DISCLAIMER: Not mine, no money, just some fluffy fun.....
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SEQUEL: To Lobster and Chocolate
Fred
By ncruuk
"The stars are beautiful..." observed Mac, looking up at the darkened sky in wonder as, away from the hustle of the boardwalk, as they strolled along, kicking now bare feet through the still warm sand along the high tide mark, the stars began to sparkle against the blackness of night.
"Hmm..." agreed Sam, her lack of a definite comment prompting Mac to turn to look at her companion.
"Is this where I discover that astrophysicists can't be romantic about twilight?" asked Mac, wondering if she'd inadvertently strayed into a bad topic, after all, she was supposed to be involved in a case involving telescopes...and treason...
"No, it's where you discover that this astrophysicist wasn't paying attention..." confessed Sam meekly, deciding honesty was the only way forwards.
"Ah...can you appreciate the beauty of the night sky? Or is it work to you?" rephrased Mac, genuinely curious about the answer from a factual perspective rather than a romantic one.
"I love the stars..." enthused Sam, throwing her head back and grinning with genuine delight as, to her experienced eye, the heavens revealed their full and complex glory with every constellation instantly recognisable, like an old friend.
"And can tell me all of their names, I bet..." retorted Mac sarcastically but in good humour as she found herself swept up in the Colonel's enthusiasm.
"Sure...see the one to the left of the really, really bright one?" asked Sam, pointing up with her hand that wasn't holding Mac's.
"Yes..."
"That's Fred."
The decisive way in which Sam Carter, highly decorated Air Force Colonel, pilot and military expert on astrophysics declared, with a completely serious face and in exactly the same tone of voice Mac could imagine her blonde friend delivering a report to the President, caused the Marine to come to a grinding halt, partly from shock and partly due to the hysterical laughter that soon crept up on her...
"Fred?" she wheezed, when she'd finally managed to draw a breath without immediate fear of hiccups or hysteria.
"You don't think it looks like a Fred?" asked Sam, pouting slightly, although, even in the twilight, Mac was sure she could see those blue eyes sparkling with mischief, which only served to set Mac laughing more.
"Barney better?" suggested Sam, enjoying the rich sound of Mac's laughter mingling with the faint sound of the gentle waves breaking against the sand behind them.
"No...."
"Yogi?"
As Mac's laughter began lost between the deep gasps for breath, she finally choked out a strangled plea of
"Mercy...?" when the laughter had become to much for her. Recognising the real distress Mac was in danger of getting herself into, Sam promptly sat down on the sand, spreading her legs so that Mac could sit between her bent knees, using Sam's chest as a supporting back rest.
"Breathe..." encouraged the blonde gently, resting her forearms on her knees, her hands loosely dangling in front of Mac, who obeyed the gentle command and fought to get her breathing back under control. As she focussed on her breathing, she absently reached for the long fingers dangling in front of her chest and started exploring their shape and flexibility with curious fingers of her own.
"Feel better?" asked Sam when, unable to see Mac's face, she heard the even cadence of normal breathing once more.
"Yes...Fred?" asked Mac, sure there was a story involved.
"Seemed sensible when I was four...."
"Ah...lots of stuff does when you're four..." agreed Mac. Now she was no longer worrying about oxygen, she was becoming far too aware of the heat radiating from her 'backrest' and how comfortable she felt, being enclosed in the loose embrace of another - something that rarely happened to the strong willed, independent woman.
"Yeah..." Once again disinterested in the conversation, finding herself far more interested in the elegant neck tantalisingly close to her lips, Sam's answer left Mac feeling dissatisfied intellectually, only to suddenly be completely forgotten about when she felt those lips that had earlier tasted of mint chocolate and steak trace a delicate line of kisses up her neck.
"Mmmm...." Once again, Sarah Mackenzie found herself star-gazing as she instinctively tipped her head back to encourage Sam's tender kissing of her neck. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last for her as the harsh yet quiet sound of the text message alert sounded from Sam's shorts, breaking the moment for Sarah, but not Sam.
"Your phone..."
"It's for you..." muttered Sam, straightening her left leg so that Mac could slide her hand into the pocket and extract the small cell phone, Sam herself far more interested in tasting the Marine's elegant collar bone which was just about accessible to her.
"You're sure?" asked Mac, the phone now in her hand.
"Uh huh...read it..." instructed Sam, nudging her companion with her knee by way of encouragement. Deciding she really couldn't protest any longer, and anyway, it seemed Sam wasn't going to resume those kisses until after she'd read the message, Mac obediently opened up the inbox.
ONEILL PERS read the caller name.
"O'Neill? Isn't he…?"
"My CO? Yes...open it..." coaxed Sam, wondering what Jack had said that meant he preferred to use his private cell phone to text her private cell phone, rather than a military one. Obedient, Mac opened up the message, so that she could read the small black letters on the illuminated screen.
USMC JAG LtC = SGC clearance. USAF LtC - dont forget toothbrush.
"Huh?" Mac was confused.
"You've got clearance for the SGC..." explained Sam, glad it was dark so that Mac couldn't see her inevitable blush.
"Where you work?"
"Yeah...it will help you understand how you can commit treason with a telescope..."
"Ah....toothbrush?" As much as she wanted to know about what Sam really did, Mac wasn't interested in work right now, and somehow, she didn't think the toothbrush had much to do about work.
"Too many nights on too many missions in too small a space with my CO and his weird sense of humour..." explained Sam cryptically, plucking the small, forgotten phone from Mac's fingers and slipping it back into her pocket.
"Morning breath?" asked Mac, not really believing that was what the message was about, but failing to come up with another reason for a toothbrush at this time of night.
"Uh huh..." Sam waited whilst the proverbial light clicked on in the lawyer's brain.
"Oh....OH!"
"Don't worry. He's kidding you know..." she explained hastily, worrying that Mac's surprise wasn't such a good thing.
"Good...I've always thought getting out of bed to brush your teeth before a morning kiss really spoils the mood..."
"Ah..." Mac's rather forward comment was now causing Sam to be stuck in wrong-footed yet delighted surprise. Sensing her companion's discomfort, and recalling the blonde's earlier comments about science geeks in military fatigues not being the most socially adept group, Mac snuggled back against Sam's inviting torso, asking,
"So, can you tell me what you do?"
"I can start....see the star up there?" began Sam, immediately much calmer and confident now she was back into familiar territory.
"Sam..." warned Mac, conscious her ribs were still aching.
"I'm serious...see the star up there, just next to that bright-ish one?" asked Sam, pointing out towards the star shining low above the horizon...
"What about it?"
"It's called Abydos...and it's actually not a star at all..."
"It's a comet?"
"No, a planet...and a friend of mine used to live there..." and, with no one else within miles of them, the two Colonels sat sitting, legs and arms entwined, looking out across the Pacific at the universe before them as Samantha Carter gently and carefully began to explain to Sarah Mackenzie about the magic a life that was genuinely 'out of this world'....
The End