Feeding the Troops

[Stagey]

"Good to know." She rose on tiptoe and selected his other cheek with her lips. "Because I'm scared stiff that all that just happened." Her eyes shone at him, lips turned upward bashfully. If he only had any idea how long she wanted to make that dream a reality.

[jackkelly]

"Yea?" Jack asked her and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. He looked down into her eyes and then let his fingertip move gently over her lips.

[Stagey]

"I'm not sure if I can explain it right." She stumbled over the words, feeling awkward in her own skin all of a sudden. "You've had such big dreams. Santa-Fe sized dreams. I've always had little ones - well, maybe little to anyone else, but big to me. And, well..." She glanced up at him, all but a completely open book. "You're mine." Might as well get it out there.

[jackkelly]

Jack started smiling, "Why didn't you ever say anything? I always felt like a babbling idiot in front of you." He laughed, turning red.

[Stagey]

"All I had to do was look around you," she answered with a helpless shrug. "You were so cocky and confident - flirting with the chorus girls, shooting crap with the boys - that I thought I was only one stop on your voyage out West." She meant it in the most admirable way, but if Jack was a tongue-tied fool around Stagey, she sure didn't notice it. "You really hid your feelings well," she commended, "at least on the outside, anyway."

[jackkelly]

"Sometimes its easy to act one way when you feel another" he said with a shrug. "I don't want you to just be just a stop, Stagey."

[Stagey]

She barked out a shy laugh. "I sure hope not. Not after all that, anyway." She fiddled with the gas on the stove, letting the heat down inside to let the cake cool. She turned to him, attentive but cautious. She'd already spilled so many dumb notions and feelings - if she spilled any more he might turn tail and run right out of that kitchen.

[jackkelly]

Jack smiled and then stepped over to her again. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

[Stagey]

He had her where he wanted her, without even trying. So very like Jack. What else could she do but kiss back? Her arms felt awkward, unsure where to place them. Somehow, they found a safe haven around his neck, her fingers daring to coax his hair.

"Oh," was all she could manage to say for a moment or two when their lips parted. She leaned in forward again, pressing her cheek against his, crinkling her nose pleasantly at the hint of stubble. "Did all of that really happen?" she whispered bashfully against his ear.

[jackkelly]

"Yea it definitely did," he whispered into her ear and then kissed her cheek. He looked down at her, brushing hair away from her face.

[Stagey]

The scent of just-baked vanilla cake filtered into the normally stuffy kitchen, wrapping Jack and Stagey in a pleasant, homey fragrance. It only reminded Stagey that such beautiful moments couldn't always last an eternity. "What happens now?" she asked softly, nearly afraid to move.

[jackkelly]

"Honestly...I have no idea," Jack said with a laugh and played with a strand of her hair, it was so silky soft. He sighed, "We see what happens?"

[Stagey]

When a girl as naïve and trusting as Stagey had something befall her like that kiss, Jack's words were what she feared most. "Oh. Well, yes, that's probably best." Did she want to be his girl exclusively? She wasn't sure. Did she want to forget this whole thing ever happened? Not quite.

[jackkelly]

"Let's just have fun okay? There don't need to be any pressure. You seen Rae and Spot lately? They're a mess, no need for pressure." Jack said with a nod. They were really the only couple he was able to compare too and he never wanted to end up like them.

((HAHA everyone thinks exactly the same thing when Rae and Spot comes up LOL))

[Stagey]

"If you think that's best," she whispered, turning to put the now-cooled cake on the counter, searching for the little bowl of green frosting. Jack was an expert on this stuff, after all. What did Stagey know of love and such, except for the nonsense she read about in books?