has_2ls | for Sam [timed to March 11]

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sam,
tabula rasa

for Sam [timed to March 11]

With one newly-bandaged thumb and a stern warning from Sam-clone the doctor, Jack heads back home. Except, since he's so close to Sam's place anyway having been at the Compound, Jack decides to swing by and see about her and the kids before he goes home for the night. Maybe he can keep from spilling the beans about the house he's building until there's, you know, an actual house to show off. He doesn't suspect he can keep it secret for long but he wants to try.

He's feeling a lot better since he got the good drugs at the clinic (for a given amount of good - it's still really just aspirin, isn't it?) and he's in good spirits when he knocks lightly on Carter's door.

"Carter? You home?"

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Jack's been around a little less lately. Not enough to really make her worry, but enough that she's noticed, so she's a little surprised when she hears him at the door. "Janet's asleep, where else would I be?" she asks, letting him in. William's not in bed yet, though, and he runs in in his pajamas, hair still damp from his bath. He's just colliding with Jack for a hug at the moment Sam notices his bandaged hand. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, this? War wound," Jack says, focusing his attention on giving William a hug instead of actually answering the question. He kind of wants the house to be a surprise and spilling the beans to Carter is going to ruin that.

"I had to go to the clinic. Saw your twin."

"What were you doing that you hurt yourself enough to go to the clinic about it?" she asks. This isn't like back at home, where a trip to the infirmary followed a mission more often than not. "Are you hurt anywhere else? William, be careful." He's getting heavier and Sam doesn't want him climing on Jack if Jack's hurt.

"Just...stuff, Carter. It's fine. I was an idiot, I broke my thumb, I went to the clinic and it's fine," Jack says, getting a little more uncomfortable by the minute. He really, really doesn't want to tell her this early.

He lifts William, mostly just to prove he can and his back is already protesting after the long day of working.

"Oh." He's being secretive and weird and she doesn't like it, but it's not really something she can call him out for because it's vague and awkward. "Well, just be careful, whatever it is you're doing."

"I will be careful," Jack promises, measuring out his words carefully so he doesn't accidentally come out with it. He's always had trouble lying to Carter, even if it's for a life or death matter. This isn't, and he wants to tell her, so it's that much harder.

"I think I'll put this guy to bed and then maybe we can have something to drink? Tea or something?"

"Bed," William says, and frowns, but it's Jack so he doesn't protest too much.

"I'll make coffee," Sam says, and kisses William's cheek. "Night, kiddo. Don't give uncle Jack a hard time, okay?"

"Oh, he's gonna be fine. We'll go fishing tomorrow," Jack says and that seems to ease the process of putting him to bed immensely. William loves spending as much time as he can with Jack and Jack's more than happy to oblige him. Once he's down, and sleeping (or close to it) he wanders back out to see Carter.

"Baby girl doing good? Didn't get to see her today."

"Yeah, you must be really busy. She's fine--holding on to every piece of furniture and cruising around, kept her occupied most of the day." Her newfound mobility seems to have worn her out, too. Janet's sleeping like a log for the last few nights.

Jack winces a little. He hadn't meant to be a bad father while he was trying to keep the house a surprise for Carter and it seems like he has been. He guesses it won't hurt anything to let it sit for a few days while he spends time with his family.

"Sorry, Carter. I'll be around more."

Sam sighs. "That's not what I meant," she says. "You've just been busy and that's fine. You can do whatever you want." It's not like he asked to be stuck with her or the kids or even to be stuck on this island, and even if the kids occupy all of her time it doesn't mean that they have to occupy all of his.

Jack frowns a little, trying to work out why, exactly, they're having a fight and what he can do to stop that.

"I'm getting that I probably should be around more even if you're saying I don't have to be," Jack says, trying for neutral.

"Please don't put words in my mouth," Sam says. "I didn't say that you aren't around enough. All I said was that you must have been pretty busy today since you didn't have a chance to see Janet before I put her to bed. That's all."

"There was a tone, Carter. There was definitely a tone," Jack says, absolutely helpless when it comes to this. He wants to say and do the right thing and no matter what he says tonight, it doesn't seem to be working out for him.

"Look, I was doing something important. I wouldn't blow off time with you or helping you take care of the kids if it wasn't important. I promise. I'm not that kind of man."

Right. He has important things to do, and she doesn't. Not here, where nearly everything about her life's work is practically useless. So he's doing something important, but it's not important enough to share with her what he's been doing even if he gets hurt doing it. "You didn't blow us off," she says. "We didn't have plans. It's fine, Jack. Just, whatever you're doing, please try not to break your neck doing it."

"Uh, so, I guess I should head back home, then," Jack says, unsure of what really to say or do at this point.

He doesn't want to tell Carter about the house yet but he doesn't get the sense he's welcome to stay over. He's only stayed over a few times anyway and he always leaves it up to her.

This is awkward, and Sam doesn't like it. But she's cranky and irritable though she doesn't know why, and maybe it's better if he goes now before she says something stupid; maybe if Janet sleeps all night, Sam will be a more pleasant person to get along with tomorrow. "Yeah," she says. "I'll see you tomorrow? When you pick up William to take him fishing?"

