FIC: Stranger Things 6/?
TITLE: Stranger Things
AUTHOR: Demona
SUMMARY: Response to Challenge 310: Woke Up In Vegas by Jinni. Faith ends up in bed with one Jack O'Neill.
SPOILER WARNING:
For Buffy and Angel: Set after Chosen
For Stargate: Through Season 8
RATING: FR18, at the moment, just to be safe.
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend." - I do not own any of the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series or Stargate. The ideas and concepts in this story are mine entirely. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Joss Whedon is God…
Reviews are happily welcome, though not necessary.
This is set post "Chosen" in Buffy but runs kinda parallel to the earlier seasons of Stargate. Jack is still a Colonel, not General, etc. So yes, I'm really messing with timelines here. Thanks :)
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
NOTE: Flashback will be in italics.
The ride to my place was done in awkward silence. But the look on Jack’s face when we pulled up in front of MGM Grand was priceless.
“You are staying here?” Jack asked in shocked awe.
“Yes. Why? Did you think you married a poor Southie girl?”
“I certainly didn’t think you could afford this.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t even afford a whole shirt,” he shot back at me and I glared at him.
“Ms. Wyndam-Pryce,” the doorman greeted me.
“Hey Charlie, how’s it hanging?” I asked with a smirk.
The grey-haired man laughed. “Just fine,” he replied. I laughed at the look on his face, I couldn’t help it. “Your key awaits you at the front desk with Ms. Clara,” he added.
“Thanks. I’ll get right with you on the way out.”
“If you insist,” he called after me as we entered the lobby.
~*~
Fifteen minutes later I was showered and dressed. However I was rather reluctant to leave the safety of the bathroom. Jack was alone in my room. He had probably rifled through some of my things - I would have. I tried to remember what I had brought with me. Finally I bit the bullet and walked back out to greet him.
He was standing next to the window admiring the view. He turned to look at me and shook his head. “Now you are missing half a skirt,” he commented but his eyes never left my legs.
“You don’t seem to be disappointed in the view,” I shot back and he looked up at my face immediately. “The window, Jack,” I pointed behind him and he nodded slowly.
“Right...right. It is a great view. I’m still a little confused as to how you were able to afford it.”
“I can’t tell you all my secrets,” I calmly replied.
“No, you won’t,” he muttered. “Your phone rang a few times this morning. Robin?” Jack mentioned and I frowned. “I didn’t answer it,” he quickly stated.
“I didn’t think you did,” I automatically replied.
“You gonna call her back?”
“Him and no.”
“You have eighteen missed calls. I’m betting more than a few are his,” he argued with me.
“Robin is pretty high up on my shit list, Jack.”
“What’d he do?” Jack pushed and I shook my head. The memories were too recent.
~*~
My relationship ended terribly with Robin. I’ll take part of the blame for that breakup. I’m by far not the world’s best girlfriend. I’ll admit that; hell, I’ll yell it from a rooftop. But while I have my faults I’d never cheat. I may be distant, hard to communicate with, and a cold-hearted bitch at times, but never a cheat. Unfortunately because of what I am, and a Slayer on top of it all, Robin wandered.
And I ended it immediately.
Unsurprisingly no one really cared for my side of the story. Sure, they all pretended that it mattered, but it didn’t. Robin and Giles are very close, and Robin is very entrenched in the inner-workings of the new Council. All of which simply means that in order for things to stay smooth, our breakup and huge blowout, was breezed over.
B, to my utter surprise, was the one that showed up on my doorstep and took me out. I got shit-faced, danced with hot guys, and had a blast. My world fell apart around me and I didn’t so much care. We didn’t talk. She didn’t offer me her words of sympathy or pity. We just existed. It was the most peaceful moments I’ve had in my life - pre-Slayer included.
The following morning my hangover was the only thing that had stuck around. B had split at some point before noon. Her motel bed was rumpled but cold. She didn’t leave a note as to why she did what she did, but I was grateful regardless.
*
Keisha.
Keisha is the name of the woman that ruined my life.
Actually to be completely fair in doling out responsibility, Robin is more than responsible too.
But let’s back up about two hours, before my world tilted uncontrollably.
