Playing Matchmaker
Prologue, or What Daniel Did:
I was getting sick of seeing the two of them "Major" and "Colonel" each other to death! Hiding behind formalities, pretending they’d never admitted their feelings for each other (Oh, I knew. Come on, you think I wouldn’t find something like that out? Right. . .). So what happened to bring us all to this point? I can only tell you what I saw, you’d have to ask Jack and Sam about the rest.
It all started after the time loops. Sam and I were going to dinner in town, and I thought we should invite Jack too. Sam was a little hesitant at first but eventually agreed. So she went to his office to ask him along (and stayed rather long if you ask me). But she came back with an odd expression and said he hadn’t been in his office. She’d left a note telling him where we’d be. So we drove to the restaurant (not O’Malley’s, by the way) in my car and ordered a couple drinks to wait for Jack. He showed up about half an hour later and we ordered dinner. Sam and Jack were still playing strangers, so I was left trying to get some conversation going (which was not easy, mind you. The two of them seemed to be in the middle of a "who can drink the most without loosening their tongue" contest). I brought up the intended Tok’ra visit on Monday. Apparently Jack hadn’t heard about it, and asked me what was going on. "Well, Anise/Freya is coming to examine you and Teal’c to see if you had any adverse effects from the time loop. She’s been investigating time travel and wants to collect as much data as she can on it," I told Jack.
"Yeah, ‘collect data,’ right," he mumbled. "Don’t they have any other scientists besides that woman?"
"Apparently not," I answered, "Why, what’s the problem with Freya – oh, yeah, that’s right." Oops, forgot about that kiss Jack had mentioned. Unfortunately it was too late – I’d piqued Sam’s interest.
"No, wait, what is the problem with Freya?" she asked.
"She made a pass at me when she thought we were Zatarcs. She wanted to ‘lomashem’ or something like that. I don’t know, it was weird." Jack replied.
" ‘Lomashem’?" queried Sam. "Does that mean what I think it does, Colonel?"
"Uh, I didn’t ask. But judging from her actions, I’d have to say. . . yes," he said with a smile on his face. I knew he was baiting Sam, and she was falling for it. I had no idea Jack was such a good fisherman!
"Her actions? What actions?" Sam had completely forgotten that I was at the table. She was entirely focused on Jack.
"Oh, she kissed me, a couple times," Jack said, barely holding back a laugh.
"And what did you do?"
"Well, not that it’s any of your business, but I politely suggested that her time might be better spent trying to figure out how to deprogram us." I could see this was getting out of hand, so I decided to act in their best interests and thought up an excuse to leave. I started sneezing uncontrollably. "Whoa, guys, it seems like I’m having a bad allergy attack. You don’t want me sneezing all over your food, so I think I’ll just go home and take some medicine. See you Monday."
I got up and started to walk off, hearing Sam’s "But Daniel, how am I going to get home" follow me out the door.
Unfortunately, Jack followed me too. "Jackson, what do you think you’re doing?" He sounded annoyed.
"Look. You two have been avoiding each other ever since the treaty signing. I know something’s up, Teal’c knows, Janet knows, you’re lucky if even Hammond doesn’t know by now. You and Sam need to work this out together."
"Daniel, there’s nothing to work out. Nothing’s going on between Carter and me," Jack said.
"I know, that’s the problem. It’s obvious that you both want something to be going on, so get to it! Oh, and apologize to Sam and give her a hug for me, would you?" With that last little push I got into my car and shut the door. I heard some random curses as I drove off, but I figured if everything went well, he’d be too happy on Monday to come after me. And if things didn’t go well. . . well, I wear glasses. He wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would he? As luck would have it, I didn’t even make it until Monday before I had to see Jack again.
I got a call early the next morning from General Hammond. "Dr. Jackson, something important has come up. I need to see SG-1 at the base as soon as you can get out here."
"Yes, sir," I said, "I’m on my way."
