When Sam met Sara
Chapter 21
No episodes mentioned, this simply follows on from Sam's experience in "Entity". Be warned, my lovely beta needed a tissue for this one. Enjoy and thanks for reviewing.
Sam lay curled on Jack's sofa staring at the television, although she really couldn't tell anyone what was on. She'd just been released from the infirmary and had willingly taken up Jack's offer of some TLC at his place. While in the infirmary she'd called both Sara and Mark who, although both very surprised to hear her voice, were thrilled that she'd survived. Mark had been so amazed that he'd kept the flight booking for his family and would be arriving to see her in two days. Sara, on the other hand, didn't have to wait that long and was on her way there at this very moment.
"Sam, Sara's here!" Jack's disembodied voice came from the bedroom, which had a window out on to the drive.
Sam didn't even have time to get to her feet before her friend bustled through the door, forgoing the courtesy of knocking.
"Sam! Thank God!" Sara ran to the sofa, hugging Sam tight and sinking to her knees as she finally held her friend.
"Don't you ever do that again!" she scolded, as if she were scolding a child.
"Yes, Mom." Sam giggled and Jack, watching from the stairs at the front door, smiled at hearing her laugh once again.
Sara moved to sit beside Sam and held her hand tightly. "I really thought we'd lost you."
"We did," Jack said quietly.
"Yes, but I came back!" Sam answered definitively, trying to calm both the fears she could see on Jack's face and the ones she knew he'd tried to bury, although he was being unsuccessful.
"Do I get to know what happened? Or is it another one of your top secret missions?" Sara asked tentatively.
"I was on a life-support machine. When they switched it off, I kept breathing." Sam shrugged and glanced at Jack.
"So now you're the miracle, not that you just do miracles!" Sara smiled, remembering their joke from the first year of their friendship when Sam had brought Jack back from Antarctica, and reached to hug Sam again. "This calls for a celebration!" she added, breaking the hug.
"I agree," Sam said, looking at Sara. "What do you suggest?"
"Well, nothing for a couple of days. You look exhausted!"
"Thanks!" Sam responded with sarcasm. As had been the case for the last three years, she could always trust Sara to give her an honest evaluation of how she looked.
Sara totally ignored the tone in Sam's voice. "Then I think a BBQ would be in order!"
"Sounds good," Jack agreed, coming into the room. "Mark and his family are arriving on Friday, so we could have everyone round on Saturday?" He looked at Sam to gauge her reaction. She smiled at him, a secret smile that suggested she was in favour of the idea.
"Great!" Sara enthused. "Well, let Michael and me get the food. You guys have had enough to cope with."
"Thanks, Sara," Jack answered, genuinely grateful for the offer. "But the meat's up to me. You never know how to cook it if you don't buy it!" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Don't you mean burn it, Jack?" Sara asked, laughing at the pout on Jack's face. "Okay, Michael and I'll bring all the other food supplies. Do you want us to bring drinks as well?"
"No, no, we'll do that," Sam replied. "We need to shop for groceries, anyway."
Sara looked at her a little strangely. "Does that mean you're staying here now?" she asked, grinning between her friend and her ex.
Sam blushed and Jack started to shuffle around a bit. He tried to answer, "Well… you see… that is… um..."
"Jack offered some TLC for a couple of days, so I'm here for a bit," Sam answered, realising that Jack was going to be absolutely no help at all.
"Good!" Sara answered simply, causing another round of blushing and shuffling. "Well, I'll head off and see you on Saturday. What time?"
"Around 1500. We can spend some time together and then eat later," Jack answered. "We'd better tell Jan and the guys. They wouldn't want to miss my world-famous steaks." He smirked then went to get the phone straight away, remembering the hurt he'd felt when the others had forgotten to invite him to Cassie's school sports fundraiser.
Both Sara and Sam could hear Jack extending the invitation to the others and after a few minutes of quiet Sam gave a huge yawn. Sara smiled at her, still amazed that her best friend was still alive.
