Happy Valentine's Day II
by Laura Y
TITLE: Happy Valentine's Day II
AUTHOR: Laura Y
EMAIL: mrdrdoc@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Angst,Missing Scene/Epilogue,Romance
PAIRING: Sam/Jack
SPOILERS: Meridian, Revelations
SEASON / SEQUEL: 5. This story is a sequel to: Happy Valentine's Day
SERIES:
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: Jack has a Valentine's Day conversation with an old friend.
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We 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 authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was a request for a companion piece from Jack's POV from someone who read Happy Valentine's Day. You don't need to read the other one to get this, but hey, it's always good to plug you're own work!
"Hey, Jack."
"Terry. Good to see you." He gestured to the stool beside him, and the other uniformed man sat down and laid his cap on the bar.
"Yeah, you too, man. It’s been a while. You have no idea how surprised I was to see you at the recruitment fair today. Not your usual thing, is it?"
"Not hardly. I got roped into it by a friend who had to go out of town. She owes me for it, though." He smiled to himself as he imagined how he was going to get Carter back for sticking him with this job while she was off world with SG-14 testing a small naquadria-powered shield. "Big time." She didn’t ever need to know that he’d actually enjoyed talking to the kids who were wondering about military service. Or that it had kept him too busy to worry about the fact that she was messing around with a highly unstable element.
"Well, you were surprisingly effective. If you ever want a nice cushy desk job, I’ve got lots of spots open for recruiters right now." Colonel Franklin smiled, knowing that O’Neill was like he’d been before he’d lost the lower part of his right leg to a landmine in Mogadishu. He was about the last man in the world who’d settle for a desk job when he could be in active service. Speaking of which…
"Where the hell did you get to after retiring? Obviously you got recalled. We all thought you’d dropped off the face of the Earth."
"Close, but not quite." Jack couldn’t stop the smile that came whenever he thought of his current assignment and his absurd cover story.
"Your ID said Cheyenne Mountain, are you working for NORAD?"
"Under them, actually."
"Sorry?"
"Under NORAD there’s a research facility analyzing deep space radar telemetry." Nope, didn’t get any less ridiculous with practice. >From the look of disbelief on his face, the other soldier obviously agreed.
"Deep space…you’ve gotta be kidding me."
"Sounds like it, doesn’t it? I’m not actually doing the analyzing, although I try to do my part." The small smile continued to play around his mouth as the words that Carter and Daniel would use…
His smile died and he turned back to his beer. Terry Franklin had been in the Air Force long enough to recognize when someone had just remembered something he’d rather forget. It had happened to him every day for a couple of years, every time he’d had to stand up and feel where his leg was supposed to be.
"Man down?"
"Yeah."
"Recent?"
"Couple of weeks."
"Under your command?"
"Yeah. A civilian." At the surprised look from his friend, Jack elaborated, "A hazmat accident."
"Radio telemetry must be exciting work."
"You have no idea, Terry." Jack sighed and signaled the bartender for two more beers.
Deciding to try and cheer his friend up, the other Colonel reported what his assistant had observed at the recruiting fair. "So Jack, did you notice all the cute young things looking you over for size?" He laughed as O’Neill nearly spit out his mouthful of beer.
"I beg your pardon?"
"It wasn’t just you, Jack, don’t worry. My assistant, Denver, said that they were there looking for dates for tonight. It’s fairly common actually, but I’ve never seen as many as there were today. Must be the date."
"Your assistant is named Denver?"
"He really is. His mother is a lovely woman, I really don’t know what she was thinking." He took a drink of the new beer that had been laid in front of him. "So, how come you’re not out with your beautiful wife this evening?"
"We’re divorced."
Terry winced, "Sorry."
"Yeah, me too."
"So, you could’ve picked up one of those girls today." He grinned.
"You’ve gotta be kidding me. They were all about eighteen years old." He took a swallow of beer. "What’s with this sudden interest in my dating habits?"
"Are you telling me you didn’t notice the date? It’s Valentine’s Day."
"So?"
"So, the most romantic day of the year."
"So where’s your date, Terry?"
"My other half has been in Toronto for the last week on a business trip. And I couldn’t get away from the fair. She’s going to make it up to me later. In a big way." He couldn’t suppress his grin at the thought.
"You’re a lucky man, Terry."
"I am at that. She stuck with me after the accident, when I definitely wasn’t my usual sweet and polite self."
Both were silent as they remembered being in such a dark place that it was amazing that they hadn’t destroyed everything and everyone around them. They both finished their beers and, ordering two more, shook off the melancholy mood, falling back into the default conversation of all men at bars – sports.
After discussing the dismal state of the NHL and getting into a friendly debate over the reasons that the Av’s were (Jack) or weren’t (Terry) going to win the Stanley Cup, they drifted back to talking about work.
"So, I guess it’s pretty dreary working underground all the time."
"Fairly. They let us out occasionally."
"I remember your astronomy hobby. Finally lead into something more professional, hey?"
"Uh huh."
"Classified, I gather."
"You wouldn’t think it, but yeah."
"OK." With the acceptance of someone who’d worked in secrecy for most of his life, Franklin nodded.
"I’d love to tell you all about it, Terry, but you know how it is." When his friend smiled back, Jack knew that he’d just been trying to keep the conversation light.
