Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 12, 2023 5:54 pm

11 – Jake… the Auror?

Following his conversation with his dad, Jake had set out to do as they had discussed. The application for the Auror course had been brought home from the Ministry by his father by the end of the week, and Jake had taken his time to fill it out with everything the Ministry would need to know.

The only point that had given him pause was for previous offences. The, now, ex-Quidditch star had wavered with the truth of that, before he had done what he knew was right. Detailing the fact he had broken the Statute of Secrecy only a few months previous, Jake had finalised the form feeling somewhat apprehensive with the situation. It was better to be honest, though, right?

Henry had taken the finalised form with him to the Ministry in the last week of August.

The submission had given Jake exactly what everyone around him had been hoping for. The purpose to get out of bed in the morning. The purpose to eat each morning. The purpose to look after himself by returning to the fitness regime he had ignored since reaching Eden Prairie. Nobody had mentioned it to him, but Jake had noted how everyone no longer tread around him like they were walking on eggshells.

It was refreshing.

***

September came, with no note from the Ministry. Jake had taken Victoria back to Salem for his parents. For the first time in seven months, the man looked like himself than he had ever looked. His hair was neatly cut in a short style, his beard was no more than a stubble along his jaw. The clothes he wore were neatly ironed (thanks to his mom, not him), and the man smelt exactly like the Sauvage aftershave his parents had bought him for his birthday.

Eyes were focused now, on a goal that he was left hoping he would be able to obtain.

Even Humphrey had done a double take as he came over to Victoria, hopefully reminded that Victoria’s older brother was not the joke he would have looked at the start of summer.

“Have a great year,” Jake told Victoria, giving her a warm hug that lasted slightly longer than was necessary, but one that he had really needed before he saw her off.

“You’ve got this.” Victoria whispered in his ear, tightening the hug fiercely to show that she believed in him, and the next steps in his life. “Make sure you text me, as soon as you know.”

“I will.” Jake promised, letting her go and giving Humphrey a look as he reached towards the witch. Whatever the younger boy had planned, he chickened out of and turned to walk beside Victoria to the castle.

Jake had stayed until he could see the pair no longer, before returning to Eden Prairie.

Alone, but this time, not without support.

***

Word did not come through to the Newbury household until late in October of that year. The letter that had come home with Henry bore the official stamp of MACUSA which had been torn through in Jake’s haste for the answer he had been waiting on all this time.

He would never know that the letter was six weeks old, with no date upon it, Henry Newbury had held it in his office drawer. Why? If anyone were to ask him, he would deny it entirely, but the older Newbury had done it as a test of his son’s resolve. A resolve that had not flaked in the face of delayed response, but had grown stronger.

Henry had needed to know his son could press through, and the weeks that had passed had proved that much.

“I… I’m in!” Jake exclaimed, looking up to his parents with a jubilation in his eyes that showed just how much it really meant for him to be put through to the Auror division. “I did it!” He added, disbelief in his tone because it had eaten at him day after day that putting the truth about his history would be his downfall. He had been wrong.

“Not yet, you haven’t.” Henry replied, making Jake look up from his letter with confusion in his features. “You’ve got in to the programme, you’ve not graduated.”

“Henry!”

“It’s the truth. He’s in the programme. He’s got a lot to catch up on before he’ll be an Auror.” Henry defended his comment from his wife, his eyes not leaving his son. “But, I’m quite sure he’ll make us proud.”

Jake grinned, knowing his dad meant well, despite the terse words he had spoken. His mom’s eyes were dappled with tears as she pulled him in to a hug. Jake knew that he was putting her through a hard time with this decision, unused to someone putting their life on the front line, it was understandable.

“You start Monday.” Henry added. “Karl didn’t think you’d want to wait any longer.”

Jake nodded, looking back down at the letter with disbelief.

“So go and pack.” Henry prompted, and Jake caught himself. Like a small child being told they were going to Disneyland and to go pack, the young man hurried up the stairs without another word, to pack his life in to the bag he would be taking to the course.

***

The morning of the deployment to base camp had been a nervous one. Henry had dropped his son off with the department, and wished him luck with a firm pat on the shoulder. A ‘do us proud, son’ was about all he got before his father had turned and left the scene. Jake had not expected the same emotional goodbye as he had received from his mom, but he had expected… more?

Turning towards the front desk, Jake had signed in, and having been passed his sleeping gear, and fresh uniforms, he had headed for the barrack he had been assigned with the understanding that the Commander was waiting for him. With that knowledge that he was keeping a superior officer waiting, Jake had of course made a beeline for his new home for the next few months, no dawdling. Having entered the deserted barrack, Jake had found an empty bunk and placed his belongings within it. Kicking off the clothes he had come in, Jake had pulled on the uniform he had been provided and was about ready to head for the door when someone spoke.

“Ah, there he is.”

“Sir.” Jake responded, standing taller in that moment. Unsure of whether to salute the man or not, Jake opted for the latter so as not to make a fool of himself.

“Are we running a camp for pretty boys, Newbury?”

“Sir?” Jake asked, confusion on his features.

The Commander pointed to the boy’s head. “That.”

“I’ll get it cut, sir.” Jake replied, but almost without a word, he was pushed off his feet by a moving chair. The commander’s wand was at his temple in the next moment, and it was without warning that clumps of hair would start to fall down Jake’s shirt and to the floor. The younger man was not unaware of the mannerisms of the Auror training programme – likened to the No-Maj army training – and therefore did not make comment on the actions that happened.

“If I wanted a pretty girl, Newbury, I’d go to the bar.” Commander Gibbs told him.

“Sir.”

Commander Gibbs seemed to take a distaste to that, Jake more than happy to take a grilling when he had done something wrong was not exactly how he had thought the boy to be, but he gave nothing away openly.

“What gives you the right to be here, Newbury? Everyone else has been working their asses off for five months. What have you been doing for the last five months, Newbury?”

“Deciding what to do with my life, sir.” Jake replied honestly.

“Sat on your ass?”

“No, sir.”

“Sure, looks like it, Newbury.”

“Sir.” Jake replied, not knowing what else to say, except agree.

“Get outside, now.”

“Sir.” Jake replied, getting out in to the yard as quickly as he could, Commander Gibbs hot on his tail.

“FORM UP.” The Commander called to the group, and the rest of the intake of Auror trainees did as they were bid. “Not you, Newbury.”

Jake hesitated, looking to the Commander who motioned for him to come and stand beside him at the front. Jake obliged.

“Squad, I’d like you to meet our newest recruit.” The Commander informed them all, motioning to Jake beside him. “Recruit Newbury has spent the last five months trying to find himself.” Nobody so much as moved a muscle as they looked back at him. “Thinks he’s better than all of you because he has someone who can vouch for him. What do we think to that?”

“Not great, sir!” One recruit called out.

“I can’t hear you.”

“NOT GREAT, SIR.” The group called out in unison.

“They’re not very happy with you, Newbury.” The Commander supplied, unhelpful in the analysis that Jake had already worked out from the public humiliation he was receiving. Commander Gibbs returned his attention to the group. “So, when we gain somebody new to the ranks who thinks they’re better than everyone else, what do we do?”

“Beasting, sir.”

Commander Gibbs’ features turned in to an unkind smirk, one that unsettled Jake as he looked back to the others in squad. “A beasting.” He agreed, turning to Jake. “Newbury, what do you think is a fitting punishment?”

Jake took in the surrounding area, trying to decide what his answer should be.

“Perhaps two laps of the field and fifty push-ups, sir?”

“That it, Newbury, that’s all you have to give?”

“And a two-minute plank, sir.”

Commander Gibbs looked back at the squad. “You heard our latest recruit, get to it.”

“What?” Jake asked, looking incredulously to the Commander as the rest of the squad started off on the task he had set out. The newest member stepped forth towards the group.

“Stand still, Newbury.”

“Sir, I di- “

“ONE HUNDRED PRESS-UPS, NEWBURY SAYS.”

Jake fell silent, realising almost instantly that he was being set up. For the next thirty minutes he watched as the others ran the laps of the field, he had put out for himself, and then complete the one hundred press-ups that had been extended for his own questioning tone. By the time the plank had come in to being, a lot of the recruits were struggling from their muscles protesting the endurance they were being put through.

Jake Newbury remained stood; eyes unsure where to settle.

The November wind bit at his sides, and his teeth chattered without a cause to keep him warm. Nobody looked in his direction as he stood by, and he understood exactly why the Commander had done what he had done. Watching your squadron – no matter how little you might know about them – getting beasted because of your actions was a lesson that nobody here was better than anyone else. A lesson that had to be learned quickly so that they could all work together more closely.

Once everyone had forgiven him for their gruelling task.

When each member of the squadron had finished, they were dismissed back to the barrack.

A barrack that would feel much more isolating that he would have expected on his first day.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Fri Nov 17, 2023 3:47 pm

12 – Learning the Hard Way

To say he had been set up on his first day would likely be the most under sold story in a lifetime. The young man had only been able to watch as Commander Gibbs ripped them each a new one in the beasting he had set out. Of course, the challenge had been gruelling, Jake not having thought he would be putting his colleagues through the paces had picked something that would show he was deserving of being here.

All it had truly done was make everyone in the squadron hate him.

When they had returned to the barrack, no-one had spoken to him, giving him the cold shoulder when he tried to reach out to apologise. Jake had understood, in the same situation he would not be likely to be very forgiving when every muscle in his body was screaming at him.

Dinner had been a quiet affair. The newest member of the Auror Corps had taken the wise decision of sitting on his own, away from the others to give them time to stew on what had happened, and hopefully, eventually, come around.

The next few days showed no sign of change for the boy as he joined in with the drills, the activities, and the studies with fervour like no other. He had been left to try to complete team obstacles on his own – it had required the use of his wand in some cases to enable him to get through it, but Jake refused to give up. Each day, he would come back to the barracks frozen to the bone, undoubtedly covered in mud, or soaked through from the weather. Exhausted from it all, but refusing to give up.

It was when he had come in, ten minutes after the rest of the group, sodden from the late afternoon storm, and slightly limping because he had caught his leg on some barbed wire on one of the obstacles that finally someone relented.

“You need to treat that, before it gets infected.”

“Yeah.” Jake replied with a wince, reaching for his locker to get some fresh clothes.

“You don’t give up, huh?”

“Not in my nature, really.” Jake replied, drawing his shirt over his head with some struggle as it clung to his biceps and chest.

“Wizarding World News would say differently.”

Jake looked up at the kid before him, raising an eyebrow at that. “Shouldn’t believe everything you read.”

“Clearly.”

Jake did not say anything else as he turned towards the showers, he needed to thaw out. His only hope was that everyone else had not used the hot water that was unreliable on the best of days.

“Come sit with us, at dinner tonight. I think everyone’s ready to forgive you.”

Jake looked back, the question of ‘really?’ on his features. McGee nodded, before heading off for the barracks without another word.

The rest? Well, Jake would probably attest to it being history from that point.

The training grew easier in the couple of weeks that followed. Having a team that was adept at working together, that left no man behind, and that looked out for one another. Well, that made the world of difference to his life. No more was he struggling behind on his own, but towards the front of the group, helping everyone through the trials and tribulations that Commander Gibbs set in their stead. From most likely to end up quitting the course, Jake was climbing through the ranks of his peers to prove that he was supposed to be here.

That he wanted to be here.

