John Doe

Chapter Twenty Seven

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Jack isn't mean to Pandora... per se. He was just a little annoyed, and his head hurt! I'll establish that he likes her in this chapter.

A/N: Small spoilers for Emancipation and The Broca Divide towards the end.

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Six weeks later:

As Sam's eyes lazily fluttered open she was vaguely aware of the fact that the room was still pitch black, but she didn't pay it much mind. Blinking the sleep away she turned over in the bed, feeling Jack's arm tighten around her waist instinctively. Smiling as he pulled her closer in his sleep her eyes drifted to the reason she had waken. The smile on her face grew.

"Come on, 'Dora," she whispered. The now 6 month old pup's tail wagged and she leaped onto the bed with ease, causing the mattress to wiggle, but not enough so that it stirred Jack. Sam scooted closer to him, allowing more space for the dog, and then settled back into sleep. Pandora, seeing an open space, cuddled up next to her and rested her head on Sam's arm, which would most likely go numb sometime during the night, but at that point Sam was too tired to care. She drifted back to sleep instantly, Jack's soft, easy breaths and Pandora's light snoring helping to further her into dream land.

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The next time she woke up it was bright outside, a bit too bright at first, causing her to wince and snap her eyes shut. But as soon as she was confident her eyes were up to adjusting to the change of lighting she slowly opened them again, coming face to face with Pandora, who was already awake and looking at her expectantly. Sam smiled, reached out for the dog, and lovingly ran a hand through her thick white and silver coat. "Good morning, 'Dora."

Pandora barked happily in response and Sam momentarily wondered if Jack was awake or not. He was still lying behind her, she knew that much, but sometimes he laid in bed until she woke up- even though he would never admit such to her. After gently pushing Pandora to the edge of the bed so she would jump off Sam turned to face him. Sure enough he was awake and staring down at her, as if he had been waiting for her to turn and look.

"What time is it?" she asked sheepishly, trying not to blush at the look he was giving her.

"Who cares?" he asked, pulling her closer to him. "It's Saturday."

She went willingly and nestled up against him, hiding her face in his chest. "Daniel and Teal'c are coming over... so is Cassie."

He groaned, suddenly remembering the bar-b-q that had been planned nearly two weeks prior. "We can cancel," he offered hopefully.

After entertaining the idea for a moment she pushed it aside, as much as she would like to stay in bed with him all day she hadn't seen Cassie in awhile. "We can't," she told him grudgingly. "They'll be over at 1300 hours."

"It's still early," he suggested. She pulled back from his chest and grinned.

"We have to cook, Jack..." the offer was tempting, but they couldn't. Otherwise nothing would get done.

He pouted for a minute, then decided that if he couldn't convince her with his words he would damn well try with his actions. Before she knew it she was completely in his arms and he was kissing her feverishly. Her mind turned to mush and she could think of nothing but returning the kiss for the better part of a minute before she managed to regain her senses and pulled back. "Jack..." she warned, "stop that."

The look in his eyes told her that she wasn't going to get off that easily and he leaned forward to capture her lips with his again. But before he had the chance she dunked out of the way, escaping the kiss only for a moment and did the first thing that came to mind.

"Pandora!" she called out loudly. The groan that followed told her that he knew what she was up to. She knew better to think that her strategy would work completely. "Come here girl!"

Before she knew it the puppy was on the bed again, attacking them both with sings of her affection, and drenching them with the best of intentions. Sam squealed, taking the brunt of the licks, and pulled away from the dog. Pandora wasn't going to have that, though, and followed Sam, setting her front paws on Jack's chest to get to her master. With a happy bark Pandora once again began to shower Sam with love, while Jack chuckled and slid out from under the covers. Oh yeah, her plan had backfired.

"'Dora," he called, "come on, girl... let's go outside."

Outside! That was exactly where she needed to go... and bad! Pandora stopped her assault on Sam, who by that time was going to need a good, long shower and jumped off the bed after her other master, tail wagging at full-speed. She loved Sam but she had to go!

