A/N: Fresh from the produce stands, the last and longest chapter of them all. I was soooooo very tempted to hang onto this one for a while, waiting for a few more reviews to come in first, but I just couldn't do it. I hope you enjoy this last installment of Year 6. This chapter and the last completely spun out of control and took on a life of their own - at first when I decided to have Jacob show up, he was going to be alone. Then I thought Teal'c and Jonas deserved to make an appearance. Then of course, Janet and Cassie felt left out... For a story that was supposed to be just Jack and Sam, this one ended up very crowded!
BT7 and the rest will be out as soon as I figure out a few details and get time to sit down and actually write the things... I've never actually written Pete before because I like to pretend he doesn't exist, so that should be an interesting experience for me. Thank you so much for your interest in this series - it has turned into so much more than I ever imagined. It started off as a meager little story on an abandoned disk in my night stand, and now I'm actually rather proud of it.
Ch 7: Rules and Stitches
Sam pushed her way past Teal'c and Jonas, looked down at Jack on the ground, and exclaimed, "Sir, you're bleeding!"
"Dad's here," Jack managed weakly as Carter snapped into her medical-emergency mode and shooed the cat off his chest. She was also trying to block Maggie from getting to him, with great difficulty. Hey, Maggie's human was lying on the ground hurt and people were yelling at him! She wanted to help him NOW!
"Teal'c, take Maggie outside," Sam ordered.
"Come, Magnet O'Neill," Teal'c said firmly, picking the dog up and disappearing from Jack's line of sight.
Despite all the commotion, Jack couldn't help grinning up at her, although it made his jaw hurt even more. She was wearing her running clothes, of course, sporting tight running pants and jacket, which was currently hanging open, unzipped, over a sports bra thingy, and she was a delightful combination of worried about him and pissed off at everyone else. She looked good. Maybe getting hit by Jacob wasn't all that bad after all.
"Nice run, Carter?" Jack asked, trying to take some of the attention off of himself as Carter knelt down next to him and pulled him up to a sitting position.
"Yeah, it was fine. Jonas, what happened here?" Apparently Carter had figured out roughly what had happened already, because she was counting on the neutral party to explain.
While Jonas started talking, Carter helped Jack to his feet carefully and helped him over to a chair at the kitchen table. Jonas was trying to explain the situation as diplomatically as possible, but wasn't having much luck.
Carter told him to shut up, shot a glare at her father, and grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer, pressing them carefully into Jack's jaw, which was already beginning to swell. "What are you all doing here anyway?" she asked, replacing her hand on the bag of peas with Jack's and instructing him to keep it there while she went to the sink.
She grabbed a tea towel and ran it under the tap and started dabbing at the blood oozing from the cut on Jack's forehead, right along the hairline on his left temple. He hissed and tried to knock her hand away, but she snapped at him to be still. Jack firmly believed, at that moment, that she was spending way too much time with Dr. Fraiser. What little bedside manner she had possessed when he met her had been completely overridden. He knew, at the back of his mind, that she was being as gentle as possible, but it still hurt like hell.
"George told me you knew I was coming today," Jacob said, finally answering her question.
"I did, Dad, I just... didn't know what time."
"Well, I got here this morning, went through all the physicals and everything, and when I was talking to Dr. Fraiser she mentioned that you didn't have a party this year, so I thought I'd take everyone out to lunch. Oh... we're supposed to let her know where so she and Cassie can meet us... anyway, I asked Teal'c and Jonas if they wanted to go ahead and come with me so they didn't have to find an SF to drive them later, and... here we are."
"Oh," Sam said. "Well, you might as well ring Janet now, I think this might need a couple of stitches."
"What!" Jack croaked.
She gave him a sympathetic smile and mouthed, "Sorry." He knew she wasn't just talking about the stitches.
He set the bag of peas down, his hand now numb as well, and said, "Just use those butterfly things, I don't need stitches..."
"I think we'll let Janet determine that, sir," Sam replied, turning her attention to Jonas and saying, "Well? Janet! Go!"
