welcome

[Jack Liare]

Tuesday January 9th
10:57 pm


Things could be worse.

Jack had to keep telling himself. He had to keep reminding himself that. Things were already bad but at least he still had his refuge. He still had Terra. Her pretty blue eyes and wide smile greeting him when he’d come home. Well, the smile had been lacking lately. Now it was just even breathing and soft, mumbled ‘welcome homes’ and ‘I love yous’ when he’d come in late. And he came in late every night. But he had Kensley. Kensley was his most saving grace. She always had a smile for him. Always giggled at his silliness. Knowing he had a gorgeous girlfriend and a beautiful baby girl to go home to made everything better.

And at least he could go home. He was pretty sure there had been a thought at some point that Jack should be held captive until the painting was completely perfect. At least he could go back to his family, be reminded why he was enduring the belittling, the lying, the deceiving. It was all so that he could get Kens a pony when she asked for one. So Terra could go see that amazing play that was only playing in Beijing for six weeks. It was all for them.

As he stepped through out of his fireplace and into the front room he could hear his daughter giggling and an exasperated Terra freak out as the baby appeared, naked, at the top of the stairs. Dropping his things, Jack gasped and hurried up just as Kens sent herself flying off the top one. “Oh my fucking god!” He caught her and landed on his stomach on the stairs, giving his daredevil daughter a glare. “Kensley Liare what are you thinking! You’re going to give your Mother a heart attack!” Jack pulled himself up and started towards kens’ bedroom, the toddler tugging his hair.

The nursery was definitely the most elaborately decorated room in the house. Jack had a while wall painted with a very intricate fairy wonderland-type mural, the rest of the walls a pale purplish-pink. In the center of the room was a raised platform, on the platform was the white round crib Kensley had had since birth. It had a canopy and was big enough to last until she was about 3. Toys spotted the room and Jack had to walk carefully to keep from tripping over things. As he did he called out to Terra. “Busy day?” He set Kens down on the changing table, grabbing a diaper, “I mean, it’s almost eleven and Kensley is still up? Almost 3 hours past bedtime?” He put the diaper on and then slipped the pink nightgown over her head, “And I saw the take out on the kitchen table. Get me anything?” He wasn’t nagging, really, just making conversation. He was doing that a lot lately. Starting the conversation, dodging questions. “I had a really boring day.” He came out of the bedroom, looking for Terra with Kensley in tow, “Time for bed, Mommy?”

[Terra Moberly]

Things could be worse.

This statement had become something of a daily ritual for Terra, repeated in her mind over and over when things reached that point where they were barely inside the realm of things a person could handle while still hanging on to their sanity. When Kensley had broken her real pearl necklace today, one of her mother’s few pieces of jewelry, sending the pearls flying everywhere. Things could be worse. When the dog ate six of them before she could stop him, making her sure vet bills were in their near future. Things could be worse. Every time she burnt food or a toilet overflowed or a toy broke because she couldn’t be in the kitchen and the bathroom and the nursery all at once. Things could be worse.

Every time she sat alone eating dinner at ten o’clock at night in a silent house that had lost the comfort of really being a ‘home’. Things could be worse.

They really could. She had a roof--a huge roof--over her head, she had a darling baby girl who loved her. She had Jack…well, she sort of had Jack. She had him every now and then. She never went hungry, and neither did her baby. She reminded herself of the countless people across the world with no shoes, no meals and no hope for anything better for the rest of their lives, let alone the lives of their children. She was lucky. So it was probably selfish to wish she had more. Not more material things, not at all--in fact, Terra had never truly gotten comfortable with the excessive amount of things they had. She treated herself every now and then, like that play in Beijing Jack had surprised her with tickets for. And it was nice to not have to bargain shop. But she always gave generously to charities and she still pinched pennies when she was out shopping. Too bad Jack insisted on handling all of the finances, or she probably would have cut back a bit more.

