| Night Jack watched the woman sleeping in his bed, beautiful, blonde, graceful and naked. Glimpses of flesh where the sheets had slipped and the streetlight caught hold of her skin through the blinds. It wasn�t how he�d imagined the day ending, what was this anyway, just sex? Just mindless pleasure with somebody, anybody, getting laid, screwing around�just like all the other times. Meaning nothing, symbolising nothing, just there as yet another reminder of his inability to commit. To hold a relationship together and find the idea of making love to one woman for the rest of his life enough. Would it ever be enough? Morning Jack leant back in the chair and smiled to himself as Nora bent over, those legs, he could well imagine feeling those legs, those thighs, bending around him� �Jack, JACK!� �What?� His head shot up. �Stop staring at me.� She smiled to herself as she continued searching through her desk drawer. Her briefcase was open on her chair and she was unsuccessfully attempting to double its holding capacity. �What did you want anyway, you�ve been sat there ten minutes and not yet said anything useful.� �Useful? Surely everything I say is useful.� �Jack...� She groaned still ignoring his obvious lazy nature today. �Do you actually plan to do any work today?� �Of course.� He nodded folding his arms and stretching his long legs out in front of him. �But it�s early yet.� �Some of us have been here since 7.30.� �What the hell for?� �Because I have lots to do. So what do you want?� �To talk, sometimes I get bored, Serena is lovely but she makes me feel old.� �You, feeling old? Good god wonders will never cease.� �Very funny.� �And anyhow what do you mean you want to talk to me because Serena makes you feel old? So I�m old too?� Jack laughed; she�d cornered him well and proper. �No, you�re interesting � at times.� �Gee thanks, I like you too. It�s a good job I�m a lenient boss they wouldn�t all allow you to get away with talking to them like this.� �I guess not, we have known each other a while though.� �True. So what do you want to talk about?� �I was thinking maybe your legs�� She looked up at him over the rim of her glasses, the death stare. �That�s it, out.� She moved round the desk to him and pulled him up from the chair. �Go on, I�m too busy for your jokes now.� �I was being serious.� �Then go talk to somebody who is actually impressed by your flattery. I�ll see you later, now shoo!� She pushed him out of the door and leant against it smiling to herself as she listened to him laughing and closing his office door. Now back to work. Day Long dull days, no matter how many years one had attempted to deal with them they still persisted in being the bane of life. Struggling with a run of the mill case where really there was nothing for him to do but turn up in court Jack was well and truly bored. He wasn�t in the mood for work; he was in the mood for having fun, maybe having a drink and a game of cards, laughing and joking with somebody gorgeous. Somebody whose attention he held simply by the look in his eyes, the joy in being adored. He swung round in his chair and watched the rain against the window, it had been grey all day, and the rain had fallen in continuous threads. Long and lonely days like this, peaceful, almost silent. Nobody was around, not even out in the city. All hiding from the downpour, waiting for it to pass and the sun to reappear only it never did. Melancholy is how his wife had put it once, ex-wife, very much ex. Her warm neck and expensive perfume clouded up his mind, her extravagance and dinner parties, people he didn�t even know and after years of marriage still didn�t really know. Apart from Nora, arriving to almost every party late, quiet and friendly and caring. Dear Nora, they�d lost touch over the years, funny how life turned out. Once she was one of his wife�s elite friends, only much nicer than the rest, more willing to talk to him and accept him as an actual real person rather than a tag along to Helen. Now his boss she was much the same, still friendly, still willing to talk whenever he had a moment. Still quite beautiful, more confident now though, less in need of people like Helen and her social calendar. Still he couldn�t blame her for having friends like that, for gods sake he went as far as to marry the woman. �Jack, am I interrupting?� That gentle voice easing into the silence He spun round in his chair. �Not at all. Just reminiscing.� �May I ask what about?� She asked taking the seat across from him. �Just my past, marriage, those damned dinner parties.� He grinned. �Full of people you didn�t like.� �How did you know�?� �It was pretty obvious, besides I felt the same. In fact I only went to talk to you most of the time,� she leant forward on the table. �You know I had a real crush on you back then. There�s something for your confidence.� �Certainly�wow, what a revelation.� She smiled. �Don�t worry I got over it.� �Shame.� He smiled staring at her, he expected her to look away but she didn�t, she stared straight back. And for a moment the silence returned, strangely awkward after all the time they�d known each other, after the thousands of conversations they�d shared. This was suddenly more serious than the flirting, more important. The rain continued to fall, easing its way down the glass, traces of fingerprints evident upon the fragile surface, as the moment dragged. Nora looked away first, past the smudges on the window, up to the sky, hearing the cab drivers sound their horns, and the people hurry away from the weather. Here she was waiting for something to change, for her life to possibly change and out there life was going on. �I wanted to talk to you about the Green case.� Short clipped tones now. �Right.� �I think that they could use your input on it, you�ve handled things like it before.� �Sure, I�ll go and talk to Mark later.� �Thank you.� Afraid the moment had passed and now it had was lost for good. He couldn�t go back and say what he should have said, he couldn�t change things. And neither could she, it was just the way it was, best left alone. �Well I better go, I have dinner tonight with Rudi Guiliani, chance to catch up.� �Have a nice time.� Evening �What�s your name again?� �Jack.� �And you�re with the law.� He laughed. �Sort of.� �You want me to come home with you?� She rubbed his knee. She was drunk he knew that, and he was on his way. She was pretty gorgeous too, and young and in awe of his suit and fancy watch that she fiddled with on his wrist. �Sure. I�ll get us a cab.� So he still had the ability to pull � proud of that now Jack McCoy? He mused as he sat by the window, the rain had stopped and somehow along the way so had his momentum, what had he done? Slept with a stranger, there was no pride in this, no comfort to be found in it. Another one to add to the list. Review Home |
| Disclaimer: Cos Nora's cute and Jack is sexy and they just HAVE to get it together - ok writers!! |
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