Jonas hurried over to the phone. Sam gave Jack a glass of water and two aspirin, waited for him to swallow, then pressed the bag of peas back against the side of his face. He sighed, defeated. But he was really, really glad she was back. She was the only person he knew who would ever dare to put Jacob Carter in his place.
He watched her closely, waiting for the moment when her anger replaced her need to make sure he was okay. He watched her brain click over into angry and leaned back in his chair with a tiny, satisfied smile as her eyes narrowed and she turned to her father.
"So, what, Dad, you showed up and assumed Colonel O'Neill and I were breaking every frat reg known to man and decided to let him have it?"
"Sam, go take a look at that living room. I still haven't heard an explanation but it looks like..."
"I don't give a damn WHAT it looks like!" Sam countered hotly. Jack's smile got bigger. She was hitting her stride now... Jacob was in for it. "First of all, I would have thought you had more trust in Colonel O'Neill and in me! Second of all, even if we WERE breaking regs it wouldn't really be any of your damn business! I'm not a little girl, Dad, and I'm certainly capable of taking care of myself. I don't need you trying to protect me from ANYONE. And most of all, you KNOW how much Daniel and I loved having the same..." she hesitated, choking suddenly.
Her emotions were still raw and she faltered on his name, tried valiantly to continue, and suddenly broke. Not wanting to cry in front of everyone, she pushed past Jonas and hurried out of the room. A few seconds later, Jack winced as he heard her bedroom door slam loudly.
"Crap," Jacob muttered, taking a step as if to go after her.
Bad idea, Jack thought. Teal'c concurred. He stepped in front of Jacob and said, "I suggest you give Major Carter some privacy."
"My daughter is upset, Teal'c, I..."
Teal'c's expression plainly said the matter wasn't open for discussion. Man, he was awesome, Jack thought for the millionth time, grinning at his largest friend and setting the bag of peas on the table now that Carter was out of the room.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said evenly. Jack mumbled under his breath and picked the bag of peas up again reluctantly.
Maggie had been scratching at the back door like a maniac, trying to get inside and make sure he was okay. Jack winced as he pictured what she was probably doing to Carter's back door, figuring he'd be repainting it sometime in the near future. "Hey, somebody let my dog in before she figures out how to pick the lock."
Jonas, who knew the Colonel had a dog but had never personally met her, volunteered for the job. He opened the back door and Maggie came into the room like she was on fire, slipping on the tile and scrambling in place for a few seconds as she tried to veer off her original course and head for Jack.
She jumped up on him, sniffing everywhere and licking his face while he tried to assure her he was okay and get her off of him at the same time. She finally concluded he would live and turned her attention to everyone else in the room, starting with Teal'c. By the time she got round to sniffing Jonas, he was asking Teal'c all kinds of questions about her and dogs in general. Jack watched them, his head starting to get a little fuzzy.
"Hey, Jonas, why don't you fill up her water bowl," Jack suggested, pointing its location out with a tilt of his head. "She hasn't had any since her run with Carter."
"Sure thing, Colonel O'Neill," Jonas said, eager to help. He filled up the bowl and watched Maggie lap up the water, entertained by the way she sloppily drank, splashing water everywhere. "Would you like me to feed her too?"
"Yeah... wait, no, you can't," Jack said. "She just went on a strenuous walk, she's got to wait before eating."
"Oh." Jonas paused and asked, "Why?"
"I'm not sure," Jack admitted. "Ask Carter later."
"Okay."
"I better go check on Carter," Jack mumbled, getting to his feet. He could feel the look Jacob was giving him, but that wasn't a priority at the moment.
He had only taken two steps when a voice he dreaded when he was injured called, "Hello? Where is everybod... oh, there you are." Janet appeared in the kitchen with her well-stocked medical bag.
"Sit back down, Colonel, and let me take a look at you," Janet said firmly. Jack lowered himself back into his chair reluctantly.
"I'm going to go try to talk to Sam," Jacob said resolutely, setting his mug down and getting up.
