J/D Ficathon entry: 'Love Train', rated R
Title: Love Train
Author: Sid
Summary: Jack makes plans for a long weekend and Daniel’s totally, completely onboard with them.
Word Count: ~5,300
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing with them.
Written For: fiareynne
Prompt: 1. dorky Jack 2. downtime (between missions, or maybe a vacation)
Notes: Chapter headings are all YouTube links. They’ll open up in a separate window when you click on them, so you won’t be navigating away from the story. Enormous thanks to tejas and especially to jd_junkie, for some spiffy cheerleading, and smoochy beta kisses to the lovely magnavox_23.
LOVE TRAIN ♥
Now, I’ve been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
Daniel flipped a reference book open with his left hand while jotting down a note with his right. He laid down his pen and reached blindly for his mouse while looking for the page he wanted in the book. A glance at his monitor and he started scrolling slowly down while turning his attention back to the book. Page located, he pulled the book closer while watching the screen.
When he finally had the two things he wanted to compare in front of him, he skipped ahead two pages in his notebook and picked up his pen again.
Of course that was when Jack walked into the office. “Hey.”
“Hey, Jack,” Daniel replied with a swift glance. “I’m kinda busy here.” He hunched over his notebook, trying to project scholarly concentration; not that that ever worked with Jack.
There was a medium-length pause. “I can come back.”
Daniel straightened, laid down his pen and swiveled his chair. “Wow, I really didn’t expect that to work.”
“Seriously,” Jack said, pointing towards the door with his thumb.
“No, no.” Daniel flapped a hand.
One side of Jack’s mouth quirked. “So. I was just down in the infirmary….”
“How’s the knee?”
Jack craned forward and looked down at his leg. “It’s fine. Brace stays on for a couple more days.”
“Good. That’s good. Our next mission’s on schedule then?” Daniel glanced down at his notebook.
Jack nodded. “Sure. And then, you know, four day weekend coming up after that.”
The announcement of that bit of non-news got Daniel’s full attention. “Right.”
“Got any plans?”
Oh, nice try at casual, Jack. “Um, no, not really. You?”
“Maybe. One of Fraiser’s nurses was talking, while they were working on my leg. You ever been on a train trip?”
Daniel blinked. “Well, not in this country, unless the El counts.”
Jack gestured dismissively. “The El doesn’t count, New York subway doesn’t count. A real train.” He flattened out his hand and moved it forward with a jerky motion.
Daniel was surprised he wasn’t making actual ‘choo-choo’ noises. “Then, no, like I said, not in this country. Egypt, sure; Europe.”
“Ah. Old hat, in other words.” Jack tried and failed to hide disappointment.
Daniel shook his head. “Some things never get old. Where are you thinking of going?”
“Well, I’ve been looking at some timetables and things.” Jack pulled a wad of papers out of his pocket and began unfolding them. “There’s a train leaving Denver around 8 pm next Thursday, heading for Chicago.”
“Chicago?” Daniel felt a bubble of excitement rising.
Jack had spread the papers against his chest and was uncrinkling them. “Your old stomping grounds.”
“And yours.” Daniel grinned. “Are you inviting me to come along?”
Jack shuffled his papers and didn’t look up. “Didn’t I say that?”
“No, you didn’t quite mention that part.”
“Ah, well.” Jack offered his most charming smile. “I’m sure I was getting around to it.”
“In that case, I accept.”
Jack’s smile evolved into full-on beaming. “Sweet!”
“So, what’s all the…?” Daniel pointed at the papers in Jack’s hand and beckoned.
Jack came around the side of the desk and began spreading pages out. “Sleeping compartment pictures, sample Dining Car menu, a few hotel possibilities, Cubbies/Sox home schedules….”
“Museums,” Daniel hinted.
Jack waved a piece of paper triumphantly and slapped it down onto the desk. “Museum of Science and Industry!”
Get your ticket at the station
Daniel had brought his suitcase and garment bag to work with him on the Thursday morning, so when quitting time rolled around, after they’d both showered and changed, signed out and walked to Jack’s parking spot, his luggage joined Jack’s in the truck’s back seat and they were on their way to Denver. Northbound traffic on I-25 was at typical rush hour levels but moving steadily. They were going to reach Union Station with at least the recommended half hour to spare.
“So how many books did you end up packing?”
“Four,” Daniel answered cautiously.
“Which means, what? Seven? Eight?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Five.”
“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.” Jack sighed dramatically.
“Okay, how many books did you pack?”
“Two. And a deck of cards. Might find somebody to play poker with up in the Sightseer Lounge.”
“You were a card sharp in another life, weren’t you?”
Jack flashed him a grin. “We can play Go Fish in our compartment. I promise not to cheat.”
“Gin Rummy,” Daniel countered. “And I make no promises.”
Jack took the exit that would put them in the LoDo district, and Daniel let him negotiate the street traffic in peace while he stared out the window and thought about the trip they were about to embark upon, and wondered if the signals he thought he was getting from Jack were anything more than wishful thinking on his part.
Jack seemed nervous; no, wound up. Well, maybe a little nervous. More than seemed appropriate for a nice relaxing train ride and a few days of fun in a familiar city.
Eighteen hours on the train. A long ride, but Daniel was really looking forward to spending time alone with Jack away from work. Jack had booked the train tickets, so Daniel had handled the hotel reservations, making sure that they’d be staying in a double room. He’d take every minute of Jack’s company that he could get, and if it turned out be nothing more than a friendly vacation, well….
And there was the station. “‘Travel by Train’,” Daniel read. “Okay, I will.”
They left the truck in a nearby lot and carried their bags across the street to the station. “Quik-Trak kiosk,” Jack muttered.
Daniel pointed. “Try saying that three times fast!”
“I had enough trouble saying it once.” Jack walked to the kiosk, set his bag down and started reading the instructions for the machine that was going to print out their tickets.
Daniel, on the theory that it was good for Jack’s Luddite soul to puzzle these things out for himself once in a while, set his own bag down by his feet and surveyed the vast waiting room. Enormous arched windows gleamed with the brilliant light cast by the sun, low in the sky. Row upon row of high-backed benches stood ready to hold the passengers of sixty, seventy, eighty years ago. Scattered individuals and small groups were dwarfed by the sheer scale of the historic building.
“Got ‘em.” Jack crowed.
“I knew you could do it.”
Jack smirked.
The California Zephyr was due in twenty minutes and there was nothing to do but wait. So they sat down on a bench whose back came up well over their heads, luggage strewn haphazardly at their feet, and talked about Chicago while Daniel watched Jack twitch and wondered.
Hurry, get on now, it’s coming
When the train was announced, they made their way along the underground passenger tunnel that ran beneath the tracks, then climbed a stairway to their platform and looked for a sign marked with the letter that was on their sleeper car tickets. They joined the other people waiting there and watched as their train pulled in.
When the train halted, the nearest door opened and an attendant climbed out and began checking tickets. She pointed them in the direction of their compartment and they manhandled their luggage onto the train and down the corridor.
Daniel stepped into the compartment first. “Well, this is going to be.…”
Jack crashed into the back of him.
“Cozy,” Daniel finished, laughing.
There was a couch along one wall, and the enclosed bathroom, a sink, and a reclining armchair along the other, with a small fold-down table under the picture window between the seats. The couch would become a bed in a couple of hours, and the bulkhead over it concealed the fold-down upper berth.