"By the way, Dr. Jackson, do you know where Colonel O’Neill is? I called his house, but no one answered."
"Umm, no General, I don’t. But he’s a pretty heavy sleeper. I’ll stop by his house and get him on the way in," I promised Hammond.
"Good. Thank you, Daniel. See you soon." And General Hammond hung up.
So. . . Jack wasn’t answering the phone! This boded well. I figured that if Hammond hadn’t already called Carter, he was about to, so there was no need for me to go get Jack at his place. I’m sure he’d get the news from Sam. . .
Sam and Jack’s Point of View:
Sam was sitting at the table with Daniel, listening to him ramble on about something, but paying more attention to every man who walked in the door of the restaurant. She was trying to be inconspicuous, but that was hard when her back was to the door. How many more times could she get away with stretching her back, she wondered? And then he entered. He’d already changed out of uniform, and was dressed in a nice pair of khakis and a button-down shirt. Plus that leather jacket he always wore. To Sam he appeared pretty casual and relaxed, but the thoughts going through Jack’s mind were anything but relaxed.
"What am I doing here?" he thought. "With the way things have been going the past couple days, and knowing that Sam knows about the kiss, I must be tempting Fate to be here." But he pasted a smile on his face, hoped it looked real, and sat down between Daniel and Sam.
"Hello, Daniel, Carter," he said. He didn’t know what else to say, and his veneer of casualness was fading fast. The waitress came over and he ordered a beer. When it arrived, he downed it. Maybe it would help him think of something to say. . . Apparently not, maybe he should order another. . .
Meanwhile, Sam’s thoughts were following the same path. What to say, how to say it. . . how to avoid any mention of that letter. . .She wondered if Jack was drinking to relax. Maybe she should try it to. So the next time the waitress came by she ordered another beer as well. Sam and Jack sat there, drinking, waiting for dinner, in silence, as Daniel continued to prattle on about something or another.
Neither one of them knew what, they were too busy with their own thoughts. Suddenly, they both heard something of interest emanate from Daniel’s ramblings. Anise, Freya. . .
Jack got upset at first. What was Jackson doing, bringing up that ‘woman’s’ name? He didn’t want Sam to know about that kiss that Freya had given him! But his anger quickly changed to mischievous delight when he decided to pose a little test. Would Sam be jealous enough of Freya to show it? (The alcohol must have been working, this was not something Jack would normally do). So when she asked about Freya, Jack decided to tell her. He grinned at the reaction he got – just what he’d hoped for!
Sam, meanwhile, was furious. Furious at him for allowing Freya to kiss him, more than once, and furious at herself for showing her jealousy, especially in front of Daniel (I’d better stop drinking, she thought, what am I going to say next?). What did Jack think he was doing, anyway? She started to regret coming to dinner this evening. Then she heard Daniel’s sneezing attack. What was this? He hadn’t had an allergy attack for months. Daniel got up to leave, and all she could think to say was, "But Daniel, how am I going to get home?"
Apparently he didn’t hear her because he kept on walking out the door. Jack followed him out of the restaurant in a hurry.
Jack stopped Daniel before he got in his car. "Jackson, what do you think you’re doing?" he asked.
He listened to Daniel give some lame excuse about allergies, and then something about how obvious it was that he and Sam needed to talk. "Oh, and give her a hug."
Sure. The way this day was going, hugging Sam was about the last thing he needed to do (but maybe the first thing he wanted to do). Who knows where something like that might lead. But he couldn’t convince Daniel to stay.
As Daniel drove off Jack muttered a few curses. "I’ll get him for this on Monday," he vowed.
But as he walked back into the restaurant his frustration faded and his desire to see Sam flustered again grew. So he sat down at the table with a smile on his face and started in on Sam again.
"It was nice of you to leave me a note on my desk about dinner," Jack said. "I’m surprised you found anything to write with, my desk is a mess." He watched Sam’s face turn red.
