~~~o0o~~~
The ride to the restaurant was quiet and uneventful. The radio was on and neither one
was big on small talk, preoccupied as they were with their own thoughts. They parked up
outside the restaurant and Jack guided Sam towards the entrance with a hand on her
lower back. She turned to look at him as they went through the doors.
"Trying to make sure I don't run away, sir?" She joked.
"Something like that," Jack replied. He could hardly admit it was because he enjoyed the
feel of his hand there.
Once inside they were led to a table and Jack ordered a couple of beers. The waitress
left them with a couple of menus and went to get the beers.
"So...I'm thinking the biggest steak they do and all the trimmings. Whadda ya reckon
Carter?"
"I reckon that can't be good for your cholesterol level, sir."
That earned her a dirty look. "Ah come on Carter, I've been stuck in a place that doesn't
even know the meaning of cholesterol! I'm entitled to abuse my arteries a little if I
want, I'm sure they can take it. 'Sides Doc said that being 'Jack the farmer' for three
months didn't do me any harm - in fact she said I'm in better shape now than I was when
I went! Go figure."
Sam had noticed that he was *much* fitter than he had the last time she had seen him.
But she hadn't been sure if it was simply a case of 'absence makes the heart grow
fonder' or not. Although she tried *really* hard not to think of it in those terms.
"Maybe because you were doing some real work for a change, sir?"
He pointed a finger at her. "Funny Major, real funny."
He gave her an appraising look. "Now you on the other hand - you could do with a little
feeding up."
Sam sighed.
"You've been talking to Janet haven't you, sir?" She asked, making a mental note to have
a quiet word with her supposed friend the next time she saw her.
"Yup." He nodded. "But don't go having a go at her - "
How had he known?
" - I made her tell me when I noticed the way you looked."
Sam looked up in surprise. *You* noticed?"
"Sure. Believe it or not, I do actually notice things that affect my team mates."
"Of course, sir." She murmured. He was their CO after all. It was his business to know
whether or not his team were capable of functioning in their usual roles.
"I'll understand if you want to take me off active duty for a while."
"What? Hell no! Frasier says you're fine and that's good enough for me. A little skinnier
than you were the last time I saw ya, but nuthin' a coupla square meals can't fix."
"Is that what this is about? Feeding me up?"
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Partly. Seeing as it's my fault in the first place."
"Sir - "
"Na-ah! Let me finish. If I hadn't got myself stuck, then you wouldn't have had to work
so hard to get me *unstuck* and you wouldn't have made yourself ill. By doing this, I get
to say thanks and help keep you out of the good Doctor's clutches. So, I don't wanna
hear anymore about it. Got that?"
Sam pulled a face. There was no arguing with him when he was in one of those moods.
"Yes sir."
"Good."
After some argument, they finally settled on the second largest steak that O'Malleys
did for Sam and no trimmings, except for onion rings. The waitress brought their beers
and took their orders.
Jack settled back in his seat and took a long swallow from his bottle. "Aaah. Now *that*
is good!"
"I take it there was no beer on Edora either?"
Jack shuddered. "Nooo. They had some really awful rotgut stuff that took your stomach
lining off and gave you the mother of all hangovers. Did the job though."
"Sounds a bit vicious."
"Yeah," Jack murmured, his mind going back to the last time he'd drunk the stuff. The
night before his rescuers showed up. The night he'd made his commitment to Laira and
his new life. Which was at the heart of his current problem….Oh well, might as well get
this done.
"Soo...guess we should have that talk now huh?"
Sam shifted uncomfortablely in her seat. "We don't have to do this, sir - "
Can't we just enjoy the meal?
"*Yes*" He said firmly. "We do. We need to work this out. So -" He waved his hand, "Tell
me what's bugging you." He had a fair idea he already knew the answer, but he wanted to
hear her say it. Which wasn't *really* fair, but he had no clue where to start with this.
"Okay..." She paused then looked him straight in the eye and asked: "Why didn't you want
to come home, sir?"
Jack choked on his beer. Nothing like getting straight to the point, ay Carter? Oh well
guess he deserved that....
He scrubbed his hand over his eyes. Where to start? Ah crap, he really was no good at
this...Jack began to think this wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe they should just
have dinner and enjoy the company. He lowered his hand. She was staring at him
expecting an answer. He'd have to answer. It was only fair after all, he had forced the
issue.
