Silent Lips

Silent lips speak to me
Don't keep me waiting
Silent lips say those words I long to hear

Say you want me, you need me, you love me
Time can fly, don't be shy
Just hold me near

Silent lips, the suspense will drive me crazy
Silent lips, why treat my poor heart like this
If you're too shy to tell me you love
Let me know by the silence of your kiss

Jack walked out of the elevator as fast as he was able to.

Uncomfortable?

Uncomfortable didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling.

Jack entered his office and closed the door carefully behind him. His steps were measured and purposeful as he made his way behind his desk. He stared down at the littered surface at nothing in particular, his breathing increasing in pace with every passing second until frustration welled up in him and he slammed his fists down on his desk letting loose a low dangerous growl. Papers flew up before slowly floating back down; some on the desk, others falling further to the floor.

His eyes settled on a folder labelled 'Prometheus'.

'Sir?' Janet said catching up with him in the corridor.

'Doc, how can I help you?'

'Colonel, I need to talk to you about Sam.'

He frowned and stopped turning to her. 'Carter? I thought she was cleared for active duty.'

'She is. Yes, sir. But I think you might want to take a look at the security footage from the ship.' She said offering him the folder that had been tucked under her arm.

'Why?'

'Sam had some hallucinations as a result of her concussion. She's been cleared by Dr MacKenzie but... I know Sam, and I think they shook her up a little.'

'You're sure that I should see this?' he said, accepting the folder.

She hesitated for the slightest instance before nodding. 'Yes, sir.'

Very carefully he opened the folder revealing a disk that was thankfully unharmed by his outburst. His eyebrows were knitted together in thought. When he'd watched the disk before, he went through a myriad of emotions.

The security system on the Prometheus wasn't wired for sound so it was just video, but that didn't make it any less disturbing to see his usually competent and brilliant second in command talk to thin air. He saw the toll that each conversation had on her. Daniel was exasperating, Teal'c demanding, her father caused worry and someone else was playful and teasing. He could see what the Doc was on about, these hallucinations were affecting her deeply. But she the shrink had cleared her, right?

Sir.

He didn't have to hear the word. He'd seen it issued often enough from her lips to recognise the word and know it was a hallucination of him she was talking to.

Friend.

At that, he found himself unable to watch any more, afraid of what he might learn. He'd stared at the corner of the screen waiting for the scene to shift to the next conversation.

Picking up the disk and setting it in his computer he was determined to watch the whole conversation this time, drawing up what lip reading skills he could dredge up from his dark past to learn all he could. Something had changed after that wayward voyage and he needed to know what it was.

He rapped his knuckles purposefully on the door to make sure he didn't back out, it had taken a day for him to review the security footage that he could be sure of most of the conversation she had with the hallucination of himself and another two for him to figure out what the hell he was going to do about it.

The sound of heals on hardwood reached his ears making him frown slightly. Carter, in heals?

'You're early...' Sam said opening the door stopping abruptly, before exclaiming. 'Sir!'

Jack was glad that she was shocked to see him, it allowed him a second or so to let his eyes drift up and down her body. The black dress clung to her curves in all the right places. The red lace neckline was low, her breasts seeming to almost swell up out of the material. She looked heavenly and sinful all at the same time.

Damn, this was going to be harder than he thought.

'Carter.' he voice sounded, low and just a little hoarse.

'Sir, what are you doing here?' Her arms crossed over her body self-consciously but instead of covering up, it only served to enhance her cleavage.

Oh, boy.

'Is it all right if I come in?' he said, carefully making his way past her before she could object.

'Ah, actually no. I have a date.' her body turning to following him, but still holding the door open.

'That's fine. This'll just take a few minutes. I promise.' he said softly as he made his way further into her home. He slipped off his jacket, setting it over one of the chairs at the breakfast bar then leaning against the counter. Waiting, his fingers drummed a gentle rhythm on the cold stone.

The door closed.

'Five minutes.' she said stepping slowly into the kitchen, her arms crossed in anger now.

He nodded, raising his eyes up to meet her gaze before stating; 'I saw the security footage from Prometheus.'

She seemed more shocked by this than him turning up at her door unannounced, her arms fell from around her body. Confusion set on her beautiful features.

