Janet Fraiser was filing her nails when Jack O'Neill entered the Infirmary for his post-mission physical. Granted, it had been a mission from three months ago but... She glanced at him, waving perfunctorily at one of the beds, waiting until she had got her fingernail to look the way she wanted to before deigning to go over and speaking to him.
"Headaches? Dizziness?" she asked, grabbing his chin firmly and shining the penlight she held into his eyes without warning, causing him to wince.
"No..."
"Nausea?"
"No."
"Limb pain?"
"No."
"Complete and utter moronic behaviour?"
"Er..."
"Reasons I should speak to you at all?"
"Janet..."
Janet's face was completely blank as she moved behind Jack and started poking his neck with practiced, efficient fingers, ignoring what he was saying.
"Congratulations, Colonel. You're an idiot. And Sam's now joined the ranks of scorned women." Janet peered at him, even though he couldn't see her. "And you know what they say: hell hath no fury..."
Jack fell silent. "She's really that mad?"
"I'd say she was pissed." Janet jabbed her fingers into a pressure point on his neck and he hissed in pain. She didn't let up the pressure as she said. "So am I, by the way. This woman spent three months..." she stopped and shook her head. "What's the point? You're not going to listen, are you?" She pulled her hands away in disgust and pulled off her rubber gloves. "I'm so tempted to remember you're in dire need of a tetanus booster, right now."
Jack swallowed. "What do you want me to say? I'm sorry?"
Janet frowned, her brow furrowing deeply. "I'm not the one you need to apologise to. But, since she doesn't want to speak to you then you're going to have a hard time getting her to listen." Janet tilted her head. "You're an idiot."
Jack glared at the petit doctor. "And why is that?"
"Let me see... do the words 'thank you' enter into your vocabulary? Because you certainly haven't said them to Sam. You showed less than polite behaviour to her when you got back. Oh yeah... and you had sex with another woman, emotionally screwing my best friend over, and therefore really, /really/ pissing me off." Janet paused. "I think that's it for now."
She pulled off her gloves and snapped them into a bin, returning to her previous seat and pulling out her nail file again. It was obvious she was going to ignore him from that point on, so Jack slipped off the bed and headed out of the room. There was someone he had to find.
**
He had been told that she'd been ordered back to her home, to get some rest. From all accounts she had barely slept in the last three months, working 24/7 to build something by all rights that she shouldn't have been able to. Dead on her feet was a word that described her pretty accurately by the time it was all done.
It took some serious thought and some serious prompting from Daniel and Teal'c before he could go and try and talk to her. Even so, after leaving the base and driving to Sam's home, he had to sit outside in his car, engine and lights off, just staring at the door.
Janet, apparently, thought he had something to feel guilty for. But three months was a long time. Rescues had always come in days, no more than one or two weeks, after that, the higher-ups generally decided that resources could be better spent elsewhere and ordered them to cut searches short. He had thought that was what had happened.
He had been wrong.
And now he wasn't sure what he felt.
Guilt?
Anything else?
He finally managed to muster up the courage to open his car door and step out, heading up the drive towards her door, and raising his hand to knock on the wood when he got there.
He was slightly startled when the door opened before his hand connected.
"I was wondering how long you were going to sit out there." commented Sam dryly. She was wearing baggy clothes and looked as if she had been wide awake, although the bags under her eyes and the mussed up state of her hair indicated that she probably wished she was in bed asleep. Her expression, however, was bland, not betraying anything.
"You were watching me?"
"I figured it was either you, or some other stalker who's decided to pull up outside my house and sit there watching it for twenty minutes." she told him, leaning against the doorframe. "What do you want?" she asked tiredly.
"Can I come in?"
Sam regarded him silently for a moment before glancing down at the step. "I don't think so."
Jack looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts, then said, "Janet reamed me out for being an idiot."
"I'd say that's a fairly accurate description." Sam said, her voice almost inaudible.
"I didn't think I was going to be rescued." He started. "You know how the President reacts to overlong rescue operations."
"The Tollan had a ship." pointed out Sam. "It would have reached you in a year, even if I hadn't."
"I didn't know that. About Lara... She wanted me to give her a child."
Sam nodded. "And you obliged."
"N... Yes... I..." He stopped.
Sam looked at him, her eyes boring into his. "Did you come here looking for forgiveness?"
Jack started to offer some sort of trite explanation, but stop before any words could come out his mouth. "Yeah," he said finally. "I guess I did."
Sam folded her arms slowly, her expression thoughtful. "Do you remember what you said to me? Before we left for that mission three months ago?"
Jack did. A little too much alcohol, Daniel and Teal'c returned to their own places, a few candid remarks... a whispered admission...
"I do." he told her.
Sam's expression didn't waver even slightly. "Hmm." she murmured, her voice reflecting her thoughtful expression. "Then you know," she looked him in the eye. "Then you know why I can't forgive you. Not for a while, anyway."
She blinked, and for an instant, just an instant, her emotional barrier let down for a second, and he saw the hurt and vulnerability in her eyes. But it was gone before he could take advantage of it. "Goodbye, Colonel." she said softly, stepping back and shutting the door in his face.
For a long while, he just stood there, staring at her door, at the polished wooden surface, and wondered whether he should knock again and try to talk to her. Whether he should keep trying to talk to her.
He turned and walked back to his car.
-Fini
= Jewels = http://jump.to/jewels.realm
"Chces li tajnou vec aneb pravdu vyzvedeti Blazen, dite opily clovec o tom umeji povodeti."
Story Notes: Title: Forgiveness
Author: Jewels
Email: jhantor@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 100 days.
Archive: SJA, Heliopolis, go ahead, anyone else, ask me first please.
Summary: Post 100 days, Jack goes looking for forgiveness.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. They're not mine, never have been mine, even though I wish they were.
Notes: I've not seen 100 days, but this short little situation popped into my head after reading all the spoilers and wouldn't go away.
Feedback will be adored and get you a gold star in your good bee book.
Author: Jewels
Email: jhantor@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: 100 days.
Archive: SJA, Heliopolis, go ahead, anyone else, ask me first please.
Summary: Post 100 days, Jack goes looking for forgiveness.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. They're not mine, never have been mine, even though I wish they were.
Notes: I've not seen 100 days, but this short little situation popped into my head after reading all the spoilers and wouldn't go away.
Feedback will be adored and get you a gold star in your good bee book.
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 ]