[O'Neill] Quiet walk home
Who: O'Neill and Carter
Where: Dirt road outside Brookfield Farm
When: Late night, early morning; After the cookout
Invited: N/A
Status: Complete
***
The path from the farmhouse was a dirt road; ruts appearing even so soon after creation. The noise behind hadn't yet abated, songs being sung, stories told, the childen long since sent to bed. The stories, the songs-- all for the adults. It was a time for the colonists to bond, to live and laugh as a single unit, and the day worked beautifully in that regard.
The weather held out, though now, with the sun down, the air was a good deal chillier.
Some things were just a constant.
With hands in his pockets, Jack watched the road, letting the stars and other... celestial objects light the way. His shoulders were loose, a little slumped, though that was only due to a lack of tension.
It was late.. and while there was no real work in the morning, technically, Jack did like his sleep.
So Jack did, yes. And Sam wasn't objecting to that idea, either. She wasn't as young as she used to be. And that soccer game had taken a bit out of her. Maybe she hadn't been out in the field often enough lately. Getting soft. Or something like that.
Thus, when Jack asked if he could walk her home -- since he was going that way anyway -- she was pretty game for the company. She pulled her jacket a little closer and shoved hands into her pockets.
"Heckuva game," she said as she drew along side him. "I think I'm glad Teal'c wasn't here."
Well, the walk home... never know what was out there.
Couldn't be too careful, right?
Jack didn't have a jacket, but his long-sleeved shirt that he'd brought with him to fit over the tee works well enough.
"Ye-ah... Was pretty interesting. Who knew I'd be a prime candidate for -tackling-?" His tones were deadpanned, and he cast a glance to the side, towards his companion.
"If I didn't know any better, Carter, you'd planned it."
Not that he had any room. Wasn't it he that had all but declared she was 'going down'?
"I think it's probably for the best he wasn't there. Once he worked out that it was a 'no rules' no rules game, I am willing to bet that there wouldn't be a dry eye with the kids."
The fact Sam actually landed on her feet after that game wasn't lost on the Colonel. The greater fact that it was her god-daughter that saved her hide was also not lost.
"Nope," she grinned. "That was /all/ Cassie."
Good kid, she was. Sam was proud of her, and it kinda showed.
She shrugged now. "But, yeah. I think you're right. And our kids sure aren't Rya'c."
Though some of them would probably think it would be 'cool' to try.
"Our kids wouldn't have a hope in hell against the Jaffa."
Jack shrugged as well, or rather, simply straightened his elbows and bent them once more. "Not that it's a -bad- thing. It's just... a... thing."
He chuckled softly, and shook his head, his attention on the ground before him. "I think she took advantage of the fact that she's pretty much one of the only people who could get away with something like that. And she's too old to put over my knee."
Jack took a few more steps in silence before he casted another glance beside him. "Good day for you anyway?" Small talk was never easy for him and never had been. Probably never would be. "I noticed you didn't take advantage of the pony rides. Big draw, that."
Sam chuckled at the idea of the pony rides. "No," she admitted. "No, I didn't. I figured those were best left to the kids." She'd have looked funny on the back of the shaggy pony, in any case. And Hunter didn't really look like she was all that keen on lending Suki to the cause.
As for Cassie... "/I/ think she took advantage of all the lessons 'Uncle Jack' gave her over every spring break he wasn't chasing down Goa'uld System Lords."
A beat.
"Humbling, ain't it?"
She couldn't resist the dig.
Jack snorted softly in amusement, and his tones took on a soft, mock theatric petulance. "Well, yeah.. Just didn't expect her to spring it on me at a soccer game on some off-world evacuation site is all."
Colony.
"I suppose that all bets were off... but for some reason, I don't remember teaching her that move." He gave Sam a somewhat pointed look. "Did you?"
He looked back at the street before him soon after, and as he rolled his shoulders, another shrug came naturally in prelude to his response.
