Riding in Cars with Generals
Title: Riding in Cars with Generals
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine!
A/N:Sequel to Reinvention. I've been wanting to go on an impromptu road trip but can't, so I'm sending Sam and Jack instead.
Riding in Cars with Generals
They end up driving back to Colorado. It just seems easier after all their stuff is packed up and the furniture is shipped out west, especially with the dog. Jack packs the truck, putting their suitcases in the back, stuffing bottles of diet soda and "real" soda in all the cup holders. He’s bought ten packs of fuzzy peaches because Sam has a thing for them and he likes the face she makes when she sucks the sugar off of them.
"We could make it in a day and a bit if we don’t stop," Sam says the night before they leave.
She’s spread out on their hotel bed, a road map on her lap, one hand dangling over the edge of the bed to pet Thor’s furry head. She has the most sophisticated laptop on the planet but when it comes to road trips she loves maps. She loves tracing their progress with her finger as they drive. She does it every time they drive up to the cabin.
"We’re not in that big of a rush," he replies, zapping through the channels.
There’s no hockey game, there’s not even a rerun of the Simpsons. They ate supper at their favorite restaurant before they came back here and now he’s bored.
"Where do you wanna stop?" she asks and scoots up to sit beside him.
She spreads the map out over both of their laps like a blanket and rests her index finger on Washington DC. He traces the highways with his eyes, then points to Indianapolis.
"Indianapolis, Kansas City, Colorado Springs," he says and looks at her.
She bites her lip, wriggles her toes in their wool socks. They’ve traveled all across the galaxy, she’s flown a space ship across the universe, but this road trip seems to confound her. Thor rests his head on the edge of the bed, all floppy ears.
"Three days?" she asks.
He shrugs, rubs his thumb over Colorado Springs.
"Why not?"
She shrugs back, leans in a little closer and reads the names of all the small towns in between. Between here and there, there and back again. They’ve never driven to Colorado. They’ve driven to Minnesota from Colorado, and then to Minnesota from Nevada once with Cassie, and then to Minnesota from Washington. Never have they driven to Colorado from Washington.
She likes road trips with Jack; she likes the ease with which he settles into their short vagabond life. The first time she saw this Jack, the Jack that was at home on the road, they had been sent back in time to ’69.
The second time he had asked her to come fishing with him and the boys right after the Pete thing, and she’d said yes, and he had picked her up, and somewhere between Lincoln and Des Moines he had finally coaxed her to tell him what she had wanted to tell him when she’d showed up at his house that one fateful day. Somewhere between Des Moines and the Minnesota state line he had told her that the boys wouldn’t be coming until the following week.
In retrospect that had been a good call on his part. They’d needed that week.
Road trips with Jack are never boring, she knows that. He’ll come up with something fun, he’ll find detours, he’ll turn this simple going-back-home trip into a mini vacation. A cruise without the ocean, without other passengers on their own private ship.
She rests her head on his shoulder and he turns into her a little more so her body is tucked against his.
"Are you sure this is the right decision?" she asks into his shirt.
"Yes," he says, because he really thinks it is.
***
She’s already in the shower by the time he coaxes himself out of bed. He’s not a morning person and will never get used to the fact that her internal clock infallibly wakes her at 0600 hours every morning. Even on Sundays. Even on her days off. She’s probably taken Thor for a walk already, too.
He drags himself out of bed, pulls off his clothes and steps into the shower behind her. She hisses at his cool hands on her hips, then turns around and grins. Her hair is long and slicked back with conditioner. He runs his fingers through it carefully, then kisses the tip of her nose.
He’s not a morning person but he likes this, he likes waking up and then showering with her and helping her wash the conditioner from her hair. He likes running his fingers over her wet skin until her eyes flutter shut, until she drops her head against his shoulder and clings to him.
They get on the road a little later than planned but she’s really smiley now and so is he, and they decide to stop for breakfast before they really hit the road. She did something to his truck a while back to make her iPod work in it and subjects him to listen to her music. Some of the stuff he likes, others he doesn’t.
