An Easy Mistake
I hate it when you test all the christmas lights and put them on the (huge-10-foot-took-me-forever-to-string-them) tree, plug them in, and then they suddenly don't work anymore. Is there a special hell for manufacturers of christmas lights? I hope so.
Jack!Fic Advent Calendar
24_days_of_jack - December 17th
Title: An Easy Mistake
Pairing: Jack/Gabriela
Rating: NC-17
Prompt: foxys40 #29, Selfish
Spoilers: Through 2x11 “The Hunting Party”
Disclaimer: Not Mine!
Dedication: To amantium_irae, who has been waiting patiently for this for quite awhile. :)
Jack knocks on the door three times in quick succession, the rap sharp but light, just his knuckles. He’s not sure that he wants her to hear. He shouldn’t be here.
But there’s nowhere else to go.
He waits in the quiet hallway, the muffled, dead air of the hotel in a strange way soothingly calm. Everyone is asleep or cocooned in their transitory homes, watching the latest infomercial for a product they will never buy or a pay-per-view porno that they’d never dare purchase in the white-washed suburban world they undoubtedly come from.
He can smell the pool. It doesn’t seem to matter where you are; if the hotel has a pool, chlorine hangs in the air like chemical cologne. He hates that.
Jack shifts and the plush carpeting sinks underneath his shoes, the fake Oriental pattern almost optical in its design. He stares at the number on the door for a moment and then lets out a long breath; he doesn’t know if he has the courage to knock again.
But it doesn’t matter. He hears three separate locks click open and then Gabriela is standing in front of him, her long black hair tousled and her grey eyes full of confusion. She adjusts the front of her blue silk robe and she steps toward him, then back.
“What…what are you doing here?” She asks, squinting just slightly in the soft light of the hallway. Jack opens his mouth to speak but his voice fails him at first. He brings his hand up to his lips and looks at her, trying to find the words.
He’s tired, so tired. Tired of trying. He’s had enough.
“It turns out my wife isn’t such a special person after all…” Jack finally says with a crooked, broken smile. Gabriela steps toward him, already reaching out to him. "She does mind the late hours." He averts his eyes to the ground, knowing now more than ever that he should just turn and walk away. He wants this too much and that’s not a good sign. “She’s been cheating on me.”
“Jack…” Gabriela says his name softly but doesn’t say anything else. Her silence confuses him and he lifts his head and he meets her gaze almost accidentally, locking into the meaningful stare that he had been trying to ignore ever since it had become hard to look away.
“I’m sorry. I should go.” He murmurs weakly but it’s no use. He knows he’s not leaving.
“I know,” Gabriela says quietly and reaches up, her elegant hand sliding behind his neck, pulling him down to kiss her anyway.
“Gabriela…” He tries to stop himself from needing this but he can’t. He should be sitting outside Sarah’s mother’s house, demanding that she talk to him, that they work this out. He should be broken down at Marc’s house, letting Marc curse Sarah’s existence while Marc’s wife tries to force him to eat something. He should be drowning his sorrows in a bottle of scotch all by himself in his empty house. But right now he wants to forget it all. Gabriela wants him. He’s already failed her and she wants him anyway. She needs him to help her forget her pain too.
She backs into the darkness of her room and he follows her willingly. The door slams shut and the world suddenly narrows down to just him and her. She’s the only thing that exists.
Her fingers are already working open the buttons of his maroon dress shirt as her lips desperately push against his, their kisses instantly going deep, her tongue begging him to give her what he had denied her earlier in the parking lot. Comfort, understanding, escape.
He gives it to her and she gives it right back, knowing they are both seeking the same thing.
Gabriela pushes the shirt off of his broad shoulders and tugs it down his arms; Jack doesn’t break their kiss as he pulls his body back to rid himself of it. When his hands come back to her, they immediately tear at the tie of her robe and once it’s open, slide around her thin waist, the fabric of her slip of a nightgown soft and silky underneath his fingertips.
They cling to one another like they’re all each other have and at the moment, it seems true.
