fandomtownies | The Perk, Sunday mid-afternoon

Jack spotted Parker through the window and headed inside, making a beeline for the counter and ordering a double strength black coffee - no frills, just the caffeine, thanks - and he glared at the suggestion he might like a flavoured syrup to spice it up.

Setting the coffee down on the table, he dropped into the booth across from her with a groan and slumped down.

"Hey." Parker blinked, startled. "You look rough. No sleep last night?"

That made him grin smugly, because he hadn't got a great deal of sleep last night. "No, not a lot," he said, not sounding particularly unhappy about it. "But what I did get wasn't very restful." He shrugged. "Stuff on the brain, I guess. Don't worry about it."

Parker still felt a little guilty, and put her coffee cup down, tapping on her napkin. "Soooo, Sam was okay with all this? I take it?"

"With this?" he asked, peering at the napkin curiously. "Yeah, mostly. Her main worry was not being there to watch my back." Jack wrapped his hands around the coffee, and took a long drink, then sighed happily and smiled at Parker, looking more like his normal self. "The stuff on my brain was nothing to do with you, Parker, I promise. So don't start worrying about it, all right?"

"Okay," she said, relaxing. "Good. On both counts." Parker looked down at the napkin, then rolled her eyes. "I encoded it. It's notes from the photographs I developed last night."

"You know," he said with a small smile, taking another sip of his coffee. "I could buy you a notebook." He was teasing, yes, because he remembered how tense she'd been yesterday, and he didn't want to see it again. All trace of teasing disappeared, however, as he asked, "Did they have what you needed?"

"I have other means," Parker said, thinking of the cabinet Bridge built her. "I'm just still wound up, is all." She crossed out the words, and sighed, looking around. No one else was within earshot, but she kept her voice down. "Almost. Not quite." She put her sunglasses back on, staring out the window. "It laid out how they planned her death."

Jack absorbed that in silence then, without saying a word, shifted from his side of the booth to sit next to her, his shoulder just brushing hers. Taking a deep breath, he flattened his hands on the table and said, "Okay. What do we do next?"

Parker leaned against him a second, then frowned down at the napkin. "I'm not entirely sure. There was a code name." She paused a second, lip curling. "Rumor. The operative responsible. No real name, though." She sighed. "I am trying to remember-- God, I've gone through so many documents the last month or so-- where the database with all Centre codes is. And who has access." She rubbed her temples. "Grrr."

Jack smiled, quickly hidden, at the grrr. "So you nominally know who -- Rumor -- but not who he or she actually is. You're missing the connection from codename to person." He studied his hands, rolling his fingers across the table while he thought. "If there's a database with the codes, then that's where we have to go. Get in, get the one you need, make the connection, then go from there," he said thoughtfully, flashing her a quick glance. "And the offer still stands."

She gave him a steady look in return. "I know." Parker nodded at his assessment of the situation. "I can't-- I can't think quite that far ahead, yet. I want to know who. And why. And if it was just the money, or if there was a reason, or... if it wasn't personal." She frowned. "I don't know why it makes a difference, but it does."

"I know," he said softly. "And I know you're not going to take me up on it. But-- " He hesitated, then decided to let it go; even if he still didn't fully undersatnd, it was important to Parker, and that was enough. "But before you can find all that out, we need to know who the who actually is. Can we do that?"

"Theoretically. If they're still alive. Still in the Centre's employ." Parker sighed, and took a sip of her coffee, putting back down after a moment. "If they're not, it becomes problematic. The files have probably been purged. But it's only been eight years." She tightened her fingers on her cup. "So there's still a chance, although that database, wherever it is? Is not going to be easy."

"Easy doesn't matter as long as there's a chance." A beat, and then he turned to face her, leaning his shoulder against the back of the booth. "How not easy are we talking about? You know I'll do anything for you, but I don't exactly have a wide range of skills. Unless someone needs seducing or shooting, I don't know how much I can help. And I want to help."

Parker smiled at him and shook her head. "You're undervaluing yourself. But the steps needed, that's what I'm trying to figure out." She frowned, then slowly said, "I think that in the worst case, there would have to be a break-in a Centre satellite facility. One where we can't talk our way out of it. Since I don't know where that database is already, I probably don't have clearance to be there. Then hacking the system. Then getting out." She sighed. "So I don't know. Maybe help as a diversion? Something to draw off guards? Or getting me and whoever the hacker is out of there if we get caught?" She looked down at her hands. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt, Jack. But people recover from punches and tranquilizer darts."

"You mean you don't want anyone to get killed, people recover from getting shot in the leg, too." But he said it absently -- his mind was already working, turning over the possibilities. "A diversion I can do, depending on where it is and if you can throw some money my way. And Sam," he frowned, "Sam's got this gun, it's non-lethal, I think. Fires an electric charge, she'd show me how to use it. Maybe give me a crash course in explosives while she's at it. They'd be a hell of a diversion, and if I have to get you out, the swoop bike, maybe, and Cedric, there might be magic that could help..." He drummed his fingers on the table, then looked up at her. "I can do all of that. But if you do get caught, all bets are off."

Parker stared at him a moment, and then rubbed her temples again. "And... I am tabling my response to that. Because you know what it's going to be." She considered everything he'd said, and slowly nodded. "As long as its not a direct Centre facility, Sam and Cedric shouldn't be in danger." She tapped her fingers on the mug. "I know that gun. It's a good choice. As long as it doesn't get grabbed." She studied him. "You really want to do this? Seriously? I need the help, but it doesn't have ot be your fight."

