[Stargate: Fiction] "Tell Me More" [Sam/Jack, G]
Title: Tell Me More
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: sj_everyday challenge 34 summer nights
Word Count: 1,509
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing(s): clone!Sam Carter/clone!Jack O’Neill (background Sam /Jack)
Setting: part of my clone verse
Summary: “Did you really get detention for making out in the hallway?”
Tell Me More
Tara had forgotten how fast rumors flew through a high school.
In the childhood of her adult self, moving around so much with her dad’s military postings had made her always the new kid, so she’d been prepared for that as a teenage clone. She’d thought that a school like Mountain Springs High, located near the Air Force Academy and bases, would be used to students coming and going, even in the middle of the semester, but it seemed like her arrival was just the thing to get the rumor mill going.
By the beginning of her second period class, most of the other students were giving her looks, but it wasn’t third period algebra that the girl sitting in front of Tara turned around in her seat to ask, “Did you really get detention for making out with John Nelson in the hallway?”
It had only been a month since Jack had been cloned and John had started high school, but Tara wasn’t surprised that everyone knew him. He was smart and funny and kind and such a kid at heart as his adult self that she knew this version wouldn’t have any trouble making friends with his new class of high school students.
But in all the planning and conjecture that Samantha Carter had done before she’d cloned herself, she’d somehow never stopped to consider how knowing the clone of Jack O’Neill would alter her own clone’s school experience.
“Yes,” Tara said, now. “Yes, I did.”
The girl’s eyes widened. “No way! Detention for kissing? You must have really been going at it.:
Tara felt herself blushing. “Well, I…”
“Did you know him at your old school?” the girl asked. “Have you be dating long? Is he a good kisser?”
“I…” Tara said again.
“C’mon, spill!”
“We met over the summer,” said Tara, thinking fast - why had it not occurred to her adult self to come up with a fictional backstory for this? “On vacation. We aren’t dating - I didn’t know he went to this school, and I didn’t know I’d be going here, too.”
The girl sighed dreamily. “That sounds so romantic. Just like that old movie my mom loves, the musical with the card race. Um… Grease.”
“I…”
Tara didn’t know what to say to that, but luckily at that moment, the bell rang and class began. It was a good thing she still had all her older self’s knowledge of math, because she didn’t hear a single word of the algebra lesson, lost in her own thoughts until the bell rang again.
She had lunch during the next period, so she joined the flow of students headed for the cafeteria. Tara was so busy keeping her head down to avoid the sudden stares and whispers that she also missed the person coming up behind her until they touched her shoulder.
The cloning process must have also duplicated her muscle memory, because she acted without thinking, grabbing the person’s wrist and spinning them against the wall, arm twisted behind their back.
It was John, who grinned at her over his shoulder. “I can finally tell you how hot that is.”
She let him go and stepped back. “John…”
“Hey,” he said, softly, then scowled at the small crowd that had stopped to watch. “Nothing to see here. The new kid was just showing me why you don’t sneak up on people.”
John slid a hand under her elbow and led her toward the cafeteria doors. Whispers started up again, but he steered her away from everyone. “I’ve got lunch this period, too,” he said. “We should talk.”
Tara nodded and took a lunch tray from the stack. Then, she frowned. “How do you know I have lunch this period?”
“I saw your schedule while we were picking up your books earlier, after we, um…”
“Kissed,” said Tara. She wasn’t going to deny it.
“Right, that,” John agreed.
They paid for their meals - well, they scanned their student ID cards, Tara would have to get used to that - but as soon as they reached the main cafeteria seating area, the other students began whispering and staring again.
“It’s a beautiful day,” John said, brightly. “Let’s eat outside.”
“Sure,” said Tara.
The outside tables had clearly seen better days but they were acceptably clean, so Tara headed for the one farthest from the door and set down her tray. John sat across from her and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry about the rumors.”
Tara blinked, surprised. “What?”
“I shouldn’t have kissed you like that, right in the hallway,” John continued. “It’s your first day and you didn’t need a joker like me ruining it for you. I want to blame it on teenage hormones, but I know the original me would have done the same thing if he could get away with it.”
Tara let out a snort of laughter. “That’s what you think I’m worried about right now? My reputation?”
“Uh… no?”
“Because if that’s what I was worried about,” she continued, poking her ‘pasta’ with a plastic fork, “then getting detention for making out with one of the most popular boys in school would definitely improve my standing.”
“I’m not that popular,” John protested.
“Everyone seems to know you. And like you. That sounds like popularity to me.”
He shrugged. “I’m still new and mysterious.”
“Then maybe that kiss helped your reputation.”
“Carter-” said John, but cut himself off, clearly at a loss for words.
Tara had been leaning on the table, hands on either side of her tray, and she reached across to him, the edges of their fingers just touching. But they were allowed to touch now - Tara turned her hand over slowly and laced their fingers together.
