Work Text:
Jack was in the middle of prescribing some nausea medication for an elderly patient when he felt the buzz of his phone against the side of his leg, which made him pause mid-sentence. It was just past 2am and the floor had a semblance of peace early on this Sunday morning, and he was briefly frozen as his mind ran through who might be messaging him.
There were only a handful of people in his contacts that their messages broke through the Do Not Disturb function of his phone, and it was unusual that any of them messaged him this early in the morning. He could feel his phone continue to buzz with notifications of multiple messages coming through, and he wrapped up the discharge process with the patient as quickly but professionally as he could.
As he directed the elderly woman towards the exit and flagged down one of the nurses to escort her to the door, he slowly moved towards the nurse’s hub in the centre of the room towards where Shen was wrapping up his latest discharge as well. Jack grew closer and grabbed one of the tablets, flicking through his notes and still feeling the buzzing inside his pocket.
Shen paused momentarily, his brow furrowing slightly, “Is your leg…buzzing?”
Jack put the tablet back into the tray and glanced at Shen before his hand slipped into his pant leg, “It appears so.”
Shen propped his elbow on the bench, “Who’s messaging you like this at 2am?”
Jack unlocked his phone to reveal the source behind the endless buzzing:
Samira <3
1:22am
Heyyyyyy
Babe
I lvoe youuu
I miss your handshome facce
I kniw your working haard doingg your thing, WORKINGG
But I misss youu
Trin keeps tellingg mee I need to stop being so codeependet
She just jeelouus because my mann is so handsomee, even if she doessnt lihke guyss.
Jack tried to conceal the small smile threatening to grow on his face, and Shen merely huffed in amusement, “Right, should have guessed. What is your lovely better half up to?”
Jack didn’t even try to hide his pleased grin anymore, “She went out drinking for Whittaker’s birthday with the day shift crew.”
Jack Abbot:
2:16am
I miss you too sweetheart, even if I only saw you less than eight hours ago.
“Ah I see,” Shen chuckled, “She drunk texting?”
Jack snorted, “Absolutely.”
Shen reached over the desk to pick up his hidden cup of Dunkins, taking a loud slurp, “You two are so cute.”
Jack felt his phone buzz in his hand.
Samira <3:
Babee, youur gonha mahj ne cr
Her message seemed to cut off, and Jack peered down at his phone, trying to decipher the drunken jumble of characters he received. He soon felt his phone buzz in his hand once more:
Samira <3:
Hi Dr A, it’s Dr McKay here. You might want to come pick your girl up, she’s had a few too many drinks and is getting a bit teary and won’t shut up about you. Please come and save us.
Jack chuckled a little to himself before tilting the screen to show Shen the message from their coworker.
Shen snorted before glancing up at the clock, “Come on boss, get out of here and go get your girl.”
Jack frowned, “What? No, I’ve got an hour left-”
Shen levelled him with a look, “And you consistently get to work near half an hour early every shift. Come on bro, you know we’re actually well staffed for once, and your girl is a drunk but hot mess and needs you more than the ED does.”
Jack sighed, glancing around at the well managed rooms around them. He was right, everything seemed to be handled well, and Henderson was due to come in within the hour to replace him.
He quickly typed out a message:
Jack Abbot:
2:19am
On my way
He received back their address with McKay’s promise to wait for his text that he’d arrived, and slid his phone back into his pocket.
Jack pushed off the bench, already starting to move towards the staff room but walking backwards to look at Shen, “If anything happens you message me, yeah?”
Shen rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah, get out of here! You owe me a large iced latte next shift!”
—---
Jack could almost feel the vibrations of the music blasting from the bar they were at as he pulled his truck up out the front, behind a few other vehicles parked ahead. He put the car into park and turned off the engine, leaning up to readjust his disabled parking permit on the windshield. This nightlife area was known to be strict with car loiterting, and he wasn’t exactly sure of how long he’d be.
