Author: Christi (christim@comcast.net)
Author’s Note: Mini!OTP. You think
that’s it’s cliché and crazy. And it is. But it’s also one of the more
addicting things out there. It’s fic crack. Embrace
the madness. So, I have somehow gotten sucked into writing a little mini-series
for mini!team.
Dedication: To Little Red, because she not only squealed
when she found out about the knitting, but found a pattern so I knew what part
of the mitten to make a different color. If you would like to knit like Jack,
go here: http://knitting.about.com/library/blmittens3.htm
---
“One’s real life is often the life that one
does not lead.” –Oscar Wilde
---
It was January, right around midterms actually, that Jack
began to worry. He couldn’t figure out exactly what he was worrying about; it
was just a nearly constant nagging in the back of his mind that taunted him.
It didn’t make any sense. For the first time in what seemed
like ages, Jack O’Neill was strangely…happy. Sure, there were downsides to his
current situation—no beer, no ‘Gate, bad music, and the phrase ‘surrounded by
idiots’ had taken on a whole new meaning. But really, it wasn’t so bad. He had his friends with him now,
and so it made the strange high school existence that was his life seem like…a weird
sort of extended vacation with constant adolescent entertainment to watch and
mock.
Jack had needed a vacation for a long, long time.
And so he had taken advantage of it all—for once in his
life, he let himself relax and just be.
But now, he was worrying, and he couldn’t figure out why.
Most of the time, he managed to ignore it, because there
were so many other, more pleasant things to concentrate on. Like trying to help
Teal’c find a hobby now that football season was
over, or laughing every time Daniel bitched about the Spanish teacher’s
grammar, or convincing Sam that yes, he really did need tutoring in chemistry so that she’d spend the extra hour
going over it with him.
Still, it was there now. And it didn’t seem to be going
away.
---
“No way.”
No matter how hard they stared at the flyer, the words
didn’t change. Go figure.
“What are even the odds of that?”
“Pretty good, I’d think. Lots of people put on Hamlet as a school play.”
“Yeah, but who would have guessed…I mean, it was supposed to
be a joke, Sam.”
“I remember, Jack. I was there, after all.”
“…But I mean…he wasn’t actually
supposed to be Hamlet!”
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s that overwhelming coolness thing
again?”
“Maybe. Doesn’t make it less…weird.”
“No. No, it doesn’t.”
But no matter how hard they stared at the cast list, it
still read Hamlet: Daniel Jackson.
“You know, if this is what our teenage demagogue status can
get us, I still don’t understand
why…”
“Jack, for the last time—there is no way I am trying out for
the cheerleading team.”
---
Around the same time that Daniel was pleasantly distracted
by his budding ambitions as a thespian, the new semester schedules were
released. Most of their classes stayed the same—except for Teal’c.
The first semester, he had a free period that he used to train in the weight
room. However, the coach had apparently asked him to cut back on the weight
training, as his sheer bulk was starting to be even too much for the other
football players to take. As a result, Teal’c was
left to find an elective. On his own.
Which is how Teal’c,
At first, Jack had a hard time understanding why Sam and
Daniel found this so funny. “Am I missing the joke?” he asked as he watched the
two of them trying not to laugh and failing miserably.
Sam grinned at him, flipping a long strand of blonde hair
behind her shoulder. “You do realize
what ‘Life Sciences’ is, don’t you?”
“…Some kind of science?”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. “Not exactly.
It’s…well…”
“Home Economics, Jack. Teal’c is
going to be taking Home Ec.”
Jack looked at the little printed out schedule again in
disbelief. “I…” This wasn’t his normal dumb act. Jack had gone to high school
before the whole PC movement. He was pretty sure that in his day, Home Ec was just called…Home Ec.
“Like…cooking and sewing and stuff?”
“Yes, exactly like that.”
Jack’s eyes slid up to meet Teal’c
unperturbed brown ones. “Did you…realize..?”
The
Really, it made a lot of sense. He should be used to that,
as it was coming from Teal’c. Still, Jack had the
feeling that it was going to take him a long time to get over the mental image
of Teal’c in an apron.
---
“So, T, are you enjoying Home Ec?”
“Indeed I am, O’Neill.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I find cooking especially to be most appealing. The
instructor is currently attempting to educate us in the art of soufflé
creation.”
