With Tears I Mourn: Chapter Four - A Lesson in Fishing
Disclaimer: The characters from Stargate SG-1 belong to the franchise for Stargate SG-1 ™. I do not claim possession of any copyrighted characters. Any and all other characters belong to me and may not be used without my permission.
Rating: PG
Characters: Jack and Sam
It always felt like something was missing from the story. That Sam didn't mourn Martouf enough, that the others didn't care enough when he died. Well I'm rectifying the situation. I'd always wanted to see Jack and Sam go fishing together. Here's their chance.
Chapter four. I love fishing almost as much as Jack does, so I simply couldn't resist. Keep the reviews coming!
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A hand reached out and snatched the pole from Sam's hand before she could even cast her line. Jack's voice rang in her left ear and she resignedly turned to listen as he instructed, "If you had cast this, the line would have given out a few feet from the water. You see where your index finger was?" He took her hand from where it stood upon her hipbone and placed it firmly on the reel, demonstrating. "You hold it this way, so the line spins freely and doesn't wrap itself around your hand, taking you into the water with the rod."
The humor in his voice was too much, and Sam calmly retrieved her pole, edging him aside with one hip. "Jack, I think I can manage to cast one hook into the water without drowning myself." Hands raised in surrender, he stepped away, shoving them into his pockets, and eyeing her as she determinedly prepared to cast her line.
His gaze firmly planted on the back of her hand unnerved her slightly, and with eyes raised heavenward momentarily, she inhaled a deep breath, then proceeded to fling a prayer and the line toward the water. To her astonishment and that of the man at her side, the line smoothly unwound itself, dropping the bait with a smooth kerplunk into the water several yards from shore.
Her voice rang triumphantly. "How's that, Mr. Hot Shot?"
Jack's left hand swiped the ball cap from his head while his right ran animatedly through his shock of silvering hair. "Well, I'll be . . ." his voice trailed off into silence. He glanced at her admiringly, exclaiming, "You're just full of surprises." His eyes followed the trajectory of the line's descent and a smile touched his lips. "And unless, I'm mistaken, you have your first nibble."
"What!"
The sudden yank on the pole in her hand brought Sam's attention back to the mellow river, now more of a creek bed. Grasping the pole in both hands, she reached for the spool to reel it in. Jack leapt into action before she could move, his hands gently enclosing over hers, he commanded, "Set the hook first." She glanced at him, and he pretended to yank on a fishing pole.
"Oh!"
Hurriedly she followed his direction and within thirty seconds had a brightly silvered trout flopping on the shore. Her very first catch. The exhilaration was inspiring and she grinned at him as he expertly removed the fish from the hook, setting it on a waiting stringer. "It's no wonder you love fishing so much, Jack!"
He grinned up at her from his position on the ground, settling the stringer into a nearby shallow pool of water and firmly securing it to a twig already safely embedded in the sandy soil. "Of course, most of the time no one wants to come up here with me. Daniel always eyes me with an aghast expression and Teal'c." He shook his head in bemusement. "That fella was miserable the only time I took him fishing."
"Well, I think I'm going to enjoy it, Jack, so thank you."
She brushed a slimy substance from the soft rubber worm on her hook, rolling it between her fingers while the pole rested upon her shoulder. Her eyes refused to move from her occupation, and she hesitated before finally saying, "I almost said no. It didn't seem. . ." she paused and he completed her sentence, "Appropriate. I know. And maybe it's not, but we both needed the break."
He glanced around in a playfully surreptitious manner. "And frankly, I was about to go nuts at the base. And I could hardly keep you company if I went home. So this seemed the only other option which would get you off the base and prevent my mind from snapping."
A smile softly played about her lips as he began preparing his own fishing rod, selecting a vibrant blue worm from his tackle box and attaching it with care. A twinkled in his eye, he flung the line toward the water, smirking at her as he proclaimed, "And now you'll have a fight on your hands. We'll just see who brings home the most fish." She merely shook her head in amusement, watching him subtly with her face turned mostly away from him.
He seemed so natural out here, among the trees and with the trickle of the river in the background. The surroundings transformed him into a completely different man from the one she saw every day at the SGC and who she followed trustingly on numerous missions through the Stargate.
Here, he was truly genuine. And as he cast his line into the water, a thought niggled at the back of her mind just as the fish had nibbled upon her hook. Perhaps their friendship could finally develop into a more lasting relationship. And perhaps . . .
She cut that train of thought off before it even left the ground, a vision of Martouf's smiling features suddenly floating before her eyes. The sudden pang of grief sent any romantic notions fleeing for cover and Sam hurriedly turned back to her fishing.