***

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas when their first – well, Jake’s first – field expedition had been announced. They were being joined by the British Auror Corps, each one of them had laughed at the idea of being challenged by the Brits, but they had not made that something Commander Gibbs needed to know. Had they not already beaten the British enough in history? Did they really want a taste of the same medicine?

The young men of the American Auror Corps believed so as they lined up on the parade square that morning.

The only female contingent of the batch had had to be removed from the programme for medical reasons, so the camaraderie of the American haul shone brightly through their squadron. Which, was possibly when they all had a little bit of a glance to one another when the British contingent came through. At least a quarter, perhaps more, of their squadron was female – for young men who had not been off base in the last five and a half months (or in Jake’s case, just coming up to two), the sight of the young women in their British uniform was enough to boggle the brain in that moment. Commander Gibbs, alert as ever to any lack in their discipline, and made them all stand to attention sharply.

Together, the twenty-four men came to attention, their eyes strictly forward towards the grass planes that held a light frost that morning. The British fell in beside them, both Commanders greeted one another at the front of their parades before they turned back to their squadrons.

“Stand at, ease.”

Both squadrons relaxed, though eyes remained at the front.

“For the next two weeks, we will be hosting the British Auror Corps. A joint exercise will be held, details of which will be provided at dinner tonight. You will all be expected to participate, and the winning team will be given an extra day’s leave for Christmas.” Commander Gibbs explained, a light murmuring ensued, but was quickly dashed with the man’s fierce gaze.

“For the losing side, you’ll be back a day earlier.”

The lack of appreciation for this news was made evident by the groan that swept through the ranks, but as quickly as it had begun, it had been ended. The idea of losing a day’s holiday with his family was not one that Jake liked the sound of, but for him, it just gave a motivation to make sure they crushed the Brits in this exercise – a feat he was quite sure they could manage.

“But, before we go out on exercise, we’ve decided to test out the might of the two squadrons against one another in a – mostly – friendly competition.” Commander Gibbs continued, clearly quite excited about this. “You will each take part in a duel against a member of the other country’s Corps, and, well, the team that wins gets a keg for the night.”

The American Corps gave up a loud whoop at this news, clearly not having had very much in the way of freedom for the past few months was getting at them, and the notion of being able to let their hair down for one evening was one that they highly appreciated.

The two squadrons were moved by their respective Commander to the duelling court that was part of their every day assignments. Jake had taken between his seat between McGee and DiNozzo, an excited chatter from the rest of the recruits around them.

“Recruit Reeves.” Commander Gibbs called out, and from behind them, Reeves hurried down to the duelling arena, and from the other side, a Brit came down almost at the same time. The rules of the duel were set out – the aim was to disarm, but not to harm. Any spells used to do the latter would give an automatic win to the opponent. Both sides would watch on as their ‘champion’ set about the duel, spells of varying colours shooting back and forth across the arena.

Reeves was quite the defensive dueller, and therefore difficult to break down in a duel – something most of them had learnt already. The Brit had continued sending spell after spell at him, but after exerting so much energy, only to find each spell bouncing back or away, it had taken it out of the other recruit, until finally Reeves played a simple disarming spell at his opponent, and the Brit’s wand flew from their hand and safely in to Reeves’.

“Oh rah!” The American cohort chanted as the man came back towards them, stamping their feet to create the extra noise. When Reeves had entered there ranks, he was met with fierce pats on the back, and heartfelt congratulations.

The duels continued, one by one being called down to the duelling arena. The American’s went three up, and then the Brits got one back. They went to four, the Brits hit back with another. Best of eleven was called out from the Commanders as they kept going, at five to two, they all felt like they had it in the bag, but the Brits were not so easily vanquished, they found, and they took one win, and then another.

With the score at five to four in favour of the Americans, the tension was raised. Everyone wanted to have the next go so that they could seal the win for America, but only the Commanders had their decision.

“Recruit Caldwell.”

The wolf whistles went up as another of the woman from the Brits’ side stood up and moved down to the duelling arena.

“Recruit Newbury.”

“You’ve got this!”

“Come on!”

“For America!”

Jake got to his feet, drawing his wand from the loop on his waistband. Hands pat his back as he passed and hurried to usher him along. Jake felt relatively confident as he jumped over the side of the arena with the confidence of a sure win in his stride. As he stepped towards the centre of the arena the young man took in his opponent with little and less expectation.

The witch was taller than your average woman, though only just. Her body was slender, and though she could probably be quite pretty in any other situation, Jake could not help but find her… a little plain. Perhaps it was the situation, designed to make him dislike the witch as he got ready to take her on in battle, but nothing about her suggested she would be difficult to put aside.

“Ready to get your arse kicked?” Recruit Caldwell asked, her British accent out of place with such a question. Jake had not expected there to be shit talking, in honesty, but the smile upon his lips showed that he appreciated.

“I’m afraid that you’ll be the one in that position.” Jake replied, bowing to the witch before taking on a defensive stance. “Ladies first.”

The witch did not move.

Jake frowned slightly, his stance tensing slightly as he waited.

Caldwell still did not move.

“Come on!” Jake shouted across at her.

“Oh, you said ‘ladies first’,” Caldwell shot back, a smirk on his lips. “I was waiting for you!”

Jeers came from both ends of the arena with that much, and Jake could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

“So, come on, Princess, take your first shot.” Caldwell encouraged, baiting Jake in to the first move of their duel – a move that Caldwell would deflect with barely a move from her wand. The retaliation from the witch was almost instantaneous, though, an onslaught that put Jake in to a defensive foray that was not his strongest suit. Though not an offensive heavy duellist, he was much more comfortable in that formation of wand work, so going from defensive-to-defensive wand work was not something that came naturally to the man, but he held his own.

Caldwell’s onslaught paused only for a moment, cocking her head to the side.

“Poor Princess can’t keep up?” She mocked, before sending another onslaught his way. This time, though, came with moves Jake had not seen in the field of his duties to date. The witch adapted her style to move around more, dodging and weaving as she cast spell after spell in his direction. Jake had little and less opportunity to send a spell her way, and when he did, it was with little to no effect on Caldwell.

A stunning spell was sent in her direction, but fizzled out against the barrier of the arena, about five feet to her left.

She was dancing rings around him.

Another misplaced stunner hit the edge of the arena the other side as he compensated for his earlier miss to Caldwell’s left. The witch, in turn, disappeared, leaving Jake looking to the space perplexed.

“Boo.”

Jake jumped, spinning to try to-

“Expelliarmus.”

It was said with so little interest, that Jake would be haunted by that for weeks to come. His wand left his hand, spiralling up in the air towards the witch. He would helplessly try to grab it, but the trajectory would be just out of reach, and his wand would land safely in Caldwell’s waiting hand.

“Shame, you lose.” Caldwell said, a smirk playing on her lips that showed she was incredibly amused with this all. Her hand would extend with his wand, the handle facing him. Jake would reach forth for it, but Caldwell did not let go. Instead, she pulled him in closer, her lips coming all too close to his ear as she lowered her voice so only he could hear.

“I sure hope you’ll be thinking of this tonight, when you’re alone.”

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 19, 2023 5:37 pm

13 – Between a Rock & a Hard Place

The failed hotel scene had been one Jake was keen to forget. The young man had worked hard to erase it from his mind, but unfortunately for Jake, that was not how the mind worked. No, psychology, as much as any man did not want to admit, played a large factor in the process of sex.

Jake had figured this much out when he had tried to get through the night that had denied him a taste of Eastern Europe.

Getting hard had been a challenge for Jake since Azalea had left.

Maintaining an erection had been even more difficult.

Successful masturbation? Non-existent.

It was not for a lack of trying, either. The young man had always had a very high sex-drive, one that had been fully utilised whilst he had been with Azalea as she too matched that level of need. Being apart from the witch had been… weird. Expecting not to have an issue with any of it, Jake had tried various things to get through it. Porn had done very little for him, looking at the celebrities he found attractive had done nothing. Thinking of various situations he would like to find himself in, it really should not have been as difficult as it had been to do what was natural to him.

Except that evening.

As he stood below the cold spray of the shower, his mind on the day’s events, Jake had found himself in a situation that was all too alien.

“I sure hope you’ll be thinking of this tonight, when you’re alone.”

Why? Why had that been the thing that had gotten through to him after everything that had happened that day? The Americans had, thankfully, won the final duel. The keg – being enjoyed by the rest of the squadron – had been made theirs. But Jake had not felt like celebrating when he had lost his own duel.

To a girl.

The accent was something, though, Jake thought to himself.

The way she had moved through the duel as if it was not a bother to her at all?

It was something he simply did not understand.

And yet, here he was, harder than he had been for months. The picture of Recruit Caldwell in his head, twirling her wand between her fingers, and looking back at him with a smile that was as suggestive as he had ever seen a woman, and yet far too innocent to be what he would usually be attracted to.

Despite himself, Jake moved his left hand to the shaft, carefully wrapping his fingers around it.

It held true.

It pulsed softly in his palm. Jake looked down to take it in, and found that his brain was not playing tricks on him this time. His hand gently moved up the shaft, and down. The young man let out a soft gasp, closing his eyes and pulling forth the image of Recruit Caldwell again. Would it work? He thought to himself, but did not dwell on that instead, his brain moved back to the witch who had put him in this situation.

Should he put her in a nurse’s outfit?

Or, perhaps a teacher’s attire?

No, his brain interrupted, staying true to reality, and the British witch in her Auror Corps uniform. Pulling him close – not with her wand this time, but by his erection. The fierceness in her eyes this time denoting that she was not finished with him.

His left hand moved in to a steady rhythm, his eyes closing as he leant his right arm against the wall, hunched over as he thought about the witch.

“I sure hope you’ll be thinking of this tonight, when you’re alone.”

“Oh, I will,” Jake muttered to himself, breathless in his speech as he continued to pump up and down his length.

Continuing through the pumping motion, Jake’s mind would remain fixed on the moment Caldwell had pulled him closer. Adjusting the reality to imagine her taking control of his dick, but otherwise it was as it had been. The young man managed no more than ten more pumps with his hand before euphoria hit, leaving him leaning in to the wall, panting hard. The soft spray of the shower would do little to get rid of the evidence of what had happened to the wall in his wake – a mistake that he would not know to be one until only a moment later.

“Newbury!”

Jake jumped; the shit scared from him as he turned in the shower towards the noise.

“Did you just soil my fucking shower?”

No reply came.

“Newbury. I swear to fucking God, if you’ve jizzed in the fucking shower.” Commander Gibbs was looking at him fiercely. His eyes would barely have to move to find his newest recruit caught, cock in hand, post release. A sick expression touched his features, twisted as he eyed the younger man who had finally had the mental capacity to cover his crotch, rather than just hold it as it went flaccid.

“Sir, I- “

“Too many pretty ladies for you, Newbury?”

“Sir- “

“Have to play with yourself to make yourself feel better because you can’t beat a girl in a duel?”

Jake did not try to contradict the man.

“If you needed a way to get over it, you should have just come to me.” Commander Gibbs replied. “Outside with you, Newbury.”

Jake started to move for his clothes.

“Leave the uniform. Animals like you don’t need them.”

Jake hesitated.

“GET. OUTSIDE.” Commander Gibbs ordered, and Jake hurried past the man and out towards the grounds. Commander Gibbs was hot on his tail throughout, and Jake could feel the pit of his stomach moving rapidly from relief to regret to shame.

