Title: John Doe
Chapter: Eleven
Summary: For every action...
Disclaimer: Well, after ten other chapters I don't think it's going to change much. I didn't claim them in the first; I don't claim them in the eleventh.
XXXX
He had, of course, fished the whole day. She was thankful that she had brought a bathing suit just in case, because if she had to fish for even another hour she was sure she would loose that brilliant mind he always referred to, which would be tragic. So, while he fished she swam, or just waded in the water. After a few hours she got out to sunbathe, all the while he kept fishing. Although, every now and then she would catch him rubbernecking, since she was laid out behind him.
"Something I can do for you, Jack?" She asked the last time he did so.
"Nope," he said with a smile, "nope. You're doing enough already."
She smiled at him and closed her eyes again, sighing as the sun beat down on her. That was basically how the rest of the day went, until the sound of a growling stomach could be heard. Sam opened eyed the back of Jack's head, waiting. It wasn't even fifteen seconds before he turned around and their eyes met.
"You're hungry?" She asked, grabbing a towel, preparing to go inside.
He smiled sheepishly and nodded, "That loud?"
She returned the nod and threw her legs over the side of the deck, into the water, so that she was sitting with the sun on her back instead of her face. Grabbing her sunglasses and slipping them on she pulled her feet back out of the water and stood on the dock, her towel draped over her arm. She tied it around her waist and began to walk back to the cabin, Jack following behind. "If you want I can make something," she offered as she opened the door to the cabin.
He began to scrunch up his face but caught himself in time, "Uh, I was planning on pizza."
She shrugged, "Pizza is fine."
He called and they waited the hour until the pizza arrived, then sat on the back deck and ate while the sun went down behind the lake.
"It's so beautiful out here," Sam said with a sigh.
He only nodded and took another bite of his pizza, watching the sun as it disappeared behind the water. Neither of them spoke while the stars came out, but as the night started to get darker Jack fidgeted in his seat.
"I remember her now," he said softly, tracing imaginary objects on the surface of the patio table.
"Hmm?" She asked, having been only paying half attention. "Who?"
He looked up from the table and their eyes met, "Janet."
"Oh," she replied, a knowing look passing through her eyes. "How much do you remember?"
He smiled sadly, "Napoleonic power monger ... I remember everything."
"I'm sorry Jack," she said to him, unable to keep eye contact.
He went back to tracing on the table, "Why? You had to go through more than I did."
"But, I didn't have to go through it twice."
She could see that it was having more of an effect on him than he was letting on, the situation had suddenly become awkward, neither of them really wanted to talk about the death of one of their best friends. "When did you remember?" She finally asked, after a few minutes of silence.
He still hadn't looked back up, "On the way up here," his voice was scratchy, he continued on. "It was about an hour before we actually made it to the cabin, I was going through my truck just in case something would jog my memory. There was a picture, her, you, and Cassie. When I thought about it I remembered that it was Cassie's 16th birthday party, it all came back from there. I would've told you sooner, but I didn't want to bother you."
"Bother me?" She asked, feeling a bit offended. "Jack, no matter what you remember, I want to know about it. The more you talk about the past the quicker it's going to come back to you. And, while you could talk to yourself, I'm sure talking to me would have more of a positive outcome. Ok?"
He nodded to himself, "Ok."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He looked up at her, their eyes locked. "Are you sure?"
She nodded slowly, "If it helps you, I'm sure."
"Ok," he said softly, "where do we start?"
She shook her head, "I'm not sure. What was one of the first things that you remembered? What sticks out in your mind the most?"
"Then, uh, incident after P3X-797, when we were 'touched'. She came into the room I was in to give me painkillers, I asked for more. There was this look of concern in her eyes; she was really worried about us. She hadn't been working at the SGC long then, but she didn't want to experiment on me with the drugs ... she was more concerned for me than finding a quick and easy method to fix things. It surprised me, ya know?"
"Yeah," she replied, "the first time we met she was so nervous, it was actually her first day on the job and she had just been told about the Stargate. We talked for a little bit, I told her about a few of the missions we had already gone on, which we hadn't gone on many. Then, SG-5 came back early, Jaffa hot on their trail. Captain Morgan was hurt pretty badly, she was called to the infirmary, and I followed her. It was instantaneous, the change she went through when he got there, she was barking out orders at everybody. If it hadn't been such a horrible situation I might have found it funny. She was so dedicated to her job. What else did you remember?"