“Bigger than a tent,” Jack commented. He opened the bathroom door and peered in.
Daniel hung his garment bag on the rack and stood his suitcase against the wall. “It’s going to be a great view once we get moving.” He went to look out the window.
Jack came and stood at his shoulder. “Not for long, the sun’s getting ready to set.”
“All day tomorrow, though,” Daniel said.
“Yep,” Jack answered, and Daniel could hear the smile in his voice.
There was a knock on their open door. “Good evening, folks.” The conductor.
“Evening,” Jack said.
“I’ll need to see your tickets and ID, please.”
They pulled out their papers and handed them over.
The conductor looked everything over and then handed them back. “Have you folks traveled with us before?”
“Nope.”
“Never.”
“Well, someone will be along very soon to take your dinner reservation.” The train’s whistle gave a short blast. “And your attendant will be turning down your beds for you while you’re dining.” The train began to lurch forward and the conductor swayed easily with the motion. “There’s a list of scheduled stops over by the table, in case you want to get out and stretch your legs or smoke.”
Daniel turned to look at the table, and out the window, where the station was sliding slowly past.
“I hope you’ll enjoy your trip with us, gentlemen.”
“Thank you.”
Daniel sank down onto the couch and stared out the window.
Jack rubbed his hands together. “Dinner. I’m ready.”
“Mm, yeah, me too.”
“Might as well unpack a few things first.”
“Go ahead,” Daniel said. “I don’t think there’s room for two of us to unpack at once anyway.”
“True.” Jack lifted his bag up onto the seat next to Daniel and opened it.
There was another knock at the door. The sleeping car attendant. “Have you got everything you need? Any questions about the restroom facilities?”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Jack answered with a grin.
“Would you like coffee and a newspaper in the morning?”
“Coffee, definitely coffee.”
“Both, thank you. About 7:30?” Jack said.
“All right, sir.” The man made a note. “I’ll turn down your beds while you’re at dinner.”
“Thanks.”
Daniel turned back to the window and Jack turned back to his suitcase, grabbing an armful of items and starting towards the bathroom with them. “Oh, wait, I forgot something. Be right back, gotta go ask the attendant something.” Jack disappeared out the door, arms still full.
Daniel frowned. What was that all about?
Jack came back a couple of minutes later and went straight into the bathroom.
“What was that all about?” Daniel called.
Jack reappeared and came over to the couch. “What?” he said, zipping up his suitcase.
“That.”
“That?”
“That. With the attendant.”
“Oh, that. Nothing. I just….”
Yet another knock at the door. “Good evening, I’m here to take your reservation for the dining car?”
“Great!” Jack cleared his throat. “I mean, I’m starving. We’re starving. We’re both starving.”
“8:30, 8:45….” The man looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“8:30. Why wait? Right, Daniel?”
“Right, Jack,” Daniel answered, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
They made their way to the dining car, staggering occasionally as the train swung into a curve, and stood in line to be seated. They were taken to a table for four already occupied by an elderly couple named Fred and Etha, whose empty dinner plates were just being whisked away.
“Eth-a?” Jack asked. “Not….”
Daniel kicked him under the table.
“Hey!”
“Not Ethel, no,” the woman laughed. “And believe me, I’ve heard that question more times than I could count since I married this old galoot in 1955.”
“I can imagine,” Daniel said sympathetically, looking up from his menu. “There must always be some joker who thinks he’s a wit.”
“Hey!”
Fred coughed. “Might be time to delicately change the subject, so where are you fellows from and where are you headed?”
“Colorado Springs, headed for Chicago for a little R&R.”
Fred looked at Jack alertly. “Military?”
“Air Force.”
“I thought so,” Fred said with a triumphant nod at his wife. “I can always spot a serviceman.”
“Fifteen years in the Navy, my Fred,” Etha said proudly.
“Is that so?”
“Mighty dangerous duty, too,” Fred said, laying one finger aside his nose.
“You don’t say,” Jack drawled.
“Submarines?” Daniel ventured.
Etha snorted and Fred’s eyes twinkled. “Second trumpet in the Seventh Fleet Navy Band!”
“He got you, Daniel.”
“Yes, he did.”
Their server appeared at that moment, with a plate of chocolate cake and two forks for Fred and Etha. “You ready to order?”
“I am,” Daniel said, glancing at Jack, who hadn’t even picked up his menu. “Jack?”
“You got a steak?”
“Yes.”
“Medium rare.”
She made a note. “Salad dressing?”
“Ranch.”
“I’ll have the grilled shrimp,” Daniel said. “Italian dressing. Um, and the half bottle of Pinot Grigio.”
Jack, who had been about to hand his menu to the server, pulled it back and gave it a quick look. “Sam Adams.”
“Okay.” The server walked away.
Daniel tilted his head. “That all seemed a little… offhand.”
Etha put down her fork and dabbed at her lips with her napkin. “It’s not a bit like eating in a restaurant, is it? Sometimes the train staff can be downright rude. This girl’s decent, though.”
“They don’t rely on tips,” Fred added. “They’re salaried union employees like everyone else on the train.”
“No need to kiss up, then,” Jack acknowledged.
“Right,” Fred said. “You ready to go, hon?”
Etha nodded and pushed her chair back.
Jack rose smoothly to his feet and after a second Daniel fumbled his way out of his seat.
“Pleasure talking to you,” Fred said.
Jack reached across the table to shake his hand. “Always good to meet a fellow serviceman. Ma’am.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Etha said, touching Daniel’s sleeve as she went past.
Fred gave him a firm handshake and a nod, and they were gone.
“Nice couple,” Jack said, sitting back down.
“Very.”
They sat silently for a few minutes, watching the pink sky slowly darkening and listening to the rumble of the train’s wheels. When their drinks arrived, Jack gave the server a brilliant smile. “Thank you!”
Looking completely uninterested, she answered, “Okay,” and moved on.
Daniel looked at Jack’s face and couldn’t help snickering. “Are you losing your touch, Jack?”
Jack frowned into his beer. “Hope not.”
Daniel nudged him with his shoulder. “Just kidding.” He gave Jack a warm smile.
Jack scratched an eyebrow and took a sip of his beer.
“So what was it you were talking to the attendant about earlier?”
Jack swallowed his beer smoothly. “Oh, that. I just realized that we’ll be in another time zone come morning and that 7:30 will be 6:30 our time, so I asked him to bring the coffee later.”
Probably only Daniel could have detected the tiny tic at the corner of Jack’s eyelid. “I thought you said you had to ask him a question.”
Jack shrugged. “That was it, asking if he could bring the coffee later. Hey, look, food!”
Daniel accepted his plate and took a bite of his shrimp. Not rubbery at all, which was pretty good considering that it had undoubtedly been prepared somewhere else and microwaved onboard the train. The vegetables were a little bit the wrong side of ‘crisp-tender’, but nicely seasoned. “How’s the steak?”
Jack was busy chewing. He gave a thumb’s up.
Daniel smiled and dug his fork into his salad. He hadn’t realized how hungry he really was.
The sky outside was completely black by the time they finished their food, the night nearly moonless. Lights of distant and not-so-distant houses marked their passage through the invisible countryside. Daniel swayed a little in his seat with the movement of the train, and it had nothing to do with the two large glasses of wine he’d had.