The Commander’s whistle went in his ear. The footsteps of his squadron could be heard not soon after. They formed up in a messy squad formation, but it did not matter as Jake stood beside the commander, as naked as the day he had been born.

“Recruit Newbury has something to tell you all.” Commander Gibbs announced, leaving Jake to look blankly at his friends. Did he have something to tell them? Silence ensued. Commander Gibbs looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. “Tell them what you were doing.”

Jake looked back to his squad, a lump forming in his throat.

“I… uh…”

“Newbury.”

“I wanked, in the shower.” Jake told the group, eyes on the ground.

“Did you clean it up?”

“I didn’t get- No.” Jake replied, buckling under his Commander’s gaze at that point.

“Do you know what we do to disgusting individuals?”

Jake knew better than to reply now.

“Get your ass to the mud pit, Newbury.” Commander Gibbs instructed, and Jake knew that he was in for a beasting. Following the Commander’s instructions, Jake had run to the mud pit, the bare feet only mildly objecting to it because they had lost feeling from the ground that was already starting to freeze beneath him.

“Down in the mud, you dirty pig.” Commander Gibbs had called out as soon as they had made it to the mud pit, and Jake threw himself to the floor. “That’s it, now, roll yourself around in that mud, pig.”

Jake rolled in the mud beneath his Commander’s steely gaze. The mud was cold, unforgiving to the skin where it had frozen in places. Scratches would take to his skin where it had frozen, or else the damp mud beneath would cover every inch of his ivory skin until he could barely be seen in the night sky.

“I don’t hear you enjoying yourself now, piggy.”

Jake continued to roll in the mud, uncertain of the Commander’s meaning.

“Don’t pigs squeal when they’re happy?” Commander Gibbs intoned.

Jake rolled back on to his stomach, humiliation ramping up as he squealed as he moved.

“And, they snort.” Gibbs continued.

Jake did as he was bid, snorting, and continuing to roll in the mud.

“Get up.”

Jake complied.

“To the fence, let’s go.”

It was past midnight before Jake was allowed back to the barracks. Frozen through from the December night, covered in mud from head to foot. Exhausted physically and mentally from Commander Gibb’s beasting and constantly asking if he was sure this was what he wanted because, in Commander Gibbs’ words, he was doing a mighty fine job of fucking yet another career up.

Jake had remained resilient against both the verbal and physical pain he was being inflicted, until finally the Commander gave in, and ran him back to the barracks – a trip that, for no real reason other than humiliation, was past the British camp. Jake had not looked over that way as they went past, but he could feel more than one set of eyes upon him.

Of course, Commander Gibbs was not finished.

Handed a toothbrush, Jake had been instructed to clean every shower cubicle until it shined. Instructed to ensure that every millimetre of the block had been cleaned before he even considered going to sleep.

It was a long, long night.

Jake had not made it to bed much before two in the morning, totally exhausted from his beasting, and the cleaning. But, for the first time in a very long time, he had gone to bed happy. It was funny how such a small thing could make such a difference to your psyche.

That night, for the first time since February, Jake had fallen asleep not worrying about his life.

The only thing on his mind was Recruit Caldwell.

Recruit Caldwell, and the fact he still worked.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:23 pm

14 – Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

The next few days had been a little tense between Jake and the Commander. Gibbs had enjoyed following him around snorting and oinking to the amusement of the rest of the squadron. Jake had taken it on the chin, because there was nothing he could say or do to deter the Commander from his games. The squadron had all been good about it, teasing him about getting caught in the act, and asking how he could be so stupid.

They had all done it, after all, Jake had just been the one stupid enough to get caught.

The preparation for the field exercise had gone full steam ahead. The briefings that they received showed that they had an objective to obtain, defend, and the extract in the hilly terrain around the camp. Jake had been taking detailed notes of it all, ensuring to understand exactly what they were going to do.

“We’ll be splitting the platoon in to three squads for this exercise.” Commander Gibbs explained. “Reeves, DiNozzo, Newbury, you’ll be commanding each squad.”

Jake had looked up in shock at his name being drawn as a commanding Recruit to the squad. After everything that he had done, he would not have banked on this position, and yet, here he was.

“Look at me like that, Newbury, and I’ll reconsider my choices.”

“Sir.” Jake replied, averting his gaze. Inside, he felt jubilant at the news, and did his best to keep the smile from his face in the process.

“Now, this exercise will be taking place, without magic.” Commander Gibbs explained, opening a box at the front of the room. “Everyone is to deposit their wands within the box until the end of the exercise. Yes – before any smart mouth tries to say anything – there are those amongst us capable of wandless magic. The task area has been set with anti-apparition spells, and detection spells for those who would risk breaking the rules.

“You’ll each be provided instead with weapons customised by magic. Taking down a target will send them back here with a portkey, and they’ll be out of the mission.” Commander Gibbs explained. “Any questions?”

They were kept for another ten minutes before they were taken to the armoury. There, each squadron was face with a choice of weapons to split between them. There would be three riflemen, a grenadier, and a designated automatic rifleman. As the leader of the team, Jake had taken up the M203 rifle and weighed it in his arms. Had he expected to go somewhat No-Maj in his training? Not really, but holding the rifle, it made him feel untouchable in that moment.

Like nothing could stop him.

They had been deployed under the cover of night, heavily armed, with a mission in mind, and a map in hand. Jake, knowing his own capabilities, had handed the last to McGee. McGee was the nerdiest of the lot of them, and had been all too keen to get on with it. They had the next four days to scour the almost mountainous terrain, take the objective, and get back to base. The winner would either be an American squad, or a British one, and they all knew the stakes.

Jake’s squadron had knelt once they had jumped out the back of the Humvee, for the first time having the chance to decide how to approach the task at hand.

“I think we should get moving, up in to the mountain as far as we can tonight, so that we’re ahead of everyone else. Sure, they’ll likely move up the mountain too, but if we’re out in front- “

“Bad idea, Jake.” McGee countered almost immediately. “Whoever is out in front will be the main target for the other squadrons to take down. If anything, we want to be one of the last to get to the objective. We can pick the others off as we go, but definitely not the front.”

Jake considered for a moment, looking around the squad to see their thoughts. For a moment, they considered going against the nerdiest member of the group, but then, with reflection, they all slowly started to agree.

“Yeah, if we go up too soon,” Harrison continued from McGee’s point. “We’ll have to not only watch in front of us, but we’ll have to keep someone on guard at the back.”

“True,” Jake agreed, nodding slowly. “We’ll hike for two hours, then bunker down for the night.”

With the agreement of the squad, that was how they moved out. Harrison took point, scouring their way up the mountain, Jake was just behind him. Weekes was behind Jake with the large LMG, McGee backing him up with the extra munitions should they be needed. Finally, Storey and Gambold followed, keeping an eye behind them (though at this point that was pointless). The team of six would move swiftly but quietly along the treeline, keeping an ear out for movement from other squads, and keeping their eyes peeled against the darkness of the night.

Two hours had passed by very slowly, with your sense straining against every movement around you, it went without saying that they were all on edge throughout the exercise. It was as they found shelter for the evening – throwing up their canvases for the night to sleep under, and quickly working to cover them in leaves to hide from sight – that Jake realised just how hard this was going to be. The temperatures had dropped once again, and they were going to be sleeping on the ground.

Jake had taken first watch that evening, sat before the tents as his squad slept off the hike. It would be an hour before he had to wake McGee. An hour in which he had to keep his mind alert.

It had gone well for the first five, maybe ten minutes, of the watch. Jake’s eyes had moved back and forth along the undergrowth, looking for movement and finding nothing at all. But after that… his mind had wandered, back to the image his brain had fixated upon since the first time it had conjured it in to being. Jake had shaken his head hard, trying to dispel it, but it did little and less to help.

No, Recruit Caldwell had pushed in to his mind, and made a solid home for herself.

It would be easy, to follow the mind down the rabbit hole. To get consumed by the witch, but Jake focused anew on the treeline across from him. He could not afford to let another woman ruin his life. Caldwell was just a witch who had caught his attention after months of starvation for the other sex.

Nothing more.

It was futile, though, his body knew what it wanted.

Pushing himself up from the ground, Jake moved away from his original spot, and a little further away. Perhaps it was where he was sat, he reasoned though he knew that was not the case. It would not matter where he stood at all, because Recruit Caldwell would continue to haunt him throughout his hour of watch.

By the time he had to wake McGee to take over, Jake was entirely too frustrated – both sexually and with himself. If McGee noticed, he did not mention it as he took watch.

Jake had led beneath his canvas with a head spiralling, only giving in to sleep about an hour later because exhaustion had taken over.

Only to be plagued with dreams of the witch until he was woken five hours later.

***

They had made it halfway up the mountain by the time the sun was going down on the second day, Jake had called for a rest for the group to eat and recover from the trekking. It was not an easy one, constantly working on the uphill climb was murder on the calves. It was in these times where the mind was peaceful, where nothing got in to your head, and these were the moments that Jake longed for.

“So, what have you got planned in the winter break?” Weekes asked.

“Going home,” McGee replied around a mouthful of the rations they had been given. “Spending time with my parents.”

“Going to Vegas,” Storey replied. “Brother’s stag do.”

“What about you, Jake?”

Jake shrugged. “Going home to Eden Prairie to see my folks and sister.”

“Oh, is your sister hot, I’ll come with you!” Gambold replied, a shit-eating grin on his features.

“Bro, she’s fifteen!”

Gambold did not look entirely deterred, but at eighteen years’ old, the gap probably did not seem as wrong to him as it did to Jake. “Fine, what about your mom, your mom hot?” Gambold asked, and Jake threw his empty canteen at the man.

“Fuck you.” Jake said, good-natured but equally not wanting his mom to be the picture of anyone’s fantasy.

“You better not!” Gambold shot back, before gesturing for Jake to go take a wank rather than fucking him. Jake shook his head, scoffing down more of his rations before he looked up.

“I’m gonna see if I can get Caldwell before the holidays, though. She’s begging for it!” Jake insisted, and the group all started making fun of him, rolling their eyes, or just outright laughing.

“Your deluded, man. Ain’t no way she said what you said she did. No girl’s that desperate!” Weekes chimed in, laughing.

Jake shook his head at them all, checking his watch. “You’ll see. Before we go on break, I’ll have her number.”

“That ain’t what we care about!”

“Then?”

“Bring us her panties, her number ain’t worth shit!”

“Bro!” Jake replied, shaking his head at the notion of doing that. But, if that was what it was going to take to get some respect around the camp – Jake Newbury was by no means going to back down from the challenge.

“Guys, keep it down.” McGee insisted as they all got a little too excited in that moment.

They were packed up ten minutes later, and back on their way.

Stories of conquests being fed down the line as each man tried to best the next.

This was more like it, Jake thought to himself.

This was normal.

And Recruit Caldwell was just his means to an end.

________________________________________________
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~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sat Nov 25, 2023 11:10 am

15 – It was only just a Dream…

Cold, almost frozen steel touched the back of his neck. The young man stilled, frozen in place almost like the steel that touched him.

“Got you.”

A shiver ran down the American’s neck, but it was not the frigid weather that did that to him.

“Don’t try anything stupid.”

“Why would I do that?” Jake replied coolly, his brain working a mile a minute to try and find a solution to the problem he now found himself in.

“Seems in your nature.”

