[prp] gtfo — jack/chel (fin)

[chiickadee]

In the dark she couldn't quite make out Jack's shape until her eyes adjusted, but she knew it anyways. She ran one finger down his arm in repetitive circular motions, tracing his veins, his tattoo; little lines that seemed invisible for everyone else but ran easily for her.

"Naw you don't owe me nothin'," she murmured, pressing small kisses into his collar bone. "Tenebrae'll fix 'em when he feels like it."

Her fingers lingered on one spot on his arm in particular, where the words Caliburn had seared into his flesh. Had made some part of it foreign.  

[medigel]

"Still," he mumbled as he slid a leg between hers. There were still lingering pangs of pain from where the heels had dug into his body, and between those and her scratches, their swaddled warmth was glorious.

As Chel brushed along the burn site, he exhaled a sigh through his nose. "It was peaceful," he said softly. "It wasn't Merlin. For a moment I really thought it could help us...I mean, it was Protection." The arm not placed under her neck curled up and idly stroked her hair. "But it just...I couldn't stop myself. ********' tried, believe me, but it hurt to stay still. Hurt ********' swing that sword too, so I was outta luck. But there was this...I dunno. Imperative t'seek justice."

He tucked himself closer to Chel. "Sorry I was ********' stupid."  

[chiickadee]

Her arms crumpled underneath his hold and she instead scooted closer, burying her nose in his neck and squeezing her arm around his side. Sometimes she loved that neither of them could sleep; it meant more time remembering he wasn't going to leave in the morning.

She let out a heady noise of enjoyment at the hair stroking, simultaneously apologizing for being too obvious about her concern regarding the scars.

When he curled inwards, she tutted softly. "No, don't be sorry. I knew y'weren't you. S'why I jumped in front; didn't want you hurtin' no one that wouldn't get it." They hadn't really had time to talk about it before. After the dust had settled from the invasion, most of the conversation centered around getting both of them bandaged, about fixing Chel's room, about "this is why we gotta find a house in the towns man" and about their rushed vacation.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. "You ain't hidin' nothin' are you?" Because Chel had learned how well hiding a legacy had worked out.  

[medigel]

"Nothin'. No dreams or voices or anything else, thank God, or I would've told you. Bad enough..." He hadn't meant to say that out loud. Bad enough one of them had legacy issues. He continued to stroke her hair and grew thoughtful.

"You gotta promise me somethin', Chel. Don't do what that woman did in the knights thing. Merlin's s**t's not worth it."  

[chiickadee]

"I don't gotta do nothin'" she told him in a cheeky voice, moving her head from side to side in quick short motions. She knew what Jack had meant to say, but he was right. She wouldn't wish her ******** ups on him.

In a more sincere way she said, "I won't do it unless y'think its a good idea too." Chel wouldn't outright deny the use of Merlin's powers if the time came, but she would make sure to confer with Jack first. She wouldn't be alone like her knight.

She let his heartbeat keep meter for her breathing for a while, closing her eyes and soaking in the life she was allowed to call hers. Somewhat out of the blue, she commented, "Feels like I made it."  

[medigel]

Her first answer caused Jack to tighten his hold, instinctive and absolute. Don't joke. Only when Chel gave a better answer did he relax again, sighing against her head.

< You cannot let her. Dear one, promise me. > But he did no such thing.

"You think so?" he asked, and the sleepover voice really shined through. "Not married yet."  

[chiickadee]

"Who's fault is that?" she murmured, amused that now even he was bringing it up. Jack was right; she had her ways of worming into people.

She ran a hand down his back now, feeling along all the scratches she'd made. "I'm happy. I got away." It's a resounding kind of emotion, echoing her promise she'd made to Rep. She wouldn't be a moping, traumatic hunter. She had Jack in his entirety, when last year he'd barely accepted a hug. Chris, despite her worry over him, was making strides. She had her friends, her projects, her purpose. Her home. "Everythin' gonna go wrong." That was fact, not worry or supposition. "But it always does, y'know?"

