Cry Little Sister Ch. 02

Like last time, a big thank you to SoCalCynic for editing this.

Hope you guys enjoy, because I think this is where the fun really starts ... as always, comments and votes are all appreciated.

*

Jill stirred next to Rory, effectively waking up some parts of him before his brain followed. He held his breath as she exhaled a soft sigh and fluttered her eyelashes. Jill rocked her body slightly until she was snuggled even further into his arms, then stilled as her breathing slowed and grew deeper.

Rory let go of the breath that he had been holding and glanced over at the clock. Three a.m. Any other night, any other woman, he would have groped her and rubbed against her ass until she woke and they went for round two. But he just couldn't bring himself to disturb her sleep, despite how insistent his erection was. Something about Jill stopped him; but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

She was an angel. What in the world had he done to deserve this goddess?

He was certainly no angel. His friends regularly called him a womanizing asshole, and he acknowledged they were usually right. He was rather notorious for his treatment of the fairer sex.

Rory had already been contemplating how best to seduce her in the bar when she had turned the tables and propositioned him first. Even in old man pajamas and -- he snorted silently at the memory -- bunny slippers, she had been so beautiful, somehow innocent and sexy all at once.

And so shy. It seemed that at every turn she had blushed or covered her face, until the very end. And what the fuck had that been all about? Staring at each other the way they had, neither able to break eye contact, her blue eyes sparkling in the dim light.

In that moment, it hadn't felt like casual sex at all. Instead it was almost as if they were making love.

But that was impossible; they barely knew each other. Hell, he didn't even know her last name, or where she was from. Only that she was gorgeous and in some branch of the military. And that she was very fond of calling upon the Lord as she careened into orgasm.

Rory chuckled silently, then stilled as Jill shifted again in her sleep. There was something about this girl, he decided. And he knew then that he had to see her again. Reassured by that decision, he closed his eyes and moments later joined Jill in her slumber.

-----

Jill woke up naked, cold, and disoriented. A quick glance around reminded her that she was in a hotel in downtown Denver, where she had spent the night.

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. It was where she had spent the night with Rory.

She bolted upright, clinging the sheet to her naked torso. He was gone. Jill collapsed back down on the bed, not even trying to hide her disappointment. There was no one to hide it from.

Jill choked back sudden tears. You knew what you were getting into, the voice in her head reasoned. This is how one-night stands work.

But last night, the other half of her brain reasoned. It was too special to be a one-night stand.

Maybe for you, but it wasn't for him. Or he would still be here.

Jill let herself cry for a few minutes, feeling used and hurt, and stupid for initiating the whole thing. If this is how one-night stands went, then it would be the first and last one she ever had.

Her tears dried eventually. Jill risked rolling over to look at the clock. Ten thirty. Oh God, she had to meet Casey downstairs in half an hour. She jumped out of bed to grab some clothes for a quick shower, grateful for the distraction from her thoughts. It was just as the sheet fell away that the breakfast tray on the table by the window caught her eye.

It was piled with Danishes, bagels, and muffins, complete with a bottle of orange juice and a couple of milk cartons sitting in her ice bucket. Jill's heart leapt as she saw the note card scrawled with a man's messy handwriting.

She plowed into the breakfast items, too famished to open the card until the tray was empty and the bottle of orange juice half gone.

Beautiful Jill, it read. Good morning, stranger. I'm sorry that I couldn't be here to ravage you again when you woke, but I had a meeting that I couldn't miss. And I couldn't bear to wake a sleeping angel, just to do such dirty things to her. Call me, we'll go to dinner and we can get to know each other vertically before we get reacquainted horizontally.

His signature was scrawled across the bottom, large and illegible, followed by his phone number. Jill hid her smile behind her hand. Rory wanted to see her again. Happiness and relief flooded through her at the thought, quickly followed by worry and the inevitable voice of reason.

Your pre-med program. No time for a relationship, remember?

Oh God, what was she going to do? Jill buried her head in her hands. What had she gotten herself into?

She pressed the heels of her hands into her closed eyelids until stars appeared. It wasn't supposed to be this way, that much she knew. One-night stands meant that each person knew what they were getting into, just meaningless sex for one evening. No one's feelings got hurt. There weren't supposed to be feelings involved at all.

