"Tell me again why I'm doing this, Sir."
"Because Teal'c doesn't like the cold, and there isn't enough padding in the world to keep Daniel from getting hurt on the ice."
Sam rolled her eyes as Jack leaned over the tailgate of the Jeep to retrieve the skates and sticks. 'Why me?' she thought. 'I was nice and warm in my lab, didn't need to go outside for anything, then along comes the colonel and drags me out here. Thanks Sir.' She pulled the zipper of her jacket higher and shivered as the wind brushed her bare ears.
Jack handed her a worn pair of hockey skates; the nylon scuffed at the toes. He grabbed the rest of the gear from the Jeep and closed the hatch. Sam followed him down the path to the small shed that sat by the edge of the lake. The lights on the poles along the shoreline revealed the homemade hockey rink. The snow was banked up almost waist-high on both sides of the length of ice, and somebody had stuck sheets of plywood at either end of the rink to keep the puck in play. A pair of battered hockey nets stood sentinel at each end of the ice, the paint on the crossbars chipped from years of use. Sam had to smile when she saw it all; it looked like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
It was late and being a school night, the rink was empty. Inside the shed, Jack propped the skates in front of the small heater to warm them.
"C'mon Carter, it'll be fun." Jack toed off his boots and pushed them under the bench.
Sam still wasn't convinced. "I don't know about this, Sir. I mean it's cold out and-"
"Major." Jack used his command voice. Sometimes it was the only thing that would stop her short when she went off on a tangent, and he really wasn't in the mood for one of those right now. "Just put the damn skates on."
Sam stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide. ‘That's the way he wants to play this? Fine, that's the way we'll play this.' She slipped one foot into her skate and proceeded to pull the laces tight.
"Not like that, Carter. You'll cut of the circulation to your toes and freeze your feet." Jack grabbed her ankle but she tried to pull away. "Hold still, will you?" He pushed her skate encased foot onto the bench and held it still between his knees. Untying the laces, Jack left them loose along the foot and then with one strong tug, tied them tightly around Sam's ankle. "Better?"
Sam simply shrugged and replaced one foot with the other. 'If he wants me out there, he's going to have to work for it.'
Jack finished tying his own skates, handed Sam one of the hockey sticks he had brought, and motioned towards the door. "Ladies first."
The short path down to the rink was rough and uneven but Sam somehow managed to make it to the ice without falling. Jack brushed past her to skate a couple of quick warm up laps. When he stopped in front of her again, he was breathing hard; it was cold to be skating outside.
"You can't learn to skate if you're just going to stand there."
"Who says I want to learn to skate?"
Jack pretended to look hurt. "Well, you've come this far. And it would be a shame to just stand there all night and freeze."
"And wouldn't you just love that," Sam shot back.
"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to keep you warm."
Their eyes locked for a brief second until Sam broke the silence. "So. How does this work?"
Jack dropped his hockey stick and then grabbed the one Sam was holding and stuck it the snow bank. He reached forward to take both of her hands to guide her onto the ice.
"The trick is to keep your knees bent." Jack held her steady as she tried to find her balance. But just as one foot found it's spot, the other would slip, sending them into a frenzy of pin wheeling arms and frenetic footwork that ended with Sam completely losing her balance and pinning Jack to the ice.
"Sorry, Sir. I guess I just don't have the hang of this yet." Sam rolled off of him and brushed at the snow that stuck to her pants.
"You know what they say, Major," He offered her a hand and she graciously let him pull her to her feet.
"I know, 'Practice makes perfect.'"
Jack looked a bit surprised. "I was going to say 'Keep you head up and your stick on the ice', but I guess in your case, a little practice wouldn't hurt." He had to admit that it was nice to see that Sam wasn't a whiz at everything, made her seem a little more reachable.
Once he was sure the Sam was steady on her feet, he held out his hands again like he was asking he to dance. Cautiously, she took them and was a bit surprised to feel a gentle tug and realized that she was moving. Jack skated backwards slowly, leading her around the ice, making encouraging sounds the whole time.
"That's it. Easy now. I'm going to go a little faster." His eyes were locked on hers and she gave him a cautious smile. This was going better than she had expected.
They came to a slow stop in the middle of the rink and Jack let go of her hands.
