Achilles

Missing scene for 'Heroes'

Every Achilles has a tendon and Jack's is called Major Samantha Carter.

"Sir, I just wanted to say…when you were lying there, I… I'm really glad you're okay," Carter says, trying to suppress the tears and emotions that are overpowering her. She fails. A weep escapes her lips, and she lowers her head to protect her—or him—from the magnitude of her feelings. It hurts to see her like this, and yet there's a strange tingle in Jack's chest caused by her desperation over the idea of losing him. Why now, of all inopportune moments, is he gripped by such a titanic undertow of loving her?

"Come here," Jack says, steps closer and opens his arms to pull her in. She follows his movement and lands in his arms, perfectly snug. His head dives right for the soft curve of her neck, and he can't stop himself from pressing his lips against her skin. Holding her in his arms makes him feel alive, so he pulls her closer even though it hurts his wound. A tear falls onto his skin and causes ripples of goosebumps to spread over his body in concentric circles. Tension builds in her body, then a sob escapes her lips.

"It's okay," he whispers into her skin, causing her to shiver under the vibrations of his voice. Incited by her reaction, his body starts taking over control. He is just heart and nerves and no brain at all when he tilts his head to let his lips glide up her slender neck until they find the soothing throb of hers. She is pulsating life into him, and he parts his lips to soak up more of it. And suddenly it's not lips on skin anymore but rather a real kiss which he follows up with a second one, this time closer to her ear. Carter lifts her head slowly, and for a terrible moment, he thinks she's pulling away, but she does no such thing. Without losing contact, she moves her head slightly to the side, so his lips brush along her jawbone, and then they meet her lips. The first contact is a mere flick, and as if shocked by the power that has been building up for years, they separate an inch. But it's not a painful shock. It's a spark. An inhale later, they press their lips together in feverish passion. It's everything he had ever imagined and even more than he remembers from the time loop. Carter's hands wander into his hair while his arms wrap around her and press her body flush against his. She is up and down and lips and tongue and hands and butt. He is only seconds away from pushing her up against the wall when suddenly the door opens, and Teal'c steps in. Sam and Jack propel away from each other—their lips hot and swollen and longing for each other. But with Teal'c, the realization of what just happened enters.

"Heyyy. Teal'c... Buddy. Come on in. Join us," Jack stutters while he straightens his shirt. Join us, Jack, really?

Carter's cheeks have a lovely blush, and she looks hazy yet in complete shock. Teal'c stands in the door like a rock in a surge of emotions that flood out of the room.

"I do not wish to interrupt," Teal'c says calmly. His eyebrows have reached unprecedented heights and give away his true feelings.

"You don't, never," Jack splutters. He just can't shut up.

"I believe this is an important moment for you and MajorCarter. I do not think I should be part of this," Teal'c says and looks at both of them.

Carter has retreated to the far corner of the room, tugging nervously on her BDUs and avoiding Jack's eyes altogether. Her lips are still intensely red, and unknowingly to what this does to Jack, she sucks in her lower lip.

"I … uh… I gotta go," Carter suddenly stutters, slips behind Teal'c, and through the door.

Teal'c, who's still standing in the doorway, moves into the room and closes the door behind him.

Jack lets out a sigh. He's not sure if he is angry at Teal'c for interrupting or thankful for stopping them before they went too far. Judging based on his heartbeat and the flutter in his stomach, he didn't have the situation under control—so the latter.

"I wish to apologize, O'Neill," Teal'c says.

"It's okay," Jack answers and sits back onto the bed. "Better, actually."

He didn't think it was possible, but Teal'c eyebrow wanders even higher.

"I know you and MajorCarter share the deepest affection for each other. On several occasions, I witnessed that you would do anything to protect and save each other's lives. I believe you deserve more," Teal'c says in the one and only Teal'c manner.

"T... We still got some Goa'Uld ass to kick. They killed Fraiser."

"Indeed. Yet I don't see how your relationship with MajorCarter changes anything in this undertaking."

"It's against the rules," Jack cries out, all the bottled up frustration exploding out him like a shaken soda. After the bubbles burst, Jack takes a deep breath and says, "You have a family. You left them to join us."

