Fresh Starts Part 2
Fresh Starts Part 2
by Kirsty
Summary: ok. second part. sequel to Fresh Starts Part 1 and set one month later. enjoy!
Category: Romance, Series
Episode Related: 001 Stargate - The Movie
Season: Season 1
Pairing: Jack/Janet
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: minor language, sexual situations
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 04/23/03
Fresh Starts. Part 2.
There was a knock on Janet's office door,
"Come in," she called, not looking up from her paperwork. The young man in the doorway waited for her to acknowledge him. She still hadn't managed to draw her attention away from what she was working on.
"Doctor?", he asked, quietly. Janet let out a frustrated sigh,
"Yes Lieutenant?"
"General Hammond would like to see you in his office ma'am"
"Thank you lieutenant". Janet quickly tidied her desk and shut off the light in her office, making her way to the elevator that would take her down to Level 27 and her new CO. She'd only met him once when he'd started two weeks ago and hadn't seen him since, as she was almost ten floors higher than him in the mountain. He seemed like a reasonable enough man though, unlike General West who she'd taken an instant dislike to. General Hammond was just as focused on doing his job, she could tell that, but he didn't seem so...harsh. She didn't know what he could possibly want to see her about. A medical emergency maybe? Janet almost laughed out loud at that. In this place? No such thing was likely to happen. Janet finally reached the office she was called to. The door was already open and she knocked on the doorframe.
"Ah, Dr. Frasier, come on in, shut the door behind you." She did as she was asked and stood in front of his desk.
"Please take a seat Doctor" Janet sat in the chair opposite, "I wanted to talk to you about your position here in the base. I was going through some paperwork and I found a request for a transfer that you submitted six months ago."
"Yes sir, I requested it right after Colonel O'Neill got back from his mission."
"May I ask why Doctor?"
"I didn't think there would be much more for me to do here sir. The Stargate hasn't been used since then and I thought I would be more useful elsewhere."
"Why did the transfer not happen?"
"I don't know sir. I just assumed there were no other openings for me anywhere." Hammond made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort,
"Doctor, for an officer with your level of medical training there are always places for you to go. I don't know why this transfer request has been left in the back of a filing cabinet in an empty office 27 Level below ground, but I intend to rectify the situation. I made a phone call this morning and there's a vacancy at a hospital in Washington. It's not permanent but I'm sure it'll beat sitting in an underground office every day. Quite frankly, your talents are being wasted here."
Janet sat in stunned silence for a moment. Why hadn't General West put that paperwork through? She'd been here for almost a year, and for the last 7 months she'd had nothing to do. She'd even been working at the Academy Hospital so that she wouldn't go out of her mind with boredom. She realised General Hammond was still waiting for her to speak.
"Thank you Sir, I really don't know what to say to that..."
"You don't have to decide right away, sleep on it and let me know tomorrow and I'll arrange it all as soon as I can. With any luck we can have you out of here in a week." Janet smiled at the General,
"Trying to get rid of me, Sir?"
"If we could get some use out of you then no, but I know how it feels. I'm stuck in an office underground, with not much to do too, you know. Drop by tomorrow, 12.00, and we'll discuss this further. Dismissed Doctor."
"Yes Sir." Janet got out of her seat and left the General's office feeling a little happier than when she'd gone in. She was finally getting out of this place. Finally going somewhere that she could do something! In a week. That left her with quite a bit to do before then. She'd have to pack up all her stuff in her house, but then she was sure Jack would lend her a hand...that thought stopped her dead in her tracks. Oh god. How could she have forgotten about Jack? Would he be Ok with this? They'd only been seeing each other for about a month, depending on where she counted from. Technically if she counted from that first night in the bar, where she'd been not very successfully drowning her sorrows, it was almost two months. She tended to count from their first date, three weeks later, but then they'd slept together on their first date and that made her sound like...well, like something she most definitely wasn't! So in her head she tended to say "about" a month, that just about covered it.
