Chapter 18

Sam had been correct; Daniel’s place was right on the way to Sara’s house and the drive was a relatively short one. They studied the smallish, one-story brown house on the right side of the street and Sam checked the piece of paper on which Sara had written her address quite a few years ago.

“152 Yuma Street – this is it,” she confirmed as she turned back to Daniel.

Daniel nodded and scanned the street looking for a space to park. It seemed that, even though they were a bit early, there were quite a few people already at the house. Daniel snorted softly as he realized he’d have to park about three houses down. Sam didn’t seem to mind much, though, so he gave a small, resigned shrug before driving up and parking next to the curb.

Sara’s love for flowers and gardening was on display as they traversed the brick walk, lined on both sides by various small shrubs and perennials in a well-manicured landscape. Sam smiled slightly and silently berated herself for not ever visiting Sara before. She blushed faintly as she felt Daniel put his hand on her back and, when she turned to face him, he was smiling almost affectionately at her.

She was about to knock when the door was suddenly pulled open and Sara greeted her with a surprised look.

“Sam!” she exclaimed, smiling. “You’re here!”

Sam grinned and nodded.

“Come on in,” Sara chuckled.

With that, she opened the door further and stepped back to allow Sam and Daniel entrance. Sam looked around once they stepped in, seemingly impressed by the house’s interior. She moved away from the foyer and took a few steps down into the sunken living room. The windows were nearly floor-to-ceiling, affording a lovely view of the trees at the front and side of the house. There was a large fireplace, a bit similar to the one in Daniel’s apartment, the mantle of which was adorned with a few photos of Sara and her husband, as well as a plaque with a fish mounted on it. To the left was a sliding door that led out onto a deck. A low wall separated a small dining room and a kitchen, just a few steps up.

Sara grinned as she watched Sam stroll about the house in quiet awe.

“Sara, this place is beautiful,” she said, once she’d rejoined Sara. As for Daniel, he’d pretty much stayed put in the foyer, getting a glimpse of the rooms from there.

“Thanks, Sam,” Sara smiled. “I bet you’re wondering now why you stayed away from this place for so long, eh?” she teased.

Sam’s face flushed as Sara laughed gently. She stopped when she finally really noticed Daniel at Sam’s side. She raised her eyebrows in Sam’s direction.

“Oh, um … Sara, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson,” Sam said, her voice tinged with nervousness.

Sara smiled broadly as she shook Daniel’s hand. “Sam’s told me so much about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you finally,” she said warmly.

Daniel smiled shyly and nodded. “Sam’s told me a lot about you, too,” he said.

Sara raised an eyebrow and shot a meaningful glance at Sam.

“Nothing bad,” Sam smirked.

Sara grinned. “Well, come on, everyone’s out on the deck, or in the back.”

Sam and Daniel nodded. Sara was about to lead them out onto the deck when the sliding door slammed shut, and a man took a few, long strides into the living room. He was tall, thin but well-built, had deep brown eyes, and short, brown hair that was graying a bit at the temples.

“I’m just about to start the burgers, Sara …” he began. He trailed off when he noticed Sara’s company and looked at them curiously.

“That’s great, Jack,” she said as she turned to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She turned back to a curious Sam and Daniel.

“I take it this is …?” Sam began.

“My husband, Jack,” Sara returned.

Sam nodded and smiled cordially.

“This is my good, old friend, Sam Carter and her … um … beau … Daniel Jackson,” Sara addressed Jack.

He turned to her and gave her a quizzical look. “What?”

“Boyfriend,” Sara clarified. Her choice of words made Sam start blushing. She momentarily put her head down so that no one would notice.

“Ah,” Jack replied. “Nice to meet ya,” he said genially. He offered his hand to Daniel, who hesitated shyly at first, but then shook it politely.

Jack’s smile faded when he looked Daniel over. “Aren’t you hot in that?” he asked, gesturing to Daniel’s long-sleeved shirt.

Daniel stared at him curiously. “No,” he answered.

Jack gave him a slightly odd look but then merely shrugged. He turned to Sam and gave her a warm smile. “So, you’re Sara’s old friend, huh?” he asked.

Sam timidly nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been friends since high school,” she replied quietly.

“Wow, you guys go back a long way,” Jack mused.

