"Colonel."
"Doc."
"Jack."
"Janet."
She sighed, holding a syringe full of an inoculation in her hand. After SG-7 contracted and brought back a highly infectious disease, the entire base was in need of a vaccine to counteract it. Colonel O'Neill was the last one that needed the shot.
"You are getting this shot, Sir."
"You know how I feel about those needles of yours. No."
Neither one of them were exactly in the best of moods. Jack simply hated shots and that never ceased to put a frown on his face. He also was disappointed that no one wanted to accompany him on a week long fishing trip that was to take place during SG-1's downtime. Janet, on the other hand, had been going through a lot of inner turmoil. More than she would like to admit to anyone, even herself. The usually polite and sympathetic doctor who never let personal feelings affect her work was quickly losing her patience with her unreasonable patient.
Without a seconds hesitation, the petite doctor quickly stuck and emptied the syringe into the Colonel's upper arm. She withdrew the needle smugly and he rubbed the spot on his arm as it began to bleed a little.
Jack stuck his lip out in an over exaggerated pout. The banter he shared with the doc was nothing out of the ordinary. It was actually the thing he liked the most about coming to the Infirmary, if he was going to be honest with himself. That's why it surprised him when she jabbed the needle in his arm like that. She must be having a really bad day.
"Damn, Janet. You could of warned me!"
Janet tossed the empty syringe into the hazardous waste bin, pulled off her gloves, and made her way to her office without a word. Jack stared after her and his mouth dropped, something the nurse found to be seriously comical. She stuck a bandaid on his arm but he ripped it off and crumpled it into his pocket as he hopped off the examination table. He followed quickly behind Janet, managing to catch up to her pretty quickly because of their difference in leg length.
Janet flew into her office and slammed the door right in the Colonel's face. Jack took a step back, confusion written all over his face. Now he knew something must be really wrong. He had never seen her like this before in all the time he had known her. He tried to open the door but she locked it.
"Janet." He knocked a few times.
"Go away, Colonel." She was apparently right against the door, her voice sounded close.
"Please let me in, Janet." He jiggled the handle. After a few moments of silence, he added, "I'm not leaving so you can either open the door and let me or in or tell me whats going on through the door so everyone in the Infirmary could hear."
He didn't actually want to embarrass her by having the whole nursing staff know her personal business, but the ruse did it's trick. She unlocked the door. He walked in a quickly shut the door, locking it again.
"I'm fine, Colonel. You didn't have to make a scene." She looked at him pointedly. "Really."
"You don't look fine. You aren't acting like you're fine. What's up?" He was prepared to have to force her to talk but she began talking on her own.
"You, uh, knew about.. about Sam and I?" She asked, and he nodded his head. They had told him two years ago when they had first started dating. Sam wanted to be sure that the Colonel was okay with the relationship. Janet was completely opposed to the whole idea of having someone at the SGC actually know. They could be court marshaled. That was too important to risk having someone they work with know, especially someone that had clearly shown and admitted to having feelings for Sam. It just didn't sit right with her.
They did obviously end up telling Jack. They had been at Sam's house. Sam and Jack were sitting on the couch and Janet had been pacing back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, nervously do things to try and take her mind off of the situation. He knew right away that something was up; He always does.
When Sam told him, Jack had been surprised, that's for sure, but he didn't oppose, which Janet found odd. She was pretty sure that if the person she was in love with informed her that they weren't attracted to her sex, it would be weird and hard to understand. He really was okay with it, though, which showed the depth of feeling he must of had for Sam.
Pushing the memory away, Janet brought the heels of her hands to her eyes and pushed hard. This was not a conversation she wanted to have at this moment. She was mentally and physically tired, she was hurting, and she wanted nothing more than to just go home for the night. Or the year, she thought.
Jack waited patiently for the doctor to explain; Clearly this had something to do with Sam. When Janet brought her hands away from her eyes, big tears tumbled down her face silently. Seeing a woman cry, especially a woman he cared deeply for cry, brought out the sensitive side in, one he rarely let others in on. He enveloped Janet in a hug, snaking an arm around her shoulders and the other up into the back of her hair. He remembered that this was how Sara liked to be hugged when she was hurting, so maybe Janet liked it, too.