He quickly shot off a message to Samira’s phone that he’d arrived and slid out of his car, locking it behind him as he shivered in the slight chill of the mid-autumn wind. He meandered around the front of his car, ignoring the slight ache where his prosthetic met what was left of his leg, knowing that long shifts tended to leave him a little more swollen than his physiotherapist would prefer. But making sure his wife got home safely was by far the bigger priority.
He leaned his hip onto the hood of his car, taking the weight off his sore leg, crossing his arms in front of his chest as his eyes trained to where the small crowd of smokers stood near the side entrance of the bar.
Jack didn’t have to wait long, nor did he have to keep a close eye on the door as he could certainly hear the small ragtag group of day shifters before he could see them.
He saw Dana emerge first, her nearly white blonde hair almost luminescent against the red light of the bar sign above her head as she shouldered the heavy door open, ushering the two stumbling forms of Emma and Victoria out of the door as they wheezed with laughter at something the older woman barked at them. He could see them stumbling out in their multicoloured outfits, clutching at each other for balance, and he watched Dana’s head softly shake in amusement before coming to stand behind them on the curb.
The trio were closely followed by the more subdued and sober frame of Frank Langdon trying to converse with an overly eager and tipsy Mel King, who was talking animatedly to him (or more accurately at him) with her hands gesturing widely. Frank seemed to match her enthusiasm, only with a calm and sober smile on his face as he gently pulled her out of the way of a bar goer trying to enter in the opposite direction of the exiting gaggle of doctors.
Jack certainly heard Trinity Santos before he saw her, the door swinging widely open to reveal a dishevelled looking Trinity with her arm slung over the slouched frame of her roommate, Dennis Whittaker. She was singing Whitney Houston rather off key at an ear-piercing volume, and Dennis kept trying to shove his hand over her mouth to shut her up, and she defiantly sang louder in his direction as she wrestled his hands away from her face.
But it was the last group of people who immediately got his attention.
The door swung open once more to reveal a large man dressed in black, his ear piece immediately alerting Jack to the fact he was a bouncer. And Jack’s wife was currently plastered to his side yapping his ear off as he guided her outside.
She looked beautiful, maybe a little bedraggled as she stumbled over her high heels down the short step outside the door. The beautiful short one-shouldered purple mini dress fluttered around her as she whirled around to poke a gentle finger into the man’s chest, her halo of loose curls and dangling earrings swaying at the insistent movements of her body and Jack snorted watching his wife lecture the man in the way she had done to him many a times before. A wry-looking Cassie McKay followed her out the door, trying to gently usher the younger woman away from the bemused bouncer who was wryly listening to the doctor lecturing him about the safety precautions of childbirth, assumedly talking about his current partner if Samira’s slightly slurred but enthusiastic rant said anything.
“-And you should know that because of the systemic inequalities of healthcare in this country, your girlfriend should make sure that her attending physician is more diligent about hypertension, especially in late stages of pregnancy because-” Samira’s speech to the tall bouncer gently ushering her out the door ceased immediately as her eyes caught sight of her husband lounging against his car, his arms crossed as he smirked back at her fondly waiting for her to notice him.
“-OH MY GOD THAT’S MY HUSBAND!” Samira’s eyes lit up with excitement, her arms flinging up as her body catapulted forward, her bag flung haphazardly to the side where a flustered Cassie McKay managed to catch it in her fingertips.
Jack couldn’t help the smile from growing on his face as he watched the dishevelled drunk form of his wife run as fast as she could in the glittering pair of strappy heels that wound up around her calves. She let out an excited squeal as her curly hair billowed behind her, her hands waving precariously to combat her shaky balance as she tried to move to him as quickly as she could.
Jack pushed off the car, watching her race towards him with a bright smile on her face and he moved to meet her halfway as she continued her running start and jumped up into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. He stumbled a little at the collision of her body against his, his hands coming up to secure her against him as she cradled his face with her hands and started to pepper his face with sloppy kisses.
He couldn’t help but delightedly laugh at her enthusiasm, no doubt knowing that his entire face was now covered with the pink glitter that has slowly migrated from her eyelids down to her cheeks as the night wore on, “Well hello to you too, sweetheart.”
She pulled back so that they were face to face, her hands still cradling his cheeks, a bright smile beaming back at him, “You’re here!”