John drew a shaky breath, then blurted, “Please tell me you didn’t do this out of pity.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I can’t-” he tried again. “I need this to be real, Carter. If you did this out of some kind of… of ‘leave no one behind’, I don’t- I can’t-”
Tara squeezed his hand. “I did this because I’m selfish,” she said, sharply. “I saved the world, repeatedly. I died for my country and they still wouldn’t let me have the one thing I wanted, the one thing I had never been allowed to even hope for.”
“Command of your own spaceship?” John suggested and Tara let out a shaky laugh.
“You,” she corrected softly. “We were both too hung up on duty and responsibility not to be on SG-1. But then this happened and I didn’t even think twice. The month it took getting here was mostly convincing General Hammond to go along with it, and getting all my faked documents set up.”
“Carter…”
“And there’s no reason why we can’t have this. No rank, no responsibilities… no age difference. All those times we saved the world, we can finally have this. If… if that’s still something you want?”
“Are you kidding me?” asked John. “Yes, Carter, yes. I…” he trailed off with a breathless laugh. “I always thought our job would kill me long before I could remotely have any chance of this. And if it didn’t - if some miracle let me live long enough to retire again - I’d be too old to be the kind of man you deserve. But now you’re telling me that you being here, ready to face high school all over again, for a chance at a life with me is selfish?”
John took a deep breath.
“Are you sure I’m not dead?”
Tara squeezed his hand again. “Very sure.”
He smiled. “Because you are just about all my dreams come true.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Just about?”
“There’s no beer and we’re not fishing.”
“Ah,” Tara laughed. “We can fix that. I’ve always wanted to go fishing with you.”
“You still think that’s selfish?”
“I plan to be very selfish with you, John Nelson.”
He brought their joined hands up to press a kiss to her knuckles. “As of this exact moment, I’m all yours, Tara Carter… you know, you never did tell me your last name.”
“Carpenter,” she said.
John grinned. “I could change that.”
“Not until after college,” said Tara. “I-”
From inside, the bell rang loudly.
“What?” said Tara. “That can’t have been our whole lunch break!”
John stood, coming around the table to kiss her properly. “We have English together next period,” he said. “I’ll hold your hand the whole way there.”
“Deal,” she said, as they packed up the trash from their lunches. “Oh, hang on. You aren’t trying out for the track team, are you?”
He frowned. “Sports try outs aren’t until next week, and I was thinking of going out for hockey. Why?”
“Because I might have told a girl in math - so by now the whole school knows - that we met over summer vacation and didn’t know we’d be at the same school.”
It took a moment for him to get it, then John grinned. “Come on, then, Sandra Dee, let’s get to class.”
THE END
Current Mood:
busy
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: sj_everyday challenge 34 summer nights
Word Count: 1,509
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing(s): clone!Sam Carter/clone!Jack O’Neill (background Sam /Jack)
Setting: part of my clone verse
Summary: “Did you really get detention for making out in the hallway?”
Tell Me More
Tara had forgotten how fast rumors flew through a high school.
In the childhood of her adult self, moving around so much with her dad’s military postings had made her always the new kid, so she’d been prepared for that as a teenage clone. She’d thought that a school like Mountain Springs High, located near the Air Force Academy and bases, would be used to students coming and going, even in the middle of the semester, but it seemed like her arrival was just the thing to get the rumor mill going.
By the beginning of her second period class, most of the other students were giving her looks, but it wasn’t third period algebra that the girl sitting in front of Tara turned around in her seat to ask, “Did you really get detention for making out with John Nelson in the hallway?”
It had only been a month since Jack had been cloned and John had started high school, but Tara wasn’t surprised that everyone knew him. He was smart and funny and kind and such a kid at heart as his adult self that she knew this version wouldn’t have any trouble making friends with his new class of high school students.
But in all the planning and conjecture that Samantha Carter had done before she’d cloned herself, she’d somehow never stopped to consider how knowing the clone of Jack O’Neill would alter her own clone’s school experience.
“Yes,” Tara said, now. “Yes, I did.”
The girl’s eyes widened. “No way! Detention for kissing? You must have really been going at it.:
Tara felt herself blushing. “Well, I…”
“Did you know him at your old school?” the girl asked. “Have you be dating long? Is he a good kisser?”
“I…” Tara said again.
“C’mon, spill!”
“We met over the summer,” said Tara, thinking fast - why had it not occurred to her adult self to come up with a fictional backstory for this? “On vacation. We aren’t dating - I didn’t know he went to this school, and I didn’t know I’d be going here, too.”
The girl sighed dreamily. “That sounds so romantic. Just like that old movie my mom loves, the musical with the card race. Um… Grease.”
“I…”
Tara didn’t know what to say to that, but luckily at that moment, the bell rang and class began. It was a good thing she still had all her older self’s knowledge of math, because she didn’t hear a single word of the algebra lesson, lost in her own thoughts until the bell rang again.
She had lunch during the next period, so she joined the flow of students headed for the cafeteria. Tara was so busy keeping her head down to avoid the sudden stares and whispers that she also missed the person coming up behind her until they touched her shoulder.