“Any dessert?” The server gathered up their empty plates and used utensils.
“Got any pie?” Jack asked.
“Peach and cherry.”
There was a pause. Jack’s fingers drummed on the tablecloth. He glanced at Daniel. “Cherry.”
“Just coffee for me.”
“You should get the vanilla ice cream,” Jack advised.
“What, so that you can eat it?”
“He’ll have the vanilla ice cream.”
Their server rolled her eyes and walked away.
Daniel snorted, and clapped a hand over his mouth. They really had been large glasses of wine.
“Having a good time?” Jack asked softly.
“I’m feeling pretty relaxed,” Daniel admitted with a grin, and to prove it he swayed against Jack as the train went around a curve.
“Glad to hear it.” Jack’s smile was happy, but his fingers were drumming on the tablecloth again.
Daniel toyed with his ice cream when it came, staring out the window at nothing, nerves tingling, pleasurably aware of Jack’s eyes watching him….
Night time is the right time, we make love
It took a minute. When he opened the compartment door, Daniel’s eyes were drawn immediately to their beds, ready for occupation, and his mind instantly registered how much smaller the room seemed to have become. But it took a minute for him to realize that something else was different, and that Jack just maybe was holding his breath.
“Champagne!” The sink had been filled with ice, and a bottle of wine immersed in it. Two plastic cups sat nearby, waiting. “Jack?”
“It seemed like a fun thing to do?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure! But how did you…?”
“Packed it in my suitcase. I got the attendant to ice it up for us.” Jack pulled the bottle out of its ice bath.
“That’s what you chased after him for. But I never saw the bottle.”
“I had it wrapped up in a T-shirt.” Jack had removed the foil and was unscrewing the wire cage.
“Very sly.”
“You like sly.”
“Yes, I do.”
Jack was grinning as he popped the cork.
They took their full cups over to the bed. Daniel sat on the foot of the bed and pulled down the table. “We should have a toast.”
Jack sat next to him. “Chicago. Good times. Good company?”
“The best,” Daniel said solemnly, as he tapped his cup against Jack’s.
Fort Morgan. Next stop, Fort Morgan.
Jack took a quick sip and stood up. “That could get annoying real fast.” He walked over to the speaker. “That nurse said there was a way to shut it off… ah!”
Daniel sipped. “That goes on all night, I suppose.”
Jack sat back down. “Shoulda thought of that before. Where were we?”
“Toasting. Drinking.”
Jack took another sip and stood up again. “I’m going to… there should be… ah!”
“What are you… oh.”
Jack had switched on the reading lamp for the lower berth, and now he was stepping up a rung of the ladder to the upper berth, leaning over the safety netting and switching that lamp on, too. The train was beginning to slow as he went to the door and turned off the overhead light.
Daniel could see the lights of the approaching station through the half-open curtains. Jack sat back down next to him, a little closer than before. Their shoulders rubbed against each other as the train shuddered slowly to a halt.
“Did you want to stretch your legs?” Jack asked.
“No, I’m fine right here,” Daniel answered, and he’d never meant anything more sincerely in his life. “The wine’s good.”
“Nothing expensive,” Jack said, and jumped up again. “I’ll get us some more.”
“You sure you don’t want to stretch your legs? You seem awfully antsy.”
Jack topped up their cups silently and put the bottle back into the sink. He sat down again, and now their legs pressed against each other. “I’m fine right here, too.”
Outside, people were boarding and disembarking. A porter pushed a cart full of luggage. Two women stood together, smoking, while a man paced up and down the platform, having a solitary cigarette.
“The nurse,” Daniel said slowly. He turned his head and Jack was staring at him.
“Nurse?”
“Janet’s nurse, the one that gave you this idea.”
“What about her?” He sounded wary.
Daniel licked his lips. “Was it Lt. Carmichael?”
Jack appeared genuinely puzzled. “Carmichael?”
“Formerly Burton?”
Jack nodded. “Burton, yeah. Carmichael, huh?”
“You pitched in forty dollars for her wedding present.”
“Right. Right.”
Daniel bit his lip as he turned back to the window, then he sipped some more champagne. Next to him, Jack cleared his throat, drank and set his cup down on the table.
The train whistle blew, and the people on the platform came back towards the train.
“Jack.”
“Yeah?”
“She was describing her honeymoon trip, wasn’t she?”
The train jolted forward and the station began to slide past.
“I don’t recall,” Jack mumbled.
“What did she say?”
“What?”
Daniel put his cup down and turned to Jack. “What was it she said that gave you the idea to come on this trip?”
“I… “
“Jack.”
“She said it was the most romantic thing she’d ever….”
Daniel didn’t allow Jack to finish that sentence. He threw an arm around him, cupped his face with his other hand and kissed him.
Jack made a strangled sound and grabbed Daniel’s shoulders and kissed him back.
Things progressed rapidly from there.
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
Sweaty, out of breath, sticky and happy. Cooling down with the last of the champagne. Very snugly snuggled. A little too snugly.
“We won’t get any sleep like this,” Jack chuckled, nuzzling Daniel’s neck.
“It is kind of cramped. But I don’t mind,” Daniel said hastily.
“You don’t mind because you’re not the one who’s going to get pushed out.”
“We can switch sides.” It was a half-hearted offer and it sounded like one. Daniel supposed he should feel ashamed, but he just felt boneless.
“Nah.” Jack kissed him. “I’ll move upstairs.”
“I can do that,” Daniel said, a bit surprised. “That bed’s even smaller than this one.”
“It’s two inches longer.” Jack gave him another kiss and rolled to his feet, draining his glass and putting it on the table. He bent down to take Daniel’s glass and to kiss him again. “Like me.”
“Ha, ha,” Daniel said.
“Sleep tight,” Jack said, grinning.
Daniel reached out and took Jack’s hand, holding it for a few seconds. “See you in the morning.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Jack raised Daniel’s hand to his lips.
Daniel was filled with a warm glow as he listened to Jack climbing the ladder to the upper berth.
BANG
“Uhng.”
“Jack? Jack, are you all right?”
There was no answer.
“Jack!”
“I’m just going to pretend to be unconscious in order to avoid complete humiliation.”
Daniel laughed. Covered his mouth with his hand. Laughed again.
“Ow, my head.”
“Ow,” Daniel said sympathetically. “You okay?”
“I’ll live.”
“I’m counting on that, you know.”
There was a silence, then a snick as Jack turned off his reading light. Daniel switched off his light, too, and smiled into the darkness.
“I’ve got a lot to live for.”
“Likewise.” It was pillow talk, at a distance. Easier somehow to say things, or imply things. “There’s Chicago, for one thing.”
“Didn’t know you felt that strongly about the Cubbies.”
“Oh, I’m mainly thinking about our hotel room.”
“What, you book us something special?”
“Just something with a nice big bed. Well, two of them, actually. Which will be handy.”
“Are you lying in a wet spot, Daniel?”
“I’m sticking out my tongue right now.”
“Don’t try to turn me on.”
Daniel snorted.
“You got big plans for that nice big bed?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to turn you on.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Jack sounded sleepy.
“Jack?”
“Mmm?”
Daniel rolled over and closed his eyes, smiling. A second later Jack rolled over.