“Uh-huh. And how is that going?”
“Very well, O’Neill.”
“Good! Good, good, that’s good…hey, Sam likes those things.”
“I am aware, O’Neill.”
“…How hard is it to learn, exactly?”
---
While Teal’c was some kind of
cooking savant, Jack…wasn’t. However, in his Home Ec
explorations with T, he did discover a disturbing proficiency with knitting
needles. In no time at all, he could make anything from socks to hats to
blankets. Teal’c apparently saw it as some kind of
great accomplishment, while Daniel laughed and laughed and laughed. Sam,
though, just smiled and said she wasn’t surprised.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
She shrugged. “It makes sense. You’ve always liked to keep
your hands busy. At least this is something productive.”
As a reward for making him feel less strange about it all,
he knitted her a winter hat. A blue one, because Sam in blue made him happy. It
had a pom-pom on the end that he could play with and everything. He felt a
little ridiculous when giving it to her, but she just pulled it on over the
long hair that he was quickly becoming enamored with and hugged him tightly.
As Jack buried his nose in the warm softness of her neck, he
wondered if he could figure out how to make matching gloves.
---
“Remind me again how I got roped into making scenery for
this stupid play?”
“…You signed up for art class?”
He had. Damn him for wanting to improve his pottery skills.
“Still. If I have to hear Daniel make one more stupid
long-winded speech about the meaning of life, I’ll…I’ll shrink his costume
tights.”
“Go ahead. I think that might earn you the undying gratitude
of every girl attending this thing.”
“Too much information, Sam. Way too much. Hey, why aren’t
you helping?”
“Jack, you’ve seen my artistic skills. You know, the
non-existent ones.”
Stick figures. He remembered now.
“Awe, I don’t know, I thought she was cute, with her little
blonde curls and smiley face…”
“Shut up and paint, Jack.”
---
He didn’t manage to figure out what it was that had been
bothering him until Sam’s three-ring binder filled with astrophysics scribbles
was discovered by the science teacher. Suddenly, Sam was in the Principal’s
office for hours on end, surrounded by science teachers and college advisors
and other intellectual types who were looking at it and generally going ‘ooooh’.
It took the better part of three days before she was free of
them all and rejoined the lunch table with nothing more than air of slight
annoyance. “Can you believe all that? The nerve! I mean, Mr. Spelding didn’t even have the right to look at it in the
first place, but then to have everything passed around like that…it’s a good
thing I keep all the classified stuff at home…” she snorted as she opened her
lunch, but her rant didn’t ease the knot of panic that had curled up inside of
Jack’s stomach.
“Sam…what did they all want?”
She looked at him blankly for a second before catching on.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Sam, three days of meetings isn’t nothing.”
She shook her head, sharing a look with Daniel. “It was
stupid.”
Feeling slightly betrayed, Jack turned his gaze to Daniel.
“You know?”
“I could guess,” the former archeologist replied
nonchalantly.
“Well, tell me!” He was bordering on petulant and he knew
it. But damnit, he was fifteen again. He was allowed
to be petulant sometimes.
Sam sighed. “It was stupid. They just wanted to skip me a
few grades is all.”
“…How many grades?”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, as I told them in no
uncertain terms that it wasn’t going to happen.”
That seemed to be the end of the conversation as far as she
was concerned, but it was enough to hit Jack with all the worries he had been
burying the last few weeks, trying to pretend didn’t exist. Because they knew
now about Carter and how brilliant she was. If she wanted, Sam could be out of
this cement block institution before the next bell rang. And while she shrugged
it off as nothing…what if it wasn’t?
The existence of the three-ring binder and Daniel’s sudden
urge to participate in performance art
and T’s new preoccupation with The Food Network were all little hints, signs
that his friends were searching for something to keep them entertained while
they were stuck here in limbo with him. Because that’s what they were—stuck. It
wasn’t so bad for Jack on an intellectual level—he had pretty much retained the
mentality of a teenager for the majority of his life. But them? They were all
brilliant and talented and driven. They deserved better than this...replacement
life.
They had done this for him—he had known that from the moment
they had appeared in the cafeteria. And while sure, they seemed okay with it
all so far, what if it was all adding up? What if, one day, they came to school
and looked at him and only saw the reason they were condemned to this
half-existence?
