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Chapter Eight “Wow, Jack. This is really good. Where did you order it from?” Daniel asked. “I didn’t. Buffy made dinner,” Jack said with a grin. “She’s a wiz in the kitchen. I keep telling her she doesn’t have to keep doing this, but she just shoos me out of the way.” Buffy blushed slightly. “And I just keep telling him that I’m used to it. Dinner tonight was actually easier than usual since there were more of you.” “So you’re used to cooking for a lot of people?” Sam casually asked before taking a bite of her alfredo. “After my mom died, a couple of my friends moved in with me and Dawn,” Buffy said with a sad smile at the memory. “After a while, my other friends started coming over for dinner every night. In the beginning we ordered out mostly or one of them cooked.” A happier smiled broke out on her face. “But in the past few years Andrew has been teaching me how to cook and I’ve either been helping him with the meals or cooking them myself. I’m afraid I’m not nearly as good as he is.” Daniel looked at her in shock. “You’re kidding, right? Because this is excellent. Did you make the sauce from scratch?” “I did.” “This is very good,” Teal’c said with a small inclination of his head. “I still find many Tau’ri foods are not agreeable, but I am greatly enjoying this.” Buffy blushed again. She had grown accustomed to the Scoobies taking the home-cooked meals for granted. She had forgotten what being appreciated felt like. Not that Jack didn’t thank or compliment her, it just felt different when it came from people she barely knew. “So, where are you from?” Sam asked. “Cleveland now, but I grew up in LA,” Buffy said, taking a bite of chicken. She had a feeling that she was going to be asked a lot of questions that evening. Not that she could really blame them, if she’d been in their shoes, she’d be curious as well. Even if Jack hadn’t exactly told her about what they did over the years, he had told her about his friends so she almost felt like she knew them. And she knew they were going to try and find out as much about her as they could. She was going to have to watch what she told them and she chose the simplest solution – selective lying by telling the truth. “After my parents divorced during my sophomore year, mom, Dawn and I moved to Sunnydale.” Sam frowned, her fork poised over her plate. “Sunnydale… Wasn’t that the California town that fell into a sinkhole a few years ago?” “Same one. My friends and I had moved to LA a few months before it happened and then Cleveland after that.” “Isn’t it a little strange that all of you moved together?” Daniel asked. “To others, maybe, but not to us. Sunnydale wasn’t exactly the safest place to live. Willow’s parents had moved two years before, Xander’s weren’t exactly the nurturing type to put it mildly, my mom was dead and I didn’t have the faintest clue where my dad was. We were a family, it just felt natural,” she said with a shrug. “I think it is admirable that you have formed such close bonds with your friends,” Teal’c said with a small smile. The rest of dinner passed pleasantly as the focus shifted slightly away from Buffy and more towards just idle chitchat. Buffy relaxed and enjoyed the warm atmosphere. Afterwards, Sam and Daniel cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher while Jack quickly put up the few leftovers. “How about some cards?” Jack asked, grabbing a beer for himself and a diet soda for Buffy. “Anybody else want?” He asked, setting the drinks on the table. “Beer,” Daniel said as he went to the drawer that Jack kept his cards and chips in. “Diet Coke,” Sam said, sitting down. “Water will be sufficient,” Teal’c said. Jack retrieved the drinks and passed them out before taking a seat. “Poker okay with everyone?” Buffy look sheepishly at the others as they chorused their agreement. “As long as I have cheat sheet so I know what beats what I’m good. And you’ll probably have to keep reminding me of the rules.” “You’ll be fine,” Daniel assured her, sliding the helper card from the deck over to her along with a set of chips. “We keep it fairly simple – quarter bet, three bump limit, and table stakes.” She looked at Jack, “In English, please.” “You can’t bet higher than or raise higher than a quarter, bets can only be raised three times, and you can’t raise the bet higher than what someone has in their pile,” Sam explained for her. “And this is just for chips, right? Not real money?” Jack grinned. “Well, they’re not kittens, but chips will be fine.” “You are so not funny,” she said with a glare that didn’t have any real heat behind it. “Kittens, sir?” Sam asked, giving Jack a strange look. “Long story,” he said simply. “Ante up,” Daniel said, sliding the deck over to Teal’c for him to cut. Buffy threw in a white chip with everyone else and then Daniel dealt everyone two cards. “Let’s start