Kensley had been a nightmare today. The day had started at six, when Kensley had woken Terra up crying. After feeding her, She had spent much of the day following Kensley around and cleaning up her messes in between cooking and cleaning and trying to learn her lines. Somehow the house had still managed to be a disaster by the time a tantrum-throwing Kensley finally fell asleep, at which point Terra set about to clean up before Jack got home. Unfortunately, ten minutes into the beloved period of quiet, the dog had thrown up on the white Persian rug in living room. Terra’s knees were rug-burnt, her hands smelled like acidic cleaner, her hair was a knotted mess and starting to get stringy on her forehead because she hadn’t showered since the previous night.

She put Kensley to bed at ten and set about cleaning the house up, and soon, she heard the sound of Jack apparating in the front room. She moved into the doorway and started to give him a weary greeting when her eyes were drawn to a naked Kensley teetering at the top of the stairs. Her heart stopped, chest squeezing around it like a vice as her round eyes bugged out. “[b]Kensley! NO!”[/I] she cried, heart in her throat until Jack caught her.

At which point she promptly burst into tears.

She sunk down onto the couch as Jack spoke from upstairs, anger flaring up with her exhausted stupor of sobbing. But the anger wasn’t very strong; he was right. Her shoulders sagged. She should have put Kensley to bed. Kensley was the first priority, not the house. Certainly not her dinner. But she wasn’t eating very regularly and Jack was nagging her about her weight again.

”Time for bed, Mommy?”

Terra looked up to see Jack at the top of the stairs, and it was all she could do to shake her head and stand, escaping into the kitchen with her red, blotchy, tear-stained face and shaking shoulders. Sleep probably would have been the best thing for her frazzled nerves, but she couldn’t just go to bed without saying anything and start all of it over tomorrow. Jack had to know. And he had to re-arrange his priorities. She simply couldn’t take it anymore.

[Jack Liare]

It was nice coming home after a long day spent alone in a basement painting the same thing he’d painted five other times. The only company he had was a turkey sandwich and a snotty, pale blonde kid with an alien-looking wife and a bank account too big for his own good. Even if it’d been a hot blonde girl with an allergy to all cloth materials he’d still prefer his home to it. Nothing could beat his baby girls giggle and the warm smiles Terra would give him. None of it. Part of him wondered if this was worth it…if missing out on Terra’s cooking, Kensley’s bedtime stories, cuddling in the shower after a long day (or night) was really worth the comfort he’d find once this stupid job was finished.

If it ever did end, of course.

Nothing seemed good enough. None of the perfect pieces he’d finished so far were right. Just a single brush stroke seemed to ruin a whole painting. These standards, the pressure, all of it was too much and Malfoy didn’t seem to understand that. That misplaced brush stroke had been when the kid had slammed the door. The discoloration was because the paint was getting old. None of it was Jack’s fault but that didn’t seem to matter. It was getting frustrating. It was getting ridiculous. And if he could get out of it he’d do it. In a heartbeat. But there were too many risks…. Too many threats he wasn’t sure were empty or not.

When he got home there was no real indication that Terra’s day had been anything terrible. Sure, the house was a bit of a mess but he didn’t mind. He’d lived in a studio apartment as a bachelor for years without even a vacuum. A little bit of dust didn’t bother him. So he didn’t notice when she stormed downstairs. He was too busy loving on the blue eyed baby girl he’d missed terribly. Terra would get loving too. Once Kens was sleeping and they could get some alone time. It was getting hard finding time lately, what with his random hours. It was throwing Kensley’s schedule off too. God, he was the worst Father ever.

As he started down the stairs he started to hear the quiet sobbing coming from Terra. She must have been tired. Poor girl. Kensley always knew how to cheer her up and as Jack’s smile hung in anticipation for his girlfriend to crumble and hug the baby and then squeeze him in too she didn’t deliver. That was her cue. And she usually took it. But it seemed this time she was working off of improv. Oh Great. He stood awkward for a minute, bouncing Kens and then sighing, heading upstairs and putting her in her crib. He took as much time as he could without seeming like he was stalling before heading downstairs, calling out carefully in the quiet house, “Terra?” He started towards the kitchen, his voice delicate, “Babe? What’s the matter?” When he reached the door way he saw her, looking ethereal and beautiful and sexy and frazzled all at the same time. God, why had it taken him so long to notice it? She was perfect for him. She was his world. His sun. His moon. His whole life revolved around her and seeing her upset was killing him. Coming up behind her, his hands rested on her shoulders, sliding down as he spoke, “Babe, talk to me,” he pushed her hair away from her neck and kissed it before resting his hands on her hips, “I hate seeing you cry.”

