Lovers and Friends
Chapter Two: Confessions
Sam joined Teal'c, Carolyn and Jack in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. "Where's everyone else?"
"ColonelMitchell called and will arrive shortly." Teal'c studied the menu that lay open on the table before him.
Jack didn't look up from his menu. "And the other… the, ah…other…"
Sam grinned across the table at Jack. "The other two?"
"Yeah. Them. Haven't heard a peep."
"Call them." Sam suggested, taking a menu from the waitress.
"Call them! Are you nuts? I'm not calling either one of them. You call."
Setting the menu aside, Sam studied Jack. "Sir, you're the one who set up the private tour of the Smithsonian. If Daniel misses that…well I wouldn't want to speculate."
"Speculate on what?" Cam grabbed the chair between Jack and Carolyn, stealing the menu that Teal'c still had his eyes on. "I'm starvin'. Where's Jackson and … oh. That's what you're speculatin' on."
"No. Carter thinks I should call him so he doesn't miss the tour." Jack took the coffee carafe on the table and refilled his cup; his eyes lifting to Carter, then back down quickly. How does she do that? Call him Sir just like nothing happened.
"ColonelCarter is correct. You should give DanielJackson a courtesy wake up call." Teal'c snatched his menu back from Mitchell.
"Pfft!" Jack derided. "It's way too late for any "wake up call" for him. Mitchell, you call him, you're his CO."
Cam scooted his hair closer to Carolyn to share her menu. "The only time Jackson has a CO is off world and you know it. You're his friend, it's your party, I agree with Sam. You call. We're his teammates. We need to stay out of this…Sir."
"Fine!" Jack pulled his phone out.
……
Vala was sprawled on her stomach taking up three quarters of the bed. A tangled mass of dark hair covered the half of her face that was turned up and she blew at the hair in irritation. Eyes closed, her hand was feeling around for the obnoxious ringing phone without success.
There wasn't a sheet, cover or pillow on the bed. The body beside her didn't budge, not a sound was coming from him. Great, now her phone was ringing across the room on the dresser, when it stopped his started up again. Without opening her eyes she stretched her arm as far as she could reach, finally locating the pesky contraption on the nightstand, but the ringing stopped. Suddenly, the hotel room phone rang, and rang and rang. Vala knocked it off the stand and was rewarded with a low dull tone as it hit the floor.
Again, his started ringing. Slowly she manipulated Daniel's cell phone until she could grasp it, but it stopped ringing and hers started. Slapping the cell phone on the bed with one hand her other hand sought out Daniel. She touched warm flesh, smiled languorously and snuggled closer leaving the other half of the bed empty. His rang again. "'llo?" Her sleepy voice rasped into the phone.
"Daniel?"
"Close, but no." Vala shoved an elbow into Daniel's side and was rewarded with an awakening grunt. "Darling, it's for you."
Daniel struggled to come to terms with leaving a deep, peaceful sleep to find blinding daylight, an elbow in his side and a phone hovering over his face. "Who is it?" He mumbled.
"Daniel?" Neither of the couple heard the voice question through the speaker.
"I have no idea." Vala turned to face him. "Where's my pillow?"
"On the floor, I guess." He smiled and kissed her nose. "Where are my glasses?"
"Why would you need your glasses, if you get any closer you'll be…" Daniel cut off her words with his mouth.
"Daniel!" Again, neither of them heard Jack.
"Stop kissing me like that, that's cheating. I need a pillow if you insist that I sleep. Where are my covers?" Vala pouted her lips against his neck.
"Daniel?" Jack could hear them talking and a flush was creeping up his neck.
"On the floor, remember, you got a little feisty? Here, use my arm for a pillow."
"Much better. Now, I'm cold. Could you possibly fix that?" Vala still held the phone open and placed it on the bed by Daniel's head.
Rolling her to her back, Daniel covered her body with his. "Better?"
……
Jack literally tossed the cell phone across the table and it landed smack in the middle of Teal'c's ketchup covered hash browned potatoes. "For cryin' out loud, I'll be brain damaged for the rest of my life!"
With an arched brow, Teal'c removed the cell phone, wiped it clean with a napkin and handed it across to Jack, who shook his head and held out his hand in a stop gesture, obviously having no intention of touching it.