Maybe it was the four beers, or maybe he just didn’t want to lie all night, but Jack found himself answering questions about Daniel when Terry brought him up again.
"The guy you lost. A friend?"
"Yeah. He was on my team for five years."
"You have radar teams?"
"In a manner of speaking. It’s just the way the facility is organized, since it runs twenty-four hours a day." The rest of the cover story wasn’t quite as lame as the beginning.
To take the focus off of the SGC, Jack continued to talk about Daniel. Since he and Carter had smoothed over their problems and the team had been talking about the accident and Daniel’s ascension, it wasn’t as hard for him to talk about it any more.
"He was one of the people who pulled me out of the hole I fell into after Charlie died." Jack thought back to the time after Iraq and Charlie, and wanted to blame Sara, but he knew that it had been just as much his fault that things hadn’t worked.
Terry nodded. He’d been in that hole himself after losing his leg. He hadn’t felt that he was a whole man any more, and that he wasn’t any good for anything. Looking back, it didn’t take a genius to see that had been depression, but it had been his wife, and not the psychologist, who had finally pulled him out of it.
"He must’ve been a good guy."
"He was. Smart. Annoying, but smart."
"You said he was a civilian?"
"Yeah."
"Not enough astronomers in the Forces?"
"We may not have a lot, but we have the best."
"I’ll take your word for it."
The beer must have been affecting Terry, too, since he gave a heavy sigh, leaned on the bar and changed the topic suddenly.
"I miss my wife."
Jack he looked up to see his friend watching a couple in the corner holding hands and whispering.
"Don’t you miss that?"
Jack knew it was the beer when, instead of making fun of the other man, he just sighed too, and agreed, "Yeah."
"Ooh, that’s the sound of a man in love. If you still love your wife, man, why don’t you get back together?"
If he’d been a little more sober, or if he wasn’t still feeling the shock of Daniel’s death, Jack might have caught himself before he stuck his foot in it.
"I’m not still in love with Sara…"
"You’re not? Who are you in love with?"
"I’m not…No one."
"Ah. Someone you work with?" He laughed as Jack whipped his head around to stare at his friend. "Don’t look so shocked. You think you’re the first guy to get involved with…another officer?" At the raised eyebrow, Jack sighed again.
"2IC." This wasn’t just sticking his foot in it; he was sinking past his waist.
"Ooh, even worse." With a remarkable feat of association, considering they’d both had several beers, Terry exclaimed, "The friend who stuck you with today." At Jack’s nod he continued, "Damn, I guess I won’t meet her, then. She must be something else for you to let this happen. What in god’s name does she see in you?"
What the hell. This guy didn’t know anyone at the SGC and wasn’t ever going to have the occasion to talk to Hammond. He’d never meet Carter or anyone else who worked with him. "I have no idea."
"How long?"
"We’ve worked together since I went back."
"That’s not what I was asking."
"I know."
"Since you…so she was another one of the people who pulled you back?"
"You know what? You’re dangerous when you’ve been drinking. It brings out your latent telepathic powers."
"There’s no such thing as telepathy." With Terry’s laughing response, Jack knew that he’d headed off the inquisition.
"I don’t know…"
"Sure Jack, and next you’ll be telling me that there really are aliens living among us."
"Oh that I do know." He laughed, imagining what his friend would say to everything he knew. "Until you’ve worked in a facility half staffed by Canadians, don’t tell me there’s no such thing as aliens. They’re too polite to be real."
Terry laughed, and slapped Jack on the back. "That’s what you get for working at the most secure base on Earth, buddy. At least now I know why you don’t mind working under NORAD, in the deep, dark tunnels…"
"Dark? Not likely. There’s so much fluorescent light in that place, it’s amazing we don’t all glow when we get home."
"I was speaking metaphorically, Jack."
"I know, Terry."
"Why don’t you retire?"
Since Jack hadn’t actually stopped thinking about Carter, the question didn’t seem to be quite as sudden as it was. "Tried that twice. Didn’t work."
"Why don’t you transfer?"
"What I do is too important."
"Radar telemetry."
"Yeah."
"Why doesn’t she?"
"Same reason."
"Couldn’t you just be on different ‘teams’?" Somehow, this guy who Jack hadn’t seen in more than half a decade was asking him every question he had managed to avoid asking himself. He was surprised to find that saying out loud wasn’t as difficult as he’d thought it would be.
"Working together as a team is more important to both of us. It wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be worth it."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Occasionally." When Terry looked questioningly at him, Jack added the cover-story excuse. "We work with a lot of experimental technology."
"Right." Franklin finished his beer. "Is it worth it now?"
Ordinarily he wouldn’t have paused, but after losing Daniel and fighting with Carter, he’d been thinking about it. To have the chance to explore this…whatever…he and Carter had, that was something to look forward to. But, there were days when he wanted to chuck it all and just take her fishing. Days when it didn’t seem worth it, when he wanted to throw in the towel and just take what he could get. Days when she smiled that gorgeous smile at him…
For now though, to see her every day, to work at her side as she made an amazing discovery and stand at her side as they fought for the good guys…yeah, he’d been thinking about it, even if he’d never admit that to a living soul.
"Yeah." He realized that he really didn’t have to think about it any more. There was no question. "Yeah, it’s worth it."
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