Twenty three minutes later precisely, all four young people had gathered in front of the cabin, in hiking gear and sunglasses.
Jack locked the cabin, hiding the key where he had found it and they started on the forest path, Jack leading the way.
It was good to be together again in the wild, Jack thought. The small trip lacked the exhilaration of being on an alien soil, but he would take whatever he could get. These last three years had been all about high school and trying to do the right thing. The next would be about military training as far as he was concerned. The Air Force had been his life before he was cloned; he knew nothing else and wanted nothing else. He had an inkling Carter would try the academy path just as the original Carter had done. As for Daniel and Teal'c, Daniel would probably lead an entirely different academy life, and Teal'c, well Teal'c was better suited for the Marines in his opinion but it was yet undecided whether Teal'c would try the military path or not. The former Jaffa was also interested in opening a Dojo with Martial Arts for kids with difficult backgrounds. He wanted to teach them respect and the 'warrior's code.' The idea had come to him after watching a MacGyver rerun and since he was already helping with the Martial Arts team; he had found the idea enticing.
The path they walked had not been used nor maintained in a while, Jack noticed. The marks on the trees were fading and the once clear trail was now obstructed by overgrown vegetation, rendering their progression slower than he had expected. As they came out of the forest and into a clearing, Daniel yelped.
Jack and Sam, who were walking silently together, turned around and saw Teal'c assist the young man to sit on a fallen tree trunk.
"What's up?" Jack asked as he walked back to where Daniel and Teal'c had stopped.
"I think I sprained my ankle," Daniel said, his face contorted by obvious pain.
"Let me see," Sam said, kneeling before their friend and starting on his shoe laces.
"Easy!" Daniel yelped again.
Sam rolled her eyes. "I am! Now don't be such a chicken and let me see…" She finished unlacing Daniel's shoe, removed it and pulled off his sock. She examined the ankle, which was swelling slightly.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, feeling around the ankle.
"OUCH!!!"
"It does," Teal'c deadpanned.
"You can't walk too long with that," Sam stated.
"And there goes our camping trip," Jack whined.
"No, you go, I'll be fine, I'll head back to the cabin at my pace and wait for your return…" Daniel protested.
"No. I will accompany you, Daniel," Teal'c announced. "O'Neill and Samantha can pursue their excursion."
"We'll all go back…"
"Do no protest, O'Neill. If need be I can carry Daniel," Teal'c interrupted.
"I'll be fine, Jack," Daniel insisted. "You and Sam can go and enjoy your time. You both need it," he concluded. "For old times sake if anything," he said with a small smile.
Jack pondered his words for a moment and then turned to Sam. "Carter?"
"I'll dress his ankle properly so he doesn't worsen the damage, and then we can go, Jack. You'll need to dress it with ice when you get back, Daniel, and keep it elevated." She motioned for Teal'c to put his back pack down and rummaged inside to find the first aid kit, then set to work on Daniel's injured ankle. When she was finished, she pulled his sock up and tied his shoe as tightly as she could without hurting him.
"You're good to go, but be careful and don't put too much pressure on it, okay?"
"Yes, Mom," Daniel teased.
"Cells don't work here, but they work at the cabin and the reservation, so leave me a message when you get back, okay?" Jack asked.
Teal'c nodded and they separated, each going in opposite directions.
After a couple of hours, Jack and Sam finally reached the area Jack had been talking about and Sam had to admit: it was beautiful. The lake was relatively large and she could barely distinguish a few lodges at the other end, marking the camping area.
"Wow!" she exclaimed as she paused to drink from her canteen.
Jack turned to her smiling. "'Told ya!"
"So how far's the campsite?" she asked, pointing her chin towards the lodges.
"Oh we're not camping by the lodges, if that's what you're asking. There's a path going around the lake and although you can't see it from here, there's an isolated spot for tents with a small pier about halfway. We'll camp there. Normally there shouldn't be too many people, but if there is, then we'll have to walk a little farther, past the lodges."
"Okay, let's go then!"
They walked in companionable silence up to the first place Jack had mentioned, which was blessedly deserted.
"Good! The trees, the grass, the birds… and the lake! All for us!" Jack exclaimed.
Sam chuckled. "We're setting camp here?"
"Yes. We'll set camp, I'll start fishing, you can either build up the fire or go swimming, although I can guarantee there are fish in there!" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"Eeek! No thanks," she said with a disgusted smirk. "I'll build the fire… where do you plan to set the tent?"
Jack walked to a point midway between the forest and the lake. "Here's as good as it gets I suppose."
"Okay, I'll go grab some dry wood…"
"Don't go too far or you might walk some place that's not allowed. Normally they have a stock of wood ready for campers next to the lodges…"
"It's too far, I'll be careful, don't worry…" she smiled.