She jumped as her cell phone rang from the dresser along the far wall. Jill just sat and stared at it from across the room, immobile with indecision. A few moments later and it silenced. And then rang again.

Cursing under her breath, Jill padded her way across the room. A quick look at the caller ID and she exhaled in relief.

"Morning Casey," she mumbled into the phone, stretching for the first time and registering the wonderful soreness in her stomach and thighs. Oh, how she had missed that feeling.

"You up, showered, ready? I'll be there in just a few."

"No, I'm sorry Case. I overslept," Jill lied easily. "I'll be down in twenty, OK?"

"OK," Casey finished before ending the call. Jill exhaled loudly, grateful that her new sister-in-law didn't seem to be too perturbed by the delay.

A quick shower, a scramble to pull on clothes, and Jill was out the door and in the elevators.

Casey was sitting on a chaise in the lobby when Jill spotted her. Casey took one look at her and burst out laughing. "Overslept, my ass," she managed out between snickers.

Jill groaned and hid her face in her hands. "Is it that obvious?"

"You're glowing, sweetheart," Casey said kindly, though still chuckling. "That is the look of someone who has been completely and thoroughly fucked. Come on, let's get out of here."

She did the pregnant waddle out the door and Jill followed, laughing to herself too. Good thing she wasn't supposed to meet up with Jason today because of the game, or he might kill her. Always the protective big brother.

"So who is he?" Casey prompted as they loaded into the car and pulled out into traffic.

"Err ..." Jill hesitated for a moment. "Before I tell you, you have to swear not to tell my brother."

The other woman laughed as she weaved between cars. "What is this, high school? Jason knows you're a big girl now."

"As far as Jason knows, I'm still a virgin."

"What, like you would share your sex life with him if he knew you weren't?" Casey fired back.

"I just don't want my big brother to think I'm a slut!" Jill exclaimed. "And knowing him, Jason would hunt down the guy and threaten him if he ever found out."

"Alright, alright, I won't tell my husband!"

"I swear to you, Casey, I've never done anything like this before. But I met him in the hotel bar."

Casey laughed in response. "You slut!"

Jill giggled along with her, but not without playfully slapping her sister-in-law in the arm. "Am not! He's only the second guy I've ever been with."

"Bullshit."

"Swear to God," Jill countered. "I'm really not a slut! It just kind of ... happened."

"I'll bet it did," Casey murmured under her breath. "So are you going to see him again? I thought you said at dinner that you weren't going to date until after you were done with med school? Or was that just for your brother's benefit?"

"No!" Jill exclaimed. "I really meant it! Mean it, I mean."

Casey laughed but eyed her warily. Jill couldn't blame her. They didn't know each other that well yet, and her actions were definitely at odds with her words.

"It wasn't supposed to be this complicated," Jill groaned.

"It never is, sweetheart."

"It was just supposed to be meaningless sex! There wasn't supposed to be a connection!"

"So make him a fuck buddy," Casey suggested. "It must have been pretty fucking amazing for you to be glowing like that."

"Oh dear God, it was. I'm just so confused; I don't know what to do!"

"Well, the way I see it, you have three choices. One, you forget about him, you don't call and you go learn to be a doctor."

"I don't know if that's possible," Jill cut in.

"Then two, you just make him an occasional booty call. Or three, you make a go at dating him."

"ARGH, I just don't fucking know!" Jill buried her face in her hands for what felt like the millionth time that morning. "Can we just talk about something else?"

"Sure thing." Casey flashed a smile. "How about furniture? Because we're here."

Jill raised her head to see they were parked in front of a large furniture store. "Oh thank God."

-----

Jill entered her hotel room and immediately collapsed on the bed with a sigh, exhausted. The combination of the previous night's activities and hours of shopping had completely drained her. Casey had even offered to take her to the Pepsi Center to watch Jason play, but Jill just couldn't find the energy. She was still baffled at how Casey found the energy, pregnant as she was.

What was it about furniture shopping that was so draining anyway? The two of them had spent hours testing beds, couches, and kitchen chairs. It took a while, but Jill eventually picked out enough furniture to make her new home comfortable.

