I hope this is OK - no 'betaing' this time as my chum is very busy with
work, so cross fingers. Not much Daniel and Teal'c this time, but the last
chapter will be the " D and T road movie".
Rating a bit R here for language, and a bit of tackling in the kitchen
This is the penultimate chapter.
The end of a very long day.
Daniel had finally dismissed Teal'c from his bedside with a number of un Jackson like swear words, feeling that Teal'c had enough to contend as he still looked unwell.
Daniel was still feeling dizzy and having difficulty focusing, which had nothing to do with his lack of glasses. He had been sick whilst on the road but was convinced it was down to something unsavoury and out of date he had consumed from Jack's fridge.
"Very well, DanielJackson, I will leave you to sleep. If you need me, call me on O'Neill's telephone. I will be retiring for the night to his friends abode."
"Okay Teal'c," Daniel squinted out of one eye, as the main light in the room was too bright for his already strained nerves, "just make sure that Jack and Sam don't go at each other again before I'm back."
Teal'c had been about to leave when he turned back towards the patient.
"Do you require me to call them at regular intervals to interrupt anything that may occur?"
Daniel could swear that Teal'c was making a joke, and he smiled despite his discomfort.
"No Teal'c- just do me a favour and call them once to make sure they're not arguing, or levelling any weapons of mass destruction at one another."
Before Teal'c could reply, Daniel pulled the starchy covers up to his chin and turned the light off, adding as if to himself,
"Or making any wild monkey love when I'm stuck in here with nurses the age of my mother who won't let me read, or anything.."
"Indeed DanielJackson, sleep and be well. Do not be concerned for the Colonel and Major Carter."
Teal'c left with the hint of a smile on his face, pleased that Daniel was okay, and that O'Neill and the Major had some time alone. He would call them in the morning. They would be able to fix the fences that O'Neill had tried to break. Why did humans have to hide everything with metaphors? Why were they unable to communicate without them? They gave him a headache.
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"So, what are we doin'? Parcheesi, Mah-jong, pin the tail on the, uh thing without a tail?"
Jack leant back in his uncomfortable chair, creaking on its back legs, hands clasped over his stomach, happy to be watching Samantha Carter doing the dishes. He would be happy to watch her doing anything with the kind of mood he had on him at the moment, and he knew that tonight was conversation night. She knew this, which was why she was doing the dishes and not sitting opposite him.
Sam glanced across in his direction, and he threw a questioning glance back in reply. Why had he changed? Should she say to him that the time in the tent was a hic-cup in their professional relationship, or should they talk about it like two adults, try to rationalise it; and then Jack interrupted her train of thought.
"Bored now."
"I guess you mean you're thinking about Daniel, and you want to stop worrying about him, so you want something else to think about." Sam prompted.
"Yeah." Jack stopped trying to break the chair, and instead rested his head in his hands on the table. "Is there anything I should've done, suggested, insisted, harangued?"
"With all due respect Sir, shut up!" Sam laughed as she dried her hands.
"Excuse me?" Jack looked up with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Sorry, I should have said, Jack, shut up." Sam was still smiling at Jack's procession of verbs.
"That's better." And he returned his head to his hands.
" You always try to take responsibility; Daniel falling out of bed was not part of some mission failure, it was an accident." She threw the towel down onto the worktop having finished the dishes, and returned to sit at the table.
"At least I've stopped you feeling like crap." Jack said, now crossing his arms, and smiling at his success.
Sam copied his body language, tilted her head to one side and suggested, "Lets agree to share the feelings of crap shall we?"
"Deal" Jack agreed, smiled, and then glanced down at the table at an imagined blemish.
This is it Jack, say it now, say it now, he encouraged himself,
"Talking of feelings, Sam."
The smile left over from the previous discussion froze on Sam's face, and she went cold realising that she wished she had brought the subject up first.
She would not be in control of the conversation.
Jack paused before continuing, now uncrossing his arms, and playing with the stem of his wine glass.
He looked up at her, realising she shared his discomfort, and smiled sympathetically.
"The past two weeks have been, kinda weird don't ya think?" As usual, he found himself searching for the right word.
Sam nodded, and answered hesitantly, "Weird, is one way of putting it."
