what some call insanity

For the Prove Your Love challenge. Jack/Nina, of course :) A different twist on the Santa Barbara weekend. Also, I realize that this is highly unlikely, because (old) Jack is nothing if not honorable, but still. They needed closure.



She's sleeping. Must be, because her breathing has slowed and she's sprawled with her palm under her cheek and other hand clutching the sheets to her chin, legs tangled with his and goosebumps on her arms. He rubs one, as briskly as he can without waking her.

They get very few nights together. Most of the time she leaves, sometimes as soon as she catches her breath, other times after he's fallen asleep, pretending that she'll still be there when he wakes up. He's never been to her apartment and is glad, because he isn't sure that he'd have the strength to do what she does.

Her hair is still damp from the shower they shared. At the beginning, when they couldn't keep their hands off each other and were desperate to be together at every possible moment, they tried shower sex. It ended in a heap on the floor, but far from sated, they were too busy laughing and groaning in pain. They weren't in college anymore. Now, months later, they're just as desperate for time together but satisfy themselves with quick kisses and the intimacy of rubbing shampoo into a lover's scalp.

He loves her. Not that he could ever say so, because he's moving back home and his daughter has emailed him a list of dates for him to choose from. They're going to Disneyland.

Maybe she could have loved him, but when he told her she just nodded and didn't quite meet his eye. "All right." He'd kissed her and by an unspoken agreement, they had spent the rest of this carefully planned weekend with no mention of the following week. Laughing harder than they would have because they're drinking more wine, and they have a lifetime to compensate for. Urgent kisses but no marks in those secret places, because they're not secret anymore.