There was the giant aubergine sectional and the butter-soft leather arm chairs for the living room, not to mention the dining room table made out of salvaged wood. Her favorite choices had been the giant cherry wood sleigh bed with one of those adjustable mattresses and the heavy mahogany desk for the office that already made her feel like a doctor.

All in all, it had been an exhausting day. Productive, but exhausting.

Jill was grateful for it, though. She hadn't had the time or energy to give Rory a second thought since that morning. Now she was back at the hotel, however, with nothing to distract her. She was no closer to a decision now than eight hours ago. It felt like a merry-go-round had been set up in her head; she just kept talking herself in circles. Or like she was plucking the petals off of a flower, as she had as a child: I call him, I call him not. I call him, I call him not ...

Jill didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until the ringing of a phone woke her up. It took a minute to realize it wasn't her cell, but the hotel phone next to the bed. Jill stole a glance at the clock. Eleven fifteen?

"Hello?" she croaked groggily into the receiver.

"You didn't call, beautiful."

Jill went from half-asleep to wide awake in all of the three seconds it took for Rory to finish his sentence.

"I ... um, I didn't ..." she stammered out. "Sorry," she finished lamely.

Rory chuckled in response, sending delicious shivers up and down her spine. "So make it up to me and answer your door." The phone clicked off into a dial tone.

What the ...? Before she could finish the sentence, there was a knock.

She scurried to the peep hole and looked through. Sure enough, Rory was standing there with a giant grin on his face, holding some kind of take-out in one hand and a six-pack of bottled beer in the other.

Jill opened the door without thinking twice, chuckling. "What are you doing?"

"Buying you dinner, stranger," Rory responded with a cocky smile. "Can I come in?"

She didn't budge. "What if I had already checked out?"

Rory replied with a small laugh and a shake of his head. "I called and asked the front desk if Jill in room 1824 had checked out yet before I asked them to transfer me."

"And what if I had been out?"

"Then I would have eaten a huge dinner with six beers to wash it down. So can I come in?" he asked again.

Jill fought the smile that was seemingly determined to make it through her defenses. "Did you ever think there was a reason why I didn't call?" She watched as his face fell and immediately regretted it. "Come on," she laughed out, lifting the beer off of him as he followed her inside, setting it on the bureau across from the bed.

The cardboard had barely left her fingers when Rory loomed behind her, enveloping her waist with his long arms and nudging his head into her shoulder. "Was there a reason you didn't call?" he whispered as he started planting light kisses on her bare skin.

"No. Yes? I don't know," she exhaled with a sigh, relishing the feel of his lips on her neck. "It's complicated."

"Isn't it always?" Rory murmured, more to himself than her. He spun her around and tilted her chin up to look in her eyes for a moment before lowering his lips to hers, hesitant at first, like she may turn him away. But God, how could she?

Seemingly satisfied that Jill wouldn't deny him, Rory thread his fingers through her curls and roughly pulled her head closer to him. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between her lips. Jill had to grip his shoulders and hang on for what felt like dear life, convinced she would collapse from dizziness if she didn't hold onto him.

That's when her stomach rumbled loud enough for both of them to hear.

They both laughed as the kiss suddenly broke, Rory shaking his head as he did. "Come on, beautiful, let's get some food in you." He planted one last gentle kiss on her lips before stepping away, smirking. "You'll need the energy later."

Jill barked out a quick laugh. So presumptuous; he was right, but still. "So what's for dinner?"

"Figured I couldn't go wrong with a burger and fries," he held out one of the Styrofoam containers with a smile.

"I'm a vegetarian," she replied seriously, then burst out laughing as Rory's face fell again. "Oh hon, you just make it way too easy. Give it here."

He passed the food over, shaking his head as he chuckled along with her. "You are a cruel, cruel woman."

"Aren't we all?" she responded with a smile before grabbing a beer and plopping down on the bed to eat. Rory joined her with his own food soon after.

-----

Rory risked propping himself up for a moment to eye the glowing red numbers on the bedside clock. Three a.m. again. Jill didn't budge at his slight movement, but still he let his body down slowly, not wanting to wake her.

Another night in heaven with his angel; he really, really didn't deserve her.

A contented sigh escaped his lips before he could stop himself. Rory hadn't been able to think of anything else since he had left her room that morning but Jill, beautiful Jill. He had been absolutely worthless all day and that night. Both Quaid and LeBlanc had made sure to tell him that quite a few times.

