Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own any part of the Stargate franchise apart from my DVD collection.
Story summary: Sam and Jack lay the cards on the table and picked up on a conversation they would never allow to happen. from between S8 and 9, finishing at 'line in the sand'. When things started rolling.
A/note: My first SG-1 story! I'm excited. I love Stargate. So be kind and leave a review and tell me how this goes down. I wanted more from 'Threads'; I don't think Sam and Jack talked enough, but I also think S/J's relationship needs to be more professional (even when personal) than some people make it. *Edited and amended.
~ SJ ~
This had to be some sort of punishment. An all her years at the SGC, Sam had never done so much paperwork. She had brought it upon herself though. This was the paperwork for her own research; documentation for all the procedures, results, findings and everything in between. She had been at Groom Lake for only two months now and she was missing Colorado considerably.
Needless to say, Sam's reasons for reassignment weren't entirely professional. The threat from Anubis had been eliminated and the Earth was at its lowest defence status since prior to the Stargate program's inception. But, she wasn't needed at the SGC anymore. Actually, she was needed – and frequently asked for - at most research establishments, but more here than there. At least, that's what she would tell herself whenever she even so much as thinking about the decision that tore her from the altar and the prospects of a nicely painted house with a white picket fence. This is how she fought the regret: by making herself feel needed by something bigger.
Sometimes she spoke to Daniel, which helped her to maintain her resolve. Sam had even gone offworld a month ago to see Teal'c; probably the closest thing to a holiday she had had in years. And then there was General O'Neill.
It had been one month and twenty eight days since they had spoken. Being on opposite sides of the country didn't help the feeling of isolation and she felt frustrated by the fact that she missed him. More than she ought. But she'd had had her chance...
She had to hand it to Rodney McKay; the idea of a mini fridge in her office was pure Genius. Time for a bubble break. She'd been staring at a lengthy report for nearly three hours and it was starting to do her head in.
Sam's muscles strained as she stood and she noticed how painfully quite her office was. She felt the need for some Vivaldi. She opened the second draw of her desk and pulled out a CD, she placed in the little boom box on the corner of her desk and hit play. Much better. One of her earliest memories was of her father falling asleep to classical music. From then on, it was one of her more personal indulgences. She cracked open a can of Sprite lite and sunk into her chair. This was nice.
A knock sounded at her office door and she suddenly missed her P90. People always chose to interrupt her when she was on a break. Never during the actual work, oh no, always during her break.
Sam sat up in her chair, turned the music down with the the remote and straightened out her uniform.
"Come in" She called.
The doors opened and SGT Ryleigh stood in the doorway, looking somewhat flustered.
"Ma'am, there is a General O'Neill here to see you." The younger woman informed.
Sam stood up quickly, but her expression revealed nothing. The General? Here?
"Of course, show him in." Her heart-rate had increased and she hated the fact that it did. They'd worked together for 8 years; they had seen each other every single day. But then again, that was before they had mutually acknowledged the continued existence of that thing they shared. Of course, they never spoke of it, but after Kerry and Pete, neither she nor Jack could deny that they still felt something for one another.
As her thoughts strayed, SGT Ryleigh stood aside to permit the man in question into Sam's office. Jack nodded his thanks to the airman and practically sauntered in, clad in his nicely pressed Class A's and a folder tucked under his arm.
"Sir, good to see you." She threw him a sharp salute.
"Likewise Colonel." He returned the salute, though with far less enthusiasm. There was a tension in the room and it was coming from somewhere. Ryleigh... she needed to disappear.
"Thank you SGT" she nodded to Ryleigh, who shut the door of the office. The tension slipped away as O'Neill left out a breath and fell lazily into the chair opposite her desk, tossing the folder and his hat atop it. Sam was still surprised by his random visit and forgot that she was still standing.
"Si'down Carter, take a load off." He waved for her to park herself.
"Right." She took a seat. "So what can I do for you Sir?" She ran a hand through her hair.
"Well for one, you'll allow me to take my jacket off. It's ridiculously hot down there." He joked; wiping the back of his hand across is brow, eliminating the glistening sheen of sweat that had begun to form.
"Go ahead Sir." Jack stood and began unbuttoning his navy blue jacket. He placed it on his lap and straightened his tie. Sam held back a smirk as his effort he made the knot worse.
"Thank god. I was about to fry. And enough with the 'Sir' business." He sighed.
She noticed he wasn't wearing any rank slides on his shirt. If she thought about it hard enough, he resembled a well dressed civilian. A very blue civilian, but a civilian none the less.
"General, why are you here?" She knew he wasn't here on business. She'd have known. There was another option, but she would risk looking too deeply into it. He didn't answer and simply looked at her as if she was meant to know.
"I came in search of a particular national treasure. That and I felt the need for a chat. Off the record." That's why he took his jacket off, no uniform. Nice touch Jack.
"Is this the continuation of a chat we almost had two months ago?"
"I hope so." a tiny smile touched the corners of his lips, and Sam had to force herself to not stare at that particular feature on his face. Up at the eyes Sam. He was watching her - not staring - but watching, and she found it difficult to match his gaze. She looked down at her hands as they played with the hem of her shirt under the desk.
"I think we can both agree there are certain things that stand in our way, Sir." She said quietly, still playing with her shirt.
"Carter..." He said her name in a tone she had rarely heard. It sounded incredibly intimate and sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine.
"Jack. We cannot have a relationship if we are both Air Force officers and living on opposite sides of the country. Sorry, but I won't do it." She practically snapped at him.