Her robe shimmers to the ground in a delicate wave, pooling at her feet. His fingers find her shoulders and the thin straps of her nightgown caress his palms softly as they slip down her arms. Gabriela breaks their kiss and looks down at her hands as they tug at his belt; it’s clear she is concentrating hard as if she needs to make extra effort to coordinate her movements. Jack just watches her, breathing heavily and afraid to speak, wondering if saying a word will break the self-protective bubble that seems to have surrounded them. He doesn’t want reality to burst in and discover their tryst. He only wants passion and heat and sensation, the smell of her hair, the feel of her skin…he wants to get lost in her and forget who he is.
Gabriela’s perfect lips reclaim his forcefully as she finishes pulling his zipper down, her hand sliding down the front of his open pants and touching him through his boxers. He’s hard underneath her touch and he feels a surge of lust pound through his entire body as he realizes that this is the first time in almost three years that he’s felt this, this clambering, out of control desire, this desperate need to simply get inside someone and find release. Jack moans against her mouth as she rubs him up and down, rocking his hips into her hand, and tells her how good that it feels by sliding his tongue along hers, turning his head to move the kiss deeper and longer.
“Jack,” she whispers breathlessly, her eyes closed tightly as his mouth sears a path down the graceful curve of her neck, her long dark hair tumbling over her shoulders and brushing softly against Jack’s skin. She moves her hand from in between his legs and grips tightly on the waistline of his black pants, pushing them down over his hips. Jack matches her, pulling the fabric of her nightgown up to her waist, bunching it around her hips and revealing her panties. He hooks his fingers on either side and tugs downward, letting them fall down her shapely thighs and around her ankles as he lets her nightgown fall back down as well.
Gabriela steps back toward the bed, pulling Jack with her, leaving a trail of his clothing on the dark rough carpet along the way. They fall onto the unforgiving mattress together, Jack climbing on top of her, the silk of her nightgown soft and cool against his naked body. He slides his hand up her leg underneath the material, slipping a finger over her entrance and finding her wet and ready.
She whimpers something in Italian and even though he’s not sure what she means, it sends a shiver down his spine.
“God…” Jack murmurs underneath his breath. His heart is pounding and he can feel the adrenaline coursing through him. It’s been no one but Sarah for him. Now Gabriela is soft and willing underneath his hard body, and he can feel it, the thrill and terror of cheating on someone. He feels guilty but he closes his eyes and tries to block it out, not wanting to think about Sarah anymore. She hadn’t thought of him when she did this, made love to another man while Jack’s ring was on her finger. She kissed and she touched and she moaned and she came, all for someone who wasn’t him.
Jack kisses Gabriela harder, slipping his finger slowly inside her body and she groans something again in Italian, her fingers clutching at his biceps. She feels like heaven, warm and slick, her body responsive and open. He slips another inside and works her with both, his thumb rubbing in small circles between her legs, gently driving her toward the edge.
“Ti voglio,” she says.
“What?” Jack manages softly, watching as her eyes fall closed for a moment and she moans, her lips parting in such a way that makes her look so erotic and beautiful that his body shudders and he pushes his fingers into her harder. Gabriela forces her eyes open and she brings her hands to the side of his face, pulling him down to her and kissing him.
“I have wanted you since the first time I saw you, Jack.” She states, her voice strong and Jack can see the fire burning in her eyes, the way she looked when she was begging him to try and save her father; no, challenging him to try and save her father. He’d felt something for her then, felt a spark of illumination, a jolt of recognition, like he was seeing something in her that he’d never seen in someone else before. But it had been slow to come over him and settle in, the realization that it was deeper than he thought. He hadn’t wanted her, not at first. But it built and he began to care, began to look forward to seeing her more than he looked forward to going home.
“I wanted you too,” Jack replies, his fingers twining in the waves of her hair. He withdraws his other hand from her body, gently massaging the inside of her thigh as everything seems to slow down between them, the point of no return suddenly upon them. Something deep inside him warns him that this will only end badly and he hesitates, unsure that this is the right thing to do.