" I wanted a chance to apologise." Jack announced, as if coming to some kind of decision.
Sam was surprised that after all the joking and hinting of the previous two days, he would start this conversation with an apology.
"Jack, we're two consenting adults, who found themselves in a position," she stopped trying to think of what to say, and Jack thought he would help her out.
"Various positions?" he winced again thinking, 'that did SO not help, Jack.'
Sam looked a little stern and continued, "In a compromising position."
Jack nodded, "You were sick, I wanted to, err, comfort you," he looked to see if she would follow his lead, and she agreed, "Comfort, that's good."
"Thanks, I thought so. And it nearly got out of hand: we got a bit too, close, and just didn't think we'd feel weird after it."
"Sir, there are two things that we're ignoring here." Sam thought trying to reason it out. She forgot that she had said the "S" word.
"One is that I've been very ill before now, and this situation's never happened, and two, we have been, and still are, in..in , on very good terms?"
Her upwards inflection at the end of the sentence said it all. She could not say that they loved one another and come back from it. At the moment they were still both at the metaphorical border crossing. She concluded, "That's why we feel so messed up. Yet somehow it's different this time. There are some things we have to deal with"
She felt back in control now.
"Sam, despite the regulations, and I NEVER thought I would say that, I hope this place is not bugged; it's just us here. I'll say it. I, care. About. You. I do very much. And nothing is ever going to change that."
"You care about me." Sam repeated, matter of factly. She was losing it again.
"Okay. I love you. I worry about you. I worry about Daniel and Teal'c too, but do not ever on pain of a slow and painful death ever tell them." It made things easier for Jack if her could say those words in a sentence that included other people. Sam however, heard the one word she had been terrified of hearing for years.
"Wait a minute. Love. As in.." Sam did not quite believe it. Control was now, not an issue. Mentally, she was struggling to stay with the programme.
Jack was suddenly overcome by frustration at their inability to have a straightforward conversation, and he got to his feet, accidentally knocking his chair to the ground, struggling to think of what he had to say to get through to her.
"What do you want me to say? For god's sake, you know it, I know it, it's not gonna change even if you hurl Daniel to the floor in front of me, and boff him 'til you can boff no more, you and me are just built that way."
At this point he paused for breath.
" And I'm not just talking about sex here."
"Boff?" Sam spluttered. Something about the word, and the expression on his face, seemed amusing to Sam. Her eyes closed, and she started to laugh. She tried to stop by biting her top lip but a grin escaped and the tears rolled down her face as she tried to keep it in. It was all too much and she felt herself slipping into, what for Sam would be, hysteria.
She shook her head, as if to deny what was showing on her face, and Jack was at first surprised, then relieved that the tension that had been building was dispersed.
"What, Sam, is so goddamn funny!" Moving the chair out of his way, he came around the table, and pulled her gently to her feet. She did not resist him, and was still laughing, when he asked her again, " What is it?"
"It's the 'boff'. Where did that come from?!" She wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to grin at Jack, who returned the smile. "And it's you," she continued, "You are so bad at this!"
Jack looked down at the floor for a moment.
"Hey", he shrugged, looked straight into her eyes and gave a sad smile, "haven't had much practice."
Sam felt he was seeing right into her. He knew her better than any man she had known or was likely to know in the future.
Feeling guilty at what she had said, along with the realisation that they may not get a chance again, she reacted without thinking about consequences. Which for Sam was unthinkable.
"That makes two of us then. Let's practice, then maybe someday we'll get it right."
Jack's eyes widened in disbelief, and as he was about to reply, Sam said "Shut up Sir."and reached to pull his head down to hers into a surprised kiss.
It all started to come back to him after that.
Nearly.
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Teal'c, meanwhile, was sitting up with a glass of water looking at the meaningless rubbish on television. Josie had gone to bed, and Teal'c was supposed to sleep on this recliner that was two foot too short for him.
He frowned.
He changed the channel.
He thought about ringing O'Neill to check that he was still alive.
Samantha Carter could be a formidable opponent, and if he were in O'Neill's footwear, he may have chosen to try and leave as well. At least this way the journey home would be more agreeable. They will have worked out their differences, and the atmosphere would be tolerable. And maybe, for a change, O'Neill would stop complaining.
