Room 632, Atlantis Resort, Late Tuesday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had toured the aquarium and then gone back to his room with the vague intention of finding a swimsuit to finally get to the beach. (He knew that was where he should be, he just ... hadn't felt up to it. There was a lot of malaise in Jack this week, and he couldn't snap out of it despite a general urge to roll his eyes at himself. It wasn't exactly news that vampires were not fluffy puppies, after all.)

He wasn't showing any signs of making it this time, either. After a half-hearted search of his drawers, he'd opened yet another tiny bottle from the minibar and was nursing a scotch as he flipped through a book on criminal profiling. He was sure it would be very interesting, if he could actually focus on the pages.

[OOC: For anyone who might want to track him down.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Someone had been avoiding her. And when he was not outright avoiding, back to acting like the Mr. Priest she'd first met back in May.

Emma was starting to lose patience with this game. A quick telepathic scan confirmed he was in his room -- most likely drinking -- so here she was, dressed in an almost-demure swimsuit and holding her towel and sunscreen as she rapped on his door. "I find myself in need of assistance, Mr. Priest, if you would be so kind as to open the door."

[bitten_notshy]

Emma. There were times (not many) when Jack second-guessed his choice to date a telepath, and this week was one of them. He knew she was hurt by how he'd been so far; he just didn't know how to process depression in any way except by locking his feelings inside a very small room in his head, and trying to coast on charm. (Telling Tony was different. Tony understood the basics, wouldn't be shocked by any of it. Emma might well be.) But she was also too close to his real self to accept the coasting, and that was -- a problem.

He smiled lightly. "I can't resist a request for assistance," he told her as he pulled the door open, finger still marking a place in his book. "How could I be of service, Miss Frost?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Sunscreen, sir," she replied, holding up the bottle. "I can't reach my back, and I'm not going to let just any passerby on the beach put their grubby paws on me just so that I do not burn."

"And what are you doing hiding away in here with a book? Come read with me outside, it's much more pleasant, and I won't grumble too horribly when you make fun of my mystery thriller."

[bitten_notshy]

"You know, I came up here meaning to go on the beach and I got distracted," Jack said, with a rueful glance to his book. Bad book. "Let me change and then I'll lotion you up, then we'll go down. You can save me from the grubby paws of strangers, too."

[icecoldfrost]

"You? Get distracted? Perish the thought," she replied dryly, moving into the room to seat herself on the bed that was evidently his. She was hardly going to wait in the hall while he changed.

"And no fear, I shall defend your virtue from the perils of strangers."

[bitten_notshy]

"I had virtue?" Jack asked dryly. Some odd modesty had him changing around a corner, out of Emma's line of sight. (He'd found the swimsuit easily enough once he was more motivated.) "And I don't think I'm that easily distracted, Emma."

[icecoldfrost]

"Really?" she asked, inspecting her nails idly. "I'm not so sure about that. If you can be distracted from the sunshine and the adventures of the Bahamas by --" Emma picked up the abandoned book, making a face at the title. "-- By the Anatomy of Motive, then you aren't even trying."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's for work," Jack protested. "I don't mock you when you read dreary things about the stock market!"

He sat on the bed beside her, now in swimtrunks and a dark t-shirt. "I've just ... been in an indoor mood the last few days."

[icecoldfrost]

"The stock market is a living, dynamic creature driven by an innumerable number of variables," Emma objected, giving him a pout. "It's not a serial killer."

Well, maybe vaguely similar, but that was beside the point.

"Besides, this is vacation. No more work for you, Mr. Priest. I didn't bring my economics magazines, so put aside the serious reading," she coaxed. "Whatever it is that's been chewing at you isn't going to go away just by drowning yourself in unnecessary research."

Which was Emma's way of saying, yes, she knew he was hiding things, and no, she hadn't gone peeking.

[bitten_notshy]

"The book's not just about serial killers," Jack pointed out, sullen and vaguely embarrassed that she'd called him out in this way. Still, he set the book aside and rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry. I know I haven't been at my best on this trip. Forgive me?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I usually do, don't I?" Emma asked, shifting on the bed to pick up the sunscreen and swat gently at the hand rubbing his neck. "Move, darling. Unless you want me doing finger paints so that you get funny patterns all over your neck."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack pulled his shirt off again to give her better access. "You'd write rude words just to embarrass me, wouldn't you?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Mmm-hmmm," she agreed, starting at the top of his neck and working the lotion in slowly and firmly. "Or possibly draw pictures. I could give you a lovely tattoo of a flower; would you like that?"

[bitten_notshy]

"You could draw snowflakes and mark me with your name," Jack suggested amicably.

[icecoldfrost]

"I hardly need to brand you," Emma scoffed. "Unless you're hoping it will keep people from pestering you." Still, she carefully printed 'Emma's Jack' on his back in long strokes, so that he could guess at what she was doing.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hesitated, but whined once he was certain what she was doing. "Emmaaaaaaa......"

Some things just weren't manly.

[icecoldfrost]

"It was your idea," she pointed out, but smoothed over her work with more lotion, carefully working it into his skin.

[bitten_notshy]

"I didn't think you'd do it."

[icecoldfrost]

"Then shame on you for suggesting it at all, Mr. Priest. You ought not practically dare someone to do something, if you don't want them to follow through," Emma scolded. "You'll get a reputation for being a tease if you keep that up."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'd never want anyone to think that of me," Jack said lightly. Usually he would have proven how much he wasn't a tease, but today he just held his hand out for the lotion. "Here, let me get your back."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma obediently handed over the sunscreen before stretching out to lay on her stomach. "You really are feeling off-balance, aren't you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Yes." He didn't elucidate further as he carefully rubbed lotion into her back.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma practically purred at the contact, relaxing under his hands. "You're my official lotion-partner for the rest of the trip," she sighed. "I've decided. I do hope you don't mind."

If he needed company first, Emma would provide, but she wasn't going to let him off the hook completely.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack rubbed the lotion lower on her rib cage, fingers grazing the sides of her breasts through the suit. "I think being your lotion slave would be an honor."

[icecoldfrost]

"Don't go giving me ideas," she warned, turning her head just enough to watch him from half-lidded eyes. "We can't hide from the school in the Bahamas forever, as tempting a thought as that sounds."