The continued silence of his phone had nearly driven him mad by the time he made it back to his apartment that night. In the end, it took all of fifteen minutes of staring at his cell in the living room before he made a quick call to the front desk and headed out the door to pick up food and beer.

Why hadn't she called? Surely he hadn't been alone in his feelings the night before.

They had eaten dinner in comfortable quiet, stealing glances at each other every so often and smiling like idiots. Despite his original intentions to get to know her over dinner, Rory just couldn't bring himself to ask her much about herself. He was scared of finding out that she was even more perfect than he already thought. About the only thing he found the courage to ask her was when she was leaving.

"I check out Sunday morning," she had replied with a smile.

"That's over two days from now," he countered. It was more than he had been hoping for.

"When do you leave?"

"I don't. I was only staying here while they fumigated my place." Rory watched as something flashed across Jill's eyes that he couldn't read. "So I guess we'll have to take full advantage of your last two days in Denver."

At the time, they had only been half-way through the food, but Rory's patience had about reached its limit. Minutes later the food was forgotten on a side table, and they were tangled in the sheets, naked and devouring each other.

Eventually, the food eaten and beer consumed, they lay next to each other in bed and watched SportsCenter -- surprisingly her choice, not his.

"Oh good, the Avs won," Jill had sighed when they showed the scores from the evening's games.

Rory had tried not to tense as he held her, but wasn't sure if he had succeeded. Did she know? Is that why she had propositioned him in the first place?

"Are you a fan?" he asked hesitantly.

Jill had paused, further raising his suspicions before she finally answered. "A bit. My brother cares much more than I do, and he'd be in a pissy mood tomorrow if the Avs had lost, even if it is just the pre-season."

Rory had relaxed slightly then, unsure now though why he even cared. It's not like he had ever had an issue using his very minor celebrity to bed women. But there was something about the thought of Jill doing exactly that which just didn't sit right with him. He wanted to think more highly of her.

Two days. Thank God he wasn't scheduled for a road trip until next week, or he might have broken his own leg to stay here with Jill. That should have been a scary thought, but somehow it wasn't. Probably because they only had a finite amount of time together.

There was no pressure this way; they could just enjoy each other.

And boy, were they. Jill was like a drug; the more he saw her, kissed her, tasted her, the more he wanted.

"What time is it?" Jill asked hoarsely from next to him, jolting him out of his ruminations. She rolling over and pressing her lips to his bare chest.

"Just after three, beautiful. Go back to sleep." Rory planted a gentle kiss in her hair.

She shook her head and tilted her chin up so that she could meet his steady gaze. "Why are you awake?' Even in the dim light of the room, he could see her eyes shining.

"Just thinking."

"Of?"

"You, stranger."

Jill's lips pulled into a smile. "Little old me?" Rory nodded and returned her grin. "What about me?"

"Just about how many times I can sweet talk my way into your panties over the next two days."

Jill's look went from innocent to hungry in a heartbeat. "But I'm not wearing any panties."

"Oh, I know, beautiful." And at that, Rory hauled her on top of him and they began devouring each other once again.

-----

Jill actually made it downstairs to meet her sister-in-law on time the next morning, just in time for Casey to burst out laughing.

"You saw him again, you little minx!"

Jill joined in her humor, unable to help herself. "He didn't exactly give me a choice." She proceeded to explain how Rory had just showed up with dinner and drinks as they walked to the car.

"So you've made your decision then?" the other woman prompted after Jill was done.

"I think so. No harm in seeing him until I check out Sunday. Registration isn't until next week, so he can't be a distraction when I'm not in school, right?"

The two women chatted easily the rest of the way to Target. Where yesterday's objective had been furniture, today's goal was to gather the other odds and ends needed for apartment living : dishes and appliances, towels and a shower curtain, pillows and bedding.

Jill had always disliked shopping, and she began to suspect that Casey felt the same way as they made their way through the vast store. Thank God they only had one more day's worth of such toil on Thursday, and that was inevitably going to be Jill's favorite part: the gadgetry. Jason had an optional practice, which he was going to skip so that he could take her to Best Buy himself. The two siblings had always shared a love for technology.