A First Time for Everything

[searches_forhim]

[Continued from the Tag Someone New meme]

Jane had debated for the better part of an hour whether to actually go out with Jack. Yes, their meeting had seemed ideal, and he seemed like a great guy. But appearances could be deceiving.

After talking with Darcy she decided to go through with it - with Darcy's tazer in her purse. She texted him the address of her favorite Japanese restaurant, telling him to meet her at 8. After going through every dress in her closet she decided on a simple black one, accenting it with gold shoes and jewelry. She left her hair down simply because she didn't like every way she tried it up.

She walked to the restaurant since it was only a block from her apartment. She arrived early - she liked arriving early - and stood outside waiting for him. She paced to work off some nervous energy. Astrophysics she had no trouble with. Dating made her shake in her heels.

Comments

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

Nothing in their meeting led Jack to believe Jane had any doubts about meeting him. He would not have thought ill of her for having them. On the contrary, he appreciated her intelligence. Women in New York had a tendency of being a little smarter about their safety than most yet he still encountered a number who were willing to go home with him moments after meeting. He preferred Jane hands down.

It wasn't just the thrill of the chase. Jack longed for a relationship with substance. He had taken for granted a first love and he never wanted to miss an opportunity for love like that again. There were days that he wondered if he missed his chance. Jane made him hopeful that he didn't. She sent him the name and address of a place to meet that wasn't too high or low end. Perfect.

He arrived fifteen minutes early, hoping to wait for her and rid some of his nervousness, only to find Jane pacing outside the Japanese restaurant. Jack immediately wondered if a change of plans was at hand. He quickly gave her a curious grin once she spotted him. "If you're allergic, you don't have to keep 'em." He uttered softly and handed her a bouquet of yellow roses.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

"Oh... wow. They're beautiful." She took the flowers, a bright smile on her face. She loved roses, but always felt strange buying them for herself. "Thank you." They were in the peak of bloom and she could smell their fragrance without having to hold them right under her nose.

"Did you find the place okay? I didn't know where you live so I had no clue how far of a trek it would be for you."

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

He took a breath of relief seeing Jane smile so bright at his offering. Jack had contemplated whether or not meeting for dinner was the type of thing to bring flowers to. It paid off to listen to his mother who insisted always that women loved flowers. The yellow seemed to suit his date though they weren't known as the romantic gesture but a friendly one. Friends first didn't seem like an awful idea to him.

"This isn't a ways away from where we met. Wasn't hard to find at all," he answered with a happy smile. "Shall we go in?"

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

She nodded and let him open the door for her, then stepped inside the restaurant. Once inside the hostess showed them to a cozy table for two near the window. It was the table Jane always sat at when she ate there, but she was usually alone. She liked people watching and it had a great view.

"I have to admit that I don't know much of the city outside of this area. I grew up in a small town and New York intimidates me. I know within a five block radius of my apartment and the university and that's it."

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

She was so...small. Jack couldn't help notice not only their difference in statures but her presence. Small in a good way. He had grown accustomed to bossy women in New York but he definitely didn't prefer them. It seemed he had to submit to their whims or fight a constant battle. Neither was his preference given his family history.

Jane didn't demand or ask much of him. Sure, it was just a first date but there were nuances that he observed that only solidified his thoughts. As she opened up about living in the city, Jack was certain. A part of him felt bad for her while secretly happy to find a woman he might possibly open up to. "Rightfully so. Few cities are the size of this one. Maybe only second to Tokyo in congestion."

Jack gave a supportive grin. "I miss clean water, air and green grass but my job here affords me the luxury of much travel so I can't complain."

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jack seemed so sweet and genuine that Jane did not feel at all intimidated by his size. He was at least a foot taller than her and twice as wide, but he looked more like a teddy bear to her than a giant. Not that he looked squishy, he appeared to be quite fit. Not that she was checking that out.

"So do I. This coud not be more different than where I grew up. Not to mention all of the light pollution makes it really hard to observe anything in the sky." She picked up her menu and opened it even though she already knew what she was going to order. Jane was a creature of habit.

"So you travel a lot?"

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

He only gave her a nod in reply to her question of rehabilitating structures. Jane had hit the nail on the head. He not only revitalized and improved old buildings but docks, warehouses, lighthouses and boathouses to name a few. She was also right about not often being asked about himself.

