Changes
Chapter Two: New and Different
It had taken Sam some time, and a few days personal leave to get herself together and come to terms with Jack's current disability. Her father had returned to share the news from their mission with the Tok'ra, and she had spent most of her three days of downtime talking with Janet and catching up on other events since she'd been gone. Before leaving the base, Sam attended a briefing with General Hammond and her father to discuss the important aspects of her mission, and now it was thankfully all behind her.
After a week Sam started spending more time with Jack, with the help of either Daniel or Teal'c. One of them was always around to make sure Jack was still comfortable around her, and it helped her get used to picking up on his behavior whenever he needed something, because he rarely expressed it himself.
Currently walking toward the work-out room with Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel, Sam watched Jack's posture as he slowed his pace before coming to a full stop. There was a peculiar expression on his face, one which Teal'c seemed to immediately pick up on.
"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c gestured toward Jack, and Daniel eyed their charge briefly before waving for him to go. The Jaffa nodded in response and took Jack by the shoulders, steering him quickly down the hall and into the nearest restroom.
Sam stood with a clueless expression. Cocking her head to the side, she stared at Daniel, waiting for an explanation. "What's wrong? What just happened?"
Daniel glanced off down the hall where Teal'c had taken Jack. He looked back over at Sam with a tight smile that quickly faded. "Because of his head injury, Jack occasionally suffers from sudden bouts of nausea. That and blinding headaches. Either of those can, and do, happen unexpectedly at any time."
"Oh," Sam nodded with understanding. She seemed to be learning more about Jack each day, and although it was strange and different, she wanted to know him as he was now. She wanted to be a part of his life as much as Teal'c and Daniel had been in her absence. She needed to feel like she was still part of their family.
Tilting his head to the side, Daniel started walking again, in the direction of the work out room. "C'mon, they'll meet up with us in a few minutes," he assured Sam gently, noticing her rather hesitant look.
"Alright," Sam followed, glancing one more time down the hall where Jack had disappeared with Teal'c.
-
They waited by the ping pong table for a few minutes, then Jack shuffled into the room, Teal'c close behind and urging him to keep moving. Sam looked over and smiled, waving Jack toward her and holding out a ping pong paddle. "Come on Jack, you can be on my team," she said softly with a friendly smile.
Jack reached out very slowly and took the paddle from Sam's outstretched hand. He stared at it for a moment, gripping it awkwardly by the handle and turning to stand at one end of the table.
Teal'c and Daniel watched Jack for a moment, then nodded to each other and went to the other side of the table to take their positions.
Once the friendly game had started, Sam found that she was pretty much on her own. In the first five minutes, she began to notice that Jack was actually paying complete attention to the game. Out of the corner of her eye she could see his head bobbing slightly as he followed the ball back and forth across the table.
Teal'c noticed Jack's focus on the ping pong ball as well, and took the opportunity to deliberately tap the ball toward his side of the table.
Jack's arm struck out with a quick movement that put his normally slow, hesitant actions to shame. He struck the ball with his paddle with much more force than was necessary, and sent it whizzing past Daniel's right ear.
Sam rewarded his participation by lightly patting Jack's shoulder. "Good job! That was very good Jack." She smiled at him, and he tilted his head to look at her, a shaky smile briefly flickering across his face before he set the paddle down on the table and began shuffling over to the punching bag in the corner.
Daniel grinned, pleased with Jack's surprising actions. He noticed his friend had been having more reactions than usual since Sam's return. Following Jack's lead, he set down his ping pong paddle and swiftly went to stand by his friend in the corner.
-
That night Sam found herself sitting on the couch in Jack's room on base. Teal'c was scheduled to go off-world with SG-11 in the morning and was staying at the mountain all night. Janet got stuck being called to an emergency at the Academy Hospital, and Daniel offered to take Jack home with him since he had to get back to Cassie, but Jack had already been fast asleep in his room by 2100 hours. Sam offered to look after him so Daniel wouldn't need to wake him up.
