Notes: I know it started off a little slow, but I felt I had to get the main situation out in the open. Now, I can finally get to some confrontation and maybe, a little angst or romance. I wanted this story to show the actual depth of Sam's character, but I figure it will take some chapters to actually address some issues and get into her "other side." The story kind of writes itself. The characters seem to be in control, not me.
Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 2: Courage
Jack stood at Carter's front door, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He really didn't know why he ended up coming to this shindig, but sittin' on the base all alone just felt so... wrong. Especially when he knew that his team was here, probably wondering about him and moping around. He rang the doorbell for the third time; he was starting to get a little impatient.
"Well, this shows that I was missed a whole helluva lot." He said to no one.
He jiggled the doorknobnot locked. Guess I'll just go on in. Loud sounds assaulted his ears before he even turned the corner to enter the living room. The laughing was loud and almost carefree; he felt a twinge inside when he realized that they apparently hadn't missed him at all. He cleared his throat loudly. All of a sudden, the funniest sight he thought he had ever seen greeted his eyes. Was that? No, surely not. Eyes close, erase image. Eyes open to reality, please! He reopened his eyes and it was still there, except everyone had stopped laughing and seemed frozen in place.
"Sir?"
"Uhh, Carter, why is Teal'c playing Twister? Alone?" Carter looked at Daniel, Daniel looked back. Teal'c just remained stationary in what could only be described as a deformed crab position.
"Well, uh, sir, you see, it's actually quite-"
"Well, Jack, he wanted to learn!" Daniel stumbled getting up off the floor to approach his friend.
"God, Daniel! How much have you had?"
"Enough. You see, we were explaining to Teal'c what we used to do when we were teenagers and we had friends over he said it sounded interesting so we decided that instead of just telling him all about the games children in our culture play that we would show him but it ended up that I was too drunk to show him and Sam said she was too drunk to show him so we just told him the directions and we let him play the game by himself which ended up being even better because you know Teal'c he's just so big that he just looked so fun-" "BREATHE, DANIEL, BREATHE!"
"God, chill out. I just asked." Jack walked over to the couch and sat down by what appeared to be a score sheet of some sort. By now Teal'c had uprighted himself and was sitting in the middle of the plastic game, completely oblivious to the fact that Daniel and Sam were silently communicating, behind him, or more like through his head. "So, how much have you guys had to drink?"
"Sir, we really didn't drink that much. You just walked in at a bad time."
"Really?" Jack snickered. If he was correct, both of them were drunk off their asses. Only Teal'c was sober. But how in the hell did they talk him into this? "Well, guys, I didn't mean to ruin your party. I just thought I'd stop by and see how team night was going without me around. Apparently, your doing great."
"Yeah, you would know."
"Daniel-" "No, Sam. For once, I'm not gonna just shut the hell up when Jack comes in like everyone else does. For once I want to TELL him how I feel about the way he's been acting and what we've actually thought of his selfish as-"
"Excuse me? My selfish ass? What have I done to you?" Daniel got up as quickly as possible, almost as if his earlier uncoordination had left to make room for his anger.
"You know what I mean!"
"No I don't"
"Do too!"
"Do not."
"Do too!"
"Do NOT!"
"D-O-T-O-O!" The room fell silent as soon as Daniel's fist connected with Jack's cheek . Jack sat back on the couch, rubbing his face where Daniel had hit him. "You haven't been around for any of us! You didn't help me when I had to get over losing Janet, you weren't there for Sam when she broke... you know what? Forget it! It's not worth it!" He stomped off into the bathroom and slammed the door hard. Then there was a muffled, "I'm sure Teal'c even has something to say to you!"
"I believe I will collect Daniel Jackson and go back to the base now. General O'Neill, I am truly sorry for what has occured tonight. Perhaps tomorrow will be a beter time to discuss this fully."
Sam still hadn't moved from her position on the floor; she was too shocked at what Daniel had done. But in actuality, she was kind of happy. Someone finally stood up to Jack. The thought made her smile just a little and her mind reenacted the entire scene. It gave her an incredible feeling to know that Daniel actually had the guts to do it. She just wished it had been her. She sat there in thought for maybe 15 minutes, staring at the wall until the sound of Daniel's car starting up shook her out of her thoughts. "Sir, are you ok?"
Jack was still sitting in the same spot, hand still on face, and he even still looked a little shocked. "What just happened Carter? And what did Daniel mean by 'getting over Janet?' And what the hell did you break?" She smiled and turned away to find her drink. She grabbed it, and grabbed another beer to give to the General.
"Well, sir, I think Daniel was mad. And he hit you."
"Obviously."
"Sir, he was drunk and upset."
"Carter I'm not worried about the punch, I wanna know what he was talking about. All the shit that came after the pain." Her smile faded.
"Well, sir, Daniel had a thing for Janet since, God, I dunno. Apparently, they never got to date, but he was still pretty shaken up when she died. And you didn't even talk to him. Not a bit. You just acted like it was another day at the SGC. And Teal'c, well, I'm sure you haven't upset Teal'c. He was defending your sorry ass earlier."
"So what did you break?"
"Hmm"
"Daniel said you broke something."
"Thats nothing sir. Don't worry about that." She got up and started collecting the empty bottles and plates to trash.
"No, tell me. I wanna know." The softness of his voice, the actual caring there must have broken the wall she had erected.
"I broke up with Pete. I couldn't stay with him because I was in love with someone else."