'There was no sound, but I was able to lip-read a lot of the conversation. I wanna know what he said to you.'

'I don't think that's any of your business, Sir.'

He sighed loudly. 'You might be right. But what if he said something to you that I wouldn't? Do you really want to start changing things based on that?'

She bit her lip in indecision.

God, did she know how hot she looked right now? Did she have any clue the amount of restraint it took not to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless? His hands fisted on the marble, the surface cool but not quite soothing on his warm skin. It was heat he craved.

'Car... Samantha.' he murmured, enjoying the feeling of the word in his mouth. 'I think, for the next few minutes, we need to be honest with each other. Honest with ourselves too, come to think of it.'

She leaned back against the counter, watching him carefully for a moment before nodding.

'Good. So what did he say?'

'He said you'd never ask me to give up my career.'

'True.'

'He said that you weren't the problem, that it was me.'

'This has always been in your hands. You suggested keeping everything we said in the room, I just followed your lead.'

'That's not..." She sighed exasperatedly, her gaze lowering for a moment before returning to him. That is what I wanted. Then. Now... now I don't know what I want.'

Eyes locked, a few seconds passed.

'What else did he say?' Jack murmured braking the brief but intense silence.

'You're a safe bet.'

He nodded.

'But I deserve more.'

He sighed deeply and looked down at his fisted hands. She really did know him. He wished he could give her everything she wanted, everything she needed. He wanted that just as much as she did but they were both tied to the Air Force. For now anyway.

'That all seems pretty accurate.' he stated a little reluctantly. He had hoped that there was something that he could have said to change her mind. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to ask his next question, that it wouldn't have come to this, but he a had little choice.

He raised his gaze back to hers.

'Did you kiss him?'

She gawped at him in shock for the third time that night.

'You said, one last thing but then changed your mind.'

'How did you...?'

'I thought about what I would do in a similar situation.'

'I... I thought about it.' Sam admitted. 'But I didn't want a memory if it wasn't real.'

Jack nodded.

'Memories like that drive you crazy.' he murmured. 'But they can also keep you sane.'

'Are you talking about the Broca virus?'

'No, that wasn't really us was it?'

'When Doctor Carter came through the quantum mirror?'

'Not you that time.' he answered. He took a deep breath before he continued. 'I kissed you when I was stuck in one of those time loops. I handed my resignation to Hammond and kissed you.'

Her face was a myriad of emotions, she was shocked, angry, confused. Fourth time is a charm. He took the opportunity to move around the kitchen island, making his way closer to her.

'It drives me crazy, the memory catches me off-guard every so often, I'm back there for a moment before it's gone again. But it also keeps me sane... because I have an idea what it is that I'm waiting for.'

Jack was so close now that he could almost taste her in the air, just a foot or so in front of her. Her eyes were shining; the anger had faded, the confusion was satiated and shock gone, but something else that was previously hidden was clearly visible.

'I can't give you what you deserve right now, but I can give you this at least, a real memory. If you want it.'

He inched closer.

'It'll drive you crazy but keep you sane.'

And closer still.

Her breathing was rapid and hard, breasts heaving up and down almost brushing his shirt.

'You want to kiss me?' She breathed.

He shook his head. 'This isn't about me. This is about you. About what you want.'

She nodded in understanding.

'Do you want me to kiss you?' he whispered.

After the shortest of instances, she nodded her eyes fixed on his.

Jack raised his arms slowly, his left hand coming to rest on her hip, the fingertips of his right hand touching her forearm inching up at an achingly slow pace smoothing over her shoulder before cupping her cheek gently.

He watched as her eyes closed and she leaned into his touch. It was taking everything in him to go slow. There was no guarantee she'd choose to wait just because he kissed her, this might be his last chance to touch her like this.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him.

'I'm shaking.' she breathed, lifting her shaking hands and resting them on his chest. 'Why aren't you shaking?'

'You forget, I've done this before.'

'It wasn't like this though was it?' She asked, sensing it was just as new and exciting for him as it was for her.

'No, not like this.' he murmured, before pressing his lips to hers.

She was warm and she was shivering.

He shifted closer.

She was hard and she was soft.

He sighed softly.

It was almost exactly as he remembered. Only this time he didn't just have ten seconds, this time there would be more.

