Some readers asked me to continue - so one more chapter for you fluff bunnies.
"Jack, Sam – what's going on?" Daniel followed them to the table.
"I think it's pretty obvious Daniel", Jack smirked, reaching for a plate and helping himself to some lasagna.
"But – but what about Sam's boyfriend?"
"Sam's - ?" Jack turned slowly and stared at his friend.
"Yeah. I told you – and she admitted it. She's seeing someone."
Jack rolled his eyes and looked like he was going to say something when Sam reached over and put her hand on his arm to stop him.
"Daniel", she said gently, knowing this whole thing had upset him. "Jack is my boyfriend."
"But – what about the other guy?"
"There was no other guy!" Jack practically shouted.
"Yes there was. Look, he even gave her that necklace."
By this time even Teal'c was looking exasperated, obviously having understood the situation quickly. Jack simply looked frustrated.
"I gave her that necklace", he finally muttered, his voice weary.
"You? But – what about the office guy?"
"What office guy?" The General looked back and forth between Daniel and Sam. Now he was confused.
"Sam said she was dating some guy who worked in an office. The guy who gave her that necklace."
"Damn it Daniel! I gave her the necklace and I don't know anything about an office guy."
Sam sighed and shook her head. "I was talking about Jack. Now that he's at the Pentagon he works in an office. "
"Oh." Daniel frowned as if still trying to figure things out. "So – there was no other guy?"
"No Daniel. There was no other guy", Jack said carefully.
"And you gave her that necklace?"
"Yes Daniel, I gave her that necklace", he answered slowly, deliberately.
"Oh." Daniel bit his lip. "But that's – romantic."
Jack simply raised his eyebrow in reply.
"But you're not romantic Jack", his friend continued.
"I'm not – how the hell would you know?" Jack looked at him in irritation.
"Well, I've known you for almost nine years and I've never seen you be romantic. I mean, there was Kynthia but that doesn't count because you were drugged – and I didn't see you uh – and there was Laira – but we weren't there either. And you certainly weren't very romantic around Kerry – oops, does Sam know about -"
"Well if she didn't before she certainly does now!" Jack murmured sarcastically.
"I know Daniel", Sam grinned slightly, enjoying both Daniel's commentary and Jack's frustration. It was like old times.
"So – it's just not like you Jack."
O'Neill stared at his friend and then took a few steps closer to him and put his arm around him. "You didn't tell me Jackson", he crooned. "If only I'd known you wanted more romance! Think of all those missions wasted, fighting the bad guys, when we could have been staring at the moon –"
Daniel pulled away sharply. "Yech! I didn't mean I wanted you to be romantic with me! Yech", he repeated.
"Then with whom? I don't think Teal'c really wanted a dozen roses after a mission and Sam – well, I could have gotten court martialed for being romantic with my 2IC – so that kind of reduces the opportunities."
"Okay, okay – still, I think -" he suddenly stopped as if just realizing something. "You lied to me!" he turned towards Sam accusingly. "You let me believe you were seeing someone else."
"I believe they were simply pulling the sheep over your eyes Daniel." Teal'c finally spoke up, to the gratitude of the other two in the room.
Daniel blinked. "Uh – that's wool Teal'c. And I know that's what they were doing. I just want to know why."
"Come on folks – serve yourselves something to eat and let's sit down. Sam and I will explain everything."
Once they were all seated everyone looked expectantly at Jack – who immediately turned to Sam.
She sighed and nodded. It had been her idea to tease Daniel, so it was only fair that she explain. She took a deep breath and started to speak, a serious tone to her voice. "I'm sorry for not telling you both", she looked at her two teammates. "It's not that Jack and I were trying to hide anything, it was just that before this week we weren't seeing each other."
"But we wanted to", Jack smirked.
"Jack! We were – exploring the possibilities. We were talking almost every day on the phone and just getting to know each other better as Jack and Sam rather than as officers. Does that make sense?"
"It does indeed Colonel Carter", Teal'c answered. "Do not fear that I am offended. I believed it was something like that."
"Hey – don't tell me you knew because I won't believe it. You were as deceived as I was."
"I was, until I saw O'Neill and then I understood."
"Okay fine. I get why you didn't want to let everyone know, but after your date you could have told me instead of lying Sam."
"I know Daniel but – I kind of wanted to teach you a lesson."
Daniel's brows grew closer together and his mouth opened. "A lesson? What kind of a lesson?"
"To not interfere", Jack said softly.
"Interfere? I didn't interfere. I didn't even know about the two of you."
"What about the call to Jack about me 'dating someone'?"
"Uh – okay, but that wasn't interfering. I just didn't want Jack to get hurt."
