Chapter Text
Hunting smiles
Carrying three paper bags, Isobel entered Jubal's apartment. She checked the time: she arrived in plenty of time. Fortunately, the day was quiet at the office -no urgent cases today- and it allowed her to leave the paperwork until tomorrow. She had just over an hour to get everything ready before he returned from Scarsdale to see his children.
She took a bottle of red must out of the first bag and put it in the fridge. It was best to drink it very cold. It was alcohol-free and had the right appearance, although it wasn't going to be the same as drinking wine, of course. She smiled to herself. It did not matter. She planned to intoxicate him with her kisses.
Isobel put the food for dinner -which she had already brought prepared- in the oven and set the table for two.
Then she began placing candles all over the living room, lighting them; she scattered rose petals here and there.
Isobel felt as since her birthday, or perhaps from the beginning, Jubal was carrying the entire weight of their relationship. Dozens of romantic dinners, breakfasts in bed, and countless other small details, attested to this.
The truth was their jobs and the bittersweet experiences of Isobel's previous relationships, -the uncertainty of their future together- prevented her from daring to make a real emotional commitment.
However, despite everything, she decided she was going to throw herself into him that Valentine's Day. She owed him.
No. Jubal deserved it, what the hell.
He didn't know he would find her here. Isobel had shied away and they hadn't even arranged to meet tonight.
Looking at herself in the entryway mirror, she checked her appearance. She dressed for the occasion: along with high heels, she wore a short but elegant crimson red backless dress with a flowing skirt and a crossover neckline. Very appropriate for Valentine's Day. She had a surprise in store for him underneath, too.
Isobel allowed herself to enjoy the exhilaration of getting everything ready, of anticipating Jubal's -she hoped- enthusiastic reaction.
She looked around, satisfied. She picked up her cell phone to send a subtle message to Jubal to find out when he, more or less, thought he would get home, so she would know when to heat up the food, but trying not to give herself away.
Then she heard some guitar chords. For a moment, Isobel thought the sound was coming from a neighboring apartment, but listening closer it was coming from the master bedroom.
She walked up to the door; Jubal was playing. And singing.
Your eyes haunt me
Furtive glances
Forbidden touches
and missed chances
I'm hunting smiles
They are my light
Isobel entered slowly. She found Jubal sitting on his bed, his back to the door, playing his acoustic guitar. His laptop on the bedside table and headphones on his ears, he seemed to be recording what he was singing.
It was a slow, soft melody, somewhat melancholic, the notes of the strings sometimes making counterpoint to each word sung.
Wrapped in the night
and in the dark
as a thirsty man
I drank your sighs
I'm hunting smiles
They are my light
The sweet notes of his guitar strings, his deep, husky voice made Isobel's heart pound.
Inside my chest
You reached my heart
It was like this
from the very start
I'm hunting smiles
They are my light
I'm hunting smiles
They are my light
I'm hunting your smiles
They are... my light
He sang those verses of the last chorus without guitar, more slowly, prolonging the notes with feeling.
“Happy Valentine's Day, Isobel,” Jubal then whispered. He paused and stopped the recording.
“What was that?” she asked breathlessly.
Jubal turned around, taking off his headphones, surprised.
“Isobel! What are you doing here? How did you get in? Wow...” He let out a sigh as he noticed her outfit.
“You gave me a set of keys, remember?” she replied, still stunned. Jubal gave them to her just a few weeks ago. ‘Just in case’, he had said. She hadn't reciprocated yet.... “What are you doing?”
Jubal smiled half-sideways, somewhat sheepishly.
“I took the hint you didn't want to celebrate anything today, but you've had a rough week with ADIC nagging you all the time. I wanted to wish you Happy Valentine’s Day anyway. I was going to send you the recording when I had a version I liked.”
Isobel blinked, trying to take it all in. “So you didn't go to Scarsdale today?”
“No, I didn't,” he confessed, somewhere between embarrassed and mischievous, making her smile.
Isobel almost laughed at the idea of Jubal being there in the bedroom the whole time while she was getting everything ready.
“What song was that? It's really..." Isobel had to stop briefly to catch her breath. “Whose is it?”
“Aaam... In fact...” Jubal put the guitar aside and ran his hand over the back of his neck... “I wrote it for you.” Isobel almost melted. “Where's the party?” he then asked, gesturing to her clothes. “You're drop-dead gorgeous."
Biting her lip, Isobel approached slowly, enjoying how Jubal's eyes were raking her up and down.
“Here,” she said, sitting sideways on his lap and crossing her hands behind his neck. “The party is here.”
Jubal's arms gently encircled her waist. “Oh. Really?”
He was smiling, his lips silently drawing her in. Terribly tempted, Isobel leaned towards him. But, at the last second, she decided she didn't want to start the celebration at the end.
“Not exactly.” With a deep breath, she pulled back and rose to her feet. “Come with me,” she said, taking him by the hand.