By the time Jack returned she was off of the bed, wiping her face off with the bottom of her t-shirt, having not thought about the fact that doing so left her stomach uncovered. Only did this occur to her when Jack once again had her pinned down on the bed, smothering her with kisses in a way totally different than Pandora had. Also, it occurred to her that his motives for letting the pup outside were not so pure-hearted. He didn't care if the dog needed out, with her gone there were no distractions.

"Jack!" she objected between kisses, "I'm covered in dog slobber!"

He pulled back, a grin that sent shivers through her veins manifested on his face, "I needed a shower, anyway."

Ok, so maybe it was still a bit early... Cooking could wait.

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3 hours later:

Sam sat down on the patio chair and sighed. It was a beautiful day out, already after 1200 and in the mid 70's. Spring was her favorite season of all, no longer cold but yet the humidity was not at the same intensity of summer. Pandora came running up to her and nearly jumped in the chair she was sitting in, Sam was sure that if it had been larger the dog would be in her lap. She rubbed her ears affectionately and admired how beautiful her dog had become in the four and a half months she had owned her.

The sliding glass door opened and Jack stepped onto the deck, steaks in hand. Daniel would be arriving soon with Teal'c and Cassie so it was time for him to start to grill. Pandora's attention turned from her favorite person of all to her second favorite person of all... who had food and could possibly take Sam's place if he let her have some.

She trotted over to him, sat back on her hind legs, and got into begging position. Jack did his best not to look over at the dog, if he did she would get some of the food, no doubt. He couldn't resist when she was begging. A whine caught both his and Sam's attention, causing Sam to smile and Jack to groan.

But if there was anybody who could fix the situation it was Sam. "Come on Pandora," she said with a grin, "let's go get you a treat."

Treat! There was another word she knew... and loved! Pandora eagerly followed Sam back into the house, giving Jack the opportunity to throw the stakes on the grill quickly. When Sam returned outside the dog wasn't the only one with her, Daniel, Teal'c, and Cassie followed her out onto the deck.

"Hey guys," he greeted, "I'm just putting the steaks on. Any preferences?"

"Well-done for me," Cassie informed him.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "Me, too."

Teal'c bowed, sitting down on the outside swing, "I too wish for my steak to be fully cooked."

"Alright... I guess that's 4 well-done and one medium-rare." Medium-rare for himself, well-done for Sam.

"Jack," Cassie lectured, "you do know what can live in un-cooked meat, don't you?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "But they've got people who check for things like that."

She shrugged, "Hey... if you want a tapeworm go ahead. Whatever floats your boat fries your chicken, I guess."

He scowled, must she always bring that stupid worm thing up? "I guess that makes it five well-done steaks." he grumbled to himself. Cassie grinned in triumph and went off to play with Pandora.

"You know," he said to Sam when Cassie was out of ear-shot. "She's too much like her mother for her own good."

"I think it's for your own good, Jack," Sam teased, smacking his rear. He jumped slightly and looked at her with a wink.

Daniel coughed, "I'm going to get a beer... does anybody want anything?"

Jack raised his eyebrow at Sam suggestively, causing her to giggle. "That's not exactly what he meant," she informed him.

He shrugged and went back to cooking.

"I'll take a beer, Daniel," Sam told him. "Want anything Teal'c?"

"I do not," he replied.

Daniel nodded and headed back for the house. "Get me a beer, too!" Jack called out before kissing Sam briefly then getting back to cooking.

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Later that night:

Jack laughed, twisting off the cap to his beer, "Hey... you guys remember when we were just starting out... that time on P3X-595 when Sam drank that stuff tha–"

"We won't get into that," Sam interjected.

"Oh, come on," he exclaimed with a grin. "It's not like they weren't there, anyway."

She scowled at him. "Kind of like when you ate that fruit thing on P2Q-351 that made you extremely libi–"

"Hey, hey," he cut her off. "Danny and T don't know about that."

A sigh escaped her lips, "We should go back to that planet, those fruit things would come in handy..."

Cassie fell into a fit of coughs, holding her hand over her chest and laughing hysterically. "Ok... that was way more than I needed to hear."

