AN: I was wondering what was taking me so long to write... and then I realized this is another really long part... I'm sure you won't mind. :)
Chapter Six
It took Dr. Fraiser six hours to run out of tests to perform. She checked the paperwork on their charts. Then she looked at Jack. He was smiling at Carter, who'd fallen asleep next to him with her head on his shoulder. The doctor spoke softly, trying not to disturb the one among them who was getting a decent night's sleep. "Sir?"
Jack slowly pulled his eyes off Carter, loathe to look away from such a heartwarming scene as she presented. He'd been so focused on Carter that he'd nearly forgotten about Janet altogether. "Yeah?"
Janet shrugged. "I can't find anything wrong, sir." She flipped through the charts again. "Your blood work is fine. Your scans are fine. You're both in perfect health."
"That can't be." He glanced at Carter's sleeping face, a hint of a smile still playing on her lips. "I don't remember this. I don't remember going to Cassie's party with her. I mean, I went and I saw her there, but Carter and I weren't there together."
Janet sat down on the bed across from him. "Maybe you should think about talking to Dr. Mackenzie."
"Over my dead body."
"I know you're not big on shrinks, sir-"
He grinned. "Isn't that an oxy moron?"
Janet rolled her eyes. "There's no physical reason for your memory loss; therefore, it must by psychological."
Jack shook his head. "Maybe you just can't detect it."
She didn't look convinced. "Your blood work and physical exam are identical to when you went on the mission and I know full well there was nothing wrong with your memory then. Not the way you two were glaring at each other."
"See, that's just it! We weren't fighting. She thinks we were fighting, but we weren't." Jack didn't feel compelled to point out that they couldn't have been fighting what with all the flirting they were doing. He feared that would just convince her that he did actually remember having an intimate relationship with her.
"Sir, a word of advice: if your girlfriend thinks you're fighting, you are." Janet smiled at him like he was an idiot.
"No, Janet, we weren't fighting. She didn't think we were fighting then either."
Janet motioned at Carter. "I believe it's psychological, sir. It's only affecting you and I don't believe for one second that Sam is going to let this slide."
Glancing at his sleeping girlfriend, who he couldn't remember ever dating, he felt a cold squeeze on his heart. "I don't want to hurt her, Janet."
"As long as you've only forgotten your relationship and aren't claiming that you don't love her, I imagine she'd more worried that hurt, sir. If you're faking it, however, that worry may well turn into homicidal rage." Janet hopped off the bed and sighed. "I'm going to talk to the general as soon as he gets in. You might want to enjoy your last few hours of freedom."
Once Janet left the infirmary, Jack leaned over and dropped a kiss in Carter's hair. "Carter, wake up." She mumbled sleepily, stretching her arm around him, but she didn't quite wake up. Not knowing anything reason why he should bother resisting, he put his hand under her chin and angled her face towards his. "Come on, sleepyhead." He leaned down, brushing his lips across hers.
Her eyes blinked open after a moment, a warm smile appearing across her lips. "Hi." She stretched a bit, lightly pressing her mouth back against his. "Remember me yet?"
"Janet's going to talk to Hammond in the morning." He looked away, not wanting to see the inevitable change in her face from welcoming to disappointed.
She sat up, leaving his side cold without her warmth. "So there's nothing wrong with you, right?"
He reached over, placing his hand over hers, only to have her pull away. "Nothing except not remember the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
Carter stood up, having shifted back into military mode. "How very convenient, sir. I can only assume your memory will suddenly return on Sunday once the wedding is safely out of the way." She headed for the door.
"Carter, don't walk away from me." He hated that his request sounded like an order. He hated that she obeyed, knowing it was only because it sounded like an order. The woman in Carter probably wanted to smack some sense into him.
He moved in front of her and tried to hold her eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. "Look, Carter, this has nothing to do with some damn wedding. I'll go. I don't remember you asking and I certainly don't remember anything that might possess you to ask me to go with you as your date, but I'll go. That's not the issue here."
