5.
Kerry Johnson stood in front of Jack's office door watching him work through the glass partition in the wall. He looked tired and serious. She hesitated, wondering if she really should interrupt him. It was early enough that even Sgt. Harriman wasn't onsite; there was no one to check with. She swallowed and stared to knock. It would only take a minute after all, or maybe not. Regretting her action, she started to turn away, but he'd already seen her, and gestured her in.
"Come."
"Hey."
Jack smiled at her, looking up from his paperwork, although the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hey. You're here early."
She gestured towards his piles. "And it looks like you never left."
He ran his hands over his face. "Yeah. Long night. I'm sorry about canceling dinner. But with the data SG12 brought back, I needed to be --"
She broke in. "There's no need to apologize. I understand."
With that he grinned, clearly relieved. "Thanks."
"No problem."
She swallowed, grimacing to herself, and decided that maybe this really wasn't the time to address the reason that had brought her to the Mountain so early. She backtracked, relying on the safe way out and the professional one. The personal would have to wait.
"General, there are a few things I'd like to adjust in the strategy we discussed about locating the remainder of the Trust. I planned to talk to you about them last night, but… well. Anyway, I thought I'd set up an appointment with you through Harriman today if you think you have the time. I know you've got a lot on your plate right now. And this can wait a couple of days."
He looked at her strangely, his expression unreadable. Then he looked down at his watch. "Walter should be here in fifteen minutes or so. You can set it with him. I'll make the time."
"Thanks. Well, I'd better get out of your hair. I just--anyway." She turned to leave, but his words stopped her.
"Kerry, you want to tell me the real reason you're here why you're here at 6 am or do you plan to chicken out?"
She grinned. "Chicken sounds good."
He smiled back. "Coward. "
"Yep, that's me. But seriously, Jack, it's not important and it can wait. And you're swamped." She gestured towards his desk.
He looked down at the pen he was playing with and then back up at her. "That's not going to change, Kerry. In the last eight years, I've always been swamped. The star just means I do it sitting on my ass instead of recon in the field."
"So, business as usual, huh?"
"Oh yeah, you betcha."
She got the subtext of his comment. He was a busy man with the safety of the planet sitting squarely on his shoulders. He didn't have time to second-guess her motives. If she wanted to know something, she needed to come clean and say so or leave it alone. Huh. Some choice.
She swallowed. "Rumor has it that you kicked Dr. Jackson off the base yesterday. Evidently for the first time in eight years of working with him."
He put down the pen, leaned back in his chair, ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "I did. All over the base, huh?"
"Yep. Big news in the rumor mill. Very big."
He shrugged, clearly filing the information away. "Figures. I should have expected it."
She cleared her throat and continued, finally getting to the point. "Jack, does this have anything to do with Jackson and Teal'c showing up at your house the night before? I mean… I guess I'm asking if this has anything to do with me. Because if there's a problem, I'd like to know if I'm involved or the cause of it."
He looked ready to interrupt, so she put up a hand, stopping him for now. "I don't mean to be presumptuous. I know you and Jackson have a long, complicated and not always very easy relationship, but the timing's a little to close for comfort, don't you think? We agreed to keep this quiet, and I'm wondering just how far the cat is out of the bag and if there's been some yowling and scratching involved."
He grinned for a moment before his expression became serious. "Daniel and Teal'c know how to keep their mouths shut. You don't need to worry about your name getting spread about."
"It's not me I'm worried about."
With that, he looked up, surprise evident.
She sighed and got to the point. "I'm not saying that if the rumors got started, it wouldn't be unpleasant, because I know it would be. But there's nothing inappropriate about seeing each other. I just know you don't need, and the SGC doesn't need, that kind of gossip about the head of the base right now. You don't need that kind of distraction. So if --"
He stopped her. "Kerry, I --look, thanks, but as I said it's just business as usual around here. There's never a good time."
Huh, a non-answer if she ever heard one, but she supposed no one got to be a General without the ability to generate great non-answers. "Jack, please level with me. What happened with Jackson?"
He grimaced. "No scratching, but there was a bit of yowling involved." He picked up the pen again and flipped it in his fingers, clearly thinking about phrasing his comments carefully. "To make a long story short, he refused a direct order and I threw him off the base for a few days to cool down."
"That's it?"
He looked up and this time she knew he'd decided to come clean. "He's worried about you. Seems to think I'm not such a great option and that I should tell you that."
She stared back at him, completely surprised by the comment. "I -- lord, I don't know what to say. Jack, I'm perfectly capable of making my own choices. I don't even know Jackson. Why would he say such a thing?"
Jack stared at her, his face unreadable. "Because he is constitutionally incapable of staying out of everyone's business, I guess, or at least staying out of mine."
She blinked, trying to take it in. "Oh. Oh, hell. I'm sorry if this is causing problems for you. Maybe we should --"
With that, he stood up and walked away from the desk, towards her. "Kerry, it's not. Daniel has always been a pain in the ass; maybe a good man and friend but still a pain. It was inevitable that I'd throw him off the base some time or another. I think even he's surprised I haven't done it sooner. And it honestly was because he refused an order."
"I see. But I still --"
"Daniel does not run my life. And we have an agreement, right? Take this quietly, a day at a time, and not worry about where it may go?" The question in his voice was unmistakable. He was definitely giving her an out.
"Yeah. Yeah, we do."
He smiled. "So, let's just forget about Daniel and leave him stew for a while. How about dinner tonight? Sort of to pick up the rain check from yesterday?"
She shrugged mentally and gave up trying to figure out whatever it was that was going on. There was obviously something more, something that had Jackson worried, but it was clear that Jack wasn't going to tell her Jackson's reasoning. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know anyway. Her readings of the SG1 files made it apparent that the relationships in the team were complex and convoluted.
She smiled back at Jack and quit wondering, for now, anyway. "All right. But let's not set a date or a time. Just give me a call when you're free."
"Thanks." He turned back to his desk, his mind clearly on his work again. But as she left the office, she realized she was lying to herself. She was starting to care about Jack O'Neill more than what was merited in a casual affair, and that was a problem. He'd always been up front with her, made it clear he literally had no time for more. She wondered now if that was the only reason.
TBC…