home. It was no longer Rachel and Juliet's place, it was his and Juliet's little paradise (her words, not his), their shelter from whatever storm might come; but unfortunately, it couldn't give him shelter from "Hurricane Juliet" and after she'd yelled at him for moving the armchair back into his old place, after Juliet had - carefully planned and considered - placed him on the opposite side of the room, he had just fled from her and this apartment with the excuse to get the rest of his stuff from his old apartment.
At that point he'd felt like a coward and when he'd returned five hours later, the bad feeling hadn't vanished but grew stronger instead - especially, when he'd gotten a glimpse of the magic Juliet had done to the living room. Everything looked different and so new, but also inviting and like something he'd longed for all his life. Jack couldn't describe the emotions that were rushing through his body, leaving a warm feeling inside of him; all he new was that it felt so good and overwhelming that his whole body was shaking and he was near tears.
Once again, he had fled - this time from his own feelings - by rushing to their study to get rid of his heavy box full of books and the rest of his Red Sox memorabilia, instead of looking for Juliet to apologize for his behavior.
His hands were still trembling and, closing his eyes, Jack took some deep breaths until he was sure that he'd regained control over both his body and his emotions. Then he grabbed the bouquet of red roses he'd bought on his way back to the apartment and headed for the living room, where he found Juliet standing at the bookshelf next to the TV, rearranging some of her - their - books.
Jack took a second to look around and as he noticed the armchair in the corner he'd preferred as it's new place, he raised an eyebrow, confused. He didn't really know how to feel about it and what could have happened for it to end up in that place, but as his eyes wandered around and he spotted his Baseball poster - an old black and white poster showing a scene from the 1918 World Series games - hanging on the wall right above the dining table, his confusion grew even stronger and he blinked a few times to check if he was maybe just dreaming all this.
But neither the armchair nor the poster vanished.
Slowly and carefully to not startle her, Jack walked over to Juliet. Stopping right behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist. He resting his chin on her shoulder, deep inhaling the sent that was both Juliet and home for him, and when Juliet didn't protest or back away from him, because she was still upset, but instead leaned back into him, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
Juliet placed his hands over his, folding them right above her stomach.
"I missed you," she said softly, her voice showing no signs that she was still mad at him. Instead she sounded exhausted and tired, and Jack immediately felt even more guilty for leaving her in the middle of this chaos instead of helping her. It was his stuff after all she was making space for and it was unfair of him to let her do all this by herself - even if she was in a bad mood and even if it seemed that he couldn't make anything right for her.
"I'm sorry, Jules," he whispered. "I shouldn't have left you and … I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier." Between each word, he placed gentle kisses on her neck, right above her shoulder blade and Juliet let out a soft moan.
Jack knew it was unfair to try to make it up to Juliet by distracting her, instead of really talk to her. It would be wiser to explain what was going on inside of him and asking what was on her mind, but as he stopped kissing her and opened his mouth to start an explanation, Juliet let out another protesting moan. She slightly bend her neck sideways, offering him even more skin to kiss and caress, and Jack didn't hesitate to follow her silent begging.
Smiling, he pulled Juliet closer to him, and leaning forward, he started to explore every part of her sensitive skin of her neck, leaving light and sometimes teasing kisses on his way down to her shoulder and back up to his ear, pausing a bit longer at spots he knew Juliet responded to the most.
Juliet had her eyes closed and she occasionally let out soft moans, showing him how much she enjoyed this kind of apologize and the bad feeling vanished with every sound she made; and even if he'd tried to do something else to make it up to her, Juliet never gave him the chance to do something else than kissing her.
She slowly turned around in his arms, and wrapping her arms around his neck, she looked up at him, smiling. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but before the first word could leave his lips, Juliet had covered his mouth with hers, kissing him with a passion and intensity as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. Surprised, but pleased, Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, to kiss her back even harder and with more passion.
It felt as if they were trying to make up for lost time, and when he spoke his thoughts out loud, much later, when they were curled up on their new sofa, Juliet confessed that she'd felt the same and that the few hours after he'd left were the worst in a long time.
"Promise me that we will never argue again," she said. "Not over such small things that aren't worth it to be even considered seriously and that no one of us will ever leave in the middle of an argument. That's not right. What if something happens and we never see each other again to apologize?"
Jack swallowed hard, knowing what she was meant. He knew how short life could be and working in a hospital showed him every day how it could destroy someone, if a friend or relative died in an accident and the last thing they'd said to him was something mean.
It was tragic and he couldn't even begin to imagine how it would feel if it ever happened to him and Juliet; fighting over something and never getting the chance to apologize … that was even worse than never getting the chance to say goodbye.
"I promise," Jack whispered and his hand was trembling as he brushed a strange of hair out of her face to kiss her temple. Juliet snuggled up against him and closed her eyes.
"On the other hand … making up after a fight isn't that bad at all. Don't you think?"
Jack laughed, relieved for some distraction to push the depressing feelings far away into the back of his mind.