Thing was, it wasn't that he hadn't *wanted* to come home, it was just - complicated.
He'd only just become used to the fact that he would never see his home or friends
again. He hadn't even known whether they'd even made it back to Earth before that
honking great meteor took out the 'Gate. All he'd known was that he couldn't go home.
Oh, he'd tried. He'd dug for days - weeks - but he'd eventually come to the conclusion
that the 'Gate was gone. Hell, until he'd heard T's voice on the radio he'd thought it was
scattered in tiny pieces all over the impact crater.
"It's not that I didn't want to come home Carter, I just never expected that I
would. Ya gotta understand, I thought the 'Gate was gone. Blown into a million
bits."
He'd resigned himself to the fact that he'd never get to see whether The Wild made it
to the playoffs. Or ever again tease Danny about his rocks. Get his ass kicked by Teal'c
in their daily sparring bout. Or see Carter's smile when she laughed at one of his corny
jokes....
"I didn't think I was ever gonna see any of you guys again. And that hurt ya
know?"
He hadn't forgotten them. Or her. But the days had gone by and had turned into weeks,
then a month.... As time had gone on and a rescue attempt hadn't been made, he'd had to
face up to the fact that there probably wasn't going to be one. It wasn't like it was the
first time he'd been left behind. At the end of the day it all came down to resources.
Was the recovery of one man worth the commitment of the manpower and good old US
dollars necessary to to bring him home? Answer - probably not. Chalk it up as collataral
damage and move on. At least that was the way it had worked in every other command of
which he'd been a part. You'd think he'd have realised by now that things were done
differently at the SGC. They had miracle workers here ya know. More specifically, a 5'9"
miracle worker with blonde hair who seemed to be able to rewrite the laws of physics,
just because she felt like it. Who was probably just as goddamn stubborn as he was.
Good job too, otherwise he wouldn't be here....
"As for being rescued...let's just say it's not the first time I've been stranded. I
didn't expect anyone to put the money and effort into bringing me back. I'm just
one man after all. And I certainly didn't expect you to built some fancy doohickey
from scratch in order to get it done."
Eventually he realised that with winter coming and with half the village gone, they
needed everyone who could work, or they wouldn't make it through. So he'd pushed
everything else back behind that door in his head with the rest of the stuff he didn't
think about, locked it again and chucked the key. Wasn't the first time. Wouldn't be the
last. So he'd moved on. Come to terms. Use whatever cliché you prefered. He'd had to, in
order to do what needed to be done. At the end of the day it came down to practicality
and Ma O'Neill's boys were nothing if not practical.
"I honestly thought I couldn't get home. No way. I had to start thinking about
what to do next. I couldn't just stand on the sidelines and wait for something to
happen. I'm not like that ya know?"
And he'd gotten used to it. Oh sure, Edora would never be home, but he could have made
a home there. You began to settle, didn't you? The little voice in the back of his head
told him. Maybe even - gasp - like it a little? No more fighting, no more guns, or
bloodshed, or death. You no longer had to be the one in charge, making all the difficult
decisions, you could just be Jack. And he realised the voice was right. He had liked it.
He'd enjoyed not having the responsibility of command dictating his every action any
longer.
"I didn't want to spend the rest of my life on Edora, but that's what I thought was
gonna happen. I had to make an effort. And yeah, in some ways it was kinda nice.
See, for once I wasn't the one giving the orders all the time, I wasn't killing
anymore...and yeah, I liked that."
And he'd enjoyed something more. He'd enjoyed the companionship that Laira had
offered him. It was one of the things he'd missed the most over the past five years.
Having someone to come home to, someone who cared for him. And yes, it had felt good.
It wasn't something he'd ever expected to find again. Oh he'd hoped, who didn't? He'd
even thought about who it could be with, on the odd occasions when he allowed himself
that fantasy. But realistically, he'd thought his time had been and gone.
"And then there was Laira. She was good to me, Carter. She gave me a place to
stay and she was a friend when I needed one."
Then Laira had offered him the chance to have it again. Oh, he didn't love her. He'd
known that and so had she. But he thought he could have grown to, given time. So with no
way back, he had accepted. He had no excuse for that. He'd been happy for the first
time since becoming stuck on her planet. How much of that was due to the rotgut stuff
he'd been drinking he didn't know, but his guard had been down. And it had been so long
since he'd been wanted like that....
