Slowly, Jon found himself relaxing, his shoulders unknotting and his stomach settling. With a small sigh, he pushed his chair back from the console, and kicked his feet up onto the edge of it. Stretching back, he closed his eyes, laid his head back onto the chair, and let the silence engulf him.
"It's too quiet in here."
The voice startled Jon so completely out of his reverie that, in a fit of panic, he opened his eyes, sat bolt upright in the chair and pushed backwards away from the console all at the same time. The end result spilled Jon onto the floor as the chair tipped over, wih an obviously amused Hawk standing above him trying to hide a smile.
Wordlessly, he extended Jon a hand, though, and pulled him up. Jon accepted it, but as he got to his feet, he couldn't help but glare at Hawk in annoyance. The combined effect pushed Hawk over the edge, and the older man began laughing.
"Well, it was," Hawk explained, putting Jon's chair back into an upright position and sitting down in it. "Not to say I'm not enjoying it. It's nice to have a night off without wondering what Blastarr and Soaron are going to blow to bits next."
"ARE blowing to bits," Jon corrected ruefully. "The console will probably go off while we're all sound asleep. Of course, not that we're not ready, but..."
"You worry too much, Jon." Hawk shrugged off the concerned and gave the younger man a grin. "Look, I was just coming down here to kick you out anyway. Take a break, get some sleep. I'll watch the consoles for a while, and then leave Mentor on top of it."
"We've all earned it," he added pointedly. The last remark had a bit of an edge to it, and Jon decided it was worthless to argue. He might be in charge, but Hawk was still older, and when he wanted to, he could find a way to make a request sound like an order. This definitely had that feel.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. But you'll let me know if anything comes up?" Hawk didn't even dignify the last with an answer. He simply waved him out of the room impatiently. Jon watched him for a second, and then left the room with a slight smile on his face. Hawk watched him go, then laughed and shook his head. Leaning back in the chair, he realized just how quiet things were down here. Peaceful, almost. Stretching out, he kicked his feet up onto the console, laid his head back on the chair, and looked for a short nap.
"Relax. This is just a social call."
Jennifer turned around from the closet to see Jon awkwardly standing just inside the door, an apologetic look on his face. "I thought you might like some company."
She slowly moved away from the closet, suddenly feeling a little awkward herself. Crossing her arms, wishing silently she hadn't already changed out of her fatigues, she nodded Jon into the room. He moved in a few steps, looking around, then moved over and leaned against her desk. Jennifer watched him for a moment, then got up the nerve to say something.
"Anything happening that I should know about?"
Jon shook his head.
"It's quiet out there. I guess we were bound to get a little peace and quiet sooner or later, with everything that's happened in the last few weeks. I was down in the communications room, but Hawk took over down there." He lapsed into silence for a minute, then continued.
"I haven't been in this part of the base since ... a long time ago." He ran his fingers over the computer console, watching them, then looked up. pinning her with a stare. "I thought it was ... well ..."
Jennifer relaxed her arms, finally getting more comfortable with his being there. The surprise wearing off, she nodded and walked over to where he was sitting, stopping a few steps away from him and looked up at him, a little knot of fear and anticipation settling in her stomach.
"Jon, why ... why did you come here?"
For a moment, he looked a little hurt by the question, and off-balance.
"I'm not sure. I just ... I wanted to share a little time with someone." He looked away for a minute, almost embarrassed, then came back to meet her stare. "I wanted to spend some time with you."
The little knot in her stomach tightened, as she nodded in response to his question. She started to take a step towards him, then stopped. She wanted to look Jon in the face, but found she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Jon apparently saw the hesitancy, because he pushed himself away from the desk, an almost red flush across his face as moved towards the door.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." His back was already towards her, and he reached for the keylock by the door. In an instant, Jennifer made a decision. She walked up quickly behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
He turned around.
"Please ... stay?"