So They Say
Chapter 4 – Bygones
"So how are you, Jack? It's been so long." Alison asked nicely.
"He's engaged, can you believe it?" Dave put in, his grin showing the good nature of his teasing. "Sam, this is my wife, Alison. Ali, meet Jack's fiancé, Sam Carter."
"Nice to meet you, Alison." Sam smiled and held her hand out to greet the smaller woman, who looked her up and down none-too-subtly, before accepting her hand.
As Jack watched her wearily, waiting for her to show the Alison he knew years ago.
"What is it with you and blondes, Jack?" Her narrow eyes stared at him, her face portraying a picture of joviality, where only Jack could see the falseness of her smile.
"Jonny!" A shout came from behind the group, interrupting the awkward conversation. Jack knew before he turned round who he would see, as there had only ever been one person he'd never managed to loose his teenage nickname with.
"Hey, Thomas." Jack grinned, knowing his older brother hated the use of his full name. "How've you been?"
"Good, good, very good." He replied, practically bouncing, Jack noted with unease. Tom had a shorter frame than his brothers, but the same dark grey hair and dark eyes, and again the resemblance was astonishing to Sam. "How's the Air Force treating you, Jonny? They let you anywhere near a plane yet?" He laughed, an infectious chuckle that Sam couldn't help but smile at.
"Well you know how it is, they save the fun stuff for the important folks." Jack replied, slipping his arm around Sam's waist to pull her forward. "Sam Carter, meet my brother Thomas."
"Hi," Sam greeted him, a courteous smile on her face.
"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." There was a distinct leer in his voice that Jack immediately recognised as alcohol-fuelled. Some things never changed.
"Tom," He said in a warning tone to his older brother, who stepped back, grin still firmly in place. Jack turned when he heard Dave call his name from the garden, motioning for them to come outside. Looking to Tom again, he told him quietly: "Drink some coffee."
By late afternoon, Sam was having trouble remembering names after meeting so many different people. Her fiancé had left her with Dave, and his two children, who were reciting their plans after their university courses ended. She'd decided she liked Dave. He was a lot like Jack in many ways, except his humour wasn't quite so cynical or self-deprecating. But his warmth and caring demeanour seemed to mirror her boyfriend's.
Dave's wife, however, was a different story. Although they hadn't crossed paths since their first introduction, she was sure she'd caught her sending poisonous stares her way. But then, Sam reasoned, that could be down to Jack's warning of his sister-in-law's personality.
"So have you set the date for the big day yet?" Dave asked her, as he sat down and set two more bottles of beer on the lawn table. Sam refused the drink politely as her stomach had started to churn ominously again.
"It's in six weeks actually. We wanted to invite you in person, rather than over the phone."
He smiled widely, feigning an exhausted expression as he ran a hand over his silvery hair. "You sure you want to tie yourself to my brother? He's nothing but trouble, you know."
Sam smiled in response. "Believe me, I know."
"So Jack said you were Air Force too? Some kind of scientist?"
"Yeah, astrophysicist. It's how we met."
Dave pulled a bewildered expression so much like the one she'd seen on Jack every time she started talking in science terms, that she burst out laughing. "I'm not even going to pretend I know what that field of science is like."
"So what do you do?" Sam asked, and then wondered if Jack had told her already. If he had, she couldn't remember what he'd said.
"I work in tourism. Marketing sector. Bores me senseless most of the time." He informed her with a smile, taking a swig from the bottle in his hand.
Sam smiled, not really being able to imagine what an office job would be like day after day, having never experienced it herself. There was a shout from the other end of the garden and as she looked up, she caught sight of Jack inside the house. From where she was, her fiancé had an expression she knew all too well; he was not happy.
"Alison it's been ten years, can we leave the mind games in the past please?" Jack told her heatedly.
He knew this would happen. He'd always believed that people don't change, and if they ever did, it wasn't likely to be for the better. In Alison's case, she was still the mean-spirited, manipulative woman he'd known since he was in college. Pulling a hand through his silvery hair, he locked his eyes to hers. If she wanted an argument, he'd sure as hell give her one.