The train clattered, climbed, swung around bends, rattled over the tracks, blew its whistle for crossings, rumbled into stations. Daniel drifted somewhere just beyond all of that, lulled, serene.
We’ll have time for coffee flavored kisses
Daniel cracked one eye open when Jack climbed down the ladder. He grunted, and Jack patted his shoulder.
A few minutes later the sound of water roused him again. The shower most likely. His skin itched. He smiled and dozed back off.
He heard Jack dressing. By the time he opened his eyes, Jack was sitting in the armchair, looking out through a partial crack in the curtains. Daniel closed his eyes again. The train swayed left, then right, then left.
A knock at the door. Coffee? Coffee.
“Coffee,” Jack said quietly.
“Mmm,” Daniel answered. He inhaled. Might be worth… his eyes shot open. Memory kicked in.
“Good morning.”
Daniel sat up, blinking. “Coffee?”
Jack poured him a cup and stretched across the table to hand it to him. “We’re about halfway through Iowa.”
“Oh?” Daniel tested the coffee’s temperature and took a cautious sip.
“How’d you sleep?”
Daniel looked up and their eyes met, and he felt a lightness that began in his chest and rose up and ended as a smile on his lips. “Great,” he laughed.
“Sweet!” The smile must have been contagious.
Daniel took another swallow of coffee and put his cup down. “Bathroom.” He rubbed a hand over his stomach. “Shower.” The smile crept back.
“You know how the sign says you should probably sit on the toilet seat lid while you shower? Believe it.” Jack rubbed his leg. “Everything was going just dandy and then the train took a curve.” He gestured with his hand.
Daniel threw back his covers and pushed himself to his feet, feeling a little bit awkward about being naked and streaked with dried come while Jack was cleaned up and fully dressed. “I’ll remember that.”
Jack looked him up and down. “Hurry back.”
He said it so wistfully that Daniel’s heart gave a little thump. “Absolutely,” he promised. Awkwardness forgotten, he stepped over and bent down to kiss Jack, whose hand stretched up to rest on his butt caressingly.
Daniel licked his lips as he straightened. “Huh.”
“What?”
“You taste like coffee.”
Jack tapped the side of his cup with the hand that wasn’t still squeezing Daniel. “And this is strange because…?”
Daniel grinned. “I’m used to you tasting like champagne.”
Jack pinched him.
“Ow!”
“Wiseass.”
The shower was… challenging. Being clean was good, though. Even better was washing himself and remembering Jack’s hands touching him in the places he was touching now, Jack’s mouth, tongue. Teeth, right there in that tender spot, oh, yeah.
He started to get hard, but he talked himself out of it. He’d just gotten clean. And anyway, he wanted Jack to make the first move this time. He’d pretty much pounced on him last night, so it was only fair… not that Jack had seemed to object.
There was little point in trying to towel himself off in this cramped space, where every move he made brought him up against a wet wall. So he opened the door and stepped out into the compartment, dripping wet and rubbing his hair roughly.
Jack put down the newspaper, rose from the armchair and came to him, picking up a fresh towel from the pile on the sink. “Give you a hand?”
Daniel spread his arms wide and let his wet towel drop. “I’m all yours.”
“Good to know,” Jack drawled.
Breakfast on the train was first come, first served.
Jack and Daniel were destined to be the last served.
Come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me
Because by the time Daniel was dry he was also fully erect, and Jack’s trousers sported a bulge that Daniel couldn’t resist cupping in his hand, and then Jack couldn’t resist pulling the curtains all the way open and standing behind Daniel and stroking him while biting lightly down on his shoulder as they watched green Iowa fields roll by.
“I think I may have a thing for exhibitionism,” Daniel gasped. It was all a blur out there for him without his glasses, and that made him feel even more exposed.
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” Jack said into his ear.
“You’ve got it, at the moment,” Daniel answered, grasping Jack’s wrist and stilling his hand.
Jack backed away. “I’ve got something else.”
Daniel turned, looked, licked his lips. “You’ve got too many clothes on, that’s what you’ve got.” He reached for Jack’s waistband.
“I kind of like it.”
“What?” Daniel asked, unfastening Jack’s trousers.
“You naked, me not.”
“Pervert,” Daniel proclaimed, kissing him soundly. When he’d gotten Jack’s trousers and shorts pulled down, he pulled him over to the bed and pushed him down to sit on it.
And then he knelt between Jack’s legs.
And Jack seemed to like that a whole lot, too, if the sounds he made were anything to go by. And if there had been any doubt remaining in the end, the way Jack sank down sideways on the bed, moaning, told Daniel he’d done just fine.
Daniel got to his feet, put on his glasses for the first time that morning, poured himself some coffee, and stared out the window while he drank it, giving Jack a few minutes to recover.
“I didn’t know you took cream with your coffee,” Jack eventually joked weakly.
Daniel turned to him, laughing. “I think I can make an exception.”
Jack lowered his gaze to Daniel’s erection. “Be right with you.”
“Sweet,” Daniel said deliberately.
Jack smiled, and got a look in his eyes that Daniel just knew boded well.
“I can wait,” he added. Meaning, ‘I can’t wait.’
Jack sat up smoothly. “C’mere.”
Daniel did.
Jack took Daniel’s hips in his hands, and Daniel took himself in hand and slid slowly forward. It was good, it was so good, it was warm and wet and so very, very good, and Jack’s tongue was a glorious thing, and the soles of Daniel’s bare feet vibrated with the rhythmic rattling of the train traveling along the tracks. He braced himself against the upper berth and rocked his hips back and forth, trying to be controlled and gentle while his head was swimming and his pulse was throbbing throughout his entire body.
Jack’s fingers dug into his hips and that felt good, too, and Daniel began to whisper Jack’s name like a prayer, and he turned his face to the window and watched green slipping by, slipping by. He saw the locomotive come into view up ahead before he felt the rest of the train begin to sway around the bend. His hips rocked sideways.
The blast of the whistle drowned out Daniel’s cry as Jack’s teeth scraped his sensitive flesh.
He came and came again, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and clinging white-knuckled to the frame of the upper berth. His heart raced and the train slowed and Jack’s mouth soothed. He stood, panting and shaking.
Jack made a sound and pushed at Daniel’s hips.
Daniel resisted for a few seconds before coming to his senses and pulling away. “Sorry!”
The train’s brakes were squealing and shuddering. Jack pointed. “Curtains!” he yelled.
Holy… they were coming into a station! Daniel sprang to the side and whipped the curtains closed, seeing the faces of waiting passengers through the last chink of light.
Jack had collapsed, laughing.
Daniel knelt on the side of the bed and then draped himself limply over Jack. He pushed his face into Jack’s neck, knocking his glasses askew. “Oh, God!”
“Oh… oh…” Jack was speechless.
“Oh, God,” Daniel repeated, lifting his head and scrunching his nose until his glasses slid back into place.
Jack’s arms came around him and patted him on the back. Daniel huffed air into Jack’s ear.
“Jack,” he said.
“What?” Jack managed before going off into another peal of helpless laughter.
“I’m looking forward to Chicago, really I am. All our plans. And especially all the plans I’ve got for you on a nice, big, soft bed. I want that like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Okay,” Jack said, sounding a little confused. “But?”
“But, more than that, more than anything,” Daniel rose up onto an elbow and beamed down at Jack blissfully, “I can’t wait until it’s time for the trip home.”
