Spoilers: very minor for season 9
Pairing: S/J
Disclaimer: not mine
A/N: Written for geekRyuu on her birthday, betaed by Fallenbelle. Shamelessly fluffy and sappy and all that.
Leaning against his side with her head on his shoulder she felt warm, content and a little sleepy. The initial awkwardness which had prompted them to spend their rare weekends in a frenzy of activity, doing everything from hiking to playing mini-golf, was long gone and Sam had learnt to treasure long lazy afternoons spent curled up into him on the couch, watching anything from 'the big game' (there was always a game) to reruns of old blockbusters. Going out together was more special now that it no longer carried that vague sense of obligation.
Except this lazy afternoon came complete with a pile of paperwork to be worked through and much as she wanted to leave it, it had to be done for Monday morning. Sam straightened slowly, warmed as Jack's arm tightened around her waist.
"Where are you going?"
Sam raised her arms above her head and stretched, her smile turning into a grimace as every bone in her torso seemed to 'pop' back into place: that hadn't used to happen before she started working at the SGC.
"I'm think I'm getting old," she said lightly.
"If you're getting old, you might as well write me off altogether," Jack replied. "What's up?"
"You know that I said I'd had to bring a pile of paperwork home from work? Well, it's calling me."
Jack's eyes turned concerned and Sam tensed automatically. "Sam, you've started hearing voices? Why didn't you say?"
Jack's hair wasn't long enough to get really dishevelled any more but it still did a fair job of sticking out in all directions. Sam didn't even try to stifle her grin as she reached out and ran her hand through it, rumpling it further until Jack grabbed her wrist and shook it gently before bringing her hand to his lips and kissing its palm. Heat flooded her skin and Sam let her hand linger in his before reluctantly pulling it from his grasp.
"Are you offering me another alternative?" she asked.
Jack shook his head, lips curving into a smile she longed to kiss away. "Just think of it as a little incentive for you to work faster."
Sitting by his side, it hit her again just how lucky she was - after years of denial and doing the right thing, she got to come home to this, if a little too infrequently for her liking. This wasn't something that made the years of fighting worthwhile because they always had been before this happened, and she'd have stayed on at the SGC without it. If anything, it was proof that she'd been wrong for all those years when she'd assumed she'd never be properly happy. She'd loved Pete but it had never been quite like this, never could have been.
Keeping this meant everything to her, and she wasn't going to risk losing it by skipping over the science reports from base which might just contain some advance that could help combat the Ori. She stood up. "You okay for the next few hours?"
"You think I can't keep myself entertained while you're working?" Sam raised her eyebrows and waited. "I'll read a book or something." His gaze wandered over to the bookcase by the TV which had been overrun by science journals at some point during the last month or so. "Is there anything in there I won't need a dictionary to understand?"
Most of her books were still in boxes upstairs, but she'd made an effort to unpack a few of them. Recognising their battered covers even from across the room, she pulled out several paperbacks from the one of the shelves and gave them to him. The pile seemed oddly slim: she remembered the books being thicker.
"The Chronicles of Narnia?" Jack looked up at her, eyes wide in mock-hurt and laughter. "These are the only books there you think I won't need a dictionary for?"
"You'd rather read Physics Monthly?"
He backpedaled swiftly. "Well... "
"I thought you might like to re-read them now that the movie's coming out." Without thinking she took the hand that he held out to her, gasped as he tugged her into his lap.
"The whole point of seeing a movie is that you don't have to read the book," he informed her, wrapping his arms around her after he'd dropped the books to one side. Sam squirmed half-heartedly.
"I thought you wanted me to get my work out of the way."
"In a minute."
"Anyway, you don't really believe that movies are better than books."
He raised his eyebrows. "No?"
She decided to ignore that and stood up again, only a little disappointed when his arms dropped to his sides. "These used to be my favourites when I was younger - I read them over and over. And when I was not so young, for that matter."
Jack picked up the book on top of the pile and looked at it carefully, taking in the cracked spine and dog-eared pages. "I always thought you'd take better care of your books."
"I did, Mark didn't."