easy. Seven card stud, nothing wild, last card is choice.” “English, please,” Buffy said with a wince, as she looked at her two cards. “You’re going to get a total of seven cards. Two first, then the next four come one at a time, face up. And you get to choose whether the last card is up or down,” Jack said, placing another white chip in the pot. He saw her still confused look and explained again. “Up means everyone can see, down means only you can see it.” “So what do I do now?” “Just throw a white chip in.” “Okay,” she said skeptically, following the instructions. At the end of the hand, only Buffy and Jack were left in and he had been raising the pot. She laid down her cards to show them when she was told to and Jack groaned and dropped his head to the table. “Take it, you won,” Sam said with a grin. “But I don’t have anything,” she said with a frown. On the table in front of her was an ace of spades, two of diamonds, and a six, king, four, nine, and ten of hearts. Jack had five cards of different suits in numerical order. “You have a flush, which beats my straight,” Jack said, raising his head. “I can’t believe it. You only had two of them showing.” “I won?” Buffy asked. At everyone’s amused nod, she grinned and said, “Whoo hoo!” Several hands later, Daniel asked, “Are you enjoying your work at the SGC, Buffy?” “It’s not bad. I’ve done more field work in the last two weeks than I have in the past three months at my other job,” she said absently, trying to make sense of her cards. They had changed the game to seven card stud, low hold wild. The wild card thing was just confusing her. “So you work for the military?” He asked, ignoring Jack’s questioning gaze. “No, it’s a private organization, but I’ve had brief ties to the military before.” “What do you do at this organization?” He asked, taking the card Sam dealt him. “I can’t tell you, security reasons,” she said, not looking up from her cards. Deciding she had nothing and the two cards she had left to receive weren’t going to help, she folded. “I’m going to get refills. Anyone else?” “I’ll join you,” Jack said, having folded earlier in the hand. Once they were in the kitchen he said, “I’m sorry for the inquisition. I told Carter she wasn’t allowed to investigate, but it looks like she’s having Daniel do the dirty work. I’ll talk to them.” “It’s okay, Jack. It just means they care about you if they are assessing me,” she said, pulling the jug of water out of the fridge. “And it’s not like I’ve never had any experience dodging the truth. I’ve had to hide it from many people.” “I’m still going to talk to them,” he said, leaning against the counter. “If you want to, just be nice,” she said, patting him on the cheek before putting the pitcher away. “Hey! I can be nice,” he called out as she went back to the dining room. XXXXXXXXX Buffy sighed as she walked down the ramp from the stargate. Third mission was just as boring as the first two. At least this time she got to spend overnight off-world, although it didn’t help much. There was sample collecting fun to be had and she didn’t win the bet… again. Her only consolation was that the others hadn’t won yet either. She couldn’t believe she was actually thinking it, but this was kind of boring. Sure, she was getting out and seeing new places, but it wasn’t challenging her. She was almost hoping that they’d get ambushed soon just so she could see what all the hoopla was about. “Welcome back, SG-13. Briefing tomorrow at ten hundred,” Hammond’s voice said over the intercom. “Thank god,” Buffy said, smirking at Dave as they walked out of the gateroom to go to the infirmary. “The smell of all this manly sweat was making me nauseous.” “You’re real funny,” Dixon said with a smirk of his own. “You don’t exactly smell like a rose.” “I’m insulted!” She joked. “Are you suggesting that I sweat?” “No,” Simon said with a smile. “Just that you smell.” Buffy quirked an eyebrow as the men laughed. “Keep it up, boys, but remember that I still smell better than you.” Dave wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Are you sure about that?” She noted that her nose was nearly level with his armpit and she faked some gagging noises. “Dave, you’re disgusting,” she said, easily slipping out his grip. Then she lightly kicked his butt from behind. “I can’t help that you’re so short, Summers,” he said with a grin as she caught back up. “Any injuries I should know about?” Janet Fraiser, the base CMO, asked as they entered the infirmary laughing. “Unless you count my offended nose, then no,” Buffy said with a cheeky grin as she hopped up on a bed. Janet grinned at her as the men voiced their protests. “Men can be such babies.” “I know,” Buffy said with an exaggerated sigh as Janet began the routine examination. “Is it really a problem?” Janet asked softly, knowing about Buffy’s background. “Nah, I just like giving them a hard