Sam fumbled with the key in the lock - tears streaming down her cheeks.
She heard footsteps behind her.
"It was hard for me to tell you how I feel about General O'Neill, Daniel – there was no reason to shoot me down like that."
She felt fingertips draw hair away from the nape of her neck and sucked in a deep breath; these calloused fingertips weren't Daniel's.
Daniel would never touch her like that anyway. She leaned against the car, her heart pounding, her stomach doing backflips.
"It's been a long time since you said anything about feelings."
Sam gasped.
"What are you doing here Sir?"
His fingers never left her hair; threading through the strands every time they fell back onto her neck; pulling them to the side over and over … hypnotically. He pressed his body against hers, forcing her to flatten against the car, his breath flittering across her right ear as he spoke.
"I'm not sure … I just thought you might need me."
"Need you Sir?"
"Yeah …" he said sheepishly, abruptly pulling away and leaning his back against her car alongside her, his arms crossed. "Teal'c said something about a change in status and you being intimate with Daniel and I thought you'd gotten drunk or something and run off and …"
Sam looked at him in disbelief.
"Run off and?"
Jack looked everywhere except at Sam.
"Run off and?"
"Married him."
"So you … what … came to save me from a fate worse than death?"
"I hadn't thought that far. I .."
He was now seriously flustered. He really hadn't thought that far ahead. He had just gotten into his truck, a little panicky, and driven - not really sure what he would do when he got to Daniel's apartment. Or what he would find.
Sam pressed her chin into his shoulder as they both stood stretched out against her car.
"Thank you Sir …"
"For what?"
Sam shook her head and smiled, thinking back to what Daniel had said about this man. She started to wonder if there wasn't a smidgen of truth to his words.
Maybe she needed to push a little.
"If you don't know then I can't tell you …"
Jack took one of her hands in his and wiped her tears with his other hand. It remained there, cupping her cheek.
"Tell me anyway .."
"Not in words …" Sam said.
She leaned closer and kissed him full on the mouth.
"Words are over-rated anyway" mumbled Jack, inbetween kisses.
Sam pressed him back against the car, inserting herself between his legs, making herself comfortable, her hand over his own on her cheek. She smiled against his mouth when she felt his hard-on.
Jack groaned.
Busted.
After a while Jack was distracted by a beam of light flashing annoyingly on them. He squinted and tried to locate its point of origin. He looked up. Daniel … hanging out of his living room window, waving a flashlight.
"Hellooooooo … this is a respectable neighbourhood." He made a shooing gesture.
Sam suppressed a giggle and put the key in the lock.
"Your place or mine?" she asked shyly.
"Not tonight Sam. Let's not get ahead of ourselves huh?"
Sam stiffened, shame rolling over her. She felt as though she had been reprimanded – and in effect she had been.
"I'm sorry Sir. That was out of line. I'll … erm .. see you Monday."
She got into her car quickly and drove off.
Tears of shame started falling as soon as she turned the corner.
Jack stood on the kerb, looking at the receding tail lights.
Then he looked up at Daniel – who shook his head sadly and closed the window on him.
Author's Note:
I didn't think they could realistically jump each other on Daniel's doorstep. And having them just hop into bed seemed improbable with all the miscommunication that's been going on. We'll let Jack stew for a while. Moving to M for the last chapterso look there tomorrow if you want to read the end of the fic xxx