They stop in Uniontown, Pennsylvania for lunch. The sun is bright and the trees are turning color. The air is still warm though, and she walks ahead of him into the small diner, her ponytail bobbing slightly. Thor has to wait in the car and he hangs his head out of the open window, wagging his tail at them. Nobody’s going to touch the truck. Thor looks happy but he’s got a mean growl.
They order steak sandwiches and coffee. When their sandwiches arrive she pulls the top off of his and picks off all of his tomatoes. She puts them on her own sandwich and they smile at each other between bites because this relationship thing isn’t quite as hard as they had expected.
He hands her the keys on their way out and she fiddles with the seat and the mirror and the air conditioning before they get on the road again. She hums to some of the songs and he checks through the houses for sale in Colorado Springs she printed off back in Washington.
He really wants his old house back but Daniel has already spoken to the new owners and they are not going to sell.
"Here’s one that sounds interesting," he says and reads her the description of the house she printed off.
She hasn’t read through them herself yet, just printed off the ones that came up after she put in all the things they wanted in a house.
"It’s not directly in town either," he adds.
He dog ears the houses he likes so she can look through them later at the hotel. Thor climbs across the seat and settles between them. He rests his head in Sam’s lap and looks up at her with an expression of pure, undying devotion.
They stop in Columbus for coffee and a brownie and go for a walk with Thor, and then drive on to Indianapolis. It takes them a while to find a hotel because there’s a convention going on and everything’s booked, and some of the hotels that have rooms available don’t allow pets. The hotel they end up in is out of town and quiet. Their room is small but there’s a bathtub and Sam’s happy about that.
He asks the receptionist where they can have supper and they walk down the road hand in hand, their steps light. She isn’t worrying about the SGC yet and neither is he. Daniel is keeping them in the loop and Cam has taken command temporarily.
She has a bath after supper, while he takes Thor for a walk, and then he has a shower. He crawls into bed with her and the map, and marvels at the way she’s folded it around their next leg of the trip.
"Ever been to Kansas City?" she asks, pointing to the edge of their map.
"Nope," he says, shaking his head.
It’s raining when they leave the hotel the next morning and her hair starts curling around her face. She brushes it out of her eyes and climbs into the passenger seat. They stop for breakfast in Terre Haute and then keep driving. She shares her fuzzy peaches with him and they decide not to stop for lunch and just make it through to Kansas City.
It keeps raining and then there’s a thunderstorm just before they reach Kansas City.
"If there’s a tornado I swear..." he threatens.
"What if your truck lands on a witch?" she quips and he glowers at her and then smiles.
"Are we insured for that?"
"Don’t think so," she laughs.
The storm continues through the night and at one point both of them are up, looking as the lightning cracks the sky in half. It looks bruised, purple and orange under the city’s glow. Thor’s hiding under the bed and whimpers every once in a while.
"We didn’t have storms like this in Washington," she whispers and tucks the sheet around her legs.
When they get up in the morning the air smells clean and the clouds are moving fast overhead. There’s a chill in the air and it’s strangely humid. They stop in Salina for breakfast, a quick one, sharing a plate of pancakes. Jack says they’re not as good as his homemade ones and Sam agrees. Thor gets to play in a park for a while before they leave.
She starts singing to her songs halfway to Kanorado and he lets her drive again. She drums out the rhythm of the songs on the steering wheel and he smiles, listens to her sing. She’s not a bad singer but she’s not great either and he’s glad when they stop in Kanorado for lunch.
Daniel calls them while they’re sharing a fudge sundae. He’s wondering where they are and when they’ll get there because Vala is excited and wants to hang out.
Hang out? Jack mouths and cringes. Sam shrugs apologetically and tells Daniel they won’t get in until late and will grab a hotel room. He’s offered to let them stay at his apartment because he rarely gets home anymore. The Lucien Alliance is growing stronger out there and Daniel’s always stayed on base a lot anyways. They can do dinner tomorrow night, which will temporarily disappoint Vala but won’t make her question them.