"Humbling? I dunno. Part of me hopes that any of these kids coming out of the gate can put me down. The other part, yeah. I'm sneakier than they are. Should have more tricks up my sleeve. My mistake on that field was actually thinking I was covered... well, covered by something other than a mass of little girls."
Jack chuckled; his tones sounded amused still in the night air. "Tactical mistake on my part. Won't happen again."
Sam flashed Jack a grin. "I'll never tell," she said, referring specifically to what she might or might not have taught Cassie. Besides, there was nothing to say Janet didn't teach her that... years ago. But, she chuckled, nonetheless. "See, your problem was that half your team was on the other side, and the two Jacksons cancelled each other out." A beat. "Basic mathematics."
See, now, Janet had never put him flat on his back.
Okay, not like that, she hadn't.
Carter on the other hand? More than capable, and he knew it.
She knew it!
Jack fixed his evening's companion with a dubious look in response to her refusal to tell, but he moved on.
"My team was supposed to be back with me. Daniel was on his ass, Fawkes was helping him up. I could have sworn the rest of my boys were back with me." And apparently, they weren't.
"And I'm thinking that next time, we switch Jackson's. They aren't all equal."
He took a couple more steps down the dirt path, turning towards the town proper, some trees now obscuring the house behind them. The lights from the generators gleamed softly in the distance.
"Think she's as annoying as he is?"
Sam laughed. "I don't know her well enough to know. But, she's a great soccer player. Better than Daniel, yes." Poor guy.
But, was Ami better at archeology or gate team operations? That remained to be seen. And Sam wasn't not in a big hurry to find out.
She wandered beside Jack, shrugging a little to raise her collar as the spring evening wind picks up. Her eyes swept the fields, took in the cleared land that will soon be planted for the coming year's crops.
"Have you ever actually taken the chance to look at this place?" she asked then. Oddly, perhaps. "It looks like so many other worlds we've been to... but it's not. Not any more."
Jack may complain about Daniel, but he'd never give the man up. Sam knew that, and with her laugh in acknowledgement, he smiled ever so slightly.
With the motions she made to bundle up a little more against the chill, he cursed quietly himself for not being better prepared- like having a jacket on him. Not that he was cold, but it could have been a second layer to keep the colonel warmer. The temperature was dropping, and the hands that were in his pockets remained there. He did move a little closer, however, as if body-heat could be shared that way?
"Have I wha-- Oh. No... not really."
He took the opportunity to look around in the immediate area then before looking back at the path before him. He'd started his own little cabin, but... as much as he wanted to tell Sam about it, he wouldn't. Not yet, at least.
As if she didn't know?
"I've been talking to Elizabeth. One of the orders of business is to get a police force up. Neither of us like martial law, and frankly, I'm tired of the airmen being called because someone's taken a shine to using a frying pan on the side of her husband/boy friend/fill in the blank's head."
That's not to mention the discussion with Dr. Weir regarding on how the birthrate had to rise.
"Did you know that in order to maintain this place, all the married couples need something like... 2.3 kids. I mean, how do you get .3 kids, I ask you."
Sam would never give Daniel up, either. He was family. Everything began with family. "That's a good idea," she said, talking about the police force. "The sooner we get everyone settled into some semblance of normal, the better." Funny to be saying that after a year of settlement. But, it has been a year of military rule -- and that was longer than either of them like, nevermind Elizabeth.
She lets out a soft whistle through her teeth at the birth stats, though. "Beats me," she laughed. "I don't know that I'd want to try."
Maybe because there's no one around she'd consider trying with...
Or, rather, no one she can.
"We're going to need more couples."
"Yeah, well.. if the kids disappearing into the woods was any indication, I'm pretty sure the birds will meet the bees. And with the nicer weather?"
Jack sighed, the sound audible and slightly on the theatric side. "Ah, young love."
He continued walking, his stride set with Carter's, unconscious really, and his hands remained deep in his pockets for the warmth it brought.