[Terra Moberly]

Terra had never been a big crier. In fact, she could count the number of times she'd cried before she'd met Jack on one hand. But since she'd met him, she had shed quite a few tears. There was the crying the day she found out she was pregnant, and lots of crying in the week following. Then the kidnapping. Then she'd gone a while without really crying--sure, the pregnant woman hormones made her cry at movies and what-not, but she hadn't bawled for a real reason. Until Kensley was born. She'd cried before, during and after that--with scared, tortured and then overjoyed respectively.

And then she hadn't cried for another year. No matter what happened, she would get frustrated, she would grit her teeth and she would pull out her hair, but she didn't cry. But in the last four to six months or so, she had cried a handful of times. As things got more and more stressing, as she became more isolated and unhappy, she found herself breaking down at night after Kensley had finally fallen asleep. More than once she had heard the telltale signs of Jack's arrival downstairs from the bedroom and hidden her face against the pillow, pretending to be asleep as he came in.

She understood that he had to work; she got that. And she knew what his painting meant to him--which was half the reason she hadn't confronted him before now. If he'd been working a nine to five in some corporate position, she would have thrown a fit far before now. But he wasn't. He was producing art, gorgeous art that took Terra’s breath away. But he was never there. Ever. And she was raising a baby on her own, and running a house--all things a mother and wife should be able to do. But Terra wasn’t a mother and wife. She was just a mother. And a live-in girlfriend. And it had been over a year and a half and he was still dragging his feet. Terra had never needed to be married; all her teenage years, she was fine with the idea of a long-term, live-in relationship. But then she’d had a baby. And it wouldn’t have been so bad if Jack hadn’t hinted about it.

And then slowly stopped hinting about it.

She didn’t know where she’d gone wrong--when she’d made him change his mind from sure to unsure. Maybe it was her reaction to his long hours and his stress, but she was bound to react badly to that, wasn’t she? And she hadn’t at first. But now he got home late, she was tired and annoyed with him, and half the time she didn’t at all feel like having sex (and half of those times, they actually didn’t). Even their sex life was suffering because of everything.

All of these things were flying around in her head as she waited for Jack to come back after his awkward, expectant entrance into the kitchen the first time. Like she’d just crumble in his arms like she usually did. No. Something was going to change tonight. She was determined.

When he came back, she was standing at the counter, a lukewarm cup of coffee between her palms, her eyes staring down into the murky water. His voice was so sweet, so familiar and so full of love, that she nearly lost her will to fight right then and there. She had to close her eyes and remind herself if she kept backing down, nothing would ever change, and with trembling hands she set down the old cup of coffee, eyes on a point in the shadowy grounds out the window without looking at it at all.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take this stress, Jack.” Her voice shook, but it was firm, that tone she got when she meant something and wasn’t backing down. Slowly, she turned, again reminding herself that just because his hands were on her arms didn’t mean she could throw herself into his arms like she dearly wanted to. She looked him in the eyes, chin lifted just as much as it took to look at him strongly. “I know you’re doing this for the good of our family, but it’s backfiring. We don’t need another hundred thousand dollars. We need you. I need you.” A flood of other words were jockeying to be the next out of her mouth--whenever Terra got going, she really got going--but the thing which slipped out shocked her utterly and completely.

“If you’re avoiding me because you’ve decided you don’t want to marry me or be with me, then you tell me right now.” Her eyes were wide shock, but after a split second this faded away into vulnerability as she realized that this was exactly where her fears were rooted. She stood there, between the hard counter and Jack’s front, watching him with raw uncertainty and hurt, her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his reply.

[Jack Liare]

Jack had seen this coming. He’d have to be an idiot to not see it. He’d have to be a complete asshole to not notice how this new work was affecting his family. Family. Wow. Never in his life did Jack imagine he’d have a family to take care of. His chance had come and gone with Pru. At least, he’d thought it had. But no way. Sure, when he met Terra the last thing he’d thought was that he’d see her more than once, let alone have a baby and a future with her. She was it for him. She was the girl for him and he knew it. And Kensley was perfect. She was adorable and well-behaved and knowing that the next morning he’d hear her giggle from the kitchen with Terra kept him going.

