••Been Too Long

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

It had been way too long since Jac had seen the streets of New York. She’d wanted to get away, explore while she still could, make a difference before it was too late to do anything. And she’d started that. Jac had done so much and she couldn’t be more grateful for all that the small village allowed her to do for them. She’d be wary at first, of course. She’d been a stranger; unaware of proper customs and not knowing a single word of the language they spoke. But the villagers had welcomed her with open arms. They taught her some of their customs, bits and pieces of their language, though it was a long process as she hadn’t been quite able to grasp it at first. Near the end though, she was better than when she’d started; nowhere near fluent and she kept making mistakes, couldn’t get through a single conversation without messing up a few times. But they smiled, corrected her and helped her while she helped them. It had been fun but in the end, Jac had felt she could be doing more for the tribe she’d been stationed with if she went home and spread the word.

And that was how she found herself on a flight back to New York. When she’d thought of home, she thought New York City. She’d hardly considered her hometown home and she spent more time away at English boarding schools than she did there anyway. No, New York was home. Her excitement grew the closer they flew and when the calls for their descent started, she was practically shaking with the excitement to be home again. Her first thought once the wheels hit the ground was getting home but it was well after midnight and Jac didn’t want to wake anyone up. So she hopped in the back of a cab and told them the address to her favourite boutique hotel before sitting back and relaxing for the trip into Manhattan. The small hotel was a bit on the higher end for most people but it was such a cute place that she had easily fallen head over heels for the place the second she’d walked through the door. She would never have to worry about money and for that she would always be grateful but it was times like these that she really appreciated it. She called ahead to expect her, knowing with the exclusivity that there would be a room available; they didn’t disappoint either.

It was good to be back home and in the morning when she was rested and it was actually daylight, she would head over to the apartment she had shared with Jaxon and surprise him. After she’d paid the cabbie and checked into the hotel, she took a long hot shower, telling herself she would never take that for granted either. It was such a simple thing but to know how many people went without was a shocking number. She wanted to fix that but like anything worthwhile, it would take some time. Thankfully, she was willing to put that time in. Jac fell into a dreamless sleep after she’d taken that shower and woke to the sun high in the sky. She ordered a light breakfast to her room and went about finding something clean in her backpack. She’d packed light when she’d left and hadn’t worried much about packing the New York style clothes that had lined her closet walls at the time. After breakfast the next morning, she hit the streets, heading to her favourite boutique to pick up an outfit for her next to do list task. It was ridiculous how she was treated until she produced her credit card. That tiny little black card put money signs in the shop girl’s eyes and left Jac looking at her sadly. Still, she needed the outfit and just hoped the girl didn’t work on commission because Jac wasn’t overly fond of this girl getting the bonus after that.

Jac hit two more stores with the same responses as the first afterwards before her stomach grumbled again. It was around lunch and she hadn’t had good city cooking in too long and she honestly missed some of the messier foods. She was a block away from her favourite café and decided why the hell not? She moved quickly through the busy streets, pulling open the door to the café and halted. There was a small line, like always but she had never minded that before, the food was great and worth the wait.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 764
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

Jaxon found New York just the kind of place for him. It was a city where faces were barely remembered and people were quickly forgotten. A long way from his quaint home of York, it was exactly the kind of life he was looking for. He might have put his name on countless articles by now, some of which were eye opening and ground breaking pieces, but Jaxon didn't hunger for fame or long to be remembered. Maybe he had his past to thank for that, or maybe he was just a modest kind of guy. He didn't think he'd ever know for sure. He might have been on the other side of the globe almost, but with the likes of Google there was no way to escape his past; not entirely. At least for now there were only a few people in his life who knew the truth about his parentage, and that was limited to the man who was his biological father, and Jac. If anyone else knew then Jaxon didn't know about it. That was exactly the way he would like to keep it, too. His career did not need tabloid gossip journalist like reporting dredging up his past once more. He had been there, done that, and got the t-shirt in every colour. It was one of the reasons why he loathed those who shared his profession but who went down the sleazy journalism route, or who stalked celebrities for the stories of their lives. They were probably the main cause of his short fuse exploding.