Sam only grinned.

"I am in agreement with Cassandra Fraiser," Teal'c informed them. "I wish for the subject to be changed."

"Oh... come on, T." Jack said with a smile, "There's always that mission to P9D-332, after you lost your snake, when you–"

"That is immaterial to this conversation," Teal'c said quickly. "Much like the occasion on P6Q-084 when DanielJackson was forced to lock himself in a Erritean house in order to hide from the female inhabitants who wished to propagate with him."

Daniel turned a deep shade of red, he knew better than to cut Teal'c off mid-sentence.

Sam grinned, "And that woman begged Jack to open the door for her... which, he did."

"That was you!" Daniel exclaimed. "Jack! That woman jumped me!"

O'Neill only grinned.

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It was nearing 2300 hours before everybody finally left. Daniel was still a bit sore about the incident on 084, but Jack knew most of it was just for show. Danny couldn't stay mad at him for long, he couldn't stay mad at anybody for long- with the exception of various alien cultures they had run across over the years.

Nonetheless, he was exhausted. They had spent the whole day outside talking, and laughing... and accusing, and laughing some more. It had been a while since they had gotten together like that, he made a mental note to do it more often.

He flipped on the TV and watched as the dull light filled the room, casting shadows in every corner, and calling attention to a certain curious animal who had been, up until that point, sleeping in her bed. Her arrival was foretold by the clanging of her tags and he glanced over the back of the sofa, watching her as she trotted over to him. "Hey, girl," he greeted as she jumped up onto the couch and pressed herself up against his leg. She barked happily and rested her head on his outer thigh.

Running his fingers through her thick coat he thought about when they had first got her. She was so much bigger now, after only a few months, and her hair had grown thicker and longer. Pandora looked up at him with blue eyes that shimmered like the Stargate and let out a sound that reminded him of a cat's purr. He scratched her ears with a smile, "It's past your bedtime, young lady."

She barked at him. Bedtime... what bedtime? Her bright, blue eyes pleaded with him to stay up and he smiled at how humanlike she could be at times. "Well... maybe in half an hour."

Another bark. She liked that idea!

For twenty minutes or so they sat there, Jack watching TV and Pandora gently easing into sleep. When she began to snore lightly he carefully maneuvered his way off of the couch, hoping not to wake the dog in the process. No suck luck, however, she looked up at him sleepily and began to wag her tail.

"Go back to sleep, 'Dora." he told her, walking around to the other side of the couch. Her tail stopped wagging and she grudgingly laid her head back down on the couch, she was tired...

Jack quietly made his way down the hallway and into his and Sam's room. She had gone off to shower shortly after everybody had gone home and by then she should have been ready for bed. When he entered the room he sighed, the conjoining bathroom door was still closed, and a faint light was seeping through the crack at the bottom. "Sam?" he questioned, taking off his jeans and slipping into bed, searching around for the channel changer. "Are you still not ready?"

He got no reply, at that moment. A minute or so later, however, the door to the bathroom opened and she stepped into the bedroom, turning off the light to the bathroom. "Hey... do you remember the mission to P3X-797?"

A grin stretched across his face, "How could I forget it? You threw yourself at me for the first time after we got back from that planet."

"Well... I was actually wondering about when we were headed back home for the second time. You know, when you asked me about my wound?"

"Oh," he replied. "I remember..."

Up until that point she had been wearing her robe, but that changed fairly quickly. His eyes nearly popped out of his head and it was her turn to grin. "So..." she slid into bed with him and quickly found herself in his arms.

"You kept it, huh?" he asked, pulling her closer to him.

"Oh, yeah," she replied, capturing his lips with her own. "I kept it."

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A/N: Alright, so let me know what you think. It's a bit more racy than most... but since I'm still a bit on the young side and my story is still PG-13 that's as risque as it is gonna get. And, this might have been out earlier, except for the fact that I took last night off to watch the Superbowl. :( I was cheering for the Egales (I always cheer for the underdog)... they played a good game- too bad they didn't win. My sister gloated.