"What'd he say?" Sam was innocently blinking her doe eyes at him and Jack squinted menacingly.
"You set me up knowing full well…well, knowing…expecting…they were…" Now he was rolling one hand around in circles, "ya know, they would be…damn it Carter!"
"It's safe to assume they won't be going with us?" Carolyn asked knowingly.
"Right." Jack went back to eating his breakfast, but his appetite was gone. "We have a meeting at 1300 hours, and you Colonel Innocent," he took a quick glance at Carter, "will make sure that both of them are there."
"Yes Sir, no problem. If they're not out of there by noon, I'll have Cam call in the Marines."
……
Returning from the Smithsonian, Mitchell led the way into the hotel. "Listen, don't tell Daniel about getting to visit the vault, he'll bust a vein and I'll have to deal with it."
"Are you kidding me? Hell, I can't wait to tell him, he should have… ah there's the love doctor now." Jack took off into the restaurant, spotting Vala and Daniel in a corner table.
"Oh boy," Sam frowned at Jack's back. "I'm gonna go change. I don't want to see this or hear it." She shivered in pretended dread and headed for the elevators.
Cam took out after Sam unwilling to be any part of Jack's scheme, but before he got too far, Carolyn looped an arm through his. "I'd like to see this; I've only heard the tales. Besides, I should be handy in case of blood shed. Come on." She towed him along.
Standing in the lobby, hands behind his back, Teal'c looked from Sam's direction to Jack's unsure of what he wanted to do. When he heard O'Neill's raised voice say – "I did call!" Teal'c took off for the hotel gym.
……
"Jack, there were three phones in that room. I think I'd know if someone called!" Daniel stabbed the stack of pancakes before him.
"Do ya now?" Jack turned to stare blank faced and unwaveringly at Vala.
"Why are you looking at me? I certainly wouldn't know if you called or not. I mean, I wasn't even there. Really. Ask anyone, they can vouch for me." Vala swiped an arm out across the room.
"Three phones? He said three phones." Jack remained firm.
"Agh! That's hardly evidence, he probably miscounted. He is the absent minded professor, after all." She sat up straight, blueberries and whipped cream on the spoon wavering near her mouth.
"The point is, Jack, you failed to inform me of the private vault tour and then you managed to make me miss it! I may as well go home!"
Cam was scanning the room as if he sought some evil doer and Carolyn was smiling idiotically at the other three. "It was really the most interesting thing I have ever seen." She baited and Cam turned to stare open mouthed at her, incredulous that she would choose to add fuel to a fire that was about to turn into a blazing fireball all on its own.
Jack turned to Carolyn with a grin and the thought that he knew he liked her, she had spunk. Vala went big eyed and Daniel, face reddening with irritation, glared at Carolyn.
"Ah, we don't have a lot of time, guys. We have a summit to attend in a little over two hours. I think we should all head back upstairs. Don't you?" Cam folded his arms across his chest.
"Daniel," Jack said taking the chair across from him, "I called. She answered," he pointed at Vala, "and then…well…I, ah…waited. And waited. And waited. Did ya check your phone to see if there were any missed calls? Hand it over."
Daniel pulled his phone out and checked the missed calls, glanced confused at Vala and then to Jack. "Okay, so you did call. Sorry. I guess I was asleep."
"Oh, right. Asleep. That's good. Yeah, sureyabetcha, asleep. 'Use my arm for a pillow', right. Asleep."
Daniel flushed deep red. Vala's mouth fell open – wide.
Mitchell grabbed Carolyn's arm and pulled her along. "Come on Doc, I think it's time to skedaddle."
"As much as I hate missing this, I think you're right." Carolyn waved to Vala and hurried out with Mitchell.
Jack's hand shot out, "Come on Vala, let's see yours."
"I lost it. I think Daniel may have found it and had it in his room."
"Ah…sorry, must have been someone else who answered and needed a pillow, right?"
Vala snapped her head around to Daniel. "You had someone in your room last night?! Daniel, really, that's just sordid! And, I thought we might have something going on. Obviously not. Well, then, I have to change." Vala shot out of her chair and dashed off.
Clearing his throat nervously, Daniel admitted, "Okay, you called. I get it. It wasn't your fault. Let's drop it."
"So, she finally got to you?"
"What?"
