Author: A. Karswyll
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rated: K
Words: 3,415
Summary: It is October the 9th and Jack is officially moved into his new D.C. home. Inviting his old team and commander to a housewarming get together, he takes time to mark the occasion and eat cheese.
Season 8
9 October 2004
Jack adjusted one of the platters set out on the table in his new dining room of his Virginian townhouse. Popping a piece of cubed cheese into his mouth from the platter, he took a step back and looked over the selection of three red wines and nine flavours of cheeses in cubes and wedges laid out. Everything looked good to him and he gave a satisfied nod.
Checking his watch again to see how they were doing for time, he rocked back on his heels and called out, "Carter! You ready yet? They'll be here soon!"
"In a minute!" was yelled down the stairs from upstairs.
"That's what you said last time!" Jack shouted back. Really, the woman could kit up for a mission in less than two minutes and they had started preparing for this hours ago and she still wasn't ready! What was she doing? Dyeing her hair or something?
"I mean it this time, in a minute!"
The doorbell cut off any response Jack would have made. Taking another piece of cheese, he ate it and then wiped his fingers on the hem of his blue shirt and crossed to the front door. Opening it, he found George Hammond in a grey shirt and black slacks holding a ribbon wrapped box on his new front steps.
"Sir, come on in," Jack greeted as he gestured the man in, "you're the first to get here."
"It's George now Jack," Hammond reminded the younger general as he stepped over the threshold and presented his gift. "I think this will warm you up some nights in your new home."
"I'll get it right one day George." Jack accepted the gift and pulled down the ribbon around the box to read that he had just been presented with a twelve-year-old whisky bottle of Johnnie Walker's Black Label. His eyebrows raised, "Nice, Sir, very nice. Thank you."
"George," the man reminded.
Jack made a rueful face and led to the kitchen-dining area.
"Still buying furniture?" Hammond asked as they walked through the open living room.
Jack looked at the sparse furniture: a two-person sofa, lounger, and coffee table. "I'm still trying to make up my mind about paying to have my old stuff in storage shipped out here or buying new."
Hammond gave him a sympathetic look. "I chose a few of my favourites to bring with me and the rest I bought new."
Jack sighed but tucked the advice away in his mind. In the kitchen, he set the gift on the part of the kitchen counter that had been kept clear for said gifts and then waved to the spread on the table. "Help yourself Sir—George. The wine that is beside the cheese platter is the wine that goes best with those cheeses—or anyway that's what the shop girl told me—so feel free to have as many glasses of wine on the go as you'd like."
Footsteps down the stairs had Jack looking away from Hammond and the table to see Carter descending from upstairs. His universe seemed to narrow down as first he saw her black sandal clad feet with toenails painted a sharp red, then the long line of her bare legs leading into the short cocktail dress with its deep V-neckline generously displaying the curves of her breasts, up to her beautiful face framed by the flaring strands of her blonde hair. For such a stunning statement, her expression was shy as her teeth worried lips that were painted a sharp red as she stepped off the last stair.
Jack cleared his throat, but couldn't think of anything to say as he stood rooted in place. The amused voice of his former commander in his ear made him abruptly aware that there was more than just the two of them in the room.
"I would advise breathing Jack," Hammond said in a low voice before stepping past to greet Carter with his hand outstretched . "You are looking wonderful tonight."
"Thank you Sir," Carter flushed prettily as she accepted the outstretched hand.
"At ease Sam, at ease," Hammond patted her hand that he held reassuringly. "I'm retired now remember? It's just George now."
Jack made his feet move and covered the short distance to the two. Clearing his throat again, his eyes connected with hers and he said, "Yeah, you look... great."
"Thanks," Carter gave him a small smile and relaxed some.
The doorbell rang and Jack gestured towards the door, "I'll um, I'll just go get that."
Turning away, he blew out a breath. He knew Carter, he'd worked beside her in the field for seven years but the woman... the woman every now and then made everything male in him sit up and take notice and it had gotten worse since they'd started... well he wasn't really sure what they'd started but it was complicated.
Opening his front door he found the last two guests on his doorstep. Daniel was wearing a blue and white plaid shirt beneath his open jacket and was holding a long thin box with two hands. Teal'c in his brown fedora stood behind him, wearing one of his weirdly patterned shirts in green and was holding... a bundle of firewood? On the steps beside their feet were their overnight bags.
"Daniel, Teal'c, glad you made it."
"No thanks to your directions," Daniel rebutted. "You said you lived in the house on the end."
"It is the one on the end."
"It's the end unit of the townhouse," Daniel countered.
Jack shrugged. How else was he supposed to say it? Quirking a look at the wood in Teal'c's hands he inquired, "What's with wood T? I don't have a fire pit out back yet but I could put one in."
"DanielJackson informed me that it was customary for the guests to a warming of the house celebration to offer wood as a gift," Teal'c replied.
Jack gave Daniel a quizzical look. "What have you been teaching him?"
"It's true Jack, the term 'housewarming' comes from a time when guests would bring gifts of firewood to build fires in the fireplaces to warm the house and repel evil spirits by creating a protective atmosphere of warmth."
"If you say so... Thanks then Teal'c, too bad the new fireplace is gas. Well, come on in," Jack stepped back from the doorway and motioned them in. "You can leave your bags in the entrance for now—we'll take them upstairs after the tour."
The two men did as instructed and stepped into the townhouse.
"Wow," Daniel looked impressed as he looked around the open design of the first floor over. "I can see why you got the end unit. Those bay windows are beautiful."
"Some of the views are good too, