Link: Every Day Is Your Last Title Page and Description

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While Jack and them were greeting Rich's parents, I was inside with a bunch of strangers, the only person in uniform, in a place where I didn't even know people's opinions regarding the military. To say I was a bit jumpy is to put it lightly! Even when someone did talk to me, I always felt like a curiosity more than a Marine, or even the supposed Maid of Honor.

Later on, when Jack and I were talking, everyone else being busy, he told me about Judith and what all happened between them that day. I wanted Jack to know that no matter what, I would be there for him and Erica both. There's not a lot of things you can count on in this world, but I think my friendship with Jack and Rich could be counted as one of them.

Most of the time, you think you know what's going to happen in life. Things like Thanksgiving come around and you... you expect certain things. Turkey, stuffing, football, napping on the couch, talking and laughing with family and friends... You know, the predictable things that are why we have things like Thanksgiving in the first place. To take time together with the people we love and make a memory.

Sometimes things happen that you don't expect though, and would and could, never see coming.

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While her four friends were outside to greet their parents and in-laws, Brooke wandered the Great Room aimlessly. She accepted a few compliments and thanks for her service, but didn't know anyone, and none of them seemed to be interested in starting up a conversation, even when opportunity struck.

She was about to head into the Meeting Room to see if any of the men would care to talk, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head, she looked down to see a young woman standing shyly behind her.

When the woman in the uniform turned to face her, Jennifer couldn't look her in the face. She shyly looked at the floor between them and cleared her throat before looking up at the statuesque Marine. "Um... Hi! I'm Jennifer Hooks! One of the bridesmaids? We met at the dress shop. Brooke Hathaway, right? You're a Sergeant in the Marines? I wanted to thank you for your service!"

Brooke smiled, almost instantly at ease with the shy young woman. "Yes, yes, and it's an honor." She put out a gloved hand. "Nice to see you again! Sorry I didn't stick around to actually meet you! Mind if I ask you a question?"

"S-sure!" the bubbly brunette answered nervously.

"How is it that you know Heather? I mean, I know you know her from work, but what do you do there?"

"I... uh... I'm the receptionist!" she responded with a smile. "Heather's such a great lady! When her license comes through, I can tell she's going to be a really great therapist!" Glancing away again shyly, she looked at the floor and then back at the Marine. "How do you know Heather?"

Laughing lightly, Brooke shook her head. "The groom Richard and I served together, along with a buddy of ours, Jack Dunning, the Best Man. You met him at the dress shop. They didn't re-enlist, but I have another year before my cruise is up. Thus, why I'm in uniform today and they aren't!"

A confused look came over her face. "But aren't they going to be in uniform for the wedding on Saturday?"

Looking around, Brooke found an open love seat. "Would you like to sit with me for a bit, Jennifer? I can explain!"

"Sure! I'd love to!" she said with an overly dreamy lilt in her voice, before getting self-conscious and wiping the smile from her face. "I mean... that'd be nice of you... to explain it, I mean." Once Brooke took her seat, Jennifer smoothed her peach satin skirt and sat next to her nervously. "And you can call me Jenny! Only my co-workers and my mother call me Jennifer!"

"Alright, Jenny." Brooke said with a smile, which seemed to hit Jenny like a slug of whisky. "See, there are regs about when and where military uniforms can be worn. Marine Corps regs are the strictest. Only someone in active service, or a retiree with twenty years service, can wear the uniform at any social occasion. Wartime vets with less than twenty years service, like Rich and Jack because they served in the Gulf War, can only wear it on certain occasions... weddings, military funerals or memorials, inaugurals, or parades and other activities involving other vets. Other Corps retirees can never wear the uniform again." As she talked, she could see Jenny was listening closely, and sitting even closer. Even still, she had a strange sense about the woman.

"And you know all that by heart?" Jenny asked in amazement.

Laughing, Brooke nodded and blushed. "That's small stuff! Uniform regs. I didn't even get into the four kinds of dress blues!"

Blushing even more obviously, Jenny looked away again. "Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, Sergeant Hathaway!"

"Please, call me Brooke!" Looking around and seeing nobody paying much attention to them, and wanting to be able to speak more freely to the young woman, she nodded her head toward the back door. "Would you care to take a walk?"

"M-Me?" Jenny stammered as she felt faint. Confused and exhilarated at the same time, she swallowed her fear and nodded slowly. "I... I'd like that!"