Just sitting there and watching Jack lay there on the bed, curled into an impossibly tight ball, fast asleep, Sam almost believed that nothing had changed since she'd left. But then, she reasoned, she wouldn't be sitting there watching her CO sleep. Standing slowly, she moved closer to the bed and sat down on the edge, leaning over Jack with a soft smile on her face. Tilting her head sideways, Sam squinted and studied the slightly raised scar on the side of his head an inch or so above his right ear. It was about three inches in length, and left a line of vacant space in his silver hair. Sam knew that it wouldn't have been visible if Jack allowed his hair to grow out even just an inch more, but she felt that even now he wouldn't accept anything less than a military regulation cut.
She smiled somewhat sadly, wanting to reach out and trace the scar with her fingers, but refrained from doing so. Her blue eyes shifted slowly to Jack's face, and Sam nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized that his eyes were open and he was watching her. Not wanting to startle him, and hoping she hadn't already by her close, unexpected presence, Sam sent him a comforting smile. "Hey there."
Jack sat up slowly and untangled himself from the blankets, shoving them down by his feet. He was wearing a grey Air Force t-shirt and blue and grey plaid pajama shorts that just reached his knees. He shifted on the bed until he was sitting beside Sam, his legs dangling over the side, right alongside hers.
His expression was rather blank, and Sam hated that she couldn't tell what he was thinking. She remembered a time where they could both communicate so well with just a look, and felt tears spring to her eyes. Shaking her head, she quickly composed herself and looked sideways at Jack. It was 2215 by now, and he'd only been asleep for about an hour, but Sam didn't know whether or not he would go right back to sleep again.
Sam couldn't be sure, but she thought that maybe he wasn't going back to sleep because he had to use the bathroom. Daniel assured her that he could go on his own, but normally needed to be prompted to do so. Getting to her feet, Sam waved him up as well. When he stood without complaint, protest, or any other reaction than to do as she asked, Sam put a hand on his back and urged him toward the door across the room. She realized that a benefit of being in the VIP rooms was that you got your own private bathroom.
Once Jack stepped in, Sam pulled the door closed behind him and waited, leaning against the wall just outside. After hearing the toilet flush, followed by the sound of water running in the sink, the door opened up again and Jack came back out. She watched him shuffle past her and stop by the bed to pull off the blanket, then turn and drag it toward the couch. Not really sure what he was doing, as was often the case, Sam followed and sat down on the small couch next to him. Another thing she had begun to notice was that there was really no rhyme or reason to a lot of things he did. It was strange, but she was beginning to expect it now, the more time she spent with him.
Jack pulled the blanket over his legs, then slowly glanced over at Sam and covered her legs with the blanket as well.
Sam smiled over at him and leaned back into the cushions of the overstuffed couch. She was surprised at how tired she felt. Between trying to leaf through files of research papers on technological advancements she'd missed out on during her year long absence, and finding time to spend with Jack, Sam felt like she'd been run ragged. She yawned and felt her eyelids starting to close, then jerked to alertness when she remembered about Jack. She couldn't just drift off if he was still awake. He had to be looked after constantly, like a young child.
Remembering what Daniel had told her about needing to prompt Jack to do most things, Sam lightly placed a hand on his forearm to gain his attention. "Jack, go back to sleep okay? It's late."
He didn't say anything, just simply tilted sideways on the cushions, drew his legs up and laid his head in Sam's lap.
Surprised, Sam tensed briefly, then forced herself to relax, not wanting Jack to notice that she was uncomfortable. She had to remind herself that he wasn't her commanding officer any longer, and no matter what feelings she had harboured towards him, yet couldn't act on then, circumstances were even more different now. Feeling tears springing to her eyes again, Sam grit her teeth and willed herself not to cry as she thought about how she'd missed out on her chance to ever tell Jack how she truly felt about him.
As Jack's soft snores filled the quiet of the room, Sam brought up her hand and found herself slowly threading her fingers through his short hair. Her eyes shifted to the scar on the side of his head, and very carefully, she traced it lightly with her index finger like she had wanted to do before but hadn't dared something so personal. It was different now, because he had been the one to fall asleep on her lap, and Sam knew he wouldn't have done so if he didn't want her so close. His head twitched faintly when she traced the scar, but he continued to sleep and she moved her hand away to rest on his shoulder.