Jack answered with a smile of his own, then put his backpack down and retrieved their camping gear.
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
Several fish were roasting on a makeshift grill over the small fire and rice was cooking in a pan. Jack was busy cleaning the last of the fish he had caught.
Sam appeared from the tent with a small bag and squatted down next to the fire where she had previously left the plates and cups. She opened the bag and extracted several apples, bread, and dry fruit.
"All set," she announced.
Jack put the last of the fish on the grill and stirred the rice before joining her.
"I checked your cell, in the tent," she said. "Teal'c and Daniel got back okay, Daniel's words were: 'it's not so bad.'"
"I'll tell you what he had, all right!" Jack snorted. "A fit of laziness…."
"Don't say that," she admonished. "When I looked at it, it was swelling…"
"So you say," he teased.
She chuckled. "Dinner ready?"
"As a matter of fact, yes Ma'am, the first fish are done," he replied, going back to their improvised barbecue and retrieving a couple of dark looking fish.
"Carbonized?" she laughed.
He looked offended. "You doubt my cooking abilities? Taste this!" he declared, putting one of the fish in her plate. "Rice?"
Sam nodded and he scooped a spoon of rice next to the fish. Then he sat down cross legged next to her and helped himself.
"This is delicious!" she approved after the first bite. "Teal'c and Daniel don't know what they're missing!"
Jack looked quite proud of himself. "The secret is using a few fresh pine branches at the end of the cooking… it give the fish that special taste…"
"You're quite handy in the wild," she said jokingly.
"After seven years in the field with me, you still doubt it?"
She smiled and then a shadow clouded her eyes "You miss it, don't you?"
"Of course I miss it, the same way you, Daniel, and Teal'c miss it…"
"I sometimes wonder if what we did was a good thing…"
"For me it was." He simply said. "I would have gone crazy…"
"Yeah, but sometimes it's… hard… coping with everything…" she put her finished plate down and picked up her cup.
"I suppose…" he shrugged.
There was a pregnant pause.
"I've been meaning to ask you… I haven't discussed any of this with you or the others but… The academy…" he trailed.
She smiled. "I'll be there, don't worry." She saw relief on his face. 'You doubted it?"
"Well I was not sure you were comfortable around me anymore, Sam." He sought her eves. "You've been kind of distant lately…"
She evaded his look and used a stick to rearrange a few logs in the fire.
"To be entirely honest," he resumed, "I was surprised you wanted to come with me after Daniel sprained his ankle…"
"Is that what it looks like?" she said softly.
"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked, his hand reaching for her shoulder.
"I… It's complicated, Jack…"
"Well…" he gestured toward the darkening sky, "nothing else to do but listening…" he tried to joke.
"Let's finish our dinner and then we'll talk, okay?" she pleaded.
He nodded thoughtfully. "Okay…"
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
Jack rinsed the last of their dishes while Sam disposed of the makeshift grill and remnants of fish.
"No bears, wolves, or other carnivorous wildlife in the area?" she asked.
Jack chuckled. "No, besides men, nothing."
"Just checking… I don't want a bear to come looking for our fish bones and finding ours more interesting…"
"Throw them in the lake, they'll be of use there…"
She did and then cleared the 'dinner place' before adding a few logs to the fire and resuming her seat beside it.
Jack put the dishes back in the tent and came to sit next to her. They exchanged a sheepish look then stared at the flames for some time.
"So…. Talk?" Jack ventured.
Sam sighed. "It's…. complicated…"
"You said that, Carter, besides it can get pretty complicated every time you open your mouth," he nudged her playfully.
She looked at him but said nothing and then, stared back at the flames.
Jack made a decision. He stood up and came to sit behind her, his legs framing hers and his chest coming into contact with her back. He encircled her waist with his arms and rested his chin on her shoulder.
She was startled at first but the first moment of surprise gone, she relaxed into his unexpected embrace.
"Talk to me, Sam…" he said gently.
She sighed. "I can't make my peace with the fact that you're a teenager now," she said in a soft tone.
"Late one… Almost a man now…"
"You know what I mean…"
"No, Sam… As a matter of fact, I don't," he said genuinely.
She sighed. "When I decided that you needed company, I also fully intended to resolve whatever was between us, but when I saw the result… Well I was a teen and… so were you… call me a prude, but that was a bit of a cold shower… then we got caught up in our studies and we didn't have time for that…."
"So you say," he interrupted, nuzzling her neck.
"Jack…" she stopped him. He rested his chin on her shoulder again. "I like you, as a friend… You're my best friend… I guess…. I can tell you things that I won't tell Daniel or Teal'c and I know you'll understand…"
"But?..."
