Disclaimer - MGM/Gekko/Double Secret own them.
An 'Enemy Mine' episode addition, containing spoilers for 'Solitudes' and 'Enemy Mine'. This is also ridiculously sappy. Heh.
Alli, you owe me a vid!
*
The hovering was getting ridiculous, and so was the silence. But he wasn't about to ask her to stay with him. Nope. No way.
Rolling carefully onto his back from his side, and still trying not to show the pain, he flicked his gaze towards her. "Shouldn't you be getting back to your diagnostic thingy?"
Great. *That* sounded like he didn't even want her around. Idiot. He didn't know what it was, but this last month or two...ever since Daniel came back...
"No, actually. I have one of the programs compiling at the moment, and when it's doing that I can't run any of the other systems as it takes up too much disk space..." Realising that she'd lost him somewhere around 'compiling', she paused. "No. I don't."
Somewhat relieved that she'd stopped talking about her work, he nodded. And winced. Ow... "So you," Ow, dammit. "Actually have nothing to do for once."
"Hard to believe I know." She grinned, clasping her hands together behind her back. Then, as if suddenly realising something, her grin vanished. "Not that that's the only reason I'm here."
Ooookay. He could take this seriously or...not so seriously. Not so seriously it was. "I'm touched, Carter. At least one of my team is nice enough to stay here with me while Daniel goes off to find his inner Unas."
Ah, excellent. She was smiling.
Emboldened, he gestured with his good arm towards the chair a few feet away. "Come on Carter, grab a seat. Keep an injured colonel company." Hmm. Apparently he *had* just asked her to stay.
And it hadn't been so bad.
Complying, she unclasped her hands and moved over to the chair, grabbing the back and dragging it over until it was a foot or so from his bed.
Jack, foolishly, tried to sit up. Straining something unpleasant he gasped, muttering as he clutched at his bad arm. Wait...wait a freakin' minute...he was looking down at his bad arm, looking at where his good hand was holding it and...there was another hand there.
Since when had he grown a third hand?
He knew what it meant, of course, but his life would be so much easier if he just tried to ignore it.
Especially when her other hand came to rest on his good arm - just to help her balance her grip on his bad one, no doubt.
Oh, this was definitely wrong. Half sitting on the bed, with Carter's arms practically wrapped around him, her front now lightly pressing against his back...oh, God. Where was that nurse?
"You don't need to do that." She murmured softly.
The shiver was completely unstoppable. "Do what?"
Amusement was definitely apparent in her voice when she responded. "Pretend. After everything we've been through, do you really think it matters?"
Just like the shiver, the words were completely unstoppable. "Pretending's the only thing I *can* do." It wasn't his fault that they came out. It wasn't. If she *will* insist on touching him...
Thankfully she seemed to have more sense than he did, not mentioning that at all. "I remember the first time I saw you hurt - really hurt. You yelled, shouted, cursed...and you got through it. I always admired the hell out of you for that."
Jack blinked, stunned. What was this - Confessional Time with Carter? And he was *not* gonna show his embarrassment, no matter how much the tips of his ears were burning. "Uh..."
Oh, way to go, Verbose One.
She spoke again, almost a whisper.
"You don't always have to pretend."
He knew that the only reason she was saying this now was because the nurse had gone somewhere; was because they were completely alone. He knew that, if someone walked in, they'd suddenly been talking about tactics or astronomy as she simply helped him to sit up.
He also knew that, since Daniel's return, something had been slightly askew. For whatever reason, it felt like certain...things had readjusted. The unexpected had a way of doing that.
And he *wanted* to stop pretending, he *wanted* her to know that he got it...
So he closed his eyes and leant back against her, revelling in the warmth. He sighed deeply, relaxing, letting the frown on his forehead dissipate.
And he stopped pretending, just for a while.
~FINIS