"Well he was hurt Daniel – and needlessly. Look, all you had to do was ask me before speaking with him. Instead you rushed in and told him something that wasn't true and upset him terribly."
"He didn't seem upset", he tried to justify himself.
"Seem being the operative word Daniel. Come on, you know Jack by now. He's a master at pretending things are okay when they're not. Believe me, he was upset."
Jack looked vaguely uncomfortable and stared at the ground.
"Jack?" Daniel asked carefully. "Is this true?"
"I was fine." He glanced at Sam then and grimaced at her fierce look. "Okay. So maybe I was a bit upset." When Sam kept glaring he frowned. "All right, all right – I was really upset. You happy now?" he glared back at Sam.
She smiled slightly and nodded. "See Daniel. You hurt him when you didn't need to. And you almost screwed things up for us. So next time -"
" – next time", Jack interrupted, "Keep your nose out of our business!" Jack's comment immediately caused Daniel to look guilty and ashamed, which in turn made Jack feel like he'd just kicked a puppy. He sighed and leaned over to his friend and put his hand on his shoulder. "Daniel – I know you meant well and both of us really do appreciate the fact that you care about us. Next time – just talk to us first, okay? By the way - I wasn't really angry at you for this."
"It's true Daniel. Jack was okay with it. It was me that was a bit – upset. He wanted to tell you about us but I wouldn't let him."
Daniel glanced between the two of them, a look of resignation on his face. "I'm sorry Sam, Jack. I didn't mean to screw things up or to hurt you and I promise I won't jump to conclusions next time – although I would like to point out that it was Cassie who started this whole thing! Still, I should have kept my mouth shut -"
"Never that Daniel", Jack smirked. "It wouldn't be you if you did that. Just – be careful."
"With the two of you a unit now?" grinned Daniel. "Damn right I'll be careful." He turned to Teal'c. "Do you have any idea what it's going to be like with the two of them together?"
"I do indeed. It is – very disturbing", Teal'c intoned.
Jack just grinned and moved closer to Sam and put his arm around her shoulders. "Yup – and you'd better get used to it."
After that the four friends spent the evening laughing and talking – and thinking up ways of getting Cassie for her part in the whole fiasco. In the end they decided to leave it up to Sam – who had another definite gleam in her eye. Jack suddenly felt sorry for the young college woman. She was going to find out that Sam wasn't always the sweet, kind aunt she'd shown herself to be around Cassie.
After Daniel and Teal'c left for the evening Jack stood up to help clear up. He and Sam worked silently, side by side for a few minutes.
"That was nice", he finally spoke, glancing briefly at her. He frowned slightly – something was up but he couldn't tell what it was. "You okay?"
"Huh?" she looked at him in surprise. "Oh yeah – fine. Just a bit tired I guess."
"Why don't I finish up in here and you can go to bed. I'm not that tired so I don't mind."
"No – that's okay", she gave him a brief smile. "I'm fine."
They continued to work and Jack grew more concerned. There was something on her mind but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it could be. The evening had gone well and she'd seemed happy. She'd laughed and teased Daniel – and him – and even Teal'c a few times. He wondered briefly if she was worried about Cassie, but was pretty sure that wasn't it. He debated pressing her on it but decided not to. Their relationship was still too new and he didn't want to start encroaching on her privacy. Even though he knew her so well, in so many ways, there were still things they needed to learn about each other. He also knew that she would let him into her life, but at her speed, not his.
He sighed and put the last plate away, feeling as if the evening was ending on a down note, after having been so positive. "I guess I'll head to bed", he finally said.
Sam jerked as if startled, and seemed to realize that the dishes were all done and she was standing staring at the soapy water in the sink. "Oh – I – fine. Have a good night."
"You too Sam." He walked up to her and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. For some reason he was sure that's all she wanted right now. He walked to his bedroom feeling tense and worried. He wondered if she was suddenly having doubts.
Sam stared after him, watching him head down the hall to the spare bedroom. She touched her cheek, feeling suddenly like she wanted to cry. What had happened? One moment she'd been happy and the next Jack had kissed her as if she were his sister and had gone to bed.
She stayed in the kitchen, trying to figure out what was going on. It was as she thought back over the last half hour that she realized. "Damn!" she muttered. "It was her. She'd been thinking about something and had probably given him the idea she was mad or upset. In fact the truth had been just the opposite. She'd been thinking about their sleeping arrangement and had realized that she was totally tired and fed up with taking it slowly. She loved him – he loved her – and she wanted him. Every night she lay in bed dreaming about him coming into her and making love with her. She'd hugged more pillows and read more books trying to get her mind off him than she could count.