“I am,” He patted her thigh with one of his hands and she reluctantly unwrapped her legs from around his waist and helped her to slide down until her feet hit the ground again, and he hastily made sure her skirt was pulled down to not give their small audience a peep show. He caught a glance at some of the men smoking beside them, openly taking in the glowing, bronzed skin of his wife’s gorgeous legs that had been wrapped around him, and almost felt like growling at them.
Samira wriggled against his hands as he smoothed down her skirt, her eyebrows raising up at him and he groaned, “Stop that.”
“Stop what?” She grinned up at him wickedly, her nimble fingers sliding along the sliver of skin exposed between his scrub top and trousers.
He grabbed both her wrists and yanked them up to press in between their chests, looking down at her knowingly, “You know exactly what. The what that isn’t decent for public places.”
Samira’s bottom lip jutted out at his words and a sullen look slipped over her face, “You don’t want me?”
Jack snorted, “Babe, I always want you,” He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss onto her forehead, “But I think our friends would rather not see us getting frisky on the street.”
Her head dropped to rest against his neck, murmuring into his skin, “Spoilsport.”
Jack chuckled and ran his hands against the bare skin of her arms before sighing as he pulled her back to meet her eye, “Sweetheart, where is your jacket?”
Her head lolled to the side as she looked up at him with a cheeky look, her slightly smudged berry-coloured lips trying to hide a smirk, “Why would I need to bring one when I have you?”
He rolled his eyes, muttering, “Brat.”
But he took off his fleece work jacket and fluffed it out, slipping it over her slightly trembling body, not even trying to hide the fondness on his face as he tucked it securely around her body as it swallowed her lithe frame.
“Thank you.” She whispered, standing on her toes to place a small kiss on the tip of his nose.
A gentle cough broke their intimate conversation and they turned to see the small group of doctors that had made their way to stand near the couple.
Jack gave them all a sheepish look, “Well good evening, or should I say good morning everyone.”
“Doctor Abbot,” Cassie murmured back to him, moving to hand him Samira’s bag which he took and slung it around his own shoulder, “Hope we didn’t interrupt a busy shift.”
He shrugged, “Shen has it under control. Now, who needs a lift?”
—-
Frank and Mel waved the group off as he led her towards his own car parked a few blocks away. Jack waved off the more sober Dana and Cassie as he tried to usher the still giggling form of the younger nurse Emma to head towards Dana’s husband, who had pulled up to the curb on the other side of the street.
Which left Jack feeling like he was herding an unruly bunch of newborn kittens.
He managed to shove Whittaker into the backseat of his car, motioning for the younger man to squish into the middle, before almost lifting an adamant Trinity off her feet who kept yelling, “Stranger danger!” At the top of her lungs. Of which he had to reassure passersby that he in fact, knew the younger woman and was getting her home safely.
Victoria was starting to slump sleepily against the lamp pole and Jack gently guided her to sit beside Whittaker, her head already lolling onto the younger man's shoulder as Jack made sure her seat belt was secured before shutting the door on her. Jack took a small breath out at the effort of herding these drunken idiots into his car, before turning to his wife, a gleam in her eye as she looked at him like he was her prey, with extremely wandering hands.
He raised an eyebrow at her and gently started walking her backwards around the car, his hands coming up to fend off her hands that tried to reach for his scrub top to pull it up or to try and reach around to grab his ass. Jack finally got sick of their lack of progress and picked her up easily with one arm and tugged her around to her side of the vehicle, feeling her squirm with laughter against him as he swung the passenger side door open and lifted her into her seat.
She couldn’t stop giggling as her fingers started to curl through the sweaty mess of curls at the base of his neck, and Jack tried not to get too distracted as he leant over her to buckle her into her seat, smelling the jasmine oil pressed into her skin that she knew drove him nuts. It was like she was intentionally trying to torture him.
Her eyes widened in delight at their precarious position, with his arms either side of her and his head at her chest level, and he growled out a whispered, “Behave.”
Samira’s drunken eyes lit up with a faux innocence, “Who, me?”