Sam nodded again and looked tentatively at Jack, who was smiling and offering his hand to her. She obliged and, for a moment, couldn’t help but notice the way he shook her hand. It was a slow, hearty handshake compared to the one he’d just given Daniel, and the way he held onto her hand was almost as if he didn’t want to let go. She then decided she was being paranoid and shrugged herself out of it as he relaxed his grip and let go.

“It’s quite a place you’ve got here,” Daniel broke in.

“Eh,” Jack shrugged. “It’s good enough to call ‘home.’ I have my deck, my fireplace, and my telescope up top, and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s enough.”

Daniel walked over to the mantle and pointed to the plaque with the fish mounted on it. “I hate to sound ignorant or anything, but … ah … you fish in Colorado Springs?”

Jack looked at him incredulously, not believing his ears for a second. “You’re kidding, right?”

Daniel’s inquisitive look told him that he wasn’t kidding. “Jack’s originally from Minnesota, and fishing is one of his passions. We have a cabin on the lake up there,” Sara filled in. “We usually go up there for a week or two during the summer so Jack can have his fix.”

“Oh, yah, nothin’ beats sitting out on the dock with a six-pack of beer, catchin’ a few sunnies,” Jack said wistfully.

“Yeah, you catch the sunnies and I get eaten alive by nuclear mosquitoes and horseflies,” Sara snorted.

Daniel winced.

Jack brushed her comment off and changed the subject. “So, Sam, what do you do?” he asked.

“Oh … uh … I’m an associate professor of astrophysics at UCCS,” she replied.

“Huh, astrophysics, that’s interesting,” Jack mused. “Besides fishing, one of my real passions is astronomy. I could sit up there, gazing at the stars and planets through my telescope for hours.”

Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You have any idea how hard it is to get him to come to bed on some nights?”

“Ah … no,” Daniel replied awkwardly. Sam had to bite back a snicker at his comment.

Jack shot Sara a quick glare. He turned back to Sam and Daniel. “Don’t pay any attention to her, Donald, she’s just feeling extra cheeky today,” he said dryly.

“Daniel,” Daniel corrected him.

“Sorry,” Jack returned. “So, what do you do, Daniel?”

Daniel opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Jack broke in again with, “Does anyone ever call you Danny?”

Daniel was a bit surprised by the question and he looked at Jack incredulously. “Ah … not really, my mom would, sometimes, but …”

“Ah, Danny it is, then!” Jack interrupted playfully. “Danny Boy!”

Daniel chuckled politely at first, but it was clear that he felt awkward. Jack then launched loudly into “Danny Boy,” singing the first verse in a very melodramatic way, complete with an exaggerated Irish brogue:

“Oh Da-nny Boyyyyyyyy … the pipes, the pipes, are cahhhhh-ahhhh-liiinnnnnnggggg ...”

Sara rolled her eyes and put her hands to her ears mockingly before breaking out into giggles. “Jack,” she talked over him.

Jack heard her and abruptly stopped singing. “What?” he asked innocently.

“Knock it off,” she grinned impishly.

“Hey, I can’t help it, I’m an Irishman!” he shrugged.

“But your singing is torture!” Sara exclaimed with a hint of teasing in her voice.

“Torture??” Jack retorted. “You’ve never said that before.”

“Well, I’m saying it now. Look at poor Daniel. You’re embarrassing him.” She gestured to Daniel who had turned a bright shade of red and was staring at the floor.

Jack chuckled and gave Daniel an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, Daniel. That’s one of my other passions – being a smartass.”

Daniel lifted his gaze to Jack and smiled faintly, giving a little shrug. Sam went up to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek and rubbed his arm.

“So, how did you two meet?” Sara asked.

Sam looked at her incredulously, certain that she’d told Sara the story.

“Sam only told me that you ‘ran into each other’ at that coffee shop. She wouldn’t tell me the real story,” Sara continued with a smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes and sighed softly.

“Actually, she’s right,” Daniel said.

Sara looked at him curiously before adopting a knowing look. “Oh, sure. You guys are hiding something juicy, aren’t you?”

“No, we aren’t!” Daniel insisted hotly. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to go into detail about how he and Sam met, as it was still quite embarrassing, but Sara and Jack’s expectant looks wouldn’t let up. He took a deep breath. “We did just ‘run into each other’ … only I ran into her with a cup of hot coffee … someone bumped into me and I hit the side of her booth, spilling hot coffee on her.” He trailed off and winced, blushing madly.

