Tangled Web - 7 Cease Fire
Jack set the plate of burgers on the picnic table and took another long drink of beer. Daniel and Teal'c sat close by chatting and laughing. It was forced behavior, they were trying to lighten Jack's mood.
"Well, food's ready. Where the hell is Carter?"
"Um, I'm sure she's on her way." Jack threw a dark, piercing stare at Daniel.
"She's usually here before you guys. You sure she's coming."
"She'll be here, Jack." But Daniel was beginning to wonder if Sam had changed her mind and would in fact, not be showing up. He couldn't believe she would do that, it would just make things worse. "I'll give her a call, see what's holding her up."
A few minutes later Daniel snapped his cell phone shut and looked up at Jack. "She's just down the street, she'll be here in a couple of minutes."
Sam walked into the backyard feeling as if she were walking blindfolded into a minefield. All her senses were on alert as she carefully carried the box in her hands. It was a peace offering of sorts, the General's favorite cake. She wanted this to be over, she wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, but in her heart she knew it wasn't possible.
"Hey guys! Sir!" She called out to them as she rounded the corner of the house, trying to make her voice as cheerful and relaxed as possible.
"Sam, hey! Hurry up and grab a plate before it gets cold. The burgers are delicious!"
She smiled and allowed her eyes to travel to Jack's face, "They look great, Sir!"
"What's in the box, Carter?" His eyes were emotionless pools, cold and dark as he surveyed her. There was not a trace of the warmness that usually greeted her smile and she knew instantly he was still angry.
"Cake, Sir. I thought we could have dessert later."
"Ah! Good. Thanks." And the cold spread between them. All of them felt it, hated it and wanted it to go away, but only Jack and Sam could fix it – and Daniel wasn't sure anymore, if they even wanted to.
They'd finished their meal and moved to the more comfortable lawn chairs. Jack and Sam were sipping on beer while Daniel and Teal'c chose iced tea as the drink of the day. An uneasy silence had fallen over the small group as they sat close together in the waning light.
Daniel's thoughts were on his two friends and how he could help them resolve their differences. He firmly believed they just needed to talk it out; the trick was getting them to actually talk. His gaze traveled from one to the other of them checking their faces and body language. Jack was tense. He had tried to act his normal self all day, but whenever he spoke to Carter his voice was noticeably strained. Carter wasn't much better. She smiled and talked easily with himself and Teal'c but with Jack she was defensive. He sighed and looked at Teal'c who nodded his head in answer to the unasked question. It was going to be up to him so he might as well get started, there was no telling how long this would take or how quickly it would end.
"So…who wants to go first?" Jack and Sam snapped up their heads in unison and with almost the same look of foreboding on their faces.
"Well?" Silence engulfed them as Jack and Sam fidgeted but neither indicated they had any intention of speaking. "Come on guys, you promised we'd try this."
Silence.
"Jack?"
"What?"
"What's bothering you?"
"Daniel! What are you now, the local psychoanalyst?"
"Come on, Jack. You and Sam are at each other's throats all the time! We're supposed to be a team! We've been a team for years. Something's obviously changed. What?"
Daniel raised his eyes to meet Jack's and he could see the dark storm clouds brooding there. Jack was telling Daniel silently that he already knew the answer to that question and he had no intention of answering it aloud in front of Teal'c and Carter. Daniel sighed and held the stare trying not to back away from Jack's piercing gaze.
"Ok, guess we'll do this the hard way." He looked at Jack and spoke quietly, "Do you still trust Sam?"
Jack looked at him, his mouth slightly open in shock at the question. "Yes, she's…"
And looking up at her for the first time he completed his sentence without sarcasm. "a fine officer."
"Ok, good so far. Do you still consider her your friend?"
Jack's gaze immediately returned to Sam. She met his eyes and knew what he was about to do. She was still thinking about it when he asked sarcastically, "Changed your mind, Carter?"
She looked away quickly and didn't answer.
Daniel watched as she turned away and saw a strange look on her face, one he didn't recognize. "About what?" He asked.
Jack waited for her to answer and when she didn't, he turned to Daniel and answered his question. "Friends? I don't know. I don't think so." Then waving his beer bottle in the air he continued, "Apparently…it doesn't matter." Jack dropped his head and stared at the ground below his feet. "She's leaving."
"Leaving? Oh! You mean…getting married?"
"No, Daniel. Leaving. As in requesting re-assignment, leaving the team, Cheyenne Mountain, hell maybe even the whole damned Air Force!"
"What?" The shock was apparent in Daniel's face as he turned surprised blue eyes on Sam.
"But, why?" He held Sam's gaze with his own as he listened to Jack.
"Beats the hell out of me. That's what I've been trying to find out!" Sam still sat silently watching, unwilling to enter the conversation. "I can't order her to tell me and every time I try to talk to her about it we end up in a screaming match! Isn't that right, Colonel?"