He chuckled at her antics, placing a quick kiss onto her lips before a slurred shout from the backseat interrupted them, “We have homes to go to people!”
He winked up at his wife and swiftly closed her door, shuffling around the front of the car and slipping into his own seat. He quickly put the keys in and turned the car on, reaching down to make sure the heat was up high enough, and reached over to check that Samira’s seat warmer was on. She merely watched him move with slightly hooded eyes, and he had to fight the small shiver that moved down his spine at the heaviness of her gaze. God she was cheeky, right in front of their coworkers.
Jack quickly got his phone out and asked the trio in the back seat to list off their addresses before anyone fell asleep on him, and he gradually weaseled it out of all of them and set his phone up on the dashboard for directions.
He turned to look out the back of the vehicle, glancing back to see Dennis and Trinity bickering loudly with each other about who could hold their liquor better, and Victoria starting to nod off as she rested her head on Dennis’ shoulder. Jack lifted his hand to rest on the back of Samira’s chair as he reversed slightly to get out of the parking spot, and he jumped slightly at the feel of Samira’s lips pressed against the skin of his arm.
“What did I tell you about behaving?” He murmured as he faced forward and swung the car out onto the road, but let his hand drop so that it slipped between her legs and gripped her thigh up near her knee. As if jumping onto the opportunity, Samira lifted her other leg to cross it over and sandwich his hand between the warmth of her thighs. He choked slightly on the air at the sensation and her nails started to trail across the roughened skin on his forearms.
“I’ve never been one to do as I’m told.” She whispered.
Jack snorted, “What are you talking about, you’re the biggest rule follower I know.”
“Hey!” She exclaimed indignantly, “I am not!”
Jack gave her a dry side eye, “Are too!”
“Not with you.” She raised her eyebrows.
He chuckled, “Yeah because you’re a brat.”
Samira shrugged, flinging her hair over her shoulder and exposing the smooth skin of her exposed neck, “Whatever you say, old man.”
“Oh ho,” He pulled up to a red light and squeezed her thigh with his hand, “You weren’t calling me old the other night!”
“You know we can hear you, right?” Dennis’ slurred out in his voice, interrupting the married couple flirting in the front seats.
“Yeah, it’s gross, we do not need to know about our work parents’ sex lives,” Trinity joined in, Jack watching her give a mock shiver in his rearview mirror, before her mind seemed to change direction and she leant forward to ask Jack, “Can we go via a drive through? I could really slam back some chicken nuggets right now.”
—--
After a disruptive detour through the McDonalds on the way to Victoria’s house, where Trinity insisted on blasting the Vengaboys as they pulled up to the window and Jack halfheartedly tried to get them to not spill sweet and sour sauce all over the back seat of his car, but they were soon on their way to getting the trio in the back seat home.
Jack arrived at Victoria’s parents house first, gently pulling the half asleep girl from the back seat and guiding her up the steps to her family home, making sure she held onto his arm tight balancing on high platform shoes she wasn’t used to. Once they reached her door she thrust her bag into his hands and he rummaged through until he found her keys, or what he would more accurately describe them as a fluffy plushie attached to a key chain, and managed to open the door and usher the young girl inside, locking the door behind him.
He made his way back to the car, where Trinity and Dennis were yelling at each other with nuggets crammed in their mouths trying to see who could fit more in. Jack shook his head at their drunken antics, looking over at his wife as he shut his door to see her gazing back at him lovingly, her head propped up on her fist.
“What?” He murmured as he started the car again.
A blush seemed to blossom across her cheeks and she seemed to duck her head in embarrassment, biting her lip.
Jack’s eyes narrowed at her playfully, “Now I really have to know.”
Samira pursed her lips and looked back up at him, slipping her hand into his on the armrest between them with a small glance behind them, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Uh huh,” Well now he was intrigued, his wife rarely got flustered. He would definitely be asking her later.
Soon enough he pulled up in front of Santos/Whittaker apartment block, and he got out to walk the stumbling duo who were somehow still bickering up the steps, navigating between the two to hold them at arms length from each other. He made sure they got into their building and waved them off, before moving back to the car that finally sat in a peaceful silence.
