Title : JLS (Jack Loves Sam)
Season : end of season 8th, the Goa Ulds have been defeated
Complete English version of JLS - SLJ. This is my own translation of my story. Please bear in mind I am not an English speaker native. Hope you enjoy !
JLS
It was the first time that she came to the cabin. General O'Neill had wanted to celebrate their victory over the Goa Ulds and enjoy a few moments of well-deserved rest all together. Sam had finally accepted his invitation because after the passing of her father and her breakup with Pete, she missed a family and the only family she felt close enough was SG-1. So the four of them had joined in at O'Neill's log hideout.
They were sitting close to the pond enjoying the sweet summer afternoon, sharing beers from the general's special reserve. They did not speak much and yet, each one was in the thoughts of the others. After several minutes of hesitation, O' Neill spoke. "Friends", he called for attention. "I have a declaration to make." The 3 companions raised their head and waited while Jack glanced at Sam, then Teal' C, and Daniel before looking back again at Sam. A slight smile formed unconsciously on his face, then he took a deep inspiration and launched out.
"Now that the Goa Ulds have become hardly more than unpleasant small domesticated lizards, I've decided to take a break." He paused to judge the effect of his announcement on his friends and was quite satisfied with the surprise he could read on the three faces. He resumed, with a more ironic tone. "Well, truth is, I am too old for all of this. I mean to save the world every week! My hair has gone grey and my left knee is as weak as Homer in a doughnut shop. I believe we all deserve to take care of ourselves a little." Finishing his sentence he stared at Sam who, after the personal turmoil she had just been through, needed more than anyone to take care of herself… or that someone took care of her, he told himself. Sam must have read this last thought because she diverted her glance.
Jack turned to Daniel and Teal' C to give Sam some space and announced. "In fact, what I wanted to say is that I am retiring." He took a pause but didn't leave the others time to react and continued without a second thought. "There is this woman whom I know… and who could well look on me with an eye of favor, so if I still have the least chance with her, I want to take it." Jack threw a glance in the direction of Sam who was now staring at him in shock and continued. "And all the Goa Ulds of the universe will not be able to make me change decision."
Like their female friend Teal' C and Daniel showed surprise on their face. That O' Neill could have a life outside the SGC appeared unlikely to them, and that this life would include a woman, even less. Jack turned to Sam to make sure he had her attention and before any question was asked, he added "Before you ask, yes she works at the base, which makes things a little complicated as you may well be aware. And no I haven't spoken to her yet, so I will not tell you her name." Of course, it could only be somebody from the SGC, reflected Jack's male companions. Because that way it did not really leave the confines of the SGC! Jack continued "I've been postponing to tell her for too long and since now is an occasion, you are the witnesses to my commitment to tell her!" The friends recognized the trademark of their chief and started to grant a certain credit to his story. Meanwhile Jack had observed Sam during the conclusion of his speech and, seeing her blank in disbelief, he felt badly for her and wished he hadn't obeyed his impulse and announced his intentions so bluntly.
Listening to Jack, Sam had felt a wave of jealousy and despair overwhelming her. She remembered how, about ten days earlier, when she had finally come to acknowledge her feelings for her commanding officer and gathered all her courage to speak to him, she surprised him with special agent Kerry Johnson. She was still seeking a means of engaging the conversation with her superior on their relationship, when agent Johnson had appeared on the terrace with a bowl of salad in her hands, coming from the kitchen in such a familiar attitude that it did not leave any doubt about the nature of the relation between her and the general. Of the embarrassing situation which followed, Sam kept only a vague memory, the call she had received from the hospital, informing her of her father's condition, having swept everything at a stretch. But she knew she had been too late. And today was the confirmation of it.
Sam felt the stare of her three companions on her and steadied her composure. She put on a brave face and whished the general all the best for his future life. Teal'C and Daniel followed suit before proposing to go and celebrate the event at the bar downtown, their beer reserve being nearly exhausted.