Jack had just stuffed a dumpling into his mouth when the question was asked. He gave a small smile while chewing. "I have a habit of veering away and bringing the focus on the work itself. Few things are worse than men in love with the sound of their own voice. Anyone, for that matter. Usually...it's the work that I'm actually asked about anyway," he said after swallowing. He took a bite of the small salad next.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jane was rather proud of herself. The first step to building an equation or theory up was breaking it down to its most basic form. Now she had done the same with Jack, or at least one aspect of him. It said a lot about his personality, though. She hoped it only applied to buildings and not people, because she didn't think she needed to be renovated.

"You definitely don't come off as someone who likes to hear themself talk. But you don't need to be shy about who you are, either. That's why we're here, right? To get to know one another." She munched on her salad, enjoying her favorite ginger dressing on top. She preferred the small portions, as she tended to get full easily.

"So do you have any brothers or sisters? I'm an only child of a single parent, so I tend to get jealous of people with big families."

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

It was good that Jane felt she didn't need to be renovated. Jack couldn't say the same without bending the truth. His early obssession with building may have been a side effect of having things wrong with him that he was unable to build or fix and expressing it in play. Rhona had taken him to enough headshrinks to remember hearing something like that over the years.

He nodded along with what Jane said, his cheeks feeling a little warm regardless. His grin was genuine so she needn't worry on putting him off. The ginger dressing was in fact very good and Jack found himself eating more before finally responding. "No. Same as you. Never was jealous of big families though." Was ignored enough being the only one.

While his thoughts ventured somewhere unpleasant, he managed to hold his casual expression. Between his father's obvious dislike of being held down by a family he hadn't planned, and his mother's job as a nanny to a girl who had been born a few years before Jack, it always seemed everything took precedence over him. He decided on leaving that part out and contributed something else.

"Do have loads of aunts and uncles and cousins in Glasgow though. And my mother cared for a little girl a few years older than me when I was a wee lad, until my father passed." His eyes stopped remaining fixed on Jane's and returned to eating more salad before finishing his last statement. He was hungry or searching for a way to move the focus off of him again.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Good job, Jane, she thought. Honesty had been working well for her so far, so she decided to stick with it, even if it did bring the mood down.

"I'm so sorry." She put down her chopsticks and reached across the table for his hand. "I lost my dad too. Almost two years ago, right after I graduated from undergrad." It was still difficult for her to talk about. He had been her everything. Her whole life it had just been the two of them. If she hadn't had Erik Selvig to help her through she might not have made it. It seemed strange to her that she had finally found something they had in common, and it was something so tragic.

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

His face fell at her apology but Jack immediately regarded her with tender eyes. He wouldn't let his experience trump hers. She was tender enough to reach for him and he turned over his hand to hold hers. It took a moment for him to realize Jane was alone in the world. He knew what that felt like, even with his mum and other relatives. The pad of his thumb softly stroked where it reached on her hand as they spoke.

"It's been many years for me." He would be honest with Jane. No one deserved deception. "Those who knew him in Scotland say my father was gone long before his death. So I can't say I ever really knew the man." Jack preferred to think his father was the Kevin Flanagan he rarely got glimpses of than the constantly drunk and brooding man he knew. "But I have my mum and other relatives. And always room for new friends," he ended with a soft smile.

Jack was interested in more than friendship but it didn't seem appropriate to say then. Besides, he hoped they could be friends. Relationships were empty and short-lived when the time wasn't taken outside of romantic escapades. He would gladly trade seeing different women for one who could steadily be there. In part, it was why he hadn't allowed himself a serious romance before establishing his career. He couldn't end up resentful and bitter like his father.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jane was relieved that he didn't pry further about how her father had died, and that he didn't ask about her mother. Both were sad stories that were likely to end in tears, and that would definitely be a date ruiner. His hand was warm, and the caress of his thumb made her heart skip a beat. The touch was as tender as his heart seemed to be.

"Friends are the family you choose, isn't that the saying?" Friends were all she had left, and she had plenty. They did not fill the hole left behind by her father, though. It was a big one, and some days it felt like it would consume her like a black hole. Those days were happening less often with time.

She reluctantly pulled her hand away so she could resume eating. The waitress returned, this time with Jane's sushi order on an elaborate plate made to look like a boat. Jane realized she had fallen victim to her usual dilemma - her eyes were bigger than her stomach.

"Feel free to try anything you want. I may have ordered too much." She grinned. 'May' was an obvious understatement.

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

Her response elicited hearty laughter from Jack--nearly losing the food in his mouth because of it. He nodded vehemently with the laugh while smacking his lips and finishing off the bite of food in his mouth. A sip of water washed down any possible remnants left. He had eaten his noodle bowl and would help Jane with her sushi if she needed, but he wanted to take care of something first.