A film involving Earth's history was on. He had just turned it over for the beginning. "Journey to the Centre" of it, he surmised it was called. This was better. He settled down for the evening.
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Sitting side by side, the silence between them was palpable.
Jack frowned. His shirt was undone, his belt unbuckled. He had already done his fly up again.
Sam took a deep breath and let it out again. She straightened the sleeves on her fleece. Her T- shirt was somewhere across the other side of the room, and she had no idea where her bra was.
Sam used both hands to force the hair on the back of her head down. That was the trouble with short hair, it always stuck up at inappropriate moments.
Jack was thinking along similar lines about other things. He looked down at his belt. May as well do that up again O'Neill, no action down there tonight, he thought to himself.
Moving slightly in his seat, Jack looked confused, then reached under his rear and pulled out a previously frozen carrot that had escaped from Daniels first aid exercise. He frowned then threw it over his shoulder.
They turned towards each other to try and explain.
"It doesn't matter.." "It's never happened before.."
Then both stopped and looked down again. Sam twiddled her thumbs, and Jack sighed.
"Hey, maybe that thing about the wrong time, maybe it was never meant to be.." Jack tried to make the situation easier by letting them both out of it.
He thought for a moment about the past hour.
Their teeth had clashed, noses got in the way. She had pushed him backwards, and he tripped over the fallen chair and landed on his butt. She had landed on top of him. That had got interesting for a while, then her head had got stuck while he was trying to pull her T off without undoing something. Actually that had been interesting too as she couldn't see what he was doing. Then somehow they made it to the couch, and his zip was stuck, and she tried to do that sexy little thing with.., but it still wouldn't. and then they had both got tired, and mutually given up.
"With the day so long, and Daniel, the alcohol, and it did come out of the blue didn't it?" Sam was doing her bit to make them both feel better, but Jack really put it into focus.
"This is kinda uncomfortable isn't it?"
He looked at her. She looked sad and he could do something about that at least.
"Hey, come here." And she came into his arms for a hug. Sam lay with her head on his chest for a while, then sighed and looked up at him. "This does feel weird to talk about." she started.
Jack interceded at this point by holding up her bra, which he had found on the arm of the couch.
"Go on. It's not as if we haven't been introduced, is it?
"Oh. Thank you." She took it from him and lay it down beside her, then continued what she had tried to say.
"Why did this happen, are we nervous or something, I thought it was something we both wanted to get out of the way?"
Jack didn't answer, and she thought she knew why.
"No I guess that's the wrong thing to say as it was more important than that."
She looked down and ran her hand absent-mindedly up and down Jack's leg.
This made Jack a bit distracted again, but he tried to go with the conversation.
"Our trouble is, we think too much. There's a first. I think too much."
He thought some more, head tilted to one side, looking into space.
"I used to worry about just doing things like this, " he looked at her again and smiled, kissed her on the forehead, "or talking like this. After Danny died I wished I'd done it before."
Jack realised that even though Daniel was back, he still had to accept the pain in the same way as he had with Charlie.
He paused.
"Not the kissing thing with Daniel, I didn't mean that."
Then Jack felt he hadn't said everything.
"I don't want to ever regret anything. I don't want to regret this."
He pulled her close again, and then got up, taking her with him. Holding each other tightly, aware that this was his way of closing the discussion for now, Sam pulled back and played a little with his hair. The way it curled around his ears, and stood to attention in the front when he'd just had it cut. These things she never thought she would do, and were enough for now.
"Bed." She said, in a matter of fact way.
"Okay" Jack replied slowly, not sure if this was an invitation or not. Suddenly his bladder reminded him of more pressing matters for the moment.
He gestured behind him to the bathroom, "Pee."
As they pulled apart from one another, Sam went to the sink.
"Water?"
Jack looked back at her, "What?"
"Water, as in to drink?"
"Oh OK, " he continued to the bathroom, muttering, " I'm about as parched as the desert on Abydos."
As the door closed, Sam heard a surprise utterance.
"I made a nerd joke. Danny'l be pleased tomorrow."
Tomorrow, Sam thought.
She filled two glasses, and deep in thought left both of them on the side of the sink.
She had a bright idea. Sam rummaged in the kitchen and came up with some night-lights and a lighter. Rushing into the bedroom, she freshened herself up in the en suite, and did her best to make the bedroom look as un military like as she could, and did the same to herself.