Sam was standing in the entrance of the master bedroom which the general had gentlemanly left her for the time of the weekend. Unable to move inside, she embraced the room in a spanning look. In front of her was the double bed covered with a bedspread, probably chosen by Jack's ex-wife. Her bag was on it, such as she had deposited it a few hours earlier alongside her jacket which she had come to fetch. There was a bedside table with a lamp on the right side of the bed near the window which showed on the back of the cabin. And behind her, beside the door, there was a wood closet, the same style as the bed. It was just like she had imagined it, the reflecting image of the Master of the house: simple with no ornaments. Two photographs hanged on the wall opposite the window, one of Jack and his son, the other of Jack and his ex-wife. She stared for a moment at those two pictures before she finally shot herself awake and grabbed her jacket on her way out. But instead of heading out to the stairs she sat on the edge of the bed and with no apparent reason, tears appeared on her cheeks. Feeling suddenly lonely, very lonely, she started to cry and let herself go in silence to the comfort of tears she could no longer hold.
A knock on the door startled Sam. As no answer came, Jack showed his head through the half-open door and in the half-light of the evening, he did not see Sam wiping her tears. Since Sam did not move, he approached her. "Sam? Are you ok?" he asked gently. "Fine, thank you. I was just reconsidering something my father had told me." she lied while rising to leave. But Jack interposed between the door and her. Both had avoided so many times this discussion that now he had made up his mind, he wanted to make sure they would have it and see through it till the end.
He approached Sam close enough and swept away a tear on her face. At the contact of his hand, she felt her heart jump, wanted to flee but her body did not answer her orders. She would have also liked to throw herself in his arms and abandon herself in there, even for only a few seconds but then her brain and army training prevented it. She couldn't decide what to do.
Jack had left his hand on her cheek and brushed it tenderly. He wondered how he had been able to resist all these years, now that he realized how much he felt for her. Tears started to run again on Sam's cheeks. Jack took her face in both his hands and tried to wipe the salted flood which ran along it. Taking the hands of Jack in hers, she barely articulated "General" to stop him and gain some composure from him not touching her. "I am sorry general. I don't know what's happening to me." she excused herself. "Sam, don't excuse yourself for your loss and pain." admonished the general. "You and I haven't been much in touch recently" he continued matter of factly. "And I should have spoken to you earlier, but I did not know how to start."
"Tell me what?" Sam replied with some anger in her voice, tired to hear the same condescending condolences and sorry. "That you are sorry for my father? Or for me breaking up with Pete?" she paused then added with unrestrained hurt in her voice "Or about you and agent Johnson?" Sam looked up at Jack and smiled with embarrassment. "Well, everybody is sorry for me. And for the rest, you don't owe me an explanation, general. I hope that you and Kerry will be happy." she said releasing herself from Jack's touch and walking to the door.
"Sam!" Jack called. "You are mistaken about agent Johnson."
Sam stopped dead, her hand on the door knob, uncertain whether she wanted to hear the end of this or not. "First because she is a very nice girl" Jack stated before adding in a hurry, not sure he would have the courage to do it again if he missed the occasion now. "And then because she is not the woman I am in love with." At these last words, Sam felt in a state of shock, unable to move. "Sam, look at me." Jack ordered gently. She gathered all her remaining forces and, almost unwillingly, turned towards Jack anxious to hear the end of this declaration. "Sam, I did not lie when I said that it was somebody from the base but, despite the circumstances, you are wrong assuming it is Kerry." Jack took a deep breath. "And you and I very well know who this person is because we've been playing this little game of love and friendship for too long now to keep ignoring how we really feel one for the other." Encouraged by the surprising facility with which he had finally acknowledged his feelings, Jack approached Sam, cupped her face in his hands and took his time to observe her before declaring "Samantha Carter, I love you. And that dates back from a long time ago!" he added jokingly to break the solemnity of this moment.
Sam let escape a small cry of joy mixed with relief. All of a sudden, all her body failed her and became so light that she realized how heavy the world weighted on her shoulders. She grabbed Jack's arms. He smiled at her and her legs supported her again. But Sam did not have time to compose herself because she felt the lips of Jack on hers. Jack embraced her and as Sam responded to his kiss, their bodies got closer in a passionate kiss.