With Jax that didn't take much. It could be a mad subway ride, some annoying ass in the queue at Subway, or a million other reasons. He was a man with a bad temper and no matter what he tried it would never change. In New York City, it fitted right in with most of the other people. The only thing that made his stand out was his accent. For all the years he had lived there he hadn't lost a single bit of his broad Yorkshire accent and he still found himself baffling Americans and other city transplants when he called something by the word colloquially used back in his old northern home. However, Jax sort of liked the funny looks and the confused expressions. They reminded him of who he was and not who he could have been. He was just the son of a poor pub barmaid, who had worked from the moment he had been old enough to earn a wage and he hadn't stopped since. Jax hadn't been able to afford it and he hadn't minded it. There was a hell of a lot more to life than money and Jax was not the kind to worry about designer labels on his back or whether or not he was driving the latest model. If he didn't live in the apartment he had first moved into with Jac then he would just have a dive with a roof over his head and it wouldn't bother him in the slightest. Jax was more about living rather than living in luxury.

However, there were a few things Jax couldn't live without and coffee and chilli fries were two of the little things on that list. There was one spot in New York City that happened to be his favourite spot for both of them. He managed to make it in there just before the lunch rush and grabbed a table by the window once he'd placed his order with the employees who knew him by name by now. “Can I get a refill, Laura? Thanks, love.” Jax asked loudly when the waitress passed by near the tables. He was low on his coffee, still had a lot to do that day and his fries would still be another few minutes. He didn't mind the wait on the food though; it was freshly prepared and simply to die for. Somewhat rare for a junk snack in New York City and in a tidy little café that usually sold the likes of sandwiches and baguettes.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 687!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

New York was Jac’s new home and she planned on staying there for a very long time. She loved France but her hometown didn’t have the hustle and the bustle that the big apple did. She thrived in the busy environment. Simply put, she loved it. And what wasn’t to love, really? The clubs were opened later, the food was to die for and the people were for the most part, great. It was an exciting atmosphere and Jacqueline craved excitement. Life had gotten too serious for her there for a while and she had needed to get away from it all, do something that was worthwhile because up until then, she hadn’t done much with her life. She’d been too busy trying to make something of her life that she didn’t get because of her name. Her family was a pretty big deal in France and Jac had wanted to get away from it. She loved the money and what it could buy her. She could easily admit that she had a fondness for designer clothes but she wasn’t just about the money or the Pucill name. There was more to Jacqueline than that.

And the best place for Jac to do what she wanted was New York, a major fashion capital. It was going to be a tough job ahead of her but she was stubborn and determined to bring awareness to people who wouldn’t otherwise care. Of course, she had a step up from those charity places who were asking for money but not all their people had been to the country they were trying to get money for, they hadn’t met or lived with the people they were trying to help. Jac had done all of those things. She lived with them, she became friends with them and she threw herself head first into their customs and traditions. She had never done anything half way and living in Africa had been no different.

Jac waited to be seated, loving that the place hadn’t changed too much. It always sucked when memories turned out to be the better. But this little known place hadn’t changed since she and Jax had discovered it that first week in New York. She remembered the day well, even now. They’d been exploring their new home, finding all the little places only known by the locals. At her turn, she smiled at the hostess who couldn’t have been out of her teens and followed her through the sitting area to a seat by a window. She hadn’t seen him while she was looking around and reminiscing but she heard him or thought she heard him once she started walking through. “Jax?” She said out loud, stopping the second she saw him sitting at his table. She’d been planning on stopping at the apartment that afternoon when she thought he would be home. She hadn’t wanted to interrupt anything he might have going and had thought it too early, and then realised it was actually too late that morning and that he would have probably already been off to work.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 517
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

There was nothing left for Jaxon back in England. After the death of his mother there was really nothing to keep him in Yorkshire. He had never had a relationship with his father, never wanted one either. Even after the newspapers had gotten a hold of his identity, the true story about his parentage and the affair that was really just a mistake one stormy night, nothing changed for Jax. He had wanted nothing from his father or his half siblings. Their lifestyle was something they could keep to themselves. He was happier to slum it out with the rest of the lower class, and even now when he had money and something of luxury in his life he still didn't know what to do with it. He was a guy who would wear the same pair of shoes until the soles were split in two and stepping in a puddle guaranteed a soaking wet sock. That also guaranteed a terribly foul mood for Jax, but he refused to throw a pair of shoes out until this happened, so he unfortunately condemned himself to a catch 22 scenario.