Take me right back to the track, Jack!
Author: Sid
Summary: Jack makes plans for a long weekend and Daniel’s totally, completely onboard with them.
Word Count: ~5,300
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing with them.
Written For: fiareynne
Prompt: 1. dorky Jack 2. downtime (between missions, or maybe a vacation)
Notes: Chapter headings are all YouTube links. They’ll open up in a separate window when you click on them, so you won’t be navigating away from the story. Enormous thanks to tejas and especially to jd_junkie, for some spiffy cheerleading, and smoochy beta kisses to the lovely magnavox_23.
LOVE TRAIN ♥
Now, I’ve been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
Daniel flipped a reference book open with his left hand while jotting down a note with his right. He laid down his pen and reached blindly for his mouse while looking for the page he wanted in the book. A glance at his monitor and he started scrolling slowly down while turning his attention back to the book. Page located, he pulled the book closer while watching the screen.
When he finally had the two things he wanted to compare in front of him, he skipped ahead two pages in his notebook and picked up his pen again.
Of course that was when Jack walked into the office. “Hey.”
“Hey, Jack,” Daniel replied with a swift glance. “I’m kinda busy here.” He hunched over his notebook, trying to project scholarly concentration; not that that ever worked with Jack.
There was a medium-length pause. “I can come back.”
Daniel straightened, laid down his pen and swiveled his chair. “Wow, I really didn’t expect that to work.”
“Seriously,” Jack said, pointing towards the door with his thumb.
“No, no.” Daniel flapped a hand.
One side of Jack’s mouth quirked. “So. I was just down in the infirmary….”
“How’s the knee?”
Jack craned forward and looked down at his leg. “It’s fine. Brace stays on for a couple more days.”
“Good. That’s good. Our next mission’s on schedule then?” Daniel glanced down at his notebook.
Jack nodded. “Sure. And then, you know, four day weekend coming up after that.”
The announcement of that bit of non-news got Daniel’s full attention. “Right.”
“Got any plans?”
Oh, nice try at casual, Jack. “Um, no, not really. You?”
“Maybe. One of Fraiser’s nurses was talking, while they were working on my leg. You ever been on a train trip?”
Daniel blinked. “Well, not in this country, unless the El counts.”
Jack gestured dismissively. “The El doesn’t count, New York subway doesn’t count. A real train.” He flattened out his hand and moved it forward with a jerky motion.
Daniel was surprised he wasn’t making actual ‘choo-choo’ noises. “Then, no, like I said, not in this country. Egypt, sure; Europe.”
“Ah. Old hat, in other words.” Jack tried and failed to hide disappointment.
Daniel shook his head. “Some things never get old. Where are you thinking of going?”
“Well, I’ve been looking at some timetables and things.” Jack pulled a wad of papers out of his pocket and began unfolding them. “There’s a train leaving Denver around 8 pm next Thursday, heading for Chicago.”
“Chicago?” Daniel felt a bubble of excitement rising.
Jack had spread the papers against his chest and was uncrinkling them. “Your old stomping grounds.”
“And yours.” Daniel grinned. “Are you inviting me to come along?”
Jack shuffled his papers and didn’t look up. “Didn’t I say that?”
“No, you didn’t quite mention that part.”
“Ah, well.” Jack offered his most charming smile. “I’m sure I was getting around to it.”
“In that case, I accept.”
Jack’s smile evolved into full-on beaming. “Sweet!”
“So, what’s all the…?” Daniel pointed at the papers in Jack’s hand and beckoned.
Jack came around the side of the desk and began spreading pages out. “Sleeping compartment pictures, sample Dining Car menu, a few hotel possibilities, Cubbies/Sox home schedules….”
“Museums,” Daniel hinted.
Jack waved a piece of paper triumphantly and slapped it down onto the desk. “Museum of Science and Industry!”
Get your ticket at the station
Daniel had brought his suitcase and garment bag to work with him on the Thursday morning, so when quitting time rolled around, after they’d both showered and changed, signed out and walked to Jack’s parking spot, his luggage joined Jack’s in the truck’s back seat and they were on their way to Denver. Northbound traffic on I-25 was at typical rush hour levels but moving steadily. They were going to reach Union Station with at least the recommended half hour to spare.
“So how many books did you end up packing?”
“Four,” Daniel answered cautiously.
“Which means, what? Seven? Eight?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Five.”
“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.” Jack sighed dramatically.
“Okay, how many books did you pack?”
“Two. And a deck of cards. Might find somebody to play poker with up in the Sightseer Lounge.”
“You were a card sharp in another life, weren’t you?”
Jack flashed him a grin. “We can play Go Fish in our compartment. I promise not to cheat.”
“Gin Rummy,” Daniel countered. “And I make no promises.”
Jack took the exit that would put them in the LoDo district, and Daniel let him negotiate the street traffic in peace while he stared out the window and thought about the trip they were about to embark upon, and wondered if the signals he thought he was getting from Jack were anything more than wishful thinking on his part.
Jack seemed nervous; no, wound up. Well, maybe a little nervous. More than seemed appropriate for a nice relaxing train ride and a few days of fun in a familiar city.
Eighteen hours on the train. A long ride, but Daniel was really looking forward to spending time alone with Jack away from work. Jack had booked the train tickets, so Daniel had handled the hotel reservations, making sure that they’d be staying in a double room. He’d take every minute of Jack’s company that he could get, and if it turned out be nothing more than a friendly vacation, well….
And there was the station. “‘Travel by Train’,” Daniel read. “Okay, I will.”
They left the truck in a nearby lot and carried their bags across the street to the station. “Quik-Trak kiosk,” Jack muttered.
Daniel pointed. “Try saying that three times fast!”
“I had enough trouble saying it once.” Jack walked to the kiosk, set his bag down and started reading the instructions for the machine that was going to print out their tickets.
Daniel, on the theory that it was good for Jack’s Luddite soul to puzzle these things out for himself once in a while, set his own bag down by his feet and surveyed the vast waiting room. Enormous arched windows gleamed with the brilliant light cast by the sun, low in the sky. Row upon row of high-backed benches stood ready to hold the passengers of sixty, seventy, eighty years ago. Scattered individuals and small groups were dwarfed by the sheer scale of the historic building.
“Got ‘em.” Jack crowed.
“I knew you could do it.”
Jack smirked.
The California Zephyr was due in twenty minutes and there was nothing to do but wait. So they sat down on a bench whose back came up well over their heads, luggage strewn haphazardly at their feet, and talked about Chicago while Daniel watched Jack twitch and wondered.
Hurry, get on now, it’s coming
When the train was announced, they made their way along the underground passenger tunnel that ran beneath the tracks, then climbed a stairway to their platform and looked for a sign marked with the letter that was on their sleeper car tickets. They joined the other people waiting there and watched as their train pulled in.
When the train halted, the nearest door opened and an attendant climbed out and began checking tickets. She pointed them in the direction of their compartment and they manhandled their luggage onto the train and down the corridor.
Daniel stepped into the compartment first. “Well, this is going to be.…”
Jack crashed into the back of him.
“Cozy,” Daniel finished, laughing.
There was a couch along one wall, and the enclosed bathroom, a sink, and a reclining armchair along the other, with a small fold-down table under the picture window between the seats. The couch would become a bed in a couple of hours, and the bulkhead over it concealed the fold-down upper berth.
