Heart Cooks Brain

Jack was running late for a meeting with a mixed bag of politicians, military and spooks. He needed to create an air of authority to take control of the group and decided to arrive in his class A's with as much spit and polish as his haphazard life style would allow. Cassie had been over on the weekend and asked to borrow his truck to help a friend move. He wasn't quite sure she could see over the steering wheel. The fact that she arrived in Sam Carter's car confused him a tad, but he could refuse Cassie nothing. She tossed him Sam's keys, took his and left for most of the weekend. To repay him for the use of his vehicle and to spend some time with him, she returned before noon on Sunday. They ate lunch together, salad and something Jack cremated on the grill. She helped him by polishing buttons, stars and wings and things. He did the shoes. After scrubbing the Brasso out from under her finger nails, they shared a light supper before she made her way back for the night. She gave him a hug and a kiss and called him Uncle Jack. It left him feeling lonely, bereft of family and yearning to have the normal comforts of life. Tomorrow he would turn over a new leaf, tomorrow no more pining for what never was, tomorrow a new beginning. Who was he kidding, he was a washed up old man with a good pension but a shit load of baggage. He remembered an old aunt saying 'for every old sock there was an old shoe', maybe there was hope for him yet.

In the morning looking spiffy in his dress blues he turned the key in the ignition and nearly dove out thinking only a Goa'uld grenade could make a sound so piercing. Nope, it was only a CD Cassie had left. Just what he needed, people wailing and moaning about lost loves. When he turned down the volume he heard the words "My heart's a bitter buffalo"; he didn't know what the hell that meant but on a gut level he understood perfectly. He was tired of the pain, tired of seeing it everyday gleaming on her ring finger. Today he needed to put it behind him, for his sanity's sake he needed to move on. When he got out of his truck at the base, there was Sam Carter with the sun gleaming in her blond hair with a radiant smile. But the sun also caught the diamond on her finger, and it was this pledge to another man that caused O'Neill to straighten his spine and renew his thoughts about moving on.

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Modest Mouse - "Heart Cooks Brain"