"Though.. we figured it was time. Give these people some feeling of normalcy. That they weren't living in some ... military camp. Nice people. No reason for it that we could see. Once the civilian police take it over, we can get back to work."
And he can retire.
"But yeah. Gotta get these people... going. Seems sort of... sick, though. Stalin... Hitler... all had programs for having kids for the country. Warped, if you ask me. I mean, having 'one for the gipper' is just.. weird." He pauses in his speech, but it's more a stuttered pause before continuing, "Not that I have anything against kids, mind."
Sam gave a subtle roll of her shoulders at that. "No," she agrees. "I know." Her feet crunched on some dried leaves left over from the fall and she glanced down at them briefly. "Well, I'm sure we can let nature take its course on that one, yeah."
She sure hoped so, anyway.
"I have an idea for that early warning system. But, it requires at least one UAV, and the Jumper."
So many--
No.
Jack pressed his lips together and kept his attention forward as they made their way towards 'city limits', the lights growing a little brighter as they approached.
"Oh?"
He was broken from his silence, and he had to work on exactly what it is she's told him. His thoughts, for the moment, were elsewhere, and he had to bring them back in line.
"Um... sure. Okay. You've got a go on using the UAV, and let me know when you need to go up in the jumper. We'll take her for a spin again."
For a pilot, Jack didn't log as many hours as he could have. While flying was fun, and in his blood, there was just too much to do on the ground. He'd logged his hours.
He, too, knew better than to ask what it is she's going to -do- with said UAV to give him what he's asked for. He'll just.. settle for being surprised.
"Fishing tomorrow? I know a good spot..."
Sam canted her head. She chuckled. "Is there actually fish in the pond?" she had to ask. There wasn't really a question that she'd go with him just to sit. They'd done it before now.
And the fact he didn't ask for an explanation wasn't a bad thing, either. He's learned, over the years, as had she. Don't waste her breath.
And doling things out in small doses was good, too. Truthfully? She wants 3 UAVs. She'll settle for one at a time...
"I don't know. Marine biologists say 'yes'. If there are, I haven't found the right bait yet. Maybe some popcorn? I've been using bugs... worms... an old boot."
Jack shrugged easily, his elbows straightening once more, though it was for the warmth that comes with the action.
"It'll be fun. I have a bucket of beer to pick up tomorrow. A couple sandwiches, left over meat-on-a-stick I was promised. She put some away for me, and a long, quiet, hopefully warm day."
Jack did take the question as tacit agreement, however, and as they started to enter the town proper, the lights shone their path.
"At least it'll give us some early warning. Might see a couple people about producing more UAVs. Should be possible, right?"
"Should be," Sam agreed. "Though we'll probably need to look at our refining technology. I wish we could make contact with the Tok'ra or Asgard. Especially the Asgard. Their matter constructors would come in very handy. Our refining is limited. But, we can cannibalize old scrap from the bombardment."
Reality check: They'd lost a lot of resources. This was so very much Not Earth.
"How soon will it be before you want to start up gate excursions again?" Because she'd need to factor that into her timelines, too.
Jack shook his head, lips pressed together. "Yeah, but they're hiding, too." Which Sam knew. Of course, doesn't mean either or both couldn't dream, right?
Taking a deep breath of the evening's air, he finally pulled his hands out of his pockets and rolled his shoulders to get a little warmth into his extremities. "Week, tops two. I'll be bringing the gang, and Captain Boone.. and probably Captain Harkness. For the moment, they're my golden boys. See how they work out in training, then work on filling out their teams."
But the first step belonged to SG-1.
"After that trip, then another couple of weeks. Once in place, clockwork. Daily, every other day-- Depends on what they find out there."
Sam nodded to that. She, better than most, knew all to well that what they find on the other side of the gate could be anything from really, really good to really, really bad. She, too, hoped for the former.
As the lights of the town surrounded them now, she glanced about once again, following familiar streets back to the compound SG-1 shares away from the greater collection of residents. One of these days, she was going to have to consider some sort of permanent housing of her own -- though today's not that day.