"I'll let you get some sleep," she whispered to Sam, who was struggling to keep her eyes open and could only nod in reply.
Sara stood and made to leave, waving to Jack as she passed him. Jack saw Sara going and ran out after her, leaving Sam to settle back down on the sofa. She was asleep before Jack had even left the house.
"Sara, wait!" Jack called out before she got into her car. He quickly ran down the stairs and came to a stop beside her at the open car door. He couldn't quite bring himself to look at her and was still doing the weird shuffling thing he did with his feet when he was uncomfortable.
"Is everything okay?" Sara asked, concerned that Sam wasn't as healthy as she'd appeared.
"Yeah, it's just that I wanted to talk to you." Jack looked at Sara but didn't continue, and so Sara nodded to encourage him, but nothing more came from the man in front of her and he looked away again, still fidgeting.
Seconds ticked by and still Jack hadn't said anything more to Sara. "You know, to talk, you actually need to speak," she said, with only a little glint in her eye.
"Yeah," Jack said, embarrassed. He didn't elaborate again until he suddenly took a deep breath, looked directly at Sara, and launched into what had been bothering him. "Is it okay to be happy again?"
"What?" Sara asked, surprised at the turn of the conversation.
"Never mind, safe journey home," Jack said, having said enough for him, but not really having said anything. He turned and started to walk away.
"Wait! Jack!" Sara called, causing Jack to slowly turn back to face her.
"Do you mean you want my permission to be happy again?"
"Yeah… maybe… I know it sounds stupid... but…"
Sara gently laid a hand on Jack's arm. "Oh, Jack, you're a wonderful man and it wasn't your fault what happened to Charlie. You have the chance of having something amazing with Sam and I absolutely give you permission to be happy. But you don't need my permission, you know. We both lost something with Charlie that we can never get back but we have a second chance, both of us. You need to grab it with both hands, Jack, and never let go. Sam loves you and you clearly love her." Sara gently squeezed Jack's arm before letting go. "Now, the only thing I can say to you is don't screw it up."
"Like I did last time," he whispered.
"No, you didn't. Charlie made that choice, one that I will never understand, but he chose to go into your lock-box, to watch you type your code in, and he chose to fire the gun. You kept your weapon safe and you told him to never touch it. You didn't place the gun…" She took a deep breath, the tears falling freely down her cheeks. "You did not give him the gun and you did not kill our little boy. It's taken me a long time to accept, but he made that choice. The only thing you did wrong was close yourself off once it had happened. I needed you then... but I didn't realise that you needed me, too. So that's what you have to do to make sure you don't screw it up; you need to keep talking to her, Jack. Even if you have no idea what to say, you need to try. You promise?"
Jack wiped the tears from Sara's cheeks; they'd never talked like this, never been so open with each other. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I do wish I'd done things differently. I promise to talk to Sam and to listen to her."
"Good. Then go, be happy, and make her happy, too."
He hesitated again and Sara waited, realising there was more. "Sam wants to have kids." He didn't add anything but she could see the fear in his eyes and the feeling that he didn't deserve that kind of second chance.
"Michael and the girls and I have decided to adopt two little boys. We discussed it for months before finally making the decision and putting in the paperwork. They're six and four and their father left them, then their mother died. They chose to be a part of our family and we hope that they'll make us as happy as we'll try to make them. Charlie died over five years ago, Jack, and I'm sure he'd never begrudge you another child. In fact, I'm sure he'd love it. You're a great dad, Jack, and Sam will be a brilliant mom. Like I said, you should be happy. So should I and so should Sam. Make it happen."
Sara leaned up and kissed his cheek then turned and got into her car. She was halfway down the drive when she looked back at Jack and, for the first time since that gunshot had destroyed them both, she saw him smiling a completely unguarded smile, and she broke into a smile herself.
AN: Well we are almost done here folks. Only one chapter to go. Will post tomorrow, hope you all love this one and the end.