As he slipped into the car, he heard a small sniffle from his wife’s side of the car and frowned, turning to see small tears escaping her eyes as she looked at him, “Honey, what’s wrong?”
She let out a little watery huff, “You just look so handsome in your scrubs.”
He desperately tried to hold back a small chuckle as he lifted a hand to hold hers, “Oh honey, don’t cry. You know I hate it when you cry.”
Her watery eyes met his own as she bit her lip, her fingers coming up to feel the stubble of his jaw, a slight hiccup escaping her, “Can we get married again? You looked so handsome in your tuxe.”
Jack couldn’t help the fond smile escape this time, his own thoughts wandering back to one of the happiest days of his life. The way she’d beamed up at him as she walked down the aisle at their wedding, her cheeks flushed with the exertion of the never ending smile on her face. The way she had laughed as he dipped her during their dance. Them giggling into each other’s mouths as they slowly undressed each other in the early hours of the morning, shoving bits of cake against each other’s lips.
He tenderly lifted her hand to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss onto the back of her hand without breaking eye contact, “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
—--
Soon enough they were pulling into the driveway of their quiet single-storey red brick home, which they (mainly Samira, he couldn’t give a shit as long as he had a BBQ area) selected for the lush green garden, natural sunlight and hardwood floors. The house was dark when they pulled in, and Jack turned the engine off, glancing over to see his wife staring back at him with a sleepy smile on her face.
“Let’s get you inside.” He got out first, grabbing her small bag and slinging it over his shoulder and closed his door. He made a pit stop at the boot of the car to grab his work go bag and slipped the strap across his body, before locking the boot and moving to her door.
“Come on sweetheart, we’re home.” He murmured, running his thumb gently over her knee. He slowly helped her get out of the car, her long legs finding the ground beneath the car as she clutched at his shoulders. As he stepped back to give her some space, she took a small step and her ankles wobbled unsteadily as her heels threw her off balance.
He huffed with an amused acceptance, “Fine, come on.”
Before she could say anything, he bent down a little bit and leaned his shoulder into his waist until she flopped over fireman carry style and he stood up, holding the back of her thighs against him as she let out a gasp of shock and her hands pressed against his back.
He used his free hand to close her door and lock the car behind them as he carefully walked towards the front of their house, taking measured steps to not jostle her too much.
But his usually chatty wife was mysteriously quiet, and as he climbed the few steps up to their door, he patted her leg, “You’re awfully quiet up there, something must be horribly wrong.”
Samira giggled, “Just admiring the view.” And without hesitation, he felt her hands squeezing his backside.
He jumped a little at the unexpected touch, and gave her ass a swat, “You minx, you touch my ass I’ll touch yours.”
“That’s the plan!” She blurted out between giggles, and he chuckled along with her as he unlocked their front down and carried her inside.
The hallway was dark as he closed the door behind them, flipping the lock over as he continued to carry her over until he gently lowered her down to sink into the pillowy couch in their living room. He helped her body slowly fall back to rest on the couch behind her, feeling her eyes looking right back at him, watching him take care of her.
She was quiet as she watched him place their bags down on the ground beside them, before moving towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water for her. He came back with a glass of ice cold water just how she liked it from the pitcher in the fridge, and her heart clenched with affection at the man beside her. Her Jack, her rock.
After his silent insistence that she take a sip, he kneeled down in front of her and lifted one of her feet to rest on his lap as he meticulously started to undo the straps of her heels that wrapped around her calves.
She sipped at her water before breaking the silence, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to make a move on me.”
He snorted, continuing his work, “Who me? Never.”
She smiled at his antics as he managed to get one of her shoes off and lifted her other leg, “Well, you’re out of luck, I’m a married woman.”
“To who?” He mockingly asked her, glancing up at her through his lashes.
“Oh just some guy,” She sighed, waving a hand, “You might know him. He’s very intelligent, very kind. He loves me a lot.”
