fanofthegenre | OOM: An invitation extended.

Entry tags:

jack bauer,
oom

OOM: An invitation extended.

It's been a while since she's run into Jack in the bar.

Mostly, she's trying to chalk that up to her own increasingly busy schedule and the fact that the holiday season tends to bring out the worst in people - which, coincidentally, leads to more murders, and that means her workload has reached a staggering high.

She comes in through her door today on a mission, though, after a fairly successful decorating of her apartment and shopping excursion with Kate. She'd brought up the subject of potentially inviting Jack to New York for Christmas, since the idea of knowing he's Bound from leaving through his own door depresses her a little.

Kate had seemed supportive, and Bar appears to be as well; Beckett doesn't even need to ask before she's being provided with a note that informs her of Jack's whereabouts. She bundles up to find him down by the lake, her own breath appearing in front of her and dissipating away into the chilled air. She doesn't try to sneak up on him. Besides, she has a feeling it'd be hard to do that successfully, anyway.

"Heard you were out here."

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Jack's head snaps up at the sound of footsteps approaching in the snow, relaxing a little when he recognises Beckett. He'd come out to get some fresh air after having another panic attack, and he's still feeling a little jumpy.

"Beckett, haven't seen you for a while. How was your vacation?"

She chuckles quietly; there's a good amount of her vacation that can get chalked up to good and relaxing and another part that falls under the category of pretty damn awkward.

For both their sakes, he'll get the Cliff's Notes version.

"Good," she answers. "I'm back to work now, though. For a little while, at least until the holidays."

At which point she's pretty much forced to go home.

"You take time off for the holidays?" he asks. She'd seemed like the kind of person that would work through it, but then maybe she has family that she hasn't mentioned. Though his instincts tell him she's not someone with a large, close-knit family.

"Only a couple of days, usually. One of those is spent with my dad, just the two of us. The rest - "

She pauses, jamming her hands into her coat's pockets to keep them warm.

"Sometimes I'll go back to the station, but that's only if I know I can get away with coming in on what's supposed to be my day off."

Jack twitches a weak smile at her. "Thought so. I would have thought you'd get called in, as well."

There's a quick smile that follows his.

"Chance of that happening, too. How've you been?"

"All right," he says with a slight shrug. "Not really much for me to tell. I met Kate a few days ago."

He's not intending to tell her about the panic attacks, or the fact that he's been spending more time in his room while she was gone.

He's also not planning on saying that he kind of missed her. Partly because the fact that he'd gotten close enough to miss anyone when they weren't there had been worrying him.

"Did you? I was wondering if you two were ever going to cross paths."

It's probably best that she doesn't know any of that. It'd only give her more reason to worry, and she's got plenty of those already that revolve around him.

"So, I was wondering if you had any plans for Christmas," she finally says.

Best to get that part out of the way, too.

"Considering it was April in my world when I came in here, not really, no. Why do you ask?" he says, though he has a pretty good idea what she's getting at.

"Because it's about to be Christmas in mine, so if you didn't have plans, I figured - "

She shrugs, glancing over at him with a thin-lipped smile.

"You know, only if you want to. No pressure."

It might be no pressure, but he's still going to feel like a heel if he has to say no. Besides, while the thought of staying at Beckett's place seems awkward--thanks to his attempts to keep other people at a distance--it would be a chance to get out of the bar for a while.

"How long were you thinking?" he asks.

"Honestly? I hadn't considered that far ahead," she admits.

Really, a big part of her had been banking on him pretty much refusing, so the fact that he's giving it some thought is a small surprise.

"Few days - maybe a week, tops. Whatever you're comfortable with, obviously - I'm not the kind of hostess who forces her guests to stay."

"I wouldn't want to get in your way when you need to work all day," Jack says, his need to get the hell out of the bar for a while battling with his reluctance to be that close to someone else for a few days. "And what about your holiday plans?"

"Apart from the annual holiday dinner and presents with my dad, I really don't make any ever."

She kicks up a small patch of snow.

"And you wouldn't - be in the way, at least. Maybe this year is the year I take a real break from working during Christmas."

Hearing she doesn't really have many other plans--no big family get-togethers, no Christmas parties with friends--just makes it that much harder to refuse. Beckett would probably kill him if she thought he agreed to visit out of pity, but it is one more thing to think about.