"Uh, yeah. I'll see you then."

Jack does come to get William in the morning and takes him fishing but when he brings him back, William says he wants to go to the children's office to play and Jack doesn't really want to deny him that. He makes sure he's cleaned up and good to go before leaving him and heads back to see Carter.

"William's at the Children's Office with Janet," he says when the door swings open. "Is that okay?"

"That's fine," Sam says. She'd taken Janet up about an hour ago so she could get the house back together--now that Janet's more mobile, the hut suddenly seems a lot smaller and stuff piles up everywhere. And things get lost easily, too--the space under the couch looks like an accretion disc of toddler detritus like blocks, pacifiers, crayons, plus the cat's collar that's been missing for three weeks. "How was fishing?"

"Oh, you know, full of fish," Jack says, shrugging. "William caught one and I helped. We threw it back since it was about as long as my thumb."

Jack grins a little and rubs the back of his neck. "So uh, are you busy? I kind of wanted to show you something."

"I was just cleaning, but it can wait," Sam says, because she doesn't really like doing it anyway--plus, Jack seems to be taking time away from whatever his secret important project is and she could at least acknowledge that. "What's up?"

"Well, it's kind of a walk," Jack says, even more awkward than before. Still, he needs to suck it up or otherwise Carter's going to think he's a shit partner and the sort-of relationship they have is going to go the way of the dodo. Jack likes their relationship. He wants it to continue.

"You sure you can take the time?"

"Oh," Sam says, "you mean you want to show me something that's... not here. Okay. I thought--well, nevermind what I thought. Yes. I have time." She feels a little dumb for not realizing what he wants to show her is somewhere else and that flusters her. "Let's go."

Jack gets more and more nervous as they walk the little ways from New Atlantis down past the church to the little clearing where he's started building their house. It's not much more than a foundation and most of a frame but he did it himself and it's been hard work and long days.

"So uh, this is the big secret project thingie. It's...a house. Because I thought maybe we could use more room and that this would be better. I've got a floor plan, if you want to see it?"

"You're building a house?" It's a dumb question because while it's not much more than a frame, it's enough that she can clearly see how it's laid out and how much work has already gone into it and it's very definitely a house. There's a part of her that chafes at not being asked if she even wants a house or where she'd like to live or a million other things, but a much, much bigger part of her is touched that he's gone to all this work to build something from the ground up for her.

For them.

"Oh," she says, a little awed, and she nods. Yes she wants to see the plans, but she's weirdly choked up and words are not coming out.

"Um, yeah, here it is," Jack says, pulling the tattered bit of paper out of his pocket to show it to her.

"Well, there's a room for you, each of the kids have their own room, my room and there's an office for you and a kitchen thing and a bathroom. You think we need anything else?"

Sam looks over the plan and nods in approval. It's laid out nicely and the rooms are nice and spacious. He's even included closets. She has some ideas for a few things she'd tweak or add along the way but the rest of it is perfect.

Except for one thing.

"Separate rooms?" she says, and touches the paper.

"I didn't...I didn't want to pressure you," Jack says softly. "Since we're not uh, you know, I didn't want you to think I expected you to share with me. It's a very intimate thing."

Jack feels like maybe he made the wrong decision by drawing it out this way but there's nothing to do but go with it now.

Sam touches his arm, brushing her fingers against his sleeve. It probably won't be an issue by the time the house is actually ready, but she appreciates the thoughtfulness all the same. "It looks great," she says softly. "Really, Jack. This is amazing. I just have one request."

"Need a bigger room for more science?" he asks, grinning a little. He wanted to be sure she had a place for her work even if there's not much of it to do on the island. Carter's going to know better than him how she wants it.

"I can do that for you."

"I'll never say no to more office space," Sam says, and his grin is contagious. "But no, that wasn't what I was thinking. I want to work with you to finish this," she tells him. "So it can be ours. It's a fresh start, for both of us."

"Oh, well, it was supposed to be a gift but, yeah. I'm all for having the help. It could be fun," Jack says, holding up his injured hand.

"Besides, now I don't have to take time off to heal, right?"

"I just want this to be something we do together." The more she thinks about it, the more important this is to her. She has a lot of memories in her hut in New Atlantis--some really good ones, and less pleasant ones, too, and being in a new house, one they've built together, could help her feel more like starting over. The whole 'blank slate' thing is horribly cheesy, but it's true. "This means a lot to me, Jack. That you thought about it and started it, that we can work on it together... it means a lot."

"Well, that's what I'm here for," Jack says, laughing nervously. He feels like they've taken a big step today for their relationship, even if it's not so much physical as mental.

"I just want to show you that we can do this, you know? That we can be a good family."

"I know we can," she says. And they are already, in a lot of ways, but this could be the thing that helps her move forward. "Did I mention how much this means to me? Because it does. So much." She steps close, sliding her arms around his neck, and kisses him softly.

Jack is glad that she doesn't see it as weird or too much for right now and is just plain relieved that she doesn't seem to be on the outs with him like she had been last night. He kisses her back, keeping it light, and when it breaks he brushes a hand back against her cheek.

"Well, I could stand to have a little more of that."

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for Sam [timed to March 11]

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