Always Part 8 of 11
Unedited version of this chapter available at http: slash slash outoftheroom dot homestead dot com slash Always dot html (sorry - fanfiction dot net messes up the address every time)
Disclaimer: See Original Post
For the third time since he got home, Jack found himself randomly standing in the middle of a room staring into space. This time it was his bedroom.
His mind had been wandering again and again to Sam.
He shook his head and walked to the doorway, trying to remember why he had come in here in the first place. As he stepped into the hall, he snapped his fingers and spun back on the balls of his feet.
"Clean shirt . . . " he mumbled to himself.
In another one of his dazes, he hand managed to spill something – even now he couldn't remember what - all over his shirt. As he walked back towards his bathroom, he reached behind his head and grabbed the collar of his tee shirt, hauling it up over his head. Jack tossed it into the corner of the bathroom and was pulling on another Air Force shirt when he heard the knock at the door.
"Yeah!" he shouted, pulling the shirt down to his waistband. "Coming!"
He jogged down the hall to the foyer, and opened the front door . . .
Sam stood with her back to him, her arms crossed over her body, and when he yanked the door open she turned around, her chin hitching up so her gaze immediately connected with his.
Jack couldn't move . . . just stood there with his hand on the knob.
"Hi," she finally said.
"Hi."
"Can I come in?"
That seemed to snap Jack out of his stupor, and he jerked to motion. "Oh! Yeah. Come in."
She brushed past him, her arms still crossed over her body, but he could see her nervously clenching and unclenching her fists inside the long sleeves of the top she wore. Sam moved down the steps to the living room, and started to pace a small pattern at the end of the coffee table. Jack moved down the steps, letting his shoes hit the wood with a heavy thump.
"Carter, something wrong?"
Sam shook her head, but she didn't look at him. This was a Sam Carter he didn't often see . . . flustered, nervous, out of sorts. The only time he had seen her pace was when she was on the verge of figuring some annoying puzzle out. It seemed to help her think.
Maybe that's what she was doing . . . thinking?
"Carter . . . "
She "Shush!"-ed him loudly, holding of finger to her lips, pausing in her pacing only long enough to do so. Jack huffed a breath and arched his eyebrows . . . that was a new one. Generals didn't often get 'shushed' by Lieutenant Colonels.
"Carter . . . " He tried again.
"No."
"No?"
"No, Jack. Be quiet. Do you know how many times I've tried to get up enough nerve to talk to you about this? Only to either chicken out, or have you interrupt me? Or someone else interrupt me? Is anyone going to interrupt me?" She paused in her pacing to look at him.
Jack shook his head. He figured it was in his best interest not to actually speak . . .
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Not a chance . . . "
Her eyes widened a fraction, and Jack knew she got it. Sam started nodding, slowly at first, then more vehemently. "Good," she said, "Good," as she started shifting her weight from foot to foot. Her hands started flexing and Jack figured the pacing would start again any . . .
Second . . .
Now!
"I can't keep doing this. I can't keep guessing and wondering and . . . I've just got to lay it out there. I couldn't lie to Pete anymore, and I can't lie to myself anymore. That's what I told him when I broke the engagement. It wasn't fair to him, or me. Or you! And if I'm a fool, I'm a fool. I'll deal with it. But if not . . . if not, I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet."
She was talking fast, and pacing faster, and Jack just stood frozen, watching with his fingers pushed into his pockets.
"I mean, I get why we metaphorically left it in the room four years ago . . . what a mess that would have been. And I'm not stupid. I understand the rules and regulations . . . but . . . ah, hell . . . I don't even know what I'm saying right now."
Jack held his breath. He wasn't sure if he should shout for joy, or if she'd get mad at his interruption. But if he was getting her ramblings – and he was pretty sure he was – Hot damn!
That's what I told him when I broke the engagement . . .
She stopped pacing and faced him, hands at her hips, staring him down. "Am I crazy?"
Jack opened his mouth, raised his eyebrows, but wasn't sure if he was really supposed to speak or not.
Wasn't sure if he could.
That's what I told him when I broke the engagement.
Before he could do anything, Sam covered her face with her hands and groaned loudly.
Jack closed the space between them with two long strides, and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, gently pulled her hands from her face. Sam looked up at him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Jack lowered her arms to her side and moved his hands to her shoulders, all the while looking into her face.
He parted his lips and drew a slow breath, releasing it with huff. "I love you, Sam."
Her eyes rounded and her mouth fell open. Then, slowly, her lips turned up into a smile. And it was that smile, times ten.
Jack slid his hands from her shoulders along the column of her throat to her jaw, his thumbs running along her mouth. With a gentle tug, he urged her to part her lips and he leaned in to kiss her.
No alien influence. No time warps. No parallel universes. No nothing but him and Sam . . . for real.
And it was oh so real!
Electricity and fire shot through him, ignited by the soft moan that purred from Sam's throat against his lips. Her tongue slid along his, completing the conduit. Then her hands slipped beneath his tee shirt, and spots flashed behind his eyelids.
But through the exquisite pleasure, a small voice of reason screamed out to be heard. Jack pulled back, reluctantly breaking the seal of their kiss. He looked down at Sam, running his fingers along her cheek and jaw, as she watching his with flushed cheeks.
"Sam, this isn't without conseq"
She lifted a finger and pressed it to his lips. "I know. But, I'm so tired of waiting to live. Can't we figure the rest out tomorrow?"
Jack nodded and pulled her in his arms again. With his arm around her waist, they walked together from the living room to his bedroom.
