Parallels
2:30am Roswell, New Mexico
The first time the alarm went off, Jack smacked the snooze button. Ten minutes later it had the gall to go off again, unfortunately this time they didn't have the luxury of ignoring it. Jack sighed and turned over.
"Sam."
"Mmmpfffhhhtt"
"Sammy. Come on… wake up Sammy. Time to make the donuts."
"Shut up, Jack." Sam mumbled as she tiredly wiggled to the side of the bed and attempted to roll off. She missed her feet and fell with a thump to the floor.
Jack sighed and stumbled across the bed and helped her up, kissing her on the forehead as he did so. "Come on, Gracie… shower time."
"Humph," Sam said and stuck her tongue out at him.
"We've talked about this, don't do that unless you plan to use that tongue properly."
"Okay."
Sam put her arms around him, dragged him closer if possible and proceeded to use her tongue properly. When she unwrapped herself from him, he had a dazed look in his eyes and a stupid smile curved his mouth. "Come on Jack, we have to get to work."
Jack groaned and followed her to the shower, regretting with every step that they had to go in early this morning, there would be no fun in the shower for them this morning.
-----
When they pulled into the lot at work they saw Daniel sitting on the stoop, reading a well-worn copy of "War and Peace". He looked at his watch as Sam and Jack came up the walk, returning the book to his satchel. Jack unlocked the employee entrance and let everyone in.
Murray Nicholson's, or 'Teal'c' as he now wanted to be called, tires screeched as he drove up and parked his car, jumping out and running in the door Jack held open. Jack would love to find out what happened on that trip to Omaha; the guy had come back with a new name and a big gold tattoo on his forehead. Must have been one hell of a party.
The early shift was all here. It was time to make the donuts.
------
Sam went to work on the bagel machine, the thing had been a horror since it had been installed, but the Corporate Office had decided that bagel sandwiches were the next best thing. Of course they were selling sandwiches and fries now because of Corporate. Lots more work in this tight labor market, so Jack and Sam had to come in early and pray that the others showed up.
Jack worked in the backroom getting the registers counted out and the needed paperwork for the day sorted. The 'Demon of Corporate' was coming soon. Harry Maybourne would be there tomorrow to check out the sales figures for the store. Jack could really do without it. He hoped George would get in early tomorrow, the franchise owner was much better at dealing with Harry than he was.
Daniel and Mur.. TEAL'C began making the donuts, getting the dough mixed, the frostings made, and sprinkles set up. In his more evil hours when Daniel was holding forth, Jack pondered making him sort the sprinkles by color. Janet ran in a few minutes late and moved toward her station in the kitchen. She smiled at Jack as he threw a new hairnet to her.
"Sorry I'm late Jack, but Cassie left some school stuff at home and we had to go back. We were halfway to Ann's before she remembered…"
"That's okay Janet, Daniel started the bagel mix."
Janet smiled at Daniel across the room, "Thanks Daniel," she said with relief.
The shy Daniel blushed and returned her smile, muttering in her direction that it wasn't a problem.
Jack shook his head, were those two ever going to get it together? Cassie, Janet's teenage daughter, adored Daniel and had confided in Sam and Jack that he would be good for her mother. He was just glad right now though that Janet had been able to find a friend for Cassie to stay with on these early mornings until the girl had to leave for school.
The bread and other sandwich ingredient deliveries came, Jack signed papers, helped Teal'c to unload and stock the freezers and the shelves, and got the racks stocked out front.
By 6:00am they were ready to open the doors.
The morning customers, from construction workers to mangers wanting a fast breakfast, came in the door in a steady stream. The designated counterman, Stan Siler was on duty as usual, his pupils only slightly dilated this morning. Jack wasn't sure about having a stoner for a counter man, but after 15 years of munchies the guy certainly knew his donuts.
Teal'c was busy working the Drive Thru. As Jack walked by he heard him ask into the mic, "Would you like to super-size your order for 50 cents more?" The man was the master of the upsell. Besides, people liked really big cups of coffee these days.
