The tall chocolate brown woman moved to the table that seated the three strikingly attractive men. Why the gorgeous blonde wasn't joining them was a mystery; she would have gladly traded positions to be in their company.
As the hostess approached the table, all eyes focused on her. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c looked up at the young woman with quiet expectation.
"Excuse me gentlemen, the young lady you were expecting sends her apologies, but she won't be joining you this evening."
Daniel was the first to respond, "Why?"
"She didn't say sir."
"Well I hope Sam's all right." was the speedy response.
"She appeared a little distracted but other than that she seemed fine when she left."
"She was here?" Jack enquired.
"Yes sir. She's probably just in the parking lot now."
Daniel's concern was evident on his face, "I better.."
"I'll go." Jack volunteered and was up and heading toward the door before either of the other men could reply."
The hostess watched Jack head out the door; then smiled at Teal'c and Daniel before returning to the duties of checking on other tables as she moved away.
Hustling toward the exit Jack hoped he didn't appear too eager to the others; he was just concerned about Sam who had been in such a good frame of mind earlier; he wondered now whether something had happened to change that.
As he pushed the door open, Jack stood on the landing, concerned brown eyes searching the well lit parking lot for the 5'9" frame they'd come to know well, although, if Jack was being honest, not as well as they'd like.
Over to the northwestern end of the lot, three cars from the right, he saw her, Sam's gait was slow but deliberate; it was obvious to Jack, the way she walked, that something was on Major Carter's mind. Taking two steps forward Jack began to move in Sam's direction, but stopped suddenly in his tracks. Walking toward Sam was a young man: dark hair, 6'2", well built and smiling. Jack recognized him as a regular at O'Malley's. A regular who had had his butt kicked at the pool table by Sam on more than one occasion after he'd had the audacity to challenge Major Carter to a game.
The smiling pool stick walked up to Sam, apparently happy to see her away from the three sidekicks. Jack could tell that the young man was putting the moves on Sam when he saw her nodding to something the stick had said; her head falling back slightly as she laughed in response. So he had jokes.
The Colonel stood there, finally looking away a bit, feeling now that he was invading Sam's privacy. Maybe she wasn't joining them because she had other plans with….
The muscles in his jaw clenched on reflex, although he knew he certainly had no right or claim to Sam's attention, Jack couldn't deny, at least to himself, that the sight of her being engaged by this young man, reminded him of everything that was just out of his grasp.
As the guy's hand reached over to rest briefly on Sam's shoulder, it grated against Jack's insides and the Colonel turned to go back to Daniel and Teal'c. He was sure the Major wasn't in any actual danger, and the gentleman in Jack didn't want to intrude any further, although the unreasonable jealous anger under his skin was doing its best to work against his better judgement.
Jealousy wasn't something Jack was used to; there were few times that he'd been uncertain or cared enough to be jealous, but with Sam, he cared more than he knew he should. Jack knew he should want Sam to meet someone and be happy and he'd continue to be the CO who kept telling the Major to 'get a life', even if secretly he wanted that life to be with him.
Sam had taught Jack a lot about himself. Having to manage inappropriate feelings and deal with periodic jealousy was not his favourite lesson, but necessary.
Jack went back inside, and to make a long story short told the guys that he hadn't caught up with Sam, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He hoped that Daniel and Teal'c didn't recognize that although his body had returned to their table, Jack's spirit and heart had stayed in O'Malley's parking lot, on the northwestern side, three cars from the right, where he'd left it.
End.