Chapter 2 – Forgotten Elements
"Driver, I didn't ask for your obshervations on my shtate of health." Sam slurred as she fumbled in her purse for a twenty, passing it to him and not waiting for change. "I jusht..... I jusht got rid of the wrong life to make things right again. So there."
The cool night air hit her full in the face as she got out of the cab, not exactly sobering her up, but adding a sudden steadiness to her gait that hadn't been there when she had left her house to get into the cab. The driver sighed deeply, shaking his head as he drove off into the night. 'Some tough broad.' was the tone of his thoughts.
Sam strode fearlessly up to Jack's front door and found the bell push at the third attempt. When no response came after six seconds – six whole seconds, she'd counted them – she placed her finger back on the button and leaned on it. She could hear the chimes sounding continuously inside, and when she moved her weight so that her finger slid off and on again, the chimes responded by repeating much faster. Amused by this remote-controlled acceleration of the music, she wiggled her finger about and snorted with amusement as the simple instrument performed the kind of gymnastics it had never been designed for.
Still no response. It was obviously time for military cunning, as befitted a secret ops team leader. She grasped the heavy black iron knocker and slammed it against its base plate several times. "O'Neill! General, Sir!" she shouted. "I know you're in there!" Another few knocks. "Jack! Come out and get a life! You know you want to!" And another dose of the chimes to shake him up a bit.
She noticed a light come on in the neighbouring house and a face appear from behind lifted curtains. "What are you looking at?" she hollered, swaying slightly.
She turned around to batter the door knocker again but stepped back in shock as she saw her objective for the evening standing there smirking at her. The dress shirt that she thought had looked so smart earlier in the evening was open almost to the waist, his cuffs undone. Looking down, she noticed the hole in his right sock and stared at it uncomprehendingly. "I don't do sock darning, Jack." she said, to her own surprise.
"Neither do I." he said calmly, motioning for her to enter. He stood aside as she swept in, eyeing the decor as though she were a potential house buyer. She stopped suddenly in the hall and turned to face him.
"You forgot lawrencium." she stated, sounding very much like a wife admonishing her husband over an unremembered anniversary card.
"Really?" smiled Jack, not quite able to believe that the one thing he had spent all those evenings practising to bring about was now unfolding before him.
Sam shrugged her coat off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor unnoticed. She walked forward and stood in front of him, staring into his eyes. He felt the warmth of her across the twelve inches that separated their faces. She swayed forward slightly and quite naturally (of course) placed her hands on his shoulders, just to steady herself. Yeah, right.
"And rutherfordium." she breathed in a softer voice, still staring until her eyes somehow descended to look at his mouth.
Jack naturally held both his hands on her waist to steady her, just in case her tightening grip on his shoulders wasn't enough.
"How could I forget?" he whispered back.
She thought that she would just lightly brush his lips with hers, but somehow the force with which she crushed her face against his, pulling on the back of his neck with one arm and squeezing his body against hers with the other, denied that idea any existence beyond a fraction of a second. She did however pull far enough away to murmur, "Dubnium as well."
"Damned transition elements." he retorted at close quarters. "Can't get your tongue round them." Now there was a distracting thought.
It must have been around three minutes later when she added "Seaborgium." It was becoming difficult to remember the more modern parts of the Periodic Table *and* concentrate on pulling his clothes off at the same time.
"Were you going to mention bohrium?" asked Jack as they revelled in the feel of each other in almost exactly the way that both of them had fantasised about for so many years.
Slightly trembling knees and a terrible draught of cold air from somewhere reminded them both suddenly that there had to be a better way of completing their elementary exploration than standing almost naked in the hall. They stumbled towards his bedroom and fell together onto the warm, inviting cover, still kissing passionately.
As they made love, frantically at first before calm, deep passion set in, Jack almost missed "hassium" and "meitnerium" spilling from her lips amidst the groans of pleasure. Any lesser-educated man might have thought they were names of other loves, and perhaps in a strange way they were to this enigmatic scientist, he thought idly as they lay clinging to each other after the earth-moving moment.
"You're still wearing your socks!" she exclaimed just as he was relaxing again. "That hole is staring at me!"
"Well, you could mend it if it upsets you that much." he teased.
An inspirational way of getting out of that ridiculous request occurred to her. "Only if you can name the next element." she challenged him.
"Darmstadtium."
