Secrets
Jack wasn’t quite sure when they had crossed that magical line with the Guinness. The buzz of warmth and relaxation had been replaced with a mellowed inebriation somewhere beyond memory. It felt good after a tough mission.
“So, you were both in Desert Storm? You and Sam?”
“And what dark closet of your memory did you pull that outta, Daniel?” Jack felt his hackles rising. ‘Gee, why did the kid feel obligated to dredge up old, not so pleasant memories?’
Jack knew that beer wasn’t the Space Monkey’s drink of choice but Daniel tolerated it for Jack’s sake. Could this be payback? It certainly hadn’t impaired his uncanny way of interjecting pointless facts about remembering Jack’s four months imprisonment in an Iraqi prison.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Daniel shrugged. He took another swig from his bottle and continued, “Did you have a sobriquet?”
“Whaddaya mean, sober? Of course, we had to be sober!” Jack suddenly felt irritated. He raised his voice another decibel to prove it, “Damn it, Daniel! You think they’re gonna let you near one of those billion dollar birds, let alone FLY one, drunk? Hell, too much aftershave could ground you!”
“No, Sir, that’s not what he meant!” Sam jumped to Daniel’s defense. The look on her face was priceless. It rivaled the cat that ate the canary.
Obviously, the beer hadn’t deteriorated her mental acuity.
“Okay, Smarty Pants, translate it for me, would ya? I don’t exactly speak the twenty three languages the archeological wonder boy does!” Jack sassed back.
“A sobriquet is a nickname, for example, a call sign like,” She flashed one of those hundred watt smiles in his direction, “Greywolf, you know, instead of O’Neill, Sir.” Then winked.
There was a pregnant pause as he allowed her words to sink into his foggy brain.
“Oh!” came his sheepish reply. He tipped his head and squinted at Daniel.
“Oyo?” Jack stammered, twisting his head around to give her a very stunned look. He squirmed in his chair. He didn’t know whether to be shocked or pleased. Was Carter a good guesser or did she really know that Greywolf was his call name? Whatever the case, he was determined to find out and then ante up the game. This would be fun.
“Well, that’s certainly appropriate.” Daniel was fading fast. The kid just never could handle much alcohol. Hell, he didn’t even like beer. Jack watched as Daniel’s eyes slowly, blinked closed and then opened again. He was making a valiant effort to stay in touch with what was happening in the room. And losing the battle.
“Sam?”
“Yes, Daniel,” she answered but Sam’s sparkling confident gaze never left the Colonel.
“What was yours?” he slurred.
Jack’s eyes were glued to Sam but a quick glance at Daniel on the couch confirmed Danny Boy was down for the count.
“Coffee?” Jack blurted before Sam could answer.
The victory smile faded from Sam’s face and was replaced with a questioning look. ‘That’s right, Jack, ole boy, keep the major guessing.’
“Sir?”
“I mean could I fix you some coffee? I wouldn’t want you wandering the streets without a bit of caffeine to clear that brain of yours.”
“Sure. Guess I’ll have to drive home sometime tonight.”
“Throw the afghan over Danny. I’ll be in the kitchen.”
Sam pulled the light cover off the back of the couch. Daniel stirred as she maneuvered him into a more comfortable position. He was mumbling something about her and sober that was mostly unintelligible. She patted him affectionately.
“Get some rest, Daniel.” Jack heard her tell the snoring lump on his couch as he strolled back to the living room with two steaming mugs.
“Out here.” He motioned with his head. Handing one mug to Sam, he moved ahead to open the door to the deck off his living room.
“Daniel will be fine. We just need to let him sleep it off a bit then we can pour some coffee down him. Thought if we chatted out here we wouldn’t disturb him.”
“I have a feeling I know what you’d like to chat about.” She smiled up at him.
“Nothing much gets by you, does it, Carter?”
He pulled two of the deck chairs together and motioned her to sit. The sky was clear and dotted with stars.
“No, Sir.” She was looking at him through her lashes as she sipped the hot drink. It appeared she was trying not to smile.
“It’s nice out here tonight, don’t cha think? He slouched in his chair and casually crossed his legs, his ankle balanced on the opposite knee.
