Beneath the Surface
by LauraJo
"I butchered your hair."
"Jack-"
"I.butchered.your.hair."
Sam sighed. "It needed cutting. And it's not that bad." She paused, suddenly plagued with a tiny slither of doubt. "Is it?"
He didn't answer her.
"Jack?"
"Huh?"
"Does it really look that bad?"
"What?"
"My hair. You were complaining about my hair."
"I wasn't complaining about your hair. I was commenting on what I did to your hair."
"Oh." Obviously, there was a difference. Though what that difference was Sam couldn't say.
"They're going to be on the look out again."
"Who?" Sam was caught off-guard by the apparent change in topic. At least, she assumed no one was on any particular look out concerning her hair style.
"Hammond, Daniel, the Doc. Everyone. Daniel especially, this time."
Oh. That kind of look out. "They'll always be watching us."
"Yeah, just seems that recently we keep getting ourselves into situations that make them look harder."
"True. Though in that case, we're doing well seeing as they still don't know. Any of them."
"You know, I expected you to be a little more worried by what just happened. Daniel, Teal'c, they both saw us down there. We weren't hiding anything."
"I know that. But I've been thinking-"
"There's a surprise," Jack interrupted.
"Jack..."
"Sorry, go on."
"I've been thinking that really, this shouldn't give them any more reason to be suspicious than they had before. We likely would have acted just the same down there if we weren't together. And they knew there was at least a chance we felt something for each other. They've had reason to be suspicious for years."
"Alternate realities, caveman viruses, alternate realities..." Jack joked.
"Exactly. And just like we did then, we've dealt with the recent situations and moved on. It's reassuring, in a way, that even with everything that's happened in the last few months the team relationship has remained unaffected."
"I hadn't thought about it that way. It's been hard though."
"Which bit in particular?"
"Right now? I'm wishing we had the same freedom as Jonah and Thera. Down there, they, we, could show how we felt and, although some people obviously disapproved, it wasn't actually against any rules. Then we get home and have to get back to hiding and 'sir's and looking over our shoulders every second minute of the day. I'd thought you'd been feeling the same."
"I did, at first. But..." Sam trailed off.
"But what?"
"But I decided not to focus on the negative this time. Yes, I wish we could be as open as Jonah and Thera. I want to tell my Dad about us, I want to tell Janet and Cassie, Daniel and Teal'c. I don't want to have to think twice before every time I open my mouth. But I wouldn't want their lives. We gained more than we lost when we realised who we really were."
Jack turned to face Sam, cupped her cheeks in his hands, and kissed her tenderly.
"Sam, when I understand what you're talking about, you make a lot of sense."
"Thanks. I think."
"It reassures me that you're still making sense when I don't understand more than half of what you're saying."
Sam laughed. "So you're feeling better about it all now?"
"Mostly. Though there's still one thing that's bothering me."
"There is?"
"Yeah."
Sam waited for him to explain, but apparently he wasn't volunteering any further information. "What is it?"
"I butchered your hair."