They talk for a while until they hit Calhan, then they grow quiet. He can see her tensing up, her brain shifting into work mode. She’s no longer singing and he can see the whites of her knuckles on the steering wheel.
They reach the Springs an hour later. She doesn’t want to go to the base yet and neither does he. Cam doesn’t expect them until tomorrow anyways.
Together they’re lugging their suitcases into one of the better hotels in town. They might as well splurge, Jack thinks. This is going to be their last vacation for a while. He’ll go up and winter proof the cabin by himself again this year because she won’t have time. He’ll take Thor and call her every day and he won’t stay longer than he has to because he’ll miss her.
He orders room service and white wine and she settles against him as they eat. She feeds him a couple of strawberries and he licks the vanilla ice cream off her bottom lip. One of them drops their empty wine glass onto the carpet but it doesn’t break and rolls underneath the bed. Thor follows it and sniffs it and then sneezes. Neither of them cares as they take each other’s clothes off and crawl beneath the cool sheets.
Later on, when the world outside is dark, he runs them both a bath and pulls her back against his chest in the hot water. She relaxes against him and he loves that they can be like this now, that he can run a wet hand through her hair and she can run her fingers up his thigh and there’s no one there to stop them. There’s no one there that can tell them they’re doing anything wrong because they’re not.
"Feels a bit like we’re going back in time in some strange way," she whispers.
He nods and kisses her temple.
"You’re in charge now," he whispers back.
She chuckles, sinks against him more firmly.
He helps her out of the tub later, they towel each other dry, brush their teeth, kiss a little and fall into bed. She winds herself around him and tells him she loves him before she falls asleep.
Tomorrow she’ll become the base commander at the SGC. Tomorrow she’ll straighten her shoulders, she’ll shoulder the weight, she’ll hug Teal’c and Daniel and Vala and Cam, and she’ll face whatever dangers are out there with them.
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine!
A/N:Sequel to Reinvention. I've been wanting to go on an impromptu road trip but can't, so I'm sending Sam and Jack instead.
Riding in Cars with Generals
They end up driving back to Colorado. It just seems easier after all their stuff is packed up and the furniture is shipped out west, especially with the dog. Jack packs the truck, putting their suitcases in the back, stuffing bottles of diet soda and "real" soda in all the cup holders. He’s bought ten packs of fuzzy peaches because Sam has a thing for them and he likes the face she makes when she sucks the sugar off of them.
"We could make it in a day and a bit if we don’t stop," Sam says the night before they leave.
She’s spread out on their hotel bed, a road map on her lap, one hand dangling over the edge of the bed to pet Thor’s furry head. She has the most sophisticated laptop on the planet but when it comes to road trips she loves maps. She loves tracing their progress with her finger as they drive. She does it every time they drive up to the cabin.
"We’re not in that big of a rush," he replies, zapping through the channels.
There’s no hockey game, there’s not even a rerun of the Simpsons. They ate supper at their favorite restaurant before they came back here and now he’s bored.
"Where do you wanna stop?" she asks and scoots up to sit beside him.
She spreads the map out over both of their laps like a blanket and rests her index finger on Washington DC. He traces the highways with his eyes, then points to Indianapolis.
"Indianapolis, Kansas City, Colorado Springs," he says and looks at her.
She bites her lip, wriggles her toes in their wool socks. They’ve traveled all across the galaxy, she’s flown a space ship across the universe, but this road trip seems to confound her. Thor rests his head on the edge of the bed, all floppy ears.
"Three days?" she asks.
He shrugs, rubs his thumb over Colorado Springs.
"Why not?"
She shrugs back, leans in a little closer and reads the names of all the small towns in between. Between here and there, there and back again. They’ve never driven to Colorado. They’ve driven to Minnesota from Colorado, and then to Minnesota from Nevada once with Cassie, and then to Minnesota from Washington. Never have they driven to Colorado from Washington.
