Fic: How It Is in the Moonlight
It's been awhile since I've posted fic! This is just a little something. I'm working on a larger piece, but it's moving slowly. Hopefully this will hold you guys over?
Title: How It Is in the Moonlight
Author: Remi G. Craeg
Category: UST
Pairing: S/J
Rating: PG
Season/Spoilers: S7
Word Count: around 700
Summary: "It'd been a long month for SG-1. For Sam especially. He's just being a good commander, she tells herself."
Sam finds silence out on his deck. Darkness too. She sits down on the top step, leans into the rail, looks up at the stars. The moon is full; its light casts ghostly shadows over the tops of the trees onto the lawn below. From where she sits, Sam counts the small trees along the far edge of the property. Six. The grass is clipped neatly up to their trunks. She wonders how he manages the yard work when he's away.
"I pay the neighbor kid to come mow every other weekend."
Sam glances up, surprised and a little startled that he materialized behind her without a sound. "How did you know I was thinking about that?"
Jack shrugs and sits down next to her, hands her another beer. He'd uncapped it inside.
They sit silently for a stretch, shoulder to shoulder. Sam counts fireflies. Jack watches the way the wind makes the shadows dance, catches Sam swaying too with his peripheral vision.
"It's a nice night," Sam says.
"Yeah."
Sam remembers a time when she couldn't wait to be near him. Back when they were still new to each other. She remembers he would oscillate between hyperactivity and intense brooding, the switch as unpredictable as it was quick, offering her an irresistible challenge to figure it all out. She liked how she felt when he was around.
But that was before she knew what it felt like to leave him behind and what he looked like when he thought he had to leave her behind. Before the Tok'ra called them Za'tarcs and before they called each other Jonah and Thera. It was somewhere around there that the air between them turned volatile, dangerous. It was no longer innocent and light when they shared space. Conversations were loaded and awkward so she gave it up all together. Excitement turned to dread. They avoided each other as much as possible. But they were a team, all four of them, and Sam wasn't selfish enough to let anything between her and Jack jeopardize the job.
The stakes were too high.
After a while, though, it seemed to settle. They came to an unspoken understanding and the tension dissipated.
Tonight was the first night in a long time that she felt okay.
"Do you remember the first time you went through the Stargate?" she asks.
Jack nods.
"What did it feel like?"
"It's a little like falling," he says.
Sam nods.
"Daniel and Teal'c left."
She looks back inside the house, thinking maybe she'll see them still gathering their things.
"They said bye."
Another silent moment surrounds them.
"Did you have a good time at least?" he asks softly.
"I did," she says, draining the last of her drink. "It's nice to spend time together."
Jack smirks.
"You know what I mean. On Earth. Outside of the mountain." She shoves his shoulder with a palm.
"I know. It is." Jack watches her carefully, thinks maybe she'll tell him more but she doesn't. He sips at his beer a couple times. Peels the label back as far as it will go without ripping it. "Are you doing okay?"
It'd been a long month for SG-1. For Sam especially. He's just being a good commander, she tells herself.
"Actually, I am." She gives him a small smile.
He nods.
"I should go." Sam leans back, uses the handrail to pull herself up. She pauses on the step, drops a hand to his shoulder. "Thank you, sir."
Suddenly Jack is on his feet, teetering precariously on the step behind her. "Sam," is all he says finding his footing. He grabs her elbow, makes her face him.
"I'm tired," she tells him.
"I know." He takes the empty bottles and sets them on the railing. Then his arm is around her waist and she's letting him pull her closer. "I am too."
Sam drops her head to his chest and sighs. "We'll be okay," she says.
He pushes her back, hands on her neck. "Yeah."
Standing there in the moonlight, stars scattered like pinholes in black canvas, he leans down and kisses the corner of her mouth. "Goodnight."
She lets out a breath, kisses him quickly on the lips and walks away.
She'll look forward to their briefing in the morning, all that unease left behind.
They'll be okay.
Title: How It Is in the Moonlight
Author: Remi G. Craeg
Category: UST
Pairing: S/J
Rating: PG
Season/Spoilers: S7
Word Count: around 700
Summary: "It'd been a long month for SG-1. For Sam especially. He's just being a good commander, she tells herself."
Sam finds silence out on his deck. Darkness too. She sits down on the top step, leans into the rail, looks up at the stars. The moon is full; its light casts ghostly shadows over the tops of the trees onto the lawn below. From where she sits, Sam counts the small trees along the far edge of the property. Six. The grass is clipped neatly up to their trunks. She wonders how he manages the yard work when he's away.
"I pay the neighbor kid to come mow every other weekend."
Sam glances up, surprised and a little startled that he materialized behind her without a sound. "How did you know I was thinking about that?"
Jack shrugs and sits down next to her, hands her another beer. He'd uncapped it inside.
They sit silently for a stretch, shoulder to shoulder. Sam counts fireflies. Jack watches the way the wind makes the shadows dance, catches Sam swaying too with his peripheral vision.
"It's a nice night," Sam says.
"Yeah."
Sam remembers a time when she couldn't wait to be near him. Back when they were still new to each other. She remembers he would oscillate between hyperactivity and intense brooding, the switch as unpredictable as it was quick, offering her an irresistible challenge to figure it all out. She liked how she felt when he was around.
But that was before she knew what it felt like to leave him behind and what he looked like when he thought he had to leave her behind. Before the Tok'ra called them Za'tarcs and before they called each other Jonah and Thera. It was somewhere around there that the air between them turned volatile, dangerous. It was no longer innocent and light when they shared space. Conversations were loaded and awkward so she gave it up all together. Excitement turned to dread. They avoided each other as much as possible. But they were a team, all four of them, and Sam wasn't selfish enough to let anything between her and Jack jeopardize the job.
The stakes were too high.
After a while, though, it seemed to settle. They came to an unspoken understanding and the tension dissipated.
Tonight was the first night in a long time that she felt okay.
"Do you remember the first time you went through the Stargate?" she asks.
Jack nods.
"What did it feel like?"
"It's a little like falling," he says.
Sam nods.
"Daniel and Teal'c left."
She looks back inside the house, thinking maybe she'll see them still gathering their things.
"They said bye."
Another silent moment surrounds them.
"Did you have a good time at least?" he asks softly.
"I did," she says, draining the last of her drink. "It's nice to spend time together."
Jack smirks.
"You know what I mean. On Earth. Outside of the mountain." She shoves his shoulder with a palm.
"I know. It is." Jack watches her carefully, thinks maybe she'll tell him more but she doesn't. He sips at his beer a couple times. Peels the label back as far as it will go without ripping it. "Are you doing okay?"
It'd been a long month for SG-1. For Sam especially. He's just being a good commander, she tells herself.
"Actually, I am." She gives him a small smile.
He nods.
"I should go." Sam leans back, uses the handrail to pull herself up. She pauses on the step, drops a hand to his shoulder. "Thank you, sir."
Suddenly Jack is on his feet, teetering precariously on the step behind her. "Sam," is all he says finding his footing. He grabs her elbow, makes her face him.
"I'm tired," she tells him.
"I know." He takes the empty bottles and sets them on the railing. Then his arm is around her waist and she's letting him pull her closer. "I am too."
Sam drops her head to his chest and sighs. "We'll be okay," she says.
He pushes her back, hands on her neck. "Yeah."
Standing there in the moonlight, stars scattered like pinholes in black canvas, he leans down and kisses the corner of her mouth. "Goodnight."
She lets out a breath, kisses him quickly on the lips and walks away.
She'll look forward to their briefing in the morning, all that unease left behind.
They'll be okay.