"Colonel?"
Jack dragged his eyes away from the dance floor reluctantly. "Jonas."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
There was a pause, during which Jack crushed down every urge to reach across and embed the Dictionary of English Slang into Jonas's skull.
He was not going to tell him... he was not going to tell him... he was not...
"That means ask away, Jonas."
Doh!
Jonas grinned and nodded. "Right, gotcha. Shoot. I'll remember that one." Jack could almost see him mentally recording it. "Okay, so feel free to hit me or something..."
"Don't tempt me." Particularly in the mood Jack was. Which had nothing to do with... her. His eyes skidded to the dance floor. Well, it wasn't exactly a dance floor - someone had just turned up the music and pushed all the tables and chairs away. There were a lot of people crammed into the small space, but Jack didn't care about them. The one person he... cared about... was dancing bang in the middle. With someone else.
*That* was what was killing him.
"So, you're retired."
"Not quite. Another..." Blearily, Jack looked at his watch. Considering the amount he had drunk in the past few hours, he was doing pretty good. Of course, his alcohol tolerance level was far higher than most people, but he was still quite impressed with himself. " ... twenty-five minutes."
"Oh. So you're not retired."
"Not yet."
"Can I call you Jack?"
"No."
Jonas looked crushed.
He was not going to give in... he was not going to give in... he was...
"Okay, you can call me Jack."
Dammit!
The grin returned. "Great. So what are you going to do with yourself?"
*Have sex*
Jack shut his eyes in embarrassment at himself. He couldn't believe he'd just *thought* that, let alone contemplated *saying* it. It was the drink. Definitely. He wasn't such a pig, surely?
"Twenty minutes to go, Colonel," someone called.
Jack considered walking out. He considered marching onto the dance floor and forcing his soon-to-be-ex-2IC to come and sit next to him. She didn't have to do anything else but sit next to him. Actually, across from him. That way he could look at her better. She was, after all, wearing the slinkiest, sexiest black top in the history of womankind. He didn't think he'd ever seen her wear it before, but it wasn't as if when they saw each other they dressed up. Either they were in uniform or they were wearing normal, everyday clothes. Not retirement party clothes.
And, apparently, in Carter's mind 'retirement party clothes' consisted of the mouth-watering black top that showed a good couple of inches of toned stomach where it met with a pair of black pants that were just... plain...
Jack made sure his mouth was closed. He had gaped rather unattractively at her when she'd walked into the bar (thankfully, she hadn't noticed - and neither had her father, who'd come with her) and he point-blank refused to do so again.
"Jack?"
"Jonas?"
"Why don't you ask her to dance?"
His eyes swivelled back to the boy. "Excuse me?"
"Ask Sam to dance?" Jonas said, slowly. "It's obviously irritating you that she's out there with Felix."
Felix? Was he kidding? *Felix?* Of all the damn-stupid names that had been attached to all the damn men that had liked her in the last seven years, Felix had to take the cake.
Mmm. Cake. Cake would go down swell right now.
"I don't know what you're talking about it."
Jonas chuckled. "Okay. You go with that one, Jack. It's a good one."
Mentally, Jack imagined ways of stringing Jonas up. He knew several really discrete methods of *removing* people and Jonas was just asking for it.
The song came to an end - thank God - but Jack refused to look over and see who had picked her up next. He refused to. He wasn't going to... hey she was leaving. Where was she going?
"To see Janet, Jack."
What? Was he psychic now as well as irritating? "Jonas, why are you here?"
"Sam told me to keep you company. She said you didn't like parties, particularly your own."
Jack blinked. He leaned forward, sure that he hadn't heard properly. "She what?"
"She said... well, she seemed to know you were going to do this." Jonas shrugged. "She said she'd drop by at about twelve."
"I don't understand..."
"Well, neither do I. And I'm a quick study."
"Would you *stop* saying that?" He lifted his beer, realised by it's weight that it was now - lamentably - empty, and sighed deeply. There was nothing else for it. "I'm going to the bathroom."