Expressionless, Jack looked at her for a very long time, then reached over to lift the mug out of her hands and wrap his fingers around hers. "Yes," he said simply. "It does."

Parker squeezed his hand, unable to look at him. So damn grateful. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Not necessary. Not necessary at all," he told her, smiling a little and hanging onto her hand. "How are you doing? I mean really how are you doing?"

Parker looked down at their hands, expression going miserable before it smoothed out. "It's rough, reading that. Thinking that if she'd just run sooner, maybe left me behind-- she could have made it." She closed her eyes behind her shades. "The memos are so soulless. Like they were evaluating a computer's performance. Not my mother trying to save lives. I don't understand that kind of mind."

Which was a lie. She understood it. It just sickened her.

Jack sort of understood it. It was easy to compartmentalise things, to dehumanise people. Truth be told, he had trouble humanising people sometimes, lifting them past more than a means to an end, whatever that end might be.

Which was the last thing Parker wanted to hear.

"So we take the people that did it, and we make it real to them, we make her count." He grinned and it was more than a touch feral. "We shove the fact that her life mattered right down their throats."

"Yessss." Parker's anger escaped her momentarily, and her fingers tightened on his. "When this is over, they'll know just what kind of mistake they made, killing her like that." She gave him a hard look. "No matter how long it takes."

May was coming, but-- "No matter how long it takes," he agreed, solemn and slow, like a vow, holding tight to her hand.

If the Time Agency wanted him so badly, they could frakking well wait.

"Thanks." Parker leaned her head on his shoulder for just a second, smiling out the window. "You guys did good yesterday. Both of you. Weiss was freaking out, you know."

"Really?" he asked, smiling down at her as he let himself relax. "You couldn't tell. He looked very cool, very uninterested in the whole process. And he was damn good with that lock."

"He was, wasn't he." She hummed a little, remembering. "A good guy," Parker said, her voice soft. "I got lucky." She laughed a little. "Although he's sneaky. Somehow, I'm his girlfriend now. Still not sure how that happened."

Jack sputtered with laughter before he got control of himself. "Damn, he's good. Suddenly I like him that little bit more" he said, still laughing a little. "This makes you happy." It wasn't a question.

Parker responded to his statement anyway. "Weirdly. Yes." She shook her head. "Not a forever thing, but it's not like I want to go looking for something else right now. Or vice versa." She turned her head to smile at him. "The deal we had would never work with Weiss. And I don't need that now. So... yeah. Boyfriend. Girlfriend." She smirked. "No Thingies."

"Hmmph." Jack grumbled under his breath. "I may have referred to both the thingies in similar terms. Maybe," he admitted. "But I'm glad you're happy, Parker. You deserve it. And Weiss is cute."

"Thanks. And mine," she protested. "No flirting!" She paused. "Well, maybe. He's very straight anyway. It might be fun to make his brain explode. But still!" Parker grinned at him. "Thanks."

Jack sniffed and pretended to be offended. "I'll have you know that he hugged me the night of the Seawhorse reunion," he said. "I wasn't even flirting with him. And if I was going to risk losing the thingies, it wouldn't be with Weiss." Jack looked away, reaching for his coffee, but there was no mistaking that look for anything but wistful.

"You were shirtless on that night. It was Weiss's birthday. I missed semi-naked Jack and Weiss hugs?" Severe pouting. Parker squeezed his hand again, thinking of Graduation, and beyond. "You're not going to lose them. Just walk away for a while. And meet up again later. Like dancing."

Which reminded him of last night and Sam and Parker was wrong. Once he left, he'd be gone, the anomaly had to come to an end sometime. But he smiled and laughed, and said, "Yup, semi-naked Weiss and Jack hugs. I'll be happy to re-enact the moment if you can convince him. Like I said, he's a cutie."

"I'm gonna tell him you said so." Parker nudged him with her shoulder, and grinned. She picked up on his avoidance of the subject, but had no idea what to say now. And he'd have to learn different eventually, or she was going to cheat and call Captain Jack for pointers. "The staring ought to be pretty funny."

"Hell, I already told him that," he laughed, nudging her back. "Told him I'd go out with him in a heartbeat, and it never fazed him. I think he's got more in common with my time than yours."

"Mmmmmm. In a good way. Maybe." She gave him an amused look. "Mine."

"Yours," he agreed, looking just as amused. "But I can still look. And flirt."

"You can look." Parker tapped her heels on the floor, then grudgingly said, "And flirt." She finally smiled. "It's a shame I can't flirt with Sam or Cedric. Sam's too female and Cedric's too sweet. I feel and imbalance in our flirtationship, Jack."

"Don't let that sweet exterior fool you, Cedric is wicked. And it's not my fault if you're stuck with attitudes this century gave you. Though I don't think Sam would go for it, anyway." Jack snickered and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Face it, Parker. If you're talking about me? Everybody's flirtationship is out of balance."

Parker rolled her eyes. Then elbowed him, chuckling. "I would so be whapping you if it weren't true. Damnit." She nudged him in the side. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. And I'll tell you about Archie and Lee on the way back to school."

Jack downed what was left of his coffee, making a face at the temperature, then hopped up and offered her his arm. "A walk with a beautiful woman and hopefully risque stories. How could I possibly resist that?"

The Perk, Sunday mid-afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....

Re: now going NFB....