Part Two: Pearls of Wisdom
As promised Jack dropped by Ellie's house in the morning to show her what to do with the rock salt and other general house maintenance issues. The scientist managed to cook him a meal that was passably good in his estimation. Jack found her to be a quiet woman with a cheerful disposition. He found her company restful. And his neighbor appreciated every little thing he offered to do without asking for more. Over the next few weeks, Jack found himself over there more and more. SG-1 was working on Earth based issues for a few weeks and then they had a period of downtime for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Jack jealously guarded his newfound friendship. None of his team knew about the association. And none thought to inquire.
The Team went their separate ways for the holidays. Carter left for San Diego with Jacob Carter, her father. Jacob was a Tok'ra now, but was still allowed off the base to visit his son for the holidays. Daniel went off on a dig to a warmer climate. And Teal'c used the time to visit his son on Chulak. Jack went often to Ellie's. It was nice to be the one who knew more about most things. Jack's new neighbor didn't seem to be in sync with American traditions. But her vague answers were a sign to leave it alone. Oh well, maybe Ellie was working on something she couldn't talk about. He had that problem too. Having someone around for the holidays cheered him up.
Jack also had the problem of being tailed at the most unusual moments. From all that anyone at the SGC could figure, it had to be the Trust. The Trust was a shadowy organization that evolved from the failed rogue N.I.D. operations a couple of years back. Important business and political interests joined to pursue Stargate related information and technologies returned home. Few knew about them. But Jack had attended a special briefing some months back. It wouldn't be the first time and it wouldn't be the last that these folks were known to be snooping around. But this Christmas afternoon, Jack was enjoying a respite at Ellie's across the street.
"Ellie, I was thinking we could go to a movie tonight. Anything you want to see?" Jack studied the newspaper section he brought over to show her. She just smiled and refilled his cup of coffee after lunch.
Yeah, this was alright. No pressure. If he came, he came. If not, she didn't complain.
"How about 'Harry Potter'?" He looked up at her soft green eyes twinkling at him. She was chewing her lip and then smiled broadly. Jack guessed she had no idea what he meant. But at least the woman was agreeable.
A hand reached around Jack's neck and placed a small package with ribbons and wrapping on it. Ellie gave him a small kiss on the cheek and sat down next to her lanky gentleman caller with an expectant face. O'Neill sighed. Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small present for her.
"Merry Christmas."
Ellie looked delighted and she repeated back to him, "Merry Christmas."
Jack indicated she should go first. It was like looking at a kid with an anxious happy expression. Slowly, his hostess examined the box. With great care and caution she slowly unwrapped it. Inside was a little gold necklace with a pearl drop. Jack watched her react with delight. Ellie pulled it from the box and held it up. The smile turned to tears of happiness. He helped her put it on. And the silver haired colonel got a long languorous kiss for it.
"Thank you so much. I shall treasure it forever, Jack." Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and just held on. Jack wondered at the reaction.
So much for so little, thought O'Neill. This one was a demonstrative person. It felt good. So little really felt good these days. Jack buried his head in her neck taking in her scent and her warmth. After a while he had to shift the weight from his aching shoulder. Ellie looked at him with sympathy. She didn't know about the injury he took from a Jaffa off world. But he got a kiss for the groan. The woman sat back in her chair, waiting quietly for him to open his present.
"Wow, that's great. Really." Jack held up a set of Simpsons fishing lures. "Atomic Ghost, Bumble Bee, Toxic Tuna, hey this is GREAT!" He leaned over and gave her a big kiss. "I didn't think I would ever find the Blinky lures. Cool."
Well, well, seems this one has a sense of humor. Things are looking up, thought Jack. He saw her smile with satisfaction. For all the women he had met all over the galaxy, sometimes just finding the right one in your own backyard was the best surprise. O'Neill got lost in his reverie. Ellie waited for him to come back. When he did he saw her examining the pearl in the light. She looked up at him and smiled with delight. "I thought you would like pearls."
"Pearls?" Ellie was confused again. "What are pearls?"
"That, that's a pearl." Jack pointed at the drop. "You don't know about pearls?" She shook her head no. "Oh. Well, it comes from an oyster. Oyster, it lives in the ocean. Anyway, a pearl begins as a grain of sand or a tiny bead and then the oyster covers it with some oyster stuff until it becomes a pearl." Ellie was trying to understand.
This was so weird. This woman knew so much and yet there were these gaps in her knowledge, which were sometimes startling. She wore gold jewelry. So maybe she just didn't know pearls. Women were funny that way. But why did Ellie react so happily if she didn't know what it was? She must not have gotten a lot of presents, surmised the kind man.