He smiled, "After I gave Cassie that dog, she came over. She was pretty upset, said I should have asked her first, how were they supposed to keep a dog with her work schedule? I finally got her calmed down, told her that I was sorry, I hadn't been thinking about that. Then, Cassie peeked inside from the front door and she softened, then apologized for yelling. I invited them to stay, ordered pizza, and found an old Disney movie of Charlie's and put it on. She was so excited about that movie; Janet kind of just sat there with this overwhelmed look on her face. The movie had been on for about half an hour when we went into the kitchen to talk. She told me how unsure she was about looking after Cassie, she didn't think she would be a good mother. Cassie came in and asked Janet to watch the movie with her, she was lonely. Before Janet went into the living room I told her she would do just fine."
"She was a wonderful mother," Sam agreed. "She loved Cassie so much."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Jack spoke again. "How is she doing? Cassie?"
"She's doing good, she loves it at school, she'll be by for the week of Thanksgiving. She wanted to come sooner, to see you, but she couldn't get away from her classes and she has work. I told her though, about coming to the cabin. She's taken over her mom's position, always nagging me about the things Janet would. She told me it was about time I came."
"She was right," he sighed, taking a sip of his-until then-untouched beer.
"So," she asked quietly, drawing the word out. "What other memories have you not told me about?"
He cleared his throat nervously, looking down at his hands. "Bits and pieces of my life before the SGC, I remember Sara and Charley, some of my war experiences, almost my whole life up until I went through the 'Gate. It's everything after that that's taken all this time, maybe because it's a bit more complicated. I don't know. But, I remember things like that time on P3X-595 when you-"
"Ah! No repeating that!"
He smiled, "Why not? That was a good mission."
She glared at him and he continued on. "Uh, other missions... I remember Urgo."
She chuckled, "Ah, how could one forget Urgo? He was really annoying but that pie did taste really good. I kinda miss the guy."
He raised an eyebrow, much like Teal'c would.
She shrugged, "I said 'kinda'."
"I remember the clone thing, those Tok'ra arm bands, and a few other things. Of course, I remember Thor, the Nox, all the dead Goa'ulds, the alternate reality deal. You know, stuff like that."
"Well, keep talking. Dr. Brightman said that's the best thing to do, talk. It'll help you remember."
He nodded, "How 'bout we walk a little?"
"Sure," she said with a smile. They each stood and walked down the back deck and onto the ground, beginning to walk around lake as they had the day before. It was a little chilly so Sam wrapped her arms around her body, in an attempt to trap in body heat. "Let's talk about the arm bands, what do you remember about them?"
"That Tok'ra who looked a lot like the darker haired Barbie doll, having a serious case of the munchies, getting in that fight at O'Mallys. The whole mission, you getting stuck behind that force shield thingy..." he trailed off, getting caught up in his own thoughts. A frown appearing on his face, causing his forehead to crinkle and his eyebrows to furrow.
She stopped walking and grabbed hold of his arm, very gently, to stop him. "What else?" She asked, staring up into his eyes.
His voice was low and husky; she could barely make out what he was saying. "The ... za'tarc testing, I remember that."
She stepped closer, not sure what she was doing, never breaking eye contact with him and at the same time trying to talk herself into turning away. Telling herself to drop the subject and keep walking, oh yeah alarms were going off. "What about the za'tarc testing, Jack?"
She watched his adams-apple bulge as he gulped. "All of it," he said softly.
A breeze passed by, and she instantly regretted not wearing a sweater. She shivered but didn't move, nor did she acknowledge that she was cold, she just continued to look at Jack, who was also still her CO. The alarms were getting louder and more annoying. She pushed them away and stepped closer. There was barely half an inch between the two and she was beginning to warm up.
"Sam..." he said slowly, "we promised."
"Shh," she whispered, "I know."
He leaned in closer and got close enough so that she could feel his breath on her skin, she was definitely warming up. His eyes flashed and he inched closer. Right when she could make out every pore in his skin a shrill ring tore her out of the moment. She closed her eyes and sighed in frustration, why had she left that one?