"I do not hide my truest feelings."

"Well, you are pretty convincing at it."

"One day, I'll join Ishta."

"See, one day."

"What if one day is too late for you and MajorCarter?"

Before Jack can answer, there's a knock on the door.

"See Teal'c, that's how you enter a room," Jack says to Teal'c, then louder, "Come on in."

The door opens a third time, and General Hammond steps in.

Oh boy, this could have ended so much worse.

It's much later than Jack had planned when he is finally leaving the mountain. Up until now, he hasn't seen Carter since their kiss. They should talk. Or at least have one of their three sentences conversations about it. The thought of going back to work and pretending nothing has happened is unbearable. He needs at least some form of agreement. Some sign that they are going to be okay. Because he is not illusional, their kiss meant everything, yet it's not going to change anything. The past mission has shown that their war against the Goa'Uld is far from over. They can't give up now. He's sure she sees it the same way.

Before he turns the corner to the elevator, he can already smell her. That sweet scent of hers which just hours ago he inhaled deeply from the crook of her neck. Jack sniffs on his shirt, maybe it smells like her, but when he walks around the corner, Carter is waiting for a ride up.

At the sight of Carter, nervousness spreads through his body. But he's got way too much experience with this that he's going to show it.

"Going home?" Jack says as he steps next to her.

By the sound of his voice, she gasps for air, and when she turns around, her cheeks show what's going on in her head.

"Major Carter, there's a call for you," an airman says and hands her the phone.

"Carter," she says swiftly, then her features soften.

"I'm on my way."

Right, she also has a boyfriend.

"We can order pizza if you like?"

The nervousness in him is at a boil. They just kissed, and now he's damned to listen to Carter talk to her boyfriend making dinner plans. Where is that elevator when you need it?

"You can ask him yourself, he's right next to me," she says and hands him the phone.

What the fuck?

As if she can read his thoughts, she smiles softly and says, "It's Cassie."

Whatever was gripping tightly around his heart, let's go, and he can breathe again.

"Hey Cassie," he says.

"How are you? Sam told me you got shot."

"I'm fine. I'm allowed to go home."

"Mom would have kept you a night longer," she says with sadness and a smile.

"Probably."

"Can you come over too?"

"Now?"

"Yeah, Sam is coming. We're having pizza. I'd like to see you."

His eyes jump to Carter, who is oblivious to what Cassie just asked him. They can't spend the evening together—of all nights, not tonight. But then a girl who just lost her mom asks him to comfort him, and as always for Jack O'Neill duty comes first.

He covers the receiver and whispers to Carter, "She wants me to come."

Carter bites her lip, and he's sure the same thoughts rush through her brain before she comes to the same conclusion.

"You aren't supposed to drive anyways. I'll take you," Carter says.

Jack forces her to look into his eyes for another moment before he tells Cassie, "We're on our way."

When the elevator doors close behind them, he thinks about how many aftermaths they have spent in this elevator. After Carter got trapped behind the force field of Apophis ship. After they had admitted their feelings for each other at the Zar'Tarc test. It's fitting that today they'll ride again.

Jack wonders if he should apologize. Just what to say? Sorry, I kissed you. He should be regretting it, but he no. It was probably the best thing that happened to him in months—years even, and just because it's against the rules, he won't make it a bad thing.

"Is this okay?" Jack asks and doesn't dare to look at her.

"Yes," Carter answers without hesitation. "It's good. We need you."

The shrill sound of Carter's cellphone breaks through the silence between them.

„Can you get this? It's probably Cassie. She loves the chocolate cake from the diner on the way and always wants me to bring a slice," Carter pokes and grins at Jack knowingly.

„Wonder where she's got that from," he answers and digs through her purse to find her phone. When Jack feels the device vibrate under his fingers, he pulls it out and wishes he hadn't. In fact, he wishes to not even be in her car.

Jack holds the phone like an active grenade, knowing that it's going to blow up right in his hands one way or the other. A sigh slips out without him, and of course, Carter looks over right away.