She likes road trips with Jack; she likes the ease with which he settles into their short vagabond life. The first time she saw this Jack, the Jack that was at home on the road, they had been sent back in time to ’69.
The second time he had asked her to come fishing with him and the boys right after the Pete thing, and she’d said yes, and he had picked her up, and somewhere between Lincoln and Des Moines he had finally coaxed her to tell him what she had wanted to tell him when she’d showed up at his house that one fateful day. Somewhere between Des Moines and the Minnesota state line he had told her that the boys wouldn’t be coming until the following week.
In retrospect that had been a good call on his part. They’d needed that week.
Road trips with Jack are never boring, she knows that. He’ll come up with something fun, he’ll find detours, he’ll turn this simple going-back-home trip into a mini vacation. A cruise without the ocean, without other passengers on their own private ship.
She rests her head on his shoulder and he turns into her a little more so her body is tucked against his.
"Are you sure this is the right decision?" she asks into his shirt.
"Yes," he says, because he really thinks it is.
***
She’s already in the shower by the time he coaxes himself out of bed. He’s not a morning person and will never get used to the fact that her internal clock infallibly wakes her at 0600 hours every morning. Even on Sundays. Even on her days off. She’s probably taken Thor for a walk already, too.
He drags himself out of bed, pulls off his clothes and steps into the shower behind her. She hisses at his cool hands on her hips, then turns around and grins. Her hair is long and slicked back with conditioner. He runs his fingers through it carefully, then kisses the tip of her nose.
He’s not a morning person but he likes this, he likes waking up and then showering with her and helping her wash the conditioner from her hair. He likes running his fingers over her wet skin until her eyes flutter shut, until she drops her head against his shoulder and clings to him.
They get on the road a little later than planned but she’s really smiley now and so is he, and they decide to stop for breakfast before they really hit the road. She did something to his truck a while back to make her iPod work in it and subjects him to listen to her music. Some of the stuff he likes, others he doesn’t.
They stop in Uniontown, Pennsylvania for lunch. The sun is bright and the trees are turning color. The air is still warm though, and she walks ahead of him into the small diner, her ponytail bobbing slightly. Thor has to wait in the car and he hangs his head out of the open window, wagging his tail at them. Nobody’s going to touch the truck. Thor looks happy but he’s got a mean growl.
They order steak sandwiches and coffee. When their sandwiches arrive she pulls the top off of his and picks off all of his tomatoes. She puts them on her own sandwich and they smile at each other between bites because this relationship thing isn’t quite as hard as they had expected.
He hands her the keys on their way out and she fiddles with the seat and the mirror and the air conditioning before they get on the road again. She hums to some of the songs and he checks through the houses for sale in Colorado Springs she printed off back in Washington.
He really wants his old house back but Daniel has already spoken to the new owners and they are not going to sell.
"Here’s one that sounds interesting," he says and reads her the description of the house she printed off.
She hasn’t read through them herself yet, just printed off the ones that came up after she put in all the things they wanted in a house.
"It’s not directly in town either," he adds.
He dog ears the houses he likes so she can look through them later at the hotel. Thor climbs across the seat and settles between them. He rests his head in Sam’s lap and looks up at her with an expression of pure, undying devotion.
They stop in Columbus for coffee and a brownie and go for a walk with Thor, and then drive on to Indianapolis. It takes them a while to find a hotel because there’s a convention going on and everything’s booked, and some of the hotels that have rooms available don’t allow pets. The hotel they end up in is out of town and quiet. Their room is small but there’s a bathtub and Sam’s happy about that.
He asks the receptionist where they can have supper and they walk down the road hand in hand, their steps light. She isn’t worrying about the SGC yet and neither is he. Daniel is keeping them in the loop and Cam has taken command temporarily.
She has a bath after supper, while he takes Thor for a walk, and then he has a shower. He crawls into bed with her and the map, and marvels at the way she’s folded it around their next leg of the trip.