"Jack? Sam?" called with impatience Daniel from the porch where he was waiting with Teal'C. In a simultaneous movement, the two in love separated panting and confused. They could hear Daniel's steps approaching rapidly. Sam shot one last look at Jack and opened the door to face her friend who had come to the news. "Hey Sam, are you all right?" asked Daniel seeing traces of tears on the face of Sam who was trying to dissimulate a large smile behind her embarrassment. "Do you know where Jack is? We've been waiting for quite a while with Teal'C, and I…" He did not finish his sentence because Jack appeared right behind Sam leaving the room. "So, are we going to drink that beer or not?" asked Jack with feigned impatience to cut short any reflection while slipping on his jacket walking straight away to the stairs without a glance to Sam or Daniel but whistling away happily. Disconcerted by the behavior of the two of them Daniel turned heels without saying a word following Sam who was already close on Jack's heels.
On their way to the bar, Daniel did not say a word, absorbed in his thoughts. He had been suspecting Jack and Sam to have feelings one for the other for a long time but doubted they had crossed the Air Force rule against fraternization. But, after what he had just seen and Jack's earlier statement, he was not sure of anything anymore. At the bar, he observed his two friends but nothing in their attitude let think that they could be more than the friends and serving officers they were supposed to be. He searched his memory for evidence of a more compromising behavior, but he did not find anything peculiar. 'Of course there are those odd skirmishes they have and which they are the only ones to decode. But that has been their way of communicating since the beginning, anyway. And the loyalty they have one for the other extends somehow beyond the ordinary commanding and serving officers' duties, but hell theirs is no ordinary military job neither! Then Sam got engaged, and if the passing of Jacob had been a good reason to cancel her wedding, her breakup with Pete sounded rather unexpected.' That was where Daniel stood in his thoughts when he was startled by Teal'C who was worried about his silence and inquired about him when Jack and Sam left for the bar for more drinks and food.
"Daniel Jackson, are you feeling well?" questioned Teal'C anxious to see his friend so distant since they had left Jack's place. Daniel looked at him and asked. "Teal'C do you think there might be something going on between Jack and Sam?"
"O'Neill and Carter are old friends," reckoned the Jaffa. "But wouldn't it be against military regulation if they were more than friends?" retorted Teal'C leaning slightly his head to avoid being overheard. "Precisely!" interjected Daniel "Don't you find odd that O'Neill gives his resignation to woo a mysterious woman when Sam has just broken her engagement?" Teal'C nodded to acknowledge the strange coincidence, and Daniel added "Look, when I went upstairs to fetch them, I surprised Sam leaving Jack's room with him right behind her." Teal'C pondered this last information. "Doctor Jackson, do you insinuate that general O'Neill and Colonel Carter would have had entertained a relation contrary to the military regulation which they both swore to obey?" asked Teal'C to be certain he had well understood his friend's assertion, then objected to himself: "O'Neill lent his room to Carter for the weekend, so he could very well have gone there because he'd left his jacket in it and found Carter doing the same."
"And it took them both 10 good minutes to pick up a jacket?" pointed out Daniel. Teal'C didn't know what to answer to that. He lifted up his head, leant on the back of the bench and his eyes fixed on an imaginary point, his mouth in a thoughtful pout, he reflected. "I do not believe that general O'Neill and Colonel Carter would engage in a relationship forbidden by the Air Force regulation."
"As if it were the first time they'd overrule Air Force regulations and orders" Daniel remarked. "Oh, come on! It is obvious! Those two are as thick as thieves since the beginning. There is always one to save the other even when the situation is desperate, and don't tell me that you never noticed the broken jokes and the complicity glances they exchange when they believe that nobody pays attention!" Teal'C camped on its positions. "The colonel and general attach too much importance to their careers in the Air Force to jeopardize it."
"Right", conceded Daniel, "but remember when we met Sam from the alternative realities. The alternative Sam was married to the alternative Jack. If we consider that parallel universes are counterparts ad infinitum of the infinity of the possibilities of our universe, where each difference which separates us from the other universe result from a choice, or circumstances, other than those which we know here, but without major alteration of one's destiny; don't you think that if in a parallel universe Sam and Jack are husband and wife, they can, at different times and under different circumstances, become, in this universe also, lovers? They may even be since the alternative Sam arrival, which would have been the catalyst of their feelings."
