John Doe
Chapter Thirty Nine
Disclaimer: Still not my show.
A/N: Yeah, "BS" is an actual card game. I'm not that good on giving explanations so the best I can say is "google" it.
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"But mommy!" Joshua complained as his mother picked him up from the couch. "I'm not tired."
Tracie snorted, cuddling her son close. He responded by wrapping his arms around her neck and resting his cheek on her shoulder. Sure he wasn't tired... he was just resting his eyes. "It's way past your bedtime, mister," she informed him, carrying him off to his bedroom. "You are going to sleep."
"Mommy..." he whined, his head still resting on her shoulder. "Please?"
She shook her head adamantly, "Time for bed, Joshua Carter." Then Tracie disappeared into his bedroom, emerging a few minutes later sans one son. Since Elizabeth had already gone to bed an hour prior she didn't have to worry about her daughter arguing to stay up later, so she joined the other adults in the dining room, where they were once again playing BS. Well, Mark and Sam were playing... Jacob and Jack were cheating.
"Bullshit!" Sam called out, smirking at her brother, who scowled in response. Tracie had to sigh, her husband was the worst liar there was.
Jacob's turn came around and he laid down two cards, "Two tens."
Jack glanced around suspiciously, trying to peak at Sam's cards, though she saw him doing so and hid hers from his view. He scowled, then tried to do the same with Mark's cards. "...I have two tens..." he whispered, as if by doing so Jacob wouldn't hear him.
"Bullshit!" Mark shouted, giving Jacob a smug look.
"You cheated," Jacob said. "It doesn't count if you cheat."
"Oh whatever, Jake," Jack said with a smile, "you've been cheating this whole time."
The man looked at Jack with a scowl, it seemed like all the men were doing so lately. "So have you."
"Have not," he countered, much like a five year old would.
"Have too," Jacob said.
Tracie and Sam shared a look, each of them smiling. Men... they never grow up. "How about we play something different?" Sam offered. Bullshit was getting a bit old, as it were.
Mark glanced at his watch and sighed, "Maybe tomorrow... it's already almost midnight."
She shrugged, "Sounds good to me. The little ones are getting a bit anxious, I think it's time for them to go to bed, too."
"Really?" Mark questioned, "They kicking?"
"I think they're having a fight," she said with a grin. "You wanna feel?"
Like any first-time uncle would pass the opportunity to feel his niece and nephew throwing a couple of punches at each other, or at their mother. Mark nodded and got out of his chair, leaving the two general's to clean the cards mess, and walked across the table to his sister's chair. He gave her a questioning look and she nodded, letting him know it was ok for him to feel. With a smile he placed his hand over her slightly swollen stomach, and not even five seconds later he flinched when a foot or a fist made it's presence known. Sam winced and glanced at her fiancé, this was his fault... she certainly hadn't done this to her mother.
"Wow," he breathed, "that's... amazing."
"Thank you," Jack said with a grin. "Thank you very much."
Sam rolled her eyes at him and looked back at her brother, "Ignore him."
The man nodded, "That won't be a problem."
From the good-natured look on his face she was sure he was only joking, so she grinned along with him. Jack scowled, only half-serious, and looked over at Jacob. "What did I do?"
He shrugged, "Opened your big mouth?"
Well... ok, that was probably it. "Yeah... so?"
Mark moved his hand slightly to the left, and as if on cue, another foot or fist made contact. He didn't flinch that time, having expected the movement, but Sam still winced. "Oh... I think that's enough for tonight. They're having too much fun..."
Her brother nodded, not knowing the pain she was in, but having an idea from when his wife had been pregnant. "Well, you're stuff is already in the guest bed, so whenever you want to go to sleep... go right ahead."
"I think I'm going to head off to bed, too." Jacob announced, getting up from his chair. "I'll see you kids in the morning."
As he headed down the hallway Tracie decided that she, too, was getting tired. "You know what... I think I'm going to check on the kids then hit the sack, as well." She kissed her husband goodnight and headed after her father-in-law, veering off into Joshua's room, where the kids were sleeping.
"You coming Sam?" Jack asked, as he got out of his chair.
She shook her head, "Go ahead, I'll be there in a few minutes... I'm going to help Mark clean up out here."
The look on her brother's face plainly said he hadn't planned on cleaning up, but he sighed and nodded at his sister. Obviously she wanted to talk or something, so... he wasn't going to upset a pregnant woman, as it were. Jack nodded and headed down the hallway, turning into the guest bedroom where they would be sleeping for the weekend.
When she was sure he was out of ear shot she turned to her brother with a questioning look, "Why are you being so nice?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" He questioned, "Was there any doubt that I wouldn't be?"
"Oh yeah," she informed him, "and not just from me. Jack and Dad were doubtful, too." Not to mention Selmak.
He sighed and began to pick up the discarded cards, "Why? Because of Pete?" When Sam didn't reply he figured he was dead on the money, "Listen, Sam... you are my sister, first and foremost. Pete is my friend, yeah, but I don't condone the way he acted. He was jealous and lost his head, and I'm not trying to defend him, but that's the way he was taught... Tracie and I were, as well. But, that doesn't matter– I pushed you into a relationship with him, and I shouldn't have. If you had just told me that you had feelings for Jack before I set the date up, I wouldn't have tried so hard."
"I wasn't allowed to have feelings for him, Mark– that's why I went out with Pete in the first place. I thought... maybe, by some miracle, I could forget about Jack." It was her turn to sigh and she grabbed the cups from off the table, "I guess I led him on by staying with him... well, I know I did. I shouldn't have, but I was being selfish. None of it was your fault and none of it was Jack's fault. Pete and I just... I baited him with suspicious behavior and he swallowed it whole, then came back for more. It was just as much my fault as it was his."