Brooke stood and held out a hand. Helping the breathless young woman to stand, she smiled at her. "And here I thought today was going to be dull!"

The two walked out toward the pond in silence. Once there, they started to slowly walk the path around it before Brooke turned to her. "I... uh... got the feeling you wanted to ask me something, Jenny. You don't need to be shy or afraid. It's one of the reasons why I suggested the walk... some privacy."

"Well, since you asked... um... I kinda got a vibe from you? That you... um... aren't into guys?" She twirled her hair with a finger as she talked nervously.

"That's funny, I get a vibe from you that you are! If I'm wrong, just say the words!" Brooke smiled slyly and looked away at the pond.

"Oh, I've been out with a few guys. Nothing serious, just a date or two, but I never found anyone that I really liked though, ya know?"

"Not really!" Brooke laughed. "I've never gone out with a guy. Oh, I've been out with Jack and Rich, but that's just palling around. Not a date!"

"So you... um... always knew?" Jenny asked tentatively.

Brooke stopped and looked at her. "If you want to ask me something, why don't you come right out and ask?"

"Alright." Jenny said, gathering her courage to be uncharacteristically bold. "Did you always know you liked other girls?"

"What if I said yes?"

"Then... um... I think I might ask... Oh! I guess it's stupid! Never mind!"

"Are you wanting to go out with me, Jenny?"

Her eyes grew wide in shock. "Y-you... are you asking me out?"

"What if I were?" Brooke asked cautiously.

"Then... um... I guess I would say, yes?"

"Don't sound too eager!" Brooke joked. "I mean, if you wouldn't want to..."

"I do! I mean... I think I would like that, Brooke!" Pausing as they resumed walking together, Jenny looked over at her. "Can I ask why you won't just come out and say it? That... that you like me?"

Brooke sighed. "You have to understand my position, Jenny. I'm an active duty Marine... in uniform. If I were to be seen doing anything with you, even as simple as stating as fact that I like you or wanted to go out with you, I could be dishonorably discharged. As it is, if... hypothetically... we were to go out, I'd have to dress inconspicuously and not go anywhere I could be recognized or photographed, at least until October when my cruise is up."

The smaller woman furrowed her brow in confusion. "But no one is around to hear you, so why can't you say it?"

"Because you're here." Brooke pointed out, her tone becoming mildly harsh before softening once again. "Jenny, try to understand. You're being vague. You never actually said if you think it's OK for someone like me to like other women. You could just be trying to trick me into admitting it, so you could turn me in! This is a very dangerous subject to even be discussing. You will note that at no point have I admitted to anything, other than the fact that I've never dated a man. Many straight women my age haven't either."

"Oh." she replied. "Brooke?"

"Hmmm?" She looked over at the young woman.

"I think you're beautiful!" she practically sang the words before turning shy again. "I... I've never been interested in another woman before, so I... I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do! All I know is, when I look at you... I get that feeling that everyone says you're supposed to get when... um..."

"When you're attracted to someone?" Brooke finished for her.

Nodding, Jenny sighed. "You... you might think this is terribly forward of me, but... um... do you know what I want to do right now?"

"I can guess!" Brooke laughed. "Why don't you tell me?"

"Kiss you." she said shyly and barely above a whisper.

Brooke laughed as they turned the far corner of the pond. Seeing her walking companion look away embarrassedly, Brooke slowed her pace and stopped laughing. "Oh! I'm sorry, Jenny! I'm not laughing at you or what you want! Honestly! I'm laughing at me trying to tell somebody seeing us that it wasn't me kissing you, when I'm the only person in uniform here!"

Ahead, she saw a small outcropping of bushes that were growing next to the pond. Brooke bit her lower lip and stopped when they reached them.

Jenny only noticed Brooke had stopped after she'd walked on a little further. Stopping and turning back, she tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Come here." Brooke said softly. When Jenny turned back, she pointed a gloved thumb toward the house. "Can you see any part of the house?"

Turning, she looked and then back at Brooke, confusedly. "No."

"Then they can't see us!" she pointed out. Slowly, she pulled on the fingers of her gloves until they were free of her hands. Tucking them into her service belt, she stepped forward and took Jenny's hands in hers, taking a daring risk. "Do you still have the same feeling as earlier? Wanting to kiss me?"

Jenny nodded slowly, her eyes growing wide and her breath growing rapid.