Jack came out of the bathroom after changing and found the living room empty. He had forgotten about the glasses too and refreshed himself in his usual way by drinking straight out of the tap.
That'll make her mad, he thought, and grinned, looking up again. She was gone. He made his way cautiously to the bedroom. The door was shut, and the light was off. He really did not want to push anything that may not really be welcome at the moment, and he still had a bit of trouble reading her. He was confused, and tired, so maybe it was just as well. He made his way to the den, and tried to get comfortable on the narrow bed. Sleep came quickly.
Sam meanwhile, had fallen asleep sitting up, one of O'Neill's best T- shirts on, and the candles were burning away to nothing. She awoke an hour later to find herself freezing, with a stiff neck, and no company.
Her eyes narrowed. 'Can't see further than his own nose, and I've just got a stiff neck. That's the only stiff thing I'm getting tonight.' She giggled at her own joke, and realised she was really tired, and was paying for the wine drunk earlier in the day.
Daniel and Teal'c would be back tomorrow and things would be better. This would come round again and they would talk about it, and laugh, as if it was just something that happened now and again.to other people. She had survived far worse, and she already felt more positive and resolved to face the next day.
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The birds had started to sing when Sam woke up with a start.
It may have been the food or the wine, or the events of a few hours before, but she had found herself in an erotic dream involving the Colonel in B.D.U.'s, ice cream and assorted frozen vegetables. Not willing to risk returning to the same dream, she decided to get up, maybe take the morning air, and prepare breakfast. Teal'c had indicated that they would return early, and his take on early, generally meant before anyone else had got to bed.
It was barely light when Jack awoke, equally as startled, and hit his head on the top bunk again. After a few well chosen four letter words, he swung his legs to the floor, and rested his head in his hands as he regained full consciousness.
"What's wrong with me?" he muttered out loud. "And what the hell was I dreaming about?" He noticed that activity in the shorts department was more enthusiastic than it had been the night before. His eyes closed, as he tried to think of something else. Like one of Daniel's talks on ancient civilisations he always did for newbies. It was no go. It wasn't going anywhere, so either there was something about Daniel's eloquence that he found more compelling than he would admit to, or he needed a shower. Cold.
Jack wandered out into the hall, and along the corridor, making ouch noises as he hobbled along the cold, tiled floor. It had not occurred to him to put anything other than his sweat pants on. His eyes were still closed as he yawned very dramatically, and glanced into the kitchen on his way past. His double take would have been comical if anyone had noticed.
Sam had her back to him, doing something at the sink, whilst plugged into her personal cd player. Oblivious to her audience, she danced away, swinging her hips slowly in time with the music. It must have been a good song as she started drumming on the worktop with a skillet and a whisk so hard that one of them bounced out of her hand and hit the floor. In time with the music, she slowly bent down to retrieve it, noticing, as she did, that Jack was staring glassy eyed, mouth open, at her posterior.
He gathered himself enough to utter, "Don't get up on my account."
Everything about last night came back to her, and all of her resolutions made that morning were forgotten.
Sam slowly stood up, still gripping both cooking utensils.
Jack did his best to saunter over to her on the cold floor.
"Do you want to put those down, or have you got something cooking over here?"
Sam could not believe what he had just said. "You are so full of shit O'Neill!" She put them down anyway, and turned back towards him. He was now right up against her, hands lightly on her hips.
"Sorry, best I could manage. Just woken up, see."
This close, she was taken aback by his scrutiny. He looked over her face, then down at what she had on.
"Hey," he murmured in mock annoyance, " you've got my favourite pants on."
Sam's eyebrow arched, as if she had been waiting for hours to deliver this one line,
"About the only way I could see of getting inside your pants after last night."
"Very dry, Major. Let me see if I can make it up to you."
"I'm not, and you can."
With that she launched into his arms, and kissed him as hard as she could. Somewhere in the middle of their kitchen encounter, he lifted her up onto the sink unit, and she locked her legs around his middle, between them knocking the dishes into the sink with a loud clatter.
Even at this point, Sam couldn't help it. Either side of his lips, she managed to say,
"Jack, the . the cups."
