Ch. 11
Sam woke up the next morning and she was back in the guest room, curled up snugly under the covers. She sat up quickly and looked at the clock. Just after eight. The last thing she remembered was talking in the Colonel's bedroom. She supposed it was possible she had been so groggy as she crossed the hall back to her own room that she didn't remember it, but that was unusual for her.
She showered and dressed to take him back to the base for his X-Ray appointment, then went into the kitchen, surprised that he wasn't already in there. Then again, she had woken him in the middle of the night. Just as she was pouring herself a cup of fresh coffee, he showed up in his sleeping clothes, sweatpants and an old Air Force shirt. His hair looked like he had started the day off by sticking his finger in a light socket.
"What?" he asked suspiciously at the amused look on her face.
"Nothing," she said, pouring him a cup of coffee. "Did I fall asleep in your room last night? I don't remember going back to bed."
"Umm... you were about to fall asleep so I told you to go before you did."
"It's weird that I don't remember it..."
"You were really tired," he said quickly.
"Oh my God!" she suddenly exclaimed.
"What?!" he said quickly, looking nervous about something.
"It's trash day, isn't it? I forgot. I'll be right back..."
She hurried outside, not waiting for an answer. It was a really pretty morning. Everything was wet and shiny from the rain the night before. Sam was trying to wrestle both large trash cans down the long driveway at the same time when a little boy about ten years old appeared out of nowhere.
"Hi," he said with a grin.
"Um, hi," she answered. He was really cute.
"Want some help?" he offered.
"Sure," Sam said, giving up control of the smaller can.
"I'm Jeffrey."
"Hi. I'm Sam."
"Is that your car?" he asked, pointing to Sam's car.
"Yup."
"It's really cool."
"Thanks."
"It's been here a long time now... did you get married to Colonel O'Neill?"
She laughed. "Um, no. We just work together."
"In the Air Force?"
"Yup."
"Wow, cool."
They set the trash cans on the curb and someone yelled, "Jeff! Get back over here!"
"JUST A MINUTE!" the little boy yelled back. Sam looked over into the next yard, where two older boys were kicking a soccer ball around. "Today's our first day of summer," Jeffrey told her proudly.
"Wow, that must be exciting."
"Yeah, it is."
The front door opened and Jack came out on his crutches, trying to find out what was taking her so long. "Oh no," he said quietly as he spotted Jeffrey talking to Sam. He turned to go back inside but Jeffrey had already spotted him.
"Good morning, Colonel O'Neill!" he called, waving at him and running up to talk to him. Sam followed him, clearly amused.
"Hey, Jeff, listen..."
"What happened to your leg?" Jeffrey asked loudly.
Sam stopped in surprise. She was sure these were the boys he had been playing street hockey with when he had broken it in the first place.
"Um, I had an accident."
"What kind of accident?"
Sam looked at Jack sharply and he looked so caught that something clicked in her mind. "You didn't fall playing hockey with them," she said evenly.
He started to answer but just shook his head. Jeffrey was looking back and forth between them, completely lost. Something else surfaced in her mind. "I did fall asleep in your room last night. You carried me back to mine, without your crutches."
"Sam, wait," he begged.
Jeffrey's older brothers were yelling at him to come back over to their yard. Jeffrey was inspecting Jack's cast.
"Did you... fake this entire... I can't believe you." She wheeled around, not wanting him to see how hurt she was feeling, and started hurrying across the wet yard towards her car.
The soccer ball Jeffrey's brothers were playing with came out of nowhere, she tripped over it, and before she knew what was happening she had heard a loud crack, yelled out in pain, and was lying on her back in the wet grass.