Brooke let her fingers slide gently up Jenny's bare arms until they were at the girl's exposed shoulders. Slipping her fingers down along the peach satin of her gown until they came to rest on her slender waist, Brooke slowly pulled Jenny to her until their bodies touched. Bending down to the woman who stood six inches shorter, she tilted her head as Jenny did the same. Gently, she brushed her lips against the woman's cheek, feeling the quivering of Jenny's desire. Throwing caution to the wind, she moved her lips over the trembling girl's and tenderly let them touch for the first time.

Even as she did so Brooke could feel the instant heat of attraction boiling into desire, then need, within her. She'd never felt such an instantaneous hunger for anyone in her life, the burning passion that enflames the hearts of every woman who's ever been in love. It coursed through her so fast it terrified her that this woman, who she barely knew, could cause such powerful feelings in her that Brooke was ready to throw away her career just to kiss her one more time.

When Jenny felt the woman's lips touch her cheek she went through a wide gauntlet of emotions. First afraid for herself that someone would see them, then fear for Brooke being caught and punished. Then came the excitement at the newness of it, passion for more, dreading that a kiss on the cheek was all Brooke would do, anguish at knowing the woman would soon be over two thousand miles away, and lastly longing for Brooke to do so much more.

When Brooke moved her head and their lips touched, it was unlike any kiss Jennifer had ever known; soft and gentle, patient and yielding, tender and sensual. She could smell Brooke's perfume and it intoxicated her even more. She felt dizzy with so much shock that her eyes snapped open and she would have fallen, were not for the Marine's strong but gentle grip on her waist.

Pulling back slowly, Brooke ended the kiss reluctantly. Opening her eyes once more, she saw that Jenny had never closed hers. Stepping back, she cleared her throat. "I... uh... I guess that wasn't what you expected. I'm..."

She never got to finish apologizing before Jenny moved quickly up to her and pulled her down into a kiss as passionate as though they were long lost lovers reunited. This time it was Brooke who was taken so much by surprise at the depth of feeling this stranger brought out in her that she couldn't close her eyes. She had to look at the beautiful face a fraction of an inch away from hers that stirred her to the point of aching longing, just to know it was real.

Jenny slowly came back to her senses and realized just how forward she'd been. Shocking herself, she jumped back from Brooke as if bitten. "I'm sorry! Oh, God! I didn't... I mean, it's just that... oh, wow! Can I just say something? I've never looked at another woman and wanted to kiss her! I mean, I don't think I'm actually really gay! It's not you being a woman that made me need to kiss you, it was... it was you that made me need to! Oh, I am so confused!"

Brooke tried to repress a grin, but couldn't. "You and me both, sister! I... I think I understand though. When you kiss me, it's not like when any woman has ever kissed me before. When you kiss me, I feel... whole! Like a missing part of me just clicked back into place!"

"Oh! And I think I needed to kiss you to stop you from apologizing for when you kissed me! I mean, that first kiss on my cheek was... wow!"

"Jenny..." Brooke tried to jump in.

"And then that second kiss? I... I was like, in shock, it felt so good! I couldn't even close my eyes!"

"Jenny?"

"Is that why you thought that... Oh! It is, isn't it! You thought I didn't like it because my eyes were open! Oh! Wait, huh?"

Brooke laughed at the sudden wall of words. "Jenny! Calm down!" Walking up to her, she reached out to hold her. When the smaller woman didn't move away, Brooke slid her arms around her and brought her closer. "OK, let's take this a piece at a time. Yes, I was about to apologize. I thought once I kissed you, you found it wasn't what you thought it'd be. I'm glad I was wrong!"

Jenny calmed down and smiled up at her, fairly melting in the larger woman's arms. "I... uh... I'd really like to do that again!"

Her sense of duty reasserting itself, Brooke released her and stepped back. "Why don't we talk for a bit first, hmm?" Quickly pulling a compact out of her purse, Brooke cleaned Jenny's lipstick from around her mouth with a tissue. Reapplying her own lipstick, she smiled at Jenny and offered her the compact to do the same. Blotting and putting her gloves back on while Jenny touched up, she took back her compact and the two started walking the path once more. "May I ask you what made you approach me in the first place?"

Jenny took a breath. "OK, you'll probably think it pretty silly of me, though! I... I was bored, OK? Everyone at the party is like a Ph.D., Doctor, Nurse, Business Executive, or stuff like that! You looked... well... like the only other person there that knows what it's like to work for a living! Like a normal girl with normal problems like paying the rent or the gas bill!"