And, having had enough of thinking and talking, Jack answered the best way he knew how.
"Fuck the cups."
Rating a bit R here for language, and a bit of tackling in the kitchen
This is the penultimate chapter.
The end of a very long day.
Daniel had finally dismissed Teal'c from his bedside with a number of un Jackson like swear words, feeling that Teal'c had enough to contend as he still looked unwell.
Daniel was still feeling dizzy and having difficulty focusing, which had nothing to do with his lack of glasses. He had been sick whilst on the road but was convinced it was down to something unsavoury and out of date he had consumed from Jack's fridge.
"Very well, DanielJackson, I will leave you to sleep. If you need me, call me on O'Neill's telephone. I will be retiring for the night to his friends abode."
"Okay Teal'c," Daniel squinted out of one eye, as the main light in the room was too bright for his already strained nerves, "just make sure that Jack and Sam don't go at each other again before I'm back."
Teal'c had been about to leave when he turned back towards the patient.
"Do you require me to call them at regular intervals to interrupt anything that may occur?"
Daniel could swear that Teal'c was making a joke, and he smiled despite his discomfort.
"No Teal'c- just do me a favour and call them once to make sure they're not arguing, or levelling any weapons of mass destruction at one another."
Before Teal'c could reply, Daniel pulled the starchy covers up to his chin and turned the light off, adding as if to himself,
"Or making any wild monkey love when I'm stuck in here with nurses the age of my mother who won't let me read, or anything.."
"Indeed DanielJackson, sleep and be well. Do not be concerned for the Colonel and Major Carter."
Teal'c left with the hint of a smile on his face, pleased that Daniel was okay, and that O'Neill and the Major had some time alone. He would call them in the morning. They would be able to fix the fences that O'Neill had tried to break. Why did humans have to hide everything with metaphors? Why were they unable to communicate without them? They gave him a headache.
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"So, what are we doin'? Parcheesi, Mah-jong, pin the tail on the, uh thing without a tail?"
Jack leant back in his uncomfortable chair, creaking on its back legs, hands clasped over his stomach, happy to be watching Samantha Carter doing the dishes. He would be happy to watch her doing anything with the kind of mood he had on him at the moment, and he knew that tonight was conversation night. She knew this, which was why she was doing the dishes and not sitting opposite him.
Sam glanced across in his direction, and he threw a questioning glance back in reply. Why had he changed? Should she say to him that the time in the tent was a hic-cup in their professional relationship, or should they talk about it like two adults, try to rationalise it; and then Jack interrupted her train of thought.
"Bored now."
"I guess you mean you're thinking about Daniel, and you want to stop worrying about him, so you want something else to think about." Sam prompted.
"Yeah." Jack stopped trying to break the chair, and instead rested his head in his hands on the table. "Is there anything I should've done, suggested, insisted, harangued?"
"With all due respect Sir, shut up!" Sam laughed as she dried her hands.
"Excuse me?" Jack looked up with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Sorry, I should have said, Jack, shut up." Sam was still smiling at Jack's procession of verbs.
"That's better." And he returned his head to his hands.
" You always try to take responsibility; Daniel falling out of bed was not part of some mission failure, it was an accident." She threw the towel down onto the worktop having finished the dishes, and returned to sit at the table.
"At least I've stopped you feeling like crap." Jack said, now crossing his arms, and smiling at his success.
Sam copied his body language, tilted her head to one side and suggested, "Lets agree to share the feelings of crap shall we?"
"Deal" Jack agreed, smiled, and then glanced down at the table at an imagined blemish.
This is it Jack, say it now, say it now, he encouraged himself,
"Talking of feelings, Sam."
The smile left over from the previous discussion froze on Sam's face, and she went cold realising that she wished she had brought the subject up first.
She would not be in control of the conversation.
Jack paused before continuing, now uncrossing his arms, and playing with the stem of his wine glass.
He looked up at her, realising she shared his discomfort, and smiled sympathetically.
"The past two weeks have been, kinda weird don't ya think?" As usual, he found himself searching for the right word.
Sam nodded, and answered hesitantly, "Weird, is one way of putting it."
" I wanted a chance to apologise." Jack announced, as if coming to some kind of decision.
