TOON TIME
Jack rolled over, flung his arm across the other side of the bed and wrapped his arm around...nothing. He groped around a bit and only encountered the sheet...blanket...pillow...where was the soft, warm and oh-so-inviting flesh of his lover? Groaning, he finally opened his eyes, it couldn't be morning already. And it wasn't. The room was still dark. Squinting, he finally managed to read the clock-0435. Where the hell was she? He looked around the dark room, no Carter. He listened carefully for any sound from the bathroom, nothing. Shit. He was still tired and all he really wanted to do was curl up around Sam Carter and go back to sleep. The only problem being there was currently no Sam Carter in his bed.
Well, technically her bed, since they had crashed at her house after returning from a very long five-day and even longer four-night mission. The nights incredibly longer than the days since they'd started sleeping together. Not that sex was the only reason they'd finally decided to explore their relationship, but it was certainly an added benefit. An added benefit that had been extremely gratifying when they'd both fallen into bed earlier that evening, or actually yesterday. At least it had been gratifying for him. Jack threw the covers back and got out of the bed, scrabbling around for his shorts and a T-shirt. What if it hadn't been that great for her? He managed to find his clothes without turning the light on and pulled his boxers on. She had seemed satisfied...he finally got his head through the neck opening of his T-shirt and headed out to find Sam.
Jack shuffled down the dark hallway, the faint light from the living room giving him a good idea of where she was. As he got closer, he could hear the sound of the television. So, maybe she couldn't sleep and had gotten up to watch TV. He knew of a better way to cure sleeplessness and this time he'd make sure she was so satisfied that she wouldn't want to get out of bed for days, or at least for the extent of their downtime.
Padding softly to the end of the hall, Jack paused in the doorway. Sam sat curled up on the sofa, wrapped in a brightly colored afghan. A mug of what looked like tea sat on the coffee table, along with an open bag of chips. The one lamp cast a soft glow over her features; her hair still tousled from sleep-and his hands-her gaze intent as she watched the television. The sound was down low, but Jack could still hear it. And he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. It sounded like 'Me kill Superman'; with appropriate sound affects for someone who was trying to kill Superman. But that couldn't be possible. His eyes zeroed in on the TV and-much to his utter shock and amazement-he saw some large, lumbering...creature beating up on Superman.
Holy caped crusader. Samantha Carter, astrophysicist extraordinaire, scientific genius of the SGC and his main squeeze was watching cartoons. In fact, she was engrossed by said cartoon, apparently oblivious to the fact that she was no longer alone.
He stepped further into the room, "Ah, Sam--"
She gave a small yelp and jumped, grabbing wildly for something. "Shit! Jack!" Her hand closed on what he recognized as the remote. "You scared me half to death." The TV clicked off and she sat looking at him, a hand held up to her chest. "What are you doing up?"
He eyed her curiously. "I woke up and you weren't there."
"Oh." She still looked flustered and almost guilty. "I...ah, couldn't sleep."
"I can see that," he said dryly. He gestured toward the now quiet TV. "Whatcha' watching?"
"Oh, just something I found flipping through the channels." She wouldn't look at him and she was playing nervously with the remote. Oh yes, she obviously didn't want him to know what she was watching. Jack grabbed the remote out of her hand.
"Jack! Give that back!" She tried to scramble off the sofa but only managed to get all tangled up in the afghan. He quickly stepped towards the TV and as he pulled up the TiVo menu, it all started to make sense. He'd never quite understood why she had the TiVo system. Sure, they were off world a lot, but she had always struck him as the kind of person who didn't watch a lot of TV. She spent a lot of time in front of the computer, but not in front of the TV.
"Well, well," he drawled, turning to grin at her. She had finally given up on trying to get off the sofa and had slumped back down against the cushions, a mutinous expression on her face. "Four hours of The Justice League?" He continued scrolling through the programs she'd recorded. "And five hours of The Young and the Restless?" Okay, even he knew that The Young and the Restless was a soap opera and he could almost understand her watching that. But...wasn't The Justice League a cartoon?
She wrapped the afghan around her shoulders, folding her arms across her chest. "So I taped a soap opera, big deal."
"Oh now Samantha...." Her eyes flashed with annoyance when he used her full name. Oh, she so did not want him to know about this. "Don't get me wrong. It's not the soap opera I'm wondering about." He hit a button on the remote and the TV flickered back on, filling the quiet room with the sights and sounds of a fierce cartoon battle. "It's this I don't get. I mean, you won't even watch The Simpson's with me!"
"This is an adult cartoon," she finally mumbled.
He raised an eyebrow. "Adult cartoon? You mean like Fritz the Cat?"
She glared at him again. "No, not like Fritz the Cat. This is a cartoon for older teens and adults. It has an in-depth plot, well-known actors playing the characters. It has substance."
"Uh huh. So does The Simpsons." He took a few steps closer to the sofa.
"You can't compare The Justice League to The Simpsons. They're in completely different categories." And then she leaped up off the sofa and snatched the remote out of his hand. She smiled in triumph and sat back down on the sofa, her fingers already busy pushing buttons on the remote. "Now, go back to bed and let me watch my cartoons."
"I'm not sleepy anymore." He plopped down on the sofa next to her and ignored her huff when he tugged the afghan over so it partially covered him. Settling back, he realized she had started a new episode. "Hey, is that Wonder Woman?" Hmm...this cartoon might have some merit after all. "Hand me those chips, will you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, he is so gay!"
"No, he's not, Jack! I don't know how you can say stuff like that. Flash is always hitting on women." The episode they'd just watched was over and Sam was busy scanning the menu.