~*~
I stepped off the plane at Cleveland’s airport. It felt good to be back home again. I had been away for two and a half weeks. All but two days of that I had been stuck in the Brazilian rainforest - alone - tracking down a dangerous and fatally poisonous demon. Giles wanted to get its poison to study and make an antidote. However, tracking him down was not as easy as they had initially hoped. He couldn’t be located by magic. And he was ridiculously strong, which meant only a slayer could go after him. And I drew the short stick when it came to who got to go. I was the Bad Ass Slayer, the one no one would miss if it came right down to it.
Two and a half weeks later I had got my poisonous demon sample and FedEx’d it to Giles. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and pulled out my cell phone, turned it on and dialed Robin’s number. I couldn’t wait to talk to him. I imagined he would be happy I made it home finally.
I heard the ring tone on my end to indicate the call was being placed when I heard my ring tone on Robin’s phone. I looked around for Robin, confused. Had Giles tipped him off that I was on my way home early? Then I heard his voice.
“I have to answer it, Keisha. She’s been gone for over two weeks, something could be wrong,” he said, close by. Keisha? Who the hell was Keisha?
The phone went to his voice mail and I hung up. I quickly switched my phone on vibrate and crept around the corner. I spotted him, sitting in a café with a beautiful black woman. She had bags next to her, so it looked like he was here for her.
“She didn’t leave a message. Obviously it wasn’t a big deal. You can call her back on your way home Robin,” she argued.
“Keisha, I have to call her. Just give me a moment,” he turned down her request and dialed my number. My phone immediately started vibrating in my hand.
“Hello lover,” I greeted him, surprised at just how calm my voice was.
“Hey Faith, you back to civilization yet?” he greeted me.
“Yeah.”
“Where are you at? When are you getting back into Cleveland?”
“I’m in Cleveland all ready. My plane landed ten minutes ago,” I confessed. I watched as Robin looked around the café. Keisha started to look a little worried.
“That’s great. Do you wanna sit tight and I’ll come pick you up?”
“Nah, I’m almost to the cab area. I just wanted to see you when I got home.” My hands were starting to shake. “You at the house?”
“Yeah, I’m actually headed there right now. I had to run a few errands.”
“Did you miss me?”
“Of course Faith.”
“I’m sure you were awfully lonely,” I whispered.
“It was torture.”
“Well, I won’t keep you. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. I can’t wait to see you. I missed you a lot.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Bye,” I disconnected the call.
Robin hung up his phone and tucked it into his jacket.
“Where is she?”
“Her plane landed ten minutes ago. She’s getting in a cab now,” he admitted. Keisha squeezed his hand.
“You have to tell her, Robin. It isn’t fair to her.”
“And telling her I’m in love with someone else will be easier for her?”
“The longer you drag it out… She will probably kill you if she ever found out just how long it’s been.”
“Please don’t remind me.”
“Tell her Robin. End it. And I’ll be here to talk after you do,” she told him and leaned across the table and kissed him.
I watched in utter disbelief as my boyfriend kissed another woman. A woman he was in love with. That he had spent time with while I was out risking my life in a muddy, nasty jungle. It all seemed awfully shitty in my opinion.
I couldn’t watch anymore and eased back around the corner. When a large group from the latest arriving plan passed the café I blended in to be on my way back to my house.
~*~
I had collected more stuff in the two years I had been with Robin than I had over my whole life prior, most of it was expendable. I beat him back to the house.
The sheets were missing from our bed. The thought made me nauseous. I pulled out two large duffel bags from the closet. My clothes were quickly but carefully thrown in one. My weapons, knick-knacks, pictures, and other miscellaneous items in the other.
I had cleaned out my stuff from the house in ten minutes. Ten minutes and two bags. I tossed them in the back seat of my Jeep and tore out of the driveway. I was probably more surprised than Xander when I turned up on the steps of Leonardo’s Lair of Lovelies. Imagine that.
~*~
“Hey Faith,” Melanie greeted me as she opened the door.
“Hey Mel. Is Xander around?”
“Yeah - he’s making dinner,” she told me and stood back. Silent, unspoken invitation. I was happy to see even Xander’s young girls understood. I walked into the living room and waited for him to join me.
“Do you mind if I come in?” I asked Xander as I stood, facing him in his living room.
“Seeing as you’re here, not really. Why are you here, Faith?”
“Robin has been cheating on me.”
“Huh. I didn’t know,” he replied with a small frown.
“I need a place to crash before I move Raphael’s House,” I explained.
“Kick him out, Faith.”
“I can’t live in that house, Xand…I’ll see him, feel him, everywhere I go.”