Sam was surprised that after all the joking and hinting of the previous two days, he would start this conversation with an apology.
"Jack, we're two consenting adults, who found themselves in a position," she stopped trying to think of what to say, and Jack thought he would help her out.
"Various positions?" he winced again thinking, 'that did SO not help, Jack.'
Sam looked a little stern and continued, "In a compromising position."
Jack nodded, "You were sick, I wanted to, err, comfort you," he looked to see if she would follow his lead, and she agreed, "Comfort, that's good."
"Thanks, I thought so. And it nearly got out of hand: we got a bit too, close, and just didn't think we'd feel weird after it."
"Sir, there are two things that we're ignoring here." Sam thought trying to reason it out. She forgot that she had said the "S" word.
"One is that I've been very ill before now, and this situation's never happened, and two, we have been, and still are, in..in , on very good terms?"
Her upwards inflection at the end of the sentence said it all. She could not say that they loved one another and come back from it. At the moment they were still both at the metaphorical border crossing. She concluded, "That's why we feel so messed up. Yet somehow it's different this time. There are some things we have to deal with"
She felt back in control now.
"Sam, despite the regulations, and I NEVER thought I would say that, I hope this place is not bugged; it's just us here. I'll say it. I, care. About. You. I do very much. And nothing is ever going to change that."
"You care about me." Sam repeated, matter of factly. She was losing it again.
"Okay. I love you. I worry about you. I worry about Daniel and Teal'c too, but do not ever on pain of a slow and painful death ever tell them." It made things easier for Jack if her could say those words in a sentence that included other people. Sam however, heard the one word she had been terrified of hearing for years.
"Wait a minute. Love. As in.." Sam did not quite believe it. Control was now, not an issue. Mentally, she was struggling to stay with the programme.
Jack was suddenly overcome by frustration at their inability to have a straightforward conversation, and he got to his feet, accidentally knocking his chair to the ground, struggling to think of what he had to say to get through to her.
"What do you want me to say? For god's sake, you know it, I know it, it's not gonna change even if you hurl Daniel to the floor in front of me, and boff him 'til you can boff no more, you and me are just built that way."
At this point he paused for breath.
" And I'm not just talking about sex here."
"Boff?" Sam spluttered. Something about the word, and the expression on his face, seemed amusing to Sam. Her eyes closed, and she started to laugh. She tried to stop by biting her top lip but a grin escaped and the tears rolled down her face as she tried to keep it in. It was all too much and she felt herself slipping into, what for Sam would be, hysteria.
She shook her head, as if to deny what was showing on her face, and Jack was at first surprised, then relieved that the tension that had been building was dispersed.
"What, Sam, is so goddamn funny!" Moving the chair out of his way, he came around the table, and pulled her gently to her feet. She did not resist him, and was still laughing, when he asked her again, " What is it?"
"It's the 'boff'. Where did that come from?!" She wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to grin at Jack, who returned the smile. "And it's you," she continued, "You are so bad at this!"
Jack looked down at the floor for a moment.
"Hey", he shrugged, looked straight into her eyes and gave a sad smile, "haven't had much practice."
Sam felt he was seeing right into her. He knew her better than any man she had known or was likely to know in the future.
Feeling guilty at what she had said, along with the realisation that they may not get a chance again, she reacted without thinking about consequences. Which for Sam was unthinkable.
"That makes two of us then. Let's practice, then maybe someday we'll get it right."
Jack's eyes widened in disbelief, and as he was about to reply, Sam said "Shut up Sir."and reached to pull his head down to hers into a surprised kiss.
It all started to come back to him after that.
Nearly.
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Teal'c, meanwhile, was sitting up with a glass of water looking at the meaningless rubbish on television. Josie had gone to bed, and Teal'c was supposed to sleep on this recliner that was two foot too short for him.
He frowned.
He changed the channel.
He thought about ringing O'Neill to check that he was still alive.
Samantha Carter could be a formidable opponent, and if he were in O'Neill's footwear, he may have chosen to try and leave as well. At least this way the journey home would be more agreeable. They will have worked out their differences, and the atmosphere would be tolerable. And maybe, for a change, O'Neill would stop complaining.
A film involving Earth's history was on. He had just turned it over for the beginning. "Journey to the Centre" of it, he surmised it was called. This was better. He settled down for the evening.