"Thank you, Jack. Now I know about 'pearls.' Hmm," Ellie moved over to give him another long kiss. "Let's stay home."
Later that evening, Jack got up and went to the bathroom. Ellie was sleeping soundly. He closed the door and switched on the light. Curiosity was gnawing at the back of his Black Ops trained mind. The colonel was in the investigative mode, opening the lady's medicine cabinet. Nothing caught his eye. There was deodorant, a toothbrush, toothpaste tube, and her perfume. A small nasal inhaler rested on the top shelf. A bottle of pills in a generic analgesic container sat next to it. All in all, not much to see. He checked the drawers in the cabinet. Just the usual soap, creams, make-up, and hairbrush. Jack looked inside the shower curtain. The shampoo was a national brand. Nothing unusual jumped out at him. O'Neill finished and cut the light adjusting his eyes to the darkness again.
Quietly, Jack padded out the door and down the hall. She kept the place so warm. He had to do something about turning down the heat. Where was that radiator? At the end of the hall, Jack found what he wanted. Flipping on a light switch he fiddled with the valve. These old houses were a pain in the mikta.
With a grunt of satisfaction, O'Neill decided to have a look at the room at the end of the hall. It was some kind of office set up. Well, she did say she was a researcher. The lady must do her work someplace. Jack moved over to the table. It didn't seem like much. There were no papers on the desk and no computer anywhere he could see. And then he touched the table. Lights came on. Jack startled. Obviously, there were icons and readouts displayed on the tabletop. He touched one. The table shimmered and displayed text and other icon choices. Jack realized he couldn't read it. And he didn't know how to shut it off. Uh oh. The startled man looked around the sides and underneath for a shut off switch. Jack couldn't find anything. Mumbling to himself, he cursed and wished it would turn itself off. It did. Jack stood up straight and backed away in a hurry. He was just outside the door by the radiator when he heard her come up behind him.
"Looking for something, Jack?"
"Um, yeah, the thermostat. It's too hot for me to sleep." He prayed she would buy the lie. There was no thermostat, but she wouldn't know, he hoped. "I found it and turned it down. I hope you don't mind." She shook her head and shuffled back into the bedroom. Jack blew out his cheeks to relieve the tension. That was close, too close. Something here is very off. All his senses were on high alert. The Spec Ops colonel hadn't survived this long without listening to those instincts. Jack decided to have her checked out. It was a little overbearing, but she would never know.
"Carter, I'm sorry to bother you on leave, but I have a quick question." Jack sat in his living room twiddling a beer. The day after Christmas he was usually fast asleep. But last night's encounter with the strange computer set up at his neighbor lady's was weighing heavily on his mind. The woman is an odd case at best. Sweet, but really, really, odd, Jack told himself. "What I want to know is if we have computers for the home that are voice activated?"
"Sir, if the computer were in sleep mode, that's when the monitor and hard drive were off, you could use a voice activation program to turn everything on again." Sam paused. "It works about 90 percent of the time with commercially available products. Even some programs like your word processing program will do simple commands. If someone were more adept or had access to better programming you could do more." Sam was still a little sleepy with the one-hour time difference between San Diego on Pacific Standard Time and Colorado Springs on Mountain Standard Time. Both officers were early risers. But an hour on vacation was an hour.
"Ever heard of an entire table top as a computer monitor?" Jack was trying to remember exactly what he saw. It was the middle of the night and he was spooked at the time.
"Um, sure. We put monitors in consoles all the time. If someone wanted it flat like that and was willing to pay for an LCD display, I guess so. Why?" Sam stifled a yawn.
"Ok, just checking. I guess it was nothing. Thanks. Go back to whatever it was you were doing. Family ok?" Jack didn't really care, but he had to say something polite.
"Yes sir. Everyone's fine. Dad really enjoyed watching his grandkids open the presents yesterday. Selmak thought it was great too. He has been pushing Dad to do this for a while." Jack heard the name and frowned. The whole two people in one body thing really freaked him out. "If that's all sir?"
"Yes, thanks, Carter. Bye." Jack hung up thoughtfully. Maybe I was just in a bad place last night when I saw it. I should ask Ellie for a demonstration to be sure before I pull out the stops on a full investigation.
Later that morning, Ellie wandered into her office to catch up on some work. She noticed something was askew.