Breaking into a laugh, Brooke nodded in understanding. "I was thinking the same thing!"

"I... um... I also had really confused feelings about you at the fitting the other day." Jenny explained. "You were all mad at having to wear your dress, but it looked so good on you! Then when you turned and looked at me today? I felt like, 'Woah! She just made my knees weak with a look!' When you asked me to sit with you, my hands got all sweaty like I was thirteen and Jimmy Francis just asked me to the dance! Then when you asked me to walk with you? Uh! I nearly kissed you right then!"

Brooke laughed. "Alright. Next question. How old are you?"

"I turn twenty-one next April eighteenth. You?"

"Oh, God!" Brooke laughed. "I'm robbing the cradle! I'll be twenty-six the end of next June!"

"Well, that's within the acceptable margin." Jenny mused. "I could be almost a year younger and it would still be OK!"

"Half plus seven?" Brooke asked, getting a nod in answer. "I suppose. OK, next. You've never dated a woman." Brooke stopped and waited until Jenny stopped to face her. "Would you like to?" she smiled.

Jenny moved toward her eagerly, wanting to answer with a kiss, but stopped with a blush, turned, and started walking again. "I... um... I... I think... Yes! Are you busy tomorrow night?"

"We both are! Remember? Bridal shower? Heather's wedding?"

"Oh yeah." she said disappointedly. "And at the wedding we'll both be busy! How about Sunday?"

"I'm free then. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, you said you couldn't go anywhere that you might be recognized or photographed." She looked over at Brooke nervously. "I... um... I could make you dinner at... uh... my place? You could relax and be yourself there, right?"

"Yes. I could also be very tempted there!" the Marine admitted. "You're too beautiful and irresistible for my own good!"

"Me? Beautiful? Oh, now I know that you're just flattering me! Maybe pretty, but not beautiful! I mean, Heather and Maya are beautiful!" Nervously, she looked at the ground. "And you're gorgeous!"

"Well, I think you're beautiful!" Brooke blushed. "And way too sweet!"

"Brooke? I... um... Do you think that it's weird that... um... Oh, never mind! What's your next question?"

"No! I want to hear what you wanted to ask!"

"OK. Um... I think... I think... I think you look really sexy in your uniform! I mean, like really sexy! Like super hot sexy! Oh, God! I said it!"

Brooke was so stunned she stopped walking. "Really? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think I look good in it, I know what it means to wear it, but sexy?"

"See? That's why I wasn't going to say anything! It's just... You wear it with such pride, and I really respect that! I mean, you put your life on the line, for me! I think that's just..." Jenny sighed wistfully. "Sexy!" Composing herself, she added, "I'm really thankful, too. Thankful to have met you, that you're you, that you stand up for all of us, and... and for taking a chance on me!"

Brooke sighed. "Well then, you're welcome! And I want to thank you!"

"What for?"

"For taking a chance on me." Brooke sighed. "I was beginning to think that I'd never meet anyone like you, Jenny. You make me feel so good, it's scary really! I'd... If you wouldn't mind, I would really like to spend the rest of my Leave with you! If you wouldn't mind me hanging around that is!"

"When do you have to go back?" she asked almost sadly.

"I have to be back at ANAS by the sixteenth. I took three weeks Leave. I was going to spend it at home, but I'd rather spend it here! Then I have nine and a half months until the end of my cruise, but I'll probably be PCS to the butt-end of God knows where by April." Looking at Jenny, she saw the confusion. "Sorry! PCS, Permanent Change of Station. My long-term posting, Alameda Naval Air Station, is part of the base closures they're doing. So I'm getting sent off somewhere new for my last six months or so before I get Outside. Just enough time to get hit on by every grunt and rust picker there!"

"Is it that bad for women in the military?"

"Depends on the woman. Jack made it easy for me for a long time, though." Brooke explained how Jack covered for her and kept the Sailors and other Marines from asking her out.

"So, did you date a lot then?"

Brooke laughed. "No! Not really! Maybe a half-dozen times over five years. I had to be really careful. Well, that and I'm picky!"

"So, you have over two weeks left. I could... No! Well, um... Yea! I could take my vacation time! I have it coming and I was just going to take the cash equivalent at the end of the year anyway!"

Brook stopped and turned to Jenny with a stunned expression. "You... you want to take your vacation time to spend with me?" Resuming their walk, she whistled low. "Wow! That's a first!"

