Diplomacy

off, made his voice calm and soothing. “Just let me get you to bed in one piece. I’ll clean up the glass and then let you sleep. What were you doing here anyway?”
    Jack, his eyes still closed, gave an aggravated sigh. “Getting a fucking drink of water, what does it look like?” He flinched as the loudness of his own voice echoed in the small bathroom.
    “Fine, I’ll get you a drink of water, but just let me help you get to…”

    D i p l o m a c y | 117

    “Just get the fuck out of here; you’re not my fucking wife. I don’t need a fucking baby sitter!”
    Lucas inhaled deeply, trying to keep his own emotions under control as he moved across the dimly lit room to where Jack’s shoes were.
    Even though he didn’t exactly like being compared to Maria, he tried to stay calm, figuring he would be pissed off as well if he were this sick.
    When he returned to Jack, he cleared his throat before he spoke, so his voice would sound soft but firm. “Listen. Your shoes are right in front of you. I’m sure you are not stubborn enough to walk barefoot across broken glass.”
    He moved to his own room to get a clean glass and some water and when he got back Jack was sitting on the bed, his head in his hands, but wearing his shoes.
    Lucas handed the older man the glass. “Drink up and I’ll fill it up again for later.”
    Jack drank the water greedily, some of it running down the side of his jaw, but he refused to give the glass back.
    Lucas frowned at how Jack was acting. “Well, if you want to be an idiot and hurt yourself again when you wake up thirsty in an hour’s time, fine, see if I care!”
    With that Lucas stormed out of the room, back to his own.
    The next morning the connecting door was locked. Lucas slumped back down on his bed and sighed. This was the ‘in sickness and in health’
    bit of the relationship, wasn’t it? Maybe this was it with them, maybe this was Jack telling him that he was just a good shag and when shagging was out of the question, that he wasn’t needed. Lucas was still worried about the American though, so he got up and knocked on the connecting door.
    “Jack? Jack, please let me in?” He sighed when he didn’t get an answer. “At least tell me you’re awake and you’re okay?” Still no answer.
    He thought about forcing open the door, but then realized he was probably overreacting. Jack was most likely already at breakfast downstairs.
    He didn’t see his lover again until he arrived in the lobby to wait for the driver. Jack looked like he hadn’t slept at all and he was suppressing a cough.

    118 | Z a h r a O w e n s

    “You okay?” Lucas hesitantly offered.
    “Yeah, I’ll live,” Jack stated blankly. The car ride was spent in uncomfortable silence, Lucas wondering what was going on in Jack’s head. Was Jack just sick and tired or was he tired of him? Was this affair they were having becoming too much? He decided to leave it be, knowing full well they could only discuss it in the privacy of their room.
    The talks with the other ambassadors seemed a little easier this morning, with most of them having had a relatively good night’s rest, so they were soon thoroughly prepared for the meeting with the leaders of the countries that resisted joining the Americans and Brits in their ‘Alliance’.
    Lucas was impressed with Jack’s resilience. He knew exactly how little the man had slept, how sick he was, but the American was focused and to the point.
    As usual the talks weren’t conducted with the countries’ leaders but with their ‘lesser’ representatives, the deputy foreign ministers and later the foreign ministers themselves, but progress was non-existent. It kept boiling down to the same thing. America was too pushy, had acted irrationally during the invasion and was now asking for help in restoring peace to a country they had plummeted into turmoil. The representatives of Belgium, France and Germany were not prepared to send troops into a country where the chance of casualties was high to help solve a problem that was, in their eyes, caused by the arrogance of America assuming a role as the police force of the world.
    Lucas was already good enough at reading Jack’s body language to know that he agreed with that viewpoint and that this was making Jack’s job all the more difficult. He also noticed Jack was starting to have problems focusing, but knew better than to intervene. The American’s eyes became more bloodshot by the minute and he looked