"This time, we'll try it with your feet moving." With one quick push of the foot, Jack glided around behind her and rested his hands on her hips to steady her. "Remember what I said about bending your knees."
Sam nodded and them attempted to push off with her right foot. She wobbled a bit and then let out a yelp when Jack grabbed her tight to keep her upright. "Knees Carter," he reminded her. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek as he leaned close to instruct her.
Once again, Sam tried to push off, and once again, Jack had to steady her. "What did I tell you about the knees?" He moved in closer still, and then with one agile move, hit the back of her knee with his. The soft blow caught the right spot and Sam was helpless to keep her knee from folding. She would have fallen again if not for Jack's arms firmly around her waist.
"I think I've got it sir." She took a tentative step away from him and he was pleased to see that she did indeed have it.
"Knees, Carter," he shouted, but it was no longer necessary. She had found her balance and was unsteadily making her way around the ice like a toddler practicing its first steps.
Sam let momentum carry her to a stop in front of where they had left the sticks. "So when are you going to teach me to use one of these, Sir?"
Jack sprinted over to where she stood and stopped abruptly, spraying Sam with snow. 'Show off,' she thought.
Jack just grinned. This was getting fun. It was nice to see Sam off the base, relaxing. He knew that she was the type of person that, had most of their work not been top secret, would have brought papers and files home to work on during her downtime. As it was, she rarely took time for herself, preferring to spend it putting in extra time at the base labs, on an outing with Cassie, or keeping the rest of the team company in the infirmary. But to see her out here, like she hadn't a care in the world, this was a whole new side of Sam, one that he was really starting to like. If he had known that all it would take was a little goading and the promise of hot chocolate later, he would have tried this a long time ago.
"Sure your ready for this?" he asked. At her cocked head and mock glare he added, "It's a pretty big stick you know."
"No wonder you like this game so much."
Jack simply shrugged and reached into his pocket for the hockey pucks. He caught one on the blade of his stick and handled it back and forth for a few seconds, getting the feel of it.
"Now, again, you want to keep those knees bent," he instructed as she imitated his pose, one hand low on the stick shaft, the other up high, watching her puck intently. She tried to copy his movements, but the puck skittered away. Jack easily retrieved it.
"You don’t want to hold the stick too tight. Soft hands." Jack gave the puck a little tap in her direction. It hit the blade of her stick and bounced away again. "Keep your eye on the puck. Here, let me show you."
But Sam backed away slightly. "I think I've got the hang of this now." She dug her skate blades firmly into the ice, sighted the net at the end of the rink, raised her stick back over her shoulder, and let loose one of the hardest slapshots that Jack had ever seen outside of the NHL. Her aim was true and the puck was in the back of the net before Jack could even blink. The sound of wood hitting frozen rubber reverberated across the frozen lake.
Jack just stood there with his mouth hanging open.
"Was that okay, Sir?" Sam asked innocently. But before Jack could find the words to answer she had taken off in a sprint. Jack realized that she had played him. And good.
"Son of a bitch!" he shouted and then charged after her. "You little devil!" All he got in answer was a breathless laugh as she easily outran him.
But Jack had the advantage of longer legs and easily caught up with her. Just as he was about to reach out at grab her arm, she did a quick pivot and was gone in the opposite direction. He dug in his blades and quickly changed direction, sprinting after her again. He chased her for several minutes before he finally caught up with her, sweating and out of breath. Or she let him catch her. He wasn't sure anymore.
They collapsed onto the snow bank, no longer caring if they got wet. Sam had a grim plastered on her face. "Got you, Sir."
"Where...?" Jack couldn't finish, still out of breath.
"State champions three years running while I was an undergrad. Play left wing," she replied.
Jack just shook his head. He should have known. "Why'd you give it up?"
Sam shrugged. "No time after that, I guess."
"You never said anything, all the times I went on and on about playing hockey." He was lying on him back now, watching the northern lights dance across the sky.
"You never asked," she replied simply, lying back beside him. "Besides, hockey's your thing."
"Well, I'm glad."
"That it's you thing?"
"That we've got something else in common." They lay there in silence for a while, steam rising from their damp shirts, celestial light show overhead.
"We should do this again Sam."
"Sure." A comfortable silence stole over them again.
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"About that hot chocolate..."
the end
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 ]