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[echolls_cursed]

Throwing a party was a lot more work than Logan had anticipated, and he found himself grateful for a change that Jack had so many friends. Decorating wasn't so bad, and it went by faster with the help of Prior and Maureen, but food... Well, anyone who had ever tasted Logan's attempts at anything other than pancakes or bacon would be glad to know

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[captainjack]

Ever since Jane Bennett had decreed the day he arrived on the island to be Jack's birthday, he had had a party. It was Helen's islandversary, too- a fact that they had discussed many times as being a strange and fortuitous coincidence. This was the first year Logan had thrown him a party and it had been a bit of a surprise. He'd been thinking it would just be a small get together. Maybe a few friends. Something quiet.

Clearly not.

He circulated through the crowd, smiling at everyone and talking to them, offering his thanks for their coming. He loved parties, that was no secret. He kept sneaking glances at Logan all through the thing. No matter who he talked to or who he danced with, Jack knew who he needed to thank the most.

[bennet_beauty]

Jane knew that she could hardly ignore such a day and while she had very little to give save for the bouquet of flowers, she wished to attend. Clad in a shorter blue dress of a more modern style, she appeared before Jack, presenting the flowers to him. "And how old are you now?" she asked, sunny and happy.

[captainjack]

"I'm four," Jack grinned, leaning in to kiss her chastely on the cheek. "And I act like it as often as I can. How are you Jane? I'm so glad you came."

[bennet_beauty]

"Four. Twice Lydia's age!" she announced with great delight, leaning into his kiss and wishing to return his affection as greatly as she could. "I'm well, Jack. Quite well, but today is not a day for me," she promised, knowing that she wished to come and commemorate his day. "Here, Jack, these are for you," she spoke, extending the bouquet of flowers to him.

[captainjack]

"They're almost as pretty as you, Jane. Thank you," he said, accepting the bouquet and smiling softly. Jane had been the first on the island to give him a gift and he'd never once forgotten that kindness. There was no way to describe how fond he was of the woman.

"And where is my future bride?" he asked, looking around. "She not already into the cake, is she?"

[bennet_beauty]

"At the Children's Office for the moment," Jane said apologetically, knowing that Jack might have liked to see her, but Lydia was growing quite active. "I might yet go and pick her up to bring her by, but she is quite mischievous lately. Sometimes," she fretted, "I do worry that it is my fault."

[captainjack]

"She's two. I really doubt it's your fault, Jane. She's just curious. Or, you know, so I've read," he said with a shrug. He offered her his arm and nodded toward his hut.

"Come with me so I can put these in some water. And tell me what you've been doing besides keeping up with your girl."

[bennet_beauty]

Jane quite happily went along with Jack, not wishing to dally and ignore his request. She kept an easy pace as she slid her arm into his and they walked along. "Well, I do not know if you've met my newest and dearest friend. Of course he is no competition for you!" she promised with a coy, teasing tone. "But I do like him, all the same."

[captainjack]

"Competition? What's this about competition?" he teased. He put the flowers in a cup stolen from the compound and decided they could wait for some water.

"Tell me all about him, Jane. Who is he, where's he from, do I need to scare him a little?" he continued, winking at her quickly at the suggestion.

[bennet_beauty]

"As I said, he shall never take your place in my heart, Jack," she swore, though at the very talk of Carwood, she could not help her dizzy grin, beyond pleased to even think of him. She followed Jack inside, watching him with the flowers. "He is Carwood Lipton, of the forties in America and the war. And you need not scare him even an inch!"

[captainjack]

"Oh, one of the Easy company boys?" he asked. He knew several of them had vanished lately, but it seemed to him that the majority of the company had been together for a while.

"I'll take it from that look in your eyes that he's a good friend. If you think he's a good man, Jane, then I've got to believe he is. No scaring. I promise."

[bennet_beauty]

She nodded fondly and let out a happy laugh, as though it had been stolen from her very vocal cords. "He is a wonderful man, I believe. And I love him very much, Jack," she said, not needing to insist when it was so easy and clear for her to feel. "We have been together since January."

[captainjack]

"That's wonderful, Jane? And he's good to you and Lydia? He must be to make you look so happy," Jack beamed. He hadn't seen her so happy in ages. She wore it well.

[bennet_beauty]

"He is, but it was no easy thing for us," she admitted, wringing her hands before her. She did not wish to speak ill of their relationship, but it had not been so easy at first. "We are only now together after many months of my loving him. He had a wife," she explained, now beginning to sound unsure. "Jack? Am I a horrible woman to take two men from their wives?"

[captainjack]

"No, Jane. You aren't," he said simply, taking her hands in his own.

"You know things are different here than back in the world you came from, and even there? Men left and lost wives. I think that you are living proof that love can happen again...or maybe for the first time. Not every marriage has love," he pointed out. For all that Jack was no whiz with his own love life, he had a fairly good handle on how it worked for other people.

[bennet_beauty]

She still worried, but as Jack took her hands she began to feel her panic ease. He did have that consummate effect with her. "I do not want him to feel I pressured him into this. I do not want him to think that I could be in any way terrible."