Jake could not help but give a laugh at that. On that much, he could not argue. The steel pressed in to the nape of his neck a little firmer, clearly, he was not supposed to find the humour in that statement like he had thought he could.

“So, now what?” Jake asked, still unmoving. Darkness consumed them, and he had not idea how to find the assailant without moving too much. A point-blank shot like this would not be easily missed, and the assailant knew that much.

“Get up.”

“Really?”

“Stop asking questions.”

Jake got up; his actions quite purposeful in their mannerism, so as not to spook anyone.

“This way.”

The assailant pulled him away from the camp, and his sleeping squad. He could have made any noise at all, but that would likely end up with more of them being eliminated from the exercise. The steel moved from the nape of his neck to between his shoulder blades as they moved. Jake could do little but follow the instructions he had been given.

The wooded area did enough to put space between him and the squad who had not heard the assailant coming. With each step that went, the notion of overpowering the assailant became more and more like the right action to take on.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Liar.”

“Can’t blame me.”

No reply came from the assailant. Not in verbal context anyway.

No, the reply was instead the assailant pushing him round hard. Pressing him back against the tree he had not seen in the darkness. The cold steel of the pistol’s barrel now pressed firmly under his chin. A hand was on his chest, pressing him in place, and for the first time, the assailant’s features came in to the picture. Recruit Caldwell. He had known the voice, the unmistakably British accent, but now he had spoken with her more, there was an underlying hint of Spanish within that accent.

“Could have- “

Jake did not finish the sentence as Recruit Caldwell’s lips pressed firmly against his. The ferocity of those lips caught Jake off-guard for only a moment before he caught up, those lips pressing back just as fervently as Caldwell’s were moving. The cold steel had fallen away from his chin, allowing him to lean down in to the kiss, deepening it as his hands reached out to the witch’s waist to draw her closer.

Caldwell, though, had her own plan as both hands moved to the pants of his camouflage, finding the button and zip with ease, and making light work of them both. The witch’s hand was already upon his hardening erection before he had been able to make any attempt to even the playing field. A greedy moan left the man’s lips as she gave it a tug, a moan that she consumed with her lips hungrily.

Jake, not wanting to be outdone, though, moved to the witch’s pants in turn. Unbuttoning them at the witch’s waist, Jake had tugged them down out of the way, Caldwell’s lips pressed harder against him, encouraging in their nature. He did not need to be told twice, in truth, Jake span them so that Caldwell was in his place, before turning her round. Arching her over, slightly, Jake fumbled only for a moment with his own trousers before he drew the witch back in to him, a moment to find his bearings with the woman, and he slowly slid inside her.

A shaky breath left his lips, feeling the warmth of a woman again after so long…

“Don’t hold back!”

“I won’t!” Jake replied, holding the witch’s hips tighter as he thrust forth. Once, twice, thrice, until a rhythm was found. The soft slapping sound grew louder with each thrust. Caldwell clinging to the tree before her. A moan left her lips that was guttural and Jake kept pressing inside her, using his full length to the benefit.

“Fuck, Caldwell…” Jake managed, between gasps. “I’m gonna – “

Cold water broke the moment, Jake sat up faster than he could possibly have managed in that moment, choking on the water that had entered his mouth and nose in that moment. Gasping for air, the young man would look up to find Gambold stood over him, canteen in hand and looking down with an expression that simply said ‘Bro.’

“What the fuck?” Jake asked, spluttering slightly as he finally managed to take in a normal breath, rather than one that was struggling to get through to his lungs.

“You were about to jizz in your pants,” Gambold told him, a smile like the Cheshire cat’s upon his lips as he looked down. “Fuck, Caldwell.” He imitated, and Jake realised that what he had just been through was nothing more than a dream.

Groaning, Jake led back in to the sodden blanket that constituted his bed for the evening.

“What’s wrong with you? Not had pussy in a while, so the first girl who speaks to you is haunting your dreams?” Gambold asked, clearly joking in his analogy, but hitting the nail on the head in the process.

“It’s not that.” Jake replied, noting that he had been hard, but the failed dream had killed his buzz, and he was slowly coming away from the excitement the dream had caused.

“Then?”

“I don’t know.” Jake replied, not wanting to delve in to it. “She’s just hot, got in my head, I guess.”

Gambold let out a derisive snort at that, before moving back to his own bed. “Just, don’t do that in active duty. We need to be ready for anything, not having our head in the clouds.”

Jake pulled the blanket over his head, letting out a groan of frustration.

He had to do something about Caldwell, but how to get someone out of your head when you weren’t actively thinking about them?

Impossible.

________________________________________________
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~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 26, 2023 4:01 pm

16 – I’ll Make a Man Out of You
The squad had cleared the compound with success. Taking down one British squad, and one American squad in their wake, they had finally been given leave to pause, reload, regroup, and take in their objective. The room, in the middle of the house that sat in the middle of the compound, held within it a golden goblet. Had they not have known that the piece was their objective, the note beside it would have been enough.

Now, they just had to get out of the compound, and back to base, without falling foul to another squad. The only issue was, they were not aware of how many squads were left. They could have been the last standing, or they could have been one of four still in play.

They had opted to rest for a moment, taking on food and water, before they moved on again.

Jake’s squad had had a narrow escape. One of the faux bullets had caught his side. He had been quite sure that he would have been heading back to base, but McGee’s quick thinking, and slapping a bandage over the wound had stopped the charm taking Jake back to base. Perhaps, they realised, it was all about where you were ‘shot,’ and whether the wound would have been fatal in the field. Whatever the case, he knew he had been lucky.

They had snuck out of the compound as the light had started to fade across the grounds. Slowly and steadily, they had made their way to the outskirts of the small town they had entered, and back in to the woods. Adrenaline was running high in the group. Intent on getting back to base and earning their American colleagues an extra day’s leave.

Not that they could get ahead of themselves, of course, they simply had to finish this task.

Jake had kept them moving in hour increments. As good as it might have been to just push hard and get back to base, trying to keep focus for such a long time would not do them any justice. Instead, they had taken regular breaks, taking a moment to gather their physical and mental stamina back, before setting off again.

McGee had taken point for the leg they were currently undertaking. As they stepped as lightly as their tired legs could muster through the frozen terrain down the side of the hill, McGee’s hand went up. A fist, the silent instruction to stop in their motions.

Jake raised his weapon, scouring through the darkness to try to find what McGee had seen.

Nothing moved at all.

Another moment passed, the six of them holding position.

No words were spoken as they silently dispersed, spreading out so that the target they were would be more difficult to capitalise on.

McGee remained statue-like.

“What is it?” Jake whispered beside him.

McGee said nothing.

“McGee!” Jake shout-whispered at the man.

A flare went up over them, crimson light soaking the footpath they were taking.

“Fuck.” Jake managed, scanning the area once more and flicking the safety catch off on his rifle. Nothing around them was moving, though, wherever the target might be, it was not making itself known easily. They held in the semi-darkness that laid before them, knowing that the light of the flare would give out eventually…

Their opponents had no such qualms, though.

The LMG went off from before them, cutting through the hedgerow they were knelt behind.

“GET DOWN!” Jake insisted to his squadron, they all took cover behind whatever they could find, keeping their heads ducked down as the bullets sprayed over them. Whoever they had run in to, they were not going to make it easy for Jake and his squad to get past them.

Bullets continued to zip over them, ricocheting off the trees and away.

“Does anyone have eyes on them?” Jake called, thought he doubted anyone would have been able to see. A chorus of ‘no’s came back to him, and Jake let out a sigh. What did you do when you were pinned down like this…

“Grenade.” He breathed to himself, reaching for the webbing at his hip to pull out the exact item he had just spoken off. “McGee, grenade!” He insisted to the man to his left. McGee, in the small amount of light, nodded back to him, before doing the same and reaching forth for the grenade in his own webbing. Jake waited for the man to show his own. “Throw it as far as you can.” Jake insisted, pulling the pin on his grenade, and then launching the explosive towards the sound of the LMG that was keeping them pinned to the ground in that moment.

“EVERYONE READY!” Jake called down the line.

The explosion was deafening, even from this distance, as both devices detonated. The detonation gave pause from the LMG.

“GO!” Jake shouted, lifting himself up from the spot he had been hiding in from the bullets. His own bullets returned in the general area he had thought the bullets had come from. Beside him, McGee, Reeves, and the rest were firing at the invisible enemy. They pressed forth as a unit, towards the place where the others had been. Jake saw one member go down from a bullet from one of his team, though he could not have said who had done that much.

Storey had hurried on ahead with his own LMG, creating chaos in his wake.

The firefight had lasted about ten minutes in all, and Jake found they had cleared out another British squad on their way. Weekes had fallen under the fire, leaving them as a five-man team. It would not be ideal for them, but they would have to work with what they had.

Once they had reassigned the ammunitions, they were carrying between them, they had pressed on in to the night. Sitting still, they had realised, would leave them as sitting ducks. The goblet they defended seemed to have a greater meaning that just one extra day’s break for Christmas. It was now a sense of pride for them all, to get it back to base.

The rest of the night had been quite uneventful from there. The walking – a faster pace that it had been before the firefight they had engaged in – was taken up a notch to put as much distance as they could between them, the objective, and the squad they had sent back to base. With two other squads now potentially left, it was not going to be ideal to keep pausing in their route. The two squads – unless out of earshot – would most likely be closing in on them and the prize they were all seeking.

By lunch time of the following day, the blisters on Jake’s feet were causing him hell. He dared not take his boots off else he was unlikely to ever put them on again. Wincing as he continued to walk downhill, the young man was trying to reconcile just how far he had come over the last couple of days.

The respect he had earned from the squad was immeasurable. Sure, there had been teasing in the wake of Gambold’s find of his dream, but it had all been playful banter. Jake had proven to the squad that he was a good leader, though. Keeping them all out of harms way through their mission, ensuring their infiltration of the target had been clean and successful, and pushing them through their barriers for physical pain to benefit the team – even when none of them had wanted to. It showed that Jake was meant to be here, that he knew what he was doing, and that he could motivate the team.

“How far have we got left, McGee?” Jake asked as they took a quick break for lunch.

“Twenty-five kilometres.” McGee answered, looking up from the map he was consulting at that point. “We should be home just after sundown.”

Jake nodded, looking to his colleagues. “Everyone good?”

“All good,” Gambold replied, barely stopping in his lunch to speak.

“Fine,” Story replied, much the same as he took the last couple of bites from his ration pack. “But, should probably get moving again, we’re sitting ducks.”

Jake could only agree with that. They would all finish up their rations before they were on the move again. Jake had reached for the pain medication in his own backpack, popping two painkillers, he could only hope that they would have some effect in relieving the pain his heels were going through with every step he took down the side of the mountain.

“If we get this back safely.” Jake encouraged his squad. “I owe you all a beer at the canteen tonight.”

“Better be more than fucking one,” Gambold retorted, good-naturedly from the back. “One ain’t gon’ cut it!”

Jake smiled to himself; the assessment was fair. They were all going to need a lot more than just one beer to be able to recover from this whole ordeal.

The next couple of hours were quiet.

The men, all quite exhausted, were just keen to get back to base. They came across no-one, and Jake was doing his best not to think that they had been lucky enough to see off all the squads. He could not afford to get complacent in their journey.