"If what you say is true, Daniel Jackson, then I believe that we would have noticed it. Or that they would have told us. The colonel and the general are our friends. This is the kind of thing friends do share." declared Teal'C with some disappointment. "And what do you make of the colonel being engaged to Pete Shanahan?" asked Teal'C who refused to believe that his friends could hold away their story from him. "Pete?" resumed Daniel, "A misunderstanding. Tired of not being able to live in broad light their love story, Sam let herself allure by somebody who was more accessible. But just before taking the last plunge, she realized that only Jack counted for her, hence the breakup and Jack's decision to free himself from the Air Force for her. Yes! Of course! That's how it happened! In the end, our Jack is such a sentimentalist!" Daniel exclaimed in a flash of illumination. Teal'C softened, acknowledging that there was ground to his friend's reasoning. "If what you say is true, Daniel Jackson, then I believe that the right word is romantic?" he declared with a satisfied tone.
Though very happy of this discovery, Daniel wasn't entirely satisfied nevertheless. "Now we have established that they are lovers, and since they decided to hide it from us, let's make them confess it!" he declared happily. Although Teal'C regretted not being in the confidence, he was less enthusiastic than his companion on this new project. "Daniel Jackson," he said in his pontificating tone, "don't you believe that if they wanted to keep their relationship secret, they had a good reason for it? I don't believe that it is up to us to decide whether we must be put in the secrecy or not. And after all, in a sense, they just have, haven't they? O'Neill's earlier declaration was almost a confession."
"Yes, you said it, Teal'C, almost is not a confession! Doesn't it drive you nuts not to be in the confidence and not knowing exactly what is going on?" Teal'C felt uneasy in his seat, caught in between the desire to respect his friends' private life and the disappointment to be held apart from the secret. "How do you intend to make them confess, then?" he ended up asking. "I do not have the least idea!" answered Daniel, "but one would well find quickly because here is Jack back again!"
"How are you, then?" asked Daniel while Jack distributed the beverages around the table. "Well," answered Jack surprised. "As well as five minutes ago when I left to the bar to place the orders. By the way, they did not have organic-thing-burger so I took a normal burger for you. Carter is waiting for the food." he said seating himself to sip his beer. After a moment silent, Daniel asked innocently "By the way, don't you find that Sam is a little odd?"
"How is that?" Jack intervened on the defensive. "I remind you that she has just lost her father and that she broke her engagement. You would be in the same mood if you had gone through the same thing, wouldn't you?"
"Precisely," Daniel retorted. "Do you know why she broke up with Pete? Because she seemed to be very fond of him and they formed a pretty couple, don't you find?"
"No, not really," answered Jack a little upset. "I mean I do not know why they broke up and I do not know either if they formed a pretty couple. But I can tell you one thing: if you broach the subject with her; it is at your own risks! Do you really think that they formed a pretty couple?" asked incidentally Jack a bit jealous.
"Yes, why? Not you?" answered Daniel with irony.
"I don't know, I found him a little too much, how to say, invading. Yes, that is the word."
"Oh! No! It was not invasion, it was attention. That was all. But truth is they surely did not form a couple as pretty as you and… how did you say she was called?"
"Ah! Ah! Nice try Danny-boy, but I wasn't born yesterday and I never said her name and do not count on me to tell it before things are settled between us."
"On this subject, how long have you been hiding this from us?" asked Daniel as Sam returned with the food. "How long have you been hiding what?" she repeated while sitting down opposite Jack. "We were speaking about Jack and his mysterious girlfriend." explained Teal'C in a neutral voice. "Yeah?" she said looking at Jack intensely. "It is a good question, General. If you do not want to tell us who she is, at least you can tell us when you fell in love with her?" she said, a big smile on her lips, taking a chip off her plate and bringing it to her mouth without leaving Jack's eyes. Then, she shot a conniving glance at Daniel and Teal'C.
"Let's say that this is absolutely none of your business," pointed out Jack. Then he fixed Sam opposite him. "But, since you insist, I can tell you that it has been quite a long story with ups and downs and that you did not notice anything."