Of course, blending in and looking like someone people wouldn't glance twice at worked pretty well when you were an investigative journalist. Jaxon hadn't found himself in any life or death situations in his career, but that had been plenty that could have landed him in some serious trouble if he had stuck out like a sore thumb. The less of a threat he appeared to be, the more likely it was that he could get out with his story and without any black eyes or broken bones. He could handle himself well enough in a fight, but he would rather it never came down to it. Jaxon wasn't a fan of busting his knuckles to bust someone else's nose. Still, unless he turned out a decent proposal to his editor for his next piece, he might find himself being handed an article that would have him wielding his fists just as well as his pen. Sometimes scraping the bottle of the barrel was the only option if he couldn't find a story off his own back, and with journalism becoming more competitive with each newspaper wanting to break the news first, and with online reports always seemingly being one step ahead, it didn't make Jaxon's job any easier at all. Sometimes he wondered if it would be easier to start up a blog of his own, but then he remembered that a blog would probably be unlikely to put food on the table or keep the power on when the snow began to pile up and the heating became a requirement. He used to think Yorkshire was bad in the winter when the snow and the ice blocked the roads, but New York offered a different kind of gridlocked nightmare.

Jax was set in his ways these days, for the most part. Coming here for lunch was just part of that. He was almost part of the furniture these days and if work kept him away for a week he had the staff asking him if he had been ill or on vacation when he did return for lunch the next time. What he didn't expect was to bump into anyone here, let alone Jac of all people. He thought she was still in Africa, and no one else he knew dined here ever. When he heard her voice, his dark eyes landed on her in a second, and in a heartbeat he was up, out of his chair and pulling her into a tight hug. “What on earth are you doin' here?!” He asked, a combination of shock and glee crossing his features, though neither could stop the grin as he held her at arms length, unable to actually let her go.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 644!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

Jac wanted to hit the ground running in the worst possible way. But to do that, she had needed some clothes and interrupting Jax's day while he was off living his life just wasn't an option to the blonde. She wouldn't ruin anything he had going for him and just dropping in when she thought he wouldn't be home wasn't right, even if she still had a key to the apartment they'd shared. Though, she actually didn't know if he'd changed the locks or not. She wouldn't have and she didn't think he would have either but it had been a while since they'd seen each other last and people change. She knew she changed a lot in the time she'd been in Africa. She would have felt awkward just letting herself in anyway. She hadn't lived there in forever; it wasn't really her place anymore. Jac expected that by now Jax would have redecorated, turning their place into his. And naturally, it would have been something masculine and completely appropriate; something she would have approved of simply because it would be him.

Showing up later would be okay, maybe. At least by then she'll have talked herself into it being okay. Until then, she had a new outfit to impress the realtor she was going to talk to about some studio space. She wanted a big enough space that she could keep everything she would need and still have the space to move around and work without bumping into something at every turn. And she wanted an open floor plan, with a bit of office space and a kitchen area so she could keep some food there and have an area all on its own to deal with the paperwork of orders and deliveries. This would just be a start-up but she had high hopes for it and she always got what she wanted, no matter how long it took her to get there! This would be the only case where she would use her name to get somewhere. She knew some designers and understood how it all went. By the time the next New York Fashion Week rolled around, she would be all set to preview her line. Until then, she would have plenty of time to get some pieces in little boutique shops and online, get her company name circulating.

Being pulled into that tight hug by Jax was just like before and she hugged him back instantly. It felt like she hadn't even left at all and that was nice. She'd missed being able to just talk to him and though letters were good, they weren't in person. She couldn't get a hug or a shoulder to cry on through a letter. When she was alone in Africa, she'd had only herself and now that she was back, how much she missed Jax and his hugs. "I'm back. I just got in late, late last night. I didn't want to bother you that late so I'd planned on dropping by tonight to surprise you. Surprise!” She said on a laugh. She didn’t come back to intrude on the life he’d created without her so if he said it wouldn’t be a good time she would totally understand.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 541
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

Jaxon knew that his life with Jac was technically over, but it never felt that way to him. There were keepsakes of hers littering the apartment still, and her wardrobe remained untouched. For the most part, Jax hadn't changed a thing in the place that had once been their home. Pictures from their trips decorated the apartment annd to strangers it looked like they had never split up. He liked coming home to the memories and didn't care when people told him it was unhealthy to live in the past, or that it was hindering his future dating prospects. Jac was still a huge part of his life, even now, and Jax didn't want to lose her. It didn't matter to him that she was living her life on another continent. She was his best friend, and had been for over a decade now. Distance couldn't change that, not after everything that they had been through together.

It had been a good few weeks since he had last spoken with Jac, but that wasn't uncommon. With the work she was doing in Africa and his own hectic schedule as a journalist, it was difficult to find time for one of their calls. When they did find the time though, Jax couldn't deny that it cheered him up considerably. He missed her, and told her as much without is coming across as pestering or creepy. Hearing from Jac was always a brilliant treat and he'd gladly stay up late to talk with her, not in the least bit worried about how it would affect him the following morning when he woke up cranky or exhausted. There was coffee to help deal with that and he could always work from home if the thought of dealing with other people was one that had his temper stirring without him even moving from his bed. His temper was not an attractive thing at all, but Jax had given up trying to deal with it. He had a short fuse and most of the people at the New Yorker knew to stay out of his way or not to push his buttons when he had a face like thunder, which was more often than not, sadly.