He hesitates for a moment before saying, "I have to admit, it would be kind of nice to get out of here for a while."

Though thinking about it, he's not sure New York is exactly the best place to go, considering the number of patrons in the bar gets to his after a while. But then he'd been in LA for a day after he got back, and he has to get used to it sometime.

It's easy for her to hide the smile that results from his answer, but a little more difficult to do the same when it comes to the obviously optimistic expression in her eyes.

"Really, just as long as you're comfortable with it," she promises again.

She gets the feeling that big crowds aren't necessarily his thing, but if that's a concern, they can always avoid places like the subway and Times Square.

Her expression clinches it. "Okay, then; for a couple days at least. What day is it in your world?"

"It's the nineteenth," she answers. "Good thing Kate came through the door with me and helped me do most of my shopping earlier."

Right about now, the city's shops are close to becoming madhouses.

"Yeah, I'm sure she makes a better shopping partner than I would," he says, with a weak smile. "Whenever you're ready for me, just let me know. I don't really need a lot of time to pack or anything."

"Well, I mean - I'm pretty much ready when you are," Beckett says, not having expected this kind of readiness.

"Though it probably won't take very long for things like, you know, the grand tour and getting situated and everything."

"From what I've seen of New York apartments, yeah, probably not. When do you get off work for the holidays?"

"I asked for a little time off starting tomorrow."

She scoffs quietly at the mention of New York apartments.

"This one will change your mind."

"Well, if you want a couple days to get stuff done without a guest around, go ahead. Whenever you're ready, just find me in here."

Jack raises an eyebrow. "NYPD pay that much better than LAPD?"

"Not much," she admits, with a bit of a smile.

"But I saved. And at least I know where to find you when I tie up all my loose ends."

Namely, figuring out how the hell to play hostess.

"Not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon," he says with a wry smile. "Anywhere you can think of right now that you think I have to see?"

"Anything you've wanted to see, personally?"

She glances over at him.

"Your options are fairly limitless."

He shrugs. "I've been to New York a few times, so I've hit some of the tourist spots already. I don't think I've seen it in winter, though. Central Park must look nice if you've got any snow."

"Oh, we got snow - and plenty of it."

Beckett smiles.

"You ever taken one of those carriage rides?"

Jack raises an eyebrow slightly. "You mean the touristy kind that cost you an arm and a leg for a ten minute ride?"

Beckett shrugs one shoulder.

"Okay, so it's kind of hokey, but it'd probably be really beautiful with all the snow, and the lights."

"Have you ever taken one before?" he asks. He has a feeling she hasn't; he can't remember if she's mentioned growing up in New York, but from what she's said he gets the feeling she did, or nearby. A lot of locals never take the time to do the tourist stuff.

That is unless someone had taken her on a date or something, which makes the thought of going a little awkward.

"Taken one personally? Nah."

She shakes her head. Living in New York sort of inadvertently means you wind up excluding yourself from any and all touristy activities. That includes things like visiting the Statue of Liberty and taking the carriage ride through Central Park.

"I may have always wanted to, though," Beckett admits.

"May have? You're not sure if it's something you've always wanted to do?" he says with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"You know what? Never mind."

She clears her throat and doesn't exactly meet his eyes for a moment.

"You take that with you to your grave, by the way."

"Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret," he says, pasting on a smile. "And we can do it. Maybe this is a chance for you to do all the touristy stuff you haven't done before."

"Only if you want to."

She eyes him quickly.

"This is as much your vacation as it is mine."

"No, I'd like to. I can't really think of anything I absolutely don't want to do. I could probably use a couple days to decide what I do, though."

"Take all the time you need, of course."

She suddenly wishes she'd brought a pair of gloves along.

"Aren't you cold out here?"

"Yeah, but when you head outside in the winter, you kind of have to expect that," he says, clenching and unclenching his hands in his pockets.

"Feel like heading back inside?"

She nods her head in the direction of the bar.

"I'll buy you a drink."

"You've found my weakness, Beckett," he says, though his smile is about as transparent as the observation window. "Free drinks."

"If I'd known that, I could've gotten you to agree to come inside sooner."

She cups her hands together and blows into her palms.

"Well, now you know," he says, turning on his heel. "Though I expect you to use that knowledge for good, not for evil."

She holds up a hand in mock silent oath.

"You bet."

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OOM: An invitation extended.

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