"Why Jack? Running away to Colorado won't change anything, you know." Her green eyes flashed along with the conceited smile on her lips.
"Are you serious? You really think I left because of you? Alison, you have not been any part of my life for nearly thirty years. Can you try a bit of clarity, please? It won't kill you, you know!"
"I think you did leave because of me. Because I married your brother." She stated, her voice calm.
Jack was thankful that everyone was outside, which he suspected Alison knew as well. "Yeah, well we all have our crazy moments," he replied sarcastically.
"Is that why you're engaged to a blonde half your age?" Alison shot back nastily, folding her arms across her chest and raising one eyebrow.
"I'm not defending myself or Sam to you, Alison. Quit playing games and understand: my life and the people in it are nothing to do with you. I'm here for Dave's benefit and because my fiancé wanted to meet my family, and that doesn't include you." Jack moved to the kitchen doorway, wanting no part in the conversation any longer.
"Yes run back to your little girlfriend." Alison taunted.
Jack turned slightly to shoot her a look of disgust, "How about you go see your husband. You do remember what he looks like, don't you?"
He paced swiftly out of earshot before she could reply, cursing himself inwardly for even entertaining the thought that she may actually now be a normal human being. Scanning the garden, he spotted his brother and girlfriend sitting at the lawn table.
"Anything he's said about me are lies," Jack assured her innocently as he approached them. Dropping a kiss to her blonde hair, he pulled a chair up so he sat between Sam and Dave, helping himself to the abandoned beer Sam had refused earlier.
"We weren't talking about you." The pair said in unison, betraying their guilt.
"Of course not," Jack laughed.
They decided they should be leaving as it was beginning to grow dark outside, and Dave offered to drive them back to the hotel. Jack had studiously avoided another encounter with Alison and had made sure she wasn't around Sam either. Telling his younger brother that they'd see him tomorrow at the party, Jack waved him off from outside the hotel, and watched as the blue ford disappeared from sight.
Slipping his arm around Sam, he rested his forehead against hers and watched her sapphire eyes stare into his. "You were very quiet this afternoon."
"I was enjoying watching you with your brothers." She smiled, looping her arms around his shoulders and clasping her fingers at the back of his neck.
"You feeling okay?" He asked, a concerned frown creasing his forehead.
Sam nodded, but in truth her stomach hadn't settled and she'd not eaten anything for fear of making it worse. "I'm just a bit tired."
From the expression on his face, she was sure Jack didn't believe her, but he leant forward and pressed his lips to hers gently. "Early night?"
She laughed at his grin, moving out from the circle of his arms to grasp his hand, intertwining her fingers through his. The sudden dizziness she felt caught her off-guard, and she had to reach out and steady herself on the railing surrounding the outdoor pool. Jack reacted by tightening his hold on her waist, shifting one hand to her shoulder as she bent slightly over the railing, worriedly noticing her sheet-white face.
"Sam, it's okay, sit down." He guided her to sit on the steps they'd been standing on to wave his brother off, rubbing her back soothingly.
After what felt like forever, the dizzy spell passed. Sam leant into him tiredly as Jack watched her too-pale pallor begin to fade into a healthier colour.
"Just stay still for a few minutes," he told her, his voice taking on his command tone as she made a move to get up. Jack held her close, smoothing one hand over her hair and behind her ear. "Has this happened since that lab tech saw you nearly collapse at the SGC?" He asked in a near whisper.
She shook her head slightly in the negative. "Only when Jasper was running around me in the house last week, it was enough to make anyone dizzy." Her voice was soft and tired, her head never moving from its position on his shoulder. "It's only the flu, Jack."
He tilted his head slightly to press a kiss to her forehead, and possibility suddenly occurring to him. "Maybe it's something else."
"Like what?"
Jack drew back a little from the snug embrace so he could look her in the eye. "Could you be pregnant?"