Colours of Love
Chapter 13 – Boyfriends and Birthdays
Jack traced his fingers in lazy circles on his sleeping girlfriend's stomach in an effort to wake her, having gotten up, showered and dressed nearly an hour ago. He lay down behind her, moving one hand to over her hair to expose the line of her neck, before planting kisses below her ear. She stirred, shifting around to her other side, now facing Jack, her breathing evening out in sleep once again.
"Sam," he whispered softy, slipping his left hand underneath the old academy t-shirt of his that she liked wearing to bed, rubbing gently on the spot at the small of her back that he knew was ticklish.
"Sleep," She murmured drowsily.
"Come on, birthday girl." He grinned, pleased to finally get a response. Leaning forward to kiss her mouth, he felt her lips curve into a smile, sapphire eyes finally meeting his when he pulled back.
"You won't let me sleep in on my birthday?" She asked, stretching but making no move to get up.
"It's nearly ten."
She laughed sleepily. "How long have you been up?"
"A while," Jack grinned at her, moving in to give her a more drawn out kiss now she was awake. "Happy Birthday, gorgeous."
"Thank you." She smiled.
"You want to walk Jasper to that café you like? I'll even buy you apple pie."
Sam's eyes lit up as she nodded. Her favourite café made the most wonderful apple pie, but she didn't get many chances to go there unless she was on vacation due to the long hours she and Jack worked.
"Can I open my cards before we go?" She asked imploringly, knowing he'd hidden various cards from family and friends that had arrived through the post over the last two days. The small gesture warmed her heart more than he knew, bringing back happy memories from her childhood birthdays with her mother, who had hidden cards and parcels that arrived in the post on the days running up to the occasions so as to surprise them.
"I suppose we could manage that. Wait there." He sprang off the bed and out the door. Emerging again with a handful of colourful envelopes, he climbed back on to the bed, passing her the cards as he lay down on his side, positioning himself close enough to move one hand over her hip.
"Where's yours?" Sam questioned, having scanned the handwriting on all the envelopes to open the one from Jack first.
Jack smiled secretively. "Somewhere else."
She shot him a confused smile in return, before choosing a pink envelope and ripping it open.
**
They walked hand in hand to the little café, enjoying the sunshine as Jasper ran on ahead through the park.
"Daniel and Teal'c said they might come by later," Sam said, recalling her 'happy birthday' phone call from Daniel just before they'd left the house.
"Good, as long as they're not expecting to come along with us tonight."
"Are you going to tell me where we're we going tonight?"
He watched her with a grin, wondering how many times she was planning to ask before giving up. "Kinda defeats the surprise if I tell you."
"What about a clue? As cryptic as you want, just so I have something to think about." She gave him a dazzling smile, moving closer to his side to slide her arm around him as they walked.
"You don't need anything else to think about, Sam. The purpose of this vacation was to stop you thinking so much, to give that poor brain of yours some time off." Jack admonished; the statement serious despite his chuckling tone.
"Really? I thought you wanted some time off to spend with me." She feigned a hurt expression.
"I figured time off with me would stop you thinking so much." He replied self-effacingly, gracing her with a classic O'Neill smile as he slipped his arm around her shoulders. As Jasper stopped and turned back to his owners further along the path, Jack called the Labrador to his side, clipping the leash to his collar as they neared the road surrounding the park.
"These last two weeks seem to have disappeared." Sam commented regretfully, grateful she and Jack still had the next three days to themselves before returning to the reality that was the SGC.
"Maybe we should go fishing more often." Jack suggested with predatory grin.
"Maybe we should." She smiled.
**
The café was busy for a Thursday morning, but the couple managed to find a table on the outside terrace. Jasper laid himself down under the table, the shade cooling his dark fur. Jack went to the counter to give the waitress their order, asking for two coffees and two apple pies.
"Last year I would never have guessed I'd be here with you on my next birthday." Sam flashed him a contented smile as he sat down beside her, grasping her hand.
"You know Danny wanted to throw a surprise party for you last year. T got straight on the bandwagon and Cassie thought it would be a great revenge for your latest inquisition into her love life…"
"Jack if you're about to tell me there's a party waiting for me at home…" She started, her face showing her alarm at the idea.