"Oh come on Daniel. No sense denying it. I saw you two dancing last night. Dancing! Crap, I didn't even know you could dance. And you two looked like a trailer for some sappy romance movie." Jack reached for Daniel's fork and took a huge bite of his pancakes.
Daniel took his glasses off, rubbed his eyes and put them back on. "I'm crazy in love with her. Is that not the weirdest thing you ever heard of?"
"Nooo. I've seen it once before. You fall Daniel, you fall hard and you choose wisely. Nothing weird about that. I have to tell you, she's perfect for you. And I'm sorry you missed the vault tour. I set you and Vala up for a private tour tomorrow."
"You never cease to amaze me."
"Yeah, well, you too. It's… well, it's nice to see you happy. I don't get to see a lot of that." Jack ducked his head and fiddled with a spoon on the table.
"Right. Me neither, you I mean, you happy. Strange, huh?"
"Yeah. We kinda started off unhappy didn't we?"
"Yep." Daniel sipped his coffee.
"But even with all the crap hanging over us we somehow managed to find our way didn't we?" Jack spun the spoon around.
"We did. You and Sam, me and Vala. Who knew?"
"Yeah. Well, we have to meet with the President, so I guess we outta go."
"Right." Daniel motioned the waiter over.
"I'll get it." Jack took the bill from Daniel's hand.
Daniel took it back, "No. That's okay, I've got it." He reached for his wallet.
"I said I'd get it!" Jack snatched the ticket again.
"You can be such and ass, Jack. I can pay for it. I'm not poor, you know." Daniel got a hold of it one more time.
"Give me the god damned check, I invited you guys here, I'm picking up the tab." The check traveled once again back across the table.
"You know how much diamonds cost nowadays?" Daniel pulled the check from Jack's fingers, placed his credit card on it and handed it to the waiter.
"What the hell does that mean?" Jack's frown was increasing.
"It means you probably have an engagement ring to buy and they cost thousands of dollars. You better start watching how much money you spend." Grinning like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary, Daniel felt elated by Jack's astonished expression.
"Thousands? And just how the hell do you know what they cost?"
Ignoring the question Daniel signed the receipt and stood. "Gotta go. Nice chat." He left Jack sitting stunned at the table.
……
The general and the colonel standing at the elevator doors made a handsome couple in dress blues, medals gleaming. Silently they both watched the elevator buttons light up on its way to the top floor to pick them up.
Jack, hands in his pockets, turned to Sam. "You want a big wedding?" He was met with a momentary blank stare.
"I'm getting married?" Sam brushed at her spotless uniform.
"Yeah. Didn't I ask? I remember asking last night. Didn't I?"
"Nooo."
"Well…how 'bout it?"
"How 'bout you ask?"
"I just did."
"No you didn't" She couldn't look at him. He was so handsome in his cap and uniform he made her head swoon.
"We're not spring chickens, Carter, why get all flowery?" She finally looked up with that rapid blink glance of hers, but said nothing. "I got bad knees for cryin' out loud."
A sigh, followed by that blank astrophysicist induced stare had him squirming. Finally she said, "I still consider myself a spring chicken. You, well…"
"Well what?"
"You know, rooster…"
"So I'm too old for you…is that a no?"
"Hardly. Besides, you haven't asked."
"Okay, fine!"
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Ask."
He rolled his eyes, slumped his shoulders and took her hand. "Samantha Carter, will you marry me? That's all you're gonna get."
"That works."
"So?"
"So what?"
"For cryin' out loud! Yes or no!"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yep."
"Wow. Are you sure?"
"Of course. I've already got the dress. Vala and I picked it out about a week ago and I bought it. She insisted."
"Did ya now? Bought the dress. Knew all along. Tortured me anyway."
"Jack, shut up, will you?" She leaned over and kissed him as the elevator doors opened and Teal'c walked out.
Jack pulled her flush against him, knocking his cap askew and kissed the holy Hannah right out of her. She melted into his embrace and kissed the crap right out of him.
"Either you two have finally come to your sense or one or the other of you requires mouth to mouth resuscitation."
They jumped apart. "Funny one, T." Jack grinned taking his cap in hand as Sam straightened her uniform. "Meet the future Mrs. O'Neill."
"SamanthaCarterO'Neill. It has a pleasant ring to it, does it not?" He bowed and sauntered down the hall.