A/N: What can I say? I was feeling a bit… um… I believe the term my aunt uses is "hot and bothered" :) I promise the next chapter will address plot a little more than this one
Part 4: Magnetism
The wormhole vanished behind them. Sam and Jack looked at each other. Silent communication relayed a message of caution; it could all be a trick and not what it appeared to be.
It appeared to be a picture-perfect suburban community. Tree-lined streets were filled with beautiful homes. A lawn mower could be heard in the distance, a car drove down the street, kids were riding bikes on the sidewalk, and the smell of burgers on the grill filled the air.
Jack opened the envelope that was handed him on the other side. It contained a key and an address.
"Does the grass look any different to you?" Jack asked mockingly, "greener perhaps?" as he started down the road.
Once they arrived at the appropriate address, Jack opened the front door and whistled. It certainly was impressive, both in size and the fact that everything was furnished, clean, ordered, and therefore, a little eerie.
Sam wandered inside, taking in the marble foyer, the family room, and modern kitchen that lay beyond. She started up the stairs to find the bedrooms and entered the master bathroom. A large soaker tub with jets, the kind Sam had always lusted after but never indulged in buying for herself caught Sam's attention briefly. But she had more important things to think about right now.
Jack followed along after her. Pulling shut the front door and locking it, then scrutinizing everything as he passed through the rooms. Jack wasn't the least bit interested in the furnishings or architecture, he was looking for cameras.
When Sam turned on the shower spray and adjusted the temperature, Jack met her eyes. Sam leaned in and kissed him, gently helping him out of the remaining clothes. He seemed to block her body with his own as they stepped into the shower. Sam ducked her head under the water as he desperately ran his hands over her, rediscovering her curves after all this time. But if he kept that up, Sam wouldn't be able to concentrate.
"Jack," she put her hands on his, to still them.
He breathed, trying to rein in his desire. "Good plan with the shower."
"Yeah."
They could talk in here, because with the loud spray hopefully any bugs wouldn't pick them up. She was good.
He ran a finger down her wet skin. "Good on multiple levels."
"Jack, focus for a second, please. We have to assume they're listening to us, and we need a plan before the water gets cold."
"Well, we're obviously in Stepford."
"But why?" Sam asked, frustration clear in her tone. "I mean why even set this up, but also why are we here? What's so important about us?"
"We'll have to listen carefully. But don't give anything away, all our answers are neutral until we figure out who to trust." Jack reminded her of what she already knew by training.
"Did you see any cameras?"
"No obvious ones. But that doesn't mean they aren't there."
Sam smirked. "And yet you let me get naked?"
He was licking water that pooled at her collarbone. "Too long since I've seen you naked… can't hold out any longer."
With that, Jack's famous control vanished. He pushed her against the tile wall and drilled into her, hard and fast. She climaxed, like she always did, but much more suddenly than ever. It was without preamble, no slow burn before the explosion, and because of that it shocked her. Sam screamed out.
Jack was on the edge and hearing her voice was what finished it for him. After, he slid down onto the shower floor, shutting off the water as he went. She was gathered against him, breathless.
Eventually, Jack's brain started to work again and he realized that she had screamed. Disgust slid into his stomach.
"Oh, God." Jack lifted her head with his hands so he could look into Sam's eyes, knowing he'd find something awful there– probably fear or maybe even pain.
She blinked, confused by his reaction. "What? What's wrong?"
"Me? It's you– I hurt you." He felt like he might throw up. "You screamed."
"You could never hurt me. Surprise me, yes. But hurt me, never."
"It's been too long. All those nights in the prison when I wanted to comfort, show you everything… I just– I couldn't help–"
"I know," she said softly.
"I shouldn't have treated you like… like that." Jack finished lamely, with a grimace.
"I sort of liked it," she admitted, a satisfied smile spread across her features for a second. Then her tone turned combative again, "And don't you dare ever apologize for loving me."
Jack shook his head, dismissing her. "There could be cameras, they might be able to watch us. I should have been thinking."
Sam sighed. "Jack," her tone was a warning to stop his self-loathing.
He met her eyes. "Just promise me, if I ever hurt you…"
She caressed his cheek, effectively shushing his worries. "Despite all of this insanity around us, we're OK. Always. Keep focused on that."
Later that day, the welcome wagon knocked on the front door. It included several overly cheerful women in tightly curled hair telling Sam and Jack how fantastic it was, and that they simply loved living in Weston Heights.
They were safe from the wars at home, they had everything they needed, and the store would place an order if something were not already supplied.
"Order from where?" Jack asked, squinting his eyes.
"Why Earth, of course," Linda answered cheerfully. Way to cheerfully, and it was what made Jack's head pound.
He growled, "Definitely Stepford," but thankfully only Sam could hear. She sent Jack a warning look. The plan was to make nice with the locals and learn as much as they could.
That evening, Jack and Sam searched the house completely and found no listening devices or cameras, but he did make note of the "traffic cameras" outside at each intersection. They took a long stroll together hand-in-hand, playing the role of the happily married, totally in love couple. In reality, they were looking for the DHD or any other way they could dial out. Power sources seemed in short supply, so it looked as if this particular Gate only did one-way travel.
The next morning, when Jack went down to the store on a mission to stock their refrigerator, Sam unpacked the new clothes given to them in duffle bags. She went out to look around their backyard, and met the neighbor kids and their dog, Cody. Then returned to her new, bright, shinny kitchen just as Jack arrived home.
Jack came through the door, arms full of bags, announcing with a broad gesture, "No birth control."