His eyes came up to meet her own as he unwrapped the other shoe, slipping it off her foot as she raised a single eyebrow, “He’s also extremely handsome. And don’t get jealous now, but he has the best ass I’ve ever seen. Could bounce a quarter off it. Especially when he’s wearing his work pants.”
“Does he now?” Jack playfully teases her, he knew by now she was more tipsy than drunk, but tipsy Samira was a huge flirt in his experience, so he’d enjoy it for a bit longer.
She laughed a little at his antics, until something seemed to fade in her face a little, and she swallowed before choking out, “And he takes care of me.”
Jack frowned a little at the change in emotion, “Hey, where’d you go?”
She shrugged her shoulders, her mouth twisting a little, “Just thinking about the past.”
He tilted his head, placing her shoes onto the ground and moving to sit beside her on the couch, his hands resting on her leg, “Is this why you messaged me earlier?”
She nodded mutely, and he could see her holding back a wave of emotion.
“Come on honey,” He held a hand out, “Let’s get you washed up.”
The two of them moved into their shared ensuite, Jack gently leading her to sit on the edge of the bath opposite their dual vanity. He switched on the lights as they moved, and he ruffled through her drawers until he found one of her claw clips. He gently collected her curls up and out of her face, clipping it off her neck, because he knew it bothered her when she got overstimulated.
She watched him go through her skincare drawer, instinctively looking for the bottle of micellar water and reusable pads that a few months ago she’d lectured him about the unnecessary waste of single-use products. Samira silently watched him wet the pad before turning towards her, cradling her face in his hands as he gently started to wipe the streaked makeup from her smooth cheeks.
She closed her eyes for a moment, content in letting him take care of her, in a way she’d never let anyone else in her life do so. He’d been the only man to ever truly see her, to break down her walls enough to let her be vulnerable with him, as she had helped him break down his own to be with her. They had been two lost souls who’d found something in each other, a kinship in shared grief of sorts, and they’d quickly realised that spending time with each other showed them a different way of living. Rather than a solitude that was ruled by grief, they let each other in so they could heal together.
He leaned over to get a clean pad and turned back to her, his thumb gently brushing her forehead as he wiped, “You want to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”
She sighed, thinking back to earlier in the evening when the drunken scaries had hit her in full force, feeling alone in a room full of her friends. She’d been having a great time, and then the past had caught up with her, and in her drunken stupor all she wanted was her Jack.
A small tear escaped down her cheek and he paused, letting her collect her thoughts until she was ready to speak.
“You know, the last time I was crying like this in a bathroom, it was the night of my 28th birthday. I’d worked a 12 hour shift that day, and I was exhausted and came home, had a shower and then sat on my bathroom floor crying into a cheap bottle of wine. Fell asleep on a damp pile of towels.”
Jack’s heart clenched at the raw admittance of the woman he loved so deeply, and he kept stroking her temple as she continued, taking a shaking breath as she closed her eyes, “I remember feeling like my whole life had been leading to nothing. I’d sacrificed so much for my mum, for medical school, for residency. And where did that get me? Sad, alone, single in a city with no family, with no friends wanting to celebrate my birthday. I mean, no one even knew it was my birthday.”
Samira slowly opened her teary eyes to meet his own, looking up at the love of her life gazing down at her with a fondness that would have made the 28-year-old version of herself cry with the thought that someone, someday might care enough about her to get her unready from a night out. To take care of her in her most vulnerable state with such a kindness it made her heart ache.
“But then I met you, and it was like I’d found this puzzle piece that I’d been missing,” She gave out a watery sniff as her hands came up to rest on his wrists, “Jack, I think you saved my life.”
Jack seemed to choke up a little at her words, and he silently placed a tender kiss onto her forehead, then down onto her nose, and just before he reached her lips, he murmured against them, “Samira, it is an honour to love you.”
She leaned into his body, letting her lips mould against his own as their passions met in the middle, their mouths moving with more love than words could express for just a brief moment.
He tenderly pulled back, pecking her one more time on the lips as he looked at her, “Come on babe, let’s get you to bed. I’ll shower, you clean your teeth.”