“So nice it makes me jealous.”
“Jealous?” Disbelief evidenced in his reply. ‘There’s a first. She’s jealous of me.’
“Yeah, if I had a deck like this I’d be out here all the time.” She stopped here to look up at the expanse of the night sky and smiled. “Well, as long as the weather would allow me anyway.”
He heard her huff a sigh. It might be hard to see her eyes but Jack knew Sam well enough to tell whether or not she was going to be honest with him.
“So, what leads you to believe that Greywolf was my so_bree_kay?” he enunciated each syllable carefully for her benefit.
“Oh, word gets around.” She made no move to look at him and continued to sip the hot liquid.
“Care to elaborate, Carter?”
He could tell she was going to make him pull it out of her. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that self-satisfied look on her face, a look that gave the challenge, ‘make me tell you, Jack’.
“Well, we got wind of a real daredevil pilot who made some rather unorthodox runs,” she started, quickly glancing to check his expression, he supposed.
‘Never let ‘em see you sweat, Jack.’
“It seems he had a reputation for those kind of stunts. Funny, it appeared to work for him, too. A rebel with a cause evidently.”
“Oh really?” he interjected wearing a deadpan expression.
“The crazy part is that he got away with it.” She stifled a nervous laugh. “It wasn’t until later on, listening to the base chatter I caught his call sign, Greywolf.”
“So, basically what you’re saying is that it was just an educated guess.”
“You could say that, I suppose.” She was still smiling, and turned to face him. “All those little snippets of information just sorta fell into place.”
“Aha! Well, Major, there were lots of ‘wolves’ in Iraq,” he said with a lecherous gleam in his eye and a smile. He was determined not to validate her guess. It was just too much fun to watch her squirm.
They had finished their coffee and sat silently observing the night sky.
“Why don’t we head up to the roof? This weather’s perfect for looking at the stars. Ya know going to them through the gate has never quite replaced the awe of gazing at them through the telescope. It’s amazing to see them exactly where they ought to be each night. Just confirms my belief in the Creator. No guessing where Orion’s belt will be. A nice sense of order, don’cha think?”
‘Nothing like running off at the mouth, Jack. Shut up!’
“Sir, while it’s true they don’t really move, the earth does move. So every month you can find a familiar star in a somewhat different part of the night sky depending upon which hemisphere you’re in. And Orion’s belt will be on Orion.”
“I knew that.” He gave her that scrunched up disappointed look like ‘you think I was born yesterday, Carter?’
“Let me check on Daniel on the way. Poor kid, it never takes much to put him under the table does it?” She stepped inside while Jack held the door for her, her clean scent wafting past him.
“Yeah well, he was never in the military either. Amazingly, even college didn’t corrupt him. Musta spent all his free time reading, studying and cataloging artifacts. Hell, for all I know he was writing his memoirs at the tender age of thirty. Talk about bored outta your skull!”
“Maybe for you. But you have to admit what he knows has been helpful to us.” She made sure he was covered and looked back at Jack.
“He’s fine, Carter. Com’on and leave him alone.” He motioned toward the other side of the house.
“Yes, Sir.” She moved to follow him.
From this deck there was an un-obscured view of the heavens. Jack brought another chair over to set by the telescope. “Have a seat. We should have a good view of Venus tonight.”
She moved confidently toward the extra chair.
“No, you sit here.” He indicated the chair behind the telescope and with a smirk added, “After all, I heard you are a Star Seeker.”
He watched with glee as she whipped her head around and looked at him with wide surprised eyes. He heard her breath catch in her throat and then a barely audible response.
“Wha…?” The look on her face was priceless.
He shoots. He scores!
Sweet!
Story Notes: Author’s Notes: I’ve had this idea since sobriquet was the drabble word and just now figured out how to write what I wanted. Thanks to Linda for the beta and her wonderful patience with me. Thanks also to Gen for coming up with those great call signs.
Feedback greatly appreciated.
EMAIL: csuzyq@midsouth.rr.com
Feedback greatly appreciated.
EMAIL: csuzyq@midsouth.rr.com
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]