"We'll find something useful, I'm sure." she offered optimistically. "Harkness and Boone are probably good choices." If Jack's chosen them, she had no reason to doubt them. "They're both used to the unusual."
Jack's already got his house being built. He was just being very... private about it.
"See, now, that's what I figured too. Get someone in place that won't roll over and die when they come nose to nose with, say... a snake. Or, I don't know... a ten-tentacled being hell bent on forcing all two armed creatures to evolve or die."
He glanced quickly to Sam beside him, his brows rising, "It could happen. It just... hasn't.
Yet."
As they neared their own areas, Jack paused once more and gestured with his head towards her tent. "This is it. So... see you tomorrow? Bright and early. Or.. as bright and early as I can after taking lots of aspirin for the aches I know I'll be feeling in the morning."
His was nearby, obviously, as was Daniel's, and Elizabeth's. No privacy there. Tent walls were notoriously thin...
True. No privacy there. But, there was always the woods, were they to follow the example of the kids at the bbq today. But, then, they didn't really require the same privacy those kids did, since they didn't engage in quite the same activities.
"Thanks for walking me home," Sam said with a small smile and a suppressed chuckle that could as much be aimed at the poor tentacle joke as the irony of him walking her to her door. "I'll see you in the morning. Just save me some aspirin to go with the coffee." She undid the door and pulled back the flap.
A beat. A smile.
"Have a good sleep, Jack."
"You're welcome. I was going this way anyway."
Jack twisted around, thumbing over his shoulder as if Sam didn't believe him? "I'm just over there."
He smiled, though, and nodded. "See you in the morning." Taking a step back, he exhaled softly, his voice lowering.
"Yeah, you too, Sam. Sleep well."
Turning around, he began to make his way towards his tent, ready to collapse in bed after the day. Forget the kids-- he was going to sleep the sleep of the just? The dead? The just dead?
Didn't matter.
Nope. Didn't matter.
Where: Dirt road outside Brookfield Farm
When: Late night, early morning; After the cookout
Invited: N/A
Status: Complete
***
The path from the farmhouse was a dirt road; ruts appearing even so soon after creation. The noise behind hadn't yet abated, songs being sung, stories told, the childen long since sent to bed. The stories, the songs-- all for the adults. It was a time for the colonists to bond, to live and laugh as a single unit, and the day worked beautifully in that regard.
The weather held out, though now, with the sun down, the air was a good deal chillier.
Some things were just a constant.
With hands in his pockets, Jack watched the road, letting the stars and other... celestial objects light the way. His shoulders were loose, a little slumped, though that was only due to a lack of tension.
It was late.. and while there was no real work in the morning, technically, Jack did like his sleep.
So Jack did, yes. And Sam wasn't objecting to that idea, either. She wasn't as young as she used to be. And that soccer game had taken a bit out of her. Maybe she hadn't been out in the field often enough lately. Getting soft. Or something like that.
Thus, when Jack asked if he could walk her home -- since he was going that way anyway -- she was pretty game for the company. She pulled her jacket a little closer and shoved hands into her pockets.
"Heckuva game," she said as she drew along side him. "I think I'm glad Teal'c wasn't here."
Well, the walk home... never know what was out there.
Couldn't be too careful, right?
Jack didn't have a jacket, but his long-sleeved shirt that he'd brought with him to fit over the tee works well enough.
"Ye-ah... Was pretty interesting. Who knew I'd be a prime candidate for -tackling-?" His tones were deadpanned, and he cast a glance to the side, towards his companion.
"If I didn't know any better, Carter, you'd planned it."
Not that he had any room. Wasn't it he that had all but declared she was 'going down'?
"I think it's probably for the best he wasn't there. Once he worked out that it was a 'no rules' no rules game, I am willing to bet that there wouldn't be a dry eye with the kids."
