Characters: Raina and Jackson Setting: Their house, Wednesday mid-morning Summary: Make it or break it
Jackson was nervous. He was not always good with women and this was one of those moments where he lacked knowledge with the other gender. He had an idea why Raina was unhappy, but not completely sure what was going on. He could tell she had not been herself and he hated seeing her so distraught. He spent most of the morning at a class to manage his ability and things were beginning to look up in that respect. He was happy to approach his home with such good news and he hoped that would at least help whatever conversation would come of that day. He walked into the home and shut the door behind him. "Raina?"
Raina was in the living room, curled up with a book. She wasn't really reading so much as staring at the page blankly. She didn't leave the house much these days and spent much of her time just trying to find things to do around the house or some reason to get out of bed in the morning. Hearing her name, she blinked out of her thoughts and looked to the direction of the door. "Yes?"
He cut right to the chase. He hated avoiding this subject like it were an elephant in the room. He sat in a chair across from her and stared at her, concern pouring from his eyes. "Darling, talk to me."
Closing the book, she sighed and set it aside. "What would you like to talk about?"
"You," Jackson was quick to respond. "What will make you happy?" It was a loaded question, but it was one he braced himself an answer for.
She was a little surprised by the question, but it didn't show on her features. She watched him blankly and then just shook her head, looking down at her hands. "I don't know anymore."
"What have I done, Raina?" Again, he braced himself. "Ever since we came here, I have seen the joy leave your face and I hate missing your smile. I hate not seeing you happy. What's wrong?"
She shurgged slighlty, looking away across the room. "I have no place here, I have no purpose. I tried to leave, but I felt too guilty. So I stayed, but it doesn't feel any better."
His heart sank. She tried to leave? Jackson hated hearing those words, but even worse he hated hearing the sadness in her voice. "Then let's leave," Jackson rose up from his seat and, traveling the hall to their bedroom, he continued speaking. "We will pack and we will leave. It will only take me a few minutes to pack...."
She stayed put, watching him go. "What if they don't let you leave?"
"Raina, I have better control over my abilities now," Jackson continued from the room, clashing about in the closet as he searched for his suitcase. "Look!" The lights flickered off. "I did that!" Then the lights flickered back on. "I did that too! And no lightbulbs broke. That says something and if they don't let us leave, then we'll leave anyway."
Taking a deep breath, she slowly moved to the bedroom to find him. She was glad that he was gaining some control over his ability, but it didn't lift her spirits much. "Do you want to leave? Would you be saying any of this if I didn't bring it up?"
"I'm can adapt to any location, babe, I swear," Jackson assured her, halfway into their closet. He threw the suitcase onto the bed and started throwing his clothes in there, not even bothering to fold them. "Raina, I want to marry you. Okay? I want to MARRY you. I want to have children with you. I want to grow old with you and if we can't do that here.... then we need to find a place where we can." He paused for a second, not sure if he ever spoke on that topic. But there it was, out in the open.
She watched him in silence, unsure how to respond. It wasn't exactly the romantic proposal she'd always dreamed of, but they were words she wanted to hear. But this place left her feeling so down that she hardly knew how to respond. "Where will we go? We left everything to come here."
"I don't know, but we can think of that on the way, can't we? You loved London, didn't you? We can go there," Jackson turned to her and, realizing he looked a bit like a crazy man, finally simmered down. He reached out and held her hands in his. "I want you to be mine forever, Raina. Would you be mine forever?"
Squeezing his hands lightly, she nodded once. "Of course. There's no one else I would rather be with."
He could not help his deep breath in relief and he leaned in to kiss her. "We can go wherever you want to go, of course."
She returned the kiss softly. "I just want to go somewhere that I belong."