Chapter Four

As he walked to the back door his mind kept churning over what had just happened. He'd always been a bit impulsive, but he'd never done anything so stupid! Sam was a nice person, and now she thought he was a jerk!

He knew what she had really meant was that he was not her type. Well, he'd have to show her that she was wrong...somehow!

When he stepped out of the house Jack was greeted with some jeers and jokes about the time he'd spent in the bathroom, but he just ignored them. Daniel was wearing an apron that said "Kiss the Cook", and Siler was tossing hamburger patties onto the grill from several feet away as though they were Frisbees, while Janet tied the sash on the apron.

"Come on, take over before this idiot ruins the meat, Jack," she said, pulling the bow snug before slapping Daniel on his tight butt.

"Hey, I resent that, woman," Daniel yelled, running after Janet as she dashed for the house, shrieking with delight.

"We certainly can't have that! Everyone knows my burnt meat is much tastier than Daniel's," Jack joked, even though he didn't feel the least bit like laughing about his or Daniel's cooking skills...or anything else for that matter. He was in a funk, and all he could think about was Sam and the poor opinion she must have of him.

There was a game of dodge ball being played on the deck around the pool, and someone had turned up the volume on the cd player, so no one really noticed Janet's scream except for Daniel who was breathing down her neck, quite literally. As they entered the house he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, kissing her on the back of her neck.

"We've got a lot of hungry people to feed, honey. So hold that thought for later," she told him, and he stuck his tongue out at her before offering a retort.

"Promises, promises!"

"A promise I'll keep, if you'll get busy and get those spuds out of the oven."

Janet got the salad bowl out of the refrigerator and finished what Sam had started, as she wondered about her friend's disappearance. Janet was puzzled. Why had Sam left so suddenly?

But when she saw the crowd gathering around the grill, she realized she had no time to worry about her right now; she had a hungry mob to feed! She'd just have to phone Sam later and ask her what the hell had happened.

For the next half hour Jack tried to concentrate completely on the job at hand. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not bury the memory of how Sam had looked...or smelled...or tasted...or how she had reacted to his touch. And Jack knew he'd have to do something to change her opinion of him and maybe win her heart, or he'd go wacko!

Sam had driven home like she was being chased by something or someone. And it wasn't until she was locked safely inside her apartment that she wondered why on earth she had let that arrogant, sinfully attractive man get under her skin and in her panties like that!

She had never been the type of woman who fell for a guy just because of the way he looked. She had always chosen men for their brains and their values, not their brawn and their handsome faces. So what was it about Jack O'Neill that had turned her into a whimpering fool...a blithering idiot...a quivering bowl of Jell-O?

The answer would not come to her even after hours of going over everything that had happened between her and Jack earlier that day. And after mulling it all over again and again, it was clear to Sam that she had acted totally out of character. What's more, she was determined that nothing like that would ever happen to her...never...ever again!

But a little voice in the back of her mind kept saying, 'You wanted him, and he wanted you...what's so wrong with that?'

It was about nine thirty that night when Sam's phone rang. And when she read the name on the caller ID she was relieved. Janet was the only friend she had here in Colorado Springs, and maybe talking to her might help to make her feel she had done the right thing when she'd told Jack good-bye.

"Hi, Janet."

"Hi, yourself, you deserter! What the hell did you leave for?" Janet sounded upset, and

Sam knew she had a right to be.

"Sorry. I wasn't feeling well," she lied, and waited to see if Janet would buy her excuse.

"That's odd; Jack disappeared around the same time as you, and he said he felt sick too. Maybe you two had the same bug," she stated suspiciously. And then she asked the question that Sam dreaded. "You and Jack didn't have an argument or anything, did you?"

Janet had noticed the horsing around in the pool and the looks that Jack had given Sam in the kitchen. She had also noticed the change in his mood after Sam disappeared. And now it sounded like maybe the two were 'sick' over the same thing.

"No, we didn't argue exactly."

She really needed to talk to someone about how awful she was feeling and how confused! But was Janet the person to turn to with her doubts about Jack? Then she remembered that Janet had started to say something about him, and Sam made a sudden decision to come clean.

"We...we were in the bathroom together when you came looking for Jack."