As Jack returned to the cubbyhole he used for an office, the phone rang.
"House of Donuts, Jack speaking."
"Jack?" The voice on the other end asked gruffly.
"Yep, George, whadda need?"
"I'll be in later today, things going okay?"
"Ya sure. Things are going pretty good for a Monday morning."
"Okay, Travelle and I will be in to work the lunch shift then, you and Sam can take off. Will that work?"
"Sounds good George, see you guys in a few hours." Jack hung up the phone and rubbed his temples. He would be glad for the time off, and time off with Sam would be even better. He felt eyes on him and turned around to see Sam in the doorway to his office.
"I think I've solved the problem with the machine, we should be able to use it tomorrow. Janet will be happy to have things a bit more automated again."
Jack nodded and motioned her to shut the door and come in. "George and Travelle will be here for the lunch crowd and then we can get out until tomorrow. Whadda ya want to do today?"
"You mean besides sleep?" she moved further into the room and settled on his lap.
He smiled at her and gently massaged her back. "Ya, besides sleeping… although that sounds damn good after the last week and a half," he sighed. "Especially considering Harry is coming tomorrow."
Sam frowned; she didn't like the idiot any more than Jack did. Neither of them could forget that Harry had a bad habit of trying to pull one over on the employees. Every employee in this store had received bad reviews for no reason. Harry had also done his level best try to get Sam and Jack sent to different branches of 'House of Donuts', claiming that their relationship would cause problems amongst the other employees.
George had laughed and rolled his eyes when Harry came up with that one, then had kicked him out of the office. When Paul Davis, Harry's assistant, had attempted to apologize George had just told him that things were working out just fine at this particular HOD and Harry knew it, and should stop chasing shadows of problems. While George said he knew that Davis had agreed with him, his position as Harry's assistant prevented him from telling Harry off.
Sam and Jack's relationship had caused no friction at the HOD. Teal'c had responded only with a raised eyebrow, his newly shaved head shining (Jack kind of thought George approved of the shaved head, it would cut down on the number of hairnets they used) and had asked if he could get the next Thursday off. Daniel had looked bored, snuck a look at Janet then had reverted back to bored. Janet had quoted Jack with a "No kidding", giving them both a hug and told them she wished them well. Siler had wandered off to find something to eat, the munchies having struck again.
George and Travelle, who had met on the job years earlier just smiled and told them to take the rest the day off, but to come back ready to work tomorrow.
And that was life. Day in and day out, making the donuts and sandwiches. Not earth shaking, but just life as it was. Neither of them would choose another life, being together was good. Their friends all understood the deep connection the two had.
They heard a crash from the other side of the office door.
"Daniel must be trying to lift the trays again," Jack said with no small amount of exasperation.
"Yep, lemme go see if Janet needs to patch him up again. We should probably pick up a new first aid kit this week." Sam got up off his lap, kissed his forehead and went to go save the errant donut maker.
Jack thought once again about that sprinkle sorting task.
---
A few hours later, the morning rush gone and Daniel patched up, George and Travelle Hammond came in to get things set up for the lunch crowd.
Roswell wasn't a huge town, but the House of Donuts did a good business, people who would rather eat something good instead of high fat horrors from the usual chain fast food restaurants. In addition there were always the tourists who thought coming to Roswell meant that you got an alien visitation if you super-sized your order. Combined, none of the workers at HOD had seen an alien, although Mur… Teal'c's new look could certainly qualify him.
Sam and Jack took off, glad to get even a partial day off. HOD was only open for Breakfast, Lunch, and Afterschool Snacks, closing at 4:00pm every day. With the coming Corporate Audit and white glove inspection, they had all been spending long hours at the store after closing. With Harry on the way, everything needed to be as perfect as possible.
They did the normal things, a little shopping: getting groceries and general stuff from the discount store then made their way home. After getting the food put away and the other stuff moved to a part of the table they wouldn't need for dinner, they moved decided to catch up on a few hours sleep. They moved to the bedroom, stripped and curled around each other and in moments were asleep.