"Then that last night...before you guys came through, we had this big celebration
thing, lotsa dancing and that rotgut stuff I was telling ya about and she,"
He paused. How to put this?
"Well, lets just say she offered me something more and I accepted."
Then WHAM! Suddenly he was going home after all. He sighed. He knew he was being
ungrateful, but damn it! Why couldn't they have come for him even *one day* earlier?
Before he'd made that commitment - and it was a commitment. He wasn't the type of guy
who 'slept and left'. At least he didn't like to think he was. Which was why he'd had to
ask. He'd known what her answer would be, same as she'd known his. And that was the
hardest part. There had never been any doubt in either of their minds, that he would go
home given the choice and she would not. Edora was her home, same as Earth was his.
And Laira had accepted that. He wasn't sure he could've taken it so well in her position....
"Then suddenly I'm going home which was great, don't get me wrong...but what was I
supposed to say to her, Carter? Thanks for giving me my kicks last night, see ya
around? Despite what you may think, I'm not the type of guy who sleeps and
leaves. I had to make sure she knew it meant something ya know?"
Jack shook his head and looked up. "So there ya are. Like I keep saying, I'm glad to be
back. It's just - "
"Complicated." Sam finished quietly.
"Yeah, like that."
She sighed. Sam Carter you are a prize idiot! She berated herself. She'd been so busy
dealing with her own issues she never stopped to think he might have had some as well.
That was possibly the biggest speech she'd ever heard come out of the man's mouth,
especially on these kind of issues and she'd been the one who forced it from him. Even
though as her CO he wasn't obligated to tell her anything...time to make amends, Sam.
"Sorry."
He looked up at her startled. "Huh?"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried."
"Ah" He waved his hand. "Needed to be done. Clear the air and all that...."
An awkward silence fell. Jack started picking the label off his beer bottle. After a few
minutes he said: "Ya know this is easier."
Sam frowned, not following. "Easier than what?"
He grinned and sat back taking a long pull from the bottle again. "Talkin to Daniel about
it."
Sam blinked. She knew the Colonel and Daniel were good friends, but she'd always got
the impression that he didn't discuss things. At all. With anybody.
"You talk to Daniel about - stuff?"
Oh yes, *very* articulate Samantha....
Jack sighed. "Not by choice." He admitted wryly.
"Daniel decides I need to talk about - things. So, he pops round for a beer...."
"I didn't think he liked beer."
"He doesn't."
"Oh. Right."
"Anyway he pops round. Talks at me for a bit. I listen. He tries to get me to talk. I
change the subject. He gets angry. I ignore him. He shouts. I shout back. He apologises.
I apologise. We have beer."
Sam shook her head in disbelief. Sometimes she just couldn't understand the male
mentality.
"Why don't you just *chat*?"
Jack shrugged. "Dunno. Because I don't want to I guess. I don't like being pressured into
doing anything ya know? Maybe if he just popped round for a beer and didn't try to
*get* me to talk, I'd tell him."
"That's...." Sam struggled to find the word.
Jack nodded. "Perverse. I know."
"So, what made this any easier? I mean the sole reason we're *here*, is because my
attitude pretty much forced you into talking to me."
Jack gestured at her with his bottle. "That's not the *sole* reason. And you had every
right to be pissed at me. I guess - I dunno, it's just easier to talk to you for some reason.
Lemme put it this way, if we'd got here and I hadn't wanted to say anything, would you
have pushed the issue?"
"No." Sam admitted.
"Well there ya go then. That's the reason - no pressure."
"So..." Sam said slowly. "Let me get this straight - if Daniel didn't try and pressure you
into talking, you would?"
Jack took another swallow. "Probably. Just don't tell him. I don't think I could stand
having him round at my house every five minutes wanting to chat."
*You*, on the other hand....
Sam grinned. "Your secret's safe with me, sir."
Silence fell once more. But it was comfortable this time.
Jack cleared his throat and leant forward in his chair. He rested his elbow on the table
and held out his hand. All his fingers were curled under except for the little one.
"Friends?" He asked.
Sam grinned and leant forward herself. She hadn't done this since high school. She
linked her little finger round his.
"Always."
The moment seemed to stretch as they stared at each other from barely a foot apart.
Sam found herself unable to look away and it seemed he was having a similar problem.
She felt the pressure on her hand increase as he wrapped his little finger tighter round
hers.
