"Well, yeah," Jack said quietly, turning back into the pillows so he didn't have to look at her. It was what she was to him and she hadn't really commented, so he guessed it was okay but...

"It's like I told Daniel. I'm yours and I hope like hell I can call you mine and there's not anybody else. You're my girlfriend, my girl, my lover, my partner...whatever you want to call it. He made fun of me for calling it going steady but I'm too old to do anything else, not where you're concerned."

He sighed, shoulders slumping. If there was a time for the earth to open and swallow him whole, this was it.