Jack laughed at her. "I wouldn't do that to you, even if Danny did threaten various…things."
"So what happened to the party last year?" Sam asked after giving him a questioning look.
"You remember Jonas turned up unexpectedly from Kelowna?"
"Yeah, he came by with Chinese and some videos." Frowning at the odd memory of her once-team-mate showing up at her door when she hadn't even known he was on Earth.
"I sent him by to stop you leaving the house, or at least warn you of Danny-boy's little operation." The party had never taken place in the end, due to an off-world activation, which turned out to be contact from the Asguard High Commander, Thor.
Sam smiled, wondering yet again how Jack had managed to learn so much about her over the years without her being aware of the little details of her life he'd picked up on and remembered. "Because you know I don't like big birthday parties."
"Danny and T made sure it was only about twenty people, but still."
She leaned forward to kiss him, only to be interrupted by the waitress bringing their coffees and pie. As the dark haired waitress set the tray on the table, Jasper moved his nose forward against her shin.
"I'm sorry, he's a little too inquisitive for his own good." Sam apologised quickly, trying to get the dog's attention. The waitress – Joy her nametag read – smiled back at her, kneeling to stroke Jasper.
"I can bring some water for him if you like." Joy offered, to which Sam accepted gratefully.
"I take back what I said about him being less trouble than you are." She told Jack as the waitress left.
"Hey, being curious is your department, you must have taught him that." He shot back defensively.
She laughed, knowing only Jack could attribute their dog with a human personality. Sam thanked Joy again as she appeared with a bowl of water, patting Jasper on the head a final time before moving on to a different table.
Sam turned back from making sure Jasper was far enough under the table so as to not cause trouble, to see Jack watching her intently.
"What?" She asked a little self-consciously.
He smiled and reached in to his jacket pocket. "I was thinking now you have your apple pie…" Jack placed a beautifully wrapped gift on the table beside her plate.
"I can open it now?" Sam asked, knowing her voice was filled with childish excitement.
He nodded, resting his hand on her thigh under the table as she used both hands to rip the paper off the small parcel, revealing a familiar black jewellery box - the larger of the two she'd found that fateful morning. Opening the box, she found the lovely locket that, after finding the little piece of paper and then the ring box, she hadn't taken a lot of time to admire, and now that she did, the contrast of simplicity and complexity in the design was beautiful. She turned to encircle her arms around Jack's neck, before kissing him soundly on the mouth.
As an afterthought, it occurred to Sam to open the locket, not expecting to find a little note as before, because if she knew Jack at all, she knew he'd wouldn't leave the paper in there for her to find again. To her surprise a little folded piece of paper, in a pinky-purple colour dropped to her hand. She looked to Jack curiously, who looked back at her with a mysterious smile.
'Maybe later'Despite herself, she laughed at that, punching Jack on the arm for the pleased-with-himself smirk that still adorned his face. He pulled gently on her arm so she would turn to him, pressing his lips to hers again, as it briefly crossed her mind the other customers in the café were getting a bit of a show.
"I have to keep you guessing." He grinned, setting a one hand on her hip.
"You like planning something I don't know about." She accused him playfully.
"Don't worry, world domination comes next on my list of plans."
"My boyfriend is an evil genius."
"Only in bed." Jack deadpanned, chuckling when he saw her eyes go wide, looking around them to see if anyone was listening.
"I can't take you anywhere." Sam said softly, her cheeks rosy in embarrassment. Taking the necklace from the box, she handed the ends to Jack, silently asking him to fasten it. The pretty silver pendent rested just at the dip in her collarbone, catching the sun on its surface. "It's lovely."
"Happy Birthday, gorgeous." Jack said again, accepting a second grateful kiss from Sam as she smiled happily.
Boyfriends and birthdays.
She loved that combination.
**
Okay, big apologies for such a long wait, but I'm home from uni right now so everything got a bit hectic there for a while! Good news is there'll be another chapter – 13 isn't a good number for a series!