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Caritas | Sunday

For his spring break, John had spent a good deal of time in Nevada, hanging out with his geeks and realizing that while Atlantis was lost to him, his family wasn't. Especially when they'd gotten some news at dinner that had led to a random sort of mission that may or may not lead to John getting to go back to Atlantis. There were just a few paperwork issues to overcome first.

You know, like when O'Neill had technically fired him. Details.

But for tonight, John was back in Fandom, hanging in Caritas with Tino, who should have been more thrilled about it.

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Is this burning, an eternal flame?

Cheers!

The problem with being away for a week was that Jaina wasn't quite ready to just spend an evening sitting at home yet. It just felt wrong. So she was back out here tonight, looking relaxed and greeting him with a, "Hey, stranger."

John wasn't much for sitting at home either, but that was more due to the lack of free beer there. Thanks, Chuck. "Hey, Solo, how was the big week at the beach? Any sand left in unusual places?"

"Depends. Do shoes count?" she wondered. "Especially since I didn't wear those shoes to the beach?"

"No. Shoes are lame," John shared. "Though it's good to hear you went." Even if it made that little bit of teenager left in his memories ache. "But then, you know how I feel about the beach."

"I do. And I think you would approve of most of how I spent the week," she told him. "Did you get to do anything interesting?"

"Depends on the point of view," John replied with a shrug. "I visited McKay, ended up sucked into some missiony stuff. All in a week home."

"Which means you had a good time?" she checked. Yes, she still wanted to make sure he was still enjoying himself somewhere.

"Sure. You always thought getting shot at and held prisoner equaled a good time, right?" John checked.

"Probably depends on the company. Haven't I ever told you not to get shot at and held prisoner?" she asked. "If I didn't, I should have."

"I don't think you have," John replied, trying to look like he was thinking hard as he got himself a fresh beer and her...a coke. Yeah, he knew to be good.

"Well consider me telling you that from this point on," she said firmly, nodding her thanks for the Coke. "Glad you're back in one piece."

"Thanks. Though, I don't know how long it'll last," he admitted. "I'm thinking of going back." While John didn't think it would bother her, it was still weird to say something like that to Jaina. The history there could kill him if he thought about it too much.

"Going back... permanently?" It was weird to hear it, honestly. Definitely weird to think about.

"Yep," John nodded. "Not much reason to stay here, and, well, the people there make a good case for it." He was fully telling this to his glass, not her.

Yeah, that did kind of suck to hear. Mostly because she didn't think she'd hear from him again after he left. "I kind of thought I'd be the one to leave first," Jaina admitted.

"So did I," John admitted. "But it's all good. You've got good things coming to you, right? Getting to see Ben grow up again and all that." Plus marrying that ugly kid with the scar, but John was being polite.

"Something like that, I think." In reality she was gearing up to maybe have to go after Jacen and she wouldn't put bets on anything after that, but she didn't want to remind him of that right now. "Any idea when you'd go?"

"In the next week or so," he said. "This could very well be the last time you see me. Weird, huh?"

Wow. "That's a word for it," she said, and had to ask, "I'm not going to hear from you again, am I?"

"You don't really want to hear from me again, Jaina," John pointed out. It was too complicated with them.

"I'll always want to," she countered, but she wasn't discounting the unspoken point there, either. Staying friends really just didn't work with them, and if she really was truly moving on, trying to force it would probably just make things worse again. "I have to say I didn't expect this when I came in tonight."

"Well, I wasn't actually planning on telling you this way." Or at all, let's be real.

"Let me guess, a badly-spelled text message on your way out of town?" she said, trying for light.

"Hey, they're not poorly spelled," John said, defending his textual relations.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know shortening "you" to a single letter was spelling it correctly," Jaina said. "Or any word with an 8 in it..." Both of which she'd seen.

"You just wish you were as capable of shrinking your thoughts into the fewest possible characters as I am," John said, leaning across the bar with a smirk.

"Maybe. But the tradeoff is that people understand what I'm trying to say the first time, rather than reading it over and over again trying to figure out what that word is without all the vowels..." she teased.

"You liked it, don't lie." He was hilarious and she knew it. "Besides, decoding it was part of the fun."

"This is true," she admitted. And while she hadn't gotten one of those texts in a long time, it was still weird to think she wouldn't be getting any more. "Same for the drunk dials, too, actually."

"You say that like you miss it." Maybe he shouldn't have said that, but come on, it wasn't like he could hurt their friendship at this point.

"Well, yeah. You can't say they weren't entertaining," she pointed out. "Well, you might be able to say that, but I'm the person who got them."

"I can't say I remember the contents," John admitted. "But I don't remember you hating all that much, which is probably a win."

"You made it pretty easy, for the most part," she said. Which had been what made the hard parts feel so much worse. "Or maybe I was just really lenient and easygoing."

Yeah, ha.

"If you were lenient and easygoing, I was brilliant and thoughtful," John teased, pausing to drink his beer. Things were feeling kind of final, and when things got that way, well, as much as John refused to say goodbye, he also refused to let things go unsaid when it mattered. "In case you wonder later, I always missed you."

If Jaina hadn't had the last few weeks that she had, that might have killed her a little. Now, well, this all still sucked, but it didn't hurt nearly as badly as it could have. "I always missed you, too," she said, and still would. "I'm getting the feeling I shouldn't be sticking around here much longer."

"Oh yeah? So even if I wasn't going, there'd still be a lack of talking in our future?" He didn't like saying goodbye at all, okay?

"I'm only here till the end of the semester," she admitted. "I almost left in December, but I couldn't yet. I've just got things I've got to do."

And if she was being honest with herself, it was a good thing she'd stuck around. Tonight being one of the reasons why.

"Like what?" John honestly had to wonder. "Hoping to turn into Brooke one final time?"

"It's hard to explain. I'm understanding my family better, I'm... getting closure to things. Mainly I'm trying to get to a place where I can just do the things I need to do back home," she said. And she still wasn't sure she'd explained that right.

Relaxation is key.

Television has its value.

Look who didn't forget!! Shocking, I know.

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Caritas | Sunday

The Stage

The Bar

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The Lounge

The Back Room

OOC | Caritas