"Computer, on." Ellie sat down at her workstation. She had to finish writing this week's reports. With all the time spent with Jack for his holiday, the anthropologist was behind. And then she noticed some of her things had been moved, almost knocked aside. "Computer, display last activation." She read the time from last night. Yep, Jack was poking around. What a jerk, she thought sipping her tea. I thought I heard him thrashing about last night. Unbelievable. She shook her head while fingering the pearl drop he gave her. That man is a study in contradictions. He is a big kid and a dangerous man all at the same time. Her gentleman friend would have questions. She sighed. It was to be expected after all.
For the next several hours, Ellie worked on her reports waiting for Jack to return and take her out to a movie. He could be such good company. It was lonely here separated from friends and family. But this was a long-term assignment, so she shrugged and plowed on.
Late that afternoon, Jack showed up at the front door. It was snowing again. The tall officer stomped his size 13 boots at the entry to clear off the snow before tracking it inside. Jack was lean and fit. And he was all muscle with big feet. His lady friend gave him the once over appreciatively. Ellie was already pulling on her coat as she let him in.
"Hey."
"Hey." She replied, thinking, hmm, no kiss hello. Here we go, she sighed mentally.
"I, um, had to do some stuff around the house. Hope you didn't mind my leaving like that?" Jack was definitely uncomfortable.
"No, why?" Ellie didn't want to start anything. "Let's go."
The whole way to the theater she looked around at the crowds going home from the 'After Christmas' sales. The day after Christmas was one of the busiest shopping days in the year. Most people are returning the awful choices from relatives who must have gone blind before picking their gifts. The rest were spending Christmas money or gift certificates and looking for bargains.
"I thought we would see the movie and then catch some dinner. Is that ok with you?" Jack pulled up in the parking lot of the local mall looking for a space close to the theater. Eventually he found one farther away. The throngs of shoppers dragging packages created chaos in the parking lot. Ellie seemed overwhelmed by it all. She lagged behind watching a mother pull a recalcitrant four year old along while trying to talk on her cell phone. Jack grinned. It was pretty funny and it wasn't.
"Jack, I thought we were going to the movies. This is a shopping place." Ellie had the baffled look again.
Man she must have come from the country, some other country, thought Jack. "We are and this is. C'mon, I want to get the tickets before they are sold out. We can walk around afterwards." He gently took her arm and guided her between the cars with crazed women trying to get out and in to parking spots. Ellie was fascinated.
After getting the tickets, Jack knew they had at least an hour before the show's time. So, he guided her out to the middle of the mall to watch the action. Casually observing the woman's face he knew she had never seen anything like it. It was a curious thing to see a woman who had never been shopping like this. O'Neill took it for granted.
"So, Ellie, no malls where you used to live?" She shook her head no. "Ah, want to look around?" She smiled broadly and took his arm. Each window caused her to stop and consider the merchandise and the display. Shopping usually bored Jack. He was a man after all, but this time he was interested from a professional point of view. It must have come across to her because she looked at him with a note of caution.
Abruptly, Ellie's head swiveled at the smell of the chocolate candy store. She pulled him over towards it. Clearly his date was enticed but hesitant. "That just smells so good."
"C'mon, let's get a sack for the movies." Jack waded in to the crowd and made a selection. Ellie was still in there; trying to fathom what each kind was and watching the other people make their choices. The man behind the counter saw her and offered a sample to the prospective customer. Jack went in and pulled her away with a big grin on his face. Women and chocolate, smirked Jack to himself. This was just too easy.
The two sat down on a bench in the mall to people watch. Jack pulled out the chocolates and offered his date one. Ellie shyly accepted. But Jack was not prepared for her reaction. It was a whopper. Her eyes went wide. She moaned. And then her eyes shut as the flavor suffused her senses. A tear escaped her eye. When she looked at Jack there was sheer gratitude on her face and then a look of wonder at the sack of chocolates. He felt humbled that such a small thing could give anyone so much pleasure.
"I take it you like chocolate?" He said almost to himself. Ellie took his hand and lightly pressed it. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned around into his shoulder so the other people would not see her display. Wow, thought Jack. He reflexively put his other hand on her back and patted it gently. What the heck was this about? Anyone would think she had never tasted chocolate.
"Sorry. Thanks, Jack." Ellie wiped her face and smiled back. "Let's walk around a little more. Ok?" They got up and wandered until it was time to line up. Jack kept wondering what provoked her emotional reaction to the chocolates. But she didn't volunteer any information. She sure was a very quiet woman. He liked that.