A call over Skype or his cell was nothing like seeing her in person though. Seeing her was the last thing Jax expected, especially while out for his usual lunch. He could hardly believe that she was here, back in New York after all this time. He knew one day she would return, but Jax always though he would have time to prepare for that, find a way to surprise her when the time finally did come. ”Consider me surprised!” He laughed, hugging Jac once more. “Oh, you could have come home then. You wouldn't have been a bother. I still sleep like the dead anyway. You're never a bother to me.” He finally pulled away from her entirely and moved to pull out the chair opposite the one he had been occupying. “Come, sit down. I'll get Laura back to take your order. This calls for a celebration, by the way.” He added, his eyebrows raised slightly. Jax didn't care about work or deadlines now. He just cared about having Jac home, back where she belonged. He never stopped to think about how things might be different for her now, or how she could have changed. He was just riding on his happiness of having her home at last.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 586!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

Jac couldn’t put into words how much she had missed Jax while she’d been away in Africa. There was so much that she wanted to talk to him about and just couldn’t. He was her best friend, the one person she ran to when she needed to talk and when she’d run off, she had left him behind. She hadn’t had a sounding board the entire time she was gone and she’d been upset about that. She needed him around more than she had known, he was a factor in every decision she’d made practically since they met. Plain and simple, she loved him. But he had a life in New York and she couldn’t have asked him to tag along to Africa with her. He probably would have but then he wouldn’t have done as much in the time she’d been gone and she wouldn’t have been able to do that to him. His career meant a lot to him and as much as she would have liked him there, she couldn’t have taken him away from it.

And she needed some time alone, to figure out what she wanted from life. She’d had a scare, the same scare that had killed Jax’s mother. That had scared her as much as it had him and as much as she needed Jax in her life, she also needed the time to figure out what she really wanted from life. They had done so much since they met but she had always felt like there was so much more to do and she needed to do it all. She knew better than most that life was a hell of a lot shorter than anyone really realised and she couldn’t go on knowing she didn’t do everything she possibly could. And now she was back to continue doing exactly that on a different scale. This was what she wanted now, to continue helping the wonderful people she’d met.

A call over Skype would have been the best way to let Jax know she was coming home again. He could have gotten things set up for her found a place to live, because she was assuming he wouldn’t want her living with him again and cramping his style. She also assumed Jax was off living some grand life of bachelorhood in New York City. Plus, he could have gotten a leg up on the studio hunt as well which would have helped Jac in a big way. But the surprise factor was too great an opportunity to pass up. It was so rare that Jac actually surprised Jax in any way that when the opportunity arose, she just had to snatch it up. “Wonderful! How many is that for me now?” She asked, laughing along with him. Despite his terrible temper it was difficult for Jac to be upset when Jax was around. She saw more than his temper when she looked at him and as he’d never laid a hand on her, she could work around it. If he’d so much as touched her in one of his fits, it would be another story altogether. “You say that but I didn’t want to interrupt... anything that might have been going on.” She said casually enough though she was aware he probably caught her slight pause. They might not have been a couple any more but she would always love Jaxon. She took the chair he’d pulled out for her, scooting in so she was sitting comfortably at the table. Being home was a celebration in itself and seeing Jax was an added bonus to that. And taking a seat with him meant she wasn’t a single person taking up a table that could be used for someone else. “Do they still have my favourite?” She asked, unable to help herself. That was the reason she had walked through those doors after all. She’d be heartbroken if they’d changed the menu while she’d been away and took it from the list.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 668
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

Jaxon had been with Jac for over ten years when they finally went their separate ways. His feelings for her weren’t just going to vanish into thin air the moment she said goodbye and he saw her off on the plane at JFK. Letting her go in the first place hadn’t been easy. He had wanted to keep her in New York with him, to spend the rest of their lives together just like they had often joked about when they mentioned growing old. He had known how much this meant to her though, how much she needed to get out there and make a difference. The love that wanted to keep her in the city was the love that also let her go, even if it broke his heart to see that plane take off, taking Jac with it. Jax had put on the brave face and over time it had gotten easy to do with the Skype calls, but there was no denying that he was always in better spirits after talking to her. It had damn near killed him to let her go on her own, but he knew that he would lose her for good if he had tried to interfere and say that she couldn’t go. Jax wasn’t that kind of man, even with his raging temper. He never had been. In their entire relationship he was never the type who would say that Jac couldn’t do something. She lived her own life, he lived his, and then they lived one together. At least they had right up until two years ago when she had left.