What if they finally realized that he hadn’t been worth the
sacrifice?
That was the fear that had subconsciously burrowed its way
into his heart, the one that kept him awake at night when they were gone and he
was alone. Because he had no doubt that they could do this without him if they were
so inclined.
But he had no idea how he’d survive this without them.
---
“So, really. How many grades?”
“…Why do you want to know?”
“I just do. How
many?”
“…No. Forget it. I’m not telling you.”
“Carter…”
She rose an eyebrow at the old name. “Don’t even try it.”
Damn. She had gotten out of the ‘sir’ habit a little too
quickly after all.
“But…”
“No! Why are you pressing this? What does it matter?”
“I…”
He didn’t have an answer. Not one he would share, anyway.
---
Despite his newfound fears, or maybe because of them, he did
actually try to figure out how to make matching gloves for Sam’s hat. But as it
turned out, gloves were a nightmare involving four needles and prongs and other
crazy things that he did not understand. So he made mittens instead. Sure, the
top of the left one was green because he had run out yarn right at the end, and
the thumbs looked about two times longer than they needed to be. But they were
mittens. Sort of.
He gave them to her on the opening night of Daniel’s play,
as they were heading inside the building. Sam just fingered them for a moment
before slipping them on and hugging him again.
This knitting thing definitely had its advantages.
When they pulled apart, she kept an arm slung around his
waist. He didn’t protest. Maybe they would
resent him someday. All the better reason to enjoy this now, while it
lasted.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Sam said finally.
“When aren’t you?”
She rolled her eyes. “We should talk to the Air Force.”
Oh. Oh shit.
“…About what?”
No, his voice did not
just crack. Really.
“About buying a house.”
Jack blinked. Of all the many responses he had been
preparing himself for, no version of that had been on the list. “…Huh?”
She glanced up at him, an almost nervous expression on her
face. “Well, it’s just that right now, they’re spending money to pay the bills
for four separate apartments. That’s got to be a waste of money. A house would
be more expensive initially, but would even out after awhile. And it doesn’t
have to be anything fancy. It could just be…” She sighed. “I mean, the four of
us are always together anyway…and I…going home alone at night…I mean, it wasn’t
so bad you know, back when we were…but now…”
She was actually rambling. About something other than
science. It was so…damn…cute. Her
blue eyes were wider than normal and her face pale except for her nose which
was red in the winter cold, and with the blue hat and mittens, blonde braid,
and nervous expression she looked about eleven. “…I mean, if you think…you
could put up with us all the time.”
Was she nuts? This
was…this was…perfect. Maybe they
wouldn’t end up hating him after all. In fact, now that he was really thinking
about it, he realized that if Sam had been privy to his thoughts the past few
weeks, she would have decked him. And he would have deserved it.
But she didn’t need to know all that. So, Jack just smirked
and replied, “Oh, I think I could manage. I mean, Teal’c
can keep us fed, I can keep us in warm socks, you can fix things…” he stopped,
thinking. “What would Spacemonkey do?”
Sam grinned up at him, edging a little closer. He happily
tightened his hold on her shoulders. “Oh, he’d be there purely for
entertainment value.”
---
“So, I think I’ve narrowed it down to three houses.”
“Already? That was quick.”
“Well, I just narrowed it down by a system involving price
range, location, and physical components, ranking them from the most important
to the least, with the most being things like size and the condition of the
property…”
Only Sam could turn house hunting into a scientific formula.
“Sam. Just tell me about the houses.”
“Okay. Well, this one is nice, good sized backyard and
garage, new appliances in the kitchen. And this one just got a new roof put
on.”
“Let me guess, you like the third one.”
She smiled a little. “Well, it’s closest to school. And
while it doesn’t have much of a backyard, the front yard is nice, with trees
and a little porch in front of the house. There’s a full basement…we could put
a game table down there or something. And it has a fireplace, which I kind of
thought might be nice.”
It would be nice. But… “Sam, this is only a three bedroom
house.”
When he looked back at her, she was blushing. “I know.”
Jack was pretty sure his stomach had flipped right over. He
looked down at the paper, then back at her, a grin spreading across his face.
“It’s perfect.”