Title: February
Author: Katerina
Rating: PG
Pairing: J/S, of course… with mentions of M/S
Disclaimer: Nope. Promise.
Author's Notes: Just a warning: things are going to get a little rough. I'm not very good at writing fluff unless the characters work for it. So, while this will be J/S, you're all going to have to be patient.
Oh, and the characters of Rex and Laura belong to Pearl Bay, not me.
And, as always, thanks to Mariel, poster extraordinaire.
Chapter Nine
There is someone banging on the door, a welcome interruption from whatever is going on. She sighs in relief, but before she can call out an invitation to enter, a young boy bursts into the room. He is little more than a toddler, and he hurls himself into her arms with undiluted enthusiasm.
For a moment, Jack's breath catches in his throat. Oh, God…
"Hello?" a voice calls out, and Sam (because he can't think of her any other way), replies. She continues to cradle the dark-haired, green-eyed boy on her lap.
Jack watches.
"We're in here!"
The woman who enters looks frazzled, like she hasn't slept in a week. She carries a briefcase in one hand, and a child's backpack in the other.
"Rex," she scolds, and then continues in the same breath, "Jaime, I'm so sorry this is short notice – "
She stops, appearing to see Jack sitting at the table for the first time. The woman visibly winces, and then tries to cover with a smile.
"You… sorry. I'll just…"
Sam laughs, her attention on the boy. "It's fine, Laura. I'll be happy to watch him."
Jack exhales, slowly, feeling the muscles in his chest relax. He would never have forgiven her for that.
Laura visibly sags with relief. "Thank God!" She dumps the backpack by the table, kisses the boy and straightens her clothes while she speaks. "I should be done in a few hours. Be a good boy, Rex. Everything's in his bag. I owe you, Jaime!" This last is delivered as Laura disappears at high speed out the door.
Sam laughs, hugging the boy. Rapturous greeting over, he sags against her chest and yawns hugely.
"You tired, Rex?" she asks softly, keeping her attention on the child, not the man at the table. Rex nods, and she smiles as she stands, still holding him close. "Come on, then. You can have a nap on my bed, okay?"
Rex nods again. "Tell me a story?" He yawns over the sentence, and Sam laughs again.
"Okay… but just a little one. My stories can't keep up with you."
Jack watches as they vanish into the back rooms.
XXXXX
When she returns, fifteen minutes later, he is busily rooting through her cupboards. She stops short.
"What are you looking for?"
He barely glances at her. "I need a drink."
She leans against the doorframe. "There's juice and milk in the fridge, water – "
He wrenches open another cupboard. "Not that kind of drink."
"Jack?" He looks at her, and she steps delicately into the room, ready to pounce or flee, catlike.
"What?"
"I don't think you should."
He stares. "What?"
She refuses to meet his eyes, but speaks anyway. "I thought, maybe… you seem like you might have been… a little too much."
He closes the cupboard door, very carefully and deliberately. "You think I'm a drunk?"
"No!" She shifts feet. "I just thought you might have been drinking a bit more than - "
He cuts her off, and his tone is low and furious. "You think? You think I've been drinking too much? You disappeared off the face of the earth for three Goddamn years, Sam. How did you expect me to react?" He ignores her wince at his use of her given name, and begins to close the distance between them. "You want me to act like you? To pretend nothing happened?"
"I didn't - " she protests, but he's not going to let her finish.
"I can't do that, Sam. I spent three years in hell, not knowing if you were alive, dead, lying in some hospital somewhere. So excuse me if I drank, excuse me if I did whatever helped to numb the pain. I suffered, Sam, and then Martin tells me you're here, sunning yourself on the beach, and I travel halfway round the fucking planet to see you, and what do I get? Nothing!"
His voice has risen to a shout, scaring her, and she looks frantically towards the back room.
"Jack, don't! You'll wake Rex."
His dark eyes bore into her for a long moment, and then he forces himself to take a breath.
"Sam, please. I need to know. I thought it was Martin who drove you away. But it wasn't, was it?"
She shakes her head, and he can see her shoulders beginning to shake, tears dripping down her face to make dark splotches on her blue shirt. "No," she says, so softly he has to strain to hear.
The last of his breath leaves his body in a shudder. "Sam… was it me?"
The silence strings out between them, delicate and cold as spun glass. She is crying harder, now, but silently. Her voice, when she finally speaks, is shaking and hoarse with something he cannot name.
"Yes," she says. "Yes."
End Chapter Nine.