“Jeez, you two marked every spot?” he teased and I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and smirk.
“It seemed appropriate at the time,” I answered with a small shrug.
“I see,” he commented and then looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t have any empty beds. Either you take a lumpy couch, or the floor.”
“Not gentleman enough to offer up your bed?”
“Not hardly,” he retorted. “Besides, you have wandering hands, and this is a house full of young, emotionally susceptible children, not your horrors.”
“But they will be, one day,” I quietly stated and he glared at me for reminding him.
~*~
“Robin cheated on me Jack,” I snapped. “He didn’t even have the decency to tell me - I had to see it with my own two eyes.”
Jack was silent. I saw him fidget with his wedding band out of the corner of my eye. I headed for the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and then grabbed a second one for Jack.
“He’s the reason you came to Vegas, huh?” Jack finally broke the silence.
“Yes, I got in yesterday afternoon.”
“And when did you find out?”
“Three days ago. Here,” I stated and tossed one of the bottles of water to him.
“Thanks,” he muttered and sat down on the bed. “For what its worth I’m sorry,” he added.
“Probably more sorry it happened and got us here.”
“Possibly,” he returned with a small chuckle.
“I should check my missed calls and messages.”
“Go to it.”
“Thanks,” I walked over to my charger and unplugged my phone. There really were eighteen missed calls. A quick scroll through my log showed sixteen of the calls were from Robin, one from the school which could have been Robin, and one from Riley. I punched a button for my voice mail. I deleted all the messages from Robin, listened to a brief update from Willow, and dreaded Riley’s message.
“Faith, I know that you just got back in from a hunt for Giles. And I heard about Robin, I’m sorry to hear about that, but I am going to need your help. You wanna give me a call when you get this?”
I sighed, deleted the message, and speed dialed Riley.
“Finn,” came his automatic greeting.
“It’s Faith,” I replied.
“It took you long enough to get back to me.”
“I left my phone in my room when I went out last night.”
“It is the middle of the afternoon.”
“Use your imagination Soldier Boy,” I replied letting the leer on my face come out through my voice.
“Um, wow,” he replied after a moment’s hesitation. “I need you on the next plane you can get on. I’ll reimburse you for the ticket,” he added, the urgency in his voice unmistakable.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sam’s missing.”
“How long?”
“Two days without hearing from her.”
“I’m sorry, Riley,” I quietly stated. “I’ll get on the next plane I can. Where am I headed to?”
“Brazil. You have your passport on you right?”
“Never leave home without it anymore. You’ve taught me a thing or two over the sixteen months.”
“Call me with your flight details. I don’t care how much it costs you to get here…do it quickly. I’m not sure how long she and the rest of the team have, if they have any at all,” he drove home his urgency.
“Sure. I’ll call you when I get my flight,” I replied, already feeling my adrenaline start to rise.
“Thanks Faith,” he whispered and then hung up. Dial tone on the other end was all I was left with. I snapped my phone shut in agitation. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
“Everything okay?” Jack’s voice gently questioned. I turned to face him and gave him a small smile.
“Looks like you are going to get that divorce sooner then you hoped for. I need to catch the next plane outta here,” I commented as I pulled my phone charger out of the wall and headed for my bags.
“Emergency?” he asked, carefully gauging my reaction.
“Sort of, yeah. So, let’s go get that annulment!” I suggested. I tossed my bags up on the bed. I grabbed the few toiletry items I had out of the bathroom and tossed them into my travel bag. I grabbed the few loose clothing items off the bed and stuffed them into my bag as well.
“That’s it? No more arguing?” Jack asked, a little shocked.
“Nope. No arguing, I don’t have the time. I have to catch the next flight out of here.”
“For Brazil,” he stated and looked a little skeptical. I raised an eyebrow and he quickly added. “Your friend was talking really loud on the other end of the phone.”
“He does that from time to time. Yes, I have to fly out of the country,” I admitted. I zipped up my bag and set it on the ground, pulling up the handle. “Let’s go, fly boy,” I said.
“All right…” he let the sentence trail off. We exited the hotel room, took the elevator down to the lobby, and Jack waited by my side as I checked out. On the way out of the hotel Charlie pulled open the door for us. I handed him a $20 and he looked like he was about to object, but ultimately just nodded.
“Have a good day, Ms. Wyndam-Pryce,” he politely responded.