"I'll be here when you get back, Jack."
Well *yippee*.
He gave his reflection a good study when he was done and decided he'd looked worse. In fact, he didn't look awful. Smart black trousers, smart black shirt. He'd even brushed his hair, though at several points during the evening he'd run his fingers through it and it had gone back to its usual... style. Of course, he was probably the oldest guy in the building at that moment - not including one of the bar men who had to be eighty if he was a day, and Jake, of course - which was a monumentally depressing thought.
The fact of the matter was that he didn't think Carter cared anymore. Oh sure, she cared about him. Like she cared about Teal'c and, maybe, Jonas. Like she cared about any man she worked with. The proper kind of caring. The teamwork kind. She'd moved on and Jack knew very well that he hadn't. He hadn't wanted to, initially. Illicitly loving someone had been kind of fun, especially when he knew she at least liked him back. Then it had got just a little bit frustrating. Then a lot frustrating. Then...
It wasn't that he'd retired for her. Thank God - *that* would just be pathetic. He'd retired for good reasons, namely that he was getting too old to be running around off-world after Goa'uld. It was time for the other team leaders to move in and make their difference. He had served his time and he knew he had done his job to the best of his abilities. It was all a guy could wish for.
Hammond had offered him a sort of part-time deal - desk work, mainly - but that just hadn't appealed to him. He wanted to relax for the first time in years. He wanted to be able to go up to Minnesota and *not* think about alien invasions. He wanted...
The door behind him opened and Jacob Carter walked in. "Hey, Jack."
"Jake."
Apparently not here to use the facilities, Jake came to stand next to him at the sink. He glanced in the mirror, but only to make eye contact with Jack. "What's up, Jack?"
"Very little, Jake. Enjoying the 'informal retirement' party?" he asked, sarcastically.
"I'm practically the oldest man here, Jack."
"Yeah." Jack sighed and reached up to rub his hand over his hair. He managed some semblance of an entertaining, casual smile and glanced around the bathroom quickly before he answered, "But *you'll* probably outlive everyone."
Jake snorted and Jack was reminded of why he liked Carter's dad so much. He had a sense of humour just like hers. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd retire, Jack."
"No? You figured I was immortal?"
"It won't be the same without you."
"Sure it will. I'll visit. Hammond insists on having me a phone call away. Like Carter doesn't know everything I do."
"More, I imagine. She's pretty nervous about taking over from you."
Jack grinned, understandably proud of her. " She'll be great. More than great."
"Well, she was trained by the best."
"Good God, Jacob, was that a compliment?"
Jacob shrugged lightly. "Selmak let me drink. I tend to get effusive."
Jack turned his back on the mirror, there was only so much of his own reflection he could take. "How's Selmak enjoying herself?"
See? He could talk about the snake without vomiting. He was a mature adult. He could deal with the fact that Jacob right then and there had a ... a ... okay, he was freaking out.
"She's... pleasantly entertained. She thinks humans are.. let's just say she has a fondness for them."
Jack narrowed his eyes, on the alert for patronising aliens. "Like a pet?"
"No... more like... she enjoys human nature, I suppose. She has a distinctly maternal spot for most of the SGC, particularly SG-1. Which is... interesting for me."
Mentally, Jack started a little chant: *Don'tthinkaboutKanan, don'tthinkaboutKanan, don'tthinkaboutKanan*
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are you hiding in the bathroom?"
See - Jack figured Carter got her smarts from her dad. Plus the guy was just plain sneaky. "Jonas is out there."
"Ah." Jake grinned and clapped him on the back. "You know, Sam told me to come and get you. Said you'd better be back in your seat by twelve or she'd make sure the 'gate malfunctioned when I go back."
"What? Is there going to be cake?" Jack asked hopefully.
"No, Jack. If it's what I think it is, though, then I'm sure you'll be... thrilled." Jacob winced suddenly and shook his head. "Selmak is laughing so hard at this point it's really difficult to talk."