"So you did flirt with her in front of us?" asked the three companions at the same time. Daniel and Teal'C feigned an outraged surprise, while Sam made the innocent one. Jack realized at once he had made a fatal error and bit his lips. He tried to find a parade, but his indecision did nothing but increase the suspicions from his two male friends. Sam came to rescue him. "Maybe what the general wants to say is that this person is close to us but that we aren't necessarily in direct contact with her every day, isn't it, General?" she said rolling big eyes to Jack. The two boys turned to the general waiting for a confirmation. "Hum, yes, that's it, colonel. Even she couldn't have said better than what you said." he added a little confused but relieved to have saved appearances. The eyes of the two friends turned at once to Sam, suspecting that such a well-phrased assertion could only be the fruit of an intimate knowledge of the question. Daniel fired first. "Teal'C, don't you find that Sam looks well informed? Much more than us, anyway."
"I don't know", answered Teal'C with reserve. "Colonel Carter is a woman, and I reckon it's public fame that women from the Taurie have a sort of a gift for deciphering these things. Perhaps Colonel Carter had an intuition?" concluded Teal'C fixing Sam with his most convincing look. "That's it!" shouted Jack desperately seeking a means of putting an end to this enquiry, and without leaving Sam time to answer. Not that he was upset by the puerile attempts, which he actually found rather amusing, of his friends to worm information out of him; but for now he preferred to keep this yet to come relationship with his former officer secret a little more longer or at least concealed behind a veil of mystery.
Sam understood the maneuver and obliged him. "I had indeed an intuition. There are many women working at the base and if we consider the position of the general and ours, it is highly probable that he mixes more closely with some people we know of but we hardly meet." This did have some sense and the two friends of Sam and Jack were almost convinced. But Sam decided that any suspicion left had to be moved away. She tried a risky bet. "I remember the other day, when I went to see the general," she looked at Jack and sought a sign of approval that he gave her with mistrust, "When I arrived he was speaking on the telephone with a woman to whom he was obviously very close." This was certainly a scoop which was worth reconsidering their theory, so Daniel and Teal'C turned immediately to Jack to get a confirmation. Jack flashed a smile of satisfaction to Sam. He wouldn't speak about his relation with Kerry Johnson, but at least he would have some ground to be able to divert his friends' suspicions for some time. And for the remainder of the evening, Daniel and Teal'C with the mischievous complicity of Sam, tried to make Jack confess a yet to come love story which he took fun in concealing it in an already long lived relationship.
Although the night was peaceful, Sam couldn't sleep. She had been turning and returning in her bed for more than one hour unable to find sleep, her mind and body agitated by the events of the day. She finally rose and decided to take some fresh air under the front porch in the hope that the silence of the night and the full moon over the forest surrounding the cabin would settle her. She descended the stairs and walked across the main room with caution trying not to awake Teal'C and Daniel who were sleeping in, but floor blades cracked under her foot. Passing in front of an open window, she felt the cool air coming in and took the plaid which was folded up on top of the chair nearby to pass it on over her shoulders. She made it to the porch relieved that the household was still deeply aslept.
Sam took in a deep breath, inhaling in her lungs the humid air aromatized with the earthy scent coming from the ground and the water flowers from the pond nearby. Soothed, she contemplated for a moment the water glittering under the silver plated light of the moon and recalled when, earlier in the afternoon, she was sitting by the pond listening to Jack, Daniel and Teal'C telling anecdotes of battles lost in advance against the Goa Ulds and which they finally won in extremis thanks to their ingenuity and courage. Then came the silence that Jack had broken.
She was trying to make some sense of the consequences of that announcement when she felt a presence creeping behind her. She turned over and met with the face of her preferred general. "Hello," said Jack flashing her a big smile, "problems of insomnia?" he asked. "I thought I didn't make any noise, I am sorry if I woke you up."
"To tell the truth, it was almost perfect." he recognized, "but first of all, there was this small insignificant squeaking when you opened the door of the bedroom, then there was the slight volume of air displacement when one descends the staircases and finally, you walked on the fifth floor blade on the right of the door before leaving, and that one has a quite particular cracking." explained the Master of the house in his expert tone.
"I see, and how did you know it was me?" asked Sam amused by so many precise details.
"Ah, well by analyzing the squeaking of the floor correlated with the rate of air displacement and by calculating the ratio weight-noise, the whole put in equation with a coefficient of probability exponent square Z, I would say that it was too light to be Teal'C and too short to be Daniel…." Sam fixed Jack with an incredulous air which stopped him flat. "I wasn't sleeping either." he acknowledged sheepishly. "I was in the kitchen pouring me a glass of milk and I saw you." He confessed offering her one of the two milk glasses he was carrying. Even after all these years, Sam was amused at Jack's attempts to mimic her scientific speech. She smiled at him while he invited her to sit on the bench under the porch.