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Sitting side by side, the silence between them was palpable.
Jack frowned. His shirt was undone, his belt unbuckled. He had already done his fly up again.
Sam took a deep breath and let it out again. She straightened the sleeves on her fleece. Her T- shirt was somewhere across the other side of the room, and she had no idea where her bra was.
Sam used both hands to force the hair on the back of her head down. That was the trouble with short hair, it always stuck up at inappropriate moments.
Jack was thinking along similar lines about other things. He looked down at his belt. May as well do that up again O'Neill, no action down there tonight, he thought to himself.
Moving slightly in his seat, Jack looked confused, then reached under his rear and pulled out a previously frozen carrot that had escaped from Daniels first aid exercise. He frowned then threw it over his shoulder.
They turned towards each other to try and explain.
"It doesn't matter.." "It's never happened before.."
Then both stopped and looked down again. Sam twiddled her thumbs, and Jack sighed.
"Hey, maybe that thing about the wrong time, maybe it was never meant to be.." Jack tried to make the situation easier by letting them both out of it.
He thought for a moment about the past hour.
Their teeth had clashed, noses got in the way. She had pushed him backwards, and he tripped over the fallen chair and landed on his butt. She had landed on top of him. That had got interesting for a while, then her head had got stuck while he was trying to pull her T off without undoing something. Actually that had been interesting too as she couldn't see what he was doing. Then somehow they made it to the couch, and his zip was stuck, and she tried to do that sexy little thing with.., but it still wouldn't. and then they had both got tired, and mutually given up.
"With the day so long, and Daniel, the alcohol, and it did come out of the blue didn't it?" Sam was doing her bit to make them both feel better, but Jack really put it into focus.
"This is kinda uncomfortable isn't it?"
He looked at her. She looked sad and he could do something about that at least.
"Hey, come here." And she came into his arms for a hug. Sam lay with her head on his chest for a while, then sighed and looked up at him. "This does feel weird to talk about." she started.
Jack interceded at this point by holding up her bra, which he had found on the arm of the couch.
"Go on. It's not as if we haven't been introduced, is it?
"Oh. Thank you." She took it from him and lay it down beside her, then continued what she had tried to say.
"Why did this happen, are we nervous or something, I thought it was something we both wanted to get out of the way?"
Jack didn't answer, and she thought she knew why.
"No I guess that's the wrong thing to say as it was more important than that."
She looked down and ran her hand absent-mindedly up and down Jack's leg.
This made Jack a bit distracted again, but he tried to go with the conversation.
"Our trouble is, we think too much. There's a first. I think too much."
He thought some more, head tilted to one side, looking into space.
"I used to worry about just doing things like this, " he looked at her again and smiled, kissed her on the forehead, "or talking like this. After Danny died I wished I'd done it before."
Jack realised that even though Daniel was back, he still had to accept the pain in the same way as he had with Charlie.
He paused.
"Not the kissing thing with Daniel, I didn't mean that."
Then Jack felt he hadn't said everything.
"I don't want to ever regret anything. I don't want to regret this."
He pulled her close again, and then got up, taking her with him. Holding each other tightly, aware that this was his way of closing the discussion for now, Sam pulled back and played a little with his hair. The way it curled around his ears, and stood to attention in the front when he'd just had it cut. These things she never thought she would do, and were enough for now.
"Bed." She said, in a matter of fact way.
"Okay" Jack replied slowly, not sure if this was an invitation or not. Suddenly his bladder reminded him of more pressing matters for the moment.
He gestured behind him to the bathroom, "Pee."
As they pulled apart from one another, Sam went to the sink.
"Water?"
Jack looked back at her, "What?"
"Water, as in to drink?"
"Oh OK, " he continued to the bathroom, muttering, " I'm about as parched as the desert on Abydos."
As the door closed, Sam heard a surprise utterance.
"I made a nerd joke. Danny'l be pleased tomorrow."
Tomorrow, Sam thought.
She filled two glasses, and deep in thought left both of them on the side of the sink.
She had a bright idea. Sam rummaged in the kitchen and came up with some night-lights and a lighter. Rushing into the bedroom, she freshened herself up in the en suite, and did her best to make the bedroom look as un military like as she could, and did the same to herself.