About 2:00pm they woke still entwined with each other, proceeding with gentle words and actions to reassure each other of their love for each other.
Jack flopped over onto his back, breathing hard, chest rising and falling rapidly as he caught his breath.
"Ya know, you're going to kill me one of these days," he panted.
Sam turned to her side, facing him, her own heaving chest doing things to Jack that he was slightly too exhausted at this point to follow through on.
"But what a way to go, right?" Sam asked as she softly kissed his chest.
"Oh yeah, but then who's gonna make the donuts tomorr… OUCH!" Jack yelped as Sam pulled on a nice handful of chest hair.
"No more donut jokes, please."
"Okay, so what should we do now?" Jack turned on his side and looked over Sam's shoulder at the clock on the night table. "It's almost three o'clock."
"How about we go over to Spring River and have a picnic?" Sam suggested, stretching.
"Sounds good. If we start now we will have time after our shower," Jack grinned rakishly at her.
-----
They finally made it to Spring River Zoo and Park. They had put together a few sandwiches and drove over, parking on East College Street. Jack sat on the shore of the fishing lake with a few of the young kids who always vied for his attention when they came to picnic there. Sam curled up on a blanket with a book, watching him amuse himself and the kids in an illusive bid for the attention of the fish. They never seemed to catch anything, but the ritual seemed to satisfy them all.
At 7:00pm they headed to a movie, deciding that the latest Science Fiction offering would be a good choice. It was a half-way decent movie, who would have thought that David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson could make a good science fiction movie? Considering that the actors had always claimed they would never leave the stage and their beloved Shakespeare, it was a pretty good movie.
They were home by 11:00pm, knowing they would need sleep if they were going to deal with 'Harry the Horror' in the morning. Again they curled up, and after a few minutes of sleepy loveplay, were fast asleep.
---
Jack unlocked the employee entrance and let everyone in, and like a well oiled machine they spread out to take care of their duties and making sure that everything looked ship shape along the way.
Jack set up the paperwork in his office and looked up as George came in.
"Everything set?" the portly franchise owner asked.
"Yup. We can hardly clean up more or get the books any clearer. Whatever Harry is going to try to get away with, well, he won't find anything here to help him."
"Sounds good, Son," George responded. "Now, about the orders for the sprinkles…"
The two men worked out the orders for the next week, answering the phone calls that came in from various places in the community wanting food for meetings and gatherings.
At 10:00am Harry Maybourne sauntered into the House of Donuts followed by his assistant Paul Davis. The corporate weasel was smirking, ready to find whatever he could wrong, and ready to enjoy any and all problems he could find.
Harry, Jack, and George went through months of paperwork, while Paul and Sam went through the building for the physical inspection. Jack had no doubt that the inspection would go well, it was just dealing with Harry that would be the problem. Whenever they were in the same room Jack had this urge to beat the guy up.
The whole experience went surprisingly well, while Jack caught Harry giving him accessing looks every once in a while, Harry never quite seemed to get up to his normal level of evil. Even Davis looked a little disquieted by this change from his boss's usual modus operandi.
Later that afternoon, Martin Lloyd came in for his usual Tuesday snack. Marty was a nice enough guy, what most would call a 'hopeless nebbish'. Marty was basically every geek and UFO nut stereotype in living, breathing, Technicolor. He was a sweet guy, just a little loony.
"Hey Marty," Jack heard Sam say warmly.
"Hey Sam, can I get my regular today?" Marty adjusted his glasses and looked around him quickly.
"Sure, coming up. Just grab a table."
Sam walked back to the kitchen and grabbed the Cheese and Mustard Sandwich on white bread Janet handed her with a smile. She stopped at the counter and retrieved the Lemon Filled Bismarck that Stan had plated for her. Marty liked his food to be fresh and yellow. Sam had chosen not to ponder the reasons why. She brought it out to Marty's table, the one in the corner with the view of the door, along with a large Mello Yello.
