Chapter 2
Jack smiled as he started up his truck for many reasons: he had a week off of work, he was going to his secluded cabin, and someone actually agreed to join him on the trip this time. He couldn't count how many times the members of his team had turned down his invitation for a woodsy getaway. If someone told him free beer, he would agree to anything in one second, flat. Apparently the rest of SG-1 felt a little differently.
He had been more than surprised with himself when he asked Janet to come with him. It's not that he didn't want her to come, it's just they had never really fraternized outside of work unless something with Cassie was involved. Once she went out to the bar with him and the team a couple days after she first started working with them all, but that was over three years ago. Not to mention the fact that he could actually count the number of times he had been in the Fraiser household on one hand. But he saw her at work a lot. A lot a lot. And she knew more about him, probably mentally, as well as physically, than almost everyone at the SGC. If that isn't just cause for a great friendship, then nothing is.
As he rounded the corner to the street the Fraisers lived on, he hoped she was up and ready. He had little to no knowledge about her alertness in the morning. If she was anything like Sam, than she had to be hit in the head with a heavy blunt object just to be woken up and then fully supplied with copious amounts of hot black coffee before a conversation was even possible. He didn't think of calling her to let her know he was on his way until now, but that didn't even matter because he was at the end of her driveway. It was definitely a surprise to see her at the end of the driveway with her bags in hand, all ready to go.
Janet opened the passenger door on his truck and leaned in. "In the back?" She motioned to the bags in her hands and he nodded, still pleasantly shocked to see her waiting for him and not the other way around. He watched in the rearview mirror as she heaved the bags, practically over her head because of her height, into the back of his pickup with ease.
"Damn," he said as she climbed into the car beside him.
"You know, you didn't even offer to help." Janet laughed at the confused look on his face and placed her gentle hand on top of his on the stick shift. "Relax, Jack. I'm only kidding. Ready to hit the road?"
Jack smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Hell yeah. You sure you have everything?"
She nodded as he steered his truck away from the curb. She was hoping that this vacation would help relieve her mind of the emotional upheaval it was currently going through because of her break up with Sam. He was counting on catching many big fish, drinking many big beers, and enjoying the company of the petite doctor he had come to admire and count as one of his close friends.
"Janet." Jack used his free hand to gently shake her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. He was amazed at how she was able to curl her entire body up and fit in the space of the middle seat and the passenger seat comfortably. Must be nice. And pretty damned convienent.
"Janet. Jaaaanet. Janet!" She woke up when his voice rose and looked at him, bleary eyed and groggy. "Your phone has been goin' off for a minute or two.."
She sat up quickly and rummaged around in her purse for her cell phone. There were few people that knew her number: Cassie, the base, and Sam. She was hoping it wasn't the latter.
"Hello?" Jack watched her out of the corner of his eye, attempting to give her a little privacy. "Oh, Sam. No, uh, actually, I'm not home. What? No. No, I'll be away for the week. Yes, the whole week." Jack could hear the frustration growing in her voice at this point. "I don't think it is any of your business where I am going, thank you." She listened for several seconds and closed her eyes and sighed. "I am with Jack."
Janet pulled the phone away from her face with a pained expression. "She hung up on me." Jack couldn't decide if her voice sounded more hurt or annoyed. She threw her cellphone into her purse with an exaggerated sigh. "She was the last person I wanted to speak to right now."
He played dumb. "Sam?"
She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Unfortunately."
Jack was unsure of how to continue. He sure didn't want to pry into her personal life, but he knew from experience that she probably wanted somebody to talk to about all of this, though he wasn't sure if he was exactly the right person. He worked with Sam every day on a personal basis. He didn't want any of his opinions about her to skew Janet's perception on the situation, if that made any sense. He thought of telling her this, but it didn't even make sense in his head. No way in hell it would make sense to her.