“Same to you,” I replied.
AUTHOR: Demona
SUMMARY: Response to Challenge 310: Woke Up In Vegas by Jinni. Faith ends up in bed with one Jack O'Neill.
SPOILER WARNING:
For Buffy and Angel: Set after Chosen
For Stargate: Through Season 8
RATING: FR18, at the moment, just to be safe.
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend." - I do not own any of the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series or Stargate. The ideas and concepts in this story are mine entirely. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Joss Whedon is God…
Reviews are happily welcome, though not necessary.
This is set post "Chosen" in Buffy but runs kinda parallel to the earlier seasons of Stargate. Jack is still a Colonel, not General, etc. So yes, I'm really messing with timelines here. Thanks :)
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
NOTE: Flashback will be in italics.
The ride to my place was done in awkward silence. But the look on Jack’s face when we pulled up in front of MGM Grand was priceless.
“You are staying here?” Jack asked in shocked awe.
“Yes. Why? Did you think you married a poor Southie girl?”
“I certainly didn’t think you could afford this.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t even afford a whole shirt,” he shot back at me and I glared at him.
“Ms. Wyndam-Pryce,” the doorman greeted me.
“Hey Charlie, how’s it hanging?” I asked with a smirk.
The grey-haired man laughed. “Just fine,” he replied. I laughed at the look on his face, I couldn’t help it. “Your key awaits you at the front desk with Ms. Clara,” he added.
“Thanks. I’ll get right with you on the way out.”
“If you insist,” he called after me as we entered the lobby.
~*~
Fifteen minutes later I was showered and dressed. However I was rather reluctant to leave the safety of the bathroom. Jack was alone in my room. He had probably rifled through some of my things - I would have. I tried to remember what I had brought with me. Finally I bit the bullet and walked back out to greet him.
He was standing next to the window admiring the view. He turned to look at me and shook his head. “Now you are missing half a skirt,” he commented but his eyes never left my legs.
“You don’t seem to be disappointed in the view,” I shot back and he looked up at my face immediately. “The window, Jack,” I pointed behind him and he nodded slowly.
“Right...right. It is a great view. I’m still a little confused as to how you were able to afford it.”
“I can’t tell you all my secrets,” I calmly replied.
“No, you won’t,” he muttered. “Your phone rang a few times this morning. Robin?” Jack mentioned and I frowned. “I didn’t answer it,” he quickly stated.
“I didn’t think you did,” I automatically replied.
“You gonna call her back?”
“Him and no.”
“You have eighteen missed calls. I’m betting more than a few are his,” he argued with me.
“Robin is pretty high up on my shit list, Jack.”
“What’d he do?” Jack pushed and I shook my head. The memories were too recent.
~*~
My relationship ended terribly with Robin. I’ll take part of the blame for that breakup. I’m by far not the world’s best girlfriend. I’ll admit that; hell, I’ll yell it from a rooftop. But while I have my faults I’d never cheat. I may be distant, hard to communicate with, and a cold-hearted bitch at times, but never a cheat. Unfortunately because of what I am, and a Slayer on top of it all, Robin wandered.
And I ended it immediately.
Unsurprisingly no one really cared for my side of the story. Sure, they all pretended that it mattered, but it didn’t. Robin and Giles are very close, and Robin is very entrenched in the inner-workings of the new Council. All of which simply means that in order for things to stay smooth, our breakup and huge blowout, was breezed over.
B, to my utter surprise, was the one that showed up on my doorstep and took me out. I got shit-faced, danced with hot guys, and had a blast. My world fell apart around me and I didn’t so much care. We didn’t talk. She didn’t offer me her words of sympathy or pity. We just existed. It was the most peaceful moments I’ve had in my life - pre-Slayer included.
The following morning my hangover was the only thing that had stuck around. B had split at some point before noon. Her motel bed was rumpled but cold. She didn’t leave a note as to why she did what she did, but I was grateful regardless.
*
Keisha.
Keisha is the name of the woman that ruined my life.
Actually to be completely fair in doling out responsibility, Robin is more than responsible too.
But let’s back up about two hours, before my world tilted uncontrollably.
