Thinking of you III – Promise me you’ll try

TITLE: Thinking of You III – Promise Me You’ll Try

AUTHOR: Jo R.

EMAIL: Joey@Ram32.freeserve.co.uk

CATEGORY: SJR, lots of fluff.

CONTENT WARNINGS: S/J romance.

RATING: PG. Safe for all.

SEASON / SEQUEL: Set Season four, after BTS. Third in trilogy.

SPOILERS: Various small ones for movie and all seasons.

SUMMARY: Follows ‘Thinking of You II – Talk about Us’. The relationship has progressed but what do they do now?

ARCHIVE: Heliopolis, SJA, and Shipperworld. Anywhere else, please ask first.

STATUS: Complete.

DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime / Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission. Feedback and constructive criticism welcome. The song, ‘Promise Me You’ll Try’, is taken from Jennifer Lopez’s album ‘On the 6’ and is written by Peter Zizzo. No copyright infringement is meant.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: Third and final in the ‘Thinking of You’ Trilogy. Again, if it doesn’t make sense, blame it on my mind not being exactly focused at the time of writing (or posting.) And yes, I know it’s highly unlikely this would ever happen. I’m entitled to the occasional delusional state here and there.

DEDICATION: Again, to the Shipperworld and S/J chat room gang. And to all the S/J shippers out there. Keep the faith!

~*~

Bird song and the sunlight streaming through the crack in the curtains played a part in waking Jack up in the morning. Another element that woke him was the feeling of utter contentment he felt, waking with a small and warm body tucked in to, and entwined with, his own. A soft, hazy smile played on his lips as he looked down at the mass of blond hair resting on his chest, memories of their night together causing the smile to widen and spread across his whole face.

Jack pushed the hair from her face, seeing her lips curl up into a soft smile as she snuggled even closer into him. He took his time, taking in every single detail, every line of her relaxed face, memorising it and storing it away for later reference. He loved seeing her like this. Seeing the side of her few at the SGC saw, seeing the innocence and her gentler nature. The more time he spent gazing at her, the more he fell in love with her and the more he grew certain that they had done the right thing. After all, time waits for nobody.

A short while later, Sam began to stir. She mumbled something unintelligible, her mind still foggy from sleep and stretched against him, her smile widening as she opened her eyes and saw that he really was there, and the previous night had not been one of the many dreams she had had concerning this man. “ Morning,” she mumbled seconds before his lips found hers for a loving kiss, sparking memories of last night in both of their minds.

“ Morning, Sunshine,” he murmured back as she leaned up to be on the same eye-level as he was. “ Sleep well?”

“ Perfectly.” She smiled tenderly as his fingers traced the line of her jaw. She stopped his wandering hand and brought it to her lips. Then her eyes clouded over with something he couldn’t comprehend.

A small shimmer of panic ran through him. “ Sam? You’re not regretting anything, are you?”

“ No.” She shook her head and smiled at him brightly, leaning up to kiss him quickly before sinking down into the pillows below her. “ I was just imagining what the expressions on people’s faces will be when we arrive at the bar tonight. Wonder if they’ll know.”

The bar. It took a split-second for Jack to remember. Most of their colleagues from the SGC were going to be at one of the regular bars the SGC personal frequented that evening. It was the anniversary of when the project had first been opened and it was tradition for any available members of SGC to show up and have a drink, in celebration of everything they’d achieved and in memory of everyone who had been lost. General Hammond had even taken to putting in an appearance, which was why it surprised Jack that Sam wanted them to turn up together.

“ Honey, do you think it’s wise to go public straight away?” He asked as she propped herself up on one elbow so she could look at him.

“ There’s no reason why we shouldn’t,” she answered evenly. “ Unless you’re ashamed of what’s happened..”

“ Of course I’m not!” He backed up his exclamation by kissing her thoroughly, making her smile. “ But I don’t want anyone’s reactions to put you off following up this relationship. I don’t want to jeopardise it, I don’t want to lose you.”

“ You won’t,” she promised with another smile that he knew she reserved especially for him. “ You can’t lose me that easily, Jack.” The smile faded slightly. “ I just think that we’ve taken the first step and we should follow through before you lose your nerve. We agreed to deal with whatever the consequences were.” She looked at him earnestly, speaking more quietly as she confided her feelings. “ I don’t want to keep this secret, Jack. If we did that, it would feel wrong. It would make me feel like we’re having some kind of meaningless affair. My mother told me that when you’re in love, you shouldn’t hide it. Hiding it might destroy it and I don’t want to do that.”