In that month they'd gotten to know each other pretty well. They'd spent most of the second week of her downtime together, either at her place or his. She'd finally got to see his house and was quite impressed with how it had looked. He told her he'd gotten it cheap because it was a mess, and fixing it up would give him something to do while he got used to being a civilian again, but to her it didn't look too bad, he'd obviously been working hard on it already. She was impressed at how quickly he seemed to change the house. In the last couple of weeks it had begun to take on a certain sense of individuality. Just a subtle change, and a few personal touches, that made it less of a house, and more Jack's home, like the observation deck he'd built on his roof for his telescope. She loved it up there and loved listening to Jack point out the constellations, with or without the telescope. He'd even managed to work out where the Abydos star was. Although, Lord knows how he'd managed that. She had a feeling he knew a lot more about Astronomy than just what the stars were called.
If she transferred now, she'd probably have to stop seeing Jack. She couldn't expect him to commit to a long distance relationship this soon. The thing was, she really liked him. She wasn't fooling herself into thinking she was madly in love with him or anything like that, she wasn't ready to get that serious yet. She knew he wasn't either. The last year had been tough on Jack. He never talked about it, but she'd heard about Charlie. The death of Jack's son had been hot gossip amongst the nurses when they'd been preparing for that first mission, which had sickened Janet. How could people be so insensitive to something that obviously would cause anyone an unbearable amount of pain. She'd overhear them talking about him, she'd overhear the comments and the way they coldly referred to him as "the guy whose kid shot himself". She'd even heard the rumour that Jack had shot Charlie. It was disgusting. She hated gossip. Always had. As far back as high school she'd never been able to bring herself to spread rumours and blatant lies about people as her peers had done. She knew that the only reason Jack had gone to Abydos was so that he wouldn't come back. She'd seen it in his eyes as she had examined him in the infirmary. That numb, lost expression, that had gone when he'd returned. Something had happened on that planet to make him realise that even though his son's life was over, his wasn't. He'd told her about coming home to find his wife gone, and about buying his house, starting over.
As Janet walked out into the parking lot she took her cell phone out of her bag and switched it on. It beeped almost immediately. She'd got into the drivers seat of her car and listened to the message, knowing it was Jack before she heard the voice,
"Hey Jan, Gimme a call when you finish work? Ok bye."
The message was typically Jack, short and efficient, years of military training he just couldn't leave behind. She dialled his number and waited patiently for him to answer. On the seventh ring he answered with a slightly breathless,
"O'Neill"
"Hey, it's me."
"Hi. Sorry it took so long to answer. I was out in the yard and forgot to take the cordless out with me. So where are ya?"
"In my car."
"What? You're not driving are you?" Janet rolled her eyes skyward and answered,
"No Jack. I'm sat in the parking lot. I promise not to touch the ignition till I've put the phone down."
"Good, and don't roll your eyes at me."
"I did not!"
"You did too." She swore she could hear him grinning on the other end of the line.
"So what did you want anyway?" she asked trying to sound offended, glad that he couldn't see the matching grin on her face.
"I just wondered if you wanted to come to mine for dinner tonight. I thought we could barbeque. It's still warm and still light out."
"Barbeque for just the two of us?"
"Sure, why not? Beats barbequing for just the one of me."
"Ok I'll just go home and get changed first. I'll be over in about an hour ok?"
"Ok. See ya soon."
"Bye."
Janet started the engine and was still smiling when she left the mountain parking lot. She'd found that Jack had that effect on her. She didn't seem to do much else but laugh and smile while she was with him. They definitely had a lot of fun together. They'd discussed their relationship after their first night together and decided that they'd keep it as simple as they needed to, just having fun and enjoying each other's company. As a result they were building a solid friendship between them. And there was the sex too of course. Which was fantastic, far better than it had been with her husband. Jack had confessed to her that she was the first woman he'd been with since Sara, a fact that had shocked and pleased her at the same time. She had been worried after they'd gotten together that she was just a casual one night stand, but after hearing this she felt an odd sense of pride that he didn't do that a lot. She was shocked at being the first though. Jack was a good looking man, great personality, not quite forty yet (although closer than she was herself), recently divorced, she'd thought he would've wanted to celebrate his freedom and the women would be throwing themselves at him,
"Oh they are," he'd joked when she said this to him, "I'm just too old to catch them, bad back y'know?"