"It's Pete," Jack says quietly, still holding the phone like an alien device. The name on the display is a painful reminder that their kiss isn't only against the regulations but also his usual moral conduct.

Carter wriggles about on her seat, and when she speaks, her voice is nervous, yet she tries to play the call down.

"Just let it ring."

For three more endless rings, he is forced to stare at the word Pete. Just Pete. Not Pete Shanahan. Or whatever his last name is. Only Pete. What greater proof does he need? He knows that he is saved as Colonel O'Neill. Colonel! Not Jack. The entire title right there in her phone. So even if she would ever think of calling him for not work reasons, she would get reminded right away that he is her CO and, therefore, that calling him for anything but work is wrong.

The phone finally stops ringing, and suddenly, it's painfully silent in the car. They turn into a tree-lined street that will lead them right to Fraiser's house. But before that, the phone starts ringing again.

Pete.

Again.

Carter flinches. Jack takes a deep breath and hands her the phone.

"I won't tell the cop that you're driving and talking on the phone," he says.

She looks at him uneasily and apologetic but then grabs the phone and picks up. Her face is stern, and her voice cold.

"Hey.—In the car.—No, I'm not.—Uh, Colonel O'Neill."

Her eyes flick over, and Jack is surprised that she is telling Pete that he is with her—apparently, he is driving too.

"We are on our way to Cassie."

Jack can't hear what Pete is saying. It's long, and even though Jack tries to look straight on to the road, he notices that it makes Carter nervous.

"No, no. No need. I know you have to get out early.—He was injured. Cassie wants to see him.—Yes. I'll call you tomorrow."

Jack is pretty sure the cop just said I love you, and that knowledge destroys something in him. He can't help but turn to her. Her eyes jump from the road to him—all color has vanished from her face. She doesn't even blush.

"Uh, yeah. Alright, talk to tomorrow then," Carter abruptly says, hangs up and throws the phone with a bit too much force onto the backseat.

Great, he thinks. This will be just great.

Cassie lies sprawled out and deep asleep on one sofa. Jack and Carter share the other one. After the first movie, Jack has given up on trying to bring as much distance as possible between him and Carter. Now he's leaned back, his arm on the backrest and Carter's head leans against his arm. She fell asleep in the middle of the second movie, and it's not that either of them forced this contact of her head on his arm to happen, but Jack thinks it's stupid to make a big deal out of it now.

As the credits of Star Wars flicker over the screen, his hand falls numb, and he twitches his arm, which wakes Carter. Drowsy, she lifts her head and luckily doesn't break into a panic when she noticed she slept on him. She smiles softly and stretches, showing off her lean yet muscular arms. It's just another reminder in what kind of woman he fell in love with. A soldier just like him.

"I should get a cab," Jack says and gets up. There's a spare bedroom, but if he needs to go back to work on Monday to keep fighting that eternal fight against the Goa'Ulds and his feelings for Carter, he needs at least one night with his old friend Johnnie Walker.

Carter nods and follows him to the door.

"Sir, that… what happened earlier..."

"Carter," he interrupts her with that tone that makes her knee turn Jell-O. Maybe Fraiser's death is just the last reminder Jack needs to realize how quickly he can lose Carter too. How, when that happens, all they ever had was this kiss. So he doesn't want to disgrace it—after all this kiss is how he feels for her. So he grabs her hand and strokes over its back like it's the most loving thing he can ever do to her.

"We'll gonna fight the Goa'Uld with everything we've got," Jack says, and Carter sighs because she knows that 'Everything we've got' means their love. No one knows how many more sacrifices they have to bring before they will defeat the Goa'Uld. Maybe after getting away barley alive this time, they owe each other more, but they owe it to Fraiser to keep fighting.

"It might take years," Carter says, and it seems as if she's suggesting that it's too long, that she doesn't want to hold back anymore. So he needs to be strong for both of them. It's hard enough to see her on the frontlines now; he can't even imagine how hard it would be if she'd allowed him to love her.

"It is what we do," Jack says. The sadness on Carter's face feels heavy on his heart.

He's halfway out the door when he hears her say, "It's what we do."

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