"Damn!"
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"Driver, I didn't ask for your obshervations on my shtate of health." Sam slurred as she fumbled in her purse for a twenty, passing it to him and not waiting for change. "I jusht..... I jusht got rid of the wrong life to make things right again. So there."
The cool night air hit her full in the face as she got out of the cab, not exactly sobering her up, but adding a sudden steadiness to her gait that hadn't been there when she had left her house to get into the cab. The driver sighed deeply, shaking his head as he drove off into the night. 'Some tough broad.' was the tone of his thoughts.
Sam strode fearlessly up to Jack's front door and found the bell push at the third attempt. When no response came after six seconds – six whole seconds, she'd counted them – she placed her finger back on the button and leaned on it. She could hear the chimes sounding continuously inside, and when she moved her weight so that her finger slid off and on again, the chimes responded by repeating much faster. Amused by this remote-controlled acceleration of the music, she wiggled her finger about and snorted with amusement as the simple instrument performed the kind of gymnastics it had never been designed for.
Still no response. It was obviously time for military cunning, as befitted a secret ops team leader. She grasped the heavy black iron knocker and slammed it against its base plate several times. "O'Neill! General, Sir!" she shouted. "I know you're in there!" Another few knocks. "Jack! Come out and get a life! You know you want to!" And another dose of the chimes to shake him up a bit.
She noticed a light come on in the neighbouring house and a face appear from behind lifted curtains. "What are you looking at?" she hollered, swaying slightly.
She turned around to batter the door knocker again but stepped back in shock as she saw her objective for the evening standing there smirking at her. The dress shirt that she thought had looked so smart earlier in the evening was open almost to the waist, his cuffs undone. Looking down, she noticed the hole in his right sock and stared at it uncomprehendingly. "I don't do sock darning, Jack." she said, to her own surprise.
"Neither do I." he said calmly, motioning for her to enter. He stood aside as she swept in, eyeing the decor as though she were a potential house buyer. She stopped suddenly in the hall and turned to face him.
"You forgot lawrencium." she stated, sounding very much like a wife admonishing her husband over an unremembered anniversary card.
"Really?" smiled Jack, not quite able to believe that the one thing he had spent all those evenings practising to bring about was now unfolding before him.
Sam shrugged her coat off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor unnoticed. She walked forward and stood in front of him, staring into his eyes. He felt the warmth of her across the twelve inches that separated their faces. She swayed forward slightly and quite naturally (of course) placed her hands on his shoulders, just to steady herself. Yeah, right.
"And rutherfordium." she breathed in a softer voice, still staring until her eyes somehow descended to look at his mouth.
Jack naturally held both his hands on her waist to steady her, just in case her tightening grip on his shoulders wasn't enough.
"How could I forget?" he whispered back.
She thought that she would just lightly brush his lips with hers, but somehow the force with which she crushed her face against his, pulling on the back of his neck with one arm and squeezing his body against hers with the other, denied that idea any existence beyond a fraction of a second. She did however pull far enough away to murmur, "Dubnium as well."
"Damned transition elements." he retorted at close quarters. "Can't get your tongue round them." Now there was a distracting thought.
It must have been around three minutes later when she added "Seaborgium." It was becoming difficult to remember the more modern parts of the Periodic Table *and* concentrate on pulling his clothes off at the same time.
"Were you going to mention bohrium?" asked Jack as they revelled in the feel of each other in almost exactly the way that both of them had fantasised about for so many years.
Slightly trembling knees and a terrible draught of cold air from somewhere reminded them both suddenly that there had to be a better way of completing their elementary exploration than standing almost naked in the hall. They stumbled towards his bedroom and fell together onto the warm, inviting cover, still kissing passionately.
As they made love, frantically at first before calm, deep passion set in, Jack almost missed "hassium" and "meitnerium" spilling from her lips amidst the groans of pleasure. Any lesser-educated man might have thought they were names of other loves, and perhaps in a strange way they were to this enigmatic scientist, he thought idly as they lay clinging to each other after the earth-moving moment.
"You're still wearing your socks!" she exclaimed just as he was relaxing again. "That hole is staring at me!"
"Well, you could mend it if it upsets you that much." he teased.
An inspirational way of getting out of that ridiculous request occurred to her. "Only if you can name the next element." she challenged him.
"Darmstadtium."
"Damn!"
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