Chapter 10

The rest of the morning passed quietly. After Sam received some initial instructions from Jack they sat back and relaxed in comfortable silence waiting for the non-existent fish to bite. Sam wasn't a natural at fishing Jack had decided while looking at her dosing peacefully around midmorning but he sure was glad she was here.

By midday Sam was getting impatient with the lack of fish and she was now getting hungry as her stomach was attesting to by grumbling loudly.

"Are there actually any fish in here to catch?" Sam asked sulkily, it couldn't be that she was just bad at it as Jack hadn't caught anything either.

Smirking, Jack replied with a question of his own "Is it really your stomach making all that noise?"

Blushing a little, Sam admitted "Yes" then pleaded "can we get some lunch now?"

Putting his rod down Jack agreed and led the way back to the cabin. "I haven't got much in, but I could do you my world famous omelette?" Sam was ready to eat just about anything by now and happily agreed to a 'world famous' omelette. Sam watched Jack make short work of making the omelette from a seat at the small table in the kitchen area of the cabin and he soon came and joined her. "Voila!" he said presenting Sam with the omelette, Sam smiled at him and said, "Thanks sir, this is great" around the first mouthful.

"Shall we go back out?" Jack asked after they had eaten their lunch.

"Actually I was thinking I might stay here for a bit, my body clock is all over the place and I'm really tired. Do you mind if I just crash on your couch for a while?" Sam said leaning her head back against the cushions tiredly.

"Course not. Mind if I watch the news while I finish my drink?"

"No" Sam murmured her eyes already closed.

20 minutes later the news had finished and Jack was struggling to keep his own eyes open. In her sleep Sam had turned towards him and her head was resting on his shoulder. Jack decided a nap seemed like a good idea and shifted to get them both more comfortable, his arm now around Sam and her head on his chest, he drifted off to sleep.

Some time later Jack began to dream, and it wasn't a good dream. Somehow his subconscious managed to focus on the feel of Sam against him, her breath on his neck, and the arm across his chest. He was able to exert control over his dream for the first time and woke himself up. As he did so he instinctively tightened his arms around Sam and buried his head in her hair for comfort against the nightmare. Sam woke to feel Jack shaking and holding tightly on to her.

"Jack, you awake?" Sam was tense with worry and lifted her head to speak.

"Yeah" he said shakily "Just woke up"

"Ok" Sam didn't need to ask what had woken him up; it was obvious from the trembling that it was a dream. She deliberately relaxed her body against him, leaning her head back against his shoulder and wrapping her arm more tightly around him. She closed her eyes again and listened to Jack's racing heartbeat as it slowly returned back to normal. As the trembling ceased his hold on her loosened and Sam stretched. She didn't want Jack to dwell on the dream so lightly said "Well I feel ready for another go at this fishing lark if you do?"

Jack was pleased Sam didn't want to make him talk about what had happened and was willing to just let it go. She understood what he was going through and how he needed to deal with it, something Sarah had never been able to do. "Yeah, I can just hear the fish calling" He said smiling shyly, his thanks and appreciation obvious to Sam in his smile.

Back on the dock they chatted amiably about this and that, nothing of consequence, laughing together and in theory fishing. It was by far the best therapy either of them could have gotten.

"Jack?" Sam said hesitantly after a few minutes of comfortable silence,

"Mmm?" Jack murmured in reply still enjoying the sound of his first name coming from Sam, she had always been Sam in his head even when he called her Carter, he wondered idly if she had thought of him as Jack.

"I'm sorry for arriving unannounced you know"

"It's ok, I'm glad you came"

"Is it alright for me to stay a couple of days longer?"

"Yeah, we may need to venture out for supplies, but stay as long as you like. Are you back on duty on Monday?"

"I'm not on duty until next Monday, but don't worry I wouldn't impose on you that long. Perhaps I could go in to the town this afternoon, get whatever supplies you need and maybe get something for dinner? I could make something nice for you to say thanks for having me?"

"Can you cook Carter?" Jack asked teasingly, chuckling at the phrase 'thanks for having me' and the wealth of innuendo within it.

"Certain things yes Colonel" Sam replied mock indignantly emphasising the use of title in revenge for his use of 'Carter' but ruining the pretence when a smile broke out across her face.

"Dinner sounds great Sam, and as for how long you stay why don't we just see how it goes?"

Sam made her trip into the local town in Jack's truck, getting the things they needed including food for the next few days. Sam knew Jack hadn't been eating much and hoped that some home cooked food with a dash of blackmail might help to get his metabolism back to normal. She wanted to help him in any way she could.

Sam surprised Jack with lasagne, made to her mother's recipe, and salad for dinner that evening which he complimented sincerely and ate quite a lot of to Sam's delight.