[For Jack.] Dated April 18th.

[lionelthayer]

For all that it felt like the entire month of April had been leading up to this day, Lionel still doesn't truly realize the significance for an hour or so after he wakes. He's not sure if it's self-preservation, blanking, whatever; he just knows that he's showered, dressed, eaten, and had been ready to go out as he stopped by the bulletin board

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[jack_crew]

Lately Jack's been getting up earlier and earlier every morning, managing to force himself to go for that run that he's been meaning to take every morning since his arrival. It's actually sort of nice and he feels good again, healthy, if a bit gross and sweaty at the same time.

"Hey," he calls when he sees Lionel, slowing to a jog as he catches up, grinning just a little. He doesn't see his face at first, doesn't realize that something is wrong.

[lionelthayer]

Lionel slows to a stop when he sees Jack, and he's not sure what he wants to say. Well, not really - he has a ton of things swimming around his mind, but he's not sure what he wants to say first.

He manages to get as far as forcing out Jack's name before his thoughts get caught up again. Mostly about John, what he's feeling, how to actually say all that, and knowing he's about to ruin Jack's morning.

[jack_crew]

"Hey, what's going on?" Jack asks, reaching out with one hand to grab Lionel's arm. It's not like his friend has given any indication that he's about to fall over or anything like that, but Jack just feels steadier when he's touching people, especially when they look like Lionel looks now. "Are you okay? What happened?" If it was Kate he knows Lionel would've said something already.

[lionelthayer]

"Nothing's happened," Lionel says, feeling close to some sort of relief at Jack's grip, and he's glad he found Jack just then. Or Jack found him, whichever. He doesn't think there's anyone else he could say anything to; he doesn't want to burden Jill with it, and while Daniel might understand, he doesn't think he can let anyone but Jack see him. Not like this, anyway.

"It's just that today is two years," he says, looking up at Jack and forcing himself to focus on him. "I mean, I know the time's a bit off from what it was before I got here, but the date on the calendar is the same."