He couldn't help it - the question came out of nowhere, "She laughs in there?"
Oh God. *Don'tthinkaboutKanan*
Jake patted him sympathetically on his shoulder. "Jack, you're panicking yourself. Go back to your seat."
"But Jonas is there..."
"Go back to your seat."
Rolling his eyes - he wasn't Jacob's kid, after all - Jack grumbled his way out of the bathroom and went back to the booth where he'd taken up residence. He smiled grimly at Jonas and slid into his seat. There was a fresh beer sitting in front of him on a now clean table. He glanced up at the boy. "This yours?"
Jonas shook his head. "No. Sam brought it over a while ago. Then she cleared the table, as well."
What the hell was she doing? She seemed to be controlling his evening from all angles. Getting Jonas to sit with him, sending him drinks (okay, he really shouldn't be complaining about this one), cleaning up after him, getting her dad to go and check up on him.
Jack leaned across the table. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, Jack. I really don't. Sam's been acting... weird, all night."
Weird?
It was official.
He was getting nervous.
" Two minutes to twelve, Colonel." The Doc came up to him and planted a kiss on his mouth.
Jack was a little shocked, to say the least. She'd... just... kissed him. Okay, it was probably the most chaste kiss he'd ever had. But, still, she was 'the Doc' and she'd never done anything remotely... Stop thinking about it. "Uh... thanks."
She chuckled, patted him on the shoulder. "Just you wait. Jonas?" She beckoned him with a finger. "Dance with me."
"Oh... sure."
Interesting, Jack thought. Jonas was blushing.
Very interesting.
So off they went.
And Jack was left. Alone. Again. Mournfully, he looked at his beer. He liked being alone, he told himself. After Sara had left him, he'd been a lone for a long time. It was only recently he'd been contemplating the possibility that maybe he, well, wouldn't be alone. That maybe... maybe...
Nah.
A slight noise interrupted his melancholy thoughts.
Jack looked up. "Where did you come from?"
Carter blinked at him innocently. She pointed to somewhere in the room. "There, Jack."
Jack? "*Jack?*"
"It is your name, isn't it?"
Yeah, but.. "Yeah, but... You've never called me it."
"Well, as of," she checked her watch, " thirty-five seconds ago, you are no longer my commanding officer."
The nerves that Jack had been ignoring fairly successfully, fluttered in his stomach. "Wow. That's... weird."
"Isn't it just?"
He found it was suddenly hard to swallow. And, also, it was getting rather warm. He didn't know if they'd turned the heating up, but he was starting to feel decidedly... hot.
She, of course, had to be pretty cool. There really wasn't much to that top.
She leaned across the table and reached for his beer and Jack could have sworn the temperature shot up at least twenty degrees as he got a really good look *straight down* her top. Forcing his eyes up to admire the ceiling, Jack tried to control himself. What had they been thinking? Assigning a woman like her under him.
Under him...
ARGH! There he went again. What was he? Sixteen? He was so ashamed.
"So... what are you doing tomorrow?" She took a sip of his beer and then slid it towards him. Then, clearly as a second thought, she pushed the beer to the right.
He was still trying not to look below her shoulder line. In fact, maybe not below her chin line; her neck was looking particularly tasty as well. The little black choker was decidedly sexy and... inviting. "Sleeping tonight off, I imagine."
"No plans at all?"
"Nope."
She smiled. Actually, she grinned. That damn grin... "Good."
"Good?"
"Good."
Since she didn't appeal to want to elaborate, he decided he wasn't going to ask. "Right."
Then Samantha Carter did something he would never, ever, in all his life, forget. It would be forever emblazoned in his memory every time he looked at her. If he'd imagined one day that she'd do it, he would probably never have been able to form a sensible sentence in front of her.
She reached across the small table, grabbed him by the collar and pulled his eager mouth to hers.
Well, that decided him.
It was a *great* party.
THE END
End Notes: Yeah, yeah, the end was a cliche. Feedback would be lovely.
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 ]