There were tears welling in her eyes when she looked at him. "I don't want you to go if you don't want to." She reached up and swiped angrily at the dampness on her cheeks. "Why are you pretending you and I don't mean anything to each other?"
He placed his hands on her shoulders, spurring her to look at him. "I never said that."
"Then why are you doing this?" She tried to turn away again.
"Sam, look at me." He waited until she reluctantly did so. "I remember loving you. I remember you loving me. But I swear I don't remember us ever doing anything about it."
She held his eyes for a long time. "I was really hoping Janet would find some alien amnesia drug in your head."
"So maybe it's something else."
"Like what?" She rubbed her eyes. "How about we discuss this in the morning?"
"I think we're going to be getting court martialed in the morning." Jack looked at Carter's tired face and realized that, because of the relationship he forgot, she was letting him see the human side of her. "Maybe you're right. Sleep first. Think later."
Once inside the elevator, Carter pressed the button for level 19. Jack reached out to press the button for 22, where his quarters were, but Carter snagged his hand for it got there. She interlaced their fingers and smiled at him. "Considering we'll be spending tomorrow night in the brig, you don't honestly expect me to spend tonight alone, do you?"
He swallowed hard and reminded himself that he was the one going insane, that this behavior wasn't at all inappropriate for a committed relationship, that it was probably his last chance to be near her for a very long time unless conjugal were permitted in prison.
She smiled, taking his silence as agreement. She led him by the hand to her quarters. Not even bothering with the lights, she kicked off her boots and sat down on the bed. "We've got about two hours before the general gets in." She pulled back the blanket and climbed in bed fully dressed. "I hope you don't mind, Jack, but I'm tired and I really just want to sleep."
Jack didn't know why he was disappointed, considering he'd wanted her to stop throwing herself at him all night. Still he was glad for the darkness as he shut the door and climbed in beside her. "Yeah, that's fine, baby."
He winced as soon as the word left his mouth. He'd never referred to her by anything other than Carter, Major, or, in a pinch, Sam. Terms of endearment weren't usually his thing anyway, but it felt oddly natural when it rolled off his tongue. He was expecting something from her - anger, upset, giggles, something.
She rolled over, snuggled into his side, and threw her arm over his stomach. "So it's just sheer luck you happen to remember that you always call me baby, right?"
He couldn't answer. He was trying to figure how he'd survived calling her something so patronizing more than once. He cleared his throat to get rid of the lump. "And that's ok with you?"
"As long as no one else ever hears it, you can call me anything you want, Jack."
He lay there for a long time, reveling in the feel of her warm body pressed against his. He wanted to laugh at himself for going soft - he'd never envisioned the day would come when holding a woman in his arms was enough for him, but it was. He couldn't remember anything else between them, although from what he'd experienced in the locker room, he suspected that was pretty damn great too, but just having her in his arms, knowing she was safe and content next to him, was the greatest feeling in the world.
"Have you slept at all?" Even though she was groggy and half asleep, he could still hear the concern in her voice.
"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." He didn't want her to wake up because then he'd have to let go of her and he wasn't quite ready to do that.
She propped herself up on her forearms and leaned over him. "What's wrong?"
He looked at her - his Sam, finally - and he knew there was no one else he'd ever trust more. "This is nice. I want to enjoy it." Jack wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sleep again without being able to smell her.
"We'll figure out what's wrong with you, Jack. I promise." She lowered herself down, pressing her head against his chest. "As nice as this is, it's still nice to do other things too."
He couldn't help the innate panic that caused him to tense. "And you're sure I was used to hearing things like that from you?"
She giggled. "Between the two of us, we know every single square inch on this base." She looked up and winked at him. "Including those square inches where the security cameras can't reach."
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
She giggled again and Jack heard a note of pride in it. She'd gotten him to give in to his feelings somehow, despite a long career of military rules. Of course, he knew she hadn't been the only persuasive one.
"And how exactly did I ever talk you in to screwing around on base?"
