Day 31

Jack awoke with an armful of Carter. Her cheek was pressed against his bare chest and he was suddenly glad he'd opted to sleep shirtless the night before. He'd asked her if she minded. She'd said she didn't. And so, he'd slipped into bed in just his shorts.

They'd started out the night each on their own side of the bed. And he knew, from experience, that they were capable of staying on their own sides. But this wasn't the first time he'd found Carter close to him when he woke up. That didn't mean that this time wasn't thrilling.

He took some time to appreciate the feeling of her warm exhalations tickling his skin. The weight of her on his upper arm causing pins and needles in his fingertips. The way the skin of her upper arm felt under his palm.

As he lay there, appreciating her, she slid her hand across his belly, rolled her body just slightly until he was in her half embrace as well. He tried not to notice the way her breasts were pressed into his ribs, but he couldn't help but feel their soft fullness.

He also couldn't help the way his body reacted to her, so close, so warm, so... Carter.

She came awake slowly, by degrees. Her hand smoothed over his skin, her cheek rubbed against him, she turned her face into him, she took a long, deep breath, and she sighed. He wondered if she thought him asleep. If she was reveling in him the way he had in her. Her body stretched along his and she clearly made the decision not to get out of bed just yet because her thigh slid across his, the heavy weight of her leg a welcome pressure, the warmth of the center of her causing his body to tighten further.

She moved languidly, stroking him, settling against him and then moving away just so she could come back to him. Her sinuous movements put him in mind of more sensual things and he couldn't help the sound that escaped from his throat. She froze, her thigh high on his, her hand over his belly button, her lips practically pressed against one pec.

"Good morning," he rumbled, choosing to not blow off her closeness. He tightened his hold on her and rolled to face her. The movement hooked her thigh over his hip.

She buried her face in his chest and mumbled something he couldn't make out, but she didn't try to extricate herself from him, either.

He tangled his free hand in her hair and gently tugged her face away from his chest. "What was that?"

Her eyes were screwed tightly shut. "I said, good morning, sir."

He couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at her use of his honorific. A smile bloomed across his face. She started to slide her thigh away from him, and he quickly disentangled himself from her hair, then dropped his hand to her thigh. He didn't hold her in place, but he let his hand drag along her smooth skin and tried not to think about her nightdress bunched up around her hips.

They'd cleared several hurdles all in one morning, it seemed. And neither one of them seemed disinclined to let it happen. It was good to know that the things he was feeling for her might actually be reciprocated.

He slid his hand up her body, over her hip, along her ribs... and tried very hard to resist the urge to roll her underneath him. She licked her lips. Then she closed the distance between them, pressing her face into him once more. She felt hotter than she had before, like she was blushing, only he hadn't noticed because he'd been looking at her mouth.

He tightened his arms around her until she was in a proper embrace. Deciding to give them both a reprieve, he pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head, then released her and rolled out of bed.

Hadn't he just the night before vowed to not feel the way he was feeling? But, that had been before knowing she was feeling at least some of the same.

He bent down and snagged a uniform off the top of the clean clothes pile and then disappeared behind the screen use the chamber pot and then dress, hopefully before she noticed, if she hadn't already, the effect she'd had on him.

He was going to think about kissing her all day.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Her whole body was buzzing even hours after she'd awoken in his arms. He'd smelled so good, and felt so warm, and her body had hummed just being so close to him, that she'd thrown caution to the wind and enjoyed him. And then she'd discovered he was awake. She felt her face flush with embarrassment even now.

But he hadn't admonished her, he'd touched her. His big, warm hands had been on her body. He'd pressed his lips to the crown of her head before he beat a hasty retreat from their bed. She didn't think it was embarrassment that caused him to flee, or discomfort. She thought, perhaps, that it had been propriety that caused him to leave her in the cocoon of blankets alone.

What had happened between them that morning was not supposed to happen. He knew that just as well as she did. Granted, it had been her fault – all of it. But she wasn't going to offer to let him bring her up on charges. If he wanted to do that, he'd have to do it without her blessing. But she was ninety-five percent positive that he was more likely to incite a repeat performance than he was to convene a disciplinary board.

The truth was, she'd been fighting her attraction to him for a long time. And this mission had done little to disabuse her of the notion that she wanted him. Plus, it was almost that time of the month again, and as she always did, she felt a little edgier than usual.

She went back to scrubbing dirt out of the knees of his pants – either a remnant of some play time with Uki or some work for Arnaq. But ultimately the repetitive nature of the chore of laundry allowed her mind plenty of room to travel. She relived every moment they'd shared together in bed that morning, and daydreamed about him walking in on her after her bath the previous night, and how things might have gone if he wasn't such a gentleman or if she was more wanton.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Arnaq approach.

"Good things on your mind?" Arnaq asked her. The question was light, but Arnaq had a heaviness about her, steel in her eyes, and a strong set around her mouth.

"Um, yeah," Sam stammered. "Why?"

"You have a smile on your face like I have never seen."

Sam flushed with embarrassment. "Memories, that's all."

