Chapter Eighty Four

Daniel's grin widened at Jack's warning look and Janet's red face.
"...so I'm going to tell Teal'c and the General that all of us guys are crashing either in the living room or the spare room."
Sam took over for a moment, her flashing eyes making the Colonel pull back.
"Carter?"
"Yes, sir. Daniel, take the blowdryer and dry the bed before sleeping on it."
Daniel chuckled.
"Actually, I thought Teal'c could take it, but yeah, okay."
"Which reminds me...why is my bed wet?"
"Umm..."
"Nevermind."
"Thank you, sir."
"I'm sure you're both to blame. So Daniel can go get me some pizza while I talk to Janet...hint hint."
Sam fell into the chair, laughing loudly at Janet's swift response.
Daniel walked out of the room, having no intention of coming back with the pizza.
Jack leaned forward, stopping only at Janet's hand on his chest.
"Hmm?"
Janet pushed him against the vanity, enjoying his surprise.
Moving her body against him, she reached behind him as he caught his breath.
Jack had no clue what her goal was, but he was enjoying the journey.
He bit her jaw lightly as her arms slipped further behind him.
Then she pulled back and he found himself looking at a bottle of Listerine.
He sighed dramatically.
"I do love a romantic woman."
Janet grinned, stepping back to let him properly rinse his mouth.
Janet kissed his shoulder, her hands sliding down his back.
A delighted gasp heralded Cassandra's entrance into the room.
Cassie walked into the room, two plates of pizza in hand.
She set them down on the counter, before turning to face her surrogate parents.
"Daniel told me you wanted pizza. You really are together? Are you gonna get married? Are you going to be my dad for real? We could have the coolest wedding!"
Both adults were frozen at the entrance and then the questions.
They hadn't talked about where their relationship was going, but it was obvious that Cassie was going to require direct honesty.
Sam was silent, clueless in how to explain anything...mentally sending Janet her moral support.
"Honey, Jack and I are only dating. We don't know for sure where this relationship is headed."
Cassie's expression didn't encourage Janet.
"When I asked you about dating, you said what was appropriate. I have a feeling if you'd caught my hands heading where your hands were going, I would've been in trouble."
Janet blushed at Jack's low chuckle.
"She's got a point."
"Cassie..."
"Are you gonna marry someone else?"
"No..."
"Good. I'll tell everyone."
Jack's hand caught the back of Cassie's shirt as she whipped past, causing her to pause in mid-air before his arms wrapped around her, shushing her squeal.
"Tell everyone what?"
Cassie's lips sealed, and she shook her head.
Jack gave her a pitying look.
"If you don't tell me..."
Cassie shook her head again and found herself dangling upside down.
The swiftness of the act caught Janet off guard.
She'd heard Cassie telling Sam about Jack doing this, but he'd never been stupid enough to do it in front of her.
"Jack! That's dangerous. Put her down!"
Jack looked up, surprised before realizing just who it was that was watching.
Quickly he moved to set Cassie on her feet.
"Since that was your first time ever having that done, I'll let you off easy, but you'd better tell me what you were going to say."
Janet's eyes rolled at the bald-faced lie and she ignored Sam's howling laughter.
*You know he's lying.*
*Yes...but he doesn't so I'll use that.*
"Jack, if your hand slipped even a bit while turning her like that..."
"Janet, I promise...you will never catch me doing that again. I swear."
Janet stopped, staring at him.
*Does he actually think I'm that stupid?*
*I think he's going more on damage control and pure hope at the moment.*
Janet smiled a forgiving smile, enjoying the relief that briefly shined in his eyes before he pretended nonchalance.
*You really are bad, you know.*
*And that liar isn't?*
*What are you going to do?*
*I'm going to follow Cassie's advice.*
*Oh Janet...I agree, but out of loyalty to my CO, I have to protest this cruel treatment.*
Janet let her mental amusement wash over Sam, trying to keep it off her face.
"Cassie, you are absolutely correct."
Cassie stopped squirming, obviously trying to remember what she said that Janet would agree with.
"Jack and I have been irresponsible..."
"Nonononononononononononononono..."
Janet ignored Jack's whispered protest as he sensed what was about to happen.
"Since our relationship affects you as well, you should be included in all of our activities whenever possible."
"Uh huh. That's fine, so what's wrong with it?"
"Nothing's wrong with it."
"Jack, you don't want to spend time with me and Janet?"
Jack stopped, totally floored by the fake tears in Cassie's eyes.
The girl was diabolically evil...a trait Carter had assured him long ago that all girls were naturally born with.
"I just hadn't really connected you and Janet in my head. I mean, well...Cass...you're special to me and then Janet's special to me. The two of you...together...it's a bit overwhelming."
Jack looked at Janet, hoping she'd put a romantic spin on that.
"I still don't see what's wrong with it."
"Nothing's wrong with it Cassie. I'm over-reacting."
I hope.
Jack motioned Cassandra out the bathroom door and quickly shut it behind her.
"You do realize you just let her go."
Jack covered her mouth with his, refusing to stop kissing her until she'd melted against him and was kissing him back.
Her arms slipped around him and they molded against each other, deepening the kiss.
Excited giggling brought them crashing to reality and they stared at each other as their lips broke apart, both feeling disoriented for a moment.
A series of clicks caught Jack's attention and he looked over to where Cassie was standing with Amber's camera.
She was gone in a flash, squealing as male arms wrapped around her, lifting her off the ground as quickly as they'd placed her there.
The endangered prey practically vanished as Daniel carried Cassie out of the line of fire.
Jack turned to Janet, about to use the only tactics he knew for sure worked and they both enjoyed, when he realized she was holding her hands up.
"No. She's right about us needing to talk."
"I don't recall her saying that."
"No...but you know what I do recall her saying?"
"What?"
Jack leaned against the vanity, certain from the way Janet was standing that he wouldn't get a chance to manually convince her of anything for awhile.
"I recall...and let me see if I remember this straight. She was talking to Sam at the time..."
"Oh?"
"Yeah...oh wait, now I remember. She said 'Sam! It was so fun! Jack had me upside down...'"
Jack groaned, knowing he was reaping his own folly now.
"You knew."
"Mmmhmm...and you know what I think of your little white lie, Colonel?"
Her use of his rank had him standing at attention, watching her closely in case he'd caused more damage than he thought he had.
"I think you and I need to figure out what our goals are, because Cassie's watching us and it's obvious what her goals are. As many implications as it brings to mind, I think we should show her a united front. As I said before..."
"No "good cop, bad cop"."
"Exactly."
Jack leaned back, his stance deceptive.
He was eyeing her carefully, trying to decipher her signals.
"So we talk about parenting preferences. That's fair. What else changes?"
Janet's eyes widened after a moment of thought.

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