"Holy shit!"

"Janet, can you come over here? I really need to talk to someone."

"Yes, certainly! I'll be right over," she agreed and they hung up.

Fifteen minutes later Janet was ringing Sam's door bell. Sam opened the door wearing her pajamas and holding a glass half full of something amber colored.

"Drinking won't help, Sam. On second thought, I'll take a double of whatever you're having," Janet told her with a smirk.

"Why? You don't have to forget about how stupid you acted. You don't have to forget how you almost had sex in your friend's bathroom with a man who you barely know!"

"Wow! Sex, huh? No, I guess I don't. But I would like to forget that my boyfriend chose to go back to his lab instead of spending time with me. A shipment arrived from Cairo, and can you believe it...Daniel would rather sleep with a mummy than with me!"

Janet flounced into the kitchen, her frilly pink negligee swirling around her legs as she pecked along on tiny, pink caribou trimmed, high-heeled slippers.

"Nice outfit, Jan," Sam commented, looking her over.

"Yes, I thought it was, but that jackass didn't even notice it! So where's that bottle?"

Ninety minutes later, both Janet and Sam were feeling no pain. And Janet had gotten Sam so fired up with stories about Jack's philandering ways, that Sam had decided he deserved to be told off...and that, on behalf of the women of the world, she was going to do it!

It was 2300 hours and Jack was sitting slumped on his sofa, watching a hockey game with the sound muted. He liked it that way when he was in a bad mood, and tonight was just such a night. The phone rang...once...twice...three times before he picked it up and answered it. And when he did, he got a real shock; it was none other the reason for his bad mood, and she was apparently as drunk as a skunk.

"Thish is Sham. I just wanna tell ya that I think you're a terrible pershon, Jack O'Neill! And I never wanna talk to you again."

"If you don't wanna talk to me, then why are you phoning me?"

"Don't try to... I know what you're tryin' to do...you're tryin' to confuse me, but it won't work! I'm not a blonde bimbo! I've got a brain!"

Jack could have sworn he heard someone else talking in the background. But never the less, he suddenly felt insulted and like it was payback time, and so he let fly with exactly what he was thinking.

"And you've got a clit too, Sam. And today you let your clit rule your body for a little while. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact you might be better off if you'd relax and enjoy life once in a while, instead of being so up-tight!"

Something about this whole situation was making him angry, and he found himself wanting to defend what he'd done, instead of apologizing as he had wanted to do earlier.

"Hey! Stop talking about my clit like that! It's not yours to discush, mister, and I don't give it away to every handsome guy who comes along either!"

"Oh, I can believe that! You probably spend most of your time working in that damned lab...tinkering with inanimate objects that can't tinker back!"

"I'll have you know that I've been tinkered with quite a bit! In fact, I've been told I'm quite good at tinkering! So you just keep your stupid insults to yourself, before I come over there and...and..."

Upon hearing the parts about tinkering, Janet almost choked on her drink with laughter. This evening had turned out to be a lot more fun than she'd expected!

"You'll come over here and do what?" He tossed down the gauntlet, and now he wondered if she would pick it up.

"I'll come over there and punch your lights out," she stated, before downing the rest of her drink in one gulp.

By this time Janet was rolling from side to side on Sam's sofa, holding her stomach as she roared with laughter.

Jack could hear the other person quite clearly now, and he recognized the laugh. So Janet had most likely been talking to Sam about him. Well, that didn't really surprise him, since he knew women, and he knew how close these two were. Still he'd hoped that Janet held no grudge against him. After all, he had never done anything to hurt her.

"Sam, you couldn't punch my lights out, if your life depended on it," Jack informed her. "And you're drunk. Now why don't you hang up, and be a good girl and go to bed. And don't let Janet drive home!"

"I'm coming over there, mister, and you're gonna get it," Sam swore, and then she hung up.

And now Jack was worried. What if Sam did try to drive over to his house?

'Nah, she wouldn't do anything that reckless, and Janet would stop her anyway.' But then he thought, 'what if Janet was too drunk to stop her?'

Jack picked up the phone and called the SGC, giving Sgt. Harriman a made up story about wanting to give Sam help with a flat tire, but not having her address. In his rushed mind it had sounded plausible, but after he hung up he knew it must have sounded suspicious. With address in hand, Jack grabbed his keys and jacket and ran to his truck.