They drank their milk in silence, enjoying the moonlight and the feeling of plenitude that it brought to them. It was the first time they were alone since they had kissed and they did not know how to bring the subject. Jack first spoke. "Feeling better now?" he asked pointing at the empty glass of milk Sam was cherishing in her palms. She smiled back at him "Yes, thank you." Silence fell down back on them. But it was not like Jack to abandon so easily. So he searched a new way to break the embarrassment which was building up. "Funny evening, hey?"
Sam smiled at the memory of Daniel and Teal'C grilling Jack. "Yeah, Daniel and Teal'C wouldn't drop the subject very easy!"
"Daniel and Teal'C only?" Jack replied in shock. "But you were not the last to ask questions! And, with such an eagerness to torture me and make me confess that, if I did not know you, I would say that you had more to hide, than me to confess. Perhaps that dirty little secret of yours is even similar to mine." Jack took a break to scan Sam's face who remained impassive. "Are you in love?" he risked, finally. She flashed him a great smile. "Quite a great word! What makes you say that?" she answered willing to play the game he was gently setting. "You keep smiling, your eyes are sparkling and you are… how to say? Jolly! It's been a long time since I haven't seen you like that!"
"Ah, yes? But I can turn the compliment over to you! If I did not know you, I would say that you are in love!" Sam retorted with irony. "Yes, but that it is not fair play, because I've already confessed it!" Sam returned his smile in acknowledgement and made him the soft eyes.
"Well, we are both in love then, if I am not misunderstood." Jack summarized. But Sam did not want to surrender so quickly. So accustomed to their double meanings plays of words, it was difficult for her to shift to a more direct mode of communication. And this was a language they had developed together; it had become part of their relationship. "Let's say that you and I know well that it is not as simple." she said with seriousness in her voice that this time Jack doubted her feelings. "You are not in love, then?" he asked slightly anxious.
"I've never said that!" Jack was delighted by that answer which he took as a confession. But he couldn't help thinking that despite everything that had occurred in the course of the day, the situation was not yet as clear as he'd hoped for. "Do you thus admit that, somewhere, sometime, somebody makes your heart beat a little more quickly?" Sam did not answer at once but with a dangling of her head did not deny. Encouraged by her silent approval he ventured a little further. "Then, tell me a little about him. What does he look like? Is he a fine young man, at least?" Sam played the game. "Well, he is not like Georges Clooney, but he has funny hazelnut eyes and a lot of humor. That compensates." Jack was a little piqued not to suffer the comparison with Georges, but at least he made her laugh! "And you?" Sam retorted, "Tell me about the lucky girl."
"Ah! Well. She is a beautiful woman! She is also more intelligent than me but, sometimes, despite all her beautiful neurons which function at 200%, I wonder why she prefers to absorb herself in her job instead of enjoying life. And despite her bravery, she prefers not to engage in real life relationships with people who care for her. Of course, she had boyfriends. But she can't live true love even when it is right in front of her. Of course, I intend to change all that!" Then, Jack changed subject. "Your guy, there," he indicated with a pout which he meant to be scornful with a bit of jealousy. "Is he a good man, at least? Because even if he has the most beautiful hazelnut eyes of the Earth and he makes you laugh, it cannot be the whole thing, can it?" Sam burst in laughs at the mimicry of Jack. "He is the best of men, although it took him some time to acknowledge his feelings. I am sure that you would like him."
"Yeah? Then I'd like to meet him so I can tell you what I think. In the meantime, I have a friend who works in the secret services, I can ask her to make a discreet inquiry on him if you want!" he proposed. "Do I know her?" Sam answered ironically. "And funny enough because I have a friend who works for the police department…" But both of them realized they were engaging on moving grounds and closed that subject. They remained silent for a while measuring how far they had gone out of the comfort zone of their relationship in the past minutes. Jack broke the silence again.