time.” “So you’re fitting in? No problems?” Janet asked as she shined her penlight into Buffy’s eyes. “I swear, you’re as bad as Jac…” She frowned. “Did he put you up to this?” “No,” Janet assured her. “I ask that of all new members because stress affects your health. And troubles inside teams can create other problems.” “Oh, well… then yes, I think I am,” Buffy answered. “It just takes time, but they’re pretty good guys.” “Good. Well, you’re clear to go,” she said with a smile before moving to the next member. “See you tomorrow, stinky boys!” Buffy called out as she quickly got off the bed and went out the door. She was on her way to the showers when she almost literally ran into Jack. “Hungry?” She asked, eyeing the four cups of green Jell-O in his hands. His eyes raked over her, searching for injuries, as they did every time she came back from a mission. “It’s for Teal’c. He got shot in the pouch by a staff blast yesterday.” “Is he okay?” She asked. “Doc patched him up and said he’d recover. It’s just going to be a long road since he doesn’t have Junior anymore,” Jack said wearily. The worry for his friend was etched on his face. “But T is a fighter and should be back on his feet in no time. How was your mission?” “Boring and gross. Tropical forests are really, really humid.” “Ah, thought I smelled something… What?” He asked at her glare. “I’ll stop by and visit Teal’c after I take my shower,” she said shortly before stalking away. He shrugged off the glare and continued on his way. XXXXXXXXX Jack watched Buffy walk into the living room and he felt his heart catch. He never forgot how beautiful she was, but at random moments he would be struck by it and felt it deeper than he had felt anything before. She settled next to him on the couch and he wrapped an arm around her, causing her to snuggle closer. As he reached into the bowl for a handful of popcorn, he said, “I hope this isn’t that sugary kettle corn.” “It’s not,” she said lightly as he popped a few kernels into his mouth. “It’s buttery kettle corn.” “Aww, Buffy,” he said with a frown as he chewed. “It’s a compromise,” she said. “I like kettle, you like butter. I hate making two batches ‘cause we never eat all of both of them.” “This isn’t too bad,” he conceded, grabbing another handful while Buffy pushed the play button on the remote. “So what are we watching tonight?” “An oldie, but a goodie.” “Another cheesy eighties movie?” He whined. “Come on, Buffy. That’ll be the third one this week.” “I like ‘em,” she said as the opening credits rolled. “Well at least it’s got some action in it,” he said with relief. While “The Goonies” wasn’t exactly on the top of his favorite movies list, it wasn’t the worst movie either. A group of kids on the hunt of a one-eyed pirate’s treasure actually made for a decent time. He lost track of what was happening onscreen halfway through the movie. Buffy’s hand had settled on his thigh and he could feel the heat through his jeans. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he was going to be able to handle. Having her near without really having her was driving him nuts. In an effort to pull his mind off of such dangerous thoughts, he said, “Have you decided when you’re going to let the Scoobs know you’re okay?” “Trying to get rid of me already?” She asked, twisting around to be able to look at him. “No, but you’ve been here for over three weeks and I know they’re worried about you. I know I would be,” he said, looking seriously at her. “I remember what it was like when you died. Since I couldn’t reach you or talk to your friends, I spent five months worried sick.” Buffy sighed. “I’m so sorry about that. I just need a few more days before I call them. I’m still not ready to go back, but I think I can at least talk to them now. But I swear if they try to talk me into coming back I’m going to scream.” Her eyes widened and she sat up. “What if they trace the call and come here? Jack, they can’t come here! They’ll try to drag me back and I’m not ready!” “Buffy!” He said, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him. “Relax. You don’t have to call, yet. But they could have traced your credit card for your plane trip or when you rented the car.” She shook her head. “I used cash, they can’t trace it.” “You could always use a phone on base. They’re secure,” he said, dropping his hands from her shoulders to grasp her smaller ones. “Wouldn’t matter. Willow can track anything anywhere.” “Buffy, it’s a top secret facility, there’s no…” “Trust me. She was good before she started using magic to help her.” She sighed resolutely. “The call is just going to have to wait. I need to do this for me. For years my life has been about others, it’s about time I focused on me.” Jack pulled her close and hugged her tightly. “Okay, we’ll wait. Just don’t let them worry for too long.” Previous Chapter Undertow Menu Chapter Nine |