He pulled back, a look of frustration on his own face, annoyance dancing in his eyes. But, as the phone rang for the second time that look disappeared and she answered it with hesitance. "This is Carter," she sighed into the phone. Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for calling.
It was Daniel. He spoke with a panicked, hurried voice. "Sam? We have a situation up here. It's not good, not good at all."
"Slow down, Daniel." She said trying to calm him, "What is the situation?"
Jack had been looking away until then. His head snapped around and he was glaring at her, a questioning look now dancing in his eyes. He opened his mouth to talk but she held up a hand to stop him as she listened to what Daniel was saying.
"It's the 'Gate, Sam. Siler doesn't know what the hell is wrong with it and he's the only other person besides you who can really fix anything remotely as complex." He paused for air, "The dialing device is stuck, on chevron 4, it's been like that for over 40 minutes. Is there not a rule for these things?"
She smiled and chuckled to herself.
"I don't see what's so funny, Sam. This is a crisis."
She shook her head, still laughing. "Put Siler on the phone, Daniel."
"Sure, whatever." There was a pause and Daniel said "she wants to talk to you." Then Siler's voice came through the cellular device, "Yeah?"
"You tried unplugging it, then plugging it back up?"
He paused and she could swear she heard the sound of him scratching his head. Then, "Oh ... yeah."
"Sometimes the hardest problems have the easiest answers, Siler. Don't worry about it."
"Right, thanks Colonel."
"No problem, goodbye Sargent." She hung up the phone and hung her head low, shaking it. "Those men," she said, "I swear. Leave them on their own for 2 days and their already panicked."
He didn't answer her, instead began to walk again. She followed, quickening her pace and getting into step with him. "About what happened?," she asked.
He kept walking, "What about it?"
She shook her head, "Never mind." If he was going to ignore it, so was she.
XXXX
A/N: Sorry it took so freaking long! It took me forever to finish this chapter, good God it gave me more trouble than any of them have so far. Anyhow, let me know how you like it so far. I hope I'm not loosing your interest, although I threw in that last part in hopes of keeping it, you'll have to wait a bit longer for the real shippiness.
Chapter: Eleven
Summary: For every action...
Disclaimer: Well, after ten other chapters I don't think it's going to change much. I didn't claim them in the first; I don't claim them in the eleventh.
XXXX
He had, of course, fished the whole day. She was thankful that she had brought a bathing suit just in case, because if she had to fish for even another hour she was sure she would loose that brilliant mind he always referred to, which would be tragic. So, while he fished she swam, or just waded in the water. After a few hours she got out to sunbathe, all the while he kept fishing. Although, every now and then she would catch him rubbernecking, since she was laid out behind him.
"Something I can do for you, Jack?" She asked the last time he did so.
"Nope," he said with a smile, "nope. You're doing enough already."
She smiled at him and closed her eyes again, sighing as the sun beat down on her. That was basically how the rest of the day went, until the sound of a growling stomach could be heard. Sam opened eyed the back of Jack's head, waiting. It wasn't even fifteen seconds before he turned around and their eyes met.
"You're hungry?" She asked, grabbing a towel, preparing to go inside.
He smiled sheepishly and nodded, "That loud?"
She returned the nod and threw her legs over the side of the deck, into the water, so that she was sitting with the sun on her back instead of her face. Grabbing her sunglasses and slipping them on she pulled her feet back out of the water and stood on the dock, her towel draped over her arm. She tied it around her waist and began to walk back to the cabin, Jack following behind. "If you want I can make something," she offered as she opened the door to the cabin.
He began to scrunch up his face but caught himself in time, "Uh, I was planning on pizza."
She shrugged, "Pizza is fine."
He called and they waited the hour until the pizza arrived, then sat on the back deck and ate while the sun went down behind the lake.
"It's so beautiful out here," Sam said with a sigh.
He only nodded and took another bite of his pizza, watching the sun as it disappeared behind the water. Neither of them spoke while the stars came out, but as the night started to get darker Jack fidgeted in his seat.
"I remember her now," he said softly, tracing imaginary objects on the surface of the patio table.
"Hmm?" She asked, having been only paying half attention. "Who?"
He looked up from the table and their eyes met, "Janet."