Sam watched as Marty inspected the sandwich carefully and took a cautious bite. He looked over her shoulder nervously, but as he bit into the odd sandwich he smiled happily.
"It's great Sam, thanks!"
Sam nodded and went back to the kitchen to help finish the cleaning up.
George and Jack were chatting in the office when Harry knocked on the door.
"I'm leaving now, things here look good. We will get the final numbers to you next week." With that uncommonly positive and unnervingly short report, Harry turned on his heels and walked out the back door, Davis following behind.
Jack and George turned to each other in bemusement.
"I don't think this is going to be good," George stated, his eyes still pinned to the now closed door.
"Nope, I have a bad feeling about this," Jack replied.
"Oh well, nothing we can do about it now. Let's finish getting everything done here and bring the donuts up to the Community Center." They always brought a few dozen pastries to the Community Center a few times a week, so that the kids and seniors could have a treat.
-----
It had been a long day, and after dinner Sam and Jack were sitting in the living room in companionable silence, Jack was watching TV, Sam was reading the latest issue of Scientific American.
The phone rang; Jack picked the portable up from the table next to his chair. "Hello?"
"O'Neill, just listen. I want you to meet me at the abandoned Texaco Station on 380, just past 265. One hour." Jack slowly put down the phone.
"Who was it?" Sam asked with some concern, seeing Jack's expression of consternation.
"I swear that was Davis, he wants me to meet him out at the old Texaco Station on 380 in an hour. Does that strike you as at all… weird?"
Sam blinked. "Harry's lapdog wants you to meet him at a abandoned gas station, on a desert highway, in the middle of the night and you think it might be weird?"
"Bad example," Jack deadpanned.
"I'm going with you," Sam said calmly. "And we should probably call Teal'c and Daniel too."
"Why?" Jack asked.
"Because this whole thing is weird and I would feel better if we had a few people who knew where we were, and could call for help if we need it."
Jack reluctantly nodded; it was a good idea. This whole situation was odd, better to be cautious.
"We better get going Jack, we need to make a stop a few stops along the way."
--
Jack pulled the car off the highway at the former Texaco Station, parking next to one set of the old, rusting gas pumps. Just ahead he could see Davis, reflected in the beams of his headlights sitting in his own car next to the other set of pumps. He and Sam looked at each other before they got out of the car, their eyes communicating apprehension at this 'just out of a B Movie' late night meeting.
"Good, you came. I was worried you weren't going to show," Davis said, looking extremely nervous.
"What's all this about, Paul?" Sam asked him in that calming tone she used when she wasn't sure if the person she was talking to needed talking down or not.
"It's Harry. I think he is going over to the other side. I think he is going to take the recipe for the Bismarcks with him."
"What on earth makes you think that, Paul?" Sam asked.
"He's been acting awfully paranoid lately, even worse than usual. Last week he got a fax from Coffee and Crullers. I just know something is up with him, and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of it. House of Donuts has been a good place to work."
"And we are just supposed to just trust you about this?" Jack asked with no small amount of suspicion. The idea that anyone would want to leave the company wasn't farfetched, but the idea that someone that high up would take the most sacred of House of Donuts recipes was somewhat shocking.
"Paul, Paul, Paul, I really thought I could trust you. You have no idea how disappointed in you I am right now." They turned as one to look as Harry Maybourne exited the gas station's service bay through a listing glass door. He came to a halt about ten feet away from them, holding a rather nasty looking gun in his right hand.
"Come on Harry, put the gun away, there is no reason to be waving a firearm around tonight," Jack said in his best 'soothe the crazy' voice.
"Oh, but there is. With this recipe Coffee and Crullers will be able to take over the industry. You just don't understand, they know the importance of a good meal, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They will be better for this country!" Harry was beginning to look a little frayed around the edges.
"And I suppose *you* aren't going to get anything out of this whole thing, are ya, Harry?" Jack asked snidely.