The fact Sam actually landed on her feet after that game wasn't lost on the Colonel. The greater fact that it was her god-daughter that saved her hide was also not lost.
"Nope," she grinned. "That was /all/ Cassie."
Good kid, she was. Sam was proud of her, and it kinda showed.
She shrugged now. "But, yeah. I think you're right. And our kids sure aren't Rya'c."
Though some of them would probably think it would be 'cool' to try.
"Our kids wouldn't have a hope in hell against the Jaffa."
Jack shrugged as well, or rather, simply straightened his elbows and bent them once more. "Not that it's a -bad- thing. It's just... a... thing."
He chuckled softly, and shook his head, his attention on the ground before him. "I think she took advantage of the fact that she's pretty much one of the only people who could get away with something like that. And she's too old to put over my knee."
Jack took a few more steps in silence before he casted another glance beside him. "Good day for you anyway?" Small talk was never easy for him and never had been. Probably never would be. "I noticed you didn't take advantage of the pony rides. Big draw, that."
Sam chuckled at the idea of the pony rides. "No," she admitted. "No, I didn't. I figured those were best left to the kids." She'd have looked funny on the back of the shaggy pony, in any case. And Hunter didn't really look like she was all that keen on lending Suki to the cause.
As for Cassie... "/I/ think she took advantage of all the lessons 'Uncle Jack' gave her over every spring break he wasn't chasing down Goa'uld System Lords."
A beat.
"Humbling, ain't it?"
She couldn't resist the dig.
Jack snorted softly in amusement, and his tones took on a soft, mock theatric petulance. "Well, yeah.. Just didn't expect her to spring it on me at a soccer game on some off-world evacuation site is all."
Colony.
"I suppose that all bets were off... but for some reason, I don't remember teaching her that move." He gave Sam a somewhat pointed look. "Did you?"
He looked back at the street before him soon after, and as he rolled his shoulders, another shrug came naturally in prelude to his response.
"Humbling? I dunno. Part of me hopes that any of these kids coming out of the gate can put me down. The other part, yeah. I'm sneakier than they are. Should have more tricks up my sleeve. My mistake on that field was actually thinking I was covered... well, covered by something other than a mass of little girls."
Jack chuckled; his tones sounded amused still in the night air. "Tactical mistake on my part. Won't happen again."
Sam flashed Jack a grin. "I'll never tell," she said, referring specifically to what she might or might not have taught Cassie. Besides, there was nothing to say Janet didn't teach her that... years ago. But, she chuckled, nonetheless. "See, your problem was that half your team was on the other side, and the two Jacksons cancelled each other out." A beat. "Basic mathematics."
See, now, Janet had never put him flat on his back.
Okay, not like that, she hadn't.
Carter on the other hand? More than capable, and he knew it.
She knew it!
Jack fixed his evening's companion with a dubious look in response to her refusal to tell, but he moved on.
"My team was supposed to be back with me. Daniel was on his ass, Fawkes was helping him up. I could have sworn the rest of my boys were back with me." And apparently, they weren't.
"And I'm thinking that next time, we switch Jackson's. They aren't all equal."
He took a couple more steps down the dirt path, turning towards the town proper, some trees now obscuring the house behind them. The lights from the generators gleamed softly in the distance.
"Think she's as annoying as he is?"
Sam laughed. "I don't know her well enough to know. But, she's a great soccer player. Better than Daniel, yes." Poor guy.
But, was Ami better at archeology or gate team operations? That remained to be seen. And Sam wasn't not in a big hurry to find out.
She wandered beside Jack, shrugging a little to raise her collar as the spring evening wind picks up. Her eyes swept the fields, took in the cleared land that will soon be planted for the coming year's crops.
"Have you ever actually taken the chance to look at this place?" she asked then. Oddly, perhaps. "It looks like so many other worlds we've been to... but it's not. Not any more."
Jack may complain about Daniel, but he'd never give the man up. Sam knew that, and with her laugh in acknowledgement, he smiled ever so slightly.