She beat him to the punch and said, "I don't want to burden you with details. It's an embarrassing situation, just trust me on this one." She laughed bitterly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her hair was still disheveled from her nap. "How much longer? Sorry I fell asleep on ya. I was up pretty late last night and didn't sleep well. Hopefully I wasn't snoring!"
He felt bad that he didn't tell her that he didn't mind listening to what she had to say, but the moment had already gone and passed. "Don't worry about it. I am used to doing this drive alone. And you were snoring so loud the car was shaking." He winked at her and she laughed, a nice sound to hear after a distressing phone call. "We have about two more hours left. You slept a good chunk of the time. Won't lie and say I'm not jealous."
"Well, how about this - Once we get to your place, you lie down, take a small nap, or a long nap, whatever you want, and I'll make us some lunch."
"That would be a spectacular plan," Jack laughed, "but there is no food in cabin. I haven't been there at all recently. Apophis can of had other plans than for me to spend a weekend at the lake."
"Then I'll buy groceries." She cut him off with the raising of her hand. "You are providing a weeks worth of lodging and company. The least I can do is stock your fridge. Deal?"
Jack looked sideways at her and had seen that look on her face before. There was no way he could fight her on this. "Okay. Deal. But I buy the booze. You'll probably buy the wrong stuff anyways."
Two hours later, were at the small grocery store in town. They had decided to just leave their things in the bed of the truck so they wouldn't have to many more than one stop after they had grocery shopped. Janet was highly impressed by how everyone in the store knew Jack.
"I thought you said you didn't come here often."
Jack smiled at her as he pushed the cart, grabbing a gallon of milk and a container of butter. "I said I haven't come here recently. I have had this cabin for over ten years. And if you hadn't noticed, we are in the middle of bum fuck nowhere. Everyone knows everyone. That's just the way it is."
She shrugged. "You're like a celebrity." Yet another town patron waved and greeted him. She thought it was adorable.
"Nah. I just used to sell a lot of my game in town to some people for really cheap. Used to go to the bar a lot too, especially after Sara and I were through. Everyone in this town goes to that damn bar, too. All 35 of them."
Janet threw some bread, lunch meat, and ground beef into the cart. "We should go there one night. I am pretty good at pool. I don't think you've ever seen me in action."
"Now that I wouldn't have guessed. Doc is a beast at the billiards, huh? I won't believe it until I see it."
"That's what I was known in basic for. Not my intelligence or mile time, which was pretty good, but for my ability to kick anyone's ass at pool. Even my drill sergeant."
Their cart finally full of a week's worth of goods, Jack steered the car towards the single checkout line. "And here I thought you'd be known for your towering height." She slapped his arm playfully and they both laughed.
"Jack! Haven't seen you in a long while! Put 'er there!" The cashier was a middle aged man with a broad smile and a staggering height; Janet had to tilt her head all the way back to look at his face. The two men shook hands heartily and she felt like an outsider.
"Marty. How ya been? It HAS been a while." Janet started to load the items onto the conveyer belt. It was nice to see that people also appreciated Jack outside of work. She never got to witness how people outside of the Air Force and the SGC felt about him. She was glad to know that even outside of work, people knew he was a good man.
"And who is this pretty little lady?" Marty smiled down at Janet and stuck out his hand. "Marty Solis."
She smiled and did the same. "Janet Fraiser."
"Looks like you finally landed yourself a good girl, Jackie boy!" Marty's deep and full laugh filled the small room caused the other people to look. Janet blushed and Jack smiled awkwardly.
"Nah, Marty, it's not like that. She's just a friend who came to see the cabin."
The large man winked. "Sure she is. Well it was nice to meet you, Janet. Stop by Saddleback Inn for a drink or two one night, on me!"
They paid for their things, loaded up the truck, and headed back to the cabin.
"Sorry about, uh, you know, what Marty said. He thinks he knows everything."
"It's really okay. I'm sure that is what we looked like. I mean, we were grocery shopping together. Not many friends do that. Hell, Sam wouldn't even do that with me." She looked out the window and then shrugged.
