When All Else Fails
Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: Well ... the show doesn't belong to me, neither do the characters. So ... yeah.
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Her phone rang early the morning of the third day. Glancing at her clock she was confused to find that it was 0631, who would be calling at such an hour? She answered her phone, confusion notwithstanding. "Carter," she mumbled sleepily, sitting up in her bed, shivering when the cold air met her bare arms.
"Sam," it was General Hammond. "We have received word from the Tok'ra. Your father is currently on his way back to their home world, he will be informed of your return as soon as he arrives."
"Did they tell you when that would be?" She asked, starting to wake.
"Around two days," he replied.
"You couldn't tell me this later today?"
"I could," he said, "but we have also received word from the President." He said nothing more.
"...And?" She inquired, her patience fleeting. "What did he have to say?"
"He has made the proposal to those who know of the Stargate. They are currently voting on the matter."
"Sir," she said with a sigh. "I thank you for calling me and informing me of my fathers whereabouts, as well as what is going on with the regs, but it is really early." She yawned into the receiver, "Could you do me a favor ... call Jack and let him know." A grin spread across her face, he was going to be mad at her if he ever found out about this.
"I was already planning on doing so," Hammond assured her. "Go back to sleep, Sam."
"Yes, sir." She barked sleepily, "Goodbye, sir."
"Sleep well."
She hung up the phone and laid back down, smiling to herself. She figured that her phone would be ringing again at roughly o-seven hundred hours, a very annoyed, and tired, general on the other end.
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Jack laid his phone down with an annoyed sigh, he had been having a really, really good dream before George had to go and call him with such uneventful news. He didn't care if the Presidents appeal had already been made; what he wanted to know was when the answer came back. Glancing at the alarm on the nightstand by his bed his annoyance grew; it was only five till 0700 hours.
What was George thinking? Did he want to torment him? What had he done to piss him off? He finally came to an answer; Hammond was getting him back for all of the years of sarcasm and bad humor that he was made to put up with. Jack sighed, he deserved it.
Picking up his phone he figured that if he had to be awake at such an early hour he sure as hell wasn't going to be awake alone. It felt odd; dialing her phone number after two years of it having been disconnected. His fingers numbly passed over the buttons; it was way too early for him to be awake and on downtime. He was surprised when she answered the phone on the first ring.
"This is Sam," she sounded sleepy, but yet strangely alert for someone who had just been awakened.
"Did I wake you?" He asked, sitting up straight.
"No," she said nonchalantly. "Hammond called me a little while ago, I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm assuming he called you, which is why you're awake, and you decided to call me ... for whatever reasons."
"That's about it ... yeah." He sighed, "So ... you wanna get some breakfast or something?"
He could almost hear her smiling into the phone; "I'd like that, just give me some time to get ready. Do you that little dinner, Jesse's, that's right down the road from my house?"
"Yeah," he said with a nod.
"Their breakfast menu is wonderful, or at least the last time I was there it was. I'll meet you there in say ... an hour?"
"Sounds good, see you then." They said their good-byes and he hung up the phone, sliding off of the bed and slumping into the bathroom sleepily. It was early, almost too early, for this. He set the water on cold, hoping that it would wake him further, and quickly undressed and stepped under the powerful spray. Maybe he had set it a little too cold, as soon as the water hit his skin he yelped and bolted out of the shower, gasping for air. Oh yeah, that was definitely too cold.
Forty-five minutes later he was climbing into his truck, headed for the dinner he was meeting Sam at. Ten minutes after that he pulled into the parking lot of Jesse's Dinner, right next to the car she had rented until she got the time to actually buy her own (since they had gotten rid of old one nearly a year and a half prior). It was a Jeep, a green Wrangler with a tan ragtop, and she was still sitting inside of it, talking on a cell phone. She hadn't noticed him yet.
He turned off the truck, opened the door, stepped outside, shutting the door behind him quietly. He walked around the bed and up to the drivers' side of the Wrangler; she was still talking to whoever was on the other end of her cell phone. She really got her things together quickly, he thought as he tapped on the window. Her head snapped around and she glared at him, then motioned for him to move back so she could step out. He did and she opened the car door, the heel of her shoe clicking against the asphalt.
"Who ya talkin' to?" He asked, starting towards the dinner.
"Cassie," she mouthed, going back to her conversation. "Yes, Cassie, I know. ... No, not yet, he's on his way back to the Tok'ra home world though. ... Yeah, I talked with Mark the other night; he's going to come down here as soon as he gets some vacation time. Um ... probably tonight would be best. I'd really like to meet him...," she looked over at Jack, "of course I'll ask him. ... Alright, Cassie, I gotta go. I'll call you later, alright? ... I love you, too. Bye." She hung up the phone and they stepped inside the dinner. "She wants us to meet with her and Dominic tonight for dinner." She announced, passing by the sign that said 'Please Seat Yourself'.
They slid into a booth, facing each other, and continued with the conversation. "I'd like that," he said, picking up a menu. "What time?"
"She didn't say, you kind of cut the conversation short." She picked up her own menu and glanced over it, "Probably around seven, I'd guess. She said she was in the mood for Japanese, so it'll probably be Motto's."
Jack shook his head, "Burned down last year, there's a new place though. I don't remember what it's called."
