Chapter 4

"You know, I had never seen you drunk before. It was cute."

She looked at him over her shoulder and frowned. "It wasn't cute. It was embarrassing."

Jack shrugged noncommittally and watched her finish cleaning the dishes from his position at the island in the kitchen. Breakfast had been very fulfilling and by now both of them were relieved of their hangovers.

"Relax, doc. It's not like you threw up all over yourself or something. You weren't embarrassing. It was nice to see you let your hair down for a bit." He could see a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"So," she said, wiping her hands on a dish towel, done cleaning the kitchen. "What do you want to this this afternoon?"

He looked outside - The weather was beautiful today. Not too hot, but sunny and very summery. "How opposed are you to a hike?"

She leaned on her forearms on the island, clasping her hands together. "You know, that'd be fun. We could pack some lunches. Make a day out of it."

He liked the way she thought. He nodded his head. "And I don't know about you, but I'm bringing my swim suit. There's a part of the lake four miles from here, but if that's too far.." He trailed off.

She raised her eyebrows. "Jack, we're in the military. Four miles ain't jack shit."

He laughed at her phrasing. "Knew you'd be up for anything. See! This is why I invited you in the first place. And that cute, drunk personality of yours is just an added bonus."

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An hour later and a half later, they were on their way, hiking through the mountainous forest. Janet had packed a lunch of sandwiches, fruit, chips, and water for their excursion. Jack was the one that packed the beer. Janet said he could pack whatever the hell he wanted, as long as he was carrying it, so he did.

He lead the way, knowing the path by heart. When Charlie had died, and he knew Sara would come looking for him at the cabin, he would turn to the woods to hide. It was around a month after his death that he had found this specific place. He had been visiting ever since. He had never shown it to anybody, and he wasn't really sure what made him decide that showing it Janet was going to be okay. He didn't think about it too hard. He knew she would enjoy the spot, too. And he figured that if he sorted through a lot of his life problems at this place, maybe she would be able to, too.

They still hadn't talked about her situation with Sam. He didn't want to rush her, simply because he hated to be rushed. Feelings were hard to talk about, and he knew that. Even if she never discussed what was going on, that would be okay. As long as this little mini vacation helped her escape for a while. Sometimes all you need is to get away with a good friend. And to be honest, he was finding that he really enjoyed her company.

He kept looking behind him, just to make sure she was keeping up. His legs were considerably longer than hers, and he knew where he was going. Every time he looked over his shoulder, she smiled back. It was nice to see her enjoying herself.

They didn't hike in complete silence, but for the majority of the way, there was a companionable silence. They stuck to safe topics like Cassie and work sometimes, or they would point out some plants or animals to each other every once in a while.

They reached the spot pretty quickly. They were both in good shape, and he was surprised at how well she kept up with him. When they walked into the glen with the stream running through it that ran into the lake, he looked over at her face to see her reaction. She was smiling wide and looking all around her. He remembered that that was what he did, too, his first time here.

The grass was dark green and long with purple and yellow wildflowers scattered throughout. There were pine and birch trees, shading the majority of the meadow. The stream was clear and the water in the lake was crystalline blue. It was truly picture perfect.

"I… Wow." She walked forward and slipped off her pack, lying it against a large rock. She walked down to the shore of the lake and looked across. You could see Jack's cabin up on top of a small ridge, just a tiny spec in the distance. They had walked further than she had originally thought. "How did you find this place?"

He set his pack down next to hers and went to stand next to her. "It was just after Charlie had died. I came to the Cabin a lot, usually without telling anyone, and every time Sara would come looking for me. The first couple of times she had found me drinking too heavily in the room that used to be Charlie's when we would all come up here. She'd get so mad at me. I took to the woods where I knew she wouldn't come looking for me." He rubbed the back of his neck and readjusted the Air Force cap on his head. She could tell this was hard for him to talk about, even though it happened a while ago. You could never get over something like that.