“Just tonight, Jack,” Gabriela whispers, brushing her hand over his rough cheek, like she knows what he’s thinking. “We only need tonight.” Jack nods, understanding, and moves on top of her, sinking down against her lithe body. She wraps her legs around his back as he enters her, pushing in carefully, his eyes locked on hers the entire time. Her lip quivers and she tries to speak, to say something, but can’t. She is tight around him and she feels good, so good. It’s been too long since he felt this way about anything, not even a woman, not even sex. He wants it with every inch of his being. He wants to feel nothing but bliss and warmth, his mind empty of everything but pleasure.
They begin to move together and their lips reconnect, each begging the other to make them forget why they arrived here at this place in their lives, and allow each other to merely be. He moans her name as he thrusts into her, the syllables new as they fall from lips used to only saying Sarah. And the way she says his name, so full of need and longing and satisfaction, makes him feel loved in a way he hasn’t been in a long time.
But when it’s all over, there’s just silence. Soft gestures and lingering kisses until they fall asleep entwined in one another’s arms. No explanations, no discussion.
When Jack wakes in the morning, he feels confused, not sure where he is, but it all quickly comes rushing back to him. Gabriela is nestled beside him, her black hair cascading over the stark white pillow and her olive skin warm against his body. In an instant he feels terribly afraid.
He should have been a better person than this. He should have been stronger. He doesn’t want his marriage to end, he wants Sarah back, but he had just thrown it all away with two hands. And he has surely hurt Gabriela in the process.
His mind races a mile a minute, trying to find the right words to explain his mistake to her when she wakes. But as her eyes flutter open, everything fails him.
But it doesn’t matter. The words aren’t necessary because she knows. She knew last night and she doesn’t need him to feel bad any more than she needs to regret her part in it. They had taken advantage of each other and there’s no need for apologies.
Gabriela kisses him good-bye and gives him her address and phone number in Italy, pressing the paper into the palm of his hand and curling his fingers around it, sealing his fist with a light kiss.
Anything between them now is an impossibility.
She knows that. He knows that.
But neither of them knows the future.
That’s why when he returns back to the house, Jack slips the crumpled piece of hotel stationery under the front cover of his address book.
Because maybe it hadn’t been a mistake.
But right now, he’s pretty sure that it was, so he goes to the kitchen, finds the bottle of scotch he should have found last night, and wonders how he’ll ever convince Sarah to take him back after what he’s done.
Jack!Fic Advent Calendar
24_days_of_jack - December 17th
Title: An Easy Mistake
Pairing: Jack/Gabriela
Rating: NC-17
Prompt: foxys40 #29, Selfish
Spoilers: Through 2x11 “The Hunting Party”
Disclaimer: Not Mine!
Dedication: To amantium_irae, who has been waiting patiently for this for quite awhile. :)
Jack knocks on the door three times in quick succession, the rap sharp but light, just his knuckles. He’s not sure that he wants her to hear. He shouldn’t be here.
But there’s nowhere else to go.
He waits in the quiet hallway, the muffled, dead air of the hotel in a strange way soothingly calm. Everyone is asleep or cocooned in their transitory homes, watching the latest infomercial for a product they will never buy or a pay-per-view porno that they’d never dare purchase in the white-washed suburban world they undoubtedly come from.
He can smell the pool. It doesn’t seem to matter where you are; if the hotel has a pool, chlorine hangs in the air like chemical cologne. He hates that.
Jack shifts and the plush carpeting sinks underneath his shoes, the fake Oriental pattern almost optical in its design. He stares at the number on the door for a moment and then lets out a long breath; he doesn’t know if he has the courage to knock again.
But it doesn’t matter. He hears three separate locks click open and then Gabriela is standing in front of him, her long black hair tousled and her grey eyes full of confusion. She adjusts the front of her blue silk robe and she steps toward him, then back.
“What…what are you doing here?” She asks, squinting just slightly in the soft light of the hallway. Jack opens his mouth to speak but his voice fails him at first. He brings his hand up to his lips and looks at her, trying to find the words.
He’s tired, so tired. Tired of trying. He’s had enough.
“It turns out my wife isn’t such a special person after all…” Jack finally says with a crooked, broken smile. Gabriela steps toward him, already reaching out to him. "She does mind the late hours." He averts his eyes to the ground, knowing now more than ever that he should just turn and walk away. He wants this too much and that’s not a good sign. “She’s been cheating on me.”