She tried her hardest not to break down and sob into his embrace. She did accept the hug though, a hug from a close friend. "Sam broke it off." Her voice did crack at the end of the sentence but she kept her composure somehow. She felt his arms tighten around her and she was deeply appreciate of such comforting human contact.
Jack closed his eyes in response to her words. He really didn't know what to say. He thought they probably just had it out over something and would make up in an hour or two and everything would be fine. He couldn't imagine why Sam would of ended it with their Doctor. Last time he checked everything was fine. He had to remind himself, though, that the ladies didn't let him in on everything. Or anything, really.
"Want to talk about it?" His voice sounds sympathetic, which almost makes her cry harder.
"There's nothing really to talk about. She didn't like the fact that I am attracted to men and women." She pulled out of the embrace and wiped the tears from her face. Jack looked at her. She shrugged and continued, "I told her I didn't understand why it was an issue, if I was with her than I was only with her. She assumed I would go parading around, sleeping with men, but not women, since I had her."
Jack shook his head. "Well, I'm glad that makes a ton of sense." What surprised him most about that statement was that Janet was attracted to men as well. For some reason, he always assumed that if you seriously dated a woman, then you were only into women. He mentally noted that belief made about as much sense as why Sam broke it off with Janet.
Janet went into the small bathroom that was located off of her office and fixed her make up. Jack had always been jealous that she had her own room and bathroom attached to her office, but he guessed it made sense. If she was staying overnight on base, there was usually a good reason and she had the chance of being awakened at all hours of the night. That still didn't make him any less jealous.
He sat on one of the chairs across from her desk, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "When did all this happen?" She came back in and the only evidence that she had been crying was her pink eyes, but that could attributed to exhaustion, easily.
She took the other seat next to him in front of her desk instead of the one behind it. "Yesterday. But I think she's already seeing someone, or at least talking to someone."
"You're kidding."
"I wish I was, Colonel. After she broke up with me, she mentioned something about how she hoped it wouldn't be hard for me to move on since I most likely already had some men lined up on the side." Jack opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up. "Let me finish." Jack leaned back in his chair. "She then proceeded to say moving on was easier to do when you've found someone else and that she didn't think it would be hard for either of us. I think she purposefully left her phone behind at my place once she left because when I found it, it was open to a text message to the other woman."
Jack could not believe how the Major had acted. He never would have dreamed that she would of been capable of something like that. He really thought he knew her after being her commanding officer for many years. It surprised the hell out him. Janet, he noticed, had her face resting flat against her desk. He couldn't help but think how utterly defeated she looked. Defeated and tired, something he wasn't used to in her.
She propped her head up with her hand and looked over at him sadly. "I've been thinking about taking the week off. I know it's SG-1's off week, as well, so I wouldn't even be avoiding her…" She trailed off. "Cassie is away at basketball camp since yesterday until next Sunday so this is really the only time I have to wallow in self pity without frightening my daughter."
"Why don't you come to Minnesota with me for the week." He had the idea suddenly and blurted out the invitation without even thinking, though he really couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather have accompany him, so he kept going. "Free room, free food, great view, and hopefully what you would consider good company."
Janet studied him and frowned. "You can't be serious, Jack. You don't want me to go with you, trust me. Take Daniel or Teal'c. Hell, take Sam. I bet they'd all be more fun than I will."
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Janet. You know I enjoy your company." This at least caused the frown to dissipate from her face. "Come with me."
She smirked, which all things considering was a pretty damn good thing for him to see. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"I won't take no for an answer."
To be honest, she really couldn't think of anything she would want to do more. Being with him would take her mind off of Sam. He was easy to talk to, fun to drink with, and she could foresee herself having a really good time up in the mountains with him. She knew he lived next to lake and she had always been a huge fan of swimming. Who knows, she thought. This could be just what I need.
She laughed and nodded. "Okay! Okay. I'll come; You've convinced me. But at the end of the week, you can't say I didn't warn you if you find bringing me along wasn't the best choice." They both laughed, enjoying each other's better moods. He stood and made his way to her door.
"I'll swing by your place tomorrow at 0630. It's kind of a long drive and if we leave early, we won't waste a whole day driving." Jack smiled and did a mocking salute and left.
"Thank you, Jack," she said to an empty room and genuinely smiled for the first time in days.