"First of all, I'm pretty much always here, so it's not like you find me at home much." She leaned up again, snagging his earlobe lightly with her teeth. "And there really wasn't a whole lot of talking involved, Jack." Her tongue darted out, sliding against his skin.
"I thought you just wanted to sleep." His voice came out in a low growl. He wanted to curse himself; he expected more from his self-control.
"I do. I'm just demonstrating, since you seem to have forgotten how very quickly good sense abandons both of us when we're together." She giggled again as she snuggled back into his side, preparing to go right back to sleep knowing full well that with one touch she'd gotten him very hot and bothered.
"You are evil, woman." He shifted uncomfortably, promising himself he wasn't going to do anything more intimate with her until he could remember. It didn't seem right otherwise. "Sam?" It only felt a little strange to call her that and he decided he could get used to it in a matter of minutes. "How did this happen?"
"I think it all started when I challenged you to arm wrestle."
He laughed. If he was being honest, that little challenge of hers, her inability to be intimidated, had definitely gotten his attention. "Technically, it started when I looked up and saw you walking across the briefing room. But I don't mean the tension, I mean this." He tightened his arm around her to indicate the next step.
"It was only a few weeks ago." She was quiet for a minute. "I can't believe it's only been a little over five weeks. It feels like forever."
Jack felt a little better that he hadn't forgotten years of snuggling and dates and anniversaries that he would forever be blamed for losing. "Five weeks, huh?"
"Five perfect weeks." She shrugged against him. "You know, until two days ago and the wedding debacle."
"I said I'd go." He wasn't about to get into another fight with her. Not when he was loving the snuggling.
"But you don't even remember why you didn't want to go, so you see how that's not much of a victory for me."
"We're not getting into this again. The only reason I wouldn't have wanted to go was because we'd undoubtedly be around other people at a wedding and then we wouldn't be alone."
"We're getting into this again when you remember. And not a minute before." She sighed and Jack feared she was getting angry.
"So, five weeks ago, what changed?"
"I was on my way home for once, but I had a flat tire."
Jack closed his eyes and smiled. He remembered that. He remembered bumping into her in the parking lot and offering to change the flat. He remembered discovered that her spare was missing and the precious blush she had when she admitted taking the spare out to make room for the dirt bike she'd bought for Cassie two years earlier and never quite getting around to putting it back. "You ever put that spare back?"
"Why would I? I hardly learned a lesson from not having one."
He remembered taking her home. He'd given serious thought the entire way, while she was happily babbling about something or other, to asking her to join him for dinner, friends only, but in the end, he'd watched her walk inside without saying anything and had gone home by himself.
"So you gave me a ride."
"Yeah, I remember that."
"And then you invited me to dinner."
His heart stopped. "No, I didn't."
Carter propped herself up again. "Yes, you did. You asked if I wanted to get dinner and I said yes and we decided to try that new Giatelli's place and it turned out to be this tiny little romantic place."
"No, we didn't. I thought about asking you to dinner, but I didn't actually do it."
"Yes, Jack, you did. We were both starving so we decided to stay and after some wine and truly unbelievable chocolate cake, you drove me home and I invited you in for coffee and I'm sure you can guess what happened after that." She smiled at him, obviously thinking about those happenings she alluded to.
Jack shook his head. "No, Carter, I clearly remember you waving at me from the door. I drove home berating myself for being so stupid to not invite you for dinner when I knew you didn't have a car and probably didn't have any food in the house."
"You can stop berating yourself, Jack. You took care of dinner." She giggled. "And dessert."
He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "If I'd forgotten about us or had amnesia, I just wouldn't be able to remember, right?"
Carter sat up, leaving only her hand on his chest as she sat beside him. "I've never had amnesia, but I don't think you'd create a whole other real-"
It wasn't very often that Carter was so taken by surprise at one of her own thoughts that she stopped in the middle of a sentence. And when she did, Jack knew it wasn't foretelling anything good.