He was silent for a minute, watching the waves wash up on the beach, and she was watching him. His face was set in the same stony expression she had seen many times on him, whenever things got shaky - When a member of his team was hurt, when a mission went terribly wrong, at military funerals. He also had that expression on his face when came back from Endora after a 100 days of being stranded.

He shrugged, trying to stop thinking about the situation. "One time I wandered too far and ended up here. Been coming back ever since." He looked at her and then back out at the water. She patted a hand on his back, and couldn't for the life of her think of anything comforting to say. She could not even imagine what it would be like to lose Cassie. She hoped the simple touch was enough, just so he knew she was there, she was listening, and she cared.

"It's a really nice place. Thank you for showing it to me." He knew she meant that she was thankful that he let her really know what this place meant to him. He watched her slip her tennis shoes and socks off and toss them by our bags. She walked into the lake, up just past her knees. "Damn, does this water feel nice." She looked over her shoulder at him, laughter and mirth lighting up her eyes. "You're not going to just stand there, are you?

He couldn't argue with that.

He took his shoes and socks off, along with the hat, and joined her. As soon as he got to the shore, she bent down and sent a huge splash of water his way, causing his shirt and cargo shorts to dampen. He looked her, his arms spread wide, a look of fake hurt on his face.

"Hey, now, you didn't even give me a chance!" He laughed, waded deeper, and sent an even larger splash right back at her, absolutely drenching her gray shirt and jean shorts. He continued laughing until he saw the look of pure determination on her face. He held his hands up in mock defense as she waded towards him, the water going up to her thighs. She swept her right leg just under his ankles, and down into the water he went, but not without grabbing her hand first.

They struggled underwater together for a couple seconds, then she popped up first, followed by him. Both were sucking in air and laughing hard. She wiped her fingers under her eyes, rubbing off the running make up and wrung out her ponytail of excess water, all the while glaring at him. He could still see the glint in her eyes though that told him she was kidding.

"Don't look at me. You started it!"

"Well, now that our clothes are totally soaked…" She smiled. "Im going to go change into my swim suit and lay these out to dry," she said, indicating her soaked clothing. "Wet jeans aren't exactly my thing." He agreed that he should do the same. They both got out of the lake and she dug through one of the packs and pulled out her suit and handed him his.

"I'm just going to change here. Face that way and don't turn around until I say so."

He smirked. "Oh, I won't. You better not peak, I have always said that doctors can't be trusted."

She rolled her eyes. "I have seen you naked before, Jack. I don't need to peek."

With that, he turned around. Well that's not even fair, I've never seen her naked. The thought came to his mind before he could clamp it down. It made a slight blush rise to his cheeks, and he pulled his shirt, shorts, and boxers off quickly and pulled his swim trunks on. He could hear her still changing, so he laid the clothes out to dry in front of him. He knew he shouldn't, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he threw a glance over his shoulder at her.

She had her back to him. She was still lying out the clothes to dry and wasn't in her swimsuit yet. He let his eyes sweep up her shapely calves to her smooth thighs. His gaze lingered on the perfect curve of her ass and then up her back. He kept looking when we she turned slightly sideways to grab her suit off of the rock behind her. He quickly took in the flat plane of her abdomen, the large curve her breast, and the light brown color of her nipple.

He looked away before she could catch him looking. He felt badly that he peeked at her nakedness, especially when she told him not to, but he sure as hell wasn't disappointed with what he had seen. He felt a stiring in his lower stomach and he walked to the water and went in to his shoulders before his erection could be seen. He closed his eyes and swam around, trying desperately to think of something other than what he had just saw, and pleading with the water to help ease this little issue he was having. He was thankful that he had a way to hide this from her, though. How damned embarrassing that would be.

He felt the ripples she was creating in the water when she walked in and he turned around. He felt more blood go to his groin. Even in a simple black bikini, she looked phenomenal. Where are these thoughts coming from?! She smiled at him and swam out to where he was. Down, down, down!

"So I noticed earlier," she said, nodding to a cliff behind her head. "Is the water deep around that ledge?"