It was an hour away from base that Jake had called the group to a standstill. To take on more water and food to see them through. Gambold, obviously, had complained. Wanting to get on with it, he had not seen the point in stopping this close from home. McGee had been thankful for it; Jake’s feet had needed the ten minutes to get over the agony that came with each step he had taken. It was only a fifteen-minute break, but the first step out had been one with renewed vigour for the whole squad.

Just one more hour.

That was all they had to give.

One more hour.

***

The base had come in to view about twenty minutes before they would be given the prize. Renewed steps came from the five of them with the sight of the base, all of them all too glad to see it. Jake’s features had turned from those of agonised insistence to finish to hope at the sight. They had almost been at a light jog when they saw the lights of the station.

A bullet had whizzed past McGee’s shoulder, barely missing Storey as it hit the ground before him.

“BEHIND!” Jake had shouted, rushing forth for cover as another bullet zipped past him. The light crackle of gunfire had done much and more to awaken the group. All jumping in to action and taking cover where they could. Their rifles were turned back up the hill from the onslaught, trying to pick out the shooters that were there. McGee was the first to fire back, Jake quickly after him. Gambold had set the LMG off once more, spraying in the vicinity of the gunshots.

“McGee,” Jake called across to him. “Chequered retreat!”

McGee passed the message on to Storey beside him, Jake repeated the order to Reeves who shouted across to Gambold. With a height disadvantage, their only hope now would be to keep moving backwards, covering one another in the process, with the hope they could keep doing this until they got back to their base. It would not be easy, but it would be a damn sight easier than trying to hold off the squad that was coming at them in that moment.

“Go!” Jake ordered McGee. “COVERING FIRE!” He shouted across the line. McGee stood from his position, and the bullets rained up the slope to cover him. Jake would count twenty seconds in his head before he gave the next command. “GAMBOLD, GO!”

The retreat was a slow effort, but they managed to track back three, four and then five times. Their assailants were following them down the hill in the same kind of slow pace they were setting with the retreat, neither team able to conjure up anything that would give them the edge. McGee’s sixth retreat was right beside Jake, rather than past him.

“We can’t keep this up.” The man told Jake, firing his rifle to announce the pause. “You’re going to have to do it. We’ll hold them off.”

Jake looked across at McGee. “What?” He asked, over the gunfire.

“You.”

“What?”

“You’re going to have to run. We’ll hold them off.” McGee explained.

Jake looked back up the hill, and then behind them. “What about you lot?”

“Don’t be soft. Go.”

Jake did not have to be told twice. The squadron’s leader passed his rifle across to McGee and then dumped his bag from his back. The webbing went next, and with a scramble in the backpack, Jake finally pulled the goblet from its clutches. Taking a deep breath, Jake forced himself up to his feet, and then started to run. Towards the camp. Behind him, beside him, and in front of him, bullets rained down on Jake as he ran, ensuring not to run in a straight line. The intensity of the sound continued behind him, but he had only one objective in mind.

Get to the gate.

As he pressed further towards the barracks, hope finally sprang eternal in the young man. Perhaps… this time, he was going to do something right. Do something that would make Gibbs think well of him…

The hope was all too clear in his mind.

The bullet was silent that hit his left shoulder blade.

The impact would have been enough to send the squad leader crashing to the ground in any normal combat.

Instead, Jake’s body was transported back. To the base. Without the goblet. The thump where a sniper’s bullet has caught him would leave a nice purple mark, and the boy would hit the gymnasium’s floor with a deep thud instead.

The bright lights of the room would hit his eyes much too hard in that moment, and a groan would leave his lips.

He had lost the goblet.

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~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 26, 2023 5:37 pm

17 – Getting What You Wished for Isn’t Always Right

Jake had just managed to sit up and take in the rest of the gymnasium when the next person had been chucked through a portkey. Jake had been almost too glad that the face that came through was not one that he recognised. A Brit. That would… somewhat level the playing field. The shots could be heard from this distance, even if they were only a sound that existed faintly in the background. Jake wondered how his squad were getting on… if they had realised that he had been caught out…

His heartrate had not slowed very much – if at all – since he had landed back in the gymnasium, his ears straining to hear something… anything that would convey his squad was doing alright.

Another portal opened a moment later, spewing out another British Auror.

“Fucking Yanks are insane!” He had said to his partner, shaking his head as he moved aside. “But Mari’s got this.”

Jake did not know who Recruit Mari might be, but his focus was on anything other than that.

The fighting was intensifying outside, despite there being two less people on the field. If the British squad had been a full one as they had attacked them, then his squad had evened the field. It would be four against four-

The portal opened once again, and Gambold fell through it heavily.

“LET ME BACK OUT THERE, THAT BITCH IS A COCK SUCKING CHEATER!” Gambold shouted, getting to his feet, and heading straight towards the door. Jake was on his feet too, hurrying after his squad mate.

“Gambold, hey, hey come on. You’re out.” Jake told him.

“I ain’t out until I say I am!”

“Gambold.” Jake said firmly, putting a hand on the younger man’s chest who seemed to relent somewhat in the face of reason.

Behind them, McGee was spat out, and then Storey.

Jake looked over, and felt the hope he had had dwindle.

The portal opened again; another British man landed beside the two American’s.

Two against one, now, Jake thought to himself, wondering how Reeves was getting on out there. The portal opened, one more Brit.

They had one apiece.

“Come on, Reeves.” Jake managed to himself, watching for the portal with baited breath in that moment. “Come on, you’ve got this…”

That was all they could hope for in that moment.

The portal opened.

Reeves dropped from it with an ‘oof’ that showed that he was not happy with the result.

Jake’s shoulders sagged at the outcome.

They had lost.

The British squadron had erupted in to cheers – Jake had looked around, finding that every one of the squads were sat in the room. “No…” He breathed, moving past Gambold and out towards the gate. There was only one person heading up the driveway when all of them had made their way there. Jogging up to the gate, a sniper rifle in hand. Jake’s eyes narrowed against the darkness until they could make out the features of the person who had just won the task.

Recruit Caldwell.

The British team had pushed past them to go to celebrate, and Jake felt every inch of his body give in to tiredness of the whole exercise in that moment. Four days of exhaustion, and they had nothing to show for the effort they had made. Beaten, again, by a woman. None of it settled well with the American as he took it all in.

“She’s something,” McGee said from beside him, and Jake looked across at the man, raising an eyebrow that would convey the question he would not ask. “Come on, you can’t deny that she’s impressive.” McGee defended his own opinion.

“I think she’s ruined Christmas.” Jake replied sourly.

“It’s only one day.” McGee pointed out, but for Jake, that was not the point. He had wanted the win, and they had been so close. Having it pulled from beneath your feet when you were that close was painful. The man had turned away from the celebration of the British Aurors and headed towards the barracks, frustrated.

The boots had been torture to remove from his feet. Having not removed them for the last two days, even when sleeping, sliding them away from his heel had felt like he had put his feet in the fires of hell. When they had fallen to the floor, Jake had looked down at the socks, sodden with sweat, dirt, and blood from the hike he had contemplated not removing them. The blisters had burst, as Jake had expected. Taking a deep breath, Jake had peeled the left sock from his foot, managing to keep in the painful whimper that wanted to escape.

To say his feet were a mess… well, that would have been an understatement and a half.

Repeating the process with the right foot, Jake had hissed in pain as the sock pulled the skin that had dried in to the material. Reaching for his wand, the young man would summon his blister paste to him, and set to work healing the wound. It took ten minutes for his feet to resemble normality, but the skin remained the same kind of angry red that they had been when he had first removed the socks. It would take a little longer for them to heal fully.

A knock came at the door.

Jake stood up automatically, not expecting anyone, but not wishing to be caught out.

“At ease, Newbury.”

Jake relaxed slightly, but did not take his seat upon his bed again.

“Tough one, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You did well,” Gibbs told him, Jake raised his gaze to the older man. His unspoken question of not feeling he had done well was clear. “You know, the squad you took out with you, I penned you down as either the second or third that would fall on this exercise. You proved me wrong.”

Jake was not sure how to feel about that. The squad, in his opinion, was a strong enough one to compete with anyone. The notion Gibbs had not agreed with that assessment showed they had opinions that did not match.

“You don’t have to believe me. But you know what I thought.” Gibbs said, not defending his opinion, but ensuring Jake would take on board the words he had spoken. Gibbs was not a man of many words, though, and turned on his heel.

“I thought we had it.”

“And you would have. But Recruit Caldwell is the best I’ve seen in a long time. The shot she got on you, shouldn’t have been possible.”

That did not make Jake feel better about the whole thing.

“I’ll be keeping this all in mind, Newbury.”

“Sir.” Jake acknowledged as the man retreated from the barrack without another word in Jake’s direction. He did not know what Gibbs was keeping it mind for, but that would be explained later, of that much Jake was sure.

Grabbing his towel, Jake would head for the shower. Four days of field washes were catching up on him, and the camouflage and dirt in his skin were becoming increasingly itchier the longer he stood this close to the shower block.

***

The shower had brought forth a sense of peace in the boy’s body that he had not felt for a while. The warm water – a luxury by this time – did enough to soothe the aches in his body to a point where they were tolerable. It would take a long time for him to feel human, but at least in that moment, he felt better. Wrapping a towel around his waist, Jake had returned to the block which had filled up a little more by now. Changing in to his boxers and a green shirt, he had joined in the conversations with the rest of the American Auror Corps to find out how they had all been put out of the competition.

The highlights were interesting, and the banter between Jake and DiNozzo’s squads (the former had taken out the latter) had had them all laughing.

It would almost be as if they had not lost.

Almost.

A knock at the door came again, the whole room standing up to attention in anticipation for Commander Gibbs. Gibbs did not enter. Another knock came, and then the door opened. The face that had haunted Jake for days slipped through the crack in the doorway, and everyone started to look around, confused.

“Lost, darling?” Gambold asked, and the whole barrack erupted in to laughs or wolf whistles. Lewd comments of warming their beds were mentioned throughout the barrack. Recruit Caldwell was not deterred, her eyes sifting through the barrack until they landed on Jake.

“Can I have a word?”

Jake looked back at the witch, not sure why she would want to speak with him.

“Outside.”

The added was confirmation that it was him she wanted. Jake contemplated for a moment before DiNozzo slapped him hard on the back, propelling him forwards, and unceremoniously reminding Jake that he had not taken care of the bruise that was likely growing angrier with each moment that he left it.

Jake had moved via his bunk, grabbing a pair of trousers over his legs and his trainers on to his feet. He had stepped out in to the bitter evening air that lifted his breath up and away from him as he took the few steps outside of the barrack to meet the witch who had summoned him from the warmth within.

“How can I help?” Jake asked, not knowing what the witch was here for.

“Well,” Recruit Caldwell started, uncertainty touching her features for a moment before she produced a small pot from inside her coat. “I think you’re going to need this. The punch that the sniper rifle packs will undoubtedly have left its mark.”

Jake looked at the proffered pot, a frown touching his features before he could catch himself in the act.

“Unless you already have your own, then I’m sorry for overstepping.” Caldwell continued, wavering in her commitment. Jake reached out for the pot, but clasped the witch’s hand instead. Her eyes lifted from their uncertainty to his. Normally, he would have refuted the pity party, but… something was different.

“I’m… sorry.” Caldwell added. “If I’d have known it was you…”

“You’d still have taken the shot.” Jake finished for her, under no illusion that she would have done him any favours at all. They were all here for a reason, to show their Commanders that they were the best their countries had to offer. So that they could all complete the training and become members of the prestigious Auror Corps.

