fandomtownies | The Perk: Thursday Morning

River quietly slipped in through the door and sat down opposite Jack. "You brought an apple," she said approvingly, a smile on her face.

Jack started, because he hadn't been paying attention, then smiled warmly, genuinely happy to see River. "I figured the Perk was a BYO apple kind of place, and it's hard to demonstrate my apple carving skills without one." He touched the apple with one finger, rolling it slightly. "Coffee? Breakfast?"

"Yes please," River said. She was quite hungry actually, and tried to get the attention of the waitress.

"You've been practising?" she asked teasingly, looking at the apple.

"I've been practicing," he confirmed, still smiling. He direted it briefly at the waitress and she quickly hurried over to their table.

"Breakfast is on me," he told River. "Least I can do for such a wonderful master."

River replied with a nervous giggle to that, but gave the waitress her order. "Coffee and scrambled eggs, please."

"So how did the practising go?" she asked Jack.

The waitress looked at Jack and he shook his head, then turned back to River as she walked away.

"I still have all my fingers," he held up his hands and wiggled his fingers to demonstrate, "and my room smells faintly of apples, but I think you'll be happy with me."

River grinned. "Keeping your fingers on your hand is useful. But you're allowed to finish your coffee before you start." She used her best strict master tone of voice.

Jack pressed his fingertips together and bowed his head, trying not to grin. "You're too kind to a lowly apprentice," he said, then reached for his coffee. He sipped it, then cradled the cup in his hands, thinking warm thoughts as he asked, "How are you, anyway? Did you survive Parents Weekend unscathed?"

"Barely. Blair nearly had to leave and that was partly my fault. And Captain Reynolds managed to scare him. But it was good to see Simon again." She smiled a little. "You?"

"Blair was going to leave?" he asked. "That would have been a real tragedy. I like Blair. But I'm sure it wasn't even a little bit your fault." He reached across the table and touched the back of River's hand. "As for me..." Jack's smile tightened briefly, then relaxed. "Yeah, it was fine for me. Not so fine for other people," he said, thinking of Isabel and Parker. "I think I'm relieved I didn't have anyone to visit me."

"Luckily Blair didn't leave," River said, smiling at the waitress as her coffee arrived. "And yes, it was partly my fault. I mentioned monsters. Berthold to be specific, and assured Blair's mum he was nice, but she freaked out. But I liked having Simon here. And he got to meet Berthold."

She sipped her coffee. "What did you do this weekend?" she asked, not looking too deeply inot his thoughts.

"I'm glad you had a good weekend, and glad Blair's still here," not the least because Jack still owed him another flirting lesson, "but I should confesss that I have no idea what a Berthold is."

He set down his coffee and looked at her wryly. "Honestly? I spend most of it alternating between worrying and moping." He chuckled, able to laugh at himself now. "Sam disappeared on Thursday night - she's back, wasn't ever in any danger - but I didn't know that, so I moped."

"Where did she go?" River asked with a frown. "I would have been upset too."

She couldn't help picking up the flirting lesson thought, and that made her giggle. "You give Blair flirting lessons?"

"I might have," he said, pretending innocence as he grinned smugly and thought very hard about flirting with Blair and not where Sam had been. "Some people she used to know needed her for a couple of days. They don't book in advance though, just flash and she was gone."

The thinking very hard was noticable. And the subject of his thoughts made River blush slightly and giggle. But she composed herself and said: "I wouldn't like that. People not booking in advance."

"It was a bit of a shock." And frustrating and frightening and all sorts of things he didn't want to remember. "Turned out it was for the best, though."

Seeking to distract her, Jack stroked a finger down the back of her hand. "And did the flirting lessons pay off?" he asked speculatively. "Last time I talked to him, he was taking you on a date the next day."

River kept blushing, both at the stroking of her hand and at asking about dates with Blair. "He's my boyfriend now," she said. "Don't know what you taught him though." She hoped Jack would at least think about it.