Coming around the house side of the pond again, they kept up talking about themselves; where they'd grown up, their beliefs, and what they wanted out of life and relationships. The more they talked, the more they realized just why they were so quickly drawn to one another. It was beyond mere physical attraction. They were very compatible and somehow, on some level, they'd felt it before they knew it. Sitting in the lounge chairs next to the pond as they kept talking, Brooke heard someone approaching from the direction of the house.

Taking a drink from his glass, Jack was thankful that beer was a part of the menu. He watched Heather show Frank and Judith the house and introduce them to their other guests and just shook his head. "I don't get it, Buttons. I mean, it's obvious she still hates me, but she's being... polite. Not friendly, but still polite. I don't like it!"

Stealing his glass for a sip as he talked, Erica handed it back to him. "What? You want her to make a scene?"

"No, but it makes me suspicious is all, like she's getting ready to drop a bomb on my head, like she somehow got our marriage annulled or something! I dunno!"

"Just be grateful for the reprieve, Jack. Maybe she's coming around! We are married, and moving to SoCal next summer! Maybe she realized that if she ever wants to see her grandkids, she needs to straighten up her act!"

He looked over at her expectantly. "Anything I should know about?"

Laughing, Erica shook her head. "No, Jack! I'm still on the pill! I still want to finish college first! Believe me, you'll be the second person to know!"

"Who gets first dibs? Brooke? Heather?"

"Me, you dork! I think I might have to know before you do!"

"Oh! I suppose you can tell you first. You're a lot closer! Known you your entire life!"

While Richard and Heather made the rounds with their parents, Jack looked idly around, finally noticing that Brooke was nowhere to be seen. "Buttons? You see Brooke? She appears to be MIA."

"Maybe she went in the Meeting Room. She's almost a guy!"

"Uh-uh. Guys aren't shaped like that. I'll have a look-see, though." Starting toward the Meeting Room, movement outside caught his eye. Doing a subtle double take, he spotted Brooke walking along the path around the pond with a woman in a peach dress. Smiling, he headed back to Erica. "Ready for the A.A.R.?"

"Jack! You don't need to build it up! Where is she?"

"Come here!" he said quietly, taking her hand and casually making their way to the big bay window. "Without drawing any attention, take a look outside by the pond. See anything interesting?"

"That's Brooke..."

"So who's her dancing partner? I don't recognize her from the back and I never danced with her." he joked in reference to an old movie.

Erica drew in a breath. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she leaned over to his ear. "That's Jennifer! One of the other bridesmaids! Oh my God! I never would have guessed it! She seemed so sweet and shy!"

"What? She doesn't wear enough flannel?" Jack quipped, remembering his own reaction when he found out about Brooke. "Come on! Look at them!" Just as he turned, he saw them slowly walk behind the bushes at the far end of the pond, and then not come out the other side. Looking at Erica just as she looked at him, Jack cleared his throat. "Well! OK then!"

"Good for her!" Erica whispered. "She deserves someone!"

As a group went by towards the buffet, they stopped looking. "We, uh... we better stop or we're gonna attract unwanted attention their way!" Leading her back to where they'd been standing earlier, they settled back as though they'd never moved. Leaning over, Jack kissed her on the cheek.

"What was that for?" she asked, almost laughing.

"Because! I just felt like it is all! Don't I have a right?"

"You're feeling all squishy inside for Brooke, aren't you! Ya' big softie! A romantic at heart!" Walking around in front of him, Erica wrapped her arms around his waist. "And this is because I want to!" She leaned in and kissed him tenderly, sighing as she leaned back and looked at him.

"Erica, please! You'll make a scene and I'll blush!"

"Let 'em watch!" she growled. "We're supposed to be all mushy still! It won't be weird until we're still doing this ten or twenty years from now!"

Just as she was about to lean in and kiss him again, he tapped her shoulder. "Heart of Darkness at six o'clock!" Jack steeled himself for the assault as Erica's mother started making her way towards them; Richard, Heather, and Frank nowhere to be seen.

"Well! There you are, Erica!" she intoned sweetly. "Your father is talking to Richard, Heather needed to see to her guests, I thought we could catch up!"

"We've been right here, Mother. Both of us." Erica noted in a strained tone.

"Yes. I can see that dear. Jack? I understand you left the service. Keeping busy, I presume?"