"I am glad you have memories that can put that look on your face." Arnaq sounded a little wistful and Sam figured she was recalling her own good memories of her husband.

Sam smiled wanly. "Something I can do for you?"

Arnaq shook her head, turned over the bucket she was carrying, and sat down. "Innugati tells me that you will be leaving again tomorrow, to try to find more crystals."

"That's the plan."

"This village, it is much further than the others, and you must pass through mountains."

"Yes."

"The great beasts that the men hunt are many in that area. Please, be careful," the woman pleaded. "To lose my daughter so soon after-"

Sam knew the request for what it was. Arnaq was worried for her only daughter. And so soon after losing Asuilaak, she couldn't bear to lose another member of her family. "Of course."

Arnaq nodded and then stood, picking up her bucket. "Tell me, Sam, is it Jack that puts that look on your face?"

Sam felt herself flush again.

Arnaq laughed musically. "I thought so," she said before leaving Sam to her laundry.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack pulled his hat off and wiped his sweaty brow. He'd passed the time on his watch thinking about all the things he could have done to Carter between the bath last night and bed this morning. It had been years since he'd been so keyed up for so long.

When his relief had shown up, he'd been grateful. He needed to get his mind onto something else, and he had plans to see Uki once his watch was over. Jack made his way to the center of the village where Uki could usually be found playing with the other children.

Jack asked around but none of the other kids could tell him where Uki was. A quick stop by Arnaq's hut and he learned that the boy had been gone for hours. He wasn't sure what caused him to look over to the hook on the wall where Uki's bow had hung next to his father's. When he saw both hooks were empty – Asuilaak's as a matter of course now – his blood ran cold. The boy knew he wasn't to practice with his bow and arrow alone.

And just that morning, before Jack's shift with the device, Uki had made a short – and what Jack had thought harmless – observation about his family's meat stores. Suddenly, Jack knew just where Uki was and what he was up to. But... where to find the kid?

Arnaq panicked the moment Jack voiced his concern and told Jack in which direction the hunters generally went. She untied her apron and flung the thing aside but Jack told her to stay, he'd bring Uki home. Besides, he was going to have to lump it to catch up with the boy and Arnaq would only make the process slower.

He didn't even take the time to tell Sam where he was going. He set out after Uki at a light jog and just hoped he'd make it to the boy before he managed to get himself hurt.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tulimak stewed as he sat at the table in the center of the village. Word had it that the female newcomer had been collecting crystals from the neighboring villages in an attempt to fix the devices that would call the Goa'uld. He could not allow that to happen.

The male newcomer had organized the villagers who opposed Tulimak until there was always someone with the devices, so he could not further damage them. He had to come up with some other plan.

If what he had heard was true, then the female would be venturing out once more. He would have to attempt to stop her then. Innugati had been accompanying her but the girl would not be an issue, Tulimak was certain.

He should have found a way to kill Asuilaak's entire family, the meddlesome bunch. He sneered. Without Arnaq having drawn the newcomers into her fold, none of this would be happening. It was easy enough to control the villagers, but these outsiders apparently had no concern for how things were to be done in the village.

Tulimak knew that he was opposed by many. But he had worked closely with the Goa'uld in his youth so he knew what the Gods were capable of. Calling them back would mean certain enslavement for them all and death for many.

Despite what was the common belief, it was not that he was unconcerned about the way the villagers were falling sick. He even had a village elder – a healer – working with some of the sick in an attempt to make them well. He did not believe that the devices were the answer. They were nothing but a beacon that would doom them all.

Tulimak did not consider himself a bad man. He did what he had to do to protect the people of his village and nothing more. If it meant that others had to die to that end, then so be it. That female was trouble, he knew it deep down in the pit of his stomach. She could not be allowed to make it to her next destination.

He would do whatever was necessary to stop her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sam was sitting with Arnaq at her table when Jack ushered Uki into the hut, his large hand on the boy's shoulder. Uki looked like he'd been dressed down by an angry colonel and like he was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Arnaq's initial reaction was to wrap the boy into a hug, pressing him into her ample body until he sighed and started to push out of her embrace. Her next reaction was to grasp him by the shoulders and hold him out at arm's length and give him the sharp side of her tongue.

Sam surveyed the colonel as Arnaq scolded Uki. He looked tired though he was holding himself rigid in that way he had when he was feeling strong emotion. She stood and crossed to him, unheeded by Arnaq who was still lashing Uki with her words. Sam stepped up to the colonel and put her hand on his forearm. "Come on," she said quietly, "let's go home."

It was late, past dark, and he'd surely be hungry. Arnaq had set aside a dinner plate for him. Sam picked it up and gestured to the door.

"Jack," Arnaq broke away from her scolding, "I cannot thank you enough for bringing Uki home safely."

"I don't think he'll be running off again, any time soon."

"I do not believe so, either," she replied with a small smile that vanished as soon as she turned her eyes back on her boy.

"We'll say good night now," Sam said. "Thank you for dinner. I'll bring your plate back tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sam."