His thumb smoothed along her jaw to her chin as he tilted his head, a gentle request which she quickly honoured, parting her lips whilst issuing a low hum and wrapping her arms up around his neck.

Oh this was much better. So much better.

An eternity seemed to pass in no time at all, and he was quite sure he could have spent the whole night there with his arms wrapped around her and lips pressed gently to hers but a knock at the door interrupted him.

'Oh god. That'll be Pete.' Sam stammered drawing back from his kiss, but her fingertips still teased their nape of his neck, she just couldn't seem to draw them back just yet. 'I must look a mess.'

'You're beautiful.' he responded reverently, sweeping his thumb across her cheek one last time before settling his arms around her hips not quite ready to let her go. It was then that his thumbs discovered the dress was almost backless and it took all the will power he could muster to keep from teasing that virgin skin. 'Go finish getting ready, I'll get the door.'

'What?' she stammered.

Jack smirked. 'I know you, Sam, you're too nice just to stand this guy up. I've done all I can, what you choose to do now is entirely up to you.' he said drawing back from her.

'No.' she insisted, still holding him close.

'What?'

'You haven't done all you can.' she said softly. 'You could tell me how you feel about me, not just that you care for me more than you should.'

He stared at her, unsure how to answer that. He doubted she knew that her nails teasing his skin was slowly driving him crazy but surely she knew how he felt about her. Didn't she?

There was another knock at the door. This time more insistent.

He glanced incredulously down the hall at the back of the door before looking back at Sam.

'You know, Samantha, you already know. And as much as I want to...' He sighed deeply his eyes closing briefly before returning to her inquisitive gaze. 'I can't. I just can't. Not right now.'

If he was going to say those words he wanted to be able to shout it from the roof tops, not whisper it unsure as to whether he'd be able to do anything about it.

She nodded. 'Okay.'

Her fingers stopped moving.

His heart sank, the moment, the wondrous glorious few minutes he could call her his were over.

'Okay,' he stepped back from her, instantly feeling colder. 'You finish getting ready and I'll get the door. And no matter what you decide, I will be here for you. Always.'

She smiled. But it was one of those soft sad smiles that rarely graced her features. It was there for just a moment before both her and her smile were gone.

'Be nice!' she called once she was beyond his gaze.

'When am I not nice?!' he yelled back.

There was another knock at the door, it was slow and more than a little grating.

Jack frowned at the door as he tossed his jacket over his shoulders. Nice... he could do this.

He flung open the door to find a very irate looking little man, though the expression changed very quickly to shock at the lack of Sam Carter at the door.

'Pete, right?' Jack said with a grin.

'Yeah?'

'Colonel Jack O'Neill, I work with Sam. There was a bit of an emergency at the base and I needed to pick her brain, she's just finishing getting ready.'

'Oh okay.' he stammered.

Jack turned his head round to yell into the house, 'See ya tomorrow, Carter.'

'Goodnight, Sir!' sounded her distant voice.

'Right well, you kids have a nice time.' he said stepping out onto the porch. 'Oh and Pete?'

'Yeah?'

Jack leaned in just a little, Pete looked around before shuffling in closer.

'If you hurt her, I will vaporise you.'

Pete grinned and laughed nervously.

Jack stared until the man was quiet before continuing, 'I mean that quite literally. You won't believe the kind of tech the air force has these days. It's out of this world.'

There was an audible gulp from the shorter man before Jack let a wide maniacal grin spread over his face. 'Have a nice night,' he said as he jogged down the steps and to his truck.

'Carter.' Jack said in greeting as she stepped into the elevator.

'Sir.' she responded.

The humming started as soon as the doors closed.

Jack smirked to himself before glancing over at Carter.

'Humming?' he asked.

She smiled over at him.

'Ah yes, I suppose I am Sir.'

'Hot date last night?'

'It's was okay.'

'Just, okay?'

'I don't think I'll be seeing Pete again.'

'Really?' he said, trying not to sound too hopeful.

She nodded. 'Guess I'll just have to keep waiting for the right guy.'

'He's probably just around the corner.'

'Even if he isn't, I know he's worth the wait.'

They shared a smile before looking ahead at the doors, the rest of the ride passing in comfortable quiet.