"I have an idea. I tell you who I am in love with, if you tell me who your lover is." He defied Sam. He was going to pronounce her name when Sam silenced him. "I love you Jack" she murmured before kissing him. "I was mistaken. She has more guts than I thought." was Jack's last cue before he returned her kiss.
The night was still young, and they started talking about all what they had not been able to say these last years. Then, wordless and exhausted, they stopped speaking, enjoying the remainder of the night, and cuddled in each other's arms, wrapped up in Sam's bed-spread, they finally fell asleep.
It was already daylight, but the sun hadn't reached the top of the trees yet. Teal'C, as was his practice each time he slept out of the base, had woken up with the first rays of the sun. He wanted to look at the first morning gleams which reminded him a little bit of Chulack. Since the war was over and that new horizons opened to him and his people, he had become a little nostalgic. He often thought of his former life with his wife and Ryac. He stood at the entrance of the house stretching his muscles stiffen by a night sleeping on the floor of the living room. He had left the sofa to Daniel; but now he was almost regretting it and made a note to himself that next time he would abuse of the privilege of his age to spare his few hundred years old muscles. He started with some movements towards the right, then to restore symmetry, stretched to the other side. Then he froze in that position, his eyes fixed on the two bodies tenderly intertwined on the bench and sound asleep.
He rushed inside, awoke Daniel whom he literally towed outside in his pants and t-shirt and, without a word, indicated the two sleeping forms. Daniel stood gaping while Teal'C beside him was delighted in a Jaffa-like exultation. They seated themselves on the side bench and waited until Prince charming who slept on the bench awoke.
Jack first opened an eye and knew that something wasn't right but did not understand immediately what. He then opened his second eye and discovered his two companions who were observing him half a smile drawn on their lips. He then realized that the situation was slightly ambiguous and that he had to save appearances. "Guys, it is not at all what you believe!" he murmured careful, not to awake the precious load which compressed his ribs. He straightened to regain a minimum credibility. But the two friends opposite were deaf to his plea and continued to observe him in silence with a reprobatory glance and a large smile on their face.
Sam, who had her back on Daniel and Teal'C, groaned with pleasure then opened her eyes and found herself facing friendly hazelnut eyes she loved. She smiled to him. "Hello! I must be daydreaming?" Jack smiled back, waved a no with his head and while Sam stretched to kiss him, he pointed his index in the direction of his two friends opposite him. Sam turned her head and discovered Teal'C and Daniel who offered her the most beautiful banana smiles she ever saw. They were fixing them both with an air of triumphant victory. "It is not a daydream, then, because in my dreams you are never there." She addressed the two big children who smiled blissfully in front of her. Jack wanted to speak, to try to protect, for lack of a secret which was not one any more, at least a little of their intimacy, but Sam, who had guessed his intention stopped him. "Don't mind, Jack. I believe they know very well what went on last night or at least they have an idea, haven't you?" she said turning back to them.
The two friends did not answer directly but twisted on their seat like young children on Christmas morning. "Ok, you two," they waved at Sam and Jack, "How long has it been going on this story?" they asked while exploding of joy unable to hold on it anymore. Then they embraced Jack and Sam to congratulate them while bombarding them with friendly reproaches. "Easy, easy kids! Not so fast!" Jack defended trying to push them back gently. "Every things in its time. You will have the complete account of the insane adventures of Uncle Jack and Aunt Samantha in its times. But first, let's have breakfast! Go, shoo, I am starving!" he said rising with every possible dignity after one night spent in the open air on an uncomfortable bench. Teal'C and Daniel left and headed for the kitchen. Sam followed them but Jack retained her. "Hey! No rush! We haven't have time to say even hello!" he murmured attracting her against him and stealing a kiss. But as Jack did not release her, Sam suspected something. "Knee blocked, eh?" As an answer, Sam obtained a grimace. She then invited Jack to rest against her and they entered the living room. "That's what it comes to when you fall in love of an old catch like me!" Jack declared by tightening Sam against him. "Well, at least I can walk to fall in love… Still, should I be aware of other things which don't work well with you before it becomes more serious between us?" Sam teased. "How that?" answered Jack. "I believed that things were already serious between us, we spent the night together!"
"Yes, but next time, imagine how serious it can be not speaking all the night…" she murmured in his hear before leaving him to join the others in the kitchen.