Spaces
Colonel Glenn Reynolds stepped out of the lift on the ground level of the Cheyenne Mountain complex, followed by two of his lieutenants. It had been one hell of a day for every member of the SGC and he was glad to finally be going home, even if only for a few hours before he had to come back and face the previous two day's events.
The banter he usually shared with lieutenants Greaves and Timmins was non-existent as they headed toward the car park and their respective vehicles. None of the three men felt like talking much, and they certainly didn't feel like cracking jokes. It was inappropriate to do so and they all felt a certain loss, that
prevented any of them from being or feeling jovial.
"Can't wait to get home," Lt. John Timmins said as he fished in his jacket pocket for his car keys.
Lt. Sammy Greaves nodded his head in agreement. "I don't care that I have to be back here in less than eight hours. I just want to go home and kiss my wife and kid,"
The corner of Col. Reynolds' mouth twitched up momentarily. "You make sure you give that girl of yours a call when you get home, Timmins," he said as they made their way through the car park.
"Yes, sir," Timmins replied. He and his girlfriend had had a fight a couple of days ago and he'd been discussing it with his friends in SG-3. It had been a silly little tiff that had gotten way out of hand and now they weren't talking. Today's events had put a lot of things into perspective and Timmins was determined to put things right before something happened and it was too late.
As the three continued to walk, Greaves spotted someone sat on the ground in front of one of the parked cars. He squinted, as they were still quite a way off.
"Who's that?" Timmins asked as he too saw the figure on the floor.
Reynolds followed Timmins and Greaves' gaze and saw the slight figure of what appeared to be a woman sat on the floor. As they got closer it became apparent it was Jessica Pearce, the fifth member of SG-1, who had joined the programme in 2001.
She was a civilian who had kind of fallen into the Stargate Programme after becoming involved with SG-1 on one of their missions on Earth. At the tender age of 22 she had proven her self to be a valuable member of SG-1 and the SGC in general, and commanded respect from virtually every member at the facility.
As the three members of SG-3 drew level with Jess and the car, Reynolds stopped and turned to Timmins and Greaves.
"You two go on, I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he adjusted the kit bag on his shoulder.
Greaves and Timmins looked down at Jess and then at each other. "Yes, sir," they said in unison, before taking one last look at the young civilian sat on the floor and then heading off to their cars parked a little further away.
Reynolds returned his attention back to Jess and took a couple of steps towards her. She didn't seem to have noticed any of the men and certainly hadn't shown any sign of realising Reynolds was coming toward her.
"Miss Pearce, are you okay?" he asked, the concerned tone in his voice evident, even to himself.
It took a moment, but Jess seemed to shake herself from her thoughts and looked up at the colonel now stood only a couple of feet away from her. When Reynolds saw her face for the first time, he could see she had been crying. Her eyes were read and her cheeks appeared tear-stained.
Reynolds felt his gaze soften as he took in the scene of what was a normally bright and vibrant woman looking tiny and alone and obviously distraught. He took another step forward and repeated the question.
For the first time Jess looked the colonel in the eye. A funny smile appeared on her face, the kind of one someone uses when they are not happy at all and are fighting the urge to burst into tears. She looked off towards the two young lieutenants as they reached their cars.
"Erm," she began, blinking a couple of times to stop the tears already formed in her eyes from falling. "I was trying to find my car," Jess gestured to the car park around her.
"I spent half hour looking for it," her voice faltered and she swallowed hard. "And then I realised I got a lift in with Daniel yesterday,"
Reynolds closed his eyes momentarily before looking back down at her. He could tell she was going to start crying in a minuet. God, he hated it when women cried, he never knew what to do or where to put himself.
Jess lashed out at the car behind her and Reynolds realised it was Dr. Daniel Jackson's. Her hand formed a fist and she punched the rear bumper with what looked to the colonel like a lot of force. The sound of the collision between flesh and metal reverberated around the car park and only disappeared as the sound of two car engines being started drowned it out.
Reynolds winced. That had to hurt and even if she wasn't feeling the pain right then, she would do very soon. He watched as Jess dropped her hand back between her bent knees and stared at the concrete floor beneath her.
Reynolds took another step toward Jess and slipped his kit bag from his shoulder, dropping it to the floor. He crouched down beside it and reached out to take Jess' right hand.
Before he'd even pulled it closer to him he could see the red mark already forming. She had not broken the skin, but there was certainly going to be a bruise there in the not too distant future. Holding her hand gently he tried to get her to look at him without prompting and it was then he could feel her trembling.
The car park of the SGC was not the warmest of places and it being this late at night, what little days' warmth there had been had long gone. Jess was only wearing a flimsy jacket and no doubt the cold had seeped through her clothes as she sat on the cold floor.