Sam turned a steely gaze on him. She couldn't believe he was pulling rank on her! At least he was trying to; he'd done the same thing the last time they "discussed" the situation. "Yes, Sir." The words were as hollow and cold as if she'd dragged them from the depths of a long forgotten winter.
Jack threw his hands in the air dramatically and looking at Daniel asked, "See? I ask you, did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine a time when Carter would have nothing to say?"
Something about that little performance got under her skin and she spoke without thinking. "Well, I never thought I'd see the day when you had to hide behind your rank to win a fight!" And then with emphasis, added, "General!"
"Carter!"
Daniel held his hand up to Jack as he spoke to Sam. "Guys! Wait! So, is that it? Is that all you have to say, 'Yes, Sir'?" Daniel watched her in amazement, refusing to believe that she was going to allow this to continue. He was beginning to see why Jack had been so frustrated. "Because I agree with Jack, Sam. I'd like to know why you're leaving and so would Teal'c."
"Indeed!"
"I'm sorry, Daniel, that's all I have to say."
Jack was watching and suddenly his rage exploded and spread like wildfire. Before Daniel or Teal'c could say anything he was shouting out his frustration at Sam. "The hell it is, Carter! I want to know why you want to leave! You just suddenly take a 180-degree turn and expect us not to ask any questions! How can you just quit without giving us a reason! You're needed at the SGC. Dammit, I need to know why!"
"We've been through this before, General, my reasons are personal. And with all due respect, Sir, I'm not required to explain."
He could hear the tone of Sam's voice changing as she locked eyes with his. "Bull shit!" Snapped Jack so sudden that Daniel visibly jumped. "I need more than that, Colonel!"
"Jack, please!" Daniel's voice was soft and soothing in direct opposition to Jack's bellowing anger. "Sam?" He waited for her to look up at him, and then continued. "You must know we'd only want the best for you, just tell us why."
"I just have to, Daniel. I'm getting married!"
"There are plenty of married soldiers at the SGC, Carter!" Jack's voice barked out his counterpoint as rapidly as bullets were expelled from his P-90.
Daniel looked up at him, thinking 'yep, been here before' and then back to Sam. "He's right, Sam."
"Yes, Sir." She ignored Daniel completely and answered Jack submissively, stubbornly but refusing to argue.
Her uncharacteristic behavior seemed to be the catalyst for Jack's anger just as surely as if she'd poured gasoline on a fire. Daniel was unprepared for the reaction as Jack flared out of control for the second time. "Dammit, Carter! Don't "yes, sir" me! I need answers! Not damned protocol! Don't you dare sit there and lie to me!"
Daniel recoiled, taken by surprise at Jack's extreme reaction. 'What just happened? What did I miss?' he thought as he looked back and forth between his two friends who were once again on the verge of mayhem. He had been on the receiving end of Jack's wrath on more than one occasion, but he had never known him to direct it towards Sam.
Suddenly something occurred to him and he spoke up before Jack could say more. "Guys, something's not right here. I thought this wasn't work. I thought this was something else…something the two of you couldn't discuss." His eyes now clouded with even more confusion as he looked to Jack and then Sam. "Well?"
Jack avoided his glare and then completely turned his back on the group, lifting his beer to his lips and running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Yeah."
Daniel directed his attention to Sam who now sat elbows on knees intensely studying her shoes, rolling her beer bottle slowly in her hands and rocking ever so slightly. Then he turned to Jack still standing with his back to them, totally still except for his head, which was moving slowing side to side in disbelief. Every muscle in his body was tensed to the max and he appeared more frustrated than Daniel had ever seen him.
As Daniel watched them, he began to have serious doubts if this had been a good idea after all. He suddenly felt that he was interfering in something too personal, that he and Teal'c shouldn't be here. He glanced at Teal'c who looked a bit puzzled but otherwise remained his normal stoic self.
"Look, guys, maybe I was wrong. Maybe Teal'c and I can't help with this, but it's having a marked effect on you two and the SGC. Why don't we leave and…you can talk about it alone?"
"No, Daniel! There's nothing to discuss. I've made my decision. I'm leaving. You all just have to accept that."
"But Sam…" He was beginning to feel the same frustration that Jack had been dealing with. "Why? Did Jack…do something?"
Jack shot Daniel a seething glare and yelled, "Hey!" Daniel shrugged his shoulders and held out both hands to Jack in a questioning gesture, then turned again to Sam.
"No. Pete just doesn't want me working at the SGC…"
"What? Why not?"
"I don't know. He just insists on it. It's a condition of…."
"A condition!" Jack pounced on the word and was across the lawn in two long strides. Grasping Carter's shoulders he lifted her to a standing position locking her gaze with his own. The bottle in her hand dropped aimlessly to the ground and Sam let out an involuntary whimper as he grasped her with strong hands, but Jack ignored it. His eyes were filled with a fury Daniel had never seen and it scared him a bit. "What kind of ass-hole is this guy, Carter? Who proposes marriage on a conditional basis? Can't you see what he's doing to you? To us?"