Sara and Jack stared at him before Jack snorted, amused, and Sara began to snicker. Daniel turned to Sam and gave her a look of utter misery. Sam gave him a slight smile, her eyes tinged with pity before she turned back to her friends.

“By the way, how did you meet?” she asked, adopting a protective air as she threw their question back at them.

Sara and Jack immediately sobered up.

“It’s only fair that you tell us now,” Sam pressed.

Sara looked at Jack and then turned back to Sam and Daniel. “I moved here to Colorado to attend CSU Pueblo,” she began. “Two years after I graduated, I met Jack. His family had moved to Colorado back when his dad was stationed at Peterson Air Force Base.”

Sam’s ears perked up at this. “Your dad was in the Air Force?” she asked Jack.

“He was a General,” Jack said.

“My dad is a General, actually,” Sam exclaimed. “He’s at the Pentagon, though – General Jacob Carter.”

Jack shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

Sam looked at him and then shrugged awkwardly.

“Anyway,” Sara continued. “He went to school here and studied aeronautics – or aerospace, right?” She turned to Jack and he confirmed it with a nod. “Some friends and I were going to take a little flight one evening on a charter plane, you know, just up around the Rockies. Our pilot was a great, young guy with a sharp sense of humor that I just found so sexy. He gave us an amazing ride.”

Daniel looked at Jack blankly.

“That’s what I do. I own a little business that flies small charter planes for people and I’m a certified flight instructor,” Jack told him.

Daniel nodded. “Ah,” he said quietly.

“After the flight ended my friends took off and I hung back since I wanted to talk some more to him. He confirmed my suspicions that he was a wonderful guy. We got really friendly and started going out. On nice evenings, he’d take me up for flights around the mountains, just the two of us. Being up so high in the sky like that, with those beautiful, majestic peaks spread out below us, it was just amazing. About a year later, we got married, and it’ll be ten years in October.”

Sam smiled warmly at them. “That’s so nice, Sara.”

Sara nodded and smiled at Jack, who turned and gave her a quick little kiss.

“Oh, Daniel, I don’t think you ever told me what you do for a living,” he suddenly said as he turned back to them.

“You didn’t give me a chance,” Daniel muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing … I’m also a professor at UCCS … professor of anthropology.”

“Anthropology?” Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.

Daniel grinned inwardly, thinking that Jack wasn’t exactly book smart and finding it rather amusing for some reason. He cleared his throat before saying, “Ah, yeah, basically archaeology, though I can teach other cultural anthropology courses. I have a couple of PhDs in archaeology and linguistics …” He trailed off, blushing as he realized he didn’t sound very humble.

“Huh. In other words, you’re a geek,” Jack said bluntly.

Daniel blushed even deeper and seemed to take a bit of offense at Jack’s remark. He gave Jack what barely passed as a glare before withdrawing into himself and wrapping his arms protectively around himself.

“Jack,” Sara admonished him.

“What, that bothers you?” he addressed Daniel. Daniel merely lifted his head slightly and looked at Jack intently.

“Gosh, I’m sorry. I just keep stepping in it, don’t I?” Jack said with a touch of regret in his voice.

“It’s okay,” Daniel said, barely audible.

“I better get started at the ol’ chuck wagon,” Jack said, gesturing to the grill on the deck.

“Oh, yeah,” Sara started. “Come on, you guys, everyone’s out there.”

Sam and Daniel nodded and followed them outside.

**************************************************************

Sam became a bit shy when she and Daniel joined Sara and Jack on the deck. There were quite a few people out there, including a few that she didn’t know. These were Sara’s friends from college, whom she introduced to Sam as Jack manned the grill. She thought she recognized Sara’s parents, though it had been a while since she’d seen them. They were certainly grayer, but still warm as ever. She realized how much time had passed when she saw Sara’s sisters, both looking quite a bit older. Sara also introduced her to Thomas, her twenty-four-year-old nephew. He was standing next to a girl around his age, who Sam presumed to be either his girlfriend or even his sister. Daniel felt a bit awkward and elected to wet his whistle while Sam made the rounds.