Within moments, Sam was yawning again, her head lolling back on the couch cushions. Seconds later, she was fast asleep, joining Jack in dreamland.
-
"Hey Janet, good morning." Daniel met her outside Jack's room with a brief kiss early the next morning, having not seen her all night because she'd been stuck at the hospital. He waved a hand at the door and tilted his head sideways. "So, how do you think it went?"
Janet's brows knit together slightly. "What? Sam looking after Jack last night? She knew she could have called you or gotten Teal'c if there was any trouble, so I'm assuming everything was okay."
Daniel nodded a bit unsurely. "Yeah, I know that. But... Jack's been a little less..predictable lately. He seems to have latched onto Sam right away, and he's actually pretty...ah...touchy-feely with her." He shrugged, cheeks reddening slightly in embarrassment.
Smiling, Janet crossed her arms, both brows risen. "It isn't a bad thing you know. It's about time he got attached to something or someone. This could even be a sign, increasing his chances of recovery." She looked pleased.
"Janet," Daniel sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. "What if Jack starts to...uh...act on his feelings for Sam? I mean, we've known for awhile now that they both harbored feelings for one another, but they knew because of their positions in the military that neither could act on them."
"What are you saying?" Janet interrupted his chain of thought. "You think that the way he is now, Jack won't be able to control his feelings like he could before?"
Shrugging, Daniel's gaze drifted to the closed door. Then he shook his head, planting a hand on his forehead with an exasperated sigh. "I don't know! I mean...I don't think he'd do anything. I just think the way he's been acting around her, Jack is just showing his affection...appreciation for her. He already knows he and Sam are friends."
Janet patted Daniel's shoulder and smiled. "You worry too much. And you know Sam would make sure nothing happened. She's not going to take advantage of him." She started to open the door as Daniel nodded at her. "Now let's go and see for ourselves that everything is just-" Her mouth opened slightly as she stepped into the room to find Jack curled up on the couch beside Sam, his head in her lap. "-fine," she finished quietly.
Daniel nudged her elbow and peered at the pair on the couch. They were both fully clothed and still sleeping soundly, with Sam's hand on Jack's shoulder in a very platonic manner.
Sam thought she heard someone talking and opened her eyes, pulling her head up from where it was lolled back against the couch cushions. She yawned softly and opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she focused on the two figures in the room that hadn't been there when she fell asleep. "Daniel? Janet?" She asked, her voice still sounding sleepy.
"Morning," Daniel was grinning much too smugly. "Sleep well?"
Confused by his ridiculous grin, Sam tilted her neck from side to side and grimaced. "Not really. I'm gonna have a stiff neck from falling asleep on the couch," she muttered, then realized that there was something moving on her lap. She looked down and remembered that Jack was on the couch beside her, and his head was still resting on her lap. Her hand moved from his shoulder as he stirred and slowly sat up.
Janet saw Sam's cheeks suddenly flushing as she realized what things must have looked like, and refrained from mentioning anything that would further embarrass her friend. Instead, she focused on Jack, moving close to where he sat on the couch and touching his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you showered and dressed."
Jack stood automatically and allowed Janet to lead him into the bathroom.
All Janet had to do was turn on the water and leave Jack some towels and a new set of clothes. Checking to make sure the water was an acceptable temperature, she left him to undress and get in the shower, closing the door behind her.
Daniel could see that Sam looked a little concerned when Janet came back into the bedroom after leaving Jack his clothes. He was quick to assure her that it was alright. "Don't worry, he can shower on his own," he sent her a small smile to relieve her worries. "It took him almost a month to remember and re-learn how to do things like that. Once those pieces of his memory came back he really freaked out when Janet and a nurse tried to undress him and get him into a bath." Daniel shrugged.
Sam just blinked, glancing over at Janet for confirmation and watching her nod emphatically.
"Oh yes, he put up quite a fight, even while he was still having coordination problems and could barely stand at the time." Janet's gaze flicked toward the closed bathroom door for a moment.