"Oh," she replied, a knowing look passing through her eyes. "How much do you remember?"
He smiled sadly, "Napoleonic power monger ... I remember everything."
"I'm sorry Jack," she said to him, unable to keep eye contact.
He went back to tracing on the table, "Why? You had to go through more than I did."
"But, I didn't have to go through it twice."
She could see that it was having more of an effect on him than he was letting on, the situation had suddenly become awkward, neither of them really wanted to talk about the death of one of their best friends. "When did you remember?" She finally asked, after a few minutes of silence.
He still hadn't looked back up, "On the way up here," his voice was scratchy, he continued on. "It was about an hour before we actually made it to the cabin, I was going through my truck just in case something would jog my memory. There was a picture, her, you, and Cassie. When I thought about it I remembered that it was Cassie's 16th birthday party, it all came back from there. I would've told you sooner, but I didn't want to bother you."
"Bother me?" She asked, feeling a bit offended. "Jack, no matter what you remember, I want to know about it. The more you talk about the past the quicker it's going to come back to you. And, while you could talk to yourself, I'm sure talking to me would have more of a positive outcome. Ok?"
He nodded to himself, "Ok."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He looked up at her, their eyes locked. "Are you sure?"
She nodded slowly, "If it helps you, I'm sure."
"Ok," he said softly, "where do we start?"
She shook her head, "I'm not sure. What was one of the first things that you remembered? What sticks out in your mind the most?"
"Then, uh, incident after P3X-797, when we were 'touched'. She came into the room I was in to give me painkillers, I asked for more. There was this look of concern in her eyes; she was really worried about us. She hadn't been working at the SGC long then, but she didn't want to experiment on me with the drugs ... she was more concerned for me than finding a quick and easy method to fix things. It surprised me, ya know?"
"Yeah," she replied, "the first time we met she was so nervous, it was actually her first day on the job and she had just been told about the Stargate. We talked for a little bit, I told her about a few of the missions we had already gone on, which we hadn't gone on many. Then, SG-5 came back early, Jaffa hot on their trail. Captain Morgan was hurt pretty badly, she was called to the infirmary, and I followed her. It was instantaneous, the change she went through when he got there, she was barking out orders at everybody. If it hadn't been such a horrible situation I might have found it funny. She was so dedicated to her job. What else did you remember?"
He smiled, "After I gave Cassie that dog, she came over. She was pretty upset, said I should have asked her first, how were they supposed to keep a dog with her work schedule? I finally got her calmed down, told her that I was sorry, I hadn't been thinking about that. Then, Cassie peeked inside from the front door and she softened, then apologized for yelling. I invited them to stay, ordered pizza, and found an old Disney movie of Charlie's and put it on. She was so excited about that movie; Janet kind of just sat there with this overwhelmed look on her face. The movie had been on for about half an hour when we went into the kitchen to talk. She told me how unsure she was about looking after Cassie, she didn't think she would be a good mother. Cassie came in and asked Janet to watch the movie with her, she was lonely. Before Janet went into the living room I told her she would do just fine."
"She was a wonderful mother," Sam agreed. "She loved Cassie so much."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Jack spoke again. "How is she doing? Cassie?"
"She's doing good, she loves it at school, she'll be by for the week of Thanksgiving. She wanted to come sooner, to see you, but she couldn't get away from her classes and she has work. I told her though, about coming to the cabin. She's taken over her mom's position, always nagging me about the things Janet would. She told me it was about time I came."
"She was right," he sighed, taking a sip of his-until then-untouched beer.
"So," she asked quietly, drawing the word out. "What other memories have you not told me about?"
He cleared his throat nervously, looking down at his hands. "Bits and pieces of my life before the SGC, I remember Sara and Charley, some of my war experiences, almost my whole life up until I went through the 'Gate. It's everything after that that's taken all this time, maybe because it's a bit more complicated. I don't know. But, I remember things like that time on P3X-595 when you-"
"Ah! No repeating that!"
He smiled, "Why not? That was a good mission."
She glared at him and he continued on. "Uh, other missions... I remember Urgo."
She chuckled, "Ah, how could one forget Urgo? He was really annoying but that pie did taste really good. I kinda miss the guy."
He raised an eyebrow, much like Teal'c would.
