I ain't no damsel in distress...

Title: Close Calls
Fandom: Kings
Pairing: Jack/Rose, mentions Jack/Joseph
Rating: R for implied incest (no sex though)



Rose Benjamin was not at all impressed. Her heels clicked with determination as she strode down the hall, stopping only once she had reached Jack’s quarters. She contemplated knocking for only half a second, but decided against it as she pushed the door open. “Jack,” she called out when she heard his shower running. “We need to talk.” She smiled a little when she heard the shower switch off and perched lightly on the lounge, waiting for him.

”Yes, mother?” he asked, emerging from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, rubbing his short dark hair dry.

”What has gotten in to you?” she asked, standing and going to his wardrobe to select his clothes for him as she had done a hundred times before. “Are you deliberately trying to sabotage yourself? Me?” She laid the shirt and pants out on the bed, then opened his chest of drawers and selected a pair of socks and briefs for him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, leaning casually against the doorframe as he watched her.

Rose moved about his bedroom as gracefully as she did a ballroom full of guests. She handed him his briefs along with the red bra she had been given not twenty minutes earlier. “The back seat of your car?” she asked, one eyebrow up. “Honestly Jack, I thought you understood the need for discretion.”

“If you recall, mother, it was you who insisted on removing your bra. I was happy to wait until we were home,” he pointed out. “But I suppose it is still my fault.”

”I removed my bra,” she said, unhooking his towel and holding his briefs out for him to step in to. “Because a certain young man deserved a reward. I had expected you to remove any evidence of the incident.” She pulled them up and over his hips then gathered up the discarded towel. “Or at least to have checked your car when I asked if you had seen my phone.”

He sighed a little, a bored expression on his face when she finally looked back at him. “Yes, yes. We need to be careful. The press can not find out.” He sighed again, his sweet lips pouting just a little. “Why is it that anyone who makes me happy must be kept hidden? You…Joseph…”

Rose patted his cheek softly and placed a small kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Everyone in this family makes sacrifices. This is yours.” She couldn’t stay mad at him for too long, try as she might. He was infuriating with his recklessness, but a look from those sparkling blue eyes would smooth it all over. “Promise me you will be more careful in future. I quite liked that assistant, and if the reporter who was with me at the time was at all good at her job – which thankfully she isn’t – she would have noticed the cup size was far to large for a girl of her shape.”

His fingers traced lightly up her arm and he leaned in and kissed just below her ear. “I promise, mother. Now can I take off these pants?” he whispered, his tone making his intentions clear.

“Not today, Jack. Michelle is upset at your father again, and I promised to help her look over the health care reform package.”

“And you say you don’t like to involve yourself in politics,” he smirked, leaning in to kiss her in an attempt to get her to change her mind.

She pulled back before he managed and indicated his clothes on the bed. “Before you dress you may want to take care of that,” she said, a short wave of her hand letting him know his erection had not gone unnoticed. “I’ll see you at dinner,” she smiled, then was gone before he could say another word.

Jack sighed and reached for his phone. If his mother wouldn’t give him what he wanted, he knew just the man who always would. “Joseph,” he said, a smile playing at the edge of his lips. “What are you doing right now?”