It was still a bit of a shock for Sam to realize how Jack's injury had affected him, and she was still taking it all in. She hadn't even thought that the state he was in now was an improvement on the way he'd been immediately after the accident. It startled her to think about what hardships Jack must have gone through.
While silence enveloped the room, Daniel tugged the blanket off the couch and headed over to Jack's bed to start making it. He noticed Sam move to help him and smiled. "Oh, Sam, I saw the General on my way here, and he wanted me to tell you to let him know when you feel ready to head into the field again. He's not sure if you wanted more time to look at the lab reports or anything."
"Oh god, anything to get me away from those reports," Sam exclaimed with a grateful smile. "I've been leafing through them for over a week!"
Daniel chuckled and Janet laughed. The archaeologist shrugged. "Hey, maybe he'll even let you join Teal'c with SG-11."
"Didn't they leave already?" Sam's brows creased a bit as she adjusted the pillows on the bed.
"Yeah, but they're just there to help the villagers rebuild after a Goa'uld attack from nearly a month ago," Daniel explained. "They'll probably need a team to bring in more supplies like building tools, medicine, and food for the people."
"Ah, I see," Sam nodded her understanding. She gave a slight shrug. "Well, I'll let General Hammond know I'm up for anything right now," she smiled a bit and then sat down on the newly-made bed.
Daniel, Janet, and Sam chatted idly for a little while until Janet heard the water turn off in the bathroom and stood. She moved over to the door and knocked once. "You all done in there?" after getting an answering tap from the other side of the door a moment later, Janet went back to sit on the couch. "That's how he lets me know that he's out and getting dressed," she explained to Sam without being questioned.
Sam didn't say anything. She just accepted that this was another way that Jack communicated, since he very rarely used actual words.
When Daniel excused himself to get some breakfast, saying that he'd see them there once Jack was ready, Sam remembered that she'd need to shower and change into a clean set of BDUs. Janet assured her that she'd stay with Jack and bring him to the commissary, as she had often done nearly every morning before Sam got back. Feeling slightly embarrassed for assuming they couldn't function without her around, Sam hurried off to the locker room for a shower, saying she'd see them for breakfast in a few minutes.
-
When Sam made it to the commissary, she headed over to the corner table where she spotted Janet sitting with a bowl of fruit salad and some yogurt. She glanced toward the food line and strolled in that direction instead after a brief wave to her friend. Daniel was already making his way down the line with Jack shuffling beside him and pushing a tray along the counter. She noticed Daniel pretty much picking out all of Jack's food, but occasionally Jack reached out and put something down on his own tray. Sam smiled at them as she got a tray and decided on a bowl of Cheerios, some orange juice, and a small cup of yogurt.
Now going over to the table again, Sam sat across from Janet, then smiled at her side as she watched Jack take the seat to her right. Daniel patted his shoulder, then headed to the other side of the table next to Janet.
Janet took a few bites of fruit and smiled across the table at Jack, then turned to Sam. "Jack has an appointment with me this morning after breakfast," she told her quietly. "Then he can stay with me for a little while if you're still talking with General Hammond,"
Sam nodded, pausing with her spoon half-way to her mouth. "Oh, right, I nearly forgot about speaking to the General,"
"SG-11's due for a check-in later today. By then we should know if they'll need to send in another team with supplies," Daniel spoke up around the mouthful of waffle he was munching on.
"Great," Sam smiled. She wanted to get off the base and do something besides read through piles of research, but she also didn't want to leave Jack. For reasons she couldn't explain, Sam was worried that if she was gone for more than a day, that maybe Jack would forget about her and not want to be as close. She tried to reason with herself that if he hadn't forgotten her in a year, then he wouldn't forget her now, but the thought still twisted her insides.
Jack stopped eating his Fruit Loops to pick up the toast from his tray. He took a bite, then grasped a strip of bacon and put it on Sam's tray without even shifting his gaze.
Sam looked at the piece of bacon, then at Jack and smiled warmly. "Thank you," she said politely, even though she wasn't very inclined to eat it.
Janet watched Jack inch his chair a little closer to Sam's, and felt an amused smile spread across her face.
-
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