Beginnings

Summary: This will be a series of one-shots, depicting my various imaginings of the ways Sam & Jack's relationship could have started, probably all post-Threads. Each chapter will be a stand alone one-shot story. There probably won't be regular updates, I'll just write and post new ones as and when an idea grabs me.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor profit from their use - I merely toy with them for my own amusement.

He didn't kiss her at the cabin.

She told herself she wasn't disappointed by that. She told herself it showed he respected her, and that he was giving her time to grieve for her father, and time to learn how to be herself again after the break-up of her disastrous relationship with Pete. She told herself he didn't want to be her rebound, and that he wanted to do it right.

She told herself all of these things right up until the night he was due to leave for Washington D.C., and she told herself this after he was gone, leaving her sitting on a sealed packing crate, lost, while Daniel and Teal'c loaded boxes into the rental truck to take to storage.

Then she told herself to quit lying before her nose grew long, and admitted she was pissed.

It took two weeks before she could get leave, but then she was on the first plane she could catch headed east. She got his address from Daniel, who handed it over without a word but with an infuriating knowing expression and a raised eyebrow that would have made Teal'c proud. In D.C. she took a cab straight to his apartment, slipped into the building as someone else was leaving, and was right outside his door ready to start pounding on it before she'd even stopped to consider whether this could be a monumentally bad idea.

Then she stood like that, fist raised, and paralysed with sudden fear and uncertainty, for a good five minutes.

She almost jumped out of her skin when his voice suddenly came from not more than an inch beyond the door.

"Generally speaking knocking is more effective when you make contact with the door." He said conversationally. "You should give it a try."

She dropped her raised fist, feeling foolish, and he opened the door, a slight smirk on his face, looking her up and down.

"Hi." He offered.

"Hi."

He raised his eyebrows when she didn't say anything else. "Do you want to come in?"

She nodded, and moved passed him quickly, breaking the trance she'd fallen into. Crap, crap, crap. What am I doing here?

"Can I get you anything? I haven't exactly unpacked yet. There's beer … and beer. Can I recommend the beer?"

"A beer would be great." She said, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

"Relax Carter, I don't bite. Except on a full moon." He joked.

Damn, he noticed. "Sorry, sir. I didn't exactly think this through." She admitted in a rush.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and withdrew a couple of bottles from the fridge, handing her one. "Oh? That's not like you."

She grimaced a bit. "No."

He gestured around him at the general chaos of manila boxes expansively. "There's a couch, somewhere, but I haven't actually laid eyes on it since I moved in. I do however have patio furniture on the balcony."

"Sounds good."

He led her through an obstacle course of boxes, and slid the glass door to the balcony open. The view was nothing spectacular – the balcony overlooked the apartment complex's large, grassy inner courtyard – but his apartment was on the top floor, and the sheer height lent it an air of privacy and peace.

He took a seat, and she perched on the other, crossing her legs and picking an imaginary bit of lint off of her jeans.

"Daniel called." He said suddenly, and she looked up to find him watching her carefully.

"He did?" She said.

"He said you're pissed at me."

Sam frowned. She was, a little, but she'd never told Daniel that. She hadn't breathed a word of her recent inner turmoil to anyone.

"I never said anything of the sort." She argued.

"You didn't have to." He said. He paused for a moment, breaking their eye contact and starting to pick at the label on his bottle. "And then, after Daniel called, I got a letter from Teal'c."

"A letter?" Sam repeated incredulously, and lowered her voice to a whisper in deference to the open air. "Teal'c is on another planet, forming the free jaffa nation. He's sending you mail from the other side of the galaxy?"

"He sent it before he left." Jack said, as if this was obvious. She supposed it would have been, had her brain not been liquefied by her nerves.

"Anyway, they both think I made a tactical error." He continued.

She said nothing. She was just pissed enough at him that she wasn't going to help him along with this.

"They think I shouldn't have left without … you know. Without having a particular conversation with you."

"I assumed you had your reasons." She offered. Damn it, I thought wasn't going to help.

"I did. I thought it was the right call, with everything that happened. You can't rush these things. I was trying to be respectful, give you some space."

He sounded defensive now, and she sighed and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. She'd known that was what he would say, but it took the wind out of her ire somewhat to hear the words spoken.

"However … Daniel and Teal'c have both not-so-subtly informed me I was wrong. I assume you're here to tell me the same."

She opened her eyes, staring up at the stars. Or where the stars would be, were they not in the middle of a busy, glowing city awash with light pollution.

"I didn't want that much space." She admitted quietly.

