thecatinahat | (no subject)

He huffs out a fond sigh, knowing that she wouldn't understand all of it, but he had been hoping that she would get that much. He reaches out to slide their hands together, tangling their fingers. "Marry me," he says, not flinching or looking away from her eyes for a single second, because he wants to remember this moment forever.

"We are married," she points out, lifting her left hand and waggling her fingers.

It's obvious that Cougar's not joking, though, deadly serious as he stares into her eyes. She feels pinned, like a butterfly on a display board, having all that laser-like focus turned straight on her. "Wait, you mean like, for-real for-real?" she asks, her voice quiet, although she's fairly certain she knows the answer. Cougar doesn't joke when he's got that look on his face.

He nods, because he knows that eventually, she'll get it. "You got my fingers on your hips. I want a real ring, on your finger," Cougar says, switching to English because he thinks it's the only way they'll understand each other. "I want a priest and papers and you and me. Married. For real. Forever."

She's surprised he managed to get that much English out in one go, a veritable flood, as far as he's concerned.

"Carlos," she breathes, squeezing his hands tightly, feeling something swoop alarmingly in her chest. It swells up in her throat, choking her, and she's alarmed to find her eyes growing damp. She doesn't want to cry, now, but it seems her body has other ideas. "I guess you better get me a real ring, then," she says, her voice strained. "If it's gonna be forever."

He nods, his smile slowly growing on his lips as he realizes that she's saying yes to him. He feels a little emotional himself, because he'd never expected to feel this way or to marry, but here he is proposing to the only woman he's ever wanted like this, and she's saying yes.

She's going to be his wife. "JJ," he teases with such fondness. "Whatever ring you want. Yours."

"I just want you," she says, struggling to keep her composure before she gives in and lets the tears slide down her temples. "Oh, god fucking dammit!" And then she's laughing and crying at the same time, wiping at her face and shaking her head and reaching for him. "Come here already, kiss me."

Cougar grins as he leans up on the bed, darting in to kiss her, but what starts slow turns into something prolonged and happy, a lazy and perfect thing as he thinks about how he'll be able to proudly introduce her as his wife, in coming conversations. "Stay," is what he says firmly. "I want to buy you a ring."

Her arms lift to twine around his neck, holding on to him as he leans over her to kiss her, slow and languid and loving. It's stupid to say that there's a difference between the way he's kissed her before and the way he's kissing her now, but she swears it's true, it's different. She can feel it. They're going to get for-real married.

"What, right now?" Alarmed, she tightens her arms around his neck so he can't escape. "No, Carlito, stay!"

Carlito. He grins, broad as anything, and hurries back into her arms with a daring, teasing grin. "I'm your Carlito now?" he teases in reply, thinking that it's the best name he's ever given her to use. He kisses her lips with a loud smack. "What if I need to prove you're my fiancee? I will need a ring," he points out.

"Yes, you're my Carlito," she huffs, trying not to grin at him but finding herself unable to refrain from smiling at the look on his face. He looks so much younger when he grins at her like that, so happy and unselfconscious about it, it just lifts years off his face. "My Carlito, so you should stay here with me and keep kissing me, and not go off looking for a ring. I'm already wearing a ring. It'll do for now."

Edited 2016-07-23 02:51 (UTC)

He makes a show like he's thinking about it, but then he nearly vaults onto the bed to sit across from her on his knees, leaning in to cup her cheeks and kiss her again, as hard as he can without putting his hands somewhere it'll hurt, even if the temptation is great. "Jake Alvarez-Jensen," he tries it out with a soft hum. "Not bad."

Her hands twist in his shirt to hold him close, and she lets out a little noise into the kiss, not quite a moan but more than a hum. "Just Alvarez," she decides quietly. She kind of hates her dad. Letting go of his name won't be a hardship. Not to mention it'll be funny for them both to answer when someone yells Alvarez! across the yard when they're back on base. If they ever get back on base.

Something washes over him that he hadn't expected to feel, a possessiveness that's finally quieted down. Between his fingerprints on her hips and his name attached to hers, she really isn't going to be anyone else's. Still, he gently holds onto her gives her a worried look. "You want this, yes? You're not just settling for me because I asked first?"