~*~
I stepped off the plane at Cleveland’s airport. It felt good to be back home again. I had been away for two and a half weeks. All but two days of that I had been stuck in the Brazilian rainforest - alone - tracking down a dangerous and fatally poisonous demon. Giles wanted to get its poison to study and make an antidote. However, tracking him down was not as easy as they had initially hoped. He couldn’t be located by magic. And he was ridiculously strong, which meant only a slayer could go after him. And I drew the short stick when it came to who got to go. I was the Bad Ass Slayer, the one no one would miss if it came right down to it.
Two and a half weeks later I had got my poisonous demon sample and FedEx’d it to Giles. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and pulled out my cell phone, turned it on and dialed Robin’s number. I couldn’t wait to talk to him. I imagined he would be happy I made it home finally.
I heard the ring tone on my end to indicate the call was being placed when I heard my ring tone on Robin’s phone. I looked around for Robin, confused. Had Giles tipped him off that I was on my way home early? Then I heard his voice.
“I have to answer it, Keisha. She’s been gone for over two weeks, something could be wrong,” he said, close by. Keisha? Who the hell was Keisha?
The phone went to his voice mail and I hung up. I quickly switched my phone on vibrate and crept around the corner. I spotted him, sitting in a café with a beautiful black woman. She had bags next to her, so it looked like he was here for her.
“She didn’t leave a message. Obviously it wasn’t a big deal. You can call her back on your way home Robin,” she argued.
“Keisha, I have to call her. Just give me a moment,” he turned down her request and dialed my number. My phone immediately started vibrating in my hand.
“Hello lover,” I greeted him, surprised at just how calm my voice was.
“Hey Faith, you back to civilization yet?” he greeted me.
“Yeah.”
“Where are you at? When are you getting back into Cleveland?”
“I’m in Cleveland all ready. My plane landed ten minutes ago,” I confessed. I watched as Robin looked around the café. Keisha started to look a little worried.
“That’s great. Do you wanna sit tight and I’ll come pick you up?”
“Nah, I’m almost to the cab area. I just wanted to see you when I got home.” My hands were starting to shake. “You at the house?”
“Yeah, I’m actually headed there right now. I had to run a few errands.”
“Did you miss me?”
“Of course Faith.”
“I’m sure you were awfully lonely,” I whispered.
“It was torture.”
“Well, I won’t keep you. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. I can’t wait to see you. I missed you a lot.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Bye,” I disconnected the call.
Robin hung up his phone and tucked it into his jacket.
“Where is she?”
“Her plane landed ten minutes ago. She’s getting in a cab now,” he admitted. Keisha squeezed his hand.
“You have to tell her, Robin. It isn’t fair to her.”
“And telling her I’m in love with someone else will be easier for her?”
“The longer you drag it out… She will probably kill you if she ever found out just how long it’s been.”
“Please don’t remind me.”
“Tell her Robin. End it. And I’ll be here to talk after you do,” she told him and leaned across the table and kissed him.
I watched in utter disbelief as my boyfriend kissed another woman. A woman he was in love with. That he had spent time with while I was out risking my life in a muddy, nasty jungle. It all seemed awfully shitty in my opinion.
I couldn’t watch anymore and eased back around the corner. When a large group from the latest arriving plan passed the café I blended in to be on my way back to my house.
~*~
I had collected more stuff in the two years I had been with Robin than I had over my whole life prior, most of it was expendable. I beat him back to the house.
The sheets were missing from our bed. The thought made me nauseous. I pulled out two large duffel bags from the closet. My clothes were quickly but carefully thrown in one. My weapons, knick-knacks, pictures, and other miscellaneous items in the other.
I had cleaned out my stuff from the house in ten minutes. Ten minutes and two bags. I tossed them in the back seat of my Jeep and tore out of the driveway. I was probably more surprised than Xander when I turned up on the steps of Leonardo’s Lair of Lovelies. Imagine that.
~*~
“Hey Faith,” Melanie greeted me as she opened the door.
“Hey Mel. Is Xander around?”
“Yeah - he’s making dinner,” she told me and stood back. Silent, unspoken invitation. I was happy to see even Xander’s young girls understood. I walked into the living room and waited for him to join me.
“Do you mind if I come in?” I asked Xander as I stood, facing him in his living room.
“Seeing as you’re here, not really. Why are you here, Faith?”
“Robin has been cheating on me.”
“Huh. I didn’t know,” he replied with a small frown.
“I need a place to crash before I move Raphael’s House,” I explained.
“Kick him out, Faith.”
“I can’t live in that house, Xand…I’ll see him, feel him, everywhere I go.”