'If I hurry, maybe I can get to her place first,' he told himself, but deep down inside he suspected he just needed to see her and make sure she was all right.

Jack took the most common route to Sam's house, watching for the old, white Volvo he had seen her getting out of just the other day at the SGC. But he didn't see it. And when he got to her apartment house, the somewhat unique car was still parked in the parking lot. He also saw Janet's blue Toyota parked in a visitors' space, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

He decided to just sit there for a while and make sure that neither of them decided to drive anywhere. He could see a light in Sam's window, and he wondered if she was still awake. And the part of him that was not mad at her for anything she'd said to him on the phone, wanted to see her in person and try to make her give him another chance. It was that part that finally won out and forced Jack out of his truck at a few minutes before midnight.

Jack knocked softly on the front door, and when no one answered he tried the door knob. To his shock it turned, and he entered finding himself standing in Sam's living room. Light shone into the room from the kitchen, and he could see Janet's dark head on the sofa. She was covered with a blanket and appeared to be asleep.

Quietly Jack crept to the door that he figured led to Sam's bedroom. He carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open a crack, looking inside. Jack could see Sam in the light from the doorway, laying across the bed at an odd angle. She was on her stomach wearing only bikini panties and a tank top, her hair loose and flowing down her back, and the sight of her almost naked and looking so young and innocent sent a wave of arousal coursing through his veins and to his groin.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. Then he crossed over to the bed and sat down. He had no idea what he intended to do, and what happened next was totally unexpected. Sam turned over and moaned, and Jack watched in awe as she slid her hand down into her panties. Jack's burgeoning erection immediately grew to its fullest size, pressing hard against the zipper of his shorts.

As he watched, Sam's hand began to move, her fingers obviously massaging her clit as she moaned and writhed on the bed. Her eyes were closed, or else Jack might have thought she was awake! Jack turned and got onto his knees next to her, trying to see her face better in the dim light. Only the illumination of a nearby street lamp filtering through a crack in the drapes made it possible for him to see anything.

Suddenly he received a shock that made his heart skip a beat.

"Jack,ooooh,Jack!"

Now, even if he burned in hell, there was nothing that was going to keep him from her.

"Sam, I'm right here, baby. Let me make love to you," he begged as he climbed over her, slipping one hand down into her panties, while the other slipped under her head.

He placed his hand over hers and gradually her hand gripped his and allowed him to take the lead, rubbing and massaging her clit until it was swollen with need. Then Jack kissed her, and she responded, opening her mouth to his exploration.

Suddenly Sam's hand pulled out of her panties and came up around his neck, meeting its partner in his hair, fingers tugging his hair, nails grazing his scalp till Jack thought he'd go insane with need. Sam was really wet by now, her juices flowing down his hand and dripping onto the bed as she rocked her hips, trying to get herself off.

"Jack," she moaned, and Jack couldn't help himself. He answered her, praying that she would wake up and not panic at finding him there.

"I'm here, baby. I'm here, and I'm hard for you."

"Jack! I want you! Take me," she pleaded, and Jack quickly pulled his hand out of her panties and fell to his back, quickly removing his shorts and underwear. Then he straddled her legs and pulled down her panties, gently coaxing her out of them. He had to do most of the work, but soon the little garment was discarded and tossed to the floor.

Then Jack just knelt over her and stared for a minute, thinking that somehow this just didn't seem right. If she was asleep, and she didn't really know what she was doing, then this would be just like raping her, wouldn't it? And he knew that was not something he could do to her or to any woman, no matter how much he wanted her.

He had done many things to women in his lifetime, but he had always had their permission. Even his cock had decided that this situation was not to its liking, and so it had deflated rapidly, leaving him feeling empty inside. Jack got off the bed and pulled on his clothes. Then he pulled the blanket over Sam's naked lower body and let himself quietly out of the apartment. On the way out he locked the door.

By the time he got home he felt as though he'd been through a battle and lost. He fell into bed and didn't wake up until eight hundred hours. Fortunately it was Sunday, his day off, but unfortunately he still felt like crap.

TBC