The two of them navigated around the bathroom, him removing his prosthetic to quickly duck into the shower to wash his shift off his body and her brushing her teeth, taking sneaky glances at her naked husband lathering himself up in the shower. When he caught her looking, he gave her a cheeky wink as he ran a wet hand through his hair, and she exaggeratingly fanned herself.
They milled around in a coordination only lovers knew; her retrieving a set of crutches for him to use and throwing him a set of boxer shorts. She swiftly applied some moisteriser to her face as he hastily brushed his own teeth, and Jack let her dot his face with the same moisteriser. Whilst he’d never used to apply moisteriser to his face, she had adamantly said they wouldn’t be able to continue to be the hot couple at work if his skin turned into a raisin, so he dutifully did as his wife told him. As he should.
Jack turned off the bathroom light, moving into their bedroom on his crutches and saw his wife now curled up beneath their duvet, rubbing her hand lotion into her hands as she watched him move through their space. He moved to his side of the bed and leaned his crutches up against the drawers in the corner, before moving to settle back against the plush pillows behind him.
Without asking, she moved to settle into his side, leaning her head up to place a gentle kiss against the underside of his jaw as her hand came up to rest over his heart. He turned his head to look down at her, his hand coming to his chest to cradle her wrist to his chest.
“Samira?” He murmured.
“Hmm?” She murmured sleepily back, not drunk on liquor anymore but drunk on the emotions between them.
“You said I saved your life,” He paused for a moment as his eyes searched her own, “I think you saved me too.”
A small smile grew on her dewy face, and she hid her head to give him a small kiss against the skin of his shoulder, tucking her head into his neck as he tenderly brushed her wrist with his thumb.
The two of them sat in the moment, enjoying the moment of companionship in their happily married life. Two halves of the same soul.
But Jack being Jack, he had to know. He moved his hand down to her side and gave her a small poke, “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten, what made you blush earlier in the car?”
She squirmed away from his finger, before turning her head to prop up on his chest, “You really want to know?”
He nodded enthusiastically, and she sighed, her hand coming up to wipe a wet curl that rested on his forehead.
“I was watching you take Victoria up the stairs to her house, and you were making sure she got inside safely and that she didn’t trip up the stairs wearing those platforms that were too big for her. And I just got thinking,” She bit her lip before continuing, “I just think you’re going to be the best girl dad one day.”
Jack’s heart leap in his chest beneath her head.
They’d spoken about kids, well before they’d gotten engaged, that they both knew that they wanted at least one kid together. It was something that, even with his first wife before she got diagnosed, he’d seen a future with a few kids and a big house in the suburbs, a far cry from the upbringing he’d had. But when she’d gotten sick and had eventually passed away, that small seedling of the future he’d dreamed about was locked away under miles of trauma and mental rubble, and he’d genuinely thought it would never see the light of day again.
But then Samira had come along, and she helped him unpack that rubble sitting in his chest which hid away any hope for a future that he might look forward to. A future of love, and calmness. A future of lazy mornings watching the sun rise together, sharing a cup of coffee and a blanket. Of Sunday mornings down at the farmer’s market picking up ingredients for them to cook with to meal prep their lunches for the week. And of opening up to the possibilities of sharing a home, a life, and maybe a family.
Jack looked down at the woman who’d saved his life, who’d pulled him out of the loveless hole he’d dug himself, into a life that was worth living. Into a life where he now held his whole world in his arms.
He gave her a smile, and couldn’t help his own curiosity at the way she’d phrased her words, “Not a boy?”
She gave him a secret smile in return, her forefinger coming up to weave through the sparse hair on his chest, “Maybe one day. But you were born to be a girl-dad.”
He chuckled at her insistence, his arms curling her body further into him as he swept her up into a kiss. He peppered her lips as he cradled her into him, before murmuring against her lips, “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
The two sat curled into each other for a moment, their lips pressed lazily into each other, until Samira pulled away to meet his eyes, a humorous smile meeting his own.
“We can talk about kids later, but first things first, I want at least seven hashbrowns in the morning.”
He actually snorted at that, cuddling her into his neck as he pressed a kiss into her head as they both settled down to sleep, “As you wish.”