It's been a while since my last story, I apologise. For those who asked, there is a second chapter in the works for 'All Over You'. In the mean time, the following will be a set of loosely connected one-shots based on colours as the muse strikes. Sam and Jack, of course!
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox.
RED: Red is the color of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. It is also the color of anger and sexual passion
Red
Red was the colour of romance. Most men felt that red looked attractive on any woman; a slinky red dress the promise of what was to come. Jack had never associated red with romance, and he was really beginning to hate red on this particular woman. There was so much blood, but then again head wounds really did bleed a lot. He pressed his palm further into her matted hair, stemming the flow as best he could.
'Come on Carter…'
She didn't move. The red stood bright in contrast to the dark of the cave they were now trapped in. Her blonde hair was dull and dirty.
The red trickled down her all too-pale face and began to pool on the dirt floor, turning a muddy, deep red. The red seeped over his fingers, colouring his tanned hand.
She groaned. 'Carter,' he started, holding her shoulder with his free hand. 'Try not to move.'
With a flick of his wrist, he discarded the red gauze for a fresh piece of white, pressing it gently to her head. He sighed; at least a conscious Carter was better than an unconscious one.
She raised her eyes to look at him squarely, the red framing one side of her face. 'What happened?' she murmured.
'You made friends with the rocks Carter, and they knocked you out for your trouble.'
He tried to joke, but it sounded weak even to his own ears. She nodded and closed her eyes, understanding him anyway.
Daniel and Teal'c were on their way with help. He could hear the faint sounds of them moving rocks near the entrance. It had been one hell of a month for SG-1. And now he has nothing to do but sit back and wait, staring at the red splashes on his hands, arms and his on second.
Red was the colour of war. Jack had seen too many dead soldiers in his lifetime to ever equate the colour with something else. He had always steered Sara away from wearing red. The colour brought him nothing but chills. Khaki green mixed with red was a terrible colour.
Although in a moment of clarity he remembers a red turtleneck jumper worn by the blonde in his arms just a few weeks ago. That wasn't a bad red; that was a red full of unspoken promises and feelings. Red with tantalising black leather was an intoxicating combination.
When he thinks of it like that, red brings forth a whole world of possibilities. Red represents the days before all hell broke loose, the days before the world knew of his feelings, and the days before he knew for certain those feelings were returned.
A sound stirs him from the memory, and he sees Daniel and Teal'c emerge from the entrance to the cave. Dust covers them both but he has never been so glad to see them. Carter is carried by Teal'c back to the Stargate and in the cold light of day; the red is so much more than a stark contrast of blonde to crimson.
The petite doctor is attentive as soon as the team step out of the event horizon, and Carter is off on a gurney. Her limp hand trailing tells Jack she is unconscious again.
A quick word to General Hammond and Jack has never run so fast to the showers in his life. He stares with morbid fascination as the red turns to pale pinkish hues, mixing with the water as it swirls away down the drain and off his body. He blinks in the water, the stream temporarily blinding him as it seeps into his eyes.
It's a few hours later and Jack finds himself in the infirmary, staring with intense focus on his second as she sits on the edge of the hospital bed. The red of gone; a bright white bandage covering the left side of her head. Jack thinks quietly that the white is a colour that suits her much better than the red at that moment.
With amazing clarity, he realises that the red from the turtleneck jumper has reappeared, minus the black leather jacket. The blonde hair is now tucked back behind her ears, the ends curling loosely around the top of the collar. He wonders briefly when she decided to let her hair grow so long. Somehow it suits her.
'Ready?' she looks up at him with a mighty smile.
'Lead the way,' he answers, tossing the keys loosely in his hand. There were some perks to being the boss. Driving your second home was one of them.
She tucks herself up in the passenger seat of his truck, the cool air fogging the windows almost instantly. By the time he has adjusted the heater, she is already asleep.
The red of her jumper stands out so brightly in the dark of his truck. The colour is almost soothing to him; a huge contrast to just hours ago in the cave of a foreign planet where the rocks apparently hated blonde Majors. The sleeves of the jumper are pulled just a little bit long, covering her fingers in a way that highlight her youth and vulnerability in sleep.
He is out the front of her house soon enough, the cold night air settling around them in an almost eerie way. Jack half expects her to wake at the sudden silence, but she doesn't move. In a way that he knows he shouldn't, Jack notices how her lips are red, most likely from the windburn earlier in the day. But somehow they make him realise that no matter how hard he tried to deny it, his second is a woman.
And an attractive one at that.
In the cold, dark light of the cab, Jack O'Neill suddenly comes to the realisation that maybe the colour red is not so bad and that somewhere, in some distant hopeful future, he wouldn't say no to Carter wearing a slinky red dress.
Fin.