She hesitated before answering, "Yes, well, I did have to search a little to find a pen."
"You weren’t snooping, now, were you Major?" Jack was getting a kick out of this. "Examining a superior officer’s personal papers could be considered a court martiable offense, you know."
"No, I wasn’t snooping," Sam replied indignantly. He didn’t know did he? He couldn’t possibly, she thought. She had been careful to make sure no one saw her leave his office. Sam’s train of thought was interrupted by the waitress bringing their dinner. They ate in silence for a few minutes, until all of a sudden they both put down their forks and began talking at the same time.
"Okay, I did read a letter that was on your desk. . ."
"Look, Carter, I know you read the letter on my desk. . ."
They laughed as they realized they were talking about the same thing. Any tension that had existed between the two of them vanished. But Sam still decided to take the easy route. Instead of discussing the kiss, she focused on his golf game. "Sir, I would have given anything to see you and Teal’c golfing through the stargate! Did you go to the other side and play them on the other planet too?"
"No, usually after a couple minutes of driving practice the General found out what was going on and gave us holy hell. He didn’t know what to make of us!"
Jack allowed Sam to steer the conversation away from his resignation and kiss. They were both trying very hard to keep their promise of leaving their feelings for each other in that Zatarc testing room. The rest of dinner went amicably enough. Jack told Sam about pottery craft, and how it wasn’t as easy as it looked. He made Sam laugh when he crumpled up a few napkins and started juggling them right there. He even spoke a little Latin for her (face it, he thought, your stuck with the knowledge now, there’s no forgetting it. So why not impress Sam a little?).
He pretended to be offended that Sam was surprised that he could memorize so much Latin to finally get them out of the loop. . . he flirted. Yes, he admitted to himself, he was flirting. It was as clear as day. He hadn’t flirted in ages. It reminded him of the academy, it made him feel young.
"Is he flirting with me?" Sam wondered. She hadn’t laughed so hard in a long time, and he was obviously enjoying himself, she could tell. Watching him juggle, she thought, "Now that is a thoroughly Jack thing to do. What a goof he can be!" and laughed again as he dropped the makeshift balls. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end sometime. They’d finished dinner, dessert, and coffee and couldn’t think up another excuse to postpone leaving the restaurant.
"Well. . .I guess I’m finished," Sam said reluctantly.
"Me too. I guess we should get going. It’s going to take me all weekend to prepare mentally for having to see Freya on Monday." And Jack got up from the table. As he put some money down to pay the bill, he noticed Sam hesitate. "What is it?" he asked.
"Um, well sir, you see, Daniel drove me here and was going to drive me back to my car when we were through with dinner. I wasn’t expecting him to leave, and, well. . ."
"So what you’re saying is you need a ride, right?" Jack asked. Ah, Jackson, playing the matchmaker still!
"Yes, if it isn’t too much trouble, sir. You could just take me out to the base and I could pick up my car."
"I have a better idea. Why don’t I just take you home, and then take you out there sometime this weekend to get it? I don’t feel like driving back to the base tonight." Oh, Jack, you’re in dangerous territory now, driving Sam back to her house, indeed. But she agreed to his plan, and they drove off in the direction of her home. . .
When they arrived, Jack turned off the engine and got out of the car. He walked over to her side and opened the car door for her. "Oh, you didn’t have to do that. . ." Sam began, when Jack caught her up in his arms and gave her a warm hug. Wow, where did that come from, she wondered. "That’s from Daniel. He asked me to give it to you right before he left this evening."
"Oh, from Daniel. Well, that was sweet of him," Sam replied, obviously disappointed, and she turned to walk to her front door. When she got to it, she turned around to say good bye to Jack, and ended up bumping right into his chest. He’d followed her to the door.
As she put her hand on his chest to balance herself, he bent down and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "That’s from me," he said softly.
"Why, thank you. I just wish I could remember the other. . ." her voice trailed off as she pictured the kiss he described in the letter.
