Starring:
Summary: Jack's newest project shows promise and potential. Really, it does.
Date It Happened: August 23rd, 2008
For A Song
Brighton Beach
"What did I tell you, Nick?" Jack crows. "It's perfect."
Of course, all things are open to interpretation. The Irishman and his blonde valet are outside an enormous, dilapidated house that's situated in one of the more run-down portions of Brighton Beach. It's three stories tall, with peeling paint, cracked asphault in the driveway, and boards over most of the windows. The garage has four seperate bays, one of which has a door that's jammed halfway open and half shut. What bits of the interior that are visible from outside are coated liberally with dust and cobwebs. Even in this neighborhood, it's a creaky structure that looks as if it might crumble at any moment.
"Eh?" he says, turning to look at Niki over his shoulder. "What do you think?"
Niki is midway through shutting one of the doors of the car when she truly starts to see the "perfect" house, squints against the daylight. She rises a hand above her eyes and slowly walks closer to Jack as she tries to make sure she's seeing clearly. "It… looks like it's going to fall down the second someone steps through the front door." Honest, but at least she says it good-naturedly.
Jack frowns and shakes his head ruefully. "Women," he scoffs. "All you think of is what's on the outside. No thought for the potential that lies within." His voice takes on a low, conspirital tone and he winks his good eye.
Then, just as quickly, his amusement vanishes. "Trina's going to hate it, isn't she?" he asks quietly.
Niki catches the wink with a little smirk and goes back to surveying the dilapidated house. "I can't begin to guess what Trina thinks," she says, a subtle tone of cynicism in her voice; it's tempered a moment later when she smiles. "Lemme guess. 'It has potential', right? So— fix it up before she ever sees it. She'll never know it used to look like— uhm. Like this."
"That's why I brought you here. I think I might need a woman's touch before I'm done." Jack casts another sheepish glance over his shoulder and then wheels himself a bit closer to the house, crushing dead, brittle weeds that have grown up through the concrete. "What do you think? You can help me make sure the carpet and the drapes match. And… other… things? Interior decorating things?"
"…Sure," Niki says through a laugh as she shakes her head and follows Jack. As they get closer to the house, she tilts her head up skyward, looking up past the three stories. "I mean, I'm no expert. I can try. Are you sure you don't just want me for manual labour?"
Jack lets out a brief snort of laughter. "Trust that I'll need plenty of help with both before the job is done. It really isn't a bad place. Sure, it's a bit ugly. So was my first girlfriend." He shrugs his broad shoulders. "I figure there's plenty of space here. Plus, this doesn't look like the kind of neighborhood where people bother each other."
"It's definitely big." Niki will give it that. Even if it does look haunted. She stops in front of the house, looking down past her shoulder to Jack with raised eyebrows of dark blonde. "So is it yours yet? Officially— do you have the keys?"
"Yep. Got it for a song," Jack replies, digging a key ring from his pocket and twirling it around his finger. "I figure if Trina does hate it, I can always use it as my manly hideaway. Cigars, nudie posters, a little Sinatra in the background." He grins crookedly and drags a hand through his hair, mussing it further. "Almost makes me wanna keep it for myself."
Niki gives Jack, then the house, a look that is entirely unsurprised once she learns he got it 'for a song'. Never woulda guessed! "… Classy. If I were you, I'd probably take it too," she says despite saying so recently that the place looks like it's going to fall down. "D.L. and I are … trying to find somewhere, you know, get our own place." The latter is said more sullenly than one might expect for what should be — and is — a positive thing. Niki tips her head toward the house and smiles. "So am I gonna see inside or what?"
"Maybe later," Jack replies, looking a bit abashed. "It's not what I'd call… sound. First time I took a walk-through, I fell through the staircase to the second floor. I'ma have some contractors shore it up before we dive in." Despite the house's appearance and the amount of work that needs to be done, he seems quite pleased with his decision. He stretches his arms above his head and lets out a low, languid groan, thoroughly enjoying the late summer sunshine. "Mrrrr. Have you been by to see Peter today? I'm awful worried about this coma of his."
…fell through the stairs. Right. Okay. Bad idea. With a slow nod of obvious understanding, Niki abandons that notion until a later date and turns back around. "No. Not today," she says quietly, looking down at the walkway with its dried, dead weeds and cracks underfoot. "Times like this, I wish I was the one who could go back in time and fix things." Not really. Her thought is voiced half-heartedly, but it's a thought.
Jack lays a comforting hand on Niki's forearm. After a brief touch, he withdraws and nods understandingly. "Tell me about it," he mutters. Absently, he fingers the string that hangs around his neck and tugs at the odd pendant that's concealed beneath his shirt. "This is the first time in a long time that I've had no idea what to do. I mean, it's already been a month. Who knows if he'll ever wake up on his own?"
For Niki, who is no stranger to having no idea what to do, this is yet another puzzle in a long string of events. These days, at least, she usually has a plan. But this… "Comas… not really my area of expertise. It reminds me of— when he came back. Peter from… the future. When he was here." She crosses her arms loosely, the blonde's voice low but her face especially expressive as she talks to Jack. "He was using one of his abilities and something … went wrong? He eventually just— passed out. I didn't know if he was going to wake up then either."
"I guess we'll just have to take things as they come," Jack says absently. It's clear that there's some deeper thought process at work, but he shakes his head, dispells it, and smiles up at Niki. "Why don't we go pay him a visit? I'm sure that on some level, he'll take comfort from having us around. Maybe we can find a doctor who can give us a clue as to what the hell is going on."
"Yeah, maybe." For some reason, Niki doesn't sound convinced; whether it's over their visit or the doctors, she doesn't clarify, but she's oddly rueful either way. After another spell of looking down at the ground, she brightens with an encouraging smile to Jack. "Let's go." The woman takes the initiative to grab the wheelchair and push it back toward the car, the ramshackle three storeys of promise looming behind them.