“I’d have still taken the shot.” Caldwell agreed, letting out a small laugh that cut through the tension a little in that moment.

Jake leant forward, pressing his lips to the witch’s without considering anything else.

Caldwell pressed back against his chest, and Jake pulled back, his eyes upon hers, questioning.

“I don’t know if we should- “

“Then why did you come?”

Caldwell did not have an answer for that, a fact Jake was grateful for as he leant back in, pressing another kiss to her lips. A kiss that was reciprocated this time, reciprocated, but punctuated with another press back against his chest.

“Not here.”

Jake nodded, their hands, still linked around their pot, making it easy for him to draw her around the back of the barracks, past the armoury and around to the shooting range that rarely saw any use at all. Jake had barely pressed the door closed to the shooting range before he was being pressed backwards in to it.

The dynamic was shifted almost instantly, Jake not wanting to be bested by the woman for a third time. His own hands made light work of the pants he had only just pulled on, before reaching for Caldwell’s. Pressing her pants away from her hips, Jake had allowed the witch to step out of one side before drawing himself back close, lifting her bare thigh up and around his waist. Caldwell’s hand moved between them, to the shaft that was ready for her already. Directing him to her sex, it was with a small nod that she encouraged him to take the plunge.

Following her unspoken instructions, Jake pressed his hips up towards the witch whilst drawing her in to him, sheathing himself inside the British witch as their lips clashed clumsily with one another. Out of tune with one another, and yet working to find some kind of harmony. The bite to his lower lip from Caldwell was a spark that sent shivers down his spine.

Her fingers clawed as his neck as he pressed up inside her once again. Firmly, with the aim of claiming the witch as his for everything she had put him through up to this point in time.

They had found a rhythm within a few strokes, Jake having pulled the witch’s other thigh up and around his waist like the other had been able to hit a new spot, a spot which had the British witch moaning against his lips.

Jake had pressed inside the witch faster then, his own breathing becoming more laboured to the detriment of the kisses. That had not mattered, though, as his lips moved from hers, the sounds of satisfaction were left to fill the space around them.

Caldwell had clasped tighter around him – a concept Jake would never be able to understand – and the notion of keeping up the pace he had set became something that would not possibly be able to last. The American had come undone inside the witch no more than a minute later. Spent, but feeling like he had accomplished something in the last five days as Caldwell breathed heavily against his shoulder.

“Not bad,” Caldwell had whispered a short while later.

Jake had pulled back, confusion touching his features.

“You’re not bad.” Caldwell repeated.

Jake laughed softly, shaking his head. That was not a summary he had received… for a longer time than he cared to think about in that moment. Caldwell’s hands moved between them, sliding his member from her, and then lowering her legs to the floor. The witch moved to pull her pants back in to place, and Jake followed suit, without saying a word to Caldwell. The pot she had offered before was handed to him without another word, and the witch was pulling at the door.

“That’s it?” Jake asked.

“Were you expecting something more?” Caldwell asked, looking back at him over her shoulder.

“Well, I…”

“Oh, you poor darling.” Caldwell smiled, a peel of laughter touching her features. “I eat boys like you for breakfast.”

She stepped out from the shooting range; Jake caught the door as it tried to close between them.

“At least your name?”

Recruit Caldwell turned back to him, a grin on her lips as she looked him up and down.

“Marilyn Caldwell. But most people call me Mari.”

“Mari…”

“Mmhmm. But, like I said, I eat boys like you for breakfast, Jake.” Mari replied, a glint of mischief in her eyes. “And, I’ve gotten what I wanted. Sex with a Quidditch star.”

With that, the witch had disappeared on the spot, leaving Jake in the aftermath of the sex he had been dreaming of. Sex that left him with a mind more clouded than it had been for the last few days.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 26, 2023 7:51 pm

18 – Christmas Time
The trip back to Eden Prairie had come at both the right and wrong time. Since the night with Mari, Jake had found himself questioning what that had been about. Had he been used? It sure as hell had felt that way as the witch had hightailed it from their rendezvous after dropping that bombshell on him. The reasoning behind it all had made little and less sense, and yet, here they were.

Jake had apparated home, his pack on his back. Knocking on the back door as he opened it, Jake removed his Auror Corps cap from his head. “I’m home!” He called out, and the squeal from the lounge was unmistakably Victoria.

“Jake! Jake! Jake! You’re home!” The youngest Newbury exclaimed, rushing through the door from the lounge and launching herself in to her brother’s arms that were already waiting for her.

“Hello, you!” Jake greeted, a smile settling on his lips as he held his little sister close to his chest for a while longer than was necessary. He had missed home, though. He had missed the communications with his family, and the daily updates that he usually received from the youngest witch. Settling her back down on the floor carefully – he still was not used to seeing her up on her own two feet – he took her in. “Have you grown taller?”

Victoria shook her head.

“Grown your hair?”

“No,” Victoria laughed, shaking her head.

“Something’s different…” Jake said, and Victoria shook her head. “Fine, fine.”

“You’re the one that’s changed! What did they do to your hair?” Victoria asked, reaching up towards his head that was still rocking the buzz cut he had been forced into when he had first arrived at training.

“They don’t allow you to have longer hair during training.” Jake explained, playfully swatting Victoria’s hands away from his head. She giggled in return, looking at him once more. “What?” Jake asked.

“You look bigger, somehow…” Victoria settled on, though from the scrunched-up features, Jake could tell that that was not what she had settled upon for her answer. “More grown up.” She added, her features relaxing a little to confirm that that was what she had wanted to say to him. Jake smiled at that notion.

“I guess I have.” He agreed, smiling at his sister. “Why are you home for Christmas, I didn’t think we were expecting you home for Christmas…”

“Of course you were, I wouldn’t not come home for Christmas.” Victoria said offhandedly, moving towards the kitchen. “Who’s going to make the cheesecake for you to scoff down if I’m not here?”

Jake conceded on that much as Victoria opened the fridge and reached within it. She pulled out a beer in her hand.

“You better not be trying to smuggle that!” Jake said, a seriousness in his tone.

“Don’t be silly, it’s for dad! Do you want one?”

“Go on then,” Jake agreed, slipping his boots off and kicking them to the side. “I’ll be back down in a minute, I’ll just put this upstairs.”

Within ten minutes, all four Newburys were sat in the living room of the house, the men with a beer in hands, the women with their own drinks neither man had asked to know what it was. They had recapped on Victoria’s first term back at Salem as Prefect – she sounded thoroughly engrossed with the position she had been given, enjoying the patrolling during the evenings, and the role she played in the school with helping the younger students. Her studies, in her own words, had not gotten any more difficult for her – this news had not surprised any one in the room, Victoria had always been working above her level, and the O.W.L.s were not likely to throw her from her stride.

Jake had, tentatively, asked about her friends. Every one of her friends had been mentioned in her spiel to catch them up. All of them, except for Humphrey.

Jake had then caught the family up on his adventures during his training. Victoria had been on tenterhooks with story of the mission to secure the goblet, her features moving from excitement to worry to anticipation quicker than Jake could keep up with. The disappointment that she had shown when Jake had explained how he had just missed the end of the ordeal with the goblet, only to be taken down had been palpable for them all.

“But surely the British could suggest that you all share the prize?” Victoria had asked when Jake had finally explained what they could have won.

“Unfortunately, that’s not how life works.” Henry had replied gruffly from the sofa, Victoria had only frowned slightly.

“Well, it should be. Jake’s team did so well, they should get something.”

Henry and Jake shared a look that said they would not win this argument no matter what they said to the witch.

“Don’t worry, Vic, I’m still here through the majority of your break, so we can do whatever you want.” Jake reassured his sister, bringing the beer up to his lips and sipping from it carefully. Two months without alcohol in his system, Jake did not want to overdo it now.

“That’s great, because I have a list!”

Victoria had not understated her plans for the holidays, either. After the chilled evening at home on Jake’s arrival, they had not stopped. The first point of call had been taking the witch to the cinema in their city – the latest film released by Disney was a big one, Victoria had noted, and Jake had had no reason to say no to taking her.

Frozen, as he had learned the title to be only when he had handed the money to the cashier, was a story of two sisters fighting through the odds. Jake had found the movie okay at best, but as he had driven Victoria home, she had been an emotional rollercoaster as she recounted the movie in a blow by blow, as if he had not just watched it with her.

“And Elsa, doesn’t she remind you of Aza-“ Victoria had caught herself, but too late. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s alright,” Jake reassured her, glancing across to give her a reassuring smile.

“You’re definitely Christophe,” Victoria had continued, not dwelling on the point she had been trying to make of Jake’s ex-girlfriend.

They had laughed the way home, before the antics had continued. Last minute Christmas shopping (for Jake, anyway), lunch dates, building snowmen, helping their mom with the preparation for Christmas, they were not left for things to do.

Christmas had come and gone, with Victoria being spoiled rotten by all their family.

It had been Boxing Day before the mention of Humphrey Williams had been made.

“No, Humphrey, I’m spending the holiday with my brother.” Victoria had replied down the phone, not realising she had left her bedroom door open just enough that her voice would carry to the landing as her brother had come out of the bathroom from his shower.

“I know, and I would love to see you too, but you’ll get me for the whole of the term, Jake’s only home for these ten days before he goes back to Auror training.” Victoria replied. “… I am being fair; you get me for the next eight weeks!”

A sigh escaped Victoria’s lips, but no further words would come from her lips.

Jake softly knocked on the door, and then pushed it open.

“Everything alright? I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation… You don’t have to stay here for me. I don’t mind if you want to see Humphrey.” Jake told her softly.

“No, no, it’s fine. He’s just being a little… difficult. He doesn’t understand.” Victoria reassured her brother, smiling warmly up at him. “Don’t worry about that, I’d rather spend time with you.”

Jake smiled, nodding in understanding. “Alright, kiddo, as long as you’re sure.”

“Always!” Victoria replied with a grin before Jake excused himself to get ready for bed.

***

The break had been tiring enough that Jake had not given much thought to his life outside of the four walls of the Newbury house. Much as she had told Humphrey, Victoria continued to fill their time with activities that meant they had no time to their selves through the holidays. Jake had thoroughly enjoyed the respite, and had not been entirely looking forward to going back to his training programme if it meant leaving all this comfort behind.

Which was precisely why he had not been expecting his phone to light up with a new message that evening with something that had been the furthest thing from his mind for the past ten days.

Unknown Number: You’re a difficult person to track down.

Jake looked at the pop-up on his lock screen curiously. Behind the text, a picture of Victoria and him with the ‘Olaf’ she had made after seeing Frozen shone back at him, the grins in the picture ones that he had not been able to find for a long, long time. Carefree, almost.

Jake Newbury: Am I now?

Unknown Number: Busy?

Jake Newbury: Who is this?

Unknown Number: I think you already know the answer to that.

Jake did not reply to that, instead saving the number to his phone and instead moving over to his WhatsApp icon. Opening the app, he hit new chat, and then found the number he did not know. It took a moment to load, but there in the avatar was the witch he had not paid any mind to all over the Christmas break.

Contemplating for a moment, Jake locked his phone and turned it over so that he could not see any messages coming through. The last night before he headed back to camp, he did not want to be distracted.