"But I'm not sure I love you…" she finally admitted. She felt him straighten and felt momentarily bad at having hurt him that way. "I love Jack O'Neill, the man… But he's not free to love… He loves her… It's so plainly written on his face, my God she could make him dance on his pinky and he would do it and thank her…"
"It doesn't help…" he pointed out coldly.
"I know…" she caressed his forearms and he seemed to relax a bit. "Jack… On one side I don't know what I would do without you, but on the other side… Look at you… you're a boy! I haven't even ever seen you shave!"
"I do!" he protested and to prove his point, rubbed his cheek against hers. "Just not everyday," he said softly.
Silence settled again for a while before he finally moved from his spot and came to face her. She felt slightly bereft at the loss of warmth on her back and shoulders.
"Carter… Sam…" he looked at her, holding one of her hands. "Cliché as that sounds, nothing has changed for me…"
"Jack…"
"No, I have listened to you, now listen to me… Please."
She nodded slightly.
He reached and gently touched her face. She leaned into his touch ever so slightly and it gave him all the courage he needed. "Let me make love to you, Sam…" She looked at him sharply, but before she could continue, he added. "I may look like a boy, I'll love you as a man…"
She was completely taken aback by the intensity of his eyes. Seconds that felt like hours passed, and his face slowly came close to hers. His lips gently touched hers. He pulled back a little but as she did not protest, he kissed her again, this time more demandingly.
Sam was overwhelmed by a rush of feelings she thought were buried. The touch of his lips was soft yet passionate, eliciting tingles all over her body. She stopped thinking and kissed him back, opening her mouth immediately when she felt the probe of his tongue.
Jack plunged into the sweet recesses of her mouth, caressing her tongue languidly before pulling back and meeting her eyes again, satisfied by the slightly dazzled look they bore.
Without a word, he stood up and pulled her up too, leading her to the tent…
Jack quickly disrobed down to his underwear, and proceeded to rid her of her clothes as reverently as he could. Youth and hormones made taking his time difficult but he finally managed to lie down next to her, drinking in the shadowed curves of the young woman.
He brought his hand to her side, and slowly began caressing her upward, learning by touch what the lack of light prevented him to see.
Sam was mesmerized by his touch and totally under his spell, her body responding in ways she would never have imagined. Of course, she reasoned, that might also be because it was –in effect at least- a 'first time' for her, as well as for them.
Jack's hand moved to cup the swell of one breast while his mouth fastened on its twin.
She squirmed under him, and proceeded to pay his body the same kind of attention he was giving hers. Her current position was limiting her movements, so she pushed him on his side and used her hands to light an ardent path on his skin.
What she was not prepared for was that it also allowed him to explore further down, and she gasped.
The sensory overload threatened to make her cry as well as the tenderness with which he caressed her body, kneading here and there as if he already knew what she liked. Suddenly, doubt seized her. 'Oh God!' she moaned inside. "You slept with her?" she breathed.
"Who?" he mumbled, otherwise busy with his hands and mouth.
"The other me…"
He stopped and looked at her. "What?!"
"How can you…" she choked. "How can you know…?"
He silenced her with a kiss. "I love you, Sam… The explanation is as simple as that." And to prove his point, he made her cry his name.
Nobody had ever managed to bring her to that level of completion.
Far from idle, his hands and mouth resumed their attention, and again she was swept by the rising wave.
Jack didn't want to hurt her, but truth be told, he was beginning to hurt himself. He didn't know this body and he feared to climax too quickly. He struggled to hold back but too much was just too much.
He gently nudged her legs farther apart with his knees and settled above her but she surprised him and in one swift motion, she was suddenly poised above him.
"Let me…" she murmured. "It will be softer for both of us this way…" she said as means of an explanation. She took a deep breath and slowly bridged the last bit of space separating them.
At some point, Jack realized she had sped up, panic seized him as he totally lost control over his over sensitized body, but she immediately collapsed on his chest and he let go, tears she could not see moisturizing the corner of his eyes.
They lay, totally spent, Sam on top of him, and he was the happiest man in the world. He remembered the pinky comment Sam had made earlier and knew he'd comply happily if the young woman lying on top of him asked him the same thing. His throat was constricted by the love he felt for her. He encircled her waist tightly and she hugged him in return.
"You doubt it now?" he asked softly.
She looked up and he could see the twinkle in her eyes in the darkness. She did not say a thing but resumed hugging him.
He blindly felt for the other sleeping bag and pulled it over their bodies, slipping into sleep with a swelling heart and the most extraordinary woman on top of him.
She sighed and settled a bit more comfortably snuggling into his side.
Before drifting to sleep, Jack thought he heard her say "I love you" against the skin of his shoulder. It was not a loud declaration or anything but somehow for now that was enough for him…
THE END
Comments Welcome and appreciated