“Bigger than a tent,” Jack commented. He opened the bathroom door and peered in.
Daniel hung his garment bag on the rack and stood his suitcase against the wall. “It’s going to be a great view once we get moving.” He went to look out the window.
Jack came and stood at his shoulder. “Not for long, the sun’s getting ready to set.”
“All day tomorrow, though,” Daniel said.
“Yep,” Jack answered, and Daniel could hear the smile in his voice.
There was a knock on their open door. “Good evening, folks.” The conductor.
“Evening,” Jack said.
“I’ll need to see your tickets and ID, please.”
They pulled out their papers and handed them over.
The conductor looked everything over and then handed them back. “Have you folks traveled with us before?”
“Nope.”
“Never.”
“Well, someone will be along very soon to take your dinner reservation.” The train’s whistle gave a short blast. “And your attendant will be turning down your beds for you while you’re dining.” The train began to lurch forward and the conductor swayed easily with the motion. “There’s a list of scheduled stops over by the table, in case you want to get out and stretch your legs or smoke.”
Daniel turned to look at the table, and out the window, where the station was sliding slowly past.
“I hope you’ll enjoy your trip with us, gentlemen.”
“Thank you.”
Daniel sank down onto the couch and stared out the window.
Jack rubbed his hands together. “Dinner. I’m ready.”
“Mm, yeah, me too.”
“Might as well unpack a few things first.”
“Go ahead,” Daniel said. “I don’t think there’s room for two of us to unpack at once anyway.”
“True.” Jack lifted his bag up onto the seat next to Daniel and opened it.
There was another knock at the door. The sleeping car attendant. “Have you got everything you need? Any questions about the restroom facilities?”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Jack answered with a grin.
“Would you like coffee and a newspaper in the morning?”
“Coffee, definitely coffee.”
“Both, thank you. About 7:30?” Jack said.
“All right, sir.” The man made a note. “I’ll turn down your beds while you’re at dinner.”
“Thanks.”
Daniel turned back to the window and Jack turned back to his suitcase, grabbing an armful of items and starting towards the bathroom with them. “Oh, wait, I forgot something. Be right back, gotta go ask the attendant something.” Jack disappeared out the door, arms still full.
Daniel frowned. What was that all about?
Jack came back a couple of minutes later and went straight into the bathroom.
“What was that all about?” Daniel called.
Jack reappeared and came over to the couch. “What?” he said, zipping up his suitcase.
“That.”
“That?”
“That. With the attendant.”
“Oh, that. Nothing. I just….”
Yet another knock at the door. “Good evening, I’m here to take your reservation for the dining car?”
“Great!” Jack cleared his throat. “I mean, I’m starving. We’re starving. We’re both starving.”
“8:30, 8:45….” The man looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“8:30. Why wait? Right, Daniel?”
“Right, Jack,” Daniel answered, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
They made their way to the dining car, staggering occasionally as the train swung into a curve, and stood in line to be seated. They were taken to a table for four already occupied by an elderly couple named Fred and Etha, whose empty dinner plates were just being whisked away.
“Eth-a?” Jack asked. “Not….”
Daniel kicked him under the table.
“Hey!”
“Not Ethel, no,” the woman laughed. “And believe me, I’ve heard that question more times than I could count since I married this old galoot in 1955.”
“I can imagine,” Daniel said sympathetically, looking up from his menu. “There must always be some joker who thinks he’s a wit.”
“Hey!”
Fred coughed. “Might be time to delicately change the subject, so where are you fellows from and where are you headed?”
“Colorado Springs, headed for Chicago for a little R&R.”
Fred looked at Jack alertly. “Military?”
“Air Force.”
“I thought so,” Fred said with a triumphant nod at his wife. “I can always spot a serviceman.”
“Fifteen years in the Navy, my Fred,” Etha said proudly.
“Is that so?”
“Mighty dangerous duty, too,” Fred said, laying one finger aside his nose.
“You don’t say,” Jack drawled.
“Submarines?” Daniel ventured.
Etha snorted and Fred’s eyes twinkled. “Second trumpet in the Seventh Fleet Navy Band!”
“He got you, Daniel.”
“Yes, he did.”
Their server appeared at that moment, with a plate of chocolate cake and two forks for Fred and Etha. “You ready to order?”
“I am,” Daniel said, glancing at Jack, who hadn’t even picked up his menu. “Jack?”
“You got a steak?”
“Yes.”
“Medium rare.”
She made a note. “Salad dressing?”
“Ranch.”
“I’ll have the grilled shrimp,” Daniel said. “Italian dressing. Um, and the half bottle of Pinot Grigio.”
Jack, who had been about to hand his menu to the server, pulled it back and gave it a quick look. “Sam Adams.”
“Okay.” The server walked away.
Daniel tilted his head. “That all seemed a little… offhand.”
Etha put down her fork and dabbed at her lips with her napkin. “It’s not a bit like eating in a restaurant, is it? Sometimes the train staff can be downright rude. This girl’s decent, though.”
“They don’t rely on tips,” Fred added. “They’re salaried union employees like everyone else on the train.”
“No need to kiss up, then,” Jack acknowledged.
“Right,” Fred said. “You ready to go, hon?”
Etha nodded and pushed her chair back.
Jack rose smoothly to his feet and after a second Daniel fumbled his way out of his seat.
“Pleasure talking to you,” Fred said.
Jack reached across the table to shake his hand. “Always good to meet a fellow serviceman. Ma’am.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Etha said, touching Daniel’s sleeve as she went past.
Fred gave him a firm handshake and a nod, and they were gone.
“Nice couple,” Jack said, sitting back down.
“Very.”
They sat silently for a few minutes, watching the pink sky slowly darkening and listening to the rumble of the train’s wheels. When their drinks arrived, Jack gave the server a brilliant smile. “Thank you!”
Looking completely uninterested, she answered, “Okay,” and moved on.
Daniel looked at Jack’s face and couldn’t help snickering. “Are you losing your touch, Jack?”
Jack frowned into his beer. “Hope not.”
Daniel nudged him with his shoulder. “Just kidding.” He gave Jack a warm smile.
Jack scratched an eyebrow and took a sip of his beer.
“So what was it you were talking to the attendant about earlier?”
Jack swallowed his beer smoothly. “Oh, that. I just realized that we’ll be in another time zone come morning and that 7:30 will be 6:30 our time, so I asked him to bring the coffee later.”
Probably only Daniel could have detected the tiny tic at the corner of Jack’s eyelid. “I thought you said you had to ask him a question.”
Jack shrugged. “That was it, asking if he could bring the coffee later. Hey, look, food!”
Daniel accepted his plate and took a bite of his shrimp. Not rubbery at all, which was pretty good considering that it had undoubtedly been prepared somewhere else and microwaved onboard the train. The vegetables were a little bit the wrong side of ‘crisp-tender’, but nicely seasoned. “How’s the steak?”
Jack was busy chewing. He gave a thumb’s up.
Daniel smiled and dug his fork into his salad. He hadn’t realized how hungry he really was.
The sky outside was completely black by the time they finished their food, the night nearly moonless. Lights of distant and not-so-distant houses marked their passage through the invisible countryside. Daniel swayed a little in his seat with the movement of the train, and it had nothing to do with the two large glasses of wine he’d had.