At hearing her second-favourite human's name, Maggie perked up. Then, seeing one of the new people leaving, she went with him. Her human was hurt, but he was okay, and that man had something to do with it. There was no way Maggie was letting him near her Sam unsupervised.
"Jacob, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jack called half-heartedly.
He tolerated the doc buzzing around him like a mosquito as he listened for sounds of a commotion. Sure enough, he soon heard the bedroom door shut loudly, but it wasn't quite an angry slam, more of a 'barely escape in one piece' slam.
Jacob reappeared in the kitchen, saying, "She chucked a shoe at my head and told me to get out! Then when I took a step towards her that mad dog of yours started growling at me until I left!"
"Good dog," Jack muttered.
Janet had heard him. She caught his eyes and smiled almost imperceptibly, then said, "Well, this doesn't need stitches, sir. I think we can tape you up and there won't even be a scar."
"Thanks doc. Hurry it up will you, I haven't eaten yet."
"How can you think about food in the middle of all of this?" Janet asked incredulously.
"Picked it up from Jonas?" Jack tried hopefully.
Fraiser laughed quietly, then giggled outright as Jonas objected with a, "Hey!"
"So, when is someone going to fill me in on what I missed?" Janet finally asked, glancing around the crowded kitchen. "Jonas was a little vague on the phone."
"Yeah, I'd like to hear all the details myself now, Jack," Jacob said. "For all yours and Sam's insisting that nothing was going on here last night, there sure seem to be a lot of clothes lying about!"
"Huh?" Jack asked.
"Well, granted I wasn't in her bedroom for very long but unless my daughter's taken to wearing men's clothes there were an awful lot of them on the floor in there. Plus there's the sweater that looks like it was flung across the room onto the armchair, and there's a bra and a pair of panties in the hall!"
"Wh? Huh?" Jack knew for a fact that those last two, the ones Jacob was probably most upset about, were not his fault. Then he remembered the laundry that had got spread everywhere and groaned. "Okay, the underwear is because Quarks and Maggie like to play with the laundry."
Everyone stared at him. Yeah, okay, that sounded pretty implausible. "I swear!" Jack insisted. "They spread a whole basket round Carter's bedroom last night, but I guess some of it spilt out into the hall and I didn't notice..."
"And your clothes just fell off of your body as you helped my daughter into bed and then took yourself off to the spare bedroom?" Jacob suggested sarcastically.
"Er... no. Not exactly," Jack admitted. "Look... we slept in the same bed, but nothing happened..." he wasn't sure at the moment whether he wished everyone else wasn't there, or was really, really grateful he had witnesses to this.
"Quarks and Maggie were in the bed too, and I swear Carter fell asleep in about two seconds and didn't move all night."
"That implies that you didn't fall asleep right away, Jack, so why would you choose to stay in what must have been a very crowded bed if you had a choice?"
"I..." Jack faltered. Jacob probably didn't want to hear that his daughter had begged him not to leave with the full-on doe-eyed look he'd never been able to say no to... clearing his head, he reminded himself that there were four people watching him and waiting for an explanation.
While nobody else seemed upset besides Jacob, they all wanted to know what had really happened. He supposed he couldn't blame them. Janet wasn't very subtle about her opinion of the frat regs as they applied to the two of them. Teal'c knew pretty much everything that had ever happened between them. He hadn't even blinked when he caught them making out on the couch last year... and Jonas... well, Jack wasn't sure what Jonas thought about all of this, to be honest. He'd have to make sure the kid knew not to go blabbing any of this around the base.
"Look, Jacob," Jack finally said, taking a deep breath. "I understand this must look pretty bad. But I swear to you, last night was completely about Daniel. And if you really think that I would manipulate this situation to..." Jack couldn't even say it. He felt like he might vomit, but decided to tell himself it was the hangover. "If you really believe that either of us would do something like that, you don't know me at all and you sure as hell don't know your daughter."
Jack and Jacob locked gazes for several moments. Janet finally cleared her throat and said, "Well, you're all patched up Colonel. Teal'c, Jonas, let's go clean up the living room."