If he were anyone else, Jake would be really rather furious right now. As it is, she arches her eyebrow pointedly, giving him a very flat look that he should know spells trouble. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask me that," she deadpans, but relents enough to lean in and kiss him. "Idiot man. I love you. Just you, nobody else. I agreed to marry you because I want to marry you, because I like being married to you, and I want to make it for-real real. Not just pretend for a cover, not just pretend for a job, for real."

"I want to make sure," he protests, thinking that she had made it clear that before, when they were just a team, she hadn't wanted anyone's advances, even his. He cups her neck and eases her onto her side so he can bear down with her for a kiss. "I want to marry you too," he promises. "More than anything, I want us to be together, no matter what happens with Max."

She lets him roll them over, snuggling up close and slipping her leg between his so she can tangle them together so he can't leave. "Is it bad that I kind of don't want to find him?" she asks after the kiss breaks, her voice small and unsure. "Like, yeah, of course I want to clear our names, of course I want to make him pay for what he did, of course I want to stop whatever megalomaniac scheme he's brewing, but..." She sighs, twisting slightly so that she's half-rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling and the weird-shaped water stain that she's grown so used to.

"I like our life here. I like being your Jackie and running our tours. I like going down to the market with you and making you translate for me because everyone talks too fast. I like our apartment." She twists back, looking at him with wide blue eyes that seem all the bluer for the tan that's darkened her skin. "Is that bad?"

Edited 2016-07-23 03:36 (UTC)

He shakes his head, because with all her words, she's managed to describe exactly how he's feeling. He knows and wants there to be some justice for the twenty-five little angels he will never see again, but he's managed to find himself a life here that makes sense for him. And now, Jake wants to marry him, for real, and they could just be normal.

He bows his head down and kisses her shoulder. "Not bad," he promises, "but can't be real. Not after what he did."

It would be so easy to just quietly give up searching, to really let themselves live a life here. But that would mean nobody is looking for Max, nobody is trying to stop him, nobody is trying to avenge what he's done.

She sighs. "It's not fair."

Life isn't fair, she learned that very young. But that doesn't mean she can't be upset about it.

"We get our revenge," Cougar says evenly, his voice passionate despite the low volume, "and then we go home. I go meet your sister and niece properly, and we get married. Really married." There's more he wants to say about their home and their happiness, but he thinks this is the best start for now.

Talking about her sister and her niece cheers her up immensely. "Cougar, they already know you," she points out gently, reaching up to stroke his cheek with her fingertips. "And they love you." He's always been so courteous of her family, it's hardly a surprise they took a shine to him. "And I want to get married as soon as possible. Like, tomorrow-soon."

"Not as your husband," he says, because in his mind, that makes the world of difference. He's not just Cougar Alvarez, he'll be the man who's marrying the most important person in the world to them. When she makes her request though, Cougar lets out a wry laugh. "I need to buy you a ring to marry tomorrow. And you will not let me go."

Him being logical makes her whine and struggle impotently beneath him. "I don't want to let you go ring shopping, I want to make out with you!" She pouts, disliking having to choose, wanting the best of both worlds. "But I also want to marry you tomorrow morning, with the sunlight streaming through the windows of the church and flowers in my hair. Do you think we'll be able to find a priest to marry us on such short notice?"

Cougar can't help his grin when she can't seem to decide what she wants to do. He listens patiently, nodding the whole time as he tangles himself with her, careful to avoid the hips, and starts to kiss her in between words. "I have a priest," is what he says. "We can do evening wedding. Need witnesses," he points out.

"You do?" She shouldn't be surprised, Cougar goes to church relatively regularly, and sometimes she even accompanies him. Not often, she can't understand the service and she feels awkward staying in her pew when it comes time for Communion, but often enough that she thinks she's recognized by the congregation. It helps that she's so recognizable here in Bolivia, being nearly six feet tall with her brassy blonde hair. "We could call Pooch, I guess. Roque and Clay."

Edited 2016-07-23 17:08 (UTC)

He gives her a nod, because of course he has a priest. He doesn't think he could ever go to church and not have a relationship with a priest. His, here, is young and understands Cougar a little better than someone older would, which is nice, but at the same time, it's not like he can tell him everything.

"Or we could ask Father Pascal to pick someone from his congregation," Cougar offers, "if you want it to be a surprise to the team."