"Ah." He turned it over again, reading the back. "Okay, I'll see you in a few hours."
She was halfway out the room when a thought occurred to her. "Of course, you could always do some of your paperwork."
Jack looked up in horror. "It's a weekend, I'm on holiday, my assistant's not chasing me up for once and I have a book to read. " He waved The Magician's Nephew at her. "Seven books, in fact. I'm good."
"Right." Not bothering to hide her smile, she settled herself in one of the spare rooms which was serving as an office and started reading the first report.
Ten minutes later Jack stuck his head around the door. "Sam?"
She kept reading. "Uh huh?"
"They actually say 'by gum' in this book!"
Sam half-turned in her chair and fought the urge to rub her eyes. Jack looked at her and stepped back. "Sorry."
"It's okay." She flashed him a quick smile before turning back to the file in front of her.
It didn't take before he was back again. "You know, given that girls are only interested in gossip and rot about people getting engaged, you seem to be quite deep in those files."
She didn't even need to say anything this time: all it took was a glare, and he was gone. She smiled to herself and carried on working.
A couple of hours later she longed just to call it quits. She wouldn't have been on base for long enough to make it worth driving in, but she'd never been able to achieve the same level of concentration at home that she could sustain in her lab. In retrospect, she had no idea how she'd managed to keep her mind on the job for all that time when Jack was her CO; these days she found it distracting just having Jack close by. She couldn't say for certain that work was her number priority any more and that felt pretty good, though a little uncomfortable as well.
Coffee. She needed a break, and the jolt of caffeine would give her enough of a boost to finish up the reports, leaving her with the evening and most of the next day free before Jack had to fly back to DC. For a moment her mind sharpened, focusing when she'd have preferred to just relax - he's leaving tomorrow, he's going he's going he's going - and then she breathed out hard and let the rush of air take the tension with it. Yes, he'd be heading back to Washington tomorrow, but they still had a whole day and she'd be visiting him in two weeks. Two whole weeks. Sam blinked and decided to stop thinking.
She stood up, a little stiff after hours of sitting still, and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. For once Jack hadn't left the coffeepot empty but it was only lukewarm to the touch, so she methodically removed and replaced the filter before adding fresh grounds and water. Once the new pot had started brewing, she went into the next room to see what Jack was doing.
Jack was still on the couch where she'd left him, legs stretched out over the cushions and holding a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe slightly further from his eyes than looked comfortable. He looked up as she came to stand behind him and ran a hand up the side of her neck when she bent down to kiss him.
"Hey you," he murmured.
"Hey yourself," Sam replied. She toyed with the idea of making him move before settling into an armchair across from him. "You know, I'm surprised you don't need glasses after all the paperwork you've been dealing with."
He shot her a rueful glance. "I have a pair somewhere in my briefcase."
Even now, months after he'd transferred from the SGC, she still found it hard to think of him with a briefcase in hand instead of a P-90. "Want me to go get them for you?"
"Nah. That's the advantage of reading children's books: the print's large enough to make reading easy."
She hid a smile: that was one explanation for why he hadn't found alternative reading material anyway, though she'd honestly expected him to turn on the TV as soon as she'd left the room. "How's it going?"
Faint colour spread across his cheekbones. "Actually, I've only got twenty pages left, and they're in the castle with Aslan - "
"Right." She didn't even bother hiding her grin this time as she stood up. "I'll let you finish it in peace."
"Sam?" She paused halfway to the doorway, wondering what kind of excuse he was going to offer her. "Any chance of a coffee?"
She nodded. "I'll take my time getting it, shall I?"
"Just - " he glanced down, "eighteen pages worth."
Sam rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll get back to those reports then."
"Sam!"
Sam considered pointing out to him that two star generals should behave with dignity and refrain from wailing whenever possible, but decided to head back to the kitchen instead. Sure, staying and distracting him while he tried to finish his book would have been a nice little slice of role-reversal, but she really wanted that coffee. Besides, she'd have her chance to pester him later: there were five more books in the series, after all. Sam smiled to herself and plotted.