She tried her best to mingle with these people, however uncomfortably, before she found a familiar face. It was her old friend, Jill Tonsberg, now Jill Brondstedt. She had married eight years ago and, as she talked to Sam, her husband sidled up to her in time to be introduced. Sara had set up a portable stereo outside on which to play CDs and the strains of modern or alternative rock soon filled the air. Sam ignored it as she tried to reminisce about old times with Jill. She didn’t get very far as Jill’s husband showered her with lots of affection and distracted her.

She frowned as Jill was no longer paying attention to her and, as a result, Sam’s eyes sought Daniel out. He was standing next to a picnic table and sipping iced tea from a plastic cup. He chatted with a few people every so often but, truth be told, he looked utterly bored. A smile grew on Sam’s face and she made her way back to him.

Daniel gave her a little smile when he saw her approaching. “How’s it going?” he asked, once he’d swallowed his tea.

Sam shook her head. “I caught up with my friend, Jill, and we started talking about the times we had in high school, but her husband is really keen on public displays of affection. He was all over her.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows quickly. “Really.”

Sam managed a slight grin and nodded. “She became too engrossed in him to bother talking,” she said dryly.

“How utterly rude,” Daniel said in a tone of mock disgust.

Sam snickered. “How are you doing?”

Daniel shrugged. “The iced tea is good,” he conceded.

“What? You’re having that bad a time?”

Daniel smiled and shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just that I don’t know anyone here. I talked to a few people, but it was just polite small talk. Then Jack came over here, saw me drinking the iced tea, and asked if I wanted a beer.” He blushed faintly before continuing. “He seemed almost in disbelief when I refused it.”

“You don’t drink beer?”

Daniel shrugged. “Not very often. That stuff usually goes straight to my head and I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself or anything …” he trailed off, embarrassed.

Sam gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay. I feel the same way.”

She cut herself off when she heard a familiar voice behind her and turned her head. Her eyes widened and a broad smile appeared on her face when she recognized her friend, Janet Fraiser. She was a petite woman of about five foot two, with large, brown eyes and auburn hair that ended just past her shoulders.

“I want you to meet someone,” Sam smiled when she turned back to Daniel. She made her way over to Janet with Daniel obediently following.

“Janet?” Sam exclaimed, trying to get Janet’s attention as she talked to Jill and her husband.

Janet quickly turned, and upon recognizing Sam, smiled widely.

“Sam?” she said, nearly in disbelief as she broke away from her other friend and made her way over to Sam. Sam nodded and her face lit up in a broad smile. The two friends embraced tightly.

“Oh my God, it is so good to see you!” Janet exclaimed when she stepped back from Sam. “You haven’t changed a bit!”

“Neither have you,” Sam returned, chuckling affectionately.

“So, what are you doing in Colorado?” Janet questioned. “Last I heard, you were teaching at GWU.”

“Oh, well, I got an offer for an assistant professorship at UCCS. I was only adjunct faculty at GWU. I work full-time now, the pay is a bit better, and I really love working there.”

Janet smiled. “How’s your dad? I take it he’s still at the Pentagon?”

Sam nodded. “He’s doing fine. I saw him nearly a month ago, actually. He had some leave, so he flew out here to be with me on my birthday.”

“That’s sweet,” Janet replied.

Sam smiled and nodded. “Wow, Janet Fraiser, it’s great to see you again after all these years,” she said thoughtfully.

“Actually it’s Janet Romano now,” she corrected Sam with a faint smile.

Sam nearly gaped at her friend, surprised that she’d also gotten married and perhaps feeling a bit of resentment over the fact that both her old friends from high school were married, and she wasn’t. She knew that sounded quite selfish, but at the moment she didn’t care.

“You too?” she blurted out a touch incredulously. Her tone was dangerously bordering on snide.

Janet looked at her oddly, as did Daniel, and she realized how ridiculous she sounded. Her face became flushed almost to her ears and she cleared her throat. “Uh … I mean … I’m just surprised. It’s been quite a while since we talked. I just found out Jill is married now too …” she trailed off awkwardly.

Janet quickly glanced over at Jill, who was still being quite affectionate with her husband, and smirked.

“When?” Sam asked Janet with a smile.