"Oh," she frowned. "There's still so much I need to catch up on."
"Well," he replied with a smile, "we've got plenty of time."
She smiled back, rolling her eyes. "Jeez, who knew you were so cheesy?"
"You would have, if you had come to your senses sooner."
Her right eyebrow climbed up her forehead, "Oh ... really? Me come to my senses? Well, you didn't exactly jump out screaming 'Here I am, I love you!' either, did you?"
He held his hands up in his own defense, "Ah ... but there were plenty of little hints along the way. I couldn't really scream from the rooftops that I was in love with my second in command, now could I?" His own eyebrow raised, "And, maybe you're dating Pete was some sort of hint I never understood, but other than that you completely ignored me in that respect." He shrugged and turned the menu over and began to inspect the back of it.
"Oh ... oh. Wait juts a second, so now it's my fault that I didn't want to loose my job for something I wasn't even sure existed?" She questioned, taking the menu from his hands. "Or it was my fault I didn't want to wait around for forever until you smarted up and finally told me how you felt?" Her tone was annoyed and her glare was hard, but he knew she wasn't as mad as she was appearing to be.
"I never said that," was all that he replied. He took the menu back from her hands, "Let's just agree that it was neither one of our faults, or ... both of our faults." His eyes darted from the menu to her, then back to the menu. "Alright?"
She went back to reading her own menu, "Fine." She glanced over the rim of the menu and met his eyes; he had been watching her. A sly grin spread across his face and she kicked him under the table, though not hard. The grin spread across his face and reached his eyes, which were sparkling with laughter.
"What?" She asked; confused at the fact he was laughing.
"You make it so damn impossible to stay mad at you," he said with a chuckle. "All you've got to do is frown our pout and ... well, it's not fair."
She laughed, her cheeks beginning to flush. A waitress walked up to their table just as she was about to reply to the statement and asked if they wanted any coffee.
"Yeah," Jack said with a nod. The woman, who's nametag read Amber, looked at Sam.
"Please," she said. "Water, too."
Amber nodded and took off for the kitchen. Sam looked back over the menu, trying to decide on what to get. After a few minutes Amber came back with their coffees and her water, then asked if they had decided on what they wanted to eat.
Jack ordered first, "Special Three, with maple syrup and bacon." He handed the menu back to her and looked over at Sam.
"I want the French toast," she said, giving her menu to Amber as well. "Maple syrup."
Amber wrote down their orders and once again took off towards the kitchen.
"So, Dominic ... have you met him yet?"
He nodded, "Once. Almost a year ago ... he's a nice boy. You?"
"A couple of years ago, but she was only fourteen then. I talked to him on the phone once after that, when she was sixteen. That's it, though. I'm looking forward to learning more about him."
He nodded, "I was thinking of using our contacts with the president to get a complete background check on him. You know, what kind of grades he made, did he ever get ISS or OSS, any time spent in jail or juvie."
"Jack," Sam said in a warning tone. "Don't you even think about it, if she thinks that he's good enough than he's good enough. I don't want you trying to scare the poor boy."
"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'll play nice. I promise."
Ten minutes later their breakfast was brought out to the table and they began to eat, Jack filling her in on all of the things that had changed since she left, and what little he knew of her time as an ascended being.
"You mean to tell me I actually went to the cabin?" She asked, taking a bite of her French toast. "Did I like it?"
He nodded, "You said that you should have gone sooner."
"Hmm," she drank the last of her coffee. "Maybe next time we have downtime I'll go with you, for real."
"I'd like that," he said with a cheeky grin. "I'd like that a lot."
"I'm sure you would," she said with a smirk. "God it'll be forever before both of us have downtime in the same week, if it ever happens." She sighed, "We're not going to have much of a life outside of work."
"Well, at least that hasn't changed."
"Oh, you hush." She scolded, a pout appearing on her face.
He groaned, "You're gonna do that all the time now, aren't you?"
"Damn straight," she said with a giggle. "That's what you get for confessing something like that."
He shrugged, "Hey, it's cute. What do I care?"
She pushed her plate away and leaned back in the booth, resting her back against the cushion. "You almost done?" She asked, picking a piece of fuzz off of her blouse.
He nodded, pushing his own plate away then fishing through his pockets for his wallet. After finding it he pulled out his VISA and placed it will the bill, waiting for the waitress to return. Sam went digging through her purse and pulled out a five, lying it on the table. "For the tip," she explained when he looked at her with confusion. "It's the least I can do, since you're paying."
"Oh," he said with a nod. "Alright."
Five minutes later they walked out of the dinner to their cars. She stood with her back resting against the rented Wrangler, him in front of her with his hands resting on her hips. He leaned forward and kissed her deeply, her arms coming around his neck and pulling him closer.
"I'll call you later and tell you what time and where to met Cassie at."
"Why don't you just follow me to my house that way we can go together to eat," he suggested, in between kisses.
"Alright," she agreed. "I'll follow you."
She watched him as he walked around the front of his truck and then climbed inside. She got into the Wrangler, wishing she had taken the top down since it was such a beautiful day and put the key into the ignition. She smiled to herself as she pulled out of the dinners parking lot, it was going to be an interesting day.