Adjusting had been tough at first. Friends had acted like there had been some big break up when there hadn’t been. Others were trying to set Jax up with their co-workers, cousins, other various connections. He hadn’t been interested and couldn’t understand why people were acting like he needed their support. He had tried it once or twice, only when conversations with Jac had reminded him that he was in fact a single man in New York City. Nothing ever made it past the third date because they found out about Jac’s very prominent presence in Jaxon’s life still, or because he kept bringing her up. It was impossible to avoid her when she had been and still was such an important person to him. Nothing could change that, but it did seem to render him undateable to other women who, of course, didn’t want to hear about some gorgeous blonde who was helping those in need on another continent after battling and surviving cancer. Jac still meant the world to Jaxon, and he couldn’t help that he felt that way about her. After spending over a decade with her by his side, it was impossible to switch those feelings off.

His temper, another thing entirely, was something that he had always apologised for. As out of control as it was, Jaxon was always in control of himself during those moments of blind rage. He never lashed out at people unless it was warranted; such as a sleazy guy in a nightclub grabbing on some girl who had said no too many times already. His may shout, scream, hit the walls, but he was always aware of people and those he cared about were safe. He’d walk it off before he ever even thought about touching a hair on the heads of those he loved. As terrifying as he could be during his angry fits, he was still a decent man who held his morals close. Right now, anything that could have possibly made him angry just seemed so far away though. Jac was back and everything just felt right with the world. “Four, possibly five if we count that incident in Paris. You’re still nowhere near double digits, love.” He said seriously, as though he had been keeping score for all these years. His dark eyes moved to meet hers, the pause most definitely detected. She had only just come back into his life, but Jax didn’t want to sound presumptuous by coming right out and telling her that there was no one else, had never really been anyone else. Their bed was still their bed, no one else had slept next to him in it. “The only thing going on was my snoring.” He said lightly, but he hoped the message was clear enough for the time being. They would both probably need more time now; time to figure out what New York meant now, what they meant now. “Of course. The only thing that’s changed about this place is the upholstery.” He grinned, handing her a menu so she could see for herself.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 793!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

Jac hadn't stopped loving Jaxon just because they'd separated while she ran off to rediscover herself. She still loved him and would always love him, even if he'd told her he met someone he was madly in love with and they were getting married. Her heart would break into a million pieces but she would be happy for him for finding someone he could spend the rest of his life with; even if it wasn't her. She hadn't needed time away from him to figure things out between them. She had needed the time for herself, to figure out what it was she really wanted from life. Jax would always be a part of that, no matter what it was. They were best friends and she loved him. But when she'd left she hadn't been sure if New York or her chosen career choice had been what she really, truly wanted. As it turned out, it had and hadn't been.

The French woman had known that without Jax supporting her, she wouldn’t have been able to go out on her own and do all that she had. She wouldn’t have left New York. She would have found things to do around the city but she would have been ultimately unfulfilled. But while she was away she did so much. She got her pilot’s licence and she built homes and a school. She dug up a new well and helped with the medical staff. So she would always be grateful that Jax loved and supported her enough to see her off for as long as she needed. She was back in New York now because most of all she’d missed Jax too much to stay away for much longer. She had been living a life she realised she hadn’t wanted because Jax wasn’t really in it. She did a lot of good work and felt like she had accomplished something but Jax hadn’t been there to share it. And she knew if she’d asked, he would have packed up and gone along with her but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to ask, to take him away from a career he loved.

“Unfortunately for me, no one counts Paris. Pity, too.” Jac said with a mock sigh. She was terrible at shocking Jax. After ten years of being together, he could read her like a book and almost always knew what she was going to tell him before she even opened her mouth! Jac was honestly surprised Jax hadn't found himself another girlfriend. He was a very attractive man and the American women loved a good accent. But then, she supposed, it would be much like her. She still loved him and, though in her case, there had been no chance at romantic entanglements within the tribe, she always would love him and would have been a terrible girlfriend anyway since all her stories would have included Jax. Ten long and wonderful years of feelings and memories couldn't be erased in two short years of being apart. If anything Jac's love for him hadn't diminished at all, it grew. He'd understood that after the drama of finding out she had cancer and then beating it that she had needed some time to figure it all out and do some of the things on her bucket list. As it turned out, she had added more things before crossing them off it again. “Well, it does sound like a giant jet plane taking off.” She said, trailing off. She loved teasing him about as much as he loved teasing her. It was a terrible habit of theirs. “Merci.” She said, accepting the menu and having a quick look over it. She already knew what she was getting and ordered her favourite when the waitress returned along with a ginger spiced latte with extra whip. She could have gone to Starbucks for the frothy drink but this restaurant had a hidden gem in their lattes. “So, what have you been getting up to?”

