He�d kissed Carter.
Not just a brush on the cheek, a peck on the forehead, a gentle flutter against closed lips but a full-blown deep-throated kiss.
She had kissed him back.
Just the thought of that exquisite pressure against his mouth the warmth of her probing tongue urgently parting his lips made his heart slam in his chest. Filled him with renewed ecstasy and deep-seated disgust, two emotions that only served to further cloud his already fuzzy brain.
He�d kissed�
Sam!
But she didn�t know it, never would, unless he told her.
Jack closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against his bent knees. A gentle breeze stirred his hair as it whispered through the pines surrounding the Cheyenne complex. He was seated in the forest glen drinking in the scent of the woods and the fresh mountain breeze because he had to get away from all of them.
Janet�s tests and her incessant poking not to mention that damnable penlight! If he saw it again he knew it was entirely possible that the offensive object would go sailing across the room and smash most satisfyingly against the nearest cement wall. General Hammond�s polite but insistent inquiries, what had they done, where had they been? How, if at all, had things changed over the last six hours? Questions he could not answer to anyone�s satisfaction. Then there was Daniel�s confused and slightly hurt look when he read verbatim the written text on the pillars. The academician stunned and nonplussed by their sudden role reversal.
It was true that he had learned a lot during the loops at least that was something Jack acknowledged with a rueful shake of his head. His golf swing needed work and Teal�c was surprisingly adept considering he�d only been playing for a couple months. After years of wondering and no time to spare he had learned the basics of pottery. A shame that last vase had not survived, perhaps he would get a wheel and set it up in the garage. The commissary fish sticks were to be avoided at all costs. Jack subconsciously stroked his stomach. One loop had been spent alternately running for the bathroom and lying in a sweaty heap on the floor. The end of that particular six hours was met with a sigh of blessed relief.
The world had not changed a wit despite the countless number of relived events however, but he had.
He had kissed Carter.
It was wrong he supposed at least on some fundamental level, or was it? He had done the right thing, handed in his resignation before sweeping her off her feet and planting one on her.
Jack shifted his place on the grassy slope. The thought of her lips soft and warm beneath his, the feel of her supple body light and pliable in his arms, the smell of her, the taste of her. His body responded to the memory and he swallowed a groan of dismay and remembered fire. She was where he had wanted her for far too long. In his arms answering his passion with her arms heavy around his neck, her tongue probing and prodding his, tangling and releasing exquisite jolts of pleasure from deep within.
Then the loop had come to an end.
When things began again at the commissary table he couldn�t explain the soft secret smile that rested on his face. It wasn�t that he didn�t want to tell her but how? How do you tell someone about a memory that they will never have despite having lived it. How do you explain that you couldn�t help yourself? That just once you had to experience what in all likelihood will never be?
Did he even need to tell her?
The indecisiveness was the crux of his current self-recrimination. How could it even be a question? He had acted the cad, the sexist immoral pig without a thought to her feelings. The kiss had been entirely self indulgent which explained the timing of it, at the very end of yet another fruitless effort to alter time. It would begin again he knew that for a fact, so why not?
Jack shook his head and looked up into the pale blue sky. Evening was drawing in. He could just glimpse the horizon as it undulated across the surrounding mountain peeks. Painted a brilliant yellow with muted orange and fuchsia undertones which teased the summits eliciting glittering flashes of fire off the fresh snow fall.. He shivered involuntarily.
Yes, he had to tell her. She deserved that much and so did he.
Getting to his feet Jack brushed at his pants and turned towards the trail leading back to the complex.
Carter was standing at the trailhead.
Crap!
It wasn�t supposed to happen this way. He found himself longing for the white hot flash and the strange tingle that accompanied the end of each time-loop. Praying that he could have one more shot at sorting things out in his mind before the inevitable conversation.
Nothing happened.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. �Carter?� The word emerged as a barely audible croak he tried again. �What��
�I wanted to see if you were okay.� She explained softly as she dug the toe of her boot into the sand.
�I�m fine,� he lied.
She glanced at the ground a smirk teasing her lips.
He sighed. This wasn�t going to work, she knew him too well. �I�uh�I needed time to think.�
Sam laughed softly and looked up at him. Her blue eyes were bright with concern but her tone was light as she teased. �Time, I�m sure you�ve had enough of that for a while.�
�Oh yeah,� it was silly and inane but it was the only answer that he could force through his suddenly dry throat. Swallowing hard Jack licked his lips and brought his gaze up slowly to meet hers. �I needed to think�because there�s something I have to tell you.�
�Me?� she pointed at her chest and then blushed crimson. �Of course, there isn�t anyone else standing here is there?�
He made a show of looking beyond her and then around the little glen. After the events of the last never-ending six-hour span nothing would surprise him. He half expected Teal�c or Daniel to show up at any moment. The latter out of concern, the former for the same reason that he had fled the confines of the mountain. No one walked out of the swaying trees and he sighed in resignation. It was just him and Carter standing motionless in the encroaching darkness.
Was this a good thing?
She saved him from further useless speculation by crossing the space between them until they were only a few feet apart. �What did you have to tell me?�
Sometime after he had gone topside she had taken a shower. Her hair was still damp and it smelled of vanilla. The spicy aroma of her perfume teased his nostrils, mingling with the earthy scent of the woods and the dampness of evening
Sam crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly at his silence. �Are you sure you�re alright?�
�No, I�m not.� He turned away and took a couple steps suddenly desperate to put a little distance between them. The effect of her presence so warm and close, it made him high. Stirred things within him that were better left unacknowledged and unfulfilled, if such a thing were still possible. �Something happened, during one of the loops.�
�Happened?�
He heard her footsteps brushing softly across the grass. She stopped just behind him her breath warm on the back of his neck. Gods did she have any idea what this was doing to him?
�Yeah, something happened�between you and me,� he blurted out. It wasn�t eloquent, hell it was barely coherent. His back stiffened as he waited for the fallout.
Sam sucked in a breath and then released it slowly.
He could picture her pursed lips and the slight tilt of her head as she closed her eyes for a long considering moment.
�What?� she finally whispered.
It would have been easier if she exploded. Made some references to the regs or just shrugged off the possibility of anything remotely resembling a them or an us. Faced instead with her quiet question Jack ran an uneasy hand through his hair and turned to face her. The action brought him inches from her face and he gasped in surprise before taking a step back. �I resigned��
Her lips parted slightly but she remained silent, waiting.
�I handed in my resignation to Hammond and then I�kissed you.� He wasn�t sure he had even spoken the words until he saw her blink.
�Oh.�
�Yeah.� Oh? What the hell did Oh mean? He shifted on his feet watching her face from behind half closed eyelids.
A slew of emotions flashed across her pale features. Jack could hear his pulse heavy and dull as it pounded in his ears. Speak damn it! Either flay me or let me off the hook. He suppressed the urge to shout his frustration.
�That�s what the smile was about?� She murmured slowly as she brought her bright blue gaze to bear on him.
�Yes,� he mumbled into his shirt collar.
Her fingers on his chin sent a shock of cold fire singing across his frazzled nerves. �Was it like this?�
Lips warm and supple met his. Her tongue flitted between his teeth and caressed the inside of his cheek. He felt her body lean against his, gentle insistent pressure as she stretched slightly to deepen the probing kiss. Her arms snaked around his neck and long fingers ran through his tousled hair, pulling slightly as her urgency increased.
The colors around them washed out in a flash of light and his whole body shivered and tingled.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*THE*END*