The alien half of SG-1 followed Janet out of the kitchen, leaving the two men alone to talk. Quarks leapt up onto Jack's lap. Jack started petting him absently, which seemed to spur Jacob into speaking again. "But you do, don't you," he said quietly.
"What?" Jack asked.
"You know her, don't you? Better than I do, right? Isn't that what you meant?"
"Jake, I didn't..."
"You know her cat, you know how to cheer her up, how to take care of her, you know where the cat food and the coffee cups and the damn sugar and spoons are in her kitchen..."
Jack suddenly realized this wasn't about him at all anymore.
"Jacob... I just know all that stuff because I'm here. Daniel knew it all too. Teal'c knows even more about all of us than I do. Jonas hasn't been over here before but now that he has I'm sure he can tell you the names of all those alphabetized books on the shelf in the living room..."
"Whereas all I've done since I showed up is punch you in the face, make you bust your head open, and sent my daughter crying hysterically into her room."
"Hey, you do make an entrance, I'll give you that," Jack said easily.
Jacob shook his head suddenly, chuckling. "You're a strange man, Jack O'Neill, but somehow you put people at ease. I guess I should be thanking you for doing what I can't."
"What do you mean?"
"For being here for my daughter."
"It's my job," Jack said uncomfortably, suddenly realizing he was having a heart-to-heart with Carter's dad whilst sat in the middle of her kitchen with a bag of frozen peas pressed to his face in nothing but camo shorts. Somehow, when he had gone to sleep last night snuggling his 2IC, this was not how he had envisioned the next morning.
"It's your job to keep her safe," Jacob countered. "It's not your job to make sure she's doing okay, or to make sure she has a happy birthday every year, or any of that. But you do it."
Jack shrugged, wondering if Jacob was heading into the 'inappropriate feelings' territory again, but Jacob shook his head and said, "I guess I'm sorry I hit you."
"You GUESS?" Jack couldn't help but tease.
"Hey, it... felt pretty damn good at the time," Jacob admitted.
"Yeah, I'll bet," Jack mumbled. "Look... you're a Tok'ra. A really important one. Of course you can't be around here all the time. Carter understands that, and she was right before, Jake. She can take care of herself."
"I've just missed so much of her life," Jacob mumbled. "Even before I became a Tok'ra." He sighed heavily.
Jack didn't have anything to say to that except, "We all have to put aside things we want because we have a job to do."
Jacob looked at him sternly for several moments and finally said, "Don't go making me feel sorry for you again."
Jack raised both eyebrows but said nothing.
Finally, Jacob said, "Maybe you could go check on her? See if she wants us to go or if we can still all have lunch?"
"Yeah, okay, but if she throws the other shoe at me I may have to rethink forgiving you for that left hook," Jack said, launching the bag of peas across the kitchen to land in the sink. "Three pointer!" he declared happily, pausing in his victory cheer as the bag burst open and frozen peas flew out of the sink, bouncing and rolling along the countertops and floors.
"Crap," he muttered. He turned to Jacob with a winning smile and offered, "I'll clean up your mess and you clean up mine?"
"Deal," Jacob said quickly.
Jack carried Quarks past all the curious glances of the people in the living room and headed to Carter's bedroom, kicking the problem-inducing bra and panties along the corridor as he went to get them out of sight. He knocked on Carter's door quietly, pushing it open cautiously.
"It's me, don't shoot!" he said, poking his head in and smiling at her. She was curled up on the bed, absently petting Maggie, who was laying next to her watching her in concern.
"Hi, sir," she called. He could tell she was still crying, but not as hard as before.
"Can I come in without having footwear hurled at my head? It's kind of been knocked about a lot already today."
Carter laughed and said, "It's safe."
He kicked her underwear inside and shut the door. She laughed at the way he was trying to avoid touching the clothes and wiped her eyes.
"So," Jack said, sitting down on the bed and releasing Quarks. He too took up petting Maggie, and said, "Dad loves me again."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. He overreacted, Carter, but the living room did look pretty bad, and I had just woken up when they showed up."