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 670
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

Friends had told him that the break from Jac might be ‘just what the doctor ordered’ when she first left for Africa. He had disagreed with them. He didn’t need to live his life without Jac, but he had let her go so that she could live hers. Being apart hadn’t changed him drastically. Some people commented that he was quicker to anger over the last few years, but that could be because of a multitude of reasons, not just because Jac was on a different continent. He would never let her see that though. Whenever they spoke he kept only to the good stuff, the funny stuff, or the stuff she already knew annoyed him about city life. He might have grown up in a city, but York was an old-fashioned place built on history and New York was not that. Jax might have enjoyed living there now, but he knew that he wouldn’t be there if he lived to see his golden years. Jax knew Jac far too well, and if she suspected for even a second that he was miserable or having problems since their break-up, then she would feel immensely guilty and quite possibly board the next flight back to JFK to check up on him. Jax was many things but he wasn’t selfish. He would never let Jac sacrifice her own dreams for him. He cared about her far too much to put her in that kind of prison.

Sure, they had chased dreams together and dragged one another on adventures that the other might not have been overly keen on. They had said that they were in it together, and they meant it for just about everything. He had completely understood her reasons for needing a break though, and whilst he would have put his life on hold to join her in Africa, Jax knew that she needed time after everything she had been through. It had scared him, too. He had lost his mother to the disease and then the love of his life was struck with it. It was a cruel twist of fate and if Jax had lost Jac then he honestly couldn’t say what might have become of him. He was broken after the passing of his mother, and back then he had had her to pick him up and help him through that dark time. Sometimes he did catch himself wondering if these few years apart now would ultimately help him become stronger and less reliant on Jac when his emotions were overwhelming him. So many people only ever saw him as an angry man, but he was an emotional guy who just struggled to sometimes deal with his feelings in any other way but to shout and lash out at those around him. Even when he was doing his best to put a lid on his temper, he knew his best wasn’t always good enough.

Chuckling, Jax nodded his head in complete agreement. “That’s because Paris was a cheat.” He said with a boyish smirk, his mind taking him right back to the time and the place, the memory as vivid as though everything had happened only yesterday. Jax scoffed, looking at the pretty blonde woman with wide eyes now. “Coming from the lass who speaks non-stop in her sleep!” He pointed out, grinning as he remember just a few of the nonsensical things he had heard he spout over the years they had been together. “You once held a conversation about the price of milk back in Saint Andrews.” He told her, laughing loudly. It was so good to be back in her company that Jax no longer cared about the time or if he had any other place to be. He just wanted to stay there with her for as long as he could. Shrugging, he leaned back in his seat and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Working mostly. Hating pedestrians more and more. I bought some new fish for the aquarium, but that is about as exciting as life here got.” Trips alone weren’t quite as fun, and there was no one else Jax wanted to spend his vacation time with other than Jac. For that reason he had spent more time in the city than he had done since they had originally moved there. “How was Africa?” He had asked her on every Skype call, but now he wanted to ask again, to see properly how much she enjoyed it.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 763!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

If Jac were being honest with herself and her heart, she hadn’t wanted to go to Africa alone. That trip the first time around had been with Jaxon and all the rest should have been with him, too. She could have gone anywhere in the world to find herself and figure things out but she’d gone back to Africa for one specific reason; she’d been there with Jax before. Even if he wasn’t with her physically, he was still there with her. While a lot had changed for Jacqueline, there was still more that hadn’t changed at all. These days Jac knew what she wanted and she was more determined than ever to chase after what she wanted. She knew better than most just how quickly life could be snatched up from you. Sometimes there’s no second chances, sometimes there’s not even time for a goodbye. She had learned to make her goodbyes mean something to everyone she held dear because she didn’t know if there would be another chance to do that. She spoke to everyone at least every other week, sometimes, like with Jax, more often than that.

