Work Text:
Title: Sutures
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through S3 and speculation on S4
Disclaimer: Moore's the man with the master plan.
Author: major_cottle
Author's notes: Written for the Cottle WOL: Seven Days of Sodom, keyword: Affection.
Jack followed the nearly blind Bill as Laura lead him through the corridors to Lifestation. One part of his brain was cataloguing symptoms, tests, and treatments. Bill was favoring his ribs, an xray was needed. He was bleeding profusely from facial wounds and might need sutures. On the other hand, Jack was also thinking about what Bill had done and why he had done it. There was not a person in the room who didn't believe that Bill couldn't have beaten the stuffing out of Tyrol if he had wanted to. Bill took the punishment because he felt that he had to atone. Atone for his sins, for abandoning the people, for taking so long to come back, for their pain and his sorrow. And yet, as Jack watched Laura guide Bill through the corridors, he saw that there was a great deal of respect there and even affection in the gentle way that she held his arm and whispered instructions to him as they walked.
In Lifestation, instead of leaving Jack to work on Bill by himself, Laura stayed and helped with cleaning up the Old Man's wounds. It was then that Jack knew something was going on between the two of them. Not that he hadn't known that ther was deep feelings there before, but the fact that she stayed told him far more than either of them might have wished to be known. Maybe it hadn't been consummated yet, but there was definite feeling there and not just on the we've been through a lot level. It was more than that. As Laura excused herself to get more water, Jack held Bill's face gently in his hands, ostensibly to look at the wounds and assess whether or not Bill needed sutures. The reality was that Jack wanted to feel Bill's face under his hands, to assure himself that the man was alive and well, that his heart still beat. Jack was an expert at hiding his feelings and he had yet to reveal his deep affection and even love for Bill and damn the Gods if he did now when he knew that Bill and Laura were destined to be together.
The truth was that Jack cared deeply for them both, but especially Bill. They had been through a lot together and yet, Jack knew that Bill would never see him in the way that Jack saw Bill. As Jack worked on Bill's face, with Bill's eyes closed, he secretly reveled in the feeling of the warm living skin under his hands even as he worked to heal the wounds that were for all intents and purposes self inflicted. No, Jack would never tell Bill how he felt, but that didn't stop Jack from treating the wounds far more gently than he normally would have or later, when Laura was so ill, from giving Bill more time with her than anyone else. In the end, that was all Jack could do to tell Bill that he loved him and that his affection for him would never waiver.