O'Neill pursed his lips slightly and nodded.
"You know... I was sitting in my office this morning, and I got to tell ya, I can't stop thinking about the day your father and Selmak died." He picked up his hat and started picking lint off it. "And I realised, that that was the day you broke up with Pete. It also happened to be the day Kerry left me."
"Coincidences happen." She was struggling to remain neutral about all this.
"A coincidence is a seemingly remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances, apparently by chance."
She looked up at him with a hard gaze; his answer was too succinct to have been made up on the spot.
"I have a dictionary in my office; I was bored." He explained dismissively. "Anyway... yeah, the timing of the events was coincidence, but the reasons behind them weren't. No way in hell." He added a little awkwardly.
"Jack, what are you talking about?" Sam was at a loss for words. She was surprisingly inarticulate when it came to personal matters. "is it the fact we knew we couldn't... That, that the air force would never allow us to explore different aspects of our... friendship... we still gave up the possibility of a future with other people for it?"
"Maybe." He picked up the folder and replaced his hat in the vacant space. "I entertained the idea that maybe if our circumstances changed, for the better, maybe we could go exploring."
"The world doesn't work like that. We have the same problem. This is what we chose. I think if either of us gave up our jobs for the other it would compromise the part of us that chose that path, which could grow into resentment. I can't allow a part of me to be compromised like that, Jack. I can't."
"I know. This is why I requested a transfer." He said nonchalantly.
That caught Sam completely off guard.
"To where?"
"Here."
She had a mental blank.
"Officially, I'm doing the exact same job as before, except I felt- and the president agreed- that I may be more useful overseeing some of your research directly. Although I didn't mention the fact you were here when I asked for the transfer. It would be kind of obvious to Henry." Jack said, a hint of amusement playing on his features. It was a rare occasion when he could render Carter speechless.
Holy crap. Was he for real?
"But Sir, the military wouldn't allow-" she began.
"The military forbids relationships between officers serving in the same chain of command. I picked up a few things in Washington, Carter... This brings me to my second predicament."
He groaned as he stood from the chair. He threw his jacket on the seat behind him and proceeded to pace around her office, playing with the embroidery on his peak cap.
"Look, I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore. There is a bit of an age difference between us."
"I think serving eight years in the field with you kind of eliminates any problem with age or vitality. Your age doesn't worry me; in fact, I've never really thought about it."
Jack was satisfied with her answer.
"Well lucky for you, I'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to my relationships..." She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him. "...Circumstantially."
"Right..." Sam teased. She stood up and came around to the front of her desk. She leant back on it and rested her hands in front of her body. "Sir, am I to understand that you intend to... what? Court me?"
He snorted at the notion.
"Something like that. But I definitely wouldn't actually call it that; I'm not that old fashioned." He grinned at her. His face became serious then and he approached her, standing close enough to make her thankful her office didn't have a window.
"Sam, I need to know. I could be sent back to Washington or you could be pulled back to the SGC... would you be willing to give this a shot?" his eyes were painfully honest. She pondered for a moment.
"Two months ago, I left Pete for a chance like this." His eyes grew worried then. "And nothing has changed since then. So... yes." she spent more time thinking than necessary, just to torture him. She had had her answer to this question in her head for two months.
"And if you're lucky and turns out I like you, I may want to marry you... or not." He joked.
"Jack, that is so not funny." She warned with a smile.
He shrugged. "You never know Carter. We may have to do a run to Vegas if the military finds out we're together. They can't do anything about it then. And I mean, it is just down the road, after all."
"Vegas? No, I don't think so. I'd want something more quite than that."
"You're the boss, Colonel." She'd heard that one before. If he kept saying it, she'd start to believe it.
Jack picked up his folder and offered it to Sam to hold as he put his jacket on. She couldn't help but flick through the folder and found only pages upon pages of doodle drawings and notes.
"Sir? Why did you bring this?" she frowned, lifting her gaze; quickly noticing how close he still stood to her.
"Don't you know carter? You walk around high school with a clipboard and you would never get picked up for playing hooky. Works the same with folders and bases."
She gave him a blank look. No, she didn't know that.
"Of course... You never played hooky, did you?"
"Afraid not, Sir."
"Ah! So much to learn, Carter!" He fastened the last button on his jacket and went for his tie again.
"Let me." she offered, hoping to salvage the knot he had already mangled. She used to do this all the time for Jacob as a little girl. Perfect.
"Cheers Carter." She reached behind herself and found his hat. She went to place it on his head but he caught her hand.
Gently, he took the peak cap from her and looked at her hand with warmth she could almost feel. He smiled and placed a feather-light kiss on her hand. She couldn't resist the urge to grin like a maniac.
"God Sir, when do you transfer here?"
"Next Monday. Apparently, not soon enough." It was then he put his hat on and went into General mode. He took a step back to allow her to stand. "It's good to see you again, Carter."
"You too sir."
He smiled and ran his thumb down her jaw line. My girl. She let out a small smile and handed him his folder.
"See you Monday morning. Or Sunday night. Officially I'm not your superior till Monday morning."
"Looking forward to it." He gave her a nod and left with a glance over his shoulder.
Yep. She was a little crazy. She had to be.
~ SJ ~
For those wondering, running your thumb across your jaw is sign language for 'girl'. Hope you liked it. I really would appreciate a review, no matter how short it is. They make me happy as Larry. :)