The ride to the restaurant was quiet and uneventful. The radio was on and neither one
was big on small talk, preoccupied as they were with their own thoughts. They parked up
outside the restaurant and Jack guided Sam towards the entrance with a hand on her
lower back. She turned to look at him as they went through the doors.
"Trying to make sure I don't run away, sir?" She joked.
"Something like that," Jack replied. He could hardly admit it was because he enjoyed the
feel of his hand there.
Once inside they were led to a table and Jack ordered a couple of beers. The waitress
left them with a couple of menus and went to get the beers.
"So...I'm thinking the biggest steak they do and all the trimmings. Whadda ya reckon
Carter?"
"I reckon that can't be good for your cholesterol level, sir."
That earned her a dirty look. "Ah come on Carter, I've been stuck in a place that doesn't
even know the meaning of cholesterol! I'm entitled to abuse my arteries a little if I
want, I'm sure they can take it. 'Sides Doc said that being 'Jack the farmer' for three
months didn't do me any harm - in fact she said I'm in better shape now than I was when
I went! Go figure."
Sam had noticed that he was *much* fitter than he had the last time she had seen him.
But she hadn't been sure if it was simply a case of 'absence makes the heart grow
fonder' or not. Although she tried *really* hard not to think of it in those terms.
"Maybe because you were doing some real work for a change, sir?"
He pointed a finger at her. "Funny Major, real funny."
He gave her an appraising look. "Now you on the other hand - you could do with a little
feeding up."
Sam sighed.
"You've been talking to Janet haven't you, sir?" She asked, making a mental note to have
a quiet word with her supposed friend the next time she saw her.
"Yup." He nodded. "But don't go having a go at her - "
How had he known?
" - I made her tell me when I noticed the way you looked."
Sam looked up in surprise. *You* noticed?"
"Sure. Believe it or not, I do actually notice things that affect my team mates."
"Of course, sir." She murmured. He was their CO after all. It was his business to know
whether or not his team were capable of functioning in their usual roles.
"I'll understand if you want to take me off active duty for a while."
"What? Hell no! Frasier says you're fine and that's good enough for me. A little skinnier
than you were the last time I saw ya, but nuthin' a coupla square meals can't fix."
"Is that what this is about? Feeding me up?"
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Partly. Seeing as it's my fault in the first place."
"Sir - "
"Na-ah! Let me finish. If I hadn't got myself stuck, then you wouldn't have had to work
so hard to get me *unstuck* and you wouldn't have made yourself ill. By doing this, I get
to say thanks and help keep you out of the good Doctor's clutches. So, I don't wanna
hear anymore about it. Got that?"
Sam pulled a face. There was no arguing with him when he was in one of those moods.
"Yes sir."
"Good."
After some argument, they finally settled on the second largest steak that O'Malleys
did for Sam and no trimmings, except for onion rings. The waitress brought their beers
and took their orders.
Jack settled back in his seat and took a long swallow from his bottle. "Aaah. Now *that*
is good!"
"I take it there was no beer on Edora either?"
Jack shuddered. "Nooo. They had some really awful rotgut stuff that took your stomach
lining off and gave you the mother of all hangovers. Did the job though."
"Sounds a bit vicious."
"Yeah," Jack murmured, his mind going back to the last time he'd drunk the stuff. The
night before his rescuers showed up. The night he'd made his commitment to Laira and
his new life. Which was at the heart of his current problem….Oh well, might as well get
this done.
"Soo...guess we should have that talk now huh?"
Sam shifted uncomfortablely in her seat. "We don't have to do this, sir - "
Can't we just enjoy the meal?
"*Yes*" He said firmly. "We do. We need to work this out. So -" He waved his hand, "Tell
me what's bugging you." He had a fair idea he already knew the answer, but he wanted to
hear her say it. Which wasn't *really* fair, but he had no clue where to start with this.
"Okay..." She paused then looked him straight in the eye and asked: "Why didn't you want
to come home, sir?"
Jack choked on his beer. Nothing like getting straight to the point, ay Carter? Oh well
guess he deserved that....
He scrubbed his hand over his eyes. Where to start? Ah crap, he really was no good at
this...Jack began to think this wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe they should just
have dinner and enjoy the company. He lowered his hand. She was staring at him
expecting an answer. He'd have to answer. It was only fair after all, he had forced the
issue.
