Chapter Text
Jupiter thinks the sheer gratitude that she's alive and her family is safe and she's back home starts to fade around the 50th toilet. Her eye is drawn to the seal on her arm as she moves the toilet brush about briskly and she pauses. What if Kalique is right? If time is the most precious commodity, why in the hell is she still scrubbing toilets?
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Later when she's finally in Caine's arms again, she mutters her revelation against his neck.
"I don't think I would miss you smelling of toilets, Your Majesty." His chest rumbles with his words.
Jupiter pulls away and presses her hand to her face. "Oh god, I smell like a toilet," she exclaims, mortified.
"The chemicals, not the other..." he trails off, a frown on his face.
"No, I understand," Jupiter says with a sigh. "Women don't really want to smell like a toilet. There's eau de toilette, of course, but that's different." She shakes her head and sits down on Caine's bed. "Maybe I just want you to think I smell nice."
Caine stares at her for a moment before joining her on the bed. "Maybe you always smell nice to me."
Jupiter smiles and leans against Caine's side. "I'm glad."
She looks around at the large, slightly rundown warehouse that the Aegis had set Caine up in. "But what am I doing?"
"It's not my place to question your actions, Your Majesty."
Jupiter grabs Caine's hand and looks him directly in the eye. "It's always your place, Caine. We're a Pack ."
Caine shakes his head. "I think the real question is what do you want?"
Jupiter tilts her head. "You?"
"You already have me."
Jupiter stands up abruptly and begins to pace. "I don't know what I want." She shakes her head. "I don't want to feel out of my depth again...I want to take control of my life...of my planet." She rubs her forehead. "I still can't believe I have a planet."
Caine nods. "How do you gain control?"
Jupiter stares off into the distance. Her eyes crinkling with thought. "I want..." She pauses. "I want you to teach me how to fight."
Caine nods. "I can do that."
Jupiter looks to a rickety table covered in sheaves. "I want to learn how best to protect the Earth...from a harvest, from ourselves."
Caine nods. "That seems like a good place to start."