While Chase was sitting by herself and not drinking, Jack was sitting in good company and drinking heavily. His friends, whom he had only just met, and whose names he had forgotten, were looking across the other customers and making bawdy remarks whenever they spotted a woman, or insulting comments about each other man in the bar. If they spotted a younger man than themselves at a table they would tell each other how he was probably drinking breast milk, and if they saw someone older they would talk about how much younger and stronger they collectively were. Until recently Jack had been as descriptive as the others in telling what he wanted to do, but distinguished himself by making up sexual fantasies about every woman in the room, even the ones his friends preferred to just mock. Jack wanted all the women, regardless of height, weight or teeth.<br/><br/>Jack had seen Chase who sat by herself and looked at her drink. At first she made no discernible impression and Jack laughed when one of his new friends commented on having something more interesting than a drink to show her. The evening went on, but after almost an hour Jack looked at Chase for the fourth time, and noticed how she had not moved an inch. She was beautiful and stoic, and Jack fell in love. She sat there alone, and it was not fair, he felt, that he had made friends with strangers so easily, and no one was coming to save her from her loneliness. Jack imagined that she was sitting so still, because she was shy; that she did not dare move a muscle lest she attracted company, but at the same time she wanted nothing more than for him to come and sit with her. He wanted to hold her and tell her that she had a friend in this world, and that no matter what she said or did he would always love her.<br/><br/>"Ooooh," he moaned softly and could not take his eyes away from her. This in turn attracted the attention of his friends who followed his gaze and started their second round of commenting on Chase, but Jack barely listened to them. One said she was mad, another said she was on drugs, but it was not until someone said she was a whore, who should be looking for men willing to pay for her, but she was too tired from all the men she had just serviced, that Jack snapped to his senses and with a horrified gasp exclaimed to all of them: "Don' sae that!"<br/><br/>The others laughed, and sensing vulnerability they all started chiming in on what a terrible woman she was. Jack had no issue with prostitutes or girls on drugs, but it was the<span style="font-style: italic">way</span>they said it about the woman he loved that hurt him.<br/>"Please, don' talk a waes 'bout 'er," Jack begged, almost submissive in his attempt to defend this woman from the monsters who would slander her so unfairly. "I love 'er."<br/>The last comment made them erupt in laughter, and while they could not figure out what Jack was doing, they had to convince himself it was a strange joke on his part, and they mercilessly continued.<br/><br/>In doing so Jack's pathetic, love-sick demeanour became replaced with anger. It boiled inside him, and without realizing it his right hand formed a fist. While he did not notice, the horrible people he had recently considered friends did and they stopped laughed. They were five, large fellows, either pudgy or muscular. If it came to a fight it would seem Jack had the disadvantage, even if he was stronger than all of them. He was a tall, strapping lad who had never worked out a day in his life, but looked like spent half his life exercising. His brown eyes glared at his former friends and beyond anything he wanted to break loose their teeth and make sure they could never insult any creature as lovely as Chase again.<br/><br/>"Don' e'er sae a thing t'er. Don' lookit 'er, don' think t'er and if'n I'd e'er see yer thoughts wandrin' near 'er, I'll snap yer left." And to drive home his point he slowly raised his fist to one of them and touched the tip of the nose with his knuckles.<br/><br/>They did not understand most of what he said, except for the overall message of shutting up. Furious, Jack got off his chair and went to sit with Chase, whom he loved even more now that he had protected her from drunken slander.<br/>"I saved yer life," he said proudly to her and smiled. Being so near her presence calmed him down and he once more smiled sheepishly and could not hide his affection in his big, brown eyes. "They wannered t'do the most 'rible things, but I saved ye."<br/><br/>To further get her attention he took the drink she was staring so intensely at and moved it from her gaze, and put a finger under he chin to lift he head to look at him. "It's fine," he said with as much passion as could be poured into such an accent, "Yer not 'lone an'more. I'm 'ere. I'm Jack Jenkins. Yer ne 'lone."