Isobel led him into the living room. Through a half smile, Jubal mumbled something like he kinda liked the party the way it was going, but followed, unable in the meantime to take his eyes off her. His jaw dropped when he saw the petals, the candles, the table set.
“Dinner is in the oven,” said Isobel, satisfied with his reaction. “We just have to heat it up.”
Jubal seemed to be at a loss for words. Before he could snap out of his stupor, Isobel threw her arms around his neck and whispered: “Happy Valentine's Day.”
Returning the embrace, Jubal gazed at her enthralled.
“I love you,” he sighed.
Isobel froze. It was the first time either of them had spoken in such terms. She broke away, taking half a step back.
“I'm- I'm sorry,” Jubal replied with a very brief frustrated grimace. The way Isobel looked at him, almost aghast, made him lower his eyes. “I shouldn't have said that. Let's have dinner,” he said hastily, recovering quickly. “I'll go and get dressed properly. Give me one minute.”
Watching him turn around and head for his room, the stricter part of Isobel thought it was best to leave it alone. As if Jubal really hadn't gotten around to saying it.
Meanwhile, another part remarked how he had reached her deeply with his song...
When Jubal returned freshly shaved, and wearing black dress pants and a deep blue shirt, Isobel had poured two glasses of must. The two toasted and drank as dinner finished heating up.
Despite the previous awkward episode, they enjoyed dinner with a small talk, certainly not work-related, enjoying the relaxed familiarity now existing between them. Isobel complimented his appearance. Jubal returned the praise heartily. His bright eyes seemed unable to stop admiring her. He also sincerely applauded the food: a baked cod that was, in fact, delicious.
“There's a place in the Catskill Mountains upstate I want to go with you,” Jubal said when they were having coffee, cuddling on the couch later. He was trying to convince her to spend a weekend away with him. “You're gonna love it, trust me.”
Isobel pursed her lips. “Jubal... I don't know.”
Taking the same days off work wasn't going to be easy without raising a good amount of eyebrows.
He looked disappointed, but didn't insist further. “Okay. But, at least, tell me you'll think about it, please.”
“All right. I'll think about it.”
The conversation seemed to wither, smothered by the following silence.
“I love the song,” Isobel broke it at last in a murmur. “Thank you...”
Jubal kissed her gently on the side of the head, contentedly. “Thank you. It's been a lovely evening.”
Isobel, who was contemplating the contents of her cup thoughtfully, then looked up, biting her lip. “What makes you think the evening is already over...?” she replied in a velvet, sultry voice, her sparkling eyes irresistibly suggestive.
Jubal simply couldn't resist. He immediately sought Isobel's lips, as he blindly set both of their cups on the small table.
The two took pleasure in slowly savoring each other, in teasing over their clothes for a long while. Until she slipped Jubal's hand under her skirt and suggested in his ear to move to the bedroom.
Undressing her like one who carefully removes delicate wrapping paper, Jubal discovered the latest surprise Isobel had chosen expressly for him. Jubal could see on her face how pleased she was by his half-open mouth, his labored breathing at what she wore under her dress.
Things became fiery after that, as they pursued with eager fervor to pleasure each other. Both ended up melting with abandon in one another's arms, moaning their respective names.
It was especially delightful and intense, an excellent way to celebrate Valentine's Day. But it was not lost on Isobel how, unlike the rest of the evening, Jubal avoided looking into her eyes just before the end...
Snuggled against him, her head resting on his chest, Isobel called out to him softly.
“Jubal.”
He was lazily sliding his fingertips down her back, down the arm crossed over his torso, but more and more slowly. He seemed to be falling asleep.
“Mmmh?”
He resumed the caresses, which actually stopped.
“What you said earlier... Did you...?” Isobel asked in a whisper. “Did you really mean it?”
Jubal opened his eyelids and craned his neck to look at her face. Isobel had her breathtaking beautiful eyes raised to his.
He was afraid he should answer ‘No’ or she would just bolt out the door, and he would never see her again. Outside of work, at least... But he could not lie. Nor be ambiguous. His heart wouldn't allow it. He inhaled and exhaled deeply.
"Yeah. I love you,” he said it in the same tone as he would have said ‘I'm sorry’. He resignedly braced himself for the blow of her rejection.
That rigid part of Isobel told her she should get the hell out of there right then and there but, for the first time, its voice sounded very far away. Not hers.
Jubal did not expect the affection with which Isobel's hand cupped his face.
She searched Jubal's eyes with her own. Isobel intended to say that tomorrow she would make a copy of her keys for him... and that she'd go to the Catskills with him. Instead, she drowned in his eyes' warmth and ended saying:
“I love you too...”
An exultant explosion erupted within Jubal, resulting in an awed smile that lit up his face in a dazzling way.
The future remained uncertain, nothing could change that, but Isobel hunted that smile and trapped it in her memory. Its light was something she could treasure for the rest of her life.
~.~.~.~