With a wry grin, he slid over as close as possible and leaned in. "If I won, I've come to collect my prize." Jack reached and gently took one of her hands then kept eyes fixed on Jane. He leaned in slowly to give her plenty of time to reject his advance. They were in a secluded spot and he was having so much fun that it seemed the perfect time to break the ice.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jane found it strange that although they were in a public place and seated right next to a window that looked out onto the street, she too felt like they were secluded, as if their table and space were isolated from the rest of the world. As he moved closer she found herself unable to look away from him, his eyes especially. They sparkled at her in the candlelight in the most remarkable shade of blue. All of the food in her stomach felt like it was transformed into butterflies. She was unsure if he intended to kiss her or just her hand, and both seemed equally enticing.

"Prize?" she replied softly, her chopsticks falling from her other hand onto the table. In less than an hour, he had managed to shrink their world from the entire City of New York, to one restaurant, to one table - and now to just a couple of square feet. Her entire focus at that moment consisted of his eyes and his lips.

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

Her feelings weren't altogether different than Jack's. Jane had focused attention on him, wanting to hear about him as much as he wanted to learn about her. They exchanged more than basic information about themselves. She also made him laugh and not feel so self-conscious of himself. He chided himself for not having set up more than dinner that night. Their meals were about over. He silently nodded in response to her question for a moment, his eyes fixed on hers.

"Grand prize," he murmured barely over a whisper before meeting her lips and kissing her softly. It really did feel as if the universe had stopped for just the two of them. The only disappointment he experienced was the end of the kiss. Jack was tempted to continue until Jane ended it but couldn't take advantage of the situation. However, he didn't instantly move back upright and remained with his forehead lightly pressed into hers, keeping his hair out of both of their faces.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

The kiss was soft and sweet - and short. It was the perfect first kiss, in her opinion. Her eyes remained closed for several seconds afterwards, their foreheads touching, until she finally pulled back with a smile on her lips.

"So that was the grand prize?" She quirked an eyebrow at him, one finger idly tracing along his jaw. "How do you get better than grand? Super grand? Or is that the best I'm going to get tonight?" Just when she'd thought him shy, he'd gone and kissed her. She had always thought herself shy as well, but something about his bravery was contagious. Between the teasing and the flirting and the kissing she felt... normal. She felt like a normal girl for maybe the first time in her life.

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

"My lady...your wish is my command. After all, I am but your humble meal." Jack laughed softly which only made his eyes shine even more. He was smitten and happy. It was a terrific combo. He hoped Jane felt the same about their date. "I should hope I taste nearly as good as you do," he quipped before meeting her lips for another kiss.

The contact this time was a little stronger and more intricate. His arm moved around her shoulders to hold her into his side. A large hand gently covered nearly all of her bicep with the embrace. His other hand loosely laced fingers with hers on the table. "Indulge me a little longer," Jack whispered at her lips when they needed breath. His eyes were closed at first but slowly opened.

Blue spheres pleaded his request. He watched Jane intently as he posed his question. "...Let me walk you to your door."

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jane was beyond smitten - she was enamored. She felt as if she were in a dream that would end any moment with her alarm going off. It did not feel possible that she had just met him a few hours earlier on a subway platform.

She sank into the second kiss, absorbing the feel of his arm around her, his fingers lacing into hers, his hair just tickling the side of her face. Her body screamed at her for more, but her mind finally caught up to the situation and screamed louder that they were in a public place. When he pulled away and mentioned walking her home, she wondered just how loudly her mind had been yelling, because it would seem that he had heard it.

"What about dessert?" she asked in a teasing tone. Her brown eyes lingered on his blues as she wondered if he truly intended to stop at her door, or if it was just a way to get closer to an invitation into her apartment. Jane had never in her life had a one night stand, or slept with a guy after only a first date - because the situation had never come up. She did not think it was something she wanted to do, though, even with Jack, who appeared to be perfection personified.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

Jack had shown himself to be a gentleman more than once, and in Jane's mind that equated to old-fashioned. She was not complaining about it in the least. He opened doors and paid for meals and her hand disappeared into his like putting on a warm pair of mittens.

"Me too. It doesn't have to be exactly here, but I do want to see you again. Next date you get to choose, since I picked everything this time." She scratched her fingers lightly against his palm before lacing her fingers through his. She led them back toward the restaurant, then another block further to her apartment building. She dug around in her purse for her keys. She saw Darcy's tazer and started laughing. Something told her it would hardly faze someone as big as Jack.

"I know, I know, I broke all sorts of first date rules. I picked a place close to home, blah blah blah. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit." Jane lived in a newly built highrise building filled with one and two-bedroom apartments. Once inside the front door she waved to the doorman (who was sitting behind the night desk) before hitting the up button for the elevator.