Jack snorted and grabbed another handful of chips. "That's just because he hasn't come out of the closet yet. He's gotta' keep up the big macho super-hero thing or else they'll kick him out of their little club."
"Give me those chips."
Jack chuckled as she grabbed the bag out of his lap and began eating. He stretched, "Isn't it about time for breakfast?" The sun had just started to make an appearance and he could use something a bit more substantial than potato chips.
"Hmmm...." she mumbled around a mouthful of chips. "I think they're some frozen waffles in the freezer."
He groaned and levered himself up off the sofa. "I'll make some coffee," he told her, heading into the kitchen. It didn't take long to get the coffee brewing or to find the frozen waffles. Mmmm...blueberry, his favorite.
"Ooh, Jack, hurry with that coffee!" she called. "This next episode is really good."
"That's what you said about the last one."
"Well, this one is really good. It has Batman and Wonder Woman in it."
"So?"
"Yeah, they've got this thing going."
"A 'thing'? Wonder Woman and Batman?" He came back into the living room juggling two cups of coffee and his toaster waffles. "This I have got to see," he told her, handing her one of the coffee mugs. He settled back down onto the sofa with her and she covered them both with the afghan.
"So what do they do? Kiss and stuff?" To be honest, he had kind of a hard time imagining cartoon Wonder Woman kissing any man, given the way she usually went on about men. Now Lynda Carter on the other hand....
"No, it's much more subtle than that," Sam replied, snuggling in closer to him and turning the program on. "Just watch and see."
Jack obediently watched, munching on his waffle and sipping his coffee. "Talking apes?"
"Shush, Jack. It's not any weirder than little gray men in outer space."
Okay, well she had him there. "And where's the Wonder Woman/Batman stuff?" he complained.
"Just be patient."
"All right," he grumbled. "But I need another waffle. Pause it, will you?"
Her laughter followed him out to the kitchen. "And here I thought you didn't like this cartoon."
"Well...I didn't say anything about liking it." Her only response was more laughter. Jack put two more waffles in the toaster, rapidly coming to the conclusion that he'd made a grave tactical error when he first sat down to watch cartoons with Sam.
"You know," he said, bringing in the coffeepot while the waffles toasted. "You kind of remind me of Wonder Woman."
"I do?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement as she held out her coffee mug.
"Yeah, you know, she's intelligent, confident, strong, beautiful, driven, single-minded-"
"Okay," she laughed, "I get the idea, you can stop now."
"So," he said, looking down at her. "What about me?"
"What about you?" she asked, taking a sip of the coffee.
"Well, which one do I remind you of?"
She tilted her head and smiled while she studied him. "Well, if I'm Wonder Woman than you must be Batman."
He grinned, he could do dark and broody...hell, he probably was dark and broody. "Yeah, that works. So, if you're Wonder Woman and I'm Batman, than who are Teal'c and Daniel?"
"Teal'c is easy," she laughed. "He's J'onn J'onzz."
Jack snorted, "He's J'onn just because J'onn is the only alien."
"Well, he's inscrutable like J'onn is sometimes."
"All right, Teal'c is J'onn. What about Daniel?"
"Well, we only have three other choices-Superman, Green Lantern or the Flash."
"There's always Hawk Girl."
"Jack! Be nice."
"Sorry," he conceded. "I guess it'll have to be Superman then."
"Yeah, I agree. He's much more Superman-ish than he's like Green Lantern or Flash."
"And besides, Flash is gay."
"He is not!" she retorted.
"He so is," Jack told her, hurrying to the kitchen at the sound of the toaster popping up the waffles.
Two more waffles later Wonder Woman was valiantly trying to stop the last missile from destroying Gorilla City-really, they couldn't come up with a more original name? "Okay," he grudgingly admitted after Batman's panicked reaction to Wonder Woman's almost-destruction, "maybe you're right-"
"Shush! And wait, there's more."
And then, good god, she actually sighed and got this sappy look on her face. All over a kiss on the cheek. "Wasn't that nice?" she asked happily, shutting the TV off.
"Aren't we gonna' finish watching the episode?"
"If you like," she agreed amiably and turned the TV back on.
"You know, Carter," he told her. "You're going to have me thinking you only watch this for the huggy-kissy stuff between Batman and Wonder Woman."
"Oh no, it's just not Batman and Wonder Woman. It's Green Lantern and Hawk Girl, too."
"That flying chick..."
Sam shot him a dirty look.
"Er...hawk with all that attitude? No way."
"Yes, way," she countered idly, leaning forward and setting her coffee mug down on the table. "You can tell by the way they snipe at each other." She reached over and took the coffee mug out of his hand. "There's one episode, I can't remember the name of it now," her hand came back to rest on his knee, "where you just know they're doing it."
"Doing it?" he murmured, shifting closer and encouraging her light touch. "Would that be anything like what we're doing?"
"Possibly," she teased, her hand moving more boldly.
"Well, then Diana..."
She burst out laughing and he pounced, pinning her beneath him on the sofa.
"...let me just go start up the Batmobile so I can take you off to the Bat Cave," he growled, nipping at her ear.
"Whatever you say, Bruce," she giggled. "But this time, will you take the cowl off?"
THE END
Story Notes: Spoilers: None for Stargate...now, if you watch The Justice League, there are spoilers for the episode 'The Brave and the Bold'.
I've obviously been watching too much Justice League.
:-) For Alli.
Feedback: Cheerfully accepted.
Email: mscorkill@earthlink.net
Copyright © M. Susan Corkill, February 29, 2004.
I've obviously been watching too much Justice League.
:-) For Alli.
Feedback: Cheerfully accepted.
Email: mscorkill@earthlink.net
Copyright © M. Susan Corkill, February 29, 2004.
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 ]