Jack focused on driving; the roads to the cabin were pretty winding. He thought about what Janet had said and realized it would not be such a bad thing, to go grocery shopping all the time with her. He had yet to recognize that he was admitting that he would like to be around her more off the base, and even on the base, too. And hell, let the townies think that Janet was his girlfriend. She was a beautiful woman with a killer sense of humor and an amazing daughter. He could definitely think of worse people to be associated with in a romantic sense.
Jack took Janet's advice and decided to lay down for some shut eye. He hadn't slept well either, for some reason, and the drive actually did take a lot out of him. He didn't even put the sheets on the bed in the master bedroom. He laid down with a throw blanket and his pillow and was out faster than he thought possible.
Janet stuck to her word and made some lunch - grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches with a small side salad. She was pretty sure Jack didn't eat well when he was alone; she envisioned multiple pizza boxes and take out containers sprawled over his living room and kitchen counters that probably are at least two weeks old. That's why she wasn't worried if he would like her cooking - anything is better than old, hard pizza or dried up Chinese food, right?
While he was sleeping, she took the chance to look around the house a bit. It was a nice cabin - all hardwood floors, multiple fireplaces, lots of windows, and great views. Retiring here would be ideal someday. She would have to mention to Jack that Cassie would really enjoy coming up here, as well. She was still young enough to want to hang out her and the members of SG1 but that time in her life would be ending very shortly. She was going to be in high school at the end of the summer, something that positively blew Janet's mind.
With lunch lying on the counter, she took a moment to step out on the deck and just relax. She had been trying her hardest not to think about Sam the entire way here but it was hard, especially with that phone call. She did still love her, but she had hurt her, bad. This wasn't the first time all the blame had been put on Janet, to be honest she was getting used to taking most of the blame for the past year now. She had accepted that that was just how their relationship dynamic worked and it seemed okay at the time. Now that she was out of the relationship, she realized how truly fucked up it was for Sam to do that to her. Sam also always made the majority of the decisions in practically all situations. Now that Janet was able to take a step back and look at their failed relationship, she could see how it truly was. But that still didn't stop the hurt or that fact that she still missed the other woman.
It was nice out today, mid 70s with a light summer breeze. She reached up and pulled the pony tail from her auburn hair, letting her hair down both literally and metaphorically. It felt great.
When she came back inside, Jack was seated at the island in the kitchen, eyeing the food she made with a smile. He turned around in his stool when he heard the sliding door close and was taken aback by how wonderful Janet looked. Her shoulder length hair was down and framing her face, her tanned skin looked warm and smooth, and she was smiling one of the most genuine smiles he had seen from her in a while.
"I was just coming to wake you up. Lunch is ready."
Jack watched her pull two plates from the cupboard and load them with sandwiches and salad.
"Thanks, Janet. This is great. You're the best."
They ate side by side, easy conversation flowing between them, and just a all around good feeling in their interactions. They were both very grateful for the opportunity to get away and relax, especially in the company of a good friend.
After lunch, they were lounging on the deck and drinking a few beers. Neither wanted to unpack their things yet. It was nice out, and it's not like there was any rush. They weren't far from the lake, it was down the the hill a ways. It was exceptionally blue and clear today with the midwest summer sun shining on it.
"You know," he sipped his beer, "you never did tell me what the phone call was about. Want to talk about it?"
Janet took a long swig of her beer. "Jack, you don't want to know."
He looked at her, confused. "Yes I do. I'm all ears."
She sighed, took an even longer gulp of beer, and sighed again. "Remind me at the end of this trip and I'll tell you. I promise."
Even though he was anxious to know, and this would be nagging at him the whole trip, he agreed.
"Thanks for inviting me Jack. Seriously." He tipped his beer to that and together they watched the wind create ripples on the crystal water. This is just what they both needed.