With the motions she made to bundle up a little more against the chill, he cursed quietly himself for not being better prepared- like having a jacket on him. Not that he was cold, but it could have been a second layer to keep the colonel warmer. The temperature was dropping, and the hands that were in his pockets remained there. He did move a little closer, however, as if body-heat could be shared that way?
"Have I wha-- Oh. No... not really."
He took the opportunity to look around in the immediate area then before looking back at the path before him. He'd started his own little cabin, but... as much as he wanted to tell Sam about it, he wouldn't. Not yet, at least.
As if she didn't know?
"I've been talking to Elizabeth. One of the orders of business is to get a police force up. Neither of us like martial law, and frankly, I'm tired of the airmen being called because someone's taken a shine to using a frying pan on the side of her husband/boy friend/fill in the blank's head."
That's not to mention the discussion with Dr. Weir regarding on how the birthrate had to rise.
"Did you know that in order to maintain this place, all the married couples need something like... 2.3 kids. I mean, how do you get .3 kids, I ask you."
Sam would never give Daniel up, either. He was family. Everything began with family. "That's a good idea," she said, talking about the police force. "The sooner we get everyone settled into some semblance of normal, the better." Funny to be saying that after a year of settlement. But, it has been a year of military rule -- and that was longer than either of them like, nevermind Elizabeth.
She lets out a soft whistle through her teeth at the birth stats, though. "Beats me," she laughed. "I don't know that I'd want to try."
Maybe because there's no one around she'd consider trying with...
Or, rather, no one she can.
"We're going to need more couples."
"Yeah, well.. if the kids disappearing into the woods was any indication, I'm pretty sure the birds will meet the bees. And with the nicer weather?"
Jack sighed, the sound audible and slightly on the theatric side. "Ah, young love."
He continued walking, his stride set with Carter's, unconscious really, and his hands remained deep in his pockets for the warmth it brought.
"Though.. we figured it was time. Give these people some feeling of normalcy. That they weren't living in some ... military camp. Nice people. No reason for it that we could see. Once the civilian police take it over, we can get back to work."
And he can retire.
"But yeah. Gotta get these people... going. Seems sort of... sick, though. Stalin... Hitler... all had programs for having kids for the country. Warped, if you ask me. I mean, having 'one for the gipper' is just.. weird." He pauses in his speech, but it's more a stuttered pause before continuing, "Not that I have anything against kids, mind."
Sam gave a subtle roll of her shoulders at that. "No," she agrees. "I know." Her feet crunched on some dried leaves left over from the fall and she glanced down at them briefly. "Well, I'm sure we can let nature take its course on that one, yeah."
She sure hoped so, anyway.
"I have an idea for that early warning system. But, it requires at least one UAV, and the Jumper."
So many--
No.
Jack pressed his lips together and kept his attention forward as they made their way towards 'city limits', the lights growing a little brighter as they approached.
"Oh?"
He was broken from his silence, and he had to work on exactly what it is she's told him. His thoughts, for the moment, were elsewhere, and he had to bring them back in line.
"Um... sure. Okay. You've got a go on using the UAV, and let me know when you need to go up in the jumper. We'll take her for a spin again."
For a pilot, Jack didn't log as many hours as he could have. While flying was fun, and in his blood, there was just too much to do on the ground. He'd logged his hours.
He, too, knew better than to ask what it is she's going to -do- with said UAV to give him what he's asked for. He'll just.. settle for being surprised.
"Fishing tomorrow? I know a good spot..."
Sam canted her head. She chuckled. "Is there actually fish in the pond?" she had to ask. There wasn't really a question that she'd go with him just to sit. They'd done it before now.
And the fact he didn't ask for an explanation wasn't a bad thing, either. He's learned, over the years, as had she. Don't waste her breath.
And doling things out in small doses was good, too. Truthfully? She wants 3 UAVs. She'll settle for one at a time...