“Any dessert?” The server gathered up their empty plates and used utensils.
“Got any pie?” Jack asked.
“Peach and cherry.”
There was a pause. Jack’s fingers drummed on the tablecloth. He glanced at Daniel. “Cherry.”
“Just coffee for me.”
“You should get the vanilla ice cream,” Jack advised.
“What, so that you can eat it?”
“He’ll have the vanilla ice cream.”
Their server rolled her eyes and walked away.
Daniel snorted, and clapped a hand over his mouth. They really had been large glasses of wine.
“Having a good time?” Jack asked softly.
“I’m feeling pretty relaxed,” Daniel admitted with a grin, and to prove it he swayed against Jack as the train went around a curve.
“Glad to hear it.” Jack’s smile was happy, but his fingers were drumming on the tablecloth again.
Daniel toyed with his ice cream when it came, staring out the window at nothing, nerves tingling, pleasurably aware of Jack’s eyes watching him….
Night time is the right time, we make love
It took a minute. When he opened the compartment door, Daniel’s eyes were drawn immediately to their beds, ready for occupation, and his mind instantly registered how much smaller the room seemed to have become. But it took a minute for him to realize that something else was different, and that Jack just maybe was holding his breath.
“Champagne!” The sink had been filled with ice, and a bottle of wine immersed in it. Two plastic cups sat nearby, waiting. “Jack?”
“It seemed like a fun thing to do?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure! But how did you…?”
“Packed it in my suitcase. I got the attendant to ice it up for us.” Jack pulled the bottle out of its ice bath.
“That’s what you chased after him for. But I never saw the bottle.”
“I had it wrapped up in a T-shirt.” Jack had removed the foil and was unscrewing the wire cage.
“Very sly.”
“You like sly.”
“Yes, I do.”
Jack was grinning as he popped the cork.
They took their full cups over to the bed. Daniel sat on the foot of the bed and pulled down the table. “We should have a toast.”
Jack sat next to him. “Chicago. Good times. Good company?”
“The best,” Daniel said solemnly, as he tapped his cup against Jack’s.
Fort Morgan. Next stop, Fort Morgan.
Jack took a quick sip and stood up. “That could get annoying real fast.” He walked over to the speaker. “That nurse said there was a way to shut it off… ah!”
Daniel sipped. “That goes on all night, I suppose.”
Jack sat back down. “Shoulda thought of that before. Where were we?”
“Toasting. Drinking.”
Jack took another sip and stood up again. “I’m going to… there should be… ah!”
“What are you… oh.”
Jack had switched on the reading lamp for the lower berth, and now he was stepping up a rung of the ladder to the upper berth, leaning over the safety netting and switching that lamp on, too. The train was beginning to slow as he went to the door and turned off the overhead light.
Daniel could see the lights of the approaching station through the half-open curtains. Jack sat back down next to him, a little closer than before. Their shoulders rubbed against each other as the train shuddered slowly to a halt.
“Did you want to stretch your legs?” Jack asked.
“No, I’m fine right here,” Daniel answered, and he’d never meant anything more sincerely in his life. “The wine’s good.”
“Nothing expensive,” Jack said, and jumped up again. “I’ll get us some more.”
“You sure you don’t want to stretch your legs? You seem awfully antsy.”
Jack topped up their cups silently and put the bottle back into the sink. He sat down again, and now their legs pressed against each other. “I’m fine right here, too.”
Outside, people were boarding and disembarking. A porter pushed a cart full of luggage. Two women stood together, smoking, while a man paced up and down the platform, having a solitary cigarette.
“The nurse,” Daniel said slowly. He turned his head and Jack was staring at him.
“Nurse?”
“Janet’s nurse, the one that gave you this idea.”
“What about her?” He sounded wary.
Daniel licked his lips. “Was it Lt. Carmichael?”
Jack appeared genuinely puzzled. “Carmichael?”
“Formerly Burton?”
Jack nodded. “Burton, yeah. Carmichael, huh?”
“You pitched in forty dollars for her wedding present.”
“Right. Right.”
Daniel bit his lip as he turned back to the window, then he sipped some more champagne. Next to him, Jack cleared his throat, drank and set his cup down on the table.
The train whistle blew, and the people on the platform came back towards the train.
“Jack.”
“Yeah?”
“She was describing her honeymoon trip, wasn’t she?”
The train jolted forward and the station began to slide past.
“I don’t recall,” Jack mumbled.
“What did she say?”
“What?”
Daniel put his cup down and turned to Jack. “What was it she said that gave you the idea to come on this trip?”
“I… “
“Jack.”
“She said it was the most romantic thing she’d ever….”
Daniel didn’t allow Jack to finish that sentence. He threw an arm around him, cupped his face with his other hand and kissed him.
Jack made a strangled sound and grabbed Daniel’s shoulders and kissed him back.
Things progressed rapidly from there.
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
Sweaty, out of breath, sticky and happy. Cooling down with the last of the champagne. Very snugly snuggled. A little too snugly.
“We won’t get any sleep like this,” Jack chuckled, nuzzling Daniel’s neck.
“It is kind of cramped. But I don’t mind,” Daniel said hastily.
“You don’t mind because you’re not the one who’s going to get pushed out.”
“We can switch sides.” It was a half-hearted offer and it sounded like one. Daniel supposed he should feel ashamed, but he just felt boneless.
“Nah.” Jack kissed him. “I’ll move upstairs.”
“I can do that,” Daniel said, a bit surprised. “That bed’s even smaller than this one.”
“It’s two inches longer.” Jack gave him another kiss and rolled to his feet, draining his glass and putting it on the table. He bent down to take Daniel’s glass and to kiss him again. “Like me.”
“Ha, ha,” Daniel said.
“Sleep tight,” Jack said, grinning.
Daniel reached out and took Jack’s hand, holding it for a few seconds. “See you in the morning.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Jack raised Daniel’s hand to his lips.
Daniel was filled with a warm glow as he listened to Jack climbing the ladder to the upper berth.
BANG
“Uhng.”
“Jack? Jack, are you all right?”
There was no answer.
“Jack!”
“I’m just going to pretend to be unconscious in order to avoid complete humiliation.”
Daniel laughed. Covered his mouth with his hand. Laughed again.
“Ow, my head.”
“Ow,” Daniel said sympathetically. “You okay?”
“I’ll live.”
“I’m counting on that, you know.”
There was a silence, then a snick as Jack turned off his reading light. Daniel switched off his light, too, and smiled into the darkness.
“I’ve got a lot to live for.”
“Likewise.” It was pillow talk, at a distance. Easier somehow to say things, or imply things. “There’s Chicago, for one thing.”
“Didn’t know you felt that strongly about the Cubbies.”
“Oh, I’m mainly thinking about our hotel room.”
“What, you book us something special?”
“Just something with a nice big bed. Well, two of them, actually. Which will be handy.”
“Are you lying in a wet spot, Daniel?”
“I’m sticking out my tongue right now.”
“Don’t try to turn me on.”
Daniel snorted.
“You got big plans for that nice big bed?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to turn you on.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Jack sounded sleepy.
“Jack?”
“Mmm?”
Daniel rolled over and closed his eyes, smiling. A second later Jack rolled over.
The train clattered, climbed, swung around bends, rattled over the tracks, blew its whistle for crossings, rumbled into stations. Daniel drifted somewhere just beyond all of that, lulled, serene.