“Jeez, you two marked every spot?” he teased and I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and smirk.
“It seemed appropriate at the time,” I answered with a small shrug.
“I see,” he commented and then looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t have any empty beds. Either you take a lumpy couch, or the floor.”
“Not gentleman enough to offer up your bed?”
“Not hardly,” he retorted. “Besides, you have wandering hands, and this is a house full of young, emotionally susceptible children, not your horrors.”
“But they will be, one day,” I quietly stated and he glared at me for reminding him.
~*~
“Robin cheated on me Jack,” I snapped. “He didn’t even have the decency to tell me - I had to see it with my own two eyes.”
Jack was silent. I saw him fidget with his wedding band out of the corner of my eye. I headed for the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and then grabbed a second one for Jack.
“He’s the reason you came to Vegas, huh?” Jack finally broke the silence.
“Yes, I got in yesterday afternoon.”
“And when did you find out?”
“Three days ago. Here,” I stated and tossed one of the bottles of water to him.
“Thanks,” he muttered and sat down on the bed. “For what its worth I’m sorry,” he added.
“Probably more sorry it happened and got us here.”
“Possibly,” he returned with a small chuckle.
“I should check my missed calls and messages.”
“Go to it.”
“Thanks,” I walked over to my charger and unplugged my phone. There really were eighteen missed calls. A quick scroll through my log showed sixteen of the calls were from Robin, one from the school which could have been Robin, and one from Riley. I punched a button for my voice mail. I deleted all the messages from Robin, listened to a brief update from Willow, and dreaded Riley’s message.
“Faith, I know that you just got back in from a hunt for Giles. And I heard about Robin, I’m sorry to hear about that, but I am going to need your help. You wanna give me a call when you get this?”
I sighed, deleted the message, and speed dialed Riley.
“Finn,” came his automatic greeting.
“It’s Faith,” I replied.
“It took you long enough to get back to me.”
“I left my phone in my room when I went out last night.”
“It is the middle of the afternoon.”
“Use your imagination Soldier Boy,” I replied letting the leer on my face come out through my voice.
“Um, wow,” he replied after a moment’s hesitation. “I need you on the next plane you can get on. I’ll reimburse you for the ticket,” he added, the urgency in his voice unmistakable.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sam’s missing.”
“How long?”
“Two days without hearing from her.”
“I’m sorry, Riley,” I quietly stated. “I’ll get on the next plane I can. Where am I headed to?”
“Brazil. You have your passport on you right?”
“Never leave home without it anymore. You’ve taught me a thing or two over the sixteen months.”
“Call me with your flight details. I don’t care how much it costs you to get here…do it quickly. I’m not sure how long she and the rest of the team have, if they have any at all,” he drove home his urgency.
“Sure. I’ll call you when I get my flight,” I replied, already feeling my adrenaline start to rise.
“Thanks Faith,” he whispered and then hung up. Dial tone on the other end was all I was left with. I snapped my phone shut in agitation. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
“Everything okay?” Jack’s voice gently questioned. I turned to face him and gave him a small smile.
“Looks like you are going to get that divorce sooner then you hoped for. I need to catch the next plane outta here,” I commented as I pulled my phone charger out of the wall and headed for my bags.
“Emergency?” he asked, carefully gauging my reaction.
“Sort of, yeah. So, let’s go get that annulment!” I suggested. I tossed my bags up on the bed. I grabbed the few toiletry items I had out of the bathroom and tossed them into my travel bag. I grabbed the few loose clothing items off the bed and stuffed them into my bag as well.
“That’s it? No more arguing?” Jack asked, a little shocked.
“Nope. No arguing, I don’t have the time. I have to catch the next flight out of here.”
“For Brazil,” he stated and looked a little skeptical. I raised an eyebrow and he quickly added. “Your friend was talking really loud on the other end of the phone.”
“He does that from time to time. Yes, I have to fly out of the country,” I admitted. I zipped up my bag and set it on the ground, pulling up the handle. “Let’s go, fly boy,” I said.
“All right…” he let the sentence trail off. We exited the hotel room, took the elevator down to the lobby, and Jack waited by my side as I checked out. On the way out of the hotel Charlie pulled open the door for us. I handed him a $20 and he looked like he was about to object, but ultimately just nodded.
“Have a good day, Ms. Wyndam-Pryce,” he politely responded.
“Same to you,” I replied.