She gave a noncommital nod and he decided to put that aside for the time being. "Hey, what's the reason Maggie can't eat after running? Jonas was asking and I forgot what it's called."
"Bloat," Carter reminded him. "It can happen to big dogs after they've been exercising vigorously. They eat, and when they start to digest their food, their stomach basically gets twisted around. It's nearly always fatal."
"Right. Thanks. I couldn't remember what it was called, I just remembered it was a big no-no."
"That's what I'm here for, sir."
Jack smiled at her and carefully asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just... I wasn't expecting to come home to... all that. I mean Maggie and I left you asleep in bed and half an hour later we come home and my house is full of people yelling and you're lying on the floor bleeding..."
"Yeah it was a surprise for me too," he grinned. He couldn't help but ask, "So... what exactly were you expecting to come home to?"
She flushed slightly and said, "I don't know... quiet, nice, calm. I figured you'd have a hangover..."
"Got that right."
"...so you wouldn't be moving very fast. If you were awake when we got back I thought we could have breakfast..."
"At noon," he put in, nudging her lightly. "That... would have been a much better way to spend the day," he agreed. "I was going to make you my world-famous omelet!"
She laughed and said, "Sorry I missed that."
"Some other time," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "So, want me to go kick all those people out of here or do you want to go to lunch?"
"I guess we should go."
"You don't have to. They'll understand if you want to be alone. Your dad shouldn't have invited everyone over without checking with you first."
"Maybe. But it's okay. I... I want to. But I'm taking a shower first."
"First as in 'before we leave,' or first as in 'before I let my devastatingly handsome CO have a turn?'" Jack asked.
She took in his messy appearance and said, "I guess you do need one. Do you have any clothes though? Your pants are pretty wrinkled but I guess they'll do, but your shirt..."
"I've got a bag in my car."
"Good. But I'm still going first," Sam said quickly, scrambling off the bed and hurrying into the bathroom before he could fight her for the shower.
He banged on the door and called, "If you're not out of there in fifteen minutes I'm joining you!"
"There's no clock in here!" she called back. He frowned, puzzled. He'd been expecting either a half-embarrassed/half-scolding 'sir!' or for her to tease him back. He had no idea what that response meant.
Shrugging it off, he went back into the living room, slightly disturbed by how comfortable everyone seemed to be with him walking around in his shorts. At least Janet had the good graces to look embarrassed and avert her eyes, and she was his doctor, fercryinoutloud, she'd seen it all!
"Hey, Jonas, T, could one of you run out to my truck and grab my bag? I'm not sure where we're going for lunch but I'm assuming it's a no shoes, no shirt, no service kind of place."
"Give me your keys, O'Neill," Teal'c requested. Jack looked around for his keys... they were probably on the table by the door... nope. They must still be in the pocket of his jeans. Jeans that were on the floor of Carter's bedroom.
For the first time that day, he felt really, truly embarrassed. He wasn't sure why it hit him then, maybe it was a delayed reaction, but he could feel everyone's eyes on his back as he walked back down the hall to Carter's bedroom. He slipped inside, quickly grabbed his jeans and found his keys, and took them back, handing them to Teal'c without meeting anyone's eyes.
Teal'c fetched the bag and Jack practically ran back to Carter's room with it. He tossed it on the bed and started pacing the room until he heard the shower shut off. A few minutes later, Carter came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. She looked only mildly surprised to see him and said, "Let me grab my stuff and I can get ready out here while you shower."
"Okay. Hey, I don't suppose there's any chance you've got a razor lying around that's not pink?"
"Actually, I do," she said, gesturing for him to follow her back into the bathroom. He did, waving the humid, steamy air away from his face.
"Geez, Carter, save any hot water for me?" he grumbled.
She was too busy rummaging around in a drawer with one hand, the other insuring that her towel stayed in place, to answer. "Here," she finally said, handing him an unopened package of men's disposable razors.
"What are these for?" he asked, too dumbfounded that she'd actually had them to say anything else.