Reynolds let go of her hand slowly to ensure it didn't fall to the floor with any force and began to take of his jacket. He moved to her side and gently draped it over her shoulders. He sat on the ground next to her and leant back against Daniel's car, adopting Jess' posture – feet on the floor and knees raised.
"It hurts so much," Jess said as a shudder ran through her. She gasped as the tears came again and her whole body convulsed. She raised a hand to her mouth to stifle her sobs and a scream of immense grief she was sure was on its way.
Reynolds immediately reached out to Jess. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She leant against him and cried for all she was worth. Reynolds wasn't very good at saying the right thing in this kind of situation, so opted to keep silent and gently rub her shoulder instead.
After what felt to the colonel like a very long time indeed, Jess stopped crying audibly and she seemed to have warmed up as well. The tremors coming from her had subsided a while ago and she seemed quite happy to have had Reynolds' jacket and arm around her.
Leaving Jess in her thoughts for a little while longer, Reynolds considered what his next move would be. She didn't seem like she wanted to go anywhere and he didn't think it was a good idea at all to leave her on her own.
"Do you want to go home?" he asked softly, gently squeezing her shoulder as he did so.
Jess sniffed and wiped a hand across her cheek, trying to clear away the tears. Reynolds looked down at her still lowered head and put his hand into his jeans' pocket and pulled out a tissue.
"Here," he said pushing the tissue under her nose for her to take. "It's clean," he added, realising she might have though it had already been used.
Jess' body shook slightly, as if she'd given a little chuckle. She took the tissue and said "Thank you,"
"No problem," Reynolds replied and rested his arm on his raised knee.
Jess wiped at her cheeks again, this time with the tissue and then wiped her nose. She raised her head and stared at the car parked opposite them.
"Did you want me to take you home?" Reynolds asked her, still with his arm around her shoulders.
Jess sniffed again and finally turned to him. Her eyes were puffy and blood shot, but the colonel still thought she looked pretty.
"I'll get a lift with Jack or Sam," she began, "Don't worry, you get off home," Jess pulled up her jacket sleeve and looked at her watch, it was a little after midnight. "You've got to be back in a few hours,"
Reynolds shrugged. "It's okay. I'll give you a ride home,"
Jess looked back at him. She knew Jack and Sam weren't going to be leaving the base anytime soon and she needed to be away from the SGC for a while.
"Haven't you got a wife of girlfriend you want to be getting back to?" she asked wiping at her nose again.
Reynolds shook his head and gave a little smile. "No wife or girlfriend," he said, no real hint of emotion noticeable. "And there's no boyfriend, either," he added and let himself laugh slightly at his own joke.
Jess laughed a little and a very slight sign of a smile passed across her lips momentarily. She wanted to forget about today, she wanted to forget about all the pain she was in, and most of all wanted to forget about seeing her best friend die.
Reynolds squeezed her shoulder one last time and then proceeded to push himself to his feet. He stood beside Jess and put out his hand for her to take. She looked up at it and then into his eyes. She reached out and as their hands touched, she realised how warm he was and how cold she had become sitting on the concrete floor.
Reynolds pulled her to her feet and waited before releasing her hand to make sure she was capable of standing by herself. Jess brushed off her jeans and went to take Reynolds' coat off and hand it back to him but he put a hand up to stop her.
"Keep it on," he said, "I think you need it more than me,"
Before Reynolds started walking towards his car, he reached towards Jess and stopped just short of putting his hand in his jacket pocket, realising it might not be the wisest of things to do.
"I just need to get my keys," he said gesturing toward the right pocket.
"Oh," Jess said, looking down at the colonel's coat she was wearing. "Sure,"
Jess didn't go to put her hand in the pocket, so Reynolds took it that she was okay for him to retrieve them himself. He slid his hand in and quickly found his keys and turned towards where he'd left his car.
Jess followed slowly, as if it was an effort to walk. Reynolds glanced back over his shoulder to make sure she was still with him and slowed when he realised he was leaving her behind.
"So, where do you live?" he asked as she caught up with him.
Jess cleared her throat and fell into step beside the colonel. "Belmont," she replied. Reynolds nodded and looked down at her.
"It's not out of your way, is it?" Jess asked, suddenly realising it could be adding another hour to his journey.
Reynolds shook his head. "No, not at all,"
Jess glanced up at him and tried to ascertain if he was telling her the truth. "Would you tell me if it was?" she asked.
Reynolds smiled and shook his head. "Probably not,"
The fleeting, half smile made another appearance on Jess' lips. Reynolds liked her smile.
