Sam expected Jack to be a bit quiet and withdrawn today. After all, five weeks earlier she had been introspective herself, thinking of her Mom, and then of how she herself was now thirty-six and still had no children of her own. But that day had been easier this year than the year before thanks to being with Jack. He'd been a constant reminder during the day that maybe by next year Mother's Day would be different.
Today, she wondered just where Jack's thoughts were. On Charlie for sure, but maybe dwelling a bit on the loss of his own father, too. She knew he would probably head to Charlie's grave at some point during the day. What she hadn't expected was for him to invite her along.
"This is Sam. She's your step-mom. You would really like her Charlie. She's smart, and she gets all of those stupid jokes you used to love," he said by way of introduction.
Sam flashed Jack a smile, and then turned to shyly say 'Hi' to the young boy she would never get to know except through pictures. Jack had been sharing those with her recently, and she could tell from the look in Charlie's eyes and his quirky smile that he was a Jack O'Neill clone. She had instantly fallen in love with one particular picture. Charlie was sitting on Jack's shoulders, his chin resting on his dad's head, both almost totally in profile, silhouetted by the setting sun behind them. They wore identical grins, and both had the same crinkles around their eyes as they squinted slightly in the dying light.
She had noticed that several of the pictures were starting to yellow, and were looking a bit dog-eared. Especially those that Jack kept in a box in his locker. So she had snuck some of them to a good photo shop and she'd had new clean copies made. She'd framed two of the copies of her favorite shot, and planned on putting one on the mantle at home and one on her desk on base. The other prints she'd left unframed until Jack decided what he wanted to do with them. She was hoping he could convince him that they should not be put away into a box again.
She thought today might be a good day to give them to him, if his mood seemed right. As it turned out the perfect opportunity presented itself. They had been out working in the garden when a thunderstorm quickly rolled in. They made it into the house slightly damp and panting from their mad dash. Sam impulsively pulled off her clammy shirt and after looking Jack in the eyes for a steamy moment had grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bedroom. They had made love with a wild abandon that matched the weather outside. As the lightening and thunder rolled off into the distance they were laying in bed sated when Sam suddenly got up and padded over to her dresser to take out the pictures carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
"Happy Father's Day," she said softly handing him the package.
He looked at her perplexed, but she just shrugged. She watched him carefully as he opened the gift, hoping she hadn't caused any further pain. But she only saw surprise, and then a small smile as he looked through the prints.
"Thank you," he whispered as he turned to kiss her.
Later, he had placed the framed picture on the mantle without any coaxing from her. Then he had frowned as he realized that the picture in the second frame was identical.
"I'd like that one for my office on base if you don't mind," she explained.
He looked surprised, but nodded. "I thought you might like a few of the others for your locker. Or we could frame them and put them up here. I'd love to add some family pictures to the front hallway," she suggested.
"That would be nice. We could put up one of our wedding photos too. And definitely one of Cassie," Jack replied.
After dinner they sat flitting through the TV channels, and Jack finally settled on a Simpson's rerun. During one of the commercial breaks Sam brought up the other matter she'd had on her mind all day.
"Next year," she stated simply.
"Next year what?" Jack inquired.
"I'm going off birth control. Maybe next year Father's Day won't be just another Sunday," she clarified.
Jack turned off the Simpson's and proceeded to show her just how much he liked that idea.
The end.
Story Notes: Email: jackiesfic@aol.com
Season: Season 6, after Full Circle - Just before Homecoming
Sequel: Part 18 of the In Demand series Previous parts are: In Demand, Momentum, Epidemic, See Jack Run, Classified, Prelude, Discoveries, Under Surveillance, T-Ball, Homerun, Good Things, Tell Her, Bad Days, Batteries, Bliss, Where You Lead, and Phone Bills
Spoilers: No plot spoilers. Just a spoiler for a prop that appears in Homecoming
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to get back to this. I just needed Season 7 to give me a jump start!
As always feed back craved!
Season: Season 6, after Full Circle - Just before Homecoming
Sequel: Part 18 of the In Demand series Previous parts are: In Demand, Momentum, Epidemic, See Jack Run, Classified, Prelude, Discoveries, Under Surveillance, T-Ball, Homerun, Good Things, Tell Her, Bad Days, Batteries, Bliss, Where You Lead, and Phone Bills
Spoilers: No plot spoilers. Just a spoiler for a prop that appears in Homecoming
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to get back to this. I just needed Season 7 to give me a jump start!
As always feed back craved!
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 ]