Thing was, it wasn't that he hadn't *wanted* to come home, it was just - complicated.
He'd only just become used to the fact that he would never see his home or friends
again. He hadn't even known whether they'd even made it back to Earth before that
honking great meteor took out the 'Gate. All he'd known was that he couldn't go home.
Oh, he'd tried. He'd dug for days - weeks - but he'd eventually come to the conclusion
that the 'Gate was gone. Hell, until he'd heard T's voice on the radio he'd thought it was
scattered in tiny pieces all over the impact crater.
"It's not that I didn't want to come home Carter, I just never expected that I
would. Ya gotta understand, I thought the 'Gate was gone. Blown into a million
bits."
He'd resigned himself to the fact that he'd never get to see whether The Wild made it
to the playoffs. Or ever again tease Danny about his rocks. Get his ass kicked by Teal'c
in their daily sparring bout. Or see Carter's smile when she laughed at one of his corny
jokes....
"I didn't think I was ever gonna see any of you guys again. And that hurt ya
know?"
He hadn't forgotten them. Or her. But the days had gone by and had turned into weeks,
then a month.... As time had gone on and a rescue attempt hadn't been made, he'd had to
face up to the fact that there probably wasn't going to be one. It wasn't like it was the
first time he'd been left behind. At the end of the day it all came down to resources.
Was the recovery of one man worth the commitment of the manpower and good old US
dollars necessary to to bring him home? Answer - probably not. Chalk it up as collataral
damage and move on. At least that was the way it had worked in every other command of
which he'd been a part. You'd think he'd have realised by now that things were done
differently at the SGC. They had miracle workers here ya know. More specifically, a 5'9"
miracle worker with blonde hair who seemed to be able to rewrite the laws of physics,
just because she felt like it. Who was probably just as goddamn stubborn as he was.
Good job too, otherwise he wouldn't be here....
"As for being rescued...let's just say it's not the first time I've been stranded. I
didn't expect anyone to put the money and effort into bringing me back. I'm just
one man after all. And I certainly didn't expect you to built some fancy doohickey
from scratch in order to get it done."
Eventually he realised that with winter coming and with half the village gone, they
needed everyone who could work, or they wouldn't make it through. So he'd pushed
everything else back behind that door in his head with the rest of the stuff he didn't
think about, locked it again and chucked the key. Wasn't the first time. Wouldn't be the
last. So he'd moved on. Come to terms. Use whatever cliché you prefered. He'd had to, in
order to do what needed to be done. At the end of the day it came down to practicality
and Ma O'Neill's boys were nothing if not practical.
"I honestly thought I couldn't get home. No way. I had to start thinking about
what to do next. I couldn't just stand on the sidelines and wait for something to
happen. I'm not like that ya know?"
And he'd gotten used to it. Oh sure, Edora would never be home, but he could have made
a home there. You began to settle, didn't you? The little voice in the back of his head
told him. Maybe even - gasp - like it a little? No more fighting, no more guns, or
bloodshed, or death. You no longer had to be the one in charge, making all the difficult
decisions, you could just be Jack. And he realised the voice was right. He had liked it.
He'd enjoyed not having the responsibility of command dictating his every action any
longer.
"I didn't want to spend the rest of my life on Edora, but that's what I thought was
gonna happen. I had to make an effort. And yeah, in some ways it was kinda nice.
See, for once I wasn't the one giving the orders all the time, I wasn't killing
anymore...and yeah, I liked that."
And he'd enjoyed something more. He'd enjoyed the companionship that Laira had
offered him. It was one of the things he'd missed the most over the past five years.
Having someone to come home to, someone who cared for him. And yes, it had felt good.
It wasn't something he'd ever expected to find again. Oh he'd hoped, who didn't? He'd
even thought about who it could be with, on the odd occasions when he allowed himself
that fantasy. But realistically, he'd thought his time had been and gone.
"And then there was Laira. She was good to me, Carter. She gave me a place to
stay and she was a friend when I needed one."
Then Laira had offered him the chance to have it again. Oh, he didn't love her. He'd
known that and so had she. But he thought he could have grown to, given time. So with no
way back, he had accepted. He had no excuse for that. He'd been happy for the first
time since becoming stuck on her planet. How much of that was due to the rotgut stuff
he'd been drinking he didn't know, but his guard had been down. And it had been so long
since he'd been wanted like that....