"So, why were you worried that I would be mean?"
She set the dishes into the sink and turned to look at him, "Because, you haven't been exactly thrilled about my engagement to Jack, ya know?"
"You're my kid sister, Sam... I wasn't thrilled about Jonas," a look of disgust past over his face when saying the name of her first fiancé, "... or Pete, either."
Well, that was true. But he had been a bit more outspoke with Jack than he had with Pete. Then again, he had pretty much told her if she married Jonas he wouldn't be there... and Pete was already his best friend. "This time it's right," she assured him. "This time I've found somebody perfect for me in every way, someone who I love completely, without room for doubt." She walked back into the dining room and sat down in the chair next to him, "You think you can be happy for me?"
Mark scrunched his face up, then smiled at her, "I guess so."
"And you'll continue to be civilized to Jack?" she asked.
"Ma'am, yes ma'am." He barked, giving her a sloppy salute.
"That's Colonel to you, Civilian."
Both turned to see Jack standing in the doorway to the dining room, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "What are you doing, Jack?" Sam questioned, wondering how much of the conversation he had listened to.
"I am coming to save my fiancé from her brother..." he smiled, "and save myself from loneliness."
Sam smiled and turned to look at her brother, "Thank's Mark."
"Don't mention it... go get some sleep."
She wasn't going to argue with that statement. Sam kissed her brother on the cheek then headed off down the hallway, Jack right behind her, headed into the guest room. They climbed into bed and Sam turned to face him, a smile on her face, "Just how much of that conversation did you listen to, Jack?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he claimed, feigning innocence. But Sam knew him better.
"Jack..."
"You're too good for me," he said, "you know that?"
"I am no better than you are, Jack," she informed him, "you're just too good a person to admit it."
He shook his head, which she didn't see in the darkness, rather heard. "You are the one that's too good to admit how great you are. And that just makes you so much better."
"Neither of us is going to give, you know." she said with a sigh. "This conversation could go on all night..."
Jack chuckled and pulled her closer to him, "How about we call it even, for the night, and get some rest?"
"Sounds good to me," she cuddled close to him, hiding her face in his shirt, and fell asleep within minutes.
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"Auntie Sam!" a small, but shrill, voice called from the foot of the bed. "Wake up!"
Sam groaned and buried her face further into her fiance's shirt, hoping that she was just having a dream, and the noise would stop any moment. No such luck, a few seconds later the bed tilted a bit, and somebody began to crawl over it, towards her. She could hear Jack laughing as he wrapped his arms tighter around her, shielding her from way too energetic girl. Elizabeth wasn't fazed by this, however, and kept urging her aunt to wake.
"Aunt Sam!" the girl continued, "it's already 9 o'clock."
Only nine! This was her vacation, she should be sleeping until noon, not nine. "Go wake up Papaw..." she groaned, hiding in the warmth of her finace's arms.
"He's already awake," she whined.
"What about your parents?"
"Awake."
She peeked up at her fiancé, "Jack?"
"He's awake, too, silly."
"Fine," she said, "I'm awake..."
"Good," the girl was pratically beaming, but Sam couldn't see that, since she still had her face hidden in Jack's t-shirt. "It's breakfast time."
"Breakfast?" the man asked, that was a brilliant word. "What kind of breakfast?"
"Pancakes and bacon and eggs."
"You hear that Sam," he said, looking down at her. "Pancakes and bacon and eggs."
Well... she was kind of hungry, and eating for three! "Fine... you have to let me up first, though."
Jack laughed, realizing he was still holding on to her, then let her out of his arms. "Come on, Liz, breakfast won't wait forever."
The two ran off out the bedroom as Sam pulled herself out of the bed. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she headed out the door after them, and made her way into the hallway where she was immediately greeted by the smell of bacon and maple syrup. Ok, so maybe being awake at 0900 wasn't such a bad thing... especially when Tracie was cooking breakfast.
"Morning sleepyhead," her father greeted when she entered the dining room. "Nice of you to join the land of the living."
"It's still early," she informed him. "Why are you up?"
He pointed to the little boy sitting next to him, "He was in my room at 7, so don't complain about 9."
She sighed, at least Joshua hadn't waken her up when he woke up his grandfather. "Is breakfast ready?"
"Yeah, come on and get it," Tracie called from the conjoining kitchen. "Do you want orange juice, Sam?"
"I'll get it, Tracie–"
"You get your plate," the woman told her, "I'll get your drink. Orange Juice then?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Sam started on her plate of food, getting two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and a good bit of eggs. She returned to the dining room and sat down next to her brother, who already had a plate in front of him, and was digging in. He glanced over at her plate and frowned.
"Shouldn't you be eating more than that?" he questioned. "With two of them in there?"
"This is fine, thank you very much," she defended herself. "Don't worry."
He shrugged, and Jack sat down next to her. "You know... I think he might be right. That doesn't look like much."
"I figured you would eat enough for all four of us," she told him with a smile. "And from the looks of it, you probably will."
His plate was full, three pancakes, four pieces of bacon, and about double the eggs that she had. "It doesn't work that way, Sam... sorry."
"Fine, I'll get some more when I'm done with this plate."
Both men grinned in triumph.
"...But, you two have to do the dishes."
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A/N: Sorry the update took longer than normal... I have family in town so I've been spending time with them. Anyway, let me know what'cha think.