"Ever been to Kansas City?" she asks, pointing to the edge of their map.
"Nope," he says, shaking his head.
It’s raining when they leave the hotel the next morning and her hair starts curling around her face. She brushes it out of her eyes and climbs into the passenger seat. They stop for breakfast in Terre Haute and then keep driving. She shares her fuzzy peaches with him and they decide not to stop for lunch and just make it through to Kansas City.
It keeps raining and then there’s a thunderstorm just before they reach Kansas City.
"If there’s a tornado I swear..." he threatens.
"What if your truck lands on a witch?" she quips and he glowers at her and then smiles.
"Are we insured for that?"
"Don’t think so," she laughs.
The storm continues through the night and at one point both of them are up, looking as the lightning cracks the sky in half. It looks bruised, purple and orange under the city’s glow. Thor’s hiding under the bed and whimpers every once in a while.
"We didn’t have storms like this in Washington," she whispers and tucks the sheet around her legs.
When they get up in the morning the air smells clean and the clouds are moving fast overhead. There’s a chill in the air and it’s strangely humid. They stop in Salina for breakfast, a quick one, sharing a plate of pancakes. Jack says they’re not as good as his homemade ones and Sam agrees. Thor gets to play in a park for a while before they leave.
She starts singing to her songs halfway to Kanorado and he lets her drive again. She drums out the rhythm of the songs on the steering wheel and he smiles, listens to her sing. She’s not a bad singer but she’s not great either and he’s glad when they stop in Kanorado for lunch.
Daniel calls them while they’re sharing a fudge sundae. He’s wondering where they are and when they’ll get there because Vala is excited and wants to hang out.
Hang out? Jack mouths and cringes. Sam shrugs apologetically and tells Daniel they won’t get in until late and will grab a hotel room. He’s offered to let them stay at his apartment because he rarely gets home anymore. The Lucien Alliance is growing stronger out there and Daniel’s always stayed on base a lot anyways. They can do dinner tomorrow night, which will temporarily disappoint Vala but won’t make her question them.
They talk for a while until they hit Calhan, then they grow quiet. He can see her tensing up, her brain shifting into work mode. She’s no longer singing and he can see the whites of her knuckles on the steering wheel.
They reach the Springs an hour later. She doesn’t want to go to the base yet and neither does he. Cam doesn’t expect them until tomorrow anyways.
Together they’re lugging their suitcases into one of the better hotels in town. They might as well splurge, Jack thinks. This is going to be their last vacation for a while. He’ll go up and winter proof the cabin by himself again this year because she won’t have time. He’ll take Thor and call her every day and he won’t stay longer than he has to because he’ll miss her.
He orders room service and white wine and she settles against him as they eat. She feeds him a couple of strawberries and he licks the vanilla ice cream off her bottom lip. One of them drops their empty wine glass onto the carpet but it doesn’t break and rolls underneath the bed. Thor follows it and sniffs it and then sneezes. Neither of them cares as they take each other’s clothes off and crawl beneath the cool sheets.
Later on, when the world outside is dark, he runs them both a bath and pulls her back against his chest in the hot water. She relaxes against him and he loves that they can be like this now, that he can run a wet hand through her hair and she can run her fingers up his thigh and there’s no one there to stop them. There’s no one there that can tell them they’re doing anything wrong because they’re not.
"Feels a bit like we’re going back in time in some strange way," she whispers.
He nods and kisses her temple.
"You’re in charge now," he whispers back.
She chuckles, sinks against him more firmly.
He helps her out of the tub later, they towel each other dry, brush their teeth, kiss a little and fall into bed. She winds herself around him and tells him she loves him before she falls asleep.
Tomorrow she’ll become the base commander at the SGC. Tomorrow she’ll straighten her shoulders, she’ll shoulder the weight, she’ll hug Teal’c and Daniel and Vala and Cam, and she’ll face whatever dangers are out there with them.