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Chapter Ten Buffy looked up as Teal’c was wheeled back into their room. She waited until he was situated and the nurses had left before asking, “How did your first physical therapy session go?” “It went well.” “And,” Buffy prompted after a minute. “And what?” “Do you feel any better? Does it still hurt? Was it boring?” “It was therapy,” he said flatly. She sighed to herself. This was her third day of sharing a room with Teal’c and she had been unsuccessful in engaging him in a full-fledged conversation. Listening to Andrew’s geek talk was preferable to the long silences she shared with her roommate. Thinking of her friends back in Cleveland she sighed again. “Are you unwell, Buffy Summers?” “No, why?” “You were sighing.” “Just bored. I hate being cooped up inside like this,” she said, tossing the magazine she had been reading to the end of her bed. “Indeed.” “Every time I get seriously injured it just reminds me how frail I really am despite being the s…so fit. This just sucks.” “Indeed.” She turned to look at him and saw the tension in his jaw. “I’m sorry. This must be hard for you, too.” “It is,” he reluctantly admitted. Buffy sensed that there was more going on than what Teal’c was actually saying, but she didn’t want to push it. This was the most she had gotten out of him. “Do you ever regret it?” She asked suddenly. “Regret what?” He asked, looking at her for the first time. “Coming here. Giving up your family and friends, everything you knew, to live on an alien world?” “I do not.” “Why?” She asked. “Because I loved my family was the reason why I came here. Helping the Tau’ri was a way to show my brothers that the Goa’uld were false gods and that one day we would be free. It was for them that I left.” “Makes sense,” she said softly. “Why do you ask?” “I was just wondering,” she said with a shrug, before laying back and looking at the ceiling. She could feel his questioning gaze on her, but he thankfully didn’t push. A flicker of a thought had been floating around her head since she had been injured, but she didn’t want to vocalize anything until she made a decision. She just wasn’t sure if she could leave behind the life she had known. XXXXXXXXX A few days later Jack frowned and yelled, “Buffy! Phone!” She rushed into the kitchen. “Who is it?” “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” “Thanks,” she said dryly, taking the phone out of his hand. “Hello?” “Buffy, it’s good to hear your voice again,” said a male voice on the other end of the line. “Okay, that’s nice. Who is this?” “Oh, for cryin’ out loud! Unless you told the Scoobies where you are, who else knows you’re staying there?” “Jack!” She cried, causing the older one to look up. “John, remember?” The now familiar voice said. “Right, John,” she said and Jack relaxed. “How are you?” “I’m fine.” “Going crazy, yet?” She asked with a grin. “Not really. School is a lot easier this time around. I think Daniel and Carter were a bad influence on me. My grades in history and science are really good.” “They were bound to rub off on you eventually,” she said, ignoring Jack’s strange look from his place on the other side of the kitchen. She moved to the living room and sat down on the couch. “Eh, it’s not too bad,” he said with a small sigh. “I’m thinking about joining the Air Force again after I graduate.’ “Are you nuts?” Buffy cried. “No,” he said defensively. “I don’t see what the problem is. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been really good at.” “That’s so not true, but think about this. You’re a Colonel. Do you really think you could start at the bottom again?” The silence on the other end stretched on for so long that Buffy grew worried. “John?” “You’re probably right,” he said sullenly. “Well, enough about me, how are you? Still having nightmares?” “Just one or two a week, now.” “That’s good.” “Yeah, except I think the last one startled Teal’c.” “How is that possible? When did the two of you become roommates?” He asked in a strangled voice. “Teal’c and I were sharing a room in the infirmary,” she said, cringing as she waited for his response. He didn’t disappoint. “What! What happened?” “Nothing we couldn’t handle. Teal’c was hit with a staff blast in his pouch and I got it in the hip almost a week later.” “I leave and he lets everything go to hell. And you! You weren’t supposed to get injured!” “Right, so I should have just let Jeff die,” she said in exasperation. “Jeff? Jeff who?” “Dr. Balinsky. He’s on my team.” “Oh,” he said. “Red hair, geeky guy, right?” “John,” she admonished. “What? It’s not like I use it in a mean way. Daniel’s a geek and I still like him. There’s nothing wrong with being a geek.” Buffy couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her lips as she heard his defensive tone. “You’re a geek at school, aren’t you? Admit it.” “Yes, but I’m a cool geek.” “I can’t believe he’s ruining my image,” Jack said, walking into the room with Buffy’s lunch. “That’s too funny,” she said with a giggle. “But you’re seriously okay?” John asked. “Slayer healing is definitely a plus. All healed, just a little soreness if I’m on my feet for too long.” “How about Daniel and Carter?” “All in one piece,” she assured him. “It helps that they’re on stand down because of Teal’c. Daniel thinks he’s starting to remember something important from when he was ascended.” “Do you really think you should be telling him that?” Jack asked her in a hushed tone. Buffy put a hand over the mouthpiece and said, “Why not? He’s you. If you were him, which technically you are, wouldn’t you want to know?” He gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head and getting up to go back to the kitchen. “Sorry, John, but your other half was…” “Trying to protect national security?” “Yeah.” XXXXXXXXX Buffy stood in the control room looking down at the spinning gate. SG-1 and SG-3 were about to embark on a rescue mission. Daniel had finally been able to hold on to the fragmented memory that had been eluding him. Bra’tac