"I don't know. Marine biologists say 'yes'. If there are, I haven't found the right bait yet. Maybe some popcorn? I've been using bugs... worms... an old boot."
Jack shrugged easily, his elbows straightening once more, though it was for the warmth that comes with the action.
"It'll be fun. I have a bucket of beer to pick up tomorrow. A couple sandwiches, left over meat-on-a-stick I was promised. She put some away for me, and a long, quiet, hopefully warm day."
Jack did take the question as tacit agreement, however, and as they started to enter the town proper, the lights shone their path.
"At least it'll give us some early warning. Might see a couple people about producing more UAVs. Should be possible, right?"
"Should be," Sam agreed. "Though we'll probably need to look at our refining technology. I wish we could make contact with the Tok'ra or Asgard. Especially the Asgard. Their matter constructors would come in very handy. Our refining is limited. But, we can cannibalize old scrap from the bombardment."
Reality check: They'd lost a lot of resources. This was so very much Not Earth.
"How soon will it be before you want to start up gate excursions again?" Because she'd need to factor that into her timelines, too.
Jack shook his head, lips pressed together. "Yeah, but they're hiding, too." Which Sam knew. Of course, doesn't mean either or both couldn't dream, right?
Taking a deep breath of the evening's air, he finally pulled his hands out of his pockets and rolled his shoulders to get a little warmth into his extremities. "Week, tops two. I'll be bringing the gang, and Captain Boone.. and probably Captain Harkness. For the moment, they're my golden boys. See how they work out in training, then work on filling out their teams."
But the first step belonged to SG-1.
"After that trip, then another couple of weeks. Once in place, clockwork. Daily, every other day-- Depends on what they find out there."
Sam nodded to that. She, better than most, knew all to well that what they find on the other side of the gate could be anything from really, really good to really, really bad. She, too, hoped for the former.
As the lights of the town surrounded them now, she glanced about once again, following familiar streets back to the compound SG-1 shares away from the greater collection of residents. One of these days, she was going to have to consider some sort of permanent housing of her own -- though today's not that day.
"We'll find something useful, I'm sure." she offered optimistically. "Harkness and Boone are probably good choices." If Jack's chosen them, she had no reason to doubt them. "They're both used to the unusual."
Jack's already got his house being built. He was just being very... private about it.
"See, now, that's what I figured too. Get someone in place that won't roll over and die when they come nose to nose with, say... a snake. Or, I don't know... a ten-tentacled being hell bent on forcing all two armed creatures to evolve or die."
He glanced quickly to Sam beside him, his brows rising, "It could happen. It just... hasn't.
Yet."
As they neared their own areas, Jack paused once more and gestured with his head towards her tent. "This is it. So... see you tomorrow? Bright and early. Or.. as bright and early as I can after taking lots of aspirin for the aches I know I'll be feeling in the morning."
His was nearby, obviously, as was Daniel's, and Elizabeth's. No privacy there. Tent walls were notoriously thin...
True. No privacy there. But, there was always the woods, were they to follow the example of the kids at the bbq today. But, then, they didn't really require the same privacy those kids did, since they didn't engage in quite the same activities.
"Thanks for walking me home," Sam said with a small smile and a suppressed chuckle that could as much be aimed at the poor tentacle joke as the irony of him walking her to her door. "I'll see you in the morning. Just save me some aspirin to go with the coffee." She undid the door and pulled back the flap.
A beat. A smile.
"Have a good sleep, Jack."
"You're welcome. I was going this way anyway."
Jack twisted around, thumbing over his shoulder as if Sam didn't believe him? "I'm just over there."
He smiled, though, and nodded. "See you in the morning." Taking a step back, he exhaled softly, his voice lowering.
"Yeah, you too, Sam. Sleep well."
Turning around, he began to make his way towards his tent, ready to collapse in bed after the day. Forget the kids-- he was going to sleep the sleep of the just? The dead? The just dead?
Didn't matter.
Nope. Didn't matter.