She shrugged, "I said 'kinda'."
"I remember the clone thing, those Tok'ra arm bands, and a few other things. Of course, I remember Thor, the Nox, all the dead Goa'ulds, the alternate reality deal. You know, stuff like that."
"Well, keep talking. Dr. Brightman said that's the best thing to do, talk. It'll help you remember."
He nodded, "How 'bout we walk a little?"
"Sure," she said with a smile. They each stood and walked down the back deck and onto the ground, beginning to walk around lake as they had the day before. It was a little chilly so Sam wrapped her arms around her body, in an attempt to trap in body heat. "Let's talk about the arm bands, what do you remember about them?"
"That Tok'ra who looked a lot like the darker haired Barbie doll, having a serious case of the munchies, getting in that fight at O'Mallys. The whole mission, you getting stuck behind that force shield thingy..." he trailed off, getting caught up in his own thoughts. A frown appearing on his face, causing his forehead to crinkle and his eyebrows to furrow.
She stopped walking and grabbed hold of his arm, very gently, to stop him. "What else?" She asked, staring up into his eyes.
His voice was low and husky; she could barely make out what he was saying. "The ... za'tarc testing, I remember that."
She stepped closer, not sure what she was doing, never breaking eye contact with him and at the same time trying to talk herself into turning away. Telling herself to drop the subject and keep walking, oh yeah alarms were going off. "What about the za'tarc testing, Jack?"
She watched his adams-apple bulge as he gulped. "All of it," he said softly.
A breeze passed by, and she instantly regretted not wearing a sweater. She shivered but didn't move, nor did she acknowledge that she was cold, she just continued to look at Jack, who was also still her CO. The alarms were getting louder and more annoying. She pushed them away and stepped closer. There was barely half an inch between the two and she was beginning to warm up.
"Sam..." he said slowly, "we promised."
"Shh," she whispered, "I know."
He leaned in closer and got close enough so that she could feel his breath on her skin, she was definitely warming up. His eyes flashed and he inched closer. Right when she could make out every pore in his skin a shrill ring tore her out of the moment. She closed her eyes and sighed in frustration, why had she left that one?
He pulled back, a look of frustration on his own face, annoyance dancing in his eyes. But, as the phone rang for the second time that look disappeared and she answered it with hesitance. "This is Carter," she sighed into the phone. Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for calling.
It was Daniel. He spoke with a panicked, hurried voice. "Sam? We have a situation up here. It's not good, not good at all."
"Slow down, Daniel." She said trying to calm him, "What is the situation?"
Jack had been looking away until then. His head snapped around and he was glaring at her, a questioning look now dancing in his eyes. He opened his mouth to talk but she held up a hand to stop him as she listened to what Daniel was saying.
"It's the 'Gate, Sam. Siler doesn't know what the hell is wrong with it and he's the only other person besides you who can really fix anything remotely as complex." He paused for air, "The dialing device is stuck, on chevron 4, it's been like that for over 40 minutes. Is there not a rule for these things?"
She smiled and chuckled to herself.
"I don't see what's so funny, Sam. This is a crisis."
She shook her head, still laughing. "Put Siler on the phone, Daniel."
"Sure, whatever." There was a pause and Daniel said "she wants to talk to you." Then Siler's voice came through the cellular device, "Yeah?"
"You tried unplugging it, then plugging it back up?"
He paused and she could swear she heard the sound of him scratching his head. Then, "Oh ... yeah."
"Sometimes the hardest problems have the easiest answers, Siler. Don't worry about it."
"Right, thanks Colonel."
"No problem, goodbye Sargent." She hung up the phone and hung her head low, shaking it. "Those men," she said, "I swear. Leave them on their own for 2 days and their already panicked."
He didn't answer her, instead began to walk again. She followed, quickening her pace and getting into step with him. "About what happened?," she asked.
He kept walking, "What about it?"
She shook her head, "Never mind." If he was going to ignore it, so was she.
XXXX
A/N: Sorry it took so freaking long! It took me forever to finish this chapter, good God it gave me more trouble than any of them have so far. Anyhow, let me know how you like it so far. I hope I'm not loosing your interest, although I threw in that last part in hopes of keeping it, you'll have to wait a bit longer for the real shippiness.