He'd blushed bright red when he said it and Janet thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. Not that she'd tell him that. She didn't think he'd appreciate being called "cute". He really didn't know how to take a compliment.
An hour later, Janet pulled up in Jack's driveway. As she got out of the car, she could already smell the barbequed food from around the back of the house. It smelled delicious. Jack wasn't much of a cook, but the few things he could cook, he could really cook well. Barbeque was just one of his specialities. She walked around the back and saw him up on the deck, lounging in a chair, wearing shorts, a t-shirt and his sunglasses, and drinking a cold beer.
"Well, it's nice to see you hard at work as usual."
He sat up immediately at the sound of her voice and a huge smile spread across his face. As she stepped up onto the deck, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit in his lap in the chair, and kissed her soundly.
"Hey you." He said softly as he broke off the kiss and began to nuzzle her neck. His glasses caught on her face and fell off which made him chuckle into her skin and made Janet shiver all over. She tipped her head back and let his tongue and teeth roam all over her neck and chin, and then...her stomach rumbled, loudly, which sent them both into fits of laughter.
"Hungry?", Jack asked, wearing that grin she'd heard on the phone earlier.
"How did you guess?" she replied, and kissed him gently on the nose. She stood up from his lap and let him get up to see to the barbeque, then quickly stole his seat and his beer. She leaned back and relaxed in the setting sun that was still warm enough for them to eat outside.
"Ok I think this is just about ready...hey!" he exclaimed as he turned around and saw where Janet was sitting.
"Just keeping your seat warm for you." She said, giving him her best innocent look. As he turned back to the barbeque she could hear him muttering under his breath, but could see the smile on his face. Smiling herself she sipped the beer and looked around his back yard. Wow. He'd said he was in the back yard earlier, but he must've been out here all day. He'd finally got around to clearing the severely overgrown garden, he'd even cut the lawn. The doctor in her wanted to scold him for working out in the hot sun all day, but the rest of her felt guilty for letting him make dinner alone when he'd been working all day. She quietly slipped out of her seat and placed the bottle of beer on the small wooden table. She stepped up behind him and slid her arms around his waist, feeling his free hand clasp hers on his stomach,
"Need any help?" she buried her face into the material covering his back and closed her eyes, inhaling his scent.
"Not with the food. There's a bottle of wine in the fridge if you wanna fetch it, and the glasses and plates too."
"Sure, back in a sec." she placed a kiss in the middle of his back and left him, in pursuit of the wine.
After they'd eaten, they sat out on Jack's deck watching the sunset and drinking the remainder of the bottle of wine. As it started to get darker, Jack got up from his seat and started to head inside. Janet was about to follow him when he turned back around,
"Ah! Stay there. I'll be back in two minutes."
Hmm. Strange. Janet didn't have a clue where he'd gone but she was content enough to stretch out in her seat and enjoy the peacefulness around Jack's garden. It was so quiet here. She'd only ever heard any noise once when a couple who lived across the street were having a huge fight and had left their window open. They'd been up on Jack's roof at the time and Janet had swiftly turned the telescope around before Jack could stop her to see what was going on. Jack had voiced his disapproval, and when Janet had told him she was doing it out of medical consideration, incase the couple resorted to violence and needed assistance, he obviously hadn't believed her. Especially considering the couple were over seventy. He then quite seriously informed her that his telescope was not purchased in the interest of spying on the neighbours. Which would have been impressive if he hadn't cracked up laughing.
Jack walked back outside to find Janet smiling to herself.
"What?" he asked her.
"Nothing I was just thinking."
"About...?"
"That time I spied on your neighbours."
"Hah! So you'll admit you were spying then?" he said with a triumphant grin on his face. Janet just rolled her eyes and went back to sipping her wine. Jack had brought candles out of the house with him and placed them around where they were sitting on the deck. He lit all of them, then took his seat next to Janet. He took hold of her hand and gently pulled her to sit on his lap again.
"Never knew you were so romantic."
"I'm not I just don't have the security light fitted out here yet." Janet playfully nudged him in the ribs and settled into his arms resting her head on his shoulder, her fingers idly playing with his t-shirt. She felt his arm curve around her back and rest on her hip.