Coming out of the movies, Dr. Lee caught sight of Jack waiting to go in. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he spoke to his wife and they threaded their way through the crowd to say hello. Jack was slightly annoyed. As a very private man, he didn't like others knowing about his life away from the base. But Dr. Lee was discreet. He wouldn't talk. So, Jack adjusted himself to make the introductions.
"Hi. We saw you and just wanted to say hi." Dr. Lee looked over at Jack's date. "Hi, I'm Bill Lee. This is my wife, Kate." He shoved out his hand. Ellie was taken aback. She had no idea what to do. The hand startled her. The moment was awkward. Then Ellie decided to let him touch her hand. Dr. Lee smiled reassuringly. "Jack? Aren't you going to do the honors?" Dr. Lee looked up through his lenses with a question.
"Sure, Bill this is Ellie. She's a neighbor and anthropologist, actually." Jack looked at Dr. Lee with a barely patient attitude that said 'get lost.'
"I didn't get your last name?"
Dr. Lee is actually helping, thought Jack. I never knew her full name. Jack waited expectantly.
"Last name, oh, right, I am Ellie Thorsdaughter." Then, Dr. Lee introduced his wife while Jack's eyebrows shot off his face at that revelation. Jack remembered to take Dr. Lee's wife's hand. Kate Lee was curious.
"So Jack, you work with my husband, too?" Kate Lee tried to diffuse the awkward moment by addressing Jack.
"We've known each other from a while back," Jack mumbled, unable to reveal the working relationship for security reasons. In such super-secret matters, even knowing who worked with who was sensitive information.
"Thorsdaughter, so I'm guessing Scandinavian," Kate Lee inquired?
Ellie didn't seem to understand again.
"No, I'm an anthropologist, Kate Lee," Ellie replied. She looked to Jack for her cues. He stood a little closer and noticed the line was moving.
"Um, shouldn't we? I mean," Jack trailed off pointing to the moving line.
"Right, see you later. Nice to meet you Ellie Thorsdaughter." Bill gave Jack a significant look and wandered off with his wife. Jack glanced back to see the two already engrossed in some topic or other. Jack smiled to himself thinking scientists found everything engrossing.
Well, well, Scandinavian would explain a few things. She was from Scandinavia somewhere. He chuckled. All that worry was for nothing. He hoped.
And in they went to see 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' just released for Christmas. Fortunately, the theater was stadium seating. Unfortunately, every kid on the planet was there and going crazy. Popcorn flew with abandon. Jack grinned at the antics. Looking over at his date, he saw she was amazed at the pandemonium.
"It's what we get for going to a matinee the day after Christmas. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid. Except, back then, we also got two cartoons, a short film, and then the feature. Our parents would dump us off for an entire afternoon. How the movie manager ever dealt with it is a mystery. I liked to go up to the balcony and drop gum on the girls. But these days, there are no balconies."
Jack sighed at the memories. Popcorn descended on top of them. Jack flicked it off. More popcorn flew out at him. And then the manager came in and attempted to restore order. Ellie was surprised at the whole scene. Jack took some of their popcorn and surreptitiously flipped some at the manager when the man's back was turned. Cheers and applause ensued for his efforts. Eventually the movie started. And everyone settled in.
If anyone ever enjoyed something, it was Jack at that movie. He had read all the books and was eagerly anticipating the movie. Ellie just enjoyed him. Afterwards over dinner at O'Malley's Steakhouse, Jack asked her how she liked the movie. The response was a cogent dissertation on the societal effects of supernatural beliefs. Ellie believed that such stories held back civilizations. In fact, she wasn't too sure that children should be exposed to such issues at young ages. To her way of thinking, belief in magic just poisoned a developing mind. Jack was impressed at her ability to articulate her ideas. He was not amused at her seriousness.
"Don't you think there is a place for fantasy in childhood?" Jack softly challenged her.
"Of course, but believing that supernatural beings or powers will solve a problem is detrimental to critical thinking and the child's ability to become self-reliant." Ellie realized she had displeased him and refrained from further negative comments. Obviously, he would not be engaged on a scientific level and just wanted to enjoy the entertainment. She listened to him describe the fairy tales and myths he read or watched as a boy. It was the most animated Jack had ever been in front of her. Interesting, thought his neighbor. This was a different Jack than had presented before to her. The contradictions in his behavior suggested far more complexity that she had previously surmised. At that meeting, Ellie decided he was far more dangerous for his ability to camouflage his personality. The dumb façade became an irritation to her from that point on.