“Jack…” Gabriela says his name softly but doesn’t say anything else. Her silence confuses him and he lifts his head and he meets her gaze almost accidentally, locking into the meaningful stare that he had been trying to ignore ever since it had become hard to look away.
“I’m sorry. I should go.” He murmurs weakly but it’s no use. He knows he’s not leaving.
“I know,” Gabriela says quietly and reaches up, her elegant hand sliding behind his neck, pulling him down to kiss her anyway.
“Gabriela…” He tries to stop himself from needing this but he can’t. He should be sitting outside Sarah’s mother’s house, demanding that she talk to him, that they work this out. He should be broken down at Marc’s house, letting Marc curse Sarah’s existence while Marc’s wife tries to force him to eat something. He should be drowning his sorrows in a bottle of scotch all by himself in his empty house. But right now he wants to forget it all. Gabriela wants him. He’s already failed her and she wants him anyway. She needs him to help her forget her pain too.
She backs into the darkness of her room and he follows her willingly. The door slams shut and the world suddenly narrows down to just him and her. She’s the only thing that exists.
Her fingers are already working open the buttons of his maroon dress shirt as her lips desperately push against his, their kisses instantly going deep, her tongue begging him to give her what he had denied her earlier in the parking lot. Comfort, understanding, escape.
He gives it to her and she gives it right back, knowing they are both seeking the same thing.
Gabriela pushes the shirt off of his broad shoulders and tugs it down his arms; Jack doesn’t break their kiss as he pulls his body back to rid himself of it. When his hands come back to her, they immediately tear at the tie of her robe and once it’s open, slide around her thin waist, the fabric of her slip of a nightgown soft and silky underneath his fingertips.
They cling to one another like they’re all each other have and at the moment, it seems true.
Her robe shimmers to the ground in a delicate wave, pooling at her feet. His fingers find her shoulders and the thin straps of her nightgown caress his palms softly as they slip down her arms. Gabriela breaks their kiss and looks down at her hands as they tug at his belt; it’s clear she is concentrating hard as if she needs to make extra effort to coordinate her movements. Jack just watches her, breathing heavily and afraid to speak, wondering if saying a word will break the self-protective bubble that seems to have surrounded them. He doesn’t want reality to burst in and discover their tryst. He only wants passion and heat and sensation, the smell of her hair, the feel of her skin…he wants to get lost in her and forget who he is.
Gabriela’s perfect lips reclaim his forcefully as she finishes pulling his zipper down, her hand sliding down the front of his open pants and touching him through his boxers. He’s hard underneath her touch and he feels a surge of lust pound through his entire body as he realizes that this is the first time in almost three years that he’s felt this, this clambering, out of control desire, this desperate need to simply get inside someone and find release. Jack moans against her mouth as she rubs him up and down, rocking his hips into her hand, and tells her how good that it feels by sliding his tongue along hers, turning his head to move the kiss deeper and longer.
“Jack,” she whispers breathlessly, her eyes closed tightly as his mouth sears a path down the graceful curve of her neck, her long dark hair tumbling over her shoulders and brushing softly against Jack’s skin. She moves her hand from in between his legs and grips tightly on the waistline of his black pants, pushing them down over his hips. Jack matches her, pulling the fabric of her nightgown up to her waist, bunching it around her hips and revealing her panties. He hooks his fingers on either side and tugs downward, letting them fall down her shapely thighs and around her ankles as he lets her nightgown fall back down as well.
Gabriela steps back toward the bed, pulling Jack with her, leaving a trail of his clothing on the dark rough carpet along the way. They fall onto the unforgiving mattress together, Jack climbing on top of her, the silk of her nightgown soft and cool against his naked body. He slides his hand up her leg underneath the material, slipping a finger over her entrance and finding her wet and ready.
She whimpers something in Italian and even though he’s not sure what she means, it sends a shiver down his spine.
