Fresh Starts Part 5
Fresh Starts Part 5
by Kirsty
Summary: this is the fifth and final part of this series. it's set during Fire and Water, at the end of Daniel's wake.
Category: Missing Scene/Epilogue, Romance, Series
Episode Related: 102 The Enemy Within, 106 Cold Lazarus, 108 Brief Candle, 112 Fire and Water
Season: Season 1
Pairing: Jack/Janet, none
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: 04/28/03
Fresh Starts Part 5.
There were only a few of them left now. The rest of SG1 were still here, and General Hammond too. They were all in the living room, but Janet stood in Jack's kitchen, wondering if she could get the others to leave without actually kicking them out. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate their need to be supported by each other, but she needed to talk to Jack. He'd disappeared about an hour ago, most likely to his roof. She had no doubt that he'd taken a bottle of something up there with him, and she needed to coax him down before he drank so much that he'd be unable to climb down himself. Sam came through to the kitchen, carrying the cups they'd used for coffee and placed them in the sink.
"General Hammond is just about to leave. I'm taking Teal'c with me. He's staying at mine tonight so we can go and sort out Daniel's apartment tomorrow..." her voice trailed off and she still stood at the sink, looking out of the window. She absently started running the water to wash the cups, but Janet stopped her.
"Don't worry about that Sam," she walked over to the sink and gently placed a hand on Sam's shaking arm, "Go home. Get some sleep," she said, offering Sam a smile.
"What about Colonel O'Neill? Is he Ok?"
"I'm not sure. I'll stay for a while and make sure he is."
"Ok," Sam turned away from the sink and left the kitchen. Janet followed her out and was met by General Hammond and Teal'c getting ready to leave.
"Good night Dr. Frasier, and if you need anything, just give me a call," Janet looked at the old man and knew exactly what he meant. What he was really saying is "if you can't handle Jack, give me a call." They'd all seen the extent to which Jack was feeling the loss of his friend earlier, when he'd taken out his frustration on the General's car window.
"Thankyou Sir. I'm sure I'll be fine. Good night." She watched the three of them leave, then turned back to the kitchen to finish washing the cups. She was slowly working up the courage to confront Jack. He obviously needed to talk about Daniel, but the truth was, lately, it had been Daniel who he'd talked to about these kinds of things. It was Daniel he'd gone to after the crystals had cloned Charlie. Then, just when she thought they were getting back on track, were getting closer again, he'd gone and slept with some woman off world, and nearly got himself killed as a result. She couldn't help it when he came back to Earth, she'd yelled at him, a lot. She told him how stupid he'd been, how irresponsible. He hadn't said a word as she'd yelled. He had just stood there, which had infuriated her even more, until she'd turned and walked away. They'd agreed to stay friends, but since then, had hardly seen each other off duty. Their relationship had changed dramatically. It was purely a professional working relationship, which was really for the best, according to the USAF anyway. Tonight though, she didn't care. Jack needed a friend, and she was it.
She went outside. It was already dark. She approached the ladder, and began to quietly climb up it. As she reached the top, she saw Jack sat on the floor, back propped up against the wooden side of the deck, staring straight ahead of him, tears silently flowing down his face. He didn't acknowledge her as she stepped on to the platform, so she sat beside him, their shoulders touching, and waited.
Eventually he spoke, but it was so quiet she hardly heard it,
"I retired to get away from this," she didn't interrupt, but let him speak, "I retired so that I wouldn't have to watch my friends die anymore. It was bad enough with Kawalski, but this..." He stopped. Janet waited a while longer, but he didn't say anything else, just sat staring into the space in front of him. Janet looked around and saw the bottle of whiskey he'd brought up with him on the other side of the deck. It was still full.
"Are you going to retire again?" she finally dared to ask him. It took a while for him to respond.
"No. Not at the moment," he paused, "it still hurts though." She moved closer to him and placed her arms around his shoulders. He moved easily and rested his head on her shoulder as she stroked his hair, trying to soothe him.
"I know," she whispered, "I know Jack."