Janet directed her attention back to Sam. “We were married four years ago.” Noticing Daniel’s bewildered look, she continued, “I’m an EMT. One day I was radioed to an accident on Route 11 just outside of Tulsa. A man’s brakes went out on his car and then he lost control of his steering and ended up in oncoming traffic. A minivan plowed right into him. No one in the van was hurt badly, but his car was pretty banged up. He was unconscious when I arrived and suffered a concussion, broken arm and collarbone, and a punctured lung. He was lucky it wasn’t worse than that. I saw him several times during his stay at the hospital. I don’t know how it happened exactly, but we became good friends. After he recovered completely, we started dating. We were married a little more than a year later.” She smiled happily.

Sam smiled. “I’m so happy for you, Janet. So, is he here? I’d love to meet him,” she asked as she looked around.

“Oh, no, Robert couldn’t make it,” Janet replied. “He had to fly out to Miami for a conference on environmental remediation.”

Sam furrowed her brow in confusion.

“He’s an environmental engineer,” Janet supplied. “He couldn’t change his plans and I certainly wasn’t going to change mine. He’ll be back on Monday.”

“How long are you staying?”

“I’ll be heading back to Tulsa on Monday morning,” she replied.

Sam nodded.

“So, how are you doing?” she prodded Sam before casting a meaningful glance at Daniel.

Sam looked at her and then at Daniel and smiled. “Janet, this is Daniel Jackson, my … very, very good friend.” She blushed a bit at her choice of words.

Janet raised her eyebrows momentarily. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Daniel,” she said frankly as she reached out and shook Daniel’s hand.

Daniel smiled shyly and nodded. “Nice to meet you too, Janet,” he said softly.

Janet smiled at them. “So, how did you two meet?” she asked.

Daniel and Sam exchanged nervous glances. “Uh … well, we just sort of ran into each other,” Sam said sheepishly.

Janet raised an eyebrow and looked dubious, clearly not buying it. “Riiiiiiight,” she said amusedly.

Daniel felt the need to elaborate. “No, that’s basically how we met … I literally stumbled upon her.” His cheeks flamed and Janet picked up on it, snickering softly.

“Why are you blushing?” she asked.

“Ah …” Daniel trailed off, not knowing what to say. He gave her a slight shrug as Sam looked at Janet awkwardly and began blushing as well.

“Look at you two!” Janet exclaimed, laughing. “I’ve never seen two people blush like that before! What a pair you are,” she finished affectionately.

Before they could say anything else, they were interrupted by Jack. “Okay, campers, step right up and get yer grub!” he called out.

Sam inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Janet was her good friend, but every time she had to recount how she and Daniel met, it only made them both feel awkward. They headed over to the grill, where Jack was standing equipped with a pair of tongs and wearing an apron that proclaimed “I’d rather be fishing.”

As Sam made her way up to him, he smiled broadly at her. “Burger for the lady?” he asked.

“Uh, n-no, that’s okay,” she stuttered, not expecting him to be so friendly. “I’ll just have a hot dog.”

Jack nodded and lovingly served up a hot dog for her, taking extra care as he placed it on a lightly-toasted bun. “Mustard, ketchup, relish – it’s all on the table over there,” he drawled as he gestured toward the picnic table up against the house. He gave her another friendly smile as she nodded and took the plate from him. She then headed for the table.

“Burger?” Jack asked Daniel, who was next.

“Ah … yeah, please,” Daniel replied.

Jack nodded and placed a hamburger – which greatly resembled a charcoal briquette – onto a bun for him. “There ya are, grilled to perfection,” he said with an air of smugness.

Daniel wrinkled his nose slightly as he accepted the burger. “More like burnt to a crisp,” he smirked.

Jack snorted. “Then you be the cook. Here, take the tongs, take the apron –“

Daniel blushed faintly. “No, no, I was just kidding,” he offered.

Jack grinned. “Sure you were. If there’s any left over for seconds, I’ll be sure to make yours rare,” he said wryly.

Daniel nodded awkwardly before making his way to the condiment table.

******************************************************

Sam applied mustard to her hot dog, and then looked back in the direction of Jack and snickered. “He’s quite a character,” she said, amused.

Janet turned to her. “You mean Jack? Oh, sure,” she agreed.

Sam shook her head and began to chuckle softly as Janet looked around to make sure that they were the only ones in the immediate vicinity. “You know, I couldn’t help but notice the twinkle in his eye when he gave you the hot dog,” she said quietly as she leaned in toward Sam.

Sam looked at her incredulously. “What?”

“I’d say he’s getting a little … flirty with you, hmm?” Janet said impishly.