"Then that last night...before you guys came through, we had this big celebration
thing, lotsa dancing and that rotgut stuff I was telling ya about and she,"
He paused. How to put this?
"Well, lets just say she offered me something more and I accepted."
Then WHAM! Suddenly he was going home after all. He sighed. He knew he was being
ungrateful, but damn it! Why couldn't they have come for him even *one day* earlier?
Before he'd made that commitment - and it was a commitment. He wasn't the type of guy
who 'slept and left'. At least he didn't like to think he was. Which was why he'd had to
ask. He'd known what her answer would be, same as she'd known his. And that was the
hardest part. There had never been any doubt in either of their minds, that he would go
home given the choice and she would not. Edora was her home, same as Earth was his.
And Laira had accepted that. He wasn't sure he could've taken it so well in her position....
"Then suddenly I'm going home which was great, don't get me wrong...but what was I
supposed to say to her, Carter? Thanks for giving me my kicks last night, see ya
around? Despite what you may think, I'm not the type of guy who sleeps and
leaves. I had to make sure she knew it meant something ya know?"
Jack shook his head and looked up. "So there ya are. Like I keep saying, I'm glad to be
back. It's just - "
"Complicated." Sam finished quietly.
"Yeah, like that."
She sighed. Sam Carter you are a prize idiot! She berated herself. She'd been so busy
dealing with her own issues she never stopped to think he might have had some as well.
That was possibly the biggest speech she'd ever heard come out of the man's mouth,
especially on these kind of issues and she'd been the one who forced it from him. Even
though as her CO he wasn't obligated to tell her anything...time to make amends, Sam.
"Sorry."
He looked up at her startled. "Huh?"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried."
"Ah" He waved his hand. "Needed to be done. Clear the air and all that...."
An awkward silence fell. Jack started picking the label off his beer bottle. After a few
minutes he said: "Ya know this is easier."
Sam frowned, not following. "Easier than what?"
He grinned and sat back taking a long pull from the bottle again. "Talkin to Daniel about
it."
Sam blinked. She knew the Colonel and Daniel were good friends, but she'd always got
the impression that he didn't discuss things. At all. With anybody.
"You talk to Daniel about - stuff?"
Oh yes, *very* articulate Samantha....
Jack sighed. "Not by choice." He admitted wryly.
"Daniel decides I need to talk about - things. So, he pops round for a beer...."
"I didn't think he liked beer."
"He doesn't."
"Oh. Right."
"Anyway he pops round. Talks at me for a bit. I listen. He tries to get me to talk. I
change the subject. He gets angry. I ignore him. He shouts. I shout back. He apologises.
I apologise. We have beer."
Sam shook her head in disbelief. Sometimes she just couldn't understand the male
mentality.
"Why don't you just *chat*?"
Jack shrugged. "Dunno. Because I don't want to I guess. I don't like being pressured into
doing anything ya know? Maybe if he just popped round for a beer and didn't try to
*get* me to talk, I'd tell him."
"That's...." Sam struggled to find the word.
Jack nodded. "Perverse. I know."
"So, what made this any easier? I mean the sole reason we're *here*, is because my
attitude pretty much forced you into talking to me."
Jack gestured at her with his bottle. "That's not the *sole* reason. And you had every
right to be pissed at me. I guess - I dunno, it's just easier to talk to you for some reason.
Lemme put it this way, if we'd got here and I hadn't wanted to say anything, would you
have pushed the issue?"
"No." Sam admitted.
"Well there ya go then. That's the reason - no pressure."
"So..." Sam said slowly. "Let me get this straight - if Daniel didn't try and pressure you
into talking, you would?"
Jack took another swallow. "Probably. Just don't tell him. I don't think I could stand
having him round at my house every five minutes wanting to chat."
*You*, on the other hand....
Sam grinned. "Your secret's safe with me, sir."
Silence fell once more. But it was comfortable this time.
Jack cleared his throat and leant forward in his chair. He rested his elbow on the table
and held out his hand. All his fingers were curled under except for the little one.
"Friends?" He asked.
Sam grinned and leant forward herself. She hadn't done this since high school. She
linked her little finger round his.
"Always."
The moment seemed to stretch as they stared at each other from barely a foot apart.
Sam found herself unable to look away and it seemed he was having a similar problem.
She felt the pressure on her hand increase as he wrapped his little finger tighter round
hers.