"No, it isn't. But … you can have that for free. As much and as often as you want to. And for this, you don't even have to live with a Baseball poster above the Dining Table or an armchair that is standing in the way."
"And if I want to?" Juliet asked, giving him a challenging look.
"Then I won't stop you," Jack said, kissing the tip of her nose. "But you have to agree that this poster looks awful. I will take it to the basement later. You were right from the start."
"I know," Juliet said, grinning. "Told you so."
"Yes, you did." Pulling Juliet closer, he sighed. "I'm sorry for being such a bastard sometimes. I don't want to, but … I don't know, maybe I'm more like my father than I'd hoped to be. He always leaves when my parents have a fight. Like I did."
"Does he normally bring your mother such beautiful flowers, too?" Juliet asked, pointing at the red roses on the table.
"Sometimes." Jack sighed heavily. "But most of the time he is just to drunk to find the bedroom … Next time, when I'm … when I'm like him, just give me a slap on the wrist, will you?"
"Would a head-slap be okay, too?" Juliet asked and then shook her head.
"You are you, Jack," she said, her voice serious again." You are not your father and … don't ever think you become him. You won't. It wasn't your fault at all. I … I should have considered your situation more, instead of just making plans for the both of us. This is our home now, and you should have your stuff wherever you want it to be; in the same way I will have mine. This is our home now."
"Until we find something bigger," Jack added.
"Until we find something bigger." Juliet repeated and a meow from the armchair told them that their cats approved as well.
- tbc -
SERIES: Family Portrait - Part 12/25
FANDOM: Lost
AUTHOR: nicis_anatomy
CHARACTER: Juliet Carlson/Jack Shephard (mentions Richard/Rachel)
GENRE: het, romance, angst
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 1,890
SUMMARY: Juliet asks Jack to move in with him, but the thing doesn't work as smooth as they both expected ... Written for prompt "Neck Kisses" for schmoop_bingo and prompt #048 "Future" for 100_tales.
WARNING: English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd. General spoiler for season 6.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. I just borrow them from time to time to have some fun with them.
NOTE: This is a series of oneshots that can stand alone. But they work better as a multipart-story. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Bonus.
~*~*~*~*
Setting the last box down on the floor of their new study, Jack leaned against the door frame, panting heavily from exhaustion. He had never imagined that moving in with someone could be so exhausting and nerve-wrecking as this weekend had turned out to be.
For a moment he had even regretted to accept Juliet's offer to move in with her, instead of getting a house together once they were married. That had been his secret plan all these years, every time he'd thought about his future: Meeting someone, being together with that someone, a wedding, house hunting, kids … That was what he had in mind - white picket fences and a dog included. But when Juliet had told him that Rachel was moving to Seattle with Richard, who'd been promoted at Mittellos, followed by the suggestion that he could move in with her, since he was spending most of his time in her apartment anyway, Jack's plan had been crushed.
For a while, he'd been excited and it had been fun for him to listen to Juliet's plan about what to do with this place, once his stuff was here. He liked her idea of turning Rachel's old room into a study and the new furniture they'd bought for the living room was great and as comfy as the huge bed they'd found for Juliet's - their - bedroom. But once everything had been delivered, Juliet had transformed into a Duracell Bunny that did everything in a million mile an hour without ever getting tired. Jack had tried to keep up with here for a few days, but at one point he'd just given up - much to Juliet's disapproval.
For a while, she'd been mad at him, accusing him of not taking this whole business serious or letting her do all the work, while he just put things where they didn't belong to or worked with the rest of the room. The first part was wrong - there hasn't been anything more important to him in his life - but the second part wasn't too far from home. He wanted to help and it was fun and exciting to see how this place, where he'd been only a visitor for so long, was slowly turning into a place he could call home. It was no longer Rachel and Juliet's place, it was his and Juliet's little paradise (her words, not his), their shelter from whatever storm might come; but unfortunately, it couldn't give him shelter from "Hurricane Juliet" and after she'd yelled at him for moving the armchair back into his old place, after Juliet had - carefully planned and considered - placed him on the opposite side of the room, he had just fled from her and this apartment with the excuse to get the rest of his stuff from his old apartment.
At that point he'd felt like a coward and when he'd returned five hours later, the bad feeling hadn't vanished but grew stronger instead - especially, when he'd gotten a glimpse of the magic Juliet had done to the living room. Everything looked different and so new, but also inviting and like something he'd longed for all his life. Jack couldn't describe the emotions that were rushing through his body, leaving a warm feeling inside of him; all he new was that it felt so good and overwhelming that his whole body was shaking and he was near tears.
Once again, he had fled - this time from his own feelings - by rushing to their study to get rid of his heavy box full of books and the rest of his Red Sox memorabilia, instead of looking for Juliet to apologize for his behavior.
His hands were still trembling and, closing his eyes, Jack took some deep breaths until he was sure that he'd regained control over both his body and his emotions. Then he grabbed the bouquet of red roses he'd bought on his way back to the apartment and headed for the living room, where he found Juliet standing at the bookshelf next to the TV, rearranging some of her - their - books.