We’ll have time for coffee flavored kisses
Daniel cracked one eye open when Jack climbed down the ladder. He grunted, and Jack patted his shoulder.
A few minutes later the sound of water roused him again. The shower most likely. His skin itched. He smiled and dozed back off.
He heard Jack dressing. By the time he opened his eyes, Jack was sitting in the armchair, looking out through a partial crack in the curtains. Daniel closed his eyes again. The train swayed left, then right, then left.
A knock at the door. Coffee? Coffee.
“Coffee,” Jack said quietly.
“Mmm,” Daniel answered. He inhaled. Might be worth… his eyes shot open. Memory kicked in.
“Good morning.”
Daniel sat up, blinking. “Coffee?”
Jack poured him a cup and stretched across the table to hand it to him. “We’re about halfway through Iowa.”
“Oh?” Daniel tested the coffee’s temperature and took a cautious sip.
“How’d you sleep?”
Daniel looked up and their eyes met, and he felt a lightness that began in his chest and rose up and ended as a smile on his lips. “Great,” he laughed.
“Sweet!” The smile must have been contagious.
Daniel took another swallow of coffee and put his cup down. “Bathroom.” He rubbed a hand over his stomach. “Shower.” The smile crept back.
“You know how the sign says you should probably sit on the toilet seat lid while you shower? Believe it.” Jack rubbed his leg. “Everything was going just dandy and then the train took a curve.” He gestured with his hand.
Daniel threw back his covers and pushed himself to his feet, feeling a little bit awkward about being naked and streaked with dried come while Jack was cleaned up and fully dressed. “I’ll remember that.”
Jack looked him up and down. “Hurry back.”
He said it so wistfully that Daniel’s heart gave a little thump. “Absolutely,” he promised. Awkwardness forgotten, he stepped over and bent down to kiss Jack, whose hand stretched up to rest on his butt caressingly.
Daniel licked his lips as he straightened. “Huh.”
“What?”
“You taste like coffee.”
Jack tapped the side of his cup with the hand that wasn’t still squeezing Daniel. “And this is strange because…?”
Daniel grinned. “I’m used to you tasting like champagne.”
Jack pinched him.
“Ow!”
“Wiseass.”
The shower was… challenging. Being clean was good, though. Even better was washing himself and remembering Jack’s hands touching him in the places he was touching now, Jack’s mouth, tongue. Teeth, right there in that tender spot, oh, yeah.
He started to get hard, but he talked himself out of it. He’d just gotten clean. And anyway, he wanted Jack to make the first move this time. He’d pretty much pounced on him last night, so it was only fair… not that Jack had seemed to object.
There was little point in trying to towel himself off in this cramped space, where every move he made brought him up against a wet wall. So he opened the door and stepped out into the compartment, dripping wet and rubbing his hair roughly.
Jack put down the newspaper, rose from the armchair and came to him, picking up a fresh towel from the pile on the sink. “Give you a hand?”
Daniel spread his arms wide and let his wet towel drop. “I’m all yours.”
“Good to know,” Jack drawled.
Breakfast on the train was first come, first served.
Jack and Daniel were destined to be the last served.
Come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me
Because by the time Daniel was dry he was also fully erect, and Jack’s trousers sported a bulge that Daniel couldn’t resist cupping in his hand, and then Jack couldn’t resist pulling the curtains all the way open and standing behind Daniel and stroking him while biting lightly down on his shoulder as they watched green Iowa fields roll by.
“I think I may have a thing for exhibitionism,” Daniel gasped. It was all a blur out there for him without his glasses, and that made him feel even more exposed.
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” Jack said into his ear.
“You’ve got it, at the moment,” Daniel answered, grasping Jack’s wrist and stilling his hand.
Jack backed away. “I’ve got something else.”
Daniel turned, looked, licked his lips. “You’ve got too many clothes on, that’s what you’ve got.” He reached for Jack’s waistband.
“I kind of like it.”
“What?” Daniel asked, unfastening Jack’s trousers.
“You naked, me not.”
“Pervert,” Daniel proclaimed, kissing him soundly. When he’d gotten Jack’s trousers and shorts pulled down, he pulled him over to the bed and pushed him down to sit on it.
And then he knelt between Jack’s legs.
And Jack seemed to like that a whole lot, too, if the sounds he made were anything to go by. And if there had been any doubt remaining in the end, the way Jack sank down sideways on the bed, moaning, told Daniel he’d done just fine.
Daniel got to his feet, put on his glasses for the first time that morning, poured himself some coffee, and stared out the window while he drank it, giving Jack a few minutes to recover.
“I didn’t know you took cream with your coffee,” Jack eventually joked weakly.
Daniel turned to him, laughing. “I think I can make an exception.”
Jack lowered his gaze to Daniel’s erection. “Be right with you.”
“Sweet,” Daniel said deliberately.
Jack smiled, and got a look in his eyes that Daniel just knew boded well.
“I can wait,” he added. Meaning, ‘I can’t wait.’
Jack sat up smoothly. “C’mere.”
Daniel did.
Jack took Daniel’s hips in his hands, and Daniel took himself in hand and slid slowly forward. It was good, it was so good, it was warm and wet and so very, very good, and Jack’s tongue was a glorious thing, and the soles of Daniel’s bare feet vibrated with the rhythmic rattling of the train traveling along the tracks. He braced himself against the upper berth and rocked his hips back and forth, trying to be controlled and gentle while his head was swimming and his pulse was throbbing throughout his entire body.
Jack’s fingers dug into his hips and that felt good, too, and Daniel began to whisper Jack’s name like a prayer, and he turned his face to the window and watched green slipping by, slipping by. He saw the locomotive come into view up ahead before he felt the rest of the train begin to sway around the bend. His hips rocked sideways.
The blast of the whistle drowned out Daniel’s cry as Jack’s teeth scraped his sensitive flesh.
He came and came again, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and clinging white-knuckled to the frame of the upper berth. His heart raced and the train slowed and Jack’s mouth soothed. He stood, panting and shaking.
Jack made a sound and pushed at Daniel’s hips.
Daniel resisted for a few seconds before coming to his senses and pulling away. “Sorry!”
The train’s brakes were squealing and shuddering. Jack pointed. “Curtains!” he yelled.
Holy… they were coming into a station! Daniel sprang to the side and whipped the curtains closed, seeing the faces of waiting passengers through the last chink of light.
Jack had collapsed, laughing.
Daniel knelt on the side of the bed and then draped himself limply over Jack. He pushed his face into Jack’s neck, knocking his glasses askew. “Oh, God!”
“Oh… oh…” Jack was speechless.
“Oh, God,” Daniel repeated, lifting his head and scrunching his nose until his glasses slid back into place.
Jack’s arms came around him and patted him on the back. Daniel huffed air into Jack’s ear.
“Jack,” he said.
“What?” Jack managed before going off into another peal of helpless laughter.
“I’m looking forward to Chicago, really I am. All our plans. And especially all the plans I’ve got for you on a nice, big, soft bed. I want that like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Okay,” Jack said, sounding a little confused. “But?”
“But, more than that, more than anything,” Daniel rose up onto an elbow and beamed down at Jack blissfully, “I can’t wait until it’s time for the trip home.”
Take me right back to the track, Jack!