"Now that Jimmy's seen us, everyone will know by tomorrow that I brought a guy home. All of the old ladies will be in a tizzy."

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

[ooc: SO sorry! I had no idea you replied in a new comment. Thought you might have just gotten busy over the holiday weekend. :( I only noticed now by opening a fresh link to the page.]

"I hope my choosing will be of equal success. It was nice dressing up and going out though I'm more of a casual creature," he said as they walked. She really had chose a place close to home. It couldn't have been but a few blocks or time was flying because of the fun he was having. Jack loved that Jane never released his hand until they approached her building.

His brow arched at her laughter but Jack kept a smile. A taser would have hurt plenty--even a man of his stature. His military training had taught him how to work through it but Jane really had nothing to fear. Hopefully her instincts said as much. He really did have good intentions. "Is it bad to have the old women in a tizzy? I expect it brings color into their lives," he said through a smile.

He would have met a similar fate if some of his neighbors saw him bring a woman home. More of them tried setting him up on dates, none of which were women he wanted to bring home or go home with them. Attractive on the outside but not for him inside. And really, those dates were once or twice a year.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They stepped inside and she hit the button for her floor.

"The problem is that they've all been trying to fix me up with their sons and grandsons for weeks, and I kept saying no. Now they'll want to know where you came from and why I went out with you when I told them I didn't want to date while working on my masters. That kind of thing."

The ride was short, and they were soon stepping out of the elevator and down the hall to her modest apartment. She opened the door and led the way inside, turning on a lamp by the door so she could see to turn on the rest of the lights.

"It's nothing fancy, but it's home for now. I didn't plan for you to be seeing it, so don't look in the bedroom because the entire contents of my closet is strewn across the bed." As she turned on more lights he would see that the living area was adjacent to a small galley kitchen. Furnishings were few but tasteful and all that she needed - a couch, coffee table, a few lamps and a rug. The walls were covered in pictures she had taken herself through the high-powered university telescope and her favorite shots from the Hubble telescope.

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

He nodded in understanding, leaving Jane to decide on what she would do when questioned. Jack was tempted to tell her it was kismet but she knew her neighbors better than he did. They might not have been romantics at heart. ...And maybe he wasn't too sure of how much romance to display just yet.

His eyes glanced around the surroundings in both the elevator and the walk from it. The building was newly renovated or just newer in general. Jack liked--no, loved the older architecture. That was his thing while the stars were hers. He believed they would meet somewere in the middle as time went on. Jane didn't seem too taken by her apartment and he couldn't help but laugh at her explanation.

"I didn't have plans on the bedroom, no worries! It's very homey. Not the sterile modern touch I've seen in some buildings like this one," he complimented. Maybe not the most obvious of compliments but it was one from Jack. This was probably why his romances were unsuccessful. He continued following Jane with kind eyes, waiting for her to direct what happened next.

[searchesforhim.livejournal.com]

"I know you weren't, but still. Don't even look in that direction." The apartment was very open concept, so there was no door for her to close and hide the mess. Thankfully it was dark enough that it hid the disaster within.

"Thanks. I spent most of the summer living in a tiny trailer, so when I moved here I realized I didn't have enough stuff to fill the space. I've worked really hard to make it comfortable. That's what drew me to this building of all the places I looked. Everything was glass and chrome and industrial pipes. Not my style at all."

She gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen, where she retrieved two plates from the cabinet to put the dessert on. "Do you want coffee, or wine?"

[jack-flanagan.livejournal.com]

He playfully raised a hand to blind his eyes from the direction her bed most likely was, giving her a teasing grin while making his way to where Jane directed. As she spoke about the places she looked to live in, Jack wondered what she would think of his place. The architecture was old in and out without being exclusively residential since it had been an old factory.

The building only stood five floors but was only small by skyscraper standards. All the floors but the top (where Jack lived) had reasonably high ceilings without an industrial look. His apartment, however, had exposed rafters and ducts among old crown molding and brick. It was a little too soon to think of living arrangements but the thought crossed his mind regardless.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," he commented warmly with the matching grin to her explanation of her taste. "Coffee, please." Jack felt a little obtrusive in the quaint kitchen but wanted to remain where Jane requested. He enjoyed being in close proximity and wasn't one who necessarily liked being waited on in a different room, given his upbringing.

[helldemof.livejournal.com]

You don’t want to miss this ground floor opportunity to own shares in a company that could return 1000% profit and that is trading less than a dollar a share! MDXX has earned our 5 Star rating as a Strong Speculative Buy. http://tinyurl.com/trademaxx