But Jac was back now, for good. The only running off she would do, she would be begging on hands and knees for her partner in crime to tag along with her. She loved him and would always love him. There was no changing that even if she had wanted to; which she didn’t in the least. Not that she had tried all that hard. Jac needed Jax in her life. Without him there, she honestly thought she would be lost, unable to even keep her head above the water. She had helped Jax through his mother’s passing and then he helped her face the same battle his mother fought the rest of her life to win but couldn’t. Fiona hadn’t just been important to Jax; Jacqueline had adored his mother, too. And she had grieved the loss nearly as much as her son had. But one of them had to be strong and Jac had taken it upon herself to be the shoulder Jax needed. She understood that from his point of view, it was much harder to take. First his mother, then his girlfriend; Fate couldn’t be so cruel. And, thankfully, it hadn’t been.

Jac however, had; unintentionally. She hadn’t meant to hurt Jax when she went off on her own and had asked constantly if he was okay with it all. She wouldn’t have went if he’d said no. and if she had already left, she would have been on the first flight back that she could get; which was why Jac suspected he told her what she wanted to hear, so she could do what she had felt like she needed to. As it turned out, it had been good for her but being back was so much better. She should have seen it sooner but it was better late than never. And Jac wouldn’t have been able to forgive herself if she’d never returned to Jax. “There are no such things as cheats when it comes to our challenges.” She said, wishing her words were the truth. But they weren’t. They had rules, even if they were unwritten rules. And Paris had been a great big cheat. “And I maintain that the price of milk was quite ridiculous at the time of that rant! Who in their right minds expects students to pay those prices?” She asked, raising her eyebrow towards her hairline. To this day, she honestly couldn’t remember what the hell she was thinking about or how that particular dream rant came about but it still amused her to bullshit some story to say she was in the right for it.

Hearing about Jax and New York while she’d been in Africa had kept her from getting too homesick. She had told him to get out more and had hoped he had but it was obvious he’d been keeping himself busy with work. “I told you a dozen times my dear, dear man that you needed to get out more.” She said with a small shake of her head as though she really was disappointed in him. She knew him better than that though and knew he wouldn’t have even if she’d begged him to. At the mention of Africa, Jac’s blue eyes lit up. There was so much she could tell him but the basics were what came out of her mouth when she opened it. “Hot. And incredible and difficult.” She admitted with a laugh. “It was much like the first trip we’d taken. Digging wells, building shelters. The village I was in has a new school building now and the old one is being used as a medical center now.” She continued with a smile on her lips. She had done a lot in the two years she’d been away. A hell of a lot more than she could tell him in an afternoon and it not come across completely one-sided.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 841
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3

[Jaxon Vincent Liddell]

Truth be told, if Jac had asked Jaxon to accompany her to Africa he wouldn’t have had to think twice about his. His job in New York might have been important to him, but it was something that could wait. He wasn’t driven by a desire to climb some career ladder and look down in another ten years to see how far he had come. Jax just wanted to live his life and be able to look back at fifty and really know that he was making the most of his time here, doing what he could and enjoying himself. He had seen that life was way too sure to spend it stressing out about being the CEO of some massive corporation, and that wasn’t a life he envied at all. He didn’t care about having wealth or success. His articles were published in a newspaper that thousands of people read daily and none of that worried him. Jaxon wrote because he was passionate about his assignments and wanted other people to know the truth about what was happening out there. The fact that he got paid pretty well to do that was a bonus that just meant he didn’t need to sit at his kitchen table pulling his hair out when the monthly bills came in.

Jaxon knew things had changed dramatically when Jac had gone. Everything had been too quiet, too simple. People had said he would adjust to it, that things would become normal sooner or later. They hadn’t; not really. He still found himself thinking how he would have to tell her some story or another when things happened in his life. The silence in the evenings couldn’t be drowned out by television, music, or anything else. Nothing was the same when she wasn’t around, and if Jax had been a selfish man he might have told her that and begged her to come home at once. Sometimes he found the words resting on the tip of his tongue after their conversations and the “I miss you” rested heavily on his lips. There was so much he wanted to say sometimes, but he knew he couldn’t. He didn’t want to make her feel guilty for choosing to chase her dream when it was the way they had both been living their lives from the moment they had met each other. Jax could deal in his own little ways, and since he was already known for snapping at people, no one really noticed when he was having a particularly bad day because he was missing the woman he loved more than anything else in the world.

Raising his eyebrows, Jax fixed Jac with a serious look, despite their conversation being far from serious. “Obviously Paris was a cheat.” He stated matter-of-factly. Shaking his head, Jax leaned forward and resting his head on his hand, elbow close to the edge of the table. “I drank more of the milk than you did. And I was the one who bought it most of the time.” He said, a fond smile on his face at the memory. He had loved his time at university and not just because it was where he had met Jac. They were some of the best years of his life and nothing would ever ruin the memories of his time there in Scotland. He had been sad when it had all come to an end and it was time to him to start a new chapter of his life somewhere else. The only reason he had been happy when he had moved on was because he had moved on with Jac by his side.