"Sir!" Sam looked at him with panic running rampant in her eyes.
"Don't 'sir' me, Sam. I've already told you. This is NOT happening!" The battlefield had suddenly changed and Teal'c and Daniel now stood on the sidelines, forgotten.
Daniel threw a startled glance at Teal'c then stepped back to stand beside him and held his breath as he watched years of buried emotions come rushing to the surface in a blind rage as Sam and Jack's fury uncoiled and came full-blown into the daylight.
"Dammit, Jack! It's done! I can't change it!" Jack could see the pain in her eyes but he wouldn't stop now. He wasn't going to let her leave like this and spend the rest of his life wondering why.
"It's not done! You don't want this, I know you! I won't let some blubbering idiot hold you captive because he's intimidated by your intelligence! Just walk away, Sam! Leave him!"
"NO! I can't!"
"No? Then tell me you love him, Sam. Tell me you love him enough to give up your friends, your career, everything you've worked for, your entire life for cryin' out loud! Tell me you don't love me…"
Daniel's eyebrows rose in surprise and he exchanged a look with Teal'c. Jack didn't even know he'd said it…or was so mad, he didn't care.
"No, I…"
Sam was holding onto Jack's arms, shaking her head vigorously and suddenly Daniel wanted to stop them. He didn't want to watch this anymore he had to do something. As he took a step towards them Teal'c quickly grasped his arm and shook his head, "Do not interfere, Daniel Jackson. There is no danger. They must continue." With great effort Daniel remained still, afraid of the outcome but knowing Teal'c was right, they had to settle this before it destroyed them.
"Make me believe it, Sam and I'll sign the damn papers! You won't hear another word from me!"
Sam raised her eyes to meet Jack's and he could see the slight tremble in her lips. Tears filled her beautiful blue eyes and it took all his strength not to wrap her in his arms, but he was again aware of Daniel and Teal'c standing silently by, watching them as they tossed caution aside and explored whatever had come between them. Suddenly he felt her fingers digging into his arms, asking him silently to stop. His anger began to slip away at her touch but rekindled as quickly as it had waned, as he looked at her face and pictured Sam in a life he knew she didn't want.
"Why, Sam?" His hands moved to her shoulders and he shook her gently, "Why are you doing this? Has he got something on you? What? For God's sake, Sam! Tell me!"
She was tired and hurting. She didn't want to fight anymore and the pleading tone of his voice finally broke down the walls she'd built around herself. She looked into his eyes; her own suddenly filled with sadness. Jack cared about her. She knew it, she'd always known but knowing didn't make it any easier. She was already regretting what she would say, apologizing silently to him with her eyes. "I don't want to…"
Jack watched in confusion as her voice trailed away. "Dammit, Carter, answer me!"
"All right!" She snapped the words off as they left her mouth. "He thinks we're…he threatened to ruin your career or…worse. I won't let him do…."
"I'm not afraid of Pete Shanahan, Sam."
"Don't you think I know that?" She screamed the words into his face and then dropped her head onto his chest, hiding the tears that were beginning to crawl down her cheeks. And as the final barriers slipped away she almost whispered, "But I am."
Daniel's head popped up from where he'd been staring at the ground, his eyes wide in realization and shock. Teal'c looked as if he'd kill the next thing that moved and Jack stood frozen, staring at the top of her head and trying to understand the fear he heard in her voice. After a few long, tense moments he wrapped Sam in the safety of his embrace and turning them slightly away from Daniel and Teal'c he whispered so that only she could hear. "Oh, God, Sam! I'll kill him! I swear! What did he do to you?" Jack squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall onto her shoulder, silently cursing himself for his own stupidity.
Daniel stood motionless, watching as Jack comforted Sam, one hand sliding gently up and down her arm pushing the sleeve of her blouse higher each time he stoked her arm. Suddenly Daniel's eyes grew wider and his mouth dropped open as he saw a large purple bruise appear beneath Jack's hand.
"Jack?" Daniel made sure his voice was low and calm as he spoke and as Jack's eyes met his he nodded his head toward Sam's arm. Jack's face showed momentary confusion and then following Daniel's gaze, he saw what Daniel had seen. He gently pushed the sleeve all the way up to her shoulder and saw that the bruise continued beneath her clothing. He turned back to Daniel with a look in his eyes that filled him with fear – for Pete. Slowly he closed his eyes and lowered his head into Sam's neck, squeezing her gently against him.
"Why didn't you tell me, Sam?" She didn't respond, just continued to cry shamefully, silently into Jack's strong shoulder. "You're not going back there. Ever. You can stay here till we figure out what to do." His voice was calm and reassuring, but his mind was raging and he already had a good idea of what he wanted to do to Shanahan.