Jack came out of the bathroom after changing and found the living room empty. He had forgotten about the glasses too and refreshed himself in his usual way by drinking straight out of the tap.
That'll make her mad, he thought, and grinned, looking up again. She was gone. He made his way cautiously to the bedroom. The door was shut, and the light was off. He really did not want to push anything that may not really be welcome at the moment, and he still had a bit of trouble reading her. He was confused, and tired, so maybe it was just as well. He made his way to the den, and tried to get comfortable on the narrow bed. Sleep came quickly.
Sam meanwhile, had fallen asleep sitting up, one of O'Neill's best T- shirts on, and the candles were burning away to nothing. She awoke an hour later to find herself freezing, with a stiff neck, and no company.
Her eyes narrowed. 'Can't see further than his own nose, and I've just got a stiff neck. That's the only stiff thing I'm getting tonight.' She giggled at her own joke, and realised she was really tired, and was paying for the wine drunk earlier in the day.
Daniel and Teal'c would be back tomorrow and things would be better. This would come round again and they would talk about it, and laugh, as if it was just something that happened now and again.to other people. She had survived far worse, and she already felt more positive and resolved to face the next day.
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The birds had started to sing when Sam woke up with a start.
It may have been the food or the wine, or the events of a few hours before, but she had found herself in an erotic dream involving the Colonel in B.D.U.'s, ice cream and assorted frozen vegetables. Not willing to risk returning to the same dream, she decided to get up, maybe take the morning air, and prepare breakfast. Teal'c had indicated that they would return early, and his take on early, generally meant before anyone else had got to bed.
It was barely light when Jack awoke, equally as startled, and hit his head on the top bunk again. After a few well chosen four letter words, he swung his legs to the floor, and rested his head in his hands as he regained full consciousness.
"What's wrong with me?" he muttered out loud. "And what the hell was I dreaming about?" He noticed that activity in the shorts department was more enthusiastic than it had been the night before. His eyes closed, as he tried to think of something else. Like one of Daniel's talks on ancient civilisations he always did for newbies. It was no go. It wasn't going anywhere, so either there was something about Daniel's eloquence that he found more compelling than he would admit to, or he needed a shower. Cold.
Jack wandered out into the hall, and along the corridor, making ouch noises as he hobbled along the cold, tiled floor. It had not occurred to him to put anything other than his sweat pants on. His eyes were still closed as he yawned very dramatically, and glanced into the kitchen on his way past. His double take would have been comical if anyone had noticed.
Sam had her back to him, doing something at the sink, whilst plugged into her personal cd player. Oblivious to her audience, she danced away, swinging her hips slowly in time with the music. It must have been a good song as she started drumming on the worktop with a skillet and a whisk so hard that one of them bounced out of her hand and hit the floor. In time with the music, she slowly bent down to retrieve it, noticing, as she did, that Jack was staring glassy eyed, mouth open, at her posterior.
He gathered himself enough to utter, "Don't get up on my account."
Everything about last night came back to her, and all of her resolutions made that morning were forgotten.
Sam slowly stood up, still gripping both cooking utensils.
Jack did his best to saunter over to her on the cold floor.
"Do you want to put those down, or have you got something cooking over here?"
Sam could not believe what he had just said. "You are so full of shit O'Neill!" She put them down anyway, and turned back towards him. He was now right up against her, hands lightly on her hips.
"Sorry, best I could manage. Just woken up, see."
This close, she was taken aback by his scrutiny. He looked over her face, then down at what she had on.
"Hey," he murmured in mock annoyance, " you've got my favourite pants on."
Sam's eyebrow arched, as if she had been waiting for hours to deliver this one line,
"About the only way I could see of getting inside your pants after last night."
"Very dry, Major. Let me see if I can make it up to you."
"I'm not, and you can."
With that she launched into his arms, and kissed him as hard as she could. Somewhere in the middle of their kitchen encounter, he lifted her up onto the sink unit, and she locked her legs around his middle, between them knocking the dishes into the sink with a loud clatter.
Even at this point, Sam couldn't help it. Either side of his lips, she managed to say,
"Jack, the . the cups."
And, having had enough of thinking and talking, Jack answered the best way he knew how.
"Fuck the cups."