“God…” Jack murmurs underneath his breath. His heart is pounding and he can feel the adrenaline coursing through him. It’s been no one but Sarah for him. Now Gabriela is soft and willing underneath his hard body, and he can feel it, the thrill and terror of cheating on someone. He feels guilty but he closes his eyes and tries to block it out, not wanting to think about Sarah anymore. She hadn’t thought of him when she did this, made love to another man while Jack’s ring was on her finger. She kissed and she touched and she moaned and she came, all for someone who wasn’t him.
Jack kisses Gabriela harder, slipping his finger slowly inside her body and she groans something again in Italian, her fingers clutching at his biceps. She feels like heaven, warm and slick, her body responsive and open. He slips another inside and works her with both, his thumb rubbing in small circles between her legs, gently driving her toward the edge.
“Ti voglio,” she says.
“What?” Jack manages softly, watching as her eyes fall closed for a moment and she moans, her lips parting in such a way that makes her look so erotic and beautiful that his body shudders and he pushes his fingers into her harder. Gabriela forces her eyes open and she brings her hands to the side of his face, pulling him down to her and kissing him.
“I have wanted you since the first time I saw you, Jack.” She states, her voice strong and Jack can see the fire burning in her eyes, the way she looked when she was begging him to try and save her father; no, challenging him to try and save her father. He’d felt something for her then, felt a spark of illumination, a jolt of recognition, like he was seeing something in her that he’d never seen in someone else before. But it had been slow to come over him and settle in, the realization that it was deeper than he thought. He hadn’t wanted her, not at first. But it built and he began to care, began to look forward to seeing her more than he looked forward to going home.
“I wanted you too,” Jack replies, his fingers twining in the waves of her hair. He withdraws his other hand from her body, gently massaging the inside of her thigh as everything seems to slow down between them, the point of no return suddenly upon them. Something deep inside him warns him that this will only end badly and he hesitates, unsure that this is the right thing to do.
“Just tonight, Jack,” Gabriela whispers, brushing her hand over his rough cheek, like she knows what he’s thinking. “We only need tonight.” Jack nods, understanding, and moves on top of her, sinking down against her lithe body. She wraps her legs around his back as he enters her, pushing in carefully, his eyes locked on hers the entire time. Her lip quivers and she tries to speak, to say something, but can’t. She is tight around him and she feels good, so good. It’s been too long since he felt this way about anything, not even a woman, not even sex. He wants it with every inch of his being. He wants to feel nothing but bliss and warmth, his mind empty of everything but pleasure.
They begin to move together and their lips reconnect, each begging the other to make them forget why they arrived here at this place in their lives, and allow each other to merely be. He moans her name as he thrusts into her, the syllables new as they fall from lips used to only saying Sarah. And the way she says his name, so full of need and longing and satisfaction, makes him feel loved in a way he hasn’t been in a long time.
But when it’s all over, there’s just silence. Soft gestures and lingering kisses until they fall asleep entwined in one another’s arms. No explanations, no discussion.
When Jack wakes in the morning, he feels confused, not sure where he is, but it all quickly comes rushing back to him. Gabriela is nestled beside him, her black hair cascading over the stark white pillow and her olive skin warm against his body. In an instant he feels terribly afraid.
He should have been a better person than this. He should have been stronger. He doesn’t want his marriage to end, he wants Sarah back, but he had just thrown it all away with two hands. And he has surely hurt Gabriela in the process.
His mind races a mile a minute, trying to find the right words to explain his mistake to her when she wakes. But as her eyes flutter open, everything fails him.
But it doesn’t matter. The words aren’t necessary because she knows. She knew last night and she doesn’t need him to feel bad any more than she needs to regret her part in it. They had taken advantage of each other and there’s no need for apologies.
Gabriela kisses him good-bye and gives him her address and phone number in Italy, pressing the paper into the palm of his hand and curling his fingers around it, sealing his fist with a light kiss.
Anything between them now is an impossibility.
She knows that. He knows that.
But neither of them knows the future.
That’s why when he returns back to the house, Jack slips the crumpled piece of hotel stationery under the front cover of his address book.
Because maybe it hadn’t been a mistake.
But right now, he’s pretty sure that it was, so he goes to the kitchen, finds the bottle of scotch he should have found last night, and wonders how he’ll ever convince Sarah to take him back after what he’s done.