"Yeah, I keep busy." he answered jovially. "Between running my drug trade and all the pimping and whoring I do, I hardly have time to sleep!"

"No need to be crude!" Judith replied haughtily. "I'm making an effort!"

Sighing, Jack closed his eyes and re-centered himself. "Alright, Judith. I'm running a dry-cleaners in Palo Alto. We're saving to buy a place near yours and Dad's, so Buttons can see you two more. By the time she graduates, we should have enough for me to open my own business."

"Well!" she said in surprise. "Maybe I misjudged you, Jack. I still think..."

"What, Mom? That I could have done better than Jack?" Erica snapped.

"No dear, that's not what I was going to say." she refuted. "What I was going to say is that I still thought it was a mistake for you two to get involved. He's almost like a brother to you, dear!"

"Mom!" Erica dragged her name out. "You can't keep doing this! Even when you're not being derisive, you're still managing to put him down!"

"You're right! You're right! I'm sorry, dear!"

"You should be apologizing to Jack, Mother!" she growled.

"Very well!" Judith looked at Jack. "Jack? I... I'm sorry. I'll try to do better."

Arching a brow and cocking his jaw slightly, Jack nodded. "Alright, Judith. Accepted. And... and I will as well. Now let's just forget it."

Just as he spoke, Frank came walking up, pipe in his teeth. "Judy? Richard wants to talk to you about Saturday."

"Alright, thank you dear. Erica? Jack? If you'll excuse me?" She made her way back towards the den where Frank had come from.

Turning to his daughter and son-in-law, he smiled and hugged her. "How you holding up, sweet pea? Your mother behaving?"

"Oddly, yes." she replied, watching skeptically as her mother departed.

"I'm shocked!" Jack added. "She on somthin'? Valium? Prozac? Thorazine?"

Chuckling, Frank shook his head. "No! No, I extracted a promise from her. She promised, on her honor, that for so long as you two love and want each other, she won't say anything negative about it, or you, Jack."

"Huh?" Jack stammered. "Um... wh... how..."

"Frustrated her into it!" he explained. "It doesn't matter how, though. She'd sooner gouge out her own eyes than break a promise to God!"

Spending a few minutes talking, Richard came out with Judith to join them.

"Hey, Jack?" he asked. "You seen Brooke anywhere? Heather needs her."

"Oh! Uh..." He looked at Frank and Judith and lied. "No, but I'll go find her for ya', Rich! You stay here with your guests!" He turned and gave Erica a quick kiss. "Back in a few, Buttons!"

While Jack took off through the house, Judith shook her head. "I thought you didn't like that nickname, dear?"

"No." she sighed. "I just only like it when he says it!"

Brooke turned around to see who was coming. "Oh, Jack! We were just..."

"Yeah, yeah! Talking. I know. Stow it, Brooke! The children aren't around!" Glancing at the woman sitting next to her, he smirked. "OK, maybe I was wrong! She looks a little undercooked, Brooke! Maybe throw her back on the fire a few more years?"

"Don't make me get up and kick your ass, Jack! I'm comfortable!"

"Well, you need to get up anyway! Heather's looking for you."

Brooke stood and helped Jenny out of her chair. "Sorry to cut it short!"

"I... I wanted to thank you, Jack!" Jenny blushed. "You... you've been a really great friend to Brooke and helped her! That means a lot to me!"

"Well! You two certainly hit it off! When's moving day? Oh, Brooke? Jenny? You uh... might want to touch up a little!"

"We already did!" Brooke shot back at him. Even as the words were coming out of her mouth, she knew he had gotten her again. "Jack!" she growled through gritted teeth.

"Hey! I was just confirming what I suspected you two were doing behind that bush! Yeah, Erica and I both saw! Rookie move!"

Brooke hung her head while Jenny blushed heavily.

"Oh! It's fine! I think it's adorable!" he comforted them comedically. "Erica agrees! If you like, I can... uh... see to it you two get some time alone later? Run CAS for you? One last time, Brooke?"

Shaking her head, Brooke was once more taken aback by how much he was still doing for her. "Have I ever told you I love you, Jack?"

"No, I don't believe you ever have, Brooke." Jack answered, turning serious. "I'm touched. Honest. And... well.. the same to you, Brooke."

"Well, let's get back inside then." she suggested, holding out her hand to Jenny. "Walk in front, Jack?"

"Rookie move!" he said through a smile. "You must have it bad!"