"I could show you what it looked like," he offered considerately, "but you’d have to let me inside first. I don’t fancy the whole neighborhood seeing it, especially since there are a lot of military people here."
Sam smiled, and unlocked the door. She let him in first and as she walked in behind him he turned around. In one fluid motion he reached around her, shut the door, and then tightened his arms around her back to pull her down for a real kiss. He dipped her just as he’d done in the time loop, and Sam responded in the same way. She started out surprised, then as she got over that she wrapped her arm around him. Jack felt the tip of her tongue touch his, but this time there was no loop to prevent him from deepening the kiss. He brought her back up and pinned her against the door, and felt her breasts crush against him.
After he finally released her, she looked up and smiled. "We did that in front of General Hammond, Colonel? I’m amazed he didn’t have a stroke right in the gate room!"
Jack cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, we didn’t exactly get that far. The loop saw to that." He took Sam’s hand and led her into the living room. They sat down on the couch and Jack put his arm around Sam.
"Jack, I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me that you’d kissed me until after you were dead!" Sam said indignantly.
Jack just smiled. She’d used his name, finally. "I wasn’t sure how you’d take it. And I wasn’t sure we’d ever get to be together. I’m still not, but right know I don’t want to think about that. I’m sitting in your house, on your couch, with my arm around you, and to be quite honest, I can’t think straight anyway."
And with that, he leaned down to kiss her again. They made love on the couch, and then got up and went into her bedroom where they spent the rest of the night talking and loving, but most definitely not sleeping! By around 8 am the two of them had finally fallen asleep. Jack was lying on his back, his arm around Sam who was curled up against his chest. They’d only been dozing for about half an hour when the phone rang. Jack woke up, startled, and picked up the phone. He was about to say "Hello" when he remembered he wasn’t in his bedroom. He handed the phone over to Sam, who spoke in the deep, throaty voice of someone who has just woken up. "Hello?"
"Oh, yes, sir, good morning. . . No, that’s okay, what is it? . . . Yes sir, I’ll be there in 45 minutes." And Sam hung up the phone. Jack looked at her questioningly. "It was General Hammond. He needs to see SG-1 immediately," Sam told him.
"Did he say why?"
"No, just that it was urgent." Sam started to get up when the phone rang again. She picked it up. "Yes?. . .Oh, hi, Daniel. . .yes. . .yes," Jack noticed her face turn bright red. "Yes, he knows. We’re on our way. And Daniel, keep this quiet, would you?" She hung up the phone again. "That was Daniel. General Hammond called him and asked if he knew where you were since you weren’t answering you phone. Daniel promised to stop by your place and get you, but he thought he’d check here first, just in case!"
"That little. . .he’s going to be unbearable all day you know. Last night, Sam, he didn’t have an allergy attack. He wanted to get us alone together, he said we needed to talk," Jack was trying to act angry, but it was obvious he was satisfied with the way things had turned out.
Sam just smiled and said, "I’d wondered if that sneezing was for real!" She got up with a sheet wrapped around her, and headed to the shower. "Well, I guess we have to hurry up. General Hammond did say it was urgent."
They showered quickly and then rushed over to Jack’s place so he could get into uniform. When they got to the base Daniel was waiting for them outside. "I figured it would be less suspicious if all three of us walked in together," he said.
Jack shook his head in amazement at Daniel’s scheming, and Sam thanked him. They took the elevator down to level 28 and walked to Hammond’s office, where the General and Teal’c were already waiting.
General Hammond told them to take their seats. "I have good news for you, SG-1. The President has finally approved an off-world beta site. Jack, you will be in charge of getting it operational, and the rest of SG-1 will assist." Jack glanced over to Sam, whose jaw was dropped in amazement at their stroke of good luck. . .
The End.
Story Notes: Spoilers: D&C, WoO, very small mention of Upgrades
Archive: SamandJack, Heliopolis.
Archive: SamandJack, Heliopolis.
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 ]