"Hey. You know my neighbours?"
"The ones that had the fight?"
"Yep, those ones, you'll never guess what they were doing the other day."
"You were spying on them?" she asked, her amusement evident in her voice.
"You started it!"
"That's mature Jack." She felt his laugh vibrate against her body.
"You still haven't guessed."
"Ok what were they doing?" she asked as she raised her head from his shoulder to look at him. He had a smile on his face that told her all she needed to know. She couldn't help it, she just came out with it,
"Ew!" Jack thought this was hilarious and burst out laughing at her!
"Ew?" he managed to breathe out, " and I'm immature?"
"Aren't they, like, seventy?"
"Yep"
"And the only room you can see from your house is their kitchen?"
"Yep"
"And you were watching?"
"Yep... no! No, I was not watching! I just saw and turned away! Why would I want to watch that? Ew!"
This time they both dissolved in to laughter. When they'd calmed down a little Janet rested her head back where it was and decided she ought to talk to Jack about the conversation she'd had with General Hammond that day. She was well aware that she'd been putting it off all night. They'd had such a good time tonight though, it had been so relaxing and comfortable. She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she thought about how much she'd miss this if she left Colorado Springs, how much she'd miss Jack. She lifted her hand to brush it away before Jack saw but it was too late,
"Hey! You Ok?" his voice was gentle, so soft and caring.
"Jack, there's something I need to talk to you about." She paused and took a deep breath and sat up fully to look at him. "My new CO called me into his office today. He said he'd found some paperwork in the office that General West had left behind. In the paper work was a request I put in for a transfer six months ago..." she paused again to stop her voice from shaking. She was grateful that Jack didn't say anything, that he was letting her talk before he asked questions. She looked at his face, and into his eyes that were shining with concern for her.
"...he's offered me the transfer." There that wasn't so hard now was it. Jack's face changed suddenly and he...smiled. He was smiling.
"Where to?"
"What? You're Ok with this?"
"Why wouldn't I be? You've been saying for weeks that having nothing to do is driving you insane. And honestly? It's obvious that it is."
"What about us?"
"What about us? We'll work something out. I can do long distance."
"Seriously?" to say Janet was shocked would be an understatement. She'd half expected him to tell her it was over, that he didn't want to have to make that much effort to see her. "You'd really do that?"
"I can try. I'm not promising it'll work out, but we can at least give it a shot." He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the forehead.
"So, how long distance are we talking?"
"Washington."
"Washington? Oh man, this could really be a problem then." Janet's heart seemed to freeze in her chest. Was he serious? After what he'd just said?
"Wh..What do you mean?" she saw the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. What the...?
"I get lost every time I go to Washington!" he whined. He was whining!
"Jack that is not funny." She said and raised her arms to punch his arm, laughing despite what she'd just said, "you scared the shit out of me! I thought you were gonna change your mind."
He grabbed her wrists gently and pulled her closer to him.
"Sorry," he whispered against her mouth.
"What did you mean when you said it was obvious I wasn't happy at work?" she asked, suddenly remembering his comment from earlier.
"Your stressed" he said, his words muffled by the kisses he was placing on her face and neck, "you've lost weight too."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're the doctor. Aren't you supposed to notice these things?"
"In other people, yeah."
"But you didn't notice yourself that you're losing weight? And way too fast I might add!"
"Nag! Must be all the sex we're having." She said her voice lowering to a huskier tone.
"Huh?"
"Didn't you know? Sex burns off more calories a minute than jogging."
"Really?"
"Yep"
"So...what d'ya say you and I go burn off all this barbeque food?"
"All of it? You sure you're up for that flyboy?" she said as she slid off his lap and slowly walked toward the door, deliberately swinging her hips a little more than usual. She heard Jack's sharply indrawn breath from behind her and smiled as she stepped inside. Jumping up to follow her Jack blew out the candles and grabbed their wine glasses, and followed Janet into the house...
Hope ya liked it! Series isn't finished yet! There's more to come.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Kirsty
Heliopolis Main Archive
A Stargate: SG-1 Fanfiction Site
Fresh Starts Part 2
by Kirsty841Site Navigation
Support Heliopolis