He was ready to fight with her about this. Well…okay, no. He wasn’t ready. At all. This was a conversation he’d narrowly dodged with vague answers and soft coos and gentle kisses before. But it seemed, thus far, that wasn’t working. Jack wasn’t ready to answer questions about his work. He wasn’t ready to tell the truth and he hadn’t thought of a good enough lie yet that would make up for all the time he’s lost with her and Kens. “Babe, c’mon, please don’t cry anymore.” He kissed her neck again gently, one last try to convince her that she shouldn’t be angry.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take this stress, Jack.”

“I know, baby.” He ran his hands up and down her arms, noticing the tone she used. His cooing and touches weren’t going to work this time and Jack took a moment to inhale slowly, closing his eyes and preparing himself for what he knew was going to happen, for the argument he knew was coming. “I’ve been working hard. For you. For our—“

“I know you’re doing this for the good of our family, but it’s backfiring.”

Fuck, he really thought that would work. “People need money to live, Terra. I’m just trying to earn some mon—“

“We don’t need another hundred thousand dollars. We need you. I need you.”

If only she knew. They did need another hundred thousand dollars. They desperately needed another hundred thousand dollars. Well…okay not desperately. He’d always been good at saving and the prospect of a baby had put him into saving overdrive. But those savings accounts weren’t going to last forever and Kensley was only going to get more expensive. A bike. A pony. Expensive preschools where she’d learn French and her ABC’s in four languages. Sure, she already knew a bit of French from Angevin but a preschool would teach her properly. “I…but…” He didn’t know what to say.

“If you’re avoiding me because you’ve decided you don’t want to marry me or be with me, then you tell me right now.”

What?! Jack froze, his hands on her hips even stiffening a bit as his words hit her. Marry. God that was such a terrible word. He’d never been with a girl named Mary because he hated that word so much. At least, he had hated it. He had every intention of marrying Terra but right now he just wasn’t ready. He couldn’t give her the wedding she wanted. And yes, he knew it wouldn’t be lavish and expensive but he still wanted it to be perfect. He couldn’t make that commitment, couldn’t promise it’d be perfect, until his commitment to Draco was fulfilled. Until that damn painting was perfect. He was quiet for a moment and then softened, relaxing and sliding his hands down over her rear, “Aw, Terra….” He wanted to be mad that she’d brought it up but there was no way he could be angry at those vulnerable eyes. He picked her up and took a step over to set her on the counter, a long, perfect leg on either side of him. “Babe, I want to marry you. I do but…” he sighed, “We’re already so stressed. I’m already stretched so thin. And planning a wedding wouldn’t help that.” Ugh, that came out wrong and he knew he’d said it all wrong. “But I promise. I want to marry you.” And he did. The ring was upstairs in the safe only he knew the combination to. “But I want the timing to be perfect. Is that okay?”

[Terra Moberly]

When he picked her up, Terra kept her lips in a thin line, turning her head to look to the side. Being in such close range, in such a familiar position, was the opposite of being in a good position to argue. She was shocked that he had responded so well to her comment—he hated talking about marriage. Terra never brought it up because she knew he hated the entire idea. Well, he had hated it, anyway. But at the same time, he’d been hinting about it for months and months. Terra didn’t know what he felt anymore. Maybe he was just saying those things to get her to have sex with him. It certainly worked.

When he spoke, she looked at him, his eyes catching her with their soft honesty. She almost couldn’t believe what had come out of his mouth. He did want to marry her. He wasn’t just saying that all those times. And as he went on, it didn’t come out wrong; not to Terra. That wasn’t to say that it didn’t weigh on her. Her shoulders sagged as he set her down, her hands resting together in her lap. “It’s not just about getting married,” she said meekly, looking down as she drew little circles on the back of her thumb with a none-existent nail. “It’s not about that at all. Much.”