"Just in case," she said with a shrug. "But you'll have to use my shaving cream or improvise or something," she added, turning to go.
She stopped in the doorway and said, "Sir?"
"Yeah?"
"MINE is the blue one."
He struggled to figure out what that meant and then remembered the toothbrushes. He grinned sheepishly, apologized, and then spent his entire shower wondering how she had figured that one out.
After showering and shaving, Jack realized he smelt like Carter now. Well, mostly. Something was still off, but he definitely smelt more like her at the moment than himself. With a towel round his waist, he went into the bedroom for his clothes, freezing as he spotted Carter in the middle of the bed, dressed and apparently all ready to go, reading.
She looked up at him in surprise. "I thought you would be out there with everyone else," Jack said quickly.
Her eyes flickered over him, making him shiver.
Blushing slightly, she looked back down at her book and said, "I didn't want to."
"Sam, you don't have to go out with everyone today if you don't want to."
"No, I do want to do that, just... not yet."
He shrugged and said, "All right. I'll ah... go get dressed in the bathroom."
He retreated into the bathroom with his bag and quickly dressed in jeans and a charcoal sweater. When he went back into the bedroom, Sam was putting on her shoes, so he took the opportunity to let his own eyes wander over her. She was dressed casually as well, in casual black slacks and a simple white V-neck sweater.
She looked great. The sparkle was back in her eyes and while he certainly wasn't naive enough to think he had magically fixed everything Daniel's departure had broken, it was impossible to deny that she looked infinitely better today than she had yesterday.
"What?" Sam asked self-consciously, her cheeks glowing red under his gaze.
"You uh... forgot something," he said quickly, going over to her nightstand and grabbing Daniel's necklace. Her eyes shone with tears again and she turned around so he could put it on. He draped it over her carefully, looping it around twice more like he'd seen her do, trying not to mess up her hair too much in the process, then turned her around to face him, looking down at the necklace. "There."
She touched the necklace automatically and looked up at him. "Thank you."
"No problem. Now come on, let's go eat. And you're cleaning your plate today if I have to sit at the table and make airplane noises with my fork!" he said with conviction, heading for the door. He was really trying to lighten the sudden tension in the room.
"Sir."
He paused, his hand on the doorknob, and turned back around slowly. Nobody should be able to convey that much with one three letter word, he was certain. Carter had a thousand meanings she could convey with that word. "Sir, put that down or I'll kick your ass out of my lab" and "Gosh, sir, that was really, really funny, I can't believe you said that" were two of his favourites. This one was more along the lines of "Sir, please answer the question so they won't think we're trying to assassinate the president" and "Sir, please become a Tok'ra for a little while."
Jack was tempted to laugh at how long they stood there staring at each other, but it really wasn't all that funny. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and said, "Carter..."
It was the "Carter" that very clearly meant "Carter, for the love of God, please stop." But she didn't. Before he had time to process what was happening, she had closed the distance between them with two steps, grabbed handfuls of his sweater to twist him into place and keep him there, and kissed him, exactly as he had done to her the night before.
She ended the kiss and released his sweater, smoothing out the wrinkles on his chest. He leaned into her hands involuntarily, trying to get his brain to switch back on so he could think of something. Anything, he wasn't too picky.
Carter suddenly laughed and he recoiled. "What's so funny!"
"Sorry, I was just picturing Cassie's face when she meets us at the restaurant..."
"Oh yeah," Jack said suddenly, seizing the topic gladly. "She's gonna be so pissed she missed all the commotion today."
"Definitely," Carter agreed. "I bet you anything she drags Jonas off and makes him tell her every single detail within five minutes."
"Anything?" Jack asked. Apparently the 'inappropriate innuendo' part of his brain could restart itself much faster than the rest of it.
"Er... okay, no, not anything... how about... winner gets another massage?" she suggested hopefully.
"Sweet," Jack agreed, opening the door and stepping aside to usher her out of the bedroom. He knew full well he was going to lose that bet. And he really, really didn't care.
The end.
A/N: Birthday Traditions 7 is next: 2398848