Jack thought about it. "Probably. Want me to check?" She nodded and he swam over quickly, the area wasn't far from where they were. He had always been a good swimmer. The water was significantly colder, and definitely deep. He gave her a thumbs up and she motioned for him to move a little as she ran out of the water and up to the top of the cliff.

"You're gonna jump?" He yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth for volume.

"Hell yeah, I'm gonna jump!"

He never would have taken Janet to be such a playful little daredevil. He gave her a thumbs up again. He couldn't see her too clearly, but he could tell that she was taking her bathing suit off. He looked up at her, confusion written all over his face. She was far enough away that he couldn't make out too many details, just see the shape of her body. He watched her run, completely naked, off of the top of the cliff and dive into the water.

She was under the water for a long time, and Jack was beginning to worry when he didn't seen her resurface. Focusing on the water where she jumped him, he didn't see her swim up to him on his left side underwater. She popped her head up and he turned quickly. She was smiling from ear to ear, and it was contagious.

"Damn, woman, you scared me. I thought you hit your head or something."

She ran a hand through her wet hair and he saw her black bathing suit in her other hand. She was still naked. She saw him staring at her suit, and cocked her head to the side.

"What, am I making the big bad Colonel uncomfortable?"

He looked at her face, trying his damned hardest not to look at her body. He knew he would be able to see her figure pretty clearly, just a little distorted, under the water.

"No," he replied quickly, probably too quickly. He was uncomfortable. "I'm just still wondering why the hell you just jumped naked off of a cliff. That's not something you see every day. Wait till I tell 'em at the SGC!"

"Oh, you wouldn't. If you do, I will use the biggest needle available and stick in right in your ass." She knew he had a true hate for anything that had to do with a syringe.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head and wincing, kicking his legs to stay above water. "I'll keep this side of you to myself."

He watched her swim further ashore, finding a place where she could touch the ground. His legs were getting tired, too. He followed her, still desperately trying to keep his eyes on hers.

"I don't normally go head diving off of cliffs naked, you know."

"Oh, well, shit, you could have fooled me!"

She rolled her eyes. "One time, it was two years ago, Sam and I took a trip to the Bahamas. Remember? You watched Cassie." He nodded, so she continued. "We had a nice private area of the beach next to where we were staying. I told her I wanted to go skinny dipping, and she just got so mad at me. She said that would embarrass her. So, I didn't do it, but oh, did I want to. She was always shutting down the spontaneous suggestions I made. Skinny dipping wasn't going to hurt anyone, it was night time, and no one was even outside, nor would anyone care!" She shook her head, then shrugged, dismissing the idea. He had no idea Sam had been so oppressive in their relationship.

"So, when the opportunity presented itself just now, I thought 'why the hell not'."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. It just surprised me. And don't worry, I couldn't see anything, I swear." He wasn't even lying.

She smirked, and bathing suit in hand, walked up the beach to where her clothes were, not even trying to hide her nakedness from him. She yelled over her shoulder, "Bet now you can!"

XXXXXXXXXX

She didn't know what possessed her to be so unabashed around Jack today on their hike. The whole walk home she had thought about if she had been inappropriate and figured she probably was. She began formulating a spiel of an apology that hopefully he would accept with good graces. She didn't feel like she embarrassed herself, it was only nudity, something neither of them weren't used to. He was almost fifty, for God sake's! But she had made him embarrassed, and that alone warranted an apology.

For Jack, the whole way home he couldn't get the image of her naked body out of his mind. He was pretty sure that it was burned into his memory, for good. She had been so unashamed and she definitely wasn't self conscious, he could tell that much. He wanted to believe that perhaps she had some motive behind her behavior this afternoon, though he couldn't imagine what it would be. All he knew was that he wanted her badly and he knew the rest of this week was going to be much, much longer. He would not be able to get her out of his mind, no matter how hard he tried. The last time he felt this strongly about a woman, it had been his first year working with Sam, but that crush had quickly ended, especially once he found out she was interested in the CMO.

Both of them walked in silence back to the cabin, the whole four miles. She wanted to apologize and he wanted to forget.