Eloquence Of Presence

by Euphrosyne

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ase/euphrosyne/eloquenc.php
Summary: We are all language users, differing only in our choices.
Info: For Kate. Happy Birthday, whenever it may be! Maybe one day, I'll get it right.

I've always used words, languages, for as long as I can remember, words have always been my way.

One of my earliest memories is of my mother explaining why I could not join her and my father in the pit where they were working

and had to instead sit and finish reading the boring book she had given me.

"Claire. He can finish the book later." My father mumbled while bent over his work.

"No, he will finish it now..." she turned to me then "...words, Daniel, written words will always be your friends, they are your first tools."

"But I want to be an archeologist like you and Papa!" I whined.

"Anybody can dig in dirt, Danny... even machines can dig in dirt.

But we need to be able to understand what we find in that dirt and that is why you need the words, to understand and interpret what you find.

Now when you finish reading that book we can discuss it.

THEN IF I am satisfied that you understand what you've read, you may join us in the excavation.

Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

From that moment on I relied on words, written or spoken and in many, many languages.

I have an affinity for them and for the most part they serve me well. I look to them for understanding, insight and sometimes solace.

However, I no longer look to them for the one thing they cannot supply, love.

Jack does that. He always has and always will. I'm as certain of that as I am of the warm hard body I cradle in front of me.

He's asleep now, and if I don't tense or move around too much he'll stay that way.

He's a light sleeper from years of taking cat naps while in dangerous situations.

We're so different he and I and yet I marvel at how much we complete each other. Even here and now, in this bed we differ.

I am his master; however he allows me that privilege.

His buttocks still smolder against my groin and thighs from the hair brush I used on them earlier at his insistence.

But even as my slave he is in charge, it was his idea.

A little rough play a few months ago, that included a swat at his bottom and I had found one of Jack's hidden buttons.

I pulled him down and kissed him hard and then I warmed his backside and my hand for a few minutes.

After that he exploded in an intense orgasm, his cock untouched and I was right behind him within moments getting off on the control.

We had both marveled at it at the time and after that we just expanded our repertoire to include the little kinks we had discovered.

Jack doesn't need to use words. He has an eloquence of presence, his body language tells all. He walks into a room and people pay attention.

I have to sometimes jump up and down verbally or even physically to get or keep people's attention.

Even then it's sometimes hit and miss for me. Not Jack, he just has to stand there.

He has the words, he just rarely needs to use them, his physical presence demands attention.

That's not always a good thing, but it serves his purpose he tells me. This time it served to get his nose broken and his knee mangled again.

His body looks like so much meat; his eyes are nearly closed with swelling.

He has a range of bruises along his ribs and the new scars on his belly from where Doctor Warner had to go in to stop the internal bleeding.

I try not to laugh and wake him. Jack's presence demands attention all right... even from the infirmary staff.

"Go to sleep, Daniel." His voice is soft and hoarse.

"Why aren't you asleep, Jack?"

"Because you woke me up." He sighs.

"I did not."

"Yes, you did. I can hear your brain whirring, stop it and go to sleep." He moans as he shifts in front of me.

"I think you need something for the pain."

I start to pull away to reach to the night table for his pain pills and the bottle of water I placed there earlier.

His hand reaches back around my thigh to try to stop me.

"No, just hold me."

"I have been holding you, Jack."

"Then kiss me." He rolls to his back with a groan as he shifts the leg immobilizer out from underneath him.

His leg should be elevated on pillows but Jack declined and I, of course, caved to his wishes.

I lean in and frame the hamburger that is now his face and kiss him, he flinches and then kisses back.

I press in and he winces, I pull back and stare down at him.

"That's it; you are taking that pain pill if I have to jam it down your throat."

"Daniel..." now he's whining "... I don't need it."

"Like hell, you don't need it! You want me to get that hairbrush back out?"

"Oooh, would you?" He flashes a mangled-Jack grin at me and wiggles his eyebrows.

"Not unless you take the pain pill." I threaten him with inaction.

His swollen eyes narrow at the realization that he has been bested.

"Damn, you tricked me with words again."

"To each his ammo, Jack."

"Please, Daniel. I'm in enough pain here." He splints his belly as he tries to suppress a laugh.

I roll to the side and grab the pill bottle and water.

He holds out his hand and takes a capsule from me; palming it to hide under the pillow.

"Uh uh... you ARE taking this one." I rescue the capsule and hold it in front of his mouth.

"Open up."

He opens his mouth slightly and I shake my head.

"You are going to have to do better than that, Jack."

He sighs and opens his mouth wide. I drop the gelatin capsule far back on his tongue and hand him the water.

"Now, drink..." he takes a small sip figuring he can spit the capsule back into his hand and drop it over the side of the bed. I know all his tricks.

"... drink the whole bottle, Jack." I know a gelatin capsule won't stand up to saliva AND 20 ounces of room temperature water without dissolving.

He'll either swallow it or have it dissolve in his mouth and absorb it that way; but he will get this medication.

"I can't drink that whole bottle, Daniel. It's too much."

"Please, Jack... I've seen you drink a yard of beer for God's sake. I know you can manage 20 ounces."

"But, I'll have to pee then."

"All the more reason to take the pill."

Jack hates the crutches from the infirmary. He prefers the Loftstrands, the arm brace kind.

He uses the regular ones to come home on and then uses his 'crutch of choice' once he gets here and returns the others when he goes back for a revisit.

He thinks the Loftstrand crutches make him look less helpless.

But they require more effort to use, especially when he's not allowed to put any weight on that leg.

I know that if he doesn't want to get up to go to the bathroom then he must really be hurting.

