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It's only in Arcadia that they find a rare moment where they can rest, relax, and recuperate. After the ambush by Ryan's Splicers in the Smuggler's Hideout and their brief separation, respite is dearly needed before they continue through the rest of Arcadia. Despite his grief (whether real or fake Elizabeth cannot tell) Atlas had directed them to one of the safe houses his men had established throughout Rapture. Canned food and a (suspiciously dirty and stained) mattress would await them there. The other end of the radio had gone silent after that and Jack left it clipped to his belt in favor of holding his pistol in one hand and Elizabeth’s in the other.
It takes them a bit of time to find the safe house. Big Daddies and Splicers must be avoided after all and they’re running low on medkits. When they finally reach it, Jack replaces the planks and crates hiding the entrance while Elizabeth begins to poke around to see if there was anything else hidden away. The food consists of a few cans each of sardines, canned fruit, and potted meat. A couple jars of fresh water are tucked away in a corner along with a bottle of whiskey that is about one-third full.
Elizabeth moves their refreshments over to the small card table that the food rests on and neatly arranging everything before starting to consider just how they’re going to eat the canned fruit and potted meat without forks or spoons. She doesn’t hear or realize that Jack is done with keeping them well-hidden until she feels his arms wrap around her waist from behind. For a moment she’s taken by surprise but quickly she leans back against him, reveling in the comfort and warmth his large frame and build provides. His face presses into her hair (gross, grimy hair that’s been tangled with blood and Lord knows what else) and she feels him shudder and sigh against her in relief.
“I was worried for you back there.” Jack’s voice is quiet, only a whisper against the top of her head. “If you’d been down there alone when the Splicers came...” He trails off and his grip around her tightens in a way that Elizabeth perceives as protective. She remains silent and he continues speaking. “I don’t...I don’t think I could go through what Atlas must be going through right now if I ever lost you, Elizabeth.”
His confession fills her with a pleasant warmth and it makes Elizabeth’s cheeks flush a bit. Her hands curl around his wrists, thumbs rubbing over his knuckles. “I was worried for you too. I wish I’d been there with you.” She lets herself admit because it’s the truth. A silly truth but she knows the extent of Jack’s strength and that he could probably take on fifty Splicers, maybe even a hundred, at once with that wrench of his.
“Good thing Atlas was down there with you. We’re lucky we’ve got him helping us out.” That remark makes Elizabeth grimace and she’s glad that he can’t see her face right now. The ever-lingering guilt in her stomach that had stayed with her since she and Jack had met in the Welcome Center was beginning to make its way up to her throat. She absolutely hated having to keep everything she knew, from Atlas’s true identity to all the lies he’d been feeding the younger man and to who Jack really was.
In the short time they’d spent together a bond had formed between the pair. Elizabeth wasn’t sure, however, if her feelings toward Jake were similar in how she’d felt about Booker or if they were something more. Maybe that was why she loathed what she was keeping from him. And the manipulation to do good by saving the Little Sisters instead of harvesting them for their ADAM, as Atlas had pointed out after he’d pulled her out of the submarine bay.
They stay like that; front to back, two bodies fitting together perfectly, for a few moments longer before Elizabeth releases Jack’s wrists. She swivels around so that his hands are at the small of her back. It’s her turn now to embrace him with her own tight hug and her head resting on his shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re the one that found me down here, Jack.” Her voice is muffled by his sweater but he can still hear her anyway. She picks her head to look up at him with a small smile and her hands slide up to cup his cheeks and tilt his face down so they can properly look at each other. One soft thumb rubs against his cheek, over a bandage covering a nasty cut she’d patched up for him, and he can’t help but smile back at her.
Seeing Jack smile makes the guilt in Elizabeth’s stomach lessen for only a moment and it’s long enough for her to think “fuck it” and lean up to kiss him. It doesn’t take Jack long to reciprocate and his grip on her tightens ever so slightly. A feeling like butterflies fluttering swells in her stomach and her heart beats wildly against her chest.
The kiss ends but they stay locked in their embrace, his chin tucked over her head, and she finds herself wanting this moment to last forever. Outside a Splicer can be heard stomping about and muttering to himself but he’s ignored as the pair cling tightly to one another. Elizabeth can feel Jack’s heart beating against her cheek and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes.
For a short time they find comfort with one another. Two practical strangers oddly united by destiny. The Splicer beyond the small safehouse and everything else from Andrew Ryan to Jack’s mission to the crackle of Atlas’s voice over the radio is forgotten. All they focus on is the simple comfort of the embrace of another living and breathing another human being. For that long Elizabeth can forget about the secrets she’s kept, what she knows that Jack doesn’t, and the guilt that grows and gnaws on her from the inside out the more she spends time with and gets to know Jack Wynand and fall in love with him.
It’s a shame when it finally does end and they have to move on.