Jack saw the tears shining in her eyes, and the fear. He rolled over to cover her gently without crushing her and kissed her sweetly. “ Then we won’t. We’ll go together and leave together. Everyone else be damned.” He kissed her again before pulling back so she could see the shy grin on his face and the suggestive gleam in his eyes. “ But that’s tonight. Until then, I have you all to myself.”

She giggled as he pulled the covers over their heads, and then there was silence as he claimed her lips again. They were ready to face whatever obstacles were thrown at them. They’d already taken the hardest step of letting their walls down. Together, they would be alright.

~*~

The party was in full swing by the time they managed to drag themselves there. Walking from the parking lot to the actual bar, they didn’t come across anyone they recognised but Sam couldn’t help feeling everyone they passed somehow knew. Of course, the fact that Jack wouldn’t let her get too far away from him didn’t help much. Nor did the fact she couldn’t stop herself from tugging him back to her side so she could kiss him when he got in front of her. Giggling softly, she managed to restrain herself when the door opened and they stepped in, one after the other.

They walked with a respectable distance between them, passing familiar faces as they searched for their friends, but their hands remained joined. They were making no secret that they had arrived together, but so far, everyone seemed to be taking it into their strides, accepting it as though it was expected that the command team of SG-1 would arrive looking decidedly more cosy that two people who were just co-workers and friends.

“ Sam!! Jack!” Daniel stood and called for them, waving jubilantly, giving them the impression he had been there for quite some time. Smiling at each other in bemusement, they made their way over to their friend, finding him at a table with Teal’c, Dr. Janet Fraiser and some nurses from the infirmary, who seemed to be gathered around the young inebriated archaeologist. “ Hi guys!” Daniel exclaimed, easing himself out from his admirers so he could hug them both enthusiastically. “ I knew you’d come!”

“ Well, yeah, Danny, we do every year,” Jack told his friend, an eyebrow raised at the potent spell of alcohol emitting from Daniel. He looked at Teal’c as the Jaffa nodded a greeting to Sam. “ How much as Danny-boy had to drink?”

“ Oh, just a couple of beers.. and some shots of whiskey,” Janet spoke up, dismissing the amount with the wave of her hand. It seemed as though the party at their table had started a while ago for everyone except Teal’c. The petite doctor went back to her conversation with someone Jack recognised to be Major Louis Ferretti, who had also apparently had consumed a large amount of alcohol.

Sam and Jack exchanged amused looks as all but two of the nurses deserted their table, leaving room for the standing members of SG-1. The two remaining nurses draped themselves over Teal’c and Daniel respectively, the reaction of Teal’c almost making them both burst into laughter.

“ Since the party’s started, you want a drink, Sam?” Jack asked as his friend, his lover, slid into the booth, keeping some distance between herself and their drunken friend. “ Can I tempt you with a nice cool beer?”

“ I’d love one.” She smiled up at him winningly and he found himself temporarily lost in her smile, grinning back before he remembered he had mentioned something about drinks. Sam watched him leave, a small sigh escaping her lips as she sensed Daniel at her shoulder. Sure enough, she turned to find his face peering into hers. “ Is there something I can help you with, Daniel?”

Daniel just beamed at her. He took another drink out of one of the glasses on the table, one she doubted belonged to him and then leaned in as if to tell her a secret. When he spoke however, it was in a loud stage whisper their whole table could hear. “ He called you Sam.”

She blinked once. “ So?”

“ He called you Sam,” Daniel repeated insistently. “ He never calls you Sam.” He grinned and winked sloppily. “ Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

“ Won’t tell what?” Jack asked as he rejoined the table, drinks in hand, drinks Daniel eyed up greedily. “ No, Danny. I think you’ve had enough for one night.”

“ But Jack..” Daniel whined with a pout. Then he grinned again, mischievously. “ I know your secret!” He insisted in a sing-song voice. Jack rolled his eyes and slid into the booth next to Sam, casually putting an arm along the booth behind her, his hand moving to touch her shoulder and get her attention.

“ What secret is he talking about?” He whispered when Sam turned to look at him after she’d taken a small sip from her glass.

She shrugged in reply. “ I don’t know. Something to do with you calling me Sam.”

