callmemajor | (no subject)

He smiles and nods. "I'm glad. It was beautiful, Evan. It was so beautiful before the war."

"I wish I could have seen it," Lorne says. "It...never completely recovered."

"That's a pity," Jack says quietly. He pause a moment. "I had a little room in a boarding house on Mittelstrasse, near the university. I was supposed to be studying but most of the time I was just . . . living. For the first time."

"That's what college is for, isn't it? Getting away from home and figuring out who you are, what you want from life?"

Lorne's guessing. The Air Force Academy is not the best place for any of those things.

"Even as an underclassman I'd had to hide," Jack says softly. "I was studying for a Ph.D in Berlin. I was supposed to be there for a year and ended up staying three, until it wasn't safe for Americans anymore."

"What were you studying?" Their trip to the moon seems to have been put on hold, but Lorne's content just talking and holding Jack for now.

"European history," Jack says and sighs. "And then it seemed a bit ridiculous to study history while it was changing all around me."

"History changes all the time," Lorne whispers. "It's still changing. That's the beauty of it."

"People thought the world was going to end," Jack says softly and turns in Lorne's arms to kiss him.

Lorne kisses him slowly. "The world's always about to end. People just don't always realize it like they did then."

"Oh, don't say that," Jack says softly and leans into Lorne.

"Sorry," Lorne whispers, tightening his arms around Jack's waist. "I'm not very good at painting rosy pictures."

He shakes his head and kisses Lorne's neck. "I'm sorry. I got sidetracked." He looks up and smiles. "Let's fly, Evan."

Lorne smiles and kisses him. "Yes, let's." He pulls away from Jack and slides back into the pilot's seat. "The moon, wasn't it?"

"The moon, please," Jack says and gets into one of the passenger seats.

Lorne pulls them out of their orbit and heads off towards the moon. It's on the other side of the planet, but Lorne's in no hurry, so he doesn't push the jumper, just takes it slow and easy.

Jack watches avidly and reaches over to take Lorne's hand.

Lorne smiles over at him and weaves their fingers together. The moon is just beginning to come into view around the planet.

Jack squeezes Lorne's fingers as the moon comes into view, and he murmurs, "Look at that . . ."

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lorne whispers. He never gets tired of this.

"It's incredible," Jack says.

"It's more beautiful every time I see it." He flies in close, circling the moon.

"It's--it's a moon for another planet--" He shakes his head in wonder.

Lorne grins. "People always say, no matter how far from home you are, you're still under the same moon." He doesn't say it like it's a bad thing.

"Yeah," Jack says, "but we're not, are we."