So what had she done – she'd practically ignored him and, knowing Jack, had probably freaked him out. She could just imagine him sitting on his bed, worrying that she'd changed her mind or that she was upset. Silly man! She'd just have to prove to him that she was not that kind of a person. There was no way she'd ever change her mind – except about taking it slowly.
She threw the dish rag into the sink and made her way – with determination – down the hall and to her bedroom. She was going to show that man!
He finally decided to get ready for bed. There was no point sitting and worrying about it – about her. Maybe she was tired. It had been a long day and she hadn't expected him. He quickly threw off his clothes, leaving on only his shorts. He was too warm to put on sweats, although he had them nearby in case he needed to use the bathroom. He wondered briefly if he should go and take a cold shower but realized it would only give him temporary respite. The moment he was back in bed he'd start thinking – dreaming – of her and then he'd want to get up and go to her and – who the hell was it who had said they should go slowly? He punched his pillow and tried to lie down. He wanted her. God, did he want her.
He forced himself to think of anything else to stop from thinking of her. He even tried to count the tiny polka dots on the curtains – but that only reminded him that they were Sam's curtains, and she was next door, alone in her bed and he was here, alone in his and he wanted to be in with her, not here and – hell, maybe he should start listing the names of all the constellations! Of course that reminded him of travelling in space, which reminded him of Sam, who was next door, alone in bed – probably in some gorgeous, sexy nightgown – or sexy pajamas or sweats or hell combat gear and HE WANTED HER!
He slammed the pillow again. Snakes – that's what he'd think about. Slimy, evil, power hungry snakes intent on taking over the world. Except Sam had stopped them. She was a genius and she was all alone, next door, in bed! He WANTED her.
He flipped over onto his stomach – but that didn't work. Nor did doing sit ups, push-ups or thinking about his old commander in basic training who he'd detested. Of course that made him think about the fact that he'd been Sam's commander but that he wasn't anymore and that she was alone, next door, probably totally naked, lying in bed, waiting -"
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft tap on the door. He sat up as if a bomb had gone off, startled and completely confused. He shook his head slightly and grabbed the covers and pulled them over himself. The last thing he needed was to have her see that – "Come in", he called.
The door opened slowly until he could see Sam, framed in the doorway. Her face was illuminated by the moonlight and she looked beautiful. He sucked in a breath – startled once more, but this time by how lucky he was.
"What is it?" he asked gently, wishing he could go to her but knowing he was in no shape to be walking around. "Are you okay?"
She nodded slightly and took a step forward. She stopped and bit her lip.
"What is it Sam?" he frowned, suddenly feeling worried. He quickly flipped back the covers and got out of bed. His concern – and the cool night air – quickly helping to remove the evidence of his former thoughts. He moved to her side and reached with his hands to take her arms. He noted briefly that she was dressed in a robe and appeared nervous. "Are you all right?"
She nodded and attempted to smile. "I'm fine", she finally spoke, so softly he could barely hear. "I just -"
"What? What is it?" He drew her closer and she put her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He could feel himself relax. Whatever it was, it couldn't be about him – about them.
"I missed you", she whispered. "Jack?" she pulled her head back until she was looking at him. "I – don't want to be alone", she told him. She bit her lip again, a sign of nervousness, but didn't look away.
He could feel himself flush – the desire running through him. He wanted to pull her closer – feel her body against his – but he still wasn't quite sure what she meant. Did she just need his companionship or did she want more? "You want to stay with me?" he finally asked gently.
She nodded and leaned into him again. "If you'll have me?"
"If – Sam, there's nothing I want more than to have you with me always", he murmured into her hair.
"You might find that a bit awkward", she giggled.
"Are you laughing at me Colonel?" he asked, with a pretended fierceness.
"Uh huh", she nodded. "So – are you going to stand there all day Airman – or are you going to take me to bed?"
He lifted his eyebrows at that and this time it was he who leaned back. "Uh – let me get this straight Sam", he cleared his throat. "Do you want to – uh – just stay here or -"
"I want you to make love with me", she said plainly.
He sighed in relief – and then smiled – and then swung her up in his arms and walked to the bed where he sat her down gently. "Thank God! I really didn't know how I was going to survive having you here and not make love."
She smiled, the relief and joy shining in her eyes. "Well then, what are you waiting for?"
He returned her smile and then slowly reached down and untied the belt on her robe. As it fell away he sucked in another breath. Oh God – she wasn't wearing anything under the robe.
He slowly grinned. "Oh yeah", he murmured as gently pushed her back and got on the bed beside her. He wasn't going to have to count anything tonight. He was going to be much too busy.