The cloning process must have also duplicated her muscle memory, because she acted without thinking, grabbing the person’s wrist and spinning them against the wall, arm twisted behind their back.
It was John, who grinned at her over his shoulder. “I can finally tell you how hot that is.”
She let him go and stepped back. “John…”
“Hey,” he said, softly, then scowled at the small crowd that had stopped to watch. “Nothing to see here. The new kid was just showing me why you don’t sneak up on people.”
John slid a hand under her elbow and led her toward the cafeteria doors. Whispers started up again, but he steered her away from everyone. “I’ve got lunch this period, too,” he said. “We should talk.”
Tara nodded and took a lunch tray from the stack. Then, she frowned. “How do you know I have lunch this period?”
“I saw your schedule while we were picking up your books earlier, after we, um…”
“Kissed,” said Tara. She wasn’t going to deny it.
“Right, that,” John agreed.
They paid for their meals - well, they scanned their student ID cards, Tara would have to get used to that - but as soon as they reached the main cafeteria seating area, the other students began whispering and staring again.
“It’s a beautiful day,” John said, brightly. “Let’s eat outside.”
“Sure,” said Tara.
The outside tables had clearly seen better days but they were acceptably clean, so Tara headed for the one farthest from the door and set down her tray. John sat across from her and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry about the rumors.”
Tara blinked, surprised. “What?”
“I shouldn’t have kissed you like that, right in the hallway,” John continued. “It’s your first day and you didn’t need a joker like me ruining it for you. I want to blame it on teenage hormones, but I know the original me would have done the same thing if he could get away with it.”
Tara let out a snort of laughter. “That’s what you think I’m worried about right now? My reputation?”
“Uh… no?”
“Because if that’s what I was worried about,” she continued, poking her ‘pasta’ with a plastic fork, “then getting detention for making out with one of the most popular boys in school would definitely improve my standing.”
“I’m not that popular,” John protested.
“Everyone seems to know you. And like you. That sounds like popularity to me.”
He shrugged. “I’m still new and mysterious.”
“Then maybe that kiss helped your reputation.”
“Carter-” said John, but cut himself off, clearly at a loss for words.
Tara had been leaning on the table, hands on either side of her tray, and she reached across to him, the edges of their fingers just touching. But they were allowed to touch now - Tara turned her hand over slowly and laced their fingers together.
John drew a shaky breath, then blurted, “Please tell me you didn’t do this out of pity.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I can’t-” he tried again. “I need this to be real, Carter. If you did this out of some kind of… of ‘leave no one behind’, I don’t- I can’t-”
Tara squeezed his hand. “I did this because I’m selfish,” she said, sharply. “I saved the world, repeatedly. I died for my country and they still wouldn’t let me have the one thing I wanted, the one thing I had never been allowed to even hope for.”
“Command of your own spaceship?” John suggested and Tara let out a shaky laugh.
“You,” she corrected softly. “We were both too hung up on duty and responsibility not to be on SG-1. But then this happened and I didn’t even think twice. The month it took getting here was mostly convincing General Hammond to go along with it, and getting all my faked documents set up.”
“Carter…”
“And there’s no reason why we can’t have this. No rank, no responsibilities… no age difference. All those times we saved the world, we can finally have this. If… if that’s still something you want?”
“Are you kidding me?” asked John. “Yes, Carter, yes. I…” he trailed off with a breathless laugh. “I always thought our job would kill me long before I could remotely have any chance of this. And if it didn’t - if some miracle let me live long enough to retire again - I’d be too old to be the kind of man you deserve. But now you’re telling me that you being here, ready to face high school all over again, for a chance at a life with me is selfish?”
John took a deep breath.
“Are you sure I’m not dead?”
Tara squeezed his hand again. “Very sure.”
He smiled. “Because you are just about all my dreams come true.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Just about?”
“There’s no beer and we’re not fishing.”
“Ah,” Tara laughed. “We can fix that. I’ve always wanted to go fishing with you.”
“You still think that’s selfish?”
“I plan to be very selfish with you, John Nelson.”
He brought their joined hands up to press a kiss to her knuckles. “As of this exact moment, I’m all yours, Tara Carter… you know, you never did tell me your last name.”
“Carpenter,” she said.
John grinned. “I could change that.”
“Not until after college,” said Tara. “I-”
From inside, the bell rang loudly.
“What?” said Tara. “That can’t have been our whole lunch break!”
John stood, coming around the table to kiss her properly. “We have English together next period,” he said. “I’ll hold your hand the whole way there.”
“Deal,” she said, as they packed up the trash from their lunches. “Oh, hang on. You aren’t trying out for the track team, are you?”
He frowned. “Sports try outs aren’t until next week, and I was thinking of going out for hockey. Why?”
“Because I might have told a girl in math - so by now the whole school knows - that we met over summer vacation and didn’t know we’d be at the same school.”
It took a moment for him to get it, then John grinned. “Come on, then, Sandra Dee, let’s get to class.”
THE END
Current Mood:
busy