Disclaimer: Only own the ideas behind this story.
A/N: Just finished watching tonight's episode (Mobeius) I love alternate, geeked out Sam and Daniel! Jack was funny too. Hey, look at that, more spoilers in the A/N than in the story. Speaking of the story….
Eating Out
The Holidays Chapter 3
PhDelicious
Jack
They had started the ride to Jack's chosen restaurant discussing the swim meet. But that hadn't taken long since the meet had been a relatively easy victory with only a few close races. Now, stopped at a red light, Jack took advantage of the silence to check Sam out. She was dressed casually; her lavender V-neck sweater revealed hints of cleavage and dark blue jeans slung low on her hips sheathed long, lithe legs. Jack stared, caught up in his survey of her. When his eyes returned to her face he contemplated the small, secret smile that played across her lips, though her eyes were focused innocently out the windshield.
Lord she's beautiful. It doesn't seem to matter what she's wearing or where we are I can't keep my eyes off her. I could easily become addicted to…
HONK!
The sound from the car behind him jerked Jack back from his thoughts and he set the car in motion.
Almost there. I hope she likes this place.
Sam
Where are we going? I didn't know there were any restaurants in this part of town. Fred's Fish Market. Are we getting something to go?
Jack pulled up along side a ramshackle looking building with a small dinning patio and several parked cars. In the dark, Sam caught a brief glimpse of a seascape mural painted on the retaining wall which defined the parking lot. Jack parked the car and rushed around to Sam's door, but she was already out of the car by the time he arrived. Sam smiled as Jack, trying to be a gentleman, leaned around her and shut her door. As he pulled back he clasped her hand in his and led her towards the building's door.
"Jack?"
"A friend of mine recommended this place. The food's supposed to be fantastic. I thought about taking you to a steak place, but that's what I always do. I wanted this to be different."
Jack smiled shyly at Sam. She couldn't help but melt a little at his hopeful expression. She smiled as her knees weakened, boosting Jack's confidence and freeing one of his rare playboy grins, so different from the more common smirk. This grin had the power to catch the attention of any woman in sight, regardless of age, and Sam felt slightly overwhelmed being its sole recipient. Jack's thumb rubbed lightly over Sam's knuckles as they approached the hostess.
"Two?"
Jack
The restaurant was small, crowded, and dimly light but with a cozy atmosphere. The tables were covered in plastic tablecloths and set with paper placemats. Most people, including the staff were casually dressed. It had taken a long time for Sam and Jack to pick their dinners from the wide selection of dishes. When the meals had finally come they had been fantastic. As they'd finished their food conversation had turned to school courses and teachers.
"Can I get anything else for you tonight? Coffee? Dessert?"
The waiter interrupted Jack's tale about his crazy psychology professor.
"I assume you don't do blue Jello around here, so what do you have in the way of chocolate?"
"We have our famous triple chocolate layer cake and a decadent dark chocolate mousse."
Jack looked at Sam and she nodded, already knowing what he was going to order.
"We'll have the chocolate layer cake with two forks and two glasses of milk."
The waiter jotted this down and walked away shaking his head slightly.
"Jack! You're smiling like a kid in a candy store with a pocket full of change."
"I've got you and chocolate cake on the way. What more could a guy want?"
Sam giggled and rolled her eyes at Jack from across the table.
She's giggling around me again. I've missed that sound.
"So…your personality disorders professor just started talking to himself in the middle of class?"
"Well…he thought he was talking to someone named Caroling, but he was answering himself. He actually got pretty agitated. Apparently Caroline doesn't love him the way he loves her. Quite a difficult situation."
"That must have been kind of freaky."
"Yeah. My uncle always said that people go into psychology to try to fix their own problems, but I never really believed him until after this."
"So what problems are you trying to solve Jack?"
"Well, over the past few years I've been having serious trouble dealing with these thoughts and dreams that could get me arrested for statutory rape or corrupting a minor."
When Sam didn't respond to his comment, and dropped her eyes to the table, Jack started to panic.
Oh SHIT! Crashing and burning here. That was supposed to be funny. Must have gone to far. Do something Jack!
Jack reached out and placed his hand over Sam's where it rested on the table.
"Samantha…"
"Here's your cake folks. Enjoy."
Sam lifted her eyes from the table to smile at the waiter and reached for her fork with her free hand. Again Jack reached out, placing his hand on her wrist.
"Samantha? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you….It was supposed to be funny. I chose psychology because I thought it would give me an edge in the field."
There was along pause, during which Jack's panic increased.
Sam
Easy Samantha! There's no guarantee he was talking about you. This is not the time to be thinking about how it feels when he holds you or imagining what it would be like to take the next step with him. Focus on the conversation at hand.…What does he think is bothering me? The fact that he just admitted to wanting me like I want him? I was fine until he took it back. Was it really just a joke?
"So you don't feel that way about me?" Sam mumbled, stuttering over her words and staring fixedly at the fork in her hand.
Jack moved so he was sitting next to her, instead of across the table. He moved his hand from her wrist to her chin and coaxed her gaze up to his. Her eyes met his quickly before sliding sideways from him, as her cheeks began to burn.
I can't believe I actually asked him that. He's been so attentive to me, so close. It's not really that I doubt him…I just still can't really believe this is happening.
Jack
How can she still be unsure of that? I could have taken her standing up in the hallway back at the pool. If we weren't in public…
Jack leaned in and kissed Sam softly, right there in the middle of the crowded restaurant. When she began to respond he pulled back.
"Eat your cake Samantha. This isn't exactly the place to talk about this."
Jack's hand left her chin to pick up his fork. He smiled at Sam as he dug into the rich chocolate cake resting on the table between them. When he realized Sam had yet to move his smile widened.
"I've got blue Jello back at the house if you're not in the mood for chocolate."
This seemed to bring Sam out of her reverie. She turned her hand over and laced her fingers with his.
"Chocolate now, Jello later."
Sam's fork sliced off a corner of the cake and brought her fork slowly to her mouth. Jack had to stifle a groan as she slid the treat into her mouth and then licked the tines clean.
The things she could be doing with that tongue. Stop Jack! Not here! Not now! God!
Sam smiled at the stunned expression on Jack's face. She polished off the last bit of cake as he continued to stare at her mouth.
"Hey Jack, that was fantastic, but I have a feeling I'll be craving Jello in a little bit. Shall we?"
A/N 2: The restaurant is real. It can be found in Dover, NJ and it does seem a little sketchy from the outside, but the food is really good. The mural around the parking lot is also worth taking a minute to admire if you're there. The voices still haven't settled their disagreement over where to take the end of this story. Votes for continuing with the young versions versus switching to the adults and filling in through flashback will be considered.