"So I gather." She glanced over at him, to find him looking at her like a puzzle he didn't understand. "I'm sorry."

"It's just, when you left without saying anything, I thought …"

Oh God, no, don't cry.

He put his beer bottle down and pulled hers from her hand too, and suddenly she had a nose full of Jack as he wrapped his arms around her, cradling the back of her head and tucking his face into her neck. Despite her best efforts a sob escaped, and she hugged him back tightly as she furiously ordered her eyes to stop leaking tears.

"Shhh." He whispered. "It's ok. I'm sorry."

She calmed herself down and took some deep steadying breaths, before loosening her grip on him a little. He waited a few more moments before pulling back, and she realised that to hold her like that while she was sitting in her chair he'd been kneeling beside her.

"Sir, your knees …" She started to protest, but he waved her off, standing with a wince.

"It's fine. And I think under the circumstances you should quit calling me 'sir', don't you?"

She nodded, feeling a little raw. "I'm sorry for falling to pieces on you, I don't know what came over me."

"You've had a rough few weeks, hell, a rough few years. If anyone's entitled to fall apart now and then, it's you."

"Still … I honestly didn't come here to cry on your shoulder."

"I know." He smirked, with a self-deprecating air. "You came here to kick my ass."

She smiled self-consciously. "Why haven't you unpacked?"

He looked thrown by the sudden change of topic. "What?"

"All those boxes … isn't the mess driving you nuts?" As a military man Sam knew he'd had neatness drilled deep into his psyche.

"I've been putting it off." He admitted. "I don't like the apartment, but I didn't want to buy a house. Not until …" He broke off, and Sam's mouth opened in an 'o' of realisation.

She stood, and manoeuvred around the chair on the tiny balcony to stand directly in front of him, meeting his eye.

"Until what?" She asked, challengingly.

His gaze grew heated, and her eyes flickered briefly to his lips. She was baiting him, deliberately, but he didn't rise to it. "Careful, Carter."

"Why?" She asked quietly. "You transferred. You're not my CO anymore. So unless you really did leave without saying anything because you don't feel that way about me anymore …"

She broke off when his mouth suddenly descended on hers, and she found herself pressed against the wall, being kissed thoroughly, setting every nerve ending in her body on fire. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him back, but he stopped, just as suddenly as he'd started, leaning his forehead against hers and breathing hard.

"I want to do this right." He whispered. "That means not taking you against the wall of my apartment ten minutes after you arrived."

She shivered in delicious appreciation of the mental image. "That's a shame." She whispered back.

He groaned, and leaned in further, resting his head against the wall over her shoulder and completely pinning her with his body. "You're evil. How did I never know you were evil?"

She grinned. "I hide it well, behind the techno-babble. But really, the motorcycle, and the speeding, and the lock-picking and the pool hustling, should have given you a clue."

He kissed her again, still passionately but slowly, as though he was trying to breathe her in. She felt like she was melting in his arms. When he ended it this time he looked at her intensely.

"I'm still going to do this right." He insisted.

She almost rolled her eyes. "Fine. Then I'd better go and find a hotel room."

"No – stay."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Probably not. But I don't want you to go."

"You said you haven't seen your couch since you moved in."

"I have a bed."

"Are you asking me to sleep with you, General?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

"I'm begging you to, Colonel." He replied, and the intensity in his eyes melted her all over again. "But just to sleep. We'll talk about this properly in the morning."

"Ok." She agreed, and let him lead her by the hand to his bedroom.

She changed in his bathroom, and when she entered his bedroom again he was already tucked under the covers in his t-shirt and boxers. He lifted his arm in invitation, and she very willingly climbed into the bed, tucking herself against his body and humming in pleasure as he held her firmly in place with his arm, his hand curled around her side and her breasts pressed against his chest. She hooked her knee over his, entwining their bare legs, and he groaned and squeezed her tighter for a moment.

"Damn, Carter." He whispered. "I didn't think this through."

She chuckled. "Hey, you were the one who said you wanted to take things slow and then invited – no begged – me to stay in your bed."

"I think we both know I'm not the smart one in this relationship."

She smiled against his chest, a warm feeling in her heart. "So this is a relationship now?"

"Unless you just wanted me for my body." He joked.

She giggled, and reached up to kiss him, slowly and tenderly. When the kiss ended, she had completely lost her train of thought.

"I think I'll take that as a no." He said, eyes twinkling.

She smiled and tucked herself back against him contentedly. "Goodnight, Jack." She whispered.

He kissed the top of her head, holding her wrapped in his arms.

"Night Sam."