Sam steered the colonel out of the hut with her hand on his elbow. He didn't object. She let her hand fall away when they were on the path to their own hut, the full moon lighting their way. He was quiet while they walked and she was disinclined to push. She'd wait until they were home, as it were, and he had sat and eaten something, before she would ask him what, exactly, had transpired out there that left him so quiet and full up on emotion.

In the hut he sat down heavily in one of their chairs. He propped his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. She slid the plate in front of him hoping that the rich smell of the roasted meat would encourage him to eat. It did. Slowly, he began picking at the food in front of him until he was eating normally.

It was then that Sam chose to speak. "It's good that you found Uki before something bad happened to him."

The colonel just grunted his assent.

She didn't take offense. "Arnaq was very worried."

"So was I."

She took a chance to touch him, not something the usually did, just touching each other willy-nilly. Unless, of course, they were in bed, she thought. She laid her hand over his forearm, curling her fingers around the sinewy muscle. He was so warm beneath her hand. "Sir, Uki is fine. You did good."

"He never should have gone off like that," he said, a slight edge of desperation in his voice.

"You couldn't have known he'd do that."

"I should have known! He was too interested in hunting. I should have known and kept him safe."

Sam wondered if they were talking about Uki or about Charlie. She ran her hand down his arm until his wrist was within her grasp. "He's safe, sir."

"What if there's a next time? What if it's when I'm not here?"

"I'm pretty sure between you and Arnaq, he's been scared straight."

The colonel sighed heavily. "I'm supposed to do better."

"You did great," she whispered.

He looked over at her, his eyes were haunted. She knew then that this was definitely about Charlie. She didn't know what to say to assuage his guilt over the loss of his son. Wasn't sure there was anything she could say.

"I'm going to get ready for bed," she said, rather than address his pain.

He nodded and pushed his dinner plate away, relaxing back into the chair. He let his head fall back and his eyes closed. She wished she knew what he was thinking, what self-recriminations were running through his head.

She got up and gathered her night dress and stepped behind the screen. It didn't take her long to change. She put her dirty clothes in the pile and then went back to him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, you too."

He nodded wearily and stood up. He followed her over to the sleeping area and watched as she climbed into the bed. She made herself comfortable and tried not to watch the way he started undressing. First his shirt over his head, next his boots, then his pants pushed down over strong thighs.

He slid into the bed next to her, dressed only in his shorts. He didn't ask about his shirt as he had the night before, and she was hoping it was comfort not distraction that repeated the performance.

She thought about it, she really did, about whether or not to scooch over to her side of the bed entirely and leave the arm length between them or stop with the pretense. If the morning was anything to go by, he certainly didn't have a problem with her in his personal space. And she rather liked it too.

Throwing caution to the wind, she scooted up next to him. He looked over at her, considered her a moment, and then lifted his arm, allowing her to sidle right up against him. She wrapped her arm around him and squeezed, lending him what support she could under the circumstances.

"Carter-"

"Sir," she interrupted, not sure what he was going to say, but sure she didn't want to hear it.

He chuckled, she could feel it where their chests were pressed together. "Don't you think the 'sir' is a little out of place now?"

"No." Because they were going home. This... closeness... was an aberration.

He slid a hand from her shoulder to her wrist. She shuddered against him. He took a breath like he was going to say something, but they both knew he'd made his point. He rolled in her embrace, like he had that morning, and they were chest to chest, her head just below his in a way that he could rest his chin on the crown of her head if he wanted to.

He sank his hand into her hair, again, like he had that morning, and pulled her back gently until he could look her in the eye. His eyes then dropped to her mouth. Awareness zinged through her body making all her nerves tingle. She licked her lips, preparing for him to lean down and kiss her. His eyes slipped closed and he looked like he was fighting very hard for control.

She slid her arm around his waist and pressed her hand flat against the plane of his back, encouraging him to finish what he'd started. But he didn't. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, one that left her body aching for him so much that she arched against him, pressing her breasts into his chest, trying to elicit more from him.

He released her head and his hand traveled down to the small of her back. He pulled her tight against him until she felt the evidence of how he'd grown hard pressed undeniably against her belly. She gasped, not from surprise but from desire. The bolt was quick and sure and ran from her breasts to her center.

"And now?"

It took her lust-addled brain a moment to realize he was asking if the 'sir' was still appropriate. "We can't... we're going home." She realized a split second later that that was her only objection.

His exhale ruffled her hair.

"Sam," he said gruffly, seemed poised to continue, but remained silent past her name.

She shook her head and buried her face in his chest, but she didn't pull her soft body away from his hard one. "I want you," she reassured him, unsure if that was the best course of action. "But we're going home."

He nodded, she felt the way his chin rubbed through her hair. "You're right."

She pressed herself as tightly against him as possible, willing to take what she could, all the way past the point of propriety. She reveled in the way he felt, his erection between them.

"You've got to stop that," he pleaded.

She backed away from him just enough. He turned back over onto his back and pulled her tight into his side, clearly not willing to set her aside completely.

"Maybe some time apart will do us good," she said.

He just harrumphed and settled his hand into the curve of her waist.

Yeah, she wasn't sure either.