Jack patted her hand once, then picked up his coffee. "Neither am I," he said, recalling their 'lesson' (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomtownies/1105185.html?thread=48307489#t48307489). "He's got good instincts and a good," he searched for the right word, finally settling on, "heart."

"Yes," River nodded,"he has." She smiled at Jack's memories. "What apple sculpting subjects did you chose to practice," she said, changing the subject very suddenly.

"Well, I was trying for gremlin heads - most of them ended up being abstract interpretations of the subject matter - but I think I finally got the hang of it." He grinned as pushed his coffee away and moved the apple in front of him, reacheing for the knife. "Shall I demonstrate, oh Master of the Apples?"

River gave him a very formal nod. "I believe it's time to begin, yes."

Jack found himself responding to her formality, returning her nod. "Okay." He pierced the skin of the apple and started to trace the patterns he was intending to carve. "It's easier this way, if I mark it out first."

Grinning, River said: "Yes, that does make it easier. And next?"

The waitress placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her.

"Next, you eat breakfast and I start hollowing out these markings." He sliced smoothly, removing an oval of apple, which he offered to River. "Does apple go with eggs?"

"Apple goes with anything," River said and put the piece of apple in her mouth. "What's that part you're cutting now? You have to describe to me what you're doing."

"The angle of the cheek," he said as he sliced off an almost identical piece from the other side of the apple. "Gremlins are very pointy." He cut a square into the top, angling it out at the edges. "Now the top of the head and the ears." He set the new pieces on the edge of River's plate.

River ate her eggs and pieces of apple as she watched Jack working. "This one is better than your first one," she commented, slipping out of her master role.

Cradling the apple in his hand, Jack very delicately started to work on the face, the first hint of nose and eyes starting to appear. "I'd hope so," he winked at River, "I've been through many, many apples this week."

River finished up her eggs, and ate another piece of apple. "You're taking this seriously," she noted.

Jack shrugged - carefully, because he was holding a sharp knife. "I got the feeling this was something that was important to you," he said as he started to work on the mouth, not entirely sucessfully. He frowned. "I still have trouble with this bit."

"Not apple sculptures in themselves. What they stand for. Innocence. Childhood." She found her thoughts were drifting away, and tore herself away from them. "Fewer cuts. Simpler. Sheould work."

"They're a symbol, then. So they're even more important." Jack pulled the knife away, studied the apple, then cut again, following her instructions. "Hey, that works."

River grinned back at him and nodded. "That looks much better."

"Why thank you." Jack shaved off some more curls of apple, smoothed it in a few places, then set his knife aside. "Right, I'm done," he said and placed the apple with great ceremony in the middle of the table, face turned towards River. "What do you think?"

"I clear improvement," River said. "Very good. You get to eat it now." She grinned.

Jack bowed his head and grinned. "It seems a shame," he said, looking down at the apple gremlin head. "But you said they shouldn't go to waste, so..." He picked it up and took a bite, tongue darting out to lick the juice off his thumb.

"Yes. No wasting of apples," River said. "So what do you think of the Ethics class?" she asked, curious.

Jack finished his mouthful, then started cutting the apple into neat - if lumpy - slices. "The class is fine, the teacher," he glared at the apple, "the techer I don't like."

"Me neither. He's evil," River said. She didn't mention how scary it felt when she got caught up in the assignments that were design to... do what exactly? "He wants us to be too."

At River's words, he looked up, set the apple aside, and offered her his hand, thinking warm, comforting thoughts. "And I'm guessing that's not just an abstract thought," he said shrewdly. "You actually know that, don't you?"

River paused for a moment. "His mind is... protected. But I don't want to listen anyway."

"I don't blame you," he replied, tucking the information that Vader's mind was protected away in case it was ever needed. "It'd probably be a bit like walking through a sewer."

River just nodded, not wishing to elaborate further.

The Perk: Thursday Morning

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