Sam followed her lover up the path to his front door and waited while he turned the key in the lock. He opened the door for her and she entered the house. She walked a little further into the room, before she turned to look at him as he closed the door behind them. He threw the keys on the table, not even noticing that she was watching him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again, concerned by his quietness. He’d barely said a word on the half an hour drive home from the base.
“I said I’m fine!” Jack snapped.
Taking in his lover’s hurt expression, he sighed and walked over to her. “I’m sorry, Sam. I guess I’m just tired. Reliving the same ten hours over and over kinda does that to a guy. Especially when dealing with Daniel and his Latin.”
Sam laughed, like she knew he’d wanted her to. She was pretty sure that wasn’t the full reason for his melancholy, but she was willing to let it go for now. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him gently. “You know what I feel like?”
“What?” he asked, trying not to sound distracted.
“A nice, hot bath. Care to join me?” She gave him a coy little smile.
He smiled back. “You go on. I’ll join you in a few minutes.” With a nod and a smile, Sam headed up stairs to the bedroom.
Half an hour later, Jack still hadn’t joined Sam in the bath. With a sigh, she rose from the warm water and pulled the plug. Quickly drying off, she walked into the bedroom. Dressing only in a pair of panties and one of Jack’s shirts, she walked down the stairs in search of her errant lover.
She found him in the living room, sitting on an armchair with his back to her. She walked up behind the chair and bent down to wrap her arms around him. “I thought you were going to join me?”
He reached up and ran a hand up and down her arm. “I’m sorry, baby. I guess I got kinda side-tracked.”
Sam noticed the photo album sitting unopened on his lap. “What’s that?” she asked.
He looked down. “That’s Charlie,” he replied quietly.
Suddenly everything fell into place for Sam. She mentally kicked herself for not realising that Jack had been thinking of his son. It was only natural that, after Malekite’s quest to see his dead wife, Jack would be thinking of his dead son. The anguish in his voice when he had shouted at Malekite had torn at her heart. She’d had to close her eyes to stop the tears from welling. Jack had never spoken much about his son, and Sam had never asked.
She kissed his ear and gave him a squeeze. “I’ll give you some time to yourself.” She started to move away, but Jack caught her hand.
“Don’t go, Sam. I’d... I’d really like to share this with you.”
“You don’t have to, Jack,” she replied immediately, not wanting him to feel pressured.
“I know. I want to. Come, sit down.” He moved the photo album and gestured for her to sit on his lap. He moved her into a more comfortable position, so she sat across him, leaning against his left shoulder. He couldn’t resist running a hand up her silky smooth thigh.
Getting back to the task at hand, Jack picked up the photo album and placed it on Sam’s lap. He opened it to a large photo of a newborn. “Sam, I’d like you to meet Charlie. Charlie, this is Sam. She’s your... Well, I guess you could say she’s your step-mom.” He watched as Sam’s head snapped up in surprise. “What?” he asked. “You think I plan on having anyone else in my life? Just because I can’t put a ring on your finger, doesn’t mean I don’t consider you a permanent part of my life.”
“You... you’d want to marry me?” she asked, eyes wide.
“She’s a bit slow for someone so smart, isn’t she, Charlie?” He smiled at her, moving to kiss her lightly. “I’d marry you in a second if I could. Then we’d see about making lots of brothers and sisters for Charlie to watch over. Now sit back and relax, while I tell you about your step-son.”
Sam, still in shock, relaxed against his shoulder and looked at the pictures, smiling and laughing in the right places as Jack told her the stories behind them. One thing she immediately discovered, Charlie was as cheeky as his father. As the little boy in the photos grew older, his face started to look more and more like Jack’s. Sam couldn’t help but fall in love with him, even if she knew she’d never meet him.
All too soon, they came to the end of the photos and Jack closed the album. He was surprised with how good he felt after sharing his son with Sam. The all-consuming pain wasn’t there anymore. He wasn’t sure if he deserved to feel this way. Shouldn’t his guilt make it hurt forever?
“Are you okay?” she asked, watching him with shining blue eyes.
“I am. I feel... I don’t know. I’ve never been able to talk about him like that. It always hurt too much to talk about him, so I never did. I don’t understand why I can now.”
“Because you’re moving on, Jack.”
“I don’t want to move on. I never want to forget him.”
“You won’t,” she quickly assured him. “He’s a part of you that will always be there. But now that the pain’s gone, you can remember him and all the good times you had together.”
He looked deeply into her eyes, amazed that he could end up with such a wonderful woman in his life. The words, when they came, needed no thought. They rolled off his tongue with ease. “I love you.”
Sam’s eyes teared up then. She’d told him she loved him before, normally when they were making love, but she’d never heard him say the words. He’d always shown her, but there was still something about him being able to voice his feelings to her, that made her heart swell. “I love you too,” she choked in reply, moving to kiss him soundly.
Jack couldn’t believe how good it felt to finally say the words. He’d tried to say them before, but by the time he’d made the decision, the moment had passed. Now, as he looked into Sam’s sparkling blue eyes and saw how happy it had made her, he couldn’t believe he’d waited so long to tell her.
Sighing in obvious content, Sam snuggled up to Jack, just listening to the beat of his heart. Her eyes had started growing heavy when a thought suddenly came to her and she snapped her head up to look at Jack. “What were you smiling at?” she asked.
Jack looked startled. He’d been enjoying their quiet cuddle and had thought she was dozing. “What?”
“In the briefing room earlier. Daniel was talking about... something, and you had this little ‘cat that got the cream’ look on your face.”
Jack smiled as he remembered what she was talking about. “Oh, that. I’d kissed you the loop before. In front of Hammond.”
Sam’s mouth dropped. “You did *what*?!”
“Don’t worry. I resigned first. I was just curious as to how he’d react. I left it to the very end of the loop so I wouldn’t have to hear him go on, walked up to him in my civvies and gave him my resignation, before pulling you into what I must say was one hell of a kiss.”
Sam couldn’t help but grin at his antics. “And what was his reaction?” she asked, curious.
Jack looked sheepish. “I, uh got kinda into the kiss and the loop ended before we finished.”
Laughing, Sam settled back against his shoulder. “What else did you get up to while you were looping?”
“Hey, it wasn’t just me! Teal’c had just as much fun as I did.” He started to tell her of their adventures, from golfing through the Stargate to learning how to throw pots. He was just finishing his tale when he noticed that she’d drifted off to sleep.
Smiling gently, Jack gathered her in his arms and rose to his feet. He carried her up the stairs and put her down on her side of the bed. After quickly ensuring the house was locked up, and turning the lights off, he went up to his bedroom and slid into bed next to the woman he loved. She turned to him automatically, snuggling up to him as he held her close. He sighed, wishing he could have had a loop that repeated this moment over and over again. He knew he would never tire of it. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a future he wasn’t sure he could keep putting on hold.
THE END
Story Notes: AUTHOR: Jez- jez80@ozemail.com.au
SPOILERS: Window of Opportunity
ARCHIVE: Sam and Jack and Heliopolis please.
AUTHORS NOTES: Just a little piece of fluff that distracted me from studying. A huge thanks to Kes for beta’ing it for me!
FEEDBACK: Yes Please! I love to know what you think.
SPOILERS: Window of Opportunity
ARCHIVE: Sam and Jack and Heliopolis please.
AUTHORS NOTES: Just a little piece of fluff that distracted me from studying. A huge thanks to Kes for beta’ing it for me!
FEEDBACK: Yes Please! I love to know what you think.
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 ]