"Well, then... drink the water and pee into the bottle." I startle him and he glares at me through the hamburger slits.

"That's... just... ewww, Daniel. You can really be... scatological and juvenile sometimes..."

Ahh, see, Jack DOES have the words he just CHOOSES not to use them. He can't play that game with me, he knows I know him too well.

"... besides, I'd need a WAY bigger bottle than this one."

The capsule must be dissolving against his tongue now, I see him make a face, at least I think he does with all the swelling it's hard to tell.

Then he gives in and guzzles down the entire bottle of water.

I take the empty from his hand and place it on the night table as I get up and go around to the other side of the bed.

I grab the Loftstrands and hold out a hand to help him sit up.

"Come on, I'll help you to the bathroom and I'll go and get us some more water and the pillows from the spare room to get that leg up."

"I don't need help to the bathroom, Daniel... I'm not a baby."

I roll my eyes, good thing its dark in here so he can't see my response.

"Fine, here are your crutches then, I'll be right back."

He groans as he hauls himself off the bed and balances on one leg.

Then he stuffs his forearms in the crutches and works his way to the bathroom across the hard wood floor.

I stop and stare for a moment watching his shape move through the darkness just to make certain he's steady then I head towards the bedroom door.

Before I can get a foot across the threshold he whines.

"It's dark in here, I can't see."

I smile silently and cross the room reaching around the doorframe to turn on the bathroom light.

We both freeze a moment while our eyes adjust to the glare and I look into his face and away just as quickly at the sight.

"You okay now?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?"

"No, I'm fine." He picks his way through the door and towards the toilet. I head for the bedroom door and stop.

I know my Jack.

Two beats later it comes.

"Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Got any ice cream?"

See, I told you I know my Jack.

"You want chocolate sauce?"

"No... but hot fudge and cherries would be nice."

I shake my head and stop his next request before it comes.

"We don't have any whipped cream, so don't ask."

"Darn."

When I get back from the kitchen with the tray containing two bowls of ice cream covered with hot fudge and cherries

and three bottles of water Jack is back in bed.

With the glare from bathroom light he looks a little pale and sweaty where he isn't black and blue, so I know it was a lot of effort.

I put the tray on the night stand and pull the pillows up behind him before handing him a bowl and spoon. I head for the door and he stops me.

"Where are you going?"

"I told you I was getting the pillows from the spare room to put under your leg. It will feel better once we get it up.

"I always feel better once I get it up." He snickers.

"Don't push your luck, Jack. I already told you that was all for tonight. I didn't even want to do that but did just to stop the whining."

"I only got 10 Daniel, that wasn't even enough to sting."

"Jeeze, you ARE a glutton for punishment, aren't you? No more, Jack.

You have to go back to the infirmary in the morning for a check;

I don't want Fraiser or Warner seeing any additional bruising that hasn't already been documented." I say from the hallway.

I grab the pillows and head back; I know what he's thinking. He's going to try tactics to get his way... again.

"That's the beauty of this whole thing, Daniel... I have bruises that haven't come up completely yet, they'll just think it's all related."

"NO."

I stand at the bottom of the bed and place the pillows.

Then I gently lift his leg and place it on top as I push the pillows towards the butt that is at the heart of our discussion.

"Dan-yel..." he whines.

"I said no, Jack. You keep it up and I'll cut you off completely."

"You wouldn't?" he snarls as he ladles hot fudge into his swollen face.

"You wanna bet?" I come around the side of the bed and pick up my own bowl and spoon.

"I love you, Daniel."

"I know, Jack. Now eat your ice cream."

It's 3 am and we're eating ice cream and discussing paddling, instead of sleeping like normal people.

Who am I kidding? We've never been like normal people and we wouldn't know them if we fell over them. This is us, the way we are.

My next move is to distract Jack from pursuing the argument any further.

"I was thinking of getting one of those flannel floggers. What do you think?"

He nearly swallows his spoon and then perfectly Jack-like goes completely overboard.

"Can we get a butt plug too? A big one?"

I have to think about that for a moment.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea. The results might be hard to explain during pre or post mission physicals.

But maybe we could get a collar; that is if you'd like to?"

"Ooo, yeah, I think I'd like that. If we can't get a butt plug maybe we could get a couple of small dildos? With batteries?"

He spoke timidly; Jack always gets timid when he broaches a subject that he assumes will make me balk.

"Okay..."

Now he's excited, again.

"... but no nipple clamps."

"Cool! Wait, what do you mean no nipple clamps?"

"The rebound nipple swelling would be obvious."

"Nuts."

"Sorry."

"Go get your laptop and my wallet."

"Jack it is 3 am! It can wait until morning."

"You said it yourself, Daniel... its 3 am, it is morning already."

"Later morning then."

"But the sooner we order them..."

I place my hand on his arm.

"... Later this morning, while you are at the mountain having your checkup,

I can go into the Springs to one of those adult book stores with cash and buy them.

That way we get instant gratification with no shipping fees and no questionable credit card receipts."

"Excellent idea!" He sputters through a mouthful of ice cream.

I hear the sound of the spoon scraping any empty bowl looking for more fudge and hear him yawn.

I put my own, mostly empty bowl aside and take his then pull a pillow out from behind him as he settles down again.

It has been long enough that the pain medication has to be having some effect by now, evidenced now by Jack's quiet compliance.

I pull the comforter up across his chest and lean down and kiss him on his forehead.

I snuggle down beside him and he stretches out turning his head turning towards and reaching for me.

"Sleep now."

"I love you, Daniel."

I cradle his head against my chest and close my eyes. He can always touch me, with or without words.

"I love you, too."

Eloquent, that's my Jack alright.

fin