“ Is that all?” Jack’s grin widened and he winked. “ Well I guess we need to give them more of a hint.”

“ Jack, what are you..?” His lips on hers silenced her question. Smiling to herself, Sam found she responded to the kiss, despite having a rather noisy not to mention rowdy audience. The kiss ended and they broke apart, a faint blush staining her cheeks. She snuck a glance at their friends, only to see Janet wink at her as she resumed her ‘conversation’ with Ferretti and Daniel was staring at them with his mouth agape. Teal’c looked, as always, non-committal although she could have swore she saw a twinkle of approval in the depths of his eyes.

“ You.. He..” Daniel spluttered in amazement. Then he snapped his mouth shut and focused his eyes on someone approaching their table. Both Sam and Jack turned to see who it was at the same time. General Hammond. They darted quick reassuring looks at each other and their fingers entwined on the tabletop. Whatever the reaction, they thought they were prepared for it. They were wrong.

General George Hammond came to a stop at their table, trying very hard to suppress the grin on his face. “ Colonel, Major,” he tried to look stern but failed at the ‘prepared-for-the worst’ identical expressions his officers wore. Grinning, he winked at Sam and clapped Jack on the shoulder with the hand that wasn’t holding the glass with what looked like some exotic cocktail in it. “ Relax! I was just going to say the next rounds on me.”

Sam and Jack looked at each other in confusion and then back at the General, looking so bewildered the man couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “ Sir?”

“ I just came into some money,” the General supplied as an explanation with another wink, this time at the others at the table. “ Next rounds on me since you’re responsible. Carry on whatever you were doing..” He turned to leave and then paused, as if remembering something. “ Oh, and Major? You’re father say’s ‘hi’. He’d come over himself but he’s a little unsteady on his feet.” He grinned deliberately. “ I don’t think he or his ‘companion’ were prepared for these cocktails. Oh, and he also said to tell you he’s not mad you lost him some money. He’s just glad you got your heads out of your sixes.”

With that remark, the General left the table and Sam followed him back to his with her eyes. Jack followed her gaze as her eyes widened with shock, and couldn’t help a chuckle at the sight of General Jacob Carter grinning dopily and waving at them from a table at the other side of the room. Jack looked back at Sam in time to see her hide her head in her hands with a groan of embarrassment.

“ Aw, let him enjoy himself, Honey,” Jack whispered in her ear, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him. “ And we can start enjoying ourselves.”

Lifting her head from her hands, she grinned at him deviously. “ I thought we started enjoying ourselves last night, Sweetheart.”

“ You’re right, we did. Well, there’s nothing stopping us from enjoying ourselves even more now,” he grinned back and kissed the tip of her nose.

The night continued, with lots of alcohol being consumed by the SGC crowd, more than usual once news spread and people started celebrating their respective wins in the base betting pools. Both Sam and Jack had worries that when the alcohol wore off, realization would set in and they’d find themselves in trouble but for the moment, they didn’t care. They felt free in expressing how they felt about each other in front of their friends and family for the first time and they were going to take advantage of that, even if it was just for the night.

As things calmed down and the crowd slowed, Jack pulled Sam to her feet and led her to the dance floor. Holding one another tight, they let themselves get lost in the music and in one another, drowning out everything else, oblivious to it all. Enjoying the moment whilst they could.

There were no guarantees reactions to their new relationship would remain as accepting in the light of a brand new day, when inhibitions were back in place. There were no guarantees they would survive their next mission. There was no way they could be certain that everything would be happily ever after because life just wasn’t like that. But for now, they had each other. And for now, they were happy with just that.

*I know it's on your heart

That a love like ours shall never fall apart

You're so afraid of the rain

So I'll take your hand

And I'll love you in the best way that I can

And I only expect the same

Don't promise me forever

Don't promise me the sun and sky

Don't pretend to know you'll never make me cry

Just hold me now

And promise me you'll try

Though I'm sure of what I feel

Never though a love so true that felt so unreal

And I'm a little afraid myself

But if you love me day by day

With all honest heart and a little faith

Baby time will tell the tale

Don't promise me forever

Don't promise me the sun and sky

Don't pretend to know you'll never make me cry

Just hold me now

Don't promise me forever

Don't promise me the sun and sky

Don't pretend to know you'll never make me cry

Just hold me now

And promise me you'll try*

The End. Thanks for reading!

Feedback is so much more than welcome J

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