"But I'm not going to give up," she could hear the new determination in his voice, "Sha're and Skaara are still out there somewhere. I promised Daniel that we'd find them, and I'm going to. It's the least I can do for him." They sat silently like that for a long time. Eventually, after his tears had stopped, he spoke again, his voice low and soft,
"I've missed you." That was all he said. Janet closed her eyes and kissed the top of his head,
"Me too," she whispered.
"Are you still mad at me?" he asked. She knew what he was referring to. The woman on that planet.
"I was never mad at what you did Jack," he looked up sharply at that, "A little jealous maybe, but mostly I was mad because we nearly lost you. I nearly lost you. I'm sorry I yelled at you." She removed her arms from around him and crossed them over her chest, "because now I've lost you in a different way, and it's worse."
"You haven't, I'm still here."
"Oh, come on Jack, we've hardly seen each other since I got back from Washington." He leaned back and rested his head on the wood behind him. She bent forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her forehead on the palms of her hands. She felt him move closer to her again, and felt his hand on the back of her neck, slowly creeping up to tangle in her loose hair. Her breath hitched in her chest as her body reacted to his touch. She froze, not wanting to move and break the contact. He placed both his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back to him, her body resting against his chest. One hand tentatively brushed her hair from her neck, and she felt a soft kiss underneath her ear.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"Jack..." she began to protest.
"Shh," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending shudders through her body, "please don't."
"Jack, we can't do this," he took her earlobe into his mouth and suckled gently.
"We can," another kiss behind her ear, his voice taking on that deep, husky tone Janet hadn't heard in months, "we shouldn't, but we can."
"We're supposed to be friends Jack," she said, mentally willing her body to move as he snaked his arms around her waist, "that means no sex." Even as she said the words, her head tipped back to rest on his shoulder and her fingers threaded through the ones on the hands wrapped around her.
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why does friendship mean no sex? Why can't we have both?" he continued the kisses down her neck, nipping gently at her skin.
"Friends who sleep together?"
"Yeah."
"People don't do that in real life Jack." She involuntarily let out a moan as one hand untangled itself from hers and found it's way under her shirt.
"Sure they do," the hand on her bare skin ran along her waistband, tickling the skin and making her squirm in his arms.
"What if we get caught? The regulations..."
"We won't. We'll be careful. No one else has to know," his lips found their way back up her neck until they brushed over her cheek. The way her head was tipped back meant that their lips were only inches apart. He stopped kissing her, breathing heavily, waiting for her to give him permission to carry on.
"Jan, if you want me to stop, I will." Decision made she turned her head towards him, raised her free hand to the back of his neck and pulled him closer, growling against his lips,
"Don't you dare," before pressing her lips to his and kissing him hard. She melted into his arms. It had been so long since she'd kissed him. Her senses were assaulted with the feel of his lips and tongue against hers, the smell of his cologne, the taste of his skin, and the sound of the soft moans that she couldn't identify as his or hers. Turning her whole body, she straddled his hips without breaking the kiss, wrapping both of her now free hands around his neck. The hand under her shirt rested on the bare skin of her lower back, pulling her hips closer to his. When they finally broke the kiss for air, she rested her forehead against his, eyes still closed, panting hard.
"You know, as much as I like the spontaneity of going at it on my roof, I really don't think my knees or back would appreciate the hard wooden floor," Janet smiled, and opened her eyes, slightly surprised that he could use five syllable sentences, while she herself was so turned on she wasn't sure she could speak at all,
"Inside?" she asked, glad that her voice had managed to work after all. He nodded and they both stood to climb back down and go into the house. When they got to the bottom, Jack stopped and pulled Janet toward him,
"Thank you," he said sincerely, looking deep into her eyes.
"What for?"
"Just for being here, for staying behind after everyone else left. That really means a lot. Thank you," he repeated as he kissed her gently on the mouth.
"Anytime, Jack," she replied.
FIN.
That's it! End of this series. Planning a follow-up series, but I'm not sure how it's gonna happen yet! Hope you enjoyed. Constructive feedback is always appreciated.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Kirsty
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