"Well, luckily Coffee and Crullers understands the value of what I am bringing with me," Harry sneered haughtily. "There is no doubt who will be the most powerful pastry chain in New Mexico once this deal is done. We will make the Bismarcks, and then we will work back from the recipe and make MORE pastries that House of Donuts will never be able to match!"
Fortunately, Harry was not paying any attention to his back as he ranted to the trio in front of him. He had walked forward as he ranted, waving the gun in the air. By the time he stopped he was only two feet in front of Davis, Jack and Sam and it was too late. He never heard Teal'c come up behind him and kick his legs out from under him. Jack jumped forward and landed a solid punch to Harry's nose, while kicking the gun out of his hand.
"It was a good thing that Sam requested the surveillance equipment from Martin, O'Neill," Teal'c intoned calmly.
Jack nodded, glad once again that he had been smart enough to fall for a woman smarter than himself.
"Where's Daniel?" Jack asked.
"Daniel is in the car with Janet, George, and Martin. We drew short straws to choose who would come out and support you in your confrontation. When I heard Harry Maybourne's voice I knew it was a good thing that I choose the short straw, not Daniel," Teal'c nodded again and went to go find something to bind Harry with for the trip to the police station.
Janet and Daniel drove up in Daniel's car, with Martin peering out from the back seat.
Sam shook her head, she had been surprised to find Janet at Daniel's apartment, and when the couple had been told about the odd meeting, they had both insisted on coming with. Jack had phoned George out of courtesy, and the former Air Force SP had also insisted on coming along.
Martin, while being quite happy to lend them his recording and monitoring equipment, had been quite a pest until they let him go with them to the meeting. All in all, looking for government conspiracies and aliens must have proven somewhat boring for the poor geek.
"He was really going to sell out the Bismarck recipe?" Daniel asked as they got out of the car.
"Yeah, but he won't be giving out anything now," George stated firmly as he got out of Daniel's car.
"You are going away for a long time Harry," Jack crowed.
Harry sputtered as Jack pushed him into the back seat of his car, whacking Harry's head none too gently on the doorjamb. "You people have no idea who you are dealing with...."
"Yasureyabetcha," Jack said as he closed the door on Harry's ceaseless ranting.
George Hammond looked at his workers they had made a very good team tonight. But he had no doubts they would make a good team no matter what they did. He had known that Sam and Jack would always work well together, they were two parts of the same whole. He was pleased that the others had come too, he was even willing to admit that Marty had been an interesting inclusion in tonight's little adventure. He would wait until they had dropped Harry off at the police station before reminding them that they needed to get in early to make the donuts.
The end
Story Notes: Email: eshanley@voyager.net
Categories: AU!, S&J, Humour, Tongue in Cheek
Status: Complete
Season: through 4th season, should be familiar with Shades of Grey and Point of No Return
Spoilers: None
Archive: SJ, Helio
Feedback: Yes, Please. Comments, Flames, and Lyric Poetry all accepted.
Author's Note: Thanks once again to Ann, Beta Unparalleled, who knew that while trees may not necessarily grow in the desert, gas stations do. Thankies much Dear! No Damnies were even *temporarily* killed in the production of this story, in fact he might even get a girl who doesn't have a snake in her head... little bugger should thank me. Humph.
Copyright © Elisabeth Shanley, October 2000
Categories: AU!, S&J, Humour, Tongue in Cheek
Status: Complete
Season: through 4th season, should be familiar with Shades of Grey and Point of No Return
Spoilers: None
Archive: SJ, Helio
Feedback: Yes, Please. Comments, Flames, and Lyric Poetry all accepted.
Author's Note: Thanks once again to Ann, Beta Unparalleled, who knew that while trees may not necessarily grow in the desert, gas stations do. Thankies much Dear! No Damnies were even *temporarily* killed in the production of this story, in fact he might even get a girl who doesn't have a snake in her head... little bugger should thank me. Humph.
Copyright © Elisabeth Shanley, October 2000
End Notes: Elisabeth A Shanley eshanley@voyager.net
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 ]