and Rya’c had been captured during a mission and were now being forced to work in a slave labor camp. Time was running out for them because Bra’tac only had a limited supply of tretonin and they had been taken over three months ago. Teal’c had been cleared for active duty just the day before. Even without his symbiote, he had healed quickly thanks to the tretonin. Buffy was still on restricted duty so as not to raise suspicions, otherwise she was sure SG-13 would have been one of the teams assigned to accompany SG-1 rather than SG-2 and SG-3. She knew she wasn’t a hundred percent because of some residual aches in her hip, but it felt wrong to not be there to back Jack up. This was the first time that she had to watch Jack walk knowingly into a dangerous situation. The previous missions she had watched him leave on were all exploratory ones. There was always a chance of an ambush like on her last mission, but it was different when she knew he was walking into battle. Absently she wondered if this is what Giles had felt every time she had gone out on patrol. How he had endured these stomach knots over the years was beyond her. Beside her, Sam announced that the code to deactivate the shield on the other side had been sent. She got up from the computer and made her way to the gateroom. Buffy recognized the round object in Rak’nor’s hand as a shock grenade a split second before he threw it into the event horizon. As soon as Sam entered the gateroom, Jack gave the order to move out. He looked up to the control room and gave Buffy a half smile and a reassuring nod. Then he stepped through the gate and he was gone. After the last person stepped through, the event horizon winked out. Buffy couldn’t stop the feeling of trepidation from forming in her gut. She just had a feeling that something was going to go wrong. She jumped slightly as General Hammond placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “They’ll be fine. They’re the best,” he said before returning to his office. She only wished she could believe him. XXXXXXXXX The klaxon sounded, signaling an incoming wormhole. The knots that had been in Buffy’s stomach since Jack had left the day before had intensified. She had spent the sleepless night on base in the room Jack used on occasion. Her mind kept coming up with scenarios in which the rescue mission went wrong – each one worse than the one before. As much as she wanted to go and make sure that he was alright and relieve her fears, a part of her held back. While the sharp pain of losing Dawn had receded to a dull ache, she wasn’t ready to lose Jack, too. She knew she couldn’t drag out the torture of not knowing for much longer, but as long as she was still ignorant of the success or failure of the mission, he was still alive. When she couldn’t stand the suspense any longer, she made her way towards the infirmary. Since it was standard procedure to go there after every mission she figured that it would be the best place to catch up with them. She had just turned down the hallway when she was an older man with a gold symbol on his forehead like Teal’c’s being wheeled into the infirmary on a gurney. Teal’c was wheeled in next with a young man, who Buffy assumed was his son, by his side. Her heart froze in her chest as she took in Teal’c’s battered form, but a satisfied smile was on his face as he looked up at his son. Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal as she saw other members of the rescue team walk by unharmed – including Sam and Daniel. But her chest tightened again as there was no sign of Jack when the last person entered the infirmary. Had Jack been injured so badly that he had been wheeled in first? Was he dead and they were moving his body to the morgue? Just when she thought her knees would go so weak that she’d collapse, the object of her worry came around the corner, whistling. “Jack!” She cried, running to him. “Hey, Buffy,” he said easily as she pulled him into a bear hug. “Air… I need air,” he wheezed out. “Sorry. It’s just I was so worried,” she said, checking him over for injuries. “What took you so long?” “Ah, you know, plan A went to hell so we had to move to plan B. Of course, had to come up with a plan B fir…” Jack’s eyes widened as Buffy silenced him by pressing her lips to his. He was so startled that for a whole heartbeat he couldn’t react. Then his hands seemed to move on their own accord as one slid to the small of her back to press her closer and the other entangled itself in her hair. Her lips parted, inviting him in deeper. Their tongues danced and Jack could feel the heat from her tiny form through his uniform as his eyes slid shut. Then, as quickly as the kiss had started, it was over. Jack opened his lust-filled eyes to see Buffy staring at him shock. One of her hands came up to lightly touch her swollen lips. Then with speed and strength that only a slayer could possess, she slipped out of his arms and ran down the hall. “Damn it,” he muttered as she disappeared around the corner. XXXXXXXXX Daniel looked up from the file in his hands as he entered his office and froze. Of all the people he would ever expect to find waiting in his office, Buffy was not one of them. Her back was to him as she studied a vase on one of his shelves, but he could tell by her body language that she was upset about something. He guessed that she and Jack had a fight since the Colonel was snippy during the debriefing earlier. “Hello,” he said pleasantly, walking over to his desk. She whirled around in surprise and gave him a half-hearted smile. “I hope you don’t mind. I was just looking.” “Not at all. Find anything interesting?” “This vase is Minoan isn’t it?” She asked, indicating the one she had been looking at. “Yes, it is. How did you know?” “I have some really smart friends who’ve rubbed off on me,” she said with a smile. “The geometric design, along with the bull, was kind of a dead give away.” Daniel blinked several times as he forced himself to reevaluate the woman in front of him. Until now, she hadn’t really shown any… well, depth. Not that she came across as shallow and vapid, but she had never displayed any real interest in things outside of the SGC and Jack. But as he thought about it, he really shouldn’t have been surprised. Despite all of Jack’s protests to the contrary, he wasn’t an idiot. Plus, the man had little tolerance for stupid people. Therefore, it only made sense that there was more to Buffy than what she showed on the surface. He watched her return to her silent perusal of his office. “Any particular reason for the visit or are you just bored?” Buffy gave her shoulders a slight shrug, but didn’t turn back to look at him. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was there herself. There was just something about Daniel’s office that reminded her of home, or rather Giles’ old apartment in Sunnydale. It made her feel comfortable and at the moment she needed something steady. By some miracle, she had managed to avoid talking to Jack the previous night after kissing him. She made sure that she was thoroughly hidden until they had left late in the evening. With the combination of a sleepless night before, the crazy emotions, and the long day, she had fallen asleep almost instantly after buckling her seatbelt. Once they had arrived at Jack’s, she’d stumbled off to bed without a word and went back to sleep. That morning they shared a near silent breakfast and a silent ride to work. The silence was both killing and saving her. She missed the easy closeness that the two usually shared, but she didn’t want to discuss the kiss because she didn’t know why she did it. What she really needed was to talk to Willow about this, but she wasn’t available and to call her friend just to discuss the situation wasn’t a viable option. Jack was her other confidant, but she couldn’t sort out her feelings for Jack by talking to him. That was just silly. And talking to John would have been just as awkward. She was just so lost that she didn’t know what to do. Buffy jumped slightly as Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him approach. “Want to talk?” He asked softly. Her body betrayed her and nodded. He led her over to his couch and they both sat down. She took a deep breath and asked, “Have you ever done something, a something you’ve thought about doing on occasion but always talked yourself out of, and it was good, really good, but you instantly regretted it ‘cause it can totally screw things up, but then again things could get better, but you’re terrified about the entire thing?” Daniel took a long moment to try and decipher what she had said before giving up. “Uhh, no? Wanna try and run that by me again, in English this time?” She turned her hazel eyes that were filled with confusion and worry to regard him. “You have to promise not to repeat this to anyone. Not even Jack.” “Well, you’ve definitely got me intrigued, but yes, I promise.” Her eyes drifted away from his face to her hands that were fiddling with the edge of her green shirt. “I’ve always… At one time… I kind of…” She sighed loudly and stood up. Nervously wringing her hands, she began pacing. “I kind of kissed Jack yesterday.” “Big deal, I’ve seen you kiss him several times,” Daniel said, a little confused. “No, not a friendly peck, but as in a kissing type of kiss. And it was good, man can he kiss. Not that you really needed or wanted to know that,” she said, catching Daniel’s wince. “Let me guess, you ran away and neither of you have talked about it,” he said with a smirk. “How’d you know?” She asked, stopping her pacing to look at him. “Lucky guess.” He frowned slightly as he mentally applied her earlier babble to the facts he now had. “Now you’re worried that you’ve ruined your friendship even though in the past you’ve entertained thoughts of pursuing a romantic relationship with him.” Buffy’s jaw dropped slightly. “You got all of that from me kissing Jack?” “And your earlier statement.” “Oh, right.” She resumed her pacing. “I just don’t know how to fix this.” “You could just talk to him,” Daniel pointed out. “Umm, no.” “Why not?” “You have met Jack, right? He’s not really the share feelings type.” Daniel grinned. “True, but you should be able to pull it out of him.” “Yeah, but I don’t know what I want his feelings to be.” “What do you mean?” Buffy ran a hand through her loose hair and sat back down. “When I first met Jack, I was an emotional wreck due to all sorts of things and he helped to get me back on track. He was still happily married at the time, but then a year later Charlie died. I talked to him on the phone a little and then he disappeared. When he called again he sounded better even though he was going through a divorce.” She didn’t exactly know why she was telling Daniel all of this, but it felt good to get all of it off of her chest. Once she had opened her mouth the words started pouring out and they wouldn’t stop. “Over the next several years, I seemed to reel from one catastrophe to another and Jack was my rock. Once my life started to straighten out, I realized that my feelings for him were more than just friendly, but I shoved them away. Our lives just weren’t compatible.” Water filled her eyes and she hastily wiped a stray tear off her cheek. “But yesterday I was so worried when it took you guys so long to return and suddenly everything came back to the surface. When I saw him, it was like I couldn’t stop myself. And it felt so right and then so wrong. Now I just don’t know what to think or feel.” Daniel wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She tensed for a second before relaxing into him. “I think you need to talk to Jack, but you should understand your own feelings for him first.” “See my problem,” she said with a sniffle. “I do, and I sympathize. But I think you should just relax and let your heart lead you. Then be completely honest with him.” Thinking on Jack’s sour mood from earlier and the conversation they had had three weeks earlier, he added, “You never know, he might surprise you.” Previous Chapter Undertow Menu Chapter Eleven |