"What?" Sam asked, while taking some of the groceries from him and setting them on the kitchen counter.
"I looked all over and couldn't find any. So I asked the pharmacist guy behind the counter and he said they didn't have any."
"Wait, I thought you were refusing me these days." She put a hand on her hip and gave him a look.
Birth control was just one more thing Jack should have thought of before taking advantage of her in the shower. So, he insisted last night that they weren't going beyond kissing until they got home eventually. Jack suspected Sam knew it was an excuse. The real reason was he was punishing himself for his earlier behavior. Why she put up with him, he had no idea.
Sam currently wasn't buying his avoiding the topic, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Sam, darling," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "you interrupted my story." She lifted an eyebrow and waited.
Jack's voice went a little rough. "OK, OK. Look, we can't find any cameras and even if there were, not too surprising that abstinence isn't gonna work for me. Not so long as you're here."
Sam gave him a smug look. He chose to ignore it. Her ego had gotten much too big ever since they started sleeping together.
"As I was saying," Jack redirected her back to the conversation. "The pharmacist wouldn't order it for me either. He told me that is was the only thing the kind folks back on Earth refused to give us. Here in Weston Heights, no birth control is allowed."
"For what purpose?" Sam asked, not even realizing she'd picked up Teal'c's phrase.
"Maybe they think this is a way to preserve the human race. Hell, the Earth is either gonna be all slaves of the Goa'uld soon or humans will wipe each other out. So, my guess is that they figure to repopulate with kids that have grown up in some semi-normal environment."
Sam's eyes went dark. "I am not bringing a child into this situation."
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Sick bastards."
He didn't tell her the rest of his suspicions. He'd wait until she'd absorbed this part of it before he told her the part where he doubted very much that they had a choice in the matter. After all, if this was some sort of re-population operation and he and Sam didn't have children, why keep them around? The last thing Jack would allow is for Sam to be killed. He'd do anything, anything in the world to protect her. But he'd tell her that part later.
"This is manipulative and disgusting," Sam almost shouted. "It's not any different that that rat-infested prison with the guards and the bars. Slap a coat of paint on it, but it's exactly the same…"
"Com're." Jack gathered her close to his chest and held her. "We'll figure a way out."
Three nights later, Sam lay in bed. A very nice, big bed with 600-count cotton sheets. In a room that was tastefully decorated in muted tones and accessorized with things that looked like they came from Pottery Barn. The room was on the second floor of a split-level, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house, at the end of Appleberry Lane. But it was unbelievable that her life ended up being this damn domesticated.
Suddenly, fear traveled through Sam for the first time since she'd left home. Fighting Goa'uld she could do. Black ops missions she'd manage. Even government conspiracy and double-crossing, those things she would handle. But this, life in suburbia with Jack, this was scarey.
Jack floated awake, not knowing what had woken him exactly. He lay still for a moment gauging the situation until he realized what it was– Sam was awake. He could almost hear that brain of hers working overtime.
"Hey," he said in a sleepy voice. "Why are you up?"
"Thinking."
"Cut it out."
A smile flirted with her lips. She rolled onto her side, so she could face him. "I've got a better idea than thinking."
"Not thinking?" he suggested brightly.
"Doing."
"Ah," he said warningly, "Carter, we talked about this."
"I know." She sighed again and flopped on her back, staring at the ceiling.
"This time it's you, not me. You said you didn't want to bring a child into this."
"I don't."
His brow winkled in confusion. "I realize they taught you a lot of big important theories in school, but I hope they didn't skip over the simple stuff like how babies are made?"
"Jack," she wasn't in the mood for his jokes. She was frustrated, missing home, missing him, needing something to remind her of what was important, and the fact that the most important thing hadn't been lost in all of this. "Make love to me."
His breath came out in a whoosh. She had a way of affecting him; no one else could twist him up inside like she could. And of course, he could deny her nothing she asked of him.
"You sure?" Jack double-checked.
"You didn't even ask me that when we were about to break military regs."
"Well, that… that was a no-brainer. But this." Jack looked into her eyes, searching for any hint of doubt. "This matters more than anything else in my life."
After no hesitation on her part, Jack lifted the hem of her nightgown and placed a kiss near her bellybutton.
"Samantha," he whispered in the dark tone she'd come to know as meaning he was highly aroused. "There are ways, without risking you getting pregnant." He placed a series of kisses down to the edge of her panties then paused. His finger dipped below the material and one stroke against her soft skin caused her back to arch.
"Please," Sam begged. She didn't need to say more, but she did. Sam whispered things in the dark that she'd never said before, about love and hope and the future.
Jack's mouth on her caused her to reach amazing heights, but it wasn't enough. For once, his logic was better than hers. But Sam couldn't deny what they both really wanted and needed, and it defied logic.
She lifted her eyes, "More," she said plainly.
"Sam, wait," he suddenly realized her intention. But she didn't listen, taking all of him into her body with one swift movement. He felt it exquisitely. It was too intense, too warm, wet, and perfect. No matter what else happened to them, he had Sam and that was all that mattered.
After, she lay sprawled across him, completely boneless and unable to move.
"Better?" Jack asked, teasing her only a little.
"If I'm pregnant…" Sam wasn't sure how to finish that sentence. An entire repertoire of emotions accompanied it.
"Then we'll handle it," Jack finished. After another few seconds of silence he added, "Am I allowed to be happy about it, if it happens?"
Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, not that she'd allow them to fall. But still, the overwhelming amount of love she had for him was almost too much.
"Always," Sam said softly. "You're allowed happiness, in fact, we both are long overdue."