There was a satisfaction in being able to see chaos in the future and being afraid of it, but not overcome by it. Jack made her feel like she could face it. "I got my battle partner. Don't need a ring t'tell me when I made it or not." She nodded, sure, then poked his side. "Doesn't hurt though."  

[medigel]

"Yeah, yeah, sorry I like spoiling you so much," he razzed with a sleepy grin and a little tug of a lock of hair, lacking the brain power and energy to say something more eloquent. But Chel had taught him that meaningful didn't always describe large actions or even in words, and he felt satisfied in conveying himself in these little, common motions for now. He didn't have to explain himself further.

Even so, Jack still shifted so that they were eye level now, close enough to see her clearly without his glasses. One eye was closed, the opposite corner of his lips was tugged up. "I'll start saving up," he promised her. "The whole ring buyin' tradition s'bullshit corporate propaganda ingrained into the American consumer's subconscious f'r ********' years--but."

He got that look: the kind that said he was feeling clever again.

"Darliiiiin'," yes he was attempting to sing it, "you are the only 'ception~"  

[chiickadee]

Chel didn't understand half the words that came in the ramble after (too sleepy, too many words), but she did comprehend I'll start saving up.

She had almost leaned in to kiss him, but then he started singing and she rolled her eyes. "Ev'ry time you sing that's jus' anoth'r step towards me nev'r singin' again." She would have wiggled away to give him a hard time, but Jack's grip was iron when he wanted it to be and she knew there was no point. It was all just part of the little games they played.

"What about tattoos?" she mused. "We could get somethin' on our hands. Makes it easier fer missions an' s**t too." More quietly, habit; "Less money too."  

[medigel]

He shushed her softly, basking in his own brilliance and quite certain he had never made that joke before.

"Mm...Like what? Y'want me to get sugarbooger around my finger? Wait, thought you didn't do needles," Jack pointed out.  

[chiickadee]

"Yeah, write snookypoo on yer finger," she deadpanned back before her face cracked into a smile. "I dunno. Maybe I could do it." Probably not. "I could get Chris t'knock me out. Heard there's a guy that does it on the island."

She shrugged, not having developed this idea fully, but also not feeling the need to. "I just don't wanna wait ferev'r for a dumb ring." There was laughter in her voice as she pinched his cheek in retribution for the singing. It came out a whine, equal parts mocking and serious. "I wanna marry you nowwww."  

[medigel]

He made a half-hearted protest at the cheek pinch but never stopped grinning. "How 'bout we discuss this when we're awake n' sober," Jack said, attempting to placate her with a few sloppy kisses. "Bet you'll wake up n' just ask for twenty plastic rings instead, huh?" His lips trailed down, softer than earlier and vibrating from his chuckles. "Ten on each hand, how's that sound?"
 

[chiickadee]

"Mm, later," she commented wistfully. "Always later."

She had a few fuzzy thoughts, mostly concerned with what a good lay Jack was, but none of them surfaced. Instead she let his laugh reverberate into her own lungs, connected by a longer kiss. "Yeah, but yer the real suck'r 'cause y'would buy 'em."

As he moved down she snorted and said, "Leave some hickies if you gonna do that."  

[medigel]

"Later's not no," he purred against her throat, pricking his teeth against her skin in a cheeky manner. "Got you here like I said, right? Don' get picky now, babe." As for the hickies, well: "I'll try findin' a free spot~"

After lazily making his way down, Jack settled half atop her, catlike and half-lidded. "You don't tell anyone about me bein' a sap, okay? Reputations. I'd be nothin' without it."  

[chiickadee]

Chel liked her hickies. She liked them the same way she liked every bruise, every scratch, every bite mark that Jack left. Tenebrae was always quick to heal them, but she at least got the reminder for a few days; this belongs to someone.

"M'gonna tell everyone," she said, running a hand down the back of his neck and kissing the open spot on his forehead.

She ran the tips of her fingers from his inner thighs up his stomach, keeping herself busy in their lazy affection. "Hey," she murmured, pulling his chin up. "When we get back, let's look for your house. Stop puttin' it off, make time t'go run around the towns and s**t." The memory from the crystal shard had imprinted something on her. "Get you a big on with a tree like y'wanted."