Jack took a second to look around and as he noticed the armchair in the corner he'd preferred as it's new place, he raised an eyebrow, confused. He didn't really know how to feel about it and what could have happened for it to end up in that place, but as his eyes wandered around and he spotted his Baseball poster - an old black and white poster showing a scene from the 1918 World Series games - hanging on the wall right above the dining table, his confusion grew even stronger and he blinked a few times to check if he was maybe just dreaming all this.
But neither the armchair nor the poster vanished.
Slowly and carefully to not startle her, Jack walked over to Juliet. Stopping right behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist. He resting his chin on her shoulder, deep inhaling the sent that was both Juliet and home for him, and when Juliet didn't protest or back away from him, because she was still upset, but instead leaned back into him, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
Juliet placed his hands over his, folding them right above her stomach.
"I missed you," she said softly, her voice showing no signs that she was still mad at him. Instead she sounded exhausted and tired, and Jack immediately felt even more guilty for leaving her in the middle of this chaos instead of helping her. It was his stuff after all she was making space for and it was unfair of him to let her do all this by herself - even if she was in a bad mood and even if it seemed that he couldn't make anything right for her.
"I'm sorry, Jules," he whispered. "I shouldn't have left you and … I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier." Between each word, he placed gentle kisses on her neck, right above her shoulder blade and Juliet let out a soft moan.
Jack knew it was unfair to try to make it up to Juliet by distracting her, instead of really talk to her. It would be wiser to explain what was going on inside of him and asking what was on her mind, but as he stopped kissing her and opened his mouth to start an explanation, Juliet let out another protesting moan. She slightly bend her neck sideways, offering him even more skin to kiss and caress, and Jack didn't hesitate to follow her silent begging.
Smiling, he pulled Juliet closer to him, and leaning forward, he started to explore every part of her sensitive skin of her neck, leaving light and sometimes teasing kisses on his way down to her shoulder and back up to his ear, pausing a bit longer at spots he knew Juliet responded to the most.
Juliet had her eyes closed and she occasionally let out soft moans, showing him how much she enjoyed this kind of apologize and the bad feeling vanished with every sound she made; and even if he'd tried to do something else to make it up to her, Juliet never gave him the chance to do something else than kissing her.
She slowly turned around in his arms, and wrapping her arms around his neck, she looked up at him, smiling. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but before the first word could leave his lips, Juliet had covered his mouth with hers, kissing him with a passion and intensity as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. Surprised, but pleased, Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, to kiss her back even harder and with more passion.
It felt as if they were trying to make up for lost time, and when he spoke his thoughts out loud, much later, when they were curled up on their new sofa, Juliet confessed that she'd felt the same and that the few hours after he'd left were the worst in a long time.
"Promise me that we will never argue again," she said. "Not over such small things that aren't worth it to be even considered seriously and that no one of us will ever leave in the middle of an argument. That's not right. What if something happens and we never see each other again to apologize?"
Jack swallowed hard, knowing what she was meant. He knew how short life could be and working in a hospital showed him every day how it could destroy someone, if a friend or relative died in an accident and the last thing they'd said to him was something mean.
It was tragic and he couldn't even begin to imagine how it would feel if it ever happened to him and Juliet; fighting over something and never getting the chance to apologize … that was even worse than never getting the chance to say goodbye.
"I promise," Jack whispered and his hand was trembling as he brushed a strange of hair out of her face to kiss her temple. Juliet snuggled up against him and closed her eyes.
"On the other hand … making up after a fight isn't that bad at all. Don't you think?"
Jack laughed, relieved for some distraction to push the depressing feelings far away into the back of his mind.
"No, it isn't. But … you can have that for free. As much and as often as you want to. And for this, you don't even have to live with a Baseball poster above the Dining Table or an armchair that is standing in the way."
"And if I want to?" Juliet asked, giving him a challenging look.
"Then I won't stop you," Jack said, kissing the tip of her nose. "But you have to agree that this poster looks awful. I will take it to the basement later. You were right from the start."
"I know," Juliet said, grinning. "Told you so."
"Yes, you did." Pulling Juliet closer, he sighed. "I'm sorry for being such a bastard sometimes. I don't want to, but … I don't know, maybe I'm more like my father than I'd hoped to be. He always leaves when my parents have a fight. Like I did."
"Does he normally bring your mother such beautiful flowers, too?" Juliet asked, pointing at the red roses on the table.
"Sometimes." Jack sighed heavily. "But most of the time he is just to drunk to find the bedroom … Next time, when I'm … when I'm like him, just give me a slap on the wrist, will you?"
"Would a head-slap be okay, too?" Juliet asked and then shook her head.
"You are you, Jack," she said, her voice serious again." You are not your father and … don't ever think you become him. You won't. It wasn't your fault at all. I … I should have considered your situation more, instead of just making plans for the both of us. This is our home now, and you should have your stuff wherever you want it to be; in the same way I will have mine. This is our home now."
"Until we find something bigger," Jack added.
"Until we find something bigger." Juliet repeated and a meow from the armchair told them that their cats approved as well.
- tbc -