She sighed, knowing she was doing an even worse job of getting her words out right than Jack was. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin to look him in the eyes. “I don’t want you to work late anymore. You work at a gallery, for God’s sake, Jack, you set your own hours.” Her voice was far more pleading than it was aggressive or demanding—at least for the moment. “You can paint here—that’s what we set aside a painting room for you for, anyway. Why do you even need to be at the gallery so much? Yeah, I know, I know the meetings and the clients…but twenty-four-seven, Jack? There are things that take higher priority than one more client.”

Her shoulders began to sag a bit more as she got more and more into her defense. “Do you want to know what my day is like? I get up with Kensley, I make her breakfast. I play with her, I keep her from pulling crystal vases down on her head or—like today—flinging herself off of furniture and steps. I take the dog out, I change Kensley, I clean—and that’s all just before lunch. Then after feeding Kensley, I try to do something for myself, like learn lines or make calls or something.” Her tone was growing progressively more exasperated as she built up steam. “ I watch Kensley some more, I clean up the messes she is constantly making—and god forbid the dog shit on the carpet or puke on the bed or—like today—eat my mother’s pearl necklace. And then comes dinner, with is usually late because of some mini-catastrophe that has come up since lunch. Then Kensley starts getting cranky, and I put her to bed, which is a two-hour ordeal practically.”

Her tone lowered then, voice getting quieter. “And then the best and worst part of the day—when I sit up in the silence and wait for you to come home at Dumbledore-knows-when—because I certainly never do—and some nights I’m too exhausted to wait anymore, so I go up to bed. If you don’t wake me up when you come in I don’t even see you at all, all day.” She took a deep breath, realizing more and more as she spoke how much she couldn’t do this anymore. “I can’t do it anymore by myself. I’m not doing it anymore by myself. No more overtime. None. Please.” Her voice turned pleading as she touched his arm, rubbing her hand from his elbow to his shoulder and back down again. “You’re so stressed. Being at home will help that, it really will, love. You’ll be happier. We all will.”

[Jack Liare]

Okay, he’d said his part. It was time to go upstairs. It was time for him to bring her strawberries and champagne. It was time for him to kiss her all over and make her forget she’d ever been mad. It was time to forget about clothes and next-mornings and fights and overtime. It was time to do what they did best: kiss and make up. Jack loved Terra. He loved her more than he was sure it was healthy for one person to love another. Terra made him do some of the strangest things he’d ever done. She made him crazy in the best and worst ways. She made him want to be romantic and plan special surprises months into the future. She made him anticipate coming home in a good way and had opened his eyes to how intimate and sexy cuddling could be while being completely innocent at the same time.

She was the best thing that’d ever happened to him and Jack was more than happy to admit that now. Sure, it’d taken him almost a year to really admit he loved her. And it was several months after that before he’d even thought the word marriage. He’d made it clear to her from the start that the baby wasn’t going to affect any of his decisions when it came to marriage and their future. She’d agreed to that. He’d been amazed by it but Terra didn’t need to be married. At least, he’d thought that was the case. Apparently it wasn’t because now she was going on about marriage like it was a big deal. Well, no not like it was a big deal but like it was something that they had to do right then and there. Well maybe that was a little bit of a stretch but she was definitely making it seem like a bigger deal than it was a year ago.

“It’s not just about getting married,”

“Alright,” he kept his tone light, “Then fill me in. I want to fix this, babe.” He cupped her chin with his hand and kissed her lips between words.

“I don’t want you to work late anymore.”

He stiffened a little. “Sometimes I can’t control that, Terra. You know that.”

“You work at a gallery, for God’s sake, Jack, you set your own hours.”

Sighing, he let go of her so that he wasn’t so much holding her anymore, really just standing in front of her. “Babe sometimes I’m in the groove. And if I’m in the groove I can’t stop, you know that. It’s art! I can’t—“

“You can paint here—that’s what we set aside a painting room for you for, anyway. Why do you even need to be at the gallery so much?”

“It’s not just about painting. I have clients to schmooze and meetings to—“

“Yeah, I know, I know the meetings and the clients…but twenty-four-seven, Jack? There are things that take higher priority than one more client.”

