Crossroads
by Jen
Jack finally worked out what was bothering him, and closed the magazine he'd
been pretending to read for the past hour. "Teal'c's married."
"Yeah. We know this," Sam replied, not looking up from her book.
Jack sighed. Apparently he couldn't compete with some astrophysics genius.
"Sam, he's married."
"I know, Jack. We've both met Drey'ac."
"And Shan'auc. They had history."
"I know."
"Serious sparkage. I said so."
"I know."
"He's married."
"Do you have a point?" Sam asked, finally giving up and closing the
book.
"He's married, I mean properly, and he still... I mean, what I'm saying
is… Look, I know the married was annulled, kinda, but he still called her his
wife."
"If there's a point, find it now before I go home."
"He had a thing with Shan'auc when she was on base," Jack said.
"They... y'know..."
"I'm getting the picture."
"And he's married. Properly."
"Jack..."
"We're not."
"Not what?"
"Married. Well, not properly."
"So if Teal'c can do that...?" Sam started, catching on.
"I mean, it's not like this," he said, gesturing between them with his
hands, "is binding."
"Is that what you think?" Sam asked, leaving the table and moving to
the couch. She sat beside him at an angle, folding one leg under her so she
could look at him.
"It's fact."
"How many times have we said that it doesn't matter about that? It's what
we think that counts?"
"And tomorrow when you go shopping, you meet someone who asks you out for
coffee. And he's cute so you accept and you fall in love and he doesn't mind
that you can't tell him what you do, and that you're away a lot because he loves
you, and there's nothing stopping you two from getting married..."
"You," Sam interrupted.
"What?"
"There's one thing that's stopping me, and that's you. I love you, Jack,
and that's what matters to me. It doesn't matter that we can't do it properly.
I'm happy with what I've got."
"And what's that?"
She leant forward and kissed him gently. "You," she whispered.
"There is one thing about all this that doesn't give me a headache."
"Which bit?"
"He didn't want to lose Shan'auc. That I get." He put an arm along the
back of the couch, and let his fingers rest on her shoulder.
"The feeling's mutual."
"Listen... about tonight..."
"What?"
"Teal'c's got it rough at the moment. He loved her, and Tanith..."
"Go," Sam said.
"You sure?"
"You're only going to distract me anyway. I've got a ton of paperwork to
do."
"Yeah, about that. Since I'm going to be with Teal'c all night..."
"I was including yours in there," she sighed. As Jack got up in search
of his jacket and shoes, she shook her head. "Why do I feel like the kid
who does everybody else's homework?"
"Because you were that kid!" Jack called. "Honey, you seen my
shoes?"
"In the bed...room," she said. "What did you call
me?"
"I... oh."
From the other room she heard the bed springs give. She grinned as she imagined
him having collapsed down on it.
"You mind?" he asked after a pause.
"No," she grinned. "Just... be careful OK? Last thing I need is
you saying something like, 'Dial us home, honey'. That would take some
explaining."
"I'd never do that," he said, coming back into the lounge room,
holding his shoes. "That's more of a 'sweetheart' kinda moment."
"Oh, yes, because that's so much better."
He walked over to the couch and kissed her. "See you tomorrow?"
"Jack," she called after him. "I mean it. We need to be
careful."
"I'll be good."
He winked at her before walking out. Sighing, Sam went back to her paperwork.
Oh, for a quiet week. More meetings with the Tok'ra about the alliance. She
wouldn't get to see Dad, but she would get to meet up with Martouf. That was
something to look forward to.
Along with more 'sweetheart' moments.