Sam shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, come on!” she scoffed. “From what Sara tells me, he’s just a big kid. It can’t be flirting and even if it was, he’s wasting his time.” Her voice became more serious. “Because I’m committed to Daniel, and that’s that.”

Janet looked at her briefly before a faint smile appeared on her lips. Before she could say anything, Daniel appeared, reaching for the ketchup. Sam looked down at his burnt hamburger and winced.

“Ooh, he gave you a charcoal briquette? What a sick joke,” Janet said, unable to resist a grin.

Daniel chuckled. “That’s why I’m putting an incredible amount of ketchup on it – to kill the taste.”

Sam grinned. “You want to switch with me?” she asked, gesturing to her hot dog.

“No, it’s okay,” he smiled. “I’d rather drown it in ketchup than inflict such a cruel punishment on you,” he said dryly.

Sam shook her head and snickered softly.

“What were you guys talking about?” Daniel suddenly asked.

Sam and Janet turned to each other, wide-eyed and looking like two schoolgirls who’d just been caught in the act of some mischief. “Oh, nothing, just …” Sam trailed off.

“Just girl talk,” Janet supplied. “We were just doing a little catching up.”

Daniel nodded. When he turned his back, Sam and Janet exchanged a little grin.

“Hey everyone, someone has an important announcement to make,” Sara suddenly called out after she lowered the music on the stereo.

Everyone directed their attention to Sara’s nephew and the girl standing next to him. Daniel briefly lowered his head and bit into his hamburger, sending a tiny glob of ketchup flying onto the bottom of his cheek.

“Uh, you got something …” Sam trailed off as she gestured to her own cheek, suppressing a laugh.

Daniel blushed and immediately dabbed at his cheek with a napkin. Sam smiled and nodded once he’d wiped it off.

“Everybody?” Thomas called out, trying to get people’s attention. “Kate and I wanted to use this time to announce that we’re getting married.” He smiled and lovingly pulled his fiancé close to him as the crowd erupted in applause and even a few cheers.

As Sam clapped, a feeling of bitterness welled up inside her. First she found out that her friend Jill had gotten married, then Janet, and now Sara’s young nephew. She almost began feeling sorry for herself when she realized that she was the only single woman at the party. She knew it was mostly her own fault that she wasn’t married by now, what with being busy in school for so long and not being very outgoing anyway. But, at the moment, it didn’t matter to her. She barely listened to the rest of what the young man had to say.

“We’re getting married this winter and then we’ll be off to Hawaii to live with the dolphins,” he continued.

Daniel scrunched up his face incredulously and turned to Sam. “What?” he said quietly, leaning into her.

Normally, Sam would have found the statement odd and would have chuckled at Daniel’s reaction, but she was still dwelling on how bitter she felt. She merely looked straight ahead and shrugged.

“Okay, the music goes back on now,” Sara said as she turned the volume back up on the stereo, and a song from No Doubt resumed playing. Sam’s eyes widened and she began to feel nauseous as she listened to the words …

<>Don't speak
I know just what you're saying
So please stop explaining
Don't tell me cause it hurts

Don't speak
I know what you're thinking
I don't need your reasons
Don't tell me cause it hurts

It was the same song that played loudly in the car just before Joe had begun advancing on her. Granted, it had been almost two months since that disastrous date and she’d managed to get over what happened, but hearing the song again suddenly conjured up bad feelings inside her. It wasn’t exactly traumatic, but she suddenly felt the need to leave.

She eyed the sliding door and, without warning, walked briskly past Daniel and everyone else, pushed the doors aside, and entered the house.

“Sam?” Daniel suddenly blurted out. At first, he thought she was heading to the bathroom, so he decided to stay put and wait for her. The distressed look on her face kept nagging at him though and making him think that she was somehow upset.

Sam shut the door behind her and stood in the living room, taking a few deep breaths. It was nice and quiet here and she was glad as she tried to push the memories of that date with Joe away. She put her hand to her head and blushed faintly. She must have looked like she was having something akin to a panic attack, the way she rushed inside like that. Right now, she just needed some time alone. She was glad no one was around as she tried to recover.

As she raised her head, she nearly jumped as she witnessed Jack standing in the dining room, watching her.

“Oh, uh … hi,” she said, flustered.


* Once again, “Don’t Speak” lyrics are by Eric and Gwen Stefani.


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