He grumbled, “It isn’t twenty-four-seven.” Now she was just being ridiculous. Of course Kens and Terra took priority over his work. Jack wished he could say they took priority over the gallery but…but there wasn’t a gallery. There was no gallery to take priority over them. All he had to take priority was some stupid blonde kid he swore was gay because he dyed his hair (so Jack presumed) and wore the gayest clothes. Oh, and he worked at a school. With kids. Only fags did that kind of thing.

“Do you want to know what my day is like?”

“Of course I do, baby.” When he noticed her shoulders sagging he started rubbing his hands up and down her arms. When she started speaking he started kissing. First her cheek. Then her temple. Then just behind her ear and then lower onto her neck. He was doing it, of course, to hide the cringing his eyes were doing when she started into the worst parts of her day. That pearl necklace was one of the few pieces of jewelry she had that belonged to her Mother, Jack knew that. As her voice got quieter he pulled back and looked at her with a concerned expression. Her tone warranted it.

“I can’t do it anymore by myself. I’m not doing it anymore by myself.”

For a second he panicked but kept his tone as even as he could, “What are you saying, babe?”

“No more overtime. None. Please.”

Jack hesitated before giving a short nod, “Alright. No more.”

“You’re so stressed. Being at home will help that, it really will, love. You’ll be happier. We all will.”

As her hand rubbed up and down his arm he slid his own hands underneath her, cupping her behind and slowly sliding her forward to press against him. It amazed him, what being near to her did for him. It wasn’t the same sort of arousal he’d searched for his entire teenage and adult life. It was arousal, sure, but it was sweet and slow and made his insides twist and turn in the best way. “I know. You’re right.” He buried his face in her neck, his voice muffled as he went on, “You’re always right.” Jack smirked and gave a light laugh with his face against her neck, “You must be exhausted. Why don’t I take the next couple days off? I’ll see what my schedule looks like and you’ll do nothing but relax until next week.”

[Terra Moberly]

As Terra tried to convey how stressful her days were, she found it harder and harder to keep her determination from slipping away as his lips kissed her skin tenderly in all the sweetest spots. This was the side of Jack she really loved. He could be crude and he could be pig-headed, but he could make her weak in the knees with his unbelievable sweetness. It was because he wasn’t made to act that way, because it seemed so out of the ordinary for him, that it touched Terra so much. She felt like, in a way, she had created this side of him.

She saw him stiffen as she declared she wouldn’t do it all by herself anymore, and she was quick to answer him. She didn’t want to stress him out, and she knew this would only do that. As she eyed his face, she saw the faint signs of stress—circles under his eyes, hair in disarray. It had been a while since she’d had or taken the opportunity to really examine him. So as he agreed to her terms, Terra was relieved. She didn’t want to fight anymore. As he slid her toward him, she wrapped her legs around his middle slowly, crossing her ankles one over the other. It was clear that she’d accepted his wave of the white flag.

“I know. You’re right. You’re always right.”

Now he was just pleasing her. She knew how he got in arguments; he either started spewing ridiculous nonsense, or he agreed with her on everything in order to disarm her so they could just stop arguing. She laughed, feeling the air and the vibrations on her neck from his own laugh. “You can stop laying it on so thick. I’m appeased,” she informed him with a smirk. Her arms had wrapped around his neck, one hand sliding up into his hair to massage his scalp.

“You must be exhausted. Why don’t I take the next couple days off? I’ll see what my schedule looks like and you’ll do nothing but relax until next week.”

She had to smile at this, looking hesitant to believe him but extremely hopeful. “Really? You’ll take the next few days off?” Her shoulders sagged, this time in relief, and she leaned forward to hug him tightly. “Thank you,” she murmured into his ear before kissing his jaw. After several more moments of embracing him, she pulled back just enough to rest her forehead against his. “Can we go to bed now?” she said in a voice barely above a whisper, “We’ve got a vacation to celebrate.” Smiling naughtily at him, she tightened her legs around him and scooted herself off the counter, knowing she’d be fine since his hand was underneath her. Her lips touched his once, twice, then lingered there, arms sliding more tightly around him as she closed her eyes.

[Jack Liare]

Aaaaand cut to some serious sexing up sweet making up.

THE END!