"Honestly, though," he began, "I live about twenty minuets from there, it's only a five minuet detour,"
Jess looked back up at the colonel, gauging whether he was actually lying to her. She was struggling to tell, but guessed he was in fact being truthful.
As they reached his car, Reynolds pressed the button on the ignition key and the car bleeped and there was the audible sound of the doors unlocking. The two were approaching the car from the passenger side and Reynolds beat Jess to the door and opened it for her. Never let it be said he was not a gentleman.
Jess thanked him and got in and watched as he closed the door behind her, checking first she was completely in the car as not to trap any part of her. Reynolds then made his way round the back to the vehicle and got in the drivers side.
They colonel and civilian drove in silence for most of the way, only speaking once to say goodbye to the guard on the gate. They had been given a curious look by the guard who was probably trying to work out whether there was something going on between them. Miss Pearce was not often seen with any members of the SGC apart from SG-1, so to bee seen with the leader of SG-3, was a very rare moment.
Given the guard's knowledge of the previous two day's events, though, he did come to the correct conclusion – after some time – that Colonel Reynolds was only giving Miss Jessica Pearce a lift home and after checking back through the sing-in log, he knew why.
As Reynolds turned onto Belmont he glanced over to Jess sat next to him. She had been so quiet he was half expecting to see her asleep. Instead, he saw her gazing out the window at the passing houses, but she didn't seem to be registering them.
He cleared his throat before talking and tried not startle her. "What number do live at?" he enquired softly.
Jess blinked a couple of times and turned to the colonel.
"Three four two," she replied just as quietly. Jess pulled Reynolds' jacket around her, for the first time since she got into the car she realised she was still cold.
Reynolds nodded and looked to his left at the house numbers. They were only at ninety-eight, so a little way off yet.
They drove for a couple more minuets and as they rounded a bend in the road Jess pointed toward a house a few more buildings up.
"That's mine," she said and let her hand fall back into her lap.
Reynolds checked there were no vehicles about to overtake him and indicated to the left and pulled up in front of Jess' front garden. He switched the engine off and then turned to her.
"Are you going to be okay tonight?" he asked, just being able to make out her face in the dim street light that was falling through the front windscreen.
Jess turned her head toward him and looked him in the eye, something she had not been able to do a lot of that night.
"Probably not," she began, shaking her head. "But it's okay," Jess put her hand into her bag and retrieved her house keys and then looked back at Reynolds.
"Thank you for the lift," She fiddled with the keys in her hand. "It was very kind of you,"
Reynolds gave her a sympathetic smile. "My pleasure," he said, still smiling.
He reached passed her and opened the glove box in front of her. Reynolds pulled out a piece of paper and fetched a pen from the driver's side door pocket.
"Take this," he said as he leaned on the steering wheel and wrote something on the paper. Once finished he handed it to Jess to take.
She looked down at the paper and saw it was a mobile number. She looked back up at with gratitude.
"If you need anything, just give me a call," Reynolds told her gently. "Anytime,"
"Thank you, colonel," she said putting the piece of paper in her handbag.
"Call me Glen," he said as he turned to put the pen back in the door pocket.
Jess nodded and smiled slightly. "If you stop calling me Miss Pearce and start calling me Jess," she retorted.
Reynolds nodded. "Done," he said.
Before he could say anything else to her, Jess had opened the passenger side door and had stepped out of his car. Reynolds watched as she walked round the front of the vehicle and step up onto the curb, he got out of the car and leant against the rear door.
Jess turned briefly to say thank you again to him before making her way up the drive to her front door.
"Anything, anytime," he repeated with a smile. He watched as she nodded and turned away from him. He watched her reach the front porch and climb the steps. As she reached her front door the porch light came on and he could see her clearly as she opened the door.
Jess stepped through the doorway and turned back to see Reynolds still watching her. She waved to say she was okay and saw Reynolds give her what looked like a sad smile before she closed the door.
Reynolds still watched as he saw other lights turn on in Jess' house. He wasn't happy about leaving her alone, but didn't have much of a choice. He wasn't close enough to her to force his way through the front door, not like Jack or Sam or Teal'c.
Reynolds watched as the living room curtains were pulled shut. He finally tore his eyes away from Jess' house and turned back to his car. As he got back in, he pulled the door closed behind him and set off on the rest of his drive home, but not before taking one last look at the house.
Jess leant against the front door and looked down the hall toward the back door, but wasn't taking in what her eyes were seeing.
She felt her legs buckle beneath her and she slowly slid to the floor. As she did so the sobs began again. Her whole body shook with every gasp she took.
This was the single most painful thing she had ever had to endure and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to survive this.