Jax had worked so much to stop himself from losing his mind while Jac was in Africa. Too many people were inviting him out or offering to introduce him to women they knew. He didn’t want any of it. If anything he just wanted people to leave him alone and let him deal with Jac’s absence in his own damn way. Apparently that had been too much to ask of some people, but after Jax nearly bit their heads off they seemed to get the message clear enough. “I did get out. There wasn’t anything out there that I liked.” He said, his words loaded with more than his casual shrug suggested. He listened to Jac talk, noting the passion in her voice and how eager she seemed to be to talk about Africa. He knew how much she had been enjoying it out there from their calls, but he still wanted to hear more now that she was back in the city. “Well you were certainly busy out there, but then I never recall you wanting to sit under the sun for a tan even when we were actually on vacation and on the beach.” Neither of them were of that kind, something Jax was grateful of.

• • •

TAGGED! Jacqueline Rose Pucill!
WORDS! 825!
OUTFIT! Journalist Jax!
LYRICS! Safe & Sound - - - Tonight Alive
NOTES! <3

[Jacqueline Rose Pucill]

Jac wanted to say she hadn’t changed in the time she’d been away from New York, from Jax but she knew she had. She wasn’t the same girl but she liked to think she became a better person. She had always been about helping people, doing what she could. Why else would she run off with Jax at every chance to do something good for people who really needed it? It wasn’t for publicity or fame, she had never cared for any of that, even back when she’d had hopes of running a fashion magazine. She knew she would never be Anna Wintour and honestly didn’t think she had the stomach to be her but she knew she would have been great at her job. Still everything that had happened only proved that life really was that short and she wanted to do so much more than what she had accomplished already. Anyone could climb a corporate ladder, but how many could run off an experience life in a third world country? There were few who could say they’ve lived the life. Jac was officially one of them.

But despite all she’d done, it hadn’t been the same. Jax hadn’t been there with him. She had wanted him to be there next to her when she finally fell into bed each night and joke with her over a shovel in the middle of the day or how grumpy she was without coffee in the morning each day. But she hadn’t wanted to take him away from his own dreams. His job meant a lot to him and hers was practically nonexistent. She wasn’t going anywhere in her current position, professionally speaking, she could afford to quit the small fashion mag to pursue other options. So she’d left and once she was cleared to live her life again, she dove head first into the things that she had held near and dear to her heart. And now here she was, trying to turn her talents, her skills and what she knew into something to be proud of; something to get the conversation started again.

“I’ll get another chance. Just you wait and see.” She promised, laughing. The memories they shared were extensive. She could have gone on forever about their adventures and the schemes they had come up with in university to get away with the troubles they’d started. Every story Jac had since she was eighteen had Jax right there in it. But she wouldn’t change a single second of any of it either. She loved those stories, those memories. They were what made her who she was today. “Well, it’s behind us now, isn’t it? Time to let it go, Jaxon Liddell.” She said as if she were sick of this argument, like it was somehow a daily one when it was actually rarely brought up these days. Like Jax, there time in university were some of Jacqueline’s favourite memories. Those years were quite possibly the best she could remember; they had no worries. No cares, no fears. Too soon those years were gone though and real life seemed to come crashing down around them.

During her time in Africa, Jac really got to know herself. She crossed things from her bucket list, added some new things and then crossed more off. But she also realised what she had wanted more than anything at all was Jax. She would have been lying if she said she would have been happy to hear he’d met someone else. She would have been devastated. Of course, it had been two years and if he had met someone, she couldn’t say anything; she’d had her chance and walked away from it to pursue a life of hardwork and dreams. “Well.” Jac replied after a second. His loaded words hadn’t gone unnoticed but she wasn’t sure what to do with them just yet. She loved Jax, wanted to be with him again but they’d been apart for so long that she felt like maybe they needed a little more time to figure themselves out again. “There is way too much to see on vacation. I can tan on the roof.” She said, brushing it away like it was a fly in her face. She had never liked going on vacations where the one thing to do was tan. After growing up how she had, she wanted adventure, excitement. She wanted to explore and witness something so few got to see who weren’t locals.

Tag || Jaxon Vincent Liddell
Words || 809
Clothes || Surprise!
Music || Lullaby ---Paradise Fears
Notes || <3