“Who’s that?” Alexis asked, clearly aware of her son’s internal conflict as she looked up at him over her glass of wine.

“Just someone from the Corps.” Jake replied. “Nothing important, just checking in before tomorrow.”

Alexis simply looked back at him as if she knew what he meant, but in Jake’s thankful mind, she did not press him further.

The finished their game of Monopoly late in to the night, Victoria wanting to get it finished – the young witch had bankrupted them all in the end, but whether from skill or because the rest of the family had grown too tired would be left up to discussion later. Jake had helped Victoria tidy the game up as their parents went up to bed, and then walked her up to bed, too. They had wished one another good night before going to their own rooms, and for the first time in a couple of hours, Jake had looked at his phone again.

Mari Caldwell: You didn’t answer my question…
Mari Caldwell: Alright, then, I guess I’ll leave you to your own activities.

Jake scanned the messages and closed his phone again. Laying it down on his nightstand, he stripped and got in to bed. His phone lit up, illuminating the room just as he switched off the main lights.

Mari Caldwell: [Sent a Picture]

Jake had opened his phone much too quickly upon seeing that – how could you not? He was, of course, highly disappointed to find that she had sent him a picture of the Christmas Tree at what must have been her house.

Mari Caldwell: Gotcha!

Jake Newbury: You did, well done.

Mari Caldwell: You only have to ask…

Jake Newbury: Ask for what?

Mari Caldwell: What we both know you want.

Jake let out a snort of derision at that notion, settling back in to his pillows as the thoughts played out in his mind. The notion of asking for a picture was one he was not willing to stoop down to. He had never asked a woman for a nude picture, but that was mostly because he had never needed to. If he did ask for one, he considered to himself, then that would put him in a position he never wished to be in.

Jake Newbury: Thanks for the offer, but I’m a one and done kind of guy.

Mari Caldwell: Liar.

Jake Newbury: Goodnight, Mari.

No reply came from the witch after that message. Jake felt himself go through the motions of satisfaction of winning the point of the conversation, and then through to disappointment of not having a picture of the British witch. Jake had opened the chat three times in the next half an hour, but the last seen notification for the witch did not change.

The American stewed on that thought for a longer than necessary time, creating messages, deleting them, rewording the message, deleting those, and repeating. Until, finally, he told himself that he was not going to sink to the level of requesting nudes from anyone.

No, no self-respecting man would do that.

A self-respecting man would, instead, move through to PornHub. Yeah, Jake thought to himself as he shamelessly opened the website and considered the offerings on the main page. He thumbed open one of the videos, checking the volume quickly as he glanced towards the door to make sure no one had heard the music from the start of the video.

Yes, he reasoned with himself as the blonde woman in the video went down on her co-actor. This was what it meant to be a respectable man, who did not beg for anything. Sliding his hand in to his boxers, Jake stroked the length of his erection.

Not thinking of Mari Caldwell.

Or how her lips would feel around his cock.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Sun Nov 26, 2023 9:40 pm

19 – This Is What It Is

Being back at the barracks, Jake had been glad that the phone he had been far too attached to over the holidays would now be confined to minimal time during the week. It was not that he had an addiction to his phone, not by a long shot was that an issue, but since the short conversation with Mari via text, he was struggling to keep himself from asking her the question that she so wanted him to ask of her. No, now, with only a short time with his phone each day, he could concentrate on the important people in his life that he needed to contact.

That, at least, was the young man’s thought as he tucked it away that morning, and headed out for his duty. The first day was a tough, physical one. Commander Gibbs was adamant every single one of them had eaten far too much turkey over the holiday season, and therefore, they had to get back in to shape. They had been put through their paces, on the verge of throwing up or giving in to such notions in some cases.

By the time Jake had crawled back in to bed that evening, he had no energy to even turn his phone on and check for any messages that evening. Instead falling in to a deep sleep almost as soon as his head had touched the pillow instead.

The next day had been a repeat of the last, Commander Gibbs’ excruciatingly painful exercises were kicking their ass.

It was not until the third day – a day that had been more classroom based than physical based – until Jake had opened his phone. There were texts from Victoria, of course, denoting she was safely at Salem, and what she had been up to in the first couple of days she had been back. Jake had replied to those texts with his usual enthusiasm that was associated with his sister and the things she was doing in her life. There was a text from his mom wishing him well on his first day, and to let her know if there was anything he needed that she could send. Unsurprisingly, there was no text from his dad, but Jake had not expected anything more.

There were the tedious updates from social media platforms Jake rarely checked any more, and notifications from apps he no longer had an interest in.

Opening WhatsApp, Jake checked the messages from Mari. She had been online since their correspondence the night before, but nothing more than that.

Jake Newbury: Hey

Mari Caldwell: Don’t you know what hour it is here?

Jake Newbury: Didn’t seem to bother you a couple of nights ago.
Jake Newbury: Where were you today?

Mari Caldwell: Training. Why?

Jake Newbury: You weren’t here.

Mari Caldwell: I don’t think any of the British Aurors were.

Jake sat back, the realisation hitting him squarely in the face at that. How had his mind forgotten that incredibly important point? The British contingent had only been here for a training exercise, they were not stationed here for a long period of time.

Mari Caldwell: But it’s cute to know you’ve been thinking of me.

Jake Newbury: I wouldn’t go that far.

Mari Caldwell: You tell yourself whatever lets you sleep at night.

Jake Newbury: When will you be back?

Mari Caldwell: Recruits aren’t usually privy to that information, Newbury.

Jake Newbury: True.

The texts fizzled out at that point. Jake was not in a position that he was ready to admit to wanting to see her again, and Mari had clearly learned her lesson that he was not the kind of guy to ask for things that she was not willingly going to give.

That had been how their dynamic had continued for the next few days, weird intermittent texts that achieved… nothing. A ‘have a good day,’ or ‘what did you do today’ kind of text, which received an answer, but tiptoed around the real reason they were messaging one another. Jake had not felt like he had needed to tiptoe around women for the longest time, and wrote it off to a one-time thing that he did not need to worry about.

There would be other women, after all.

***

January slipped in to February without much to write home about. The training had settled back in to its rhythm that they had experienced throughout the months before this. The group of men who had joined the corps together were growing closer, more trusting in one another as the time went past. From outsider to one of the stand out Aurors-in-training, Jake had come so very far from where he had been a year before. No one within the camp would know the length he had come, but as Valentine’s Day approached, Jake had looked back over the year with some self-appreciation.

As Valentine’s Day passed – thankfully not celebrated much in the camp because the echo of ‘gay’ rang true for anyone who even gave a whiff of wanting to be romantic with a girl back home – the news came that the British cohort would be back in the barracks in a week’s time. Not on a joint exercise this time, they had been reassured when Gambold had insisted he would not be working alongside the cheating bitch from Britain, only hosting, but that had sent Jake’s mind down in a swirling mess.

Mari would be in America again.

Did he want that?

What did that mean?

He caught himself in the process. Mari had made it quite clear it was a one-time thing, and yet… the texts that continued to sporadically go back and forth across the water…

Jake Newbury: Heard you’re coming over the pond.

Mari Caldwell: Unfortunately.

Jake Newbury: Why?

Mari Caldwell: Gotta put up with your goofy face, haven’t I?

Jake Newbury: Don’t be like that, you love this face.

Mari’s reply had been the middle finger emoji which had brought a laugh from Jake’s lips as he looked down at it. She had not sent anything else that night, and Jake took the hint of leaving her alone. Instead, he turned his attention to his sister’s texts, and the fight she had had with Humphrey that evening. Jake had told her that she had not done anything wrong from the explanation she had provided (though, in truth, nothing would ever have been Victoria’s fault), and not to worry about Humphrey. He would come around, eventually, and Victoria would have to deal with it when the time came.

***

The British contingent had arrived a week later, and Jake had tried not to look out for the witch who had barely text him since the announcement. Work had continued much the same throughout their stay, Mari and the rest had only joined them in the evening for food and to hang out in the activity room for down time, but otherwise, their paths did not cross on any official terms.

It was on the fourth night of their stay that Jake had finally managed to get Mari on her own, away from the eyes of the rest of the British cohort.

“Hey, Caldwell.” Jake had called out as he fell in to step beside the witch.

“Newbury.” She returned indifferently.

“How’s things?” Jake asked, slightly thrown by the tone of indifference from the witch.

“Fine.” Marie replied, not looking to him.

Jake could feel the same kind of thing that often came through in the texts. It was almost like the song Katy Perry had released a few years ago, Hot N Cold, Jake thought to himself as he continued to walk with the witch. He never really knew where he stood with the witch. One moment it was a text that was as suggestive as could be, the next, it was one-word answers that gave him nothing.

Today, it seemed, Mari was cold.

“Alright,” Jake replied, turning away from the witch, heading for the barracks.

She did not change her stride.

***

“Newbury.”

Jake looked up from his coursework, pen poised above the paper as he took in the form of Mari. “Caldwell,” he returned, cautious in his own tone as he tried to work it out.

“Commander Gibbs wants you.”

Jake took up the course notes and hurried off in the direction of the Commanders’ office. It had not occurred to him that Commander Gibbs would most certainly not have requested his presence via the British cohort. Not until much later that evening, anyway. Caldwell had dragged him in to one of the classrooms along the hall. The witch had certainly known how to keep his attention from every class he would ever take in this room again as she sank to her knees.

***

“There’s no way she did that.” Gambold returned, throwing a dirty sock at Jake. “She can’t stand you!”

“Well, you’re wrong.” Jake insisted. “You should have seen the way she went to town.”

“You’re living in a dream world.” Gambold insisted, shaking his head, and rolling in to bed without wanting to hear anymore from his dorm mate.

Jake let out a sigh, reaching for his phone. There was no message from Mari, he frowned to himself as he pressed the message section on the phone and started to type.

Jake Newbury: Enjoyed tonight.

Mari had read the text, but had returned to being offline only a second later. Jake watched the screen for a few more moments, but the witch’s status did not change. The back and forth from emotions was one he could not keep up with, no matter how much he tried. Deciding to just let it be, Jake had turned his phone off and returned it to his wardrobe box for tomorrow night. Sleep had taken over shortly after, but it was hampered by changing images of the witch who was playing with his mind again and again with the cold shoulder, and then explosive sex.

***

It was on the night before the British were due to leave that Mari had caught up with him again. The witch, as she had halfway through their stay, had pulled Jake in to a deserted room, and had been eager to get in to the pants once again, but this time, Jake had been somewhat expecting it.

“Mari,” Jake had managed, though his body had been screaming at him to not do what he was about to. His hands came to rest upon the witch’s hands, and his eyes were serious.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Mari replied, stepping back from him a little too hastily.

“I… just… well…” Jake struggled – words, as always, were not his strong point. “I don’t know whether I can keep doing this yes, no, want you one moment and then give you the cold shoulder the next.” The admittance was one that he would not have had a problem with in his teenage years, he would honestly have preferred it that way, but now… he had grown up some, and the mind games were not for him.

“Right,” Mari replied, her features showing she was already shutting down.

“Wait, wait. I’m more than happy to do this.” Jake quickly explained, motioning between the two of them. “I’m more than happy for this to be purely physical between us. But what I can’t do is keep up with this friend to barely speaking kind of thing.”

Mari’s eyes met his for the first time. They were cautious, in a manner he had not seen in those eyes before, and the man did not know how to deal with that in the moment.

“I thought you American men were supposed to be tough.” Mari asked, her tone snarky, protecting herself in the eye of perceived rejection on her behalf.

Jake shook his head. “I’m not suggesting exclusivity, or anything like that. You just want to fuck, I’m alright with that. No strings attached.”

Mari considered the offer for a moment. Whatever was causing her to hold back up until now was gnawing at her internally in that moment, Jake could see that much clearly as he waited, but he did not push her for an answer. As always, he would take the time to allow her to make her own decision, and from there… they could move forward.

“I don’t want a relationship.” Mari told him, more fiercely than he had seen her before.

“That’s not what I’m looking for.” Jake replied honestly.

“Nothing romantic.”

“No romance.”

“Nothing serious, like meeting parents, or becoming Facebook official.”

“I haven’t used Facebook in months.” Jake replied, letting out a small laugh that died with the look the witch gave. “Nothing serious.” He agreed.

“Then, let’s not waste this time we have.” Mari insisted, moving towards him with an intention not to waste another second before she had to leave.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Jake's NaNoWriMo -- 2023 Mon Nov 27, 2023 7:44 pm

20 – Going Through the Motions
The rhythm they had found themselves in that night had been purely physical in nature. Jake and Mari had set out on the route of least resistance which meant that when they were in the same vicinity, they would be holed up together, physically exhausting one another, and that had worked out well for them both.

With their Auror training programme, neither one of them had a lot of free time. They had both been working tirelessly to become the best Auror in their respective training camps, and that meant leaving little and less in each day for themselves. When they had been given leave, Jake had travelled across to the UK for a short vacation, or Mari had joined him in America. Much as she had stated when they had embarked on this journey, the witch had no interest in meeting his family, or pretending to be his girlfriend. No, Mari would stay at a hotel during these visits, and Jake was invited to the hotel to spend the night (and more often the day) with her.

They had not embarked on anything that would resemble a couple in any manner at all. No dates, no day trips to visit tourist places with one another. They rarely even ate together unless they had spent elongated time twisted around one another and worked up an appetite. Their conversations had remained relatively neutral throughout the whole thing. Talk of the Auror training, or work had been the main topic. Commenting on events going on around them, or speaking of the Quidditch season. Anything that did not provide something of a personal connection to the other had been deemed safe.

Weeks had turned in to a month, and then two. Summer had taken hold across America, and then started to slide in to Autumn in London.

Drizzle hit the rain that evening outside Mari’s flat in the city. Jake had gotten out of bed and padded towards the bathroom, bleary eyed. After relieving himself in the bathroom, the man had moved through to the kitchen and flicked on the lights. Yawning to himself, the American had pulled the fridge open and scoured for something to eat. They had skipped dinner, and there were not many things in the fridge that caught his fancy.

Scratching at his bare chest as he pondered the options, Jake pulled the box of eggs from the fridge and moved towards the kitchen. Locating a pan, the young man had set to making some scrambled eggs, completely unaware that he was being watched in the process from the bedroom door.

“Do you like to cook?” Mari asked, and Jake turned to see her stood in the door, draped in the comforter, her head slanted to one side.

“No,” Jake admitted, a smile touching his lips as he returned his attention to the stove. “Mom’s always done it for me.”

“So, you’re a mommy’s boy?”

Jake did not like the tone of that idea. “I wouldn’t say that, no.”

Mari let out a laugh that said she did not believe him in that moment at all. He could not blame her for that, either. Jake understood he had been taken care of throughout the twenty-one years he had been alive, but he did not consider himself to be a mommy’s boy – if he had to, he could make himself something to eat.

“You want some?” Jake asked, looking over to Mari.

“If there’s enough.” She replied simply to that, waiting for Jake to finish up the cooking. Jake had made light work of the eggs, and not five minutes later he had brought two plates of food back to the bedroom with him. Mari had made herself comfortable in the comforter, and he sat beside her, tucking in to the food.

“What about you?” Jake asked in return to the question Mari had posed to him earlier.

The witch scrunched her features.

“Not so much of a hotshot with that, huh?” Jake teased, tucking in to the food with gusto.

“Don’t be cheeky, Newbury.” She retorted, and Jake laughed softly. “Not all women are good in the kitchen, it’s just a terrible cliché.”

Jake did not pass comment on that. To him, it was not cliché to be good at cooking, but he supposed he was quite used to that.

“So, what do you do for food, usually?” Jake asked, conversational but trying to find out a little bit more about the witch he had been sleeping with for months now.

“Eat at the mess halls.” Mari replied, as if that had been an obvious answer.

“Brave choice.”

“Better than cooking and risking food poisoning by my own hand.” Mari quipped, and once more, Jake conceded the point to the witch.

“And what happens after Auror training?”

Mari looked across to him. Perhaps the double meaning had been too on the nose in that moment. It seemed like she had seen right through him in that moment, and Jake looked somewhat apologetic for bringing it up.

“I told you; I don’t do anything serious.” Mari returned, her defensive walls up once again, signalling the end of the conversation in which she had started to open before it could get any further than it had. Jake had dropped the subject, knowing not to antagonise the witch, even though he had not been able to get anything like this out of her before.

Another time, he had told himself.

***

“What are you doing for Christmas?” Jake asked Mari, their rendezvous this time in New York City. The witch had made it over a couple of days before Christmas, and Jake had understood that she would not be staying for the holiday. The Newburys would, once again, be heading home for the holidays. The four of them celebrating in the same way as they always did.

Mari pretended not to hear him as she dropped the copious amount of shopping bags down inside the hotel room from their long day shopping. Jake had picked up a few last-minute presents for Victoria and his mom, and Mari… well, Mari had brought almost half of what was on offer at all the shops they had entered – of that much Jake was quite sure.

“Mari…” Jake nudged gently, catching her attention.

“Jake.”

“What are you doing for Christmas?”

Mari looked like a deer in headlights as she looked up to him.

“Come on,” Jake encouraged, taking the witch’s hand. “It’s only a question. What are you so scared of?”

Mari pulled her hand away from his, and turned away. Jake had caught her as she did, drawing her back in to his chest. There were a lot of things that they could pretend were happening, or not happening, throughout all this time, but something was moving along with them, no matter how much they wanted to deny it.

“Don’t… don’t push me, Jake.”

“Alright…” Jake agreed, planting a kiss to the witch’s shoulder.

***

Christmas had come and gone with the same fanfare that had become expectation in the Newbury household over the years. Victoria had taken centre stage throughout the whole day, pushing them through the celebrations at her pace. The excitement of the almost sixteen-year-old was akin to that of a five-year-old still, and it had once again been the distraction Jake had needed from everything else that was going on in his life.

Mari was safely back in the UK for the rest of the Christmas break.

Auror training was moving on – he was already halfway through his second year of the course now, with the notion of deciding a specialism becoming more and more apparent as the days went on.

Sitting back with his parents and Victoria had been what he needed as he drank through another bottle of beer as they watched a far too cheesy Christmas movie that only Victoria was keeping up on the plot with.

Victoria had gone up to bed by nine that evening, having exhausted herself with all the activities in the day, and having woken up far too early. It left the adults to nurse the remnants of their drinks through to ten o’clock until they had finally called it a night too.

Jake had sagged in to his bed that evening feeling the exhaustion of life catching up with him. Sleep would have been welcomed, and he would have likely been able to get past it all, in truth, had his phone not lit the room up. The gentle, yet insistent buzz of his phone made him reach out for the device, and swipe up without looking for the caller ID – the screen’s brightness would not have made it possible, anyway.

“’Ello?” Jake answered tiredly.

“Commitment.”

“Hmm?”

“You asked me what I was scared of yesterday.”

Jake sat still, almost not daring to breathe as Mari’s voice met his ear. It was shaky, uncertain in a manner that he had not heard in the witch before. Vulnerable, his mind had supplied a moment later, the notion so foreign to the man that he was not sure if he was supposed to say something to reassure her in that moment, or whether he should remain quiet.

Jake opted for the latter.

“It’s silly, really. It’s usually the men that don’t want to commit, and the women who get trampled over in the process.” Mari explained, letting out a dry laugh. What she had said was not funny, but Jake understood that it was more to keep her emotions in check than to make a joke. “Commitment makes your vulnerable, in far too many ways. And… well, I guess I didn’t want to feel that way again, so I told myself that not committing to anyone would mean that I wouldn’t feel vulnerable again. But… I don’t know…”

“It’s alright,” Jake had found himself saying. “Take your time.”

Mari took a shaky breath on the other side of the phone.

“I’m spending Christmas with my two grandfathers.” Mari explained, in Jake’s mind, that was a weird way to say you were spending time with both sets of your grandparents, but he did not say anything to derail the conversation. “They’ve looked after me for a long time now, and I come back to them for the holidays.”

“That makes sense to me.” Jake replied, trying to put the witch at ease.

“What did you do for Christmas?”

“I spent it with my parents and my sister.” Jake replied simply, before going in to detail about what that truly meant. The American had explained how his sister was with the holiday for Mari’s amusement for the next half an hour, glad for the first time in the last ten months that they had been able to talk about their families and the things they liked to do, rather than shielding themselves from everything.

“She’s quite the whirlwind, Victoria, but I wouldn’t want her any other way.” Jake summarised, feeling much more at ease now.

“She sounds great.”

“You’ll have to come and meet her.”

“Jake.”

“Sorry.”

Mari let out a soft sigh.

“Let me come there, in a few days.” Jake suggested. “We can work this through a little bit more, in person.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s alright, not to know. But I think…” Jake paused, thinking a little bit about his next steps. “I think there’s something here. We called this something casual, but I haven’t… well, I haven’t slept with anyone else.”

“I have.” Mari threw back almost too quickly.

“Oh…”

“We said it was an open relationship. No strings.”

“I know.”

“You just thought you were the big stud, and if you weren’t fucking around, I wouldn’t be?”

“I…”

“It hasn’t been for a couple of months, Jake.”

“I understand.” Jake replied, trying to understand why the information was forming such a heavy sensation in the bottom of his stomach. Mari was quite right, they had made the agreement that they were free to see other people, so why did it matter that Mari had?

“Well…”

“You should be sleeping,” Jake told the witch softly, not wanting to elongate the conversation much further as his mind tried to work out what to do with the new information Mari had just provided him with.

“The chance would be a fine thing.” Mari remarked wistfully to him.

“What does that mean?” Jake asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” Mari replied. “I’ll explain, when I see you next.”

“Shall I come in a few days?”

“Stay with your family. I couldn’t bear to be the reason Victoria was upset.”

Jake smiled at that much. Mari may not be able to see it from her side of the phone, but the fact she had picked up on that much, and had not asked him to choose between her and his little sister’s happiness spoke volumes.

“If you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Alright… well, good night, Mari.”

“Good night, Jake.”

The phone call was cut off a few moments later, leaving Jake to sink back in to his pillows with a thoughtful expression upon his features. Was he chasing a woman who had no interest in him? Or was he just being too defensive because he found himself more and more intrigued by the woman the longer they spent time with one another?

It was not conventional, by any means.

But that did not mean he would turn away from her.

Not yet, anyway.

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

» Azalea's NaNoWriMo - 2022
» The Departure (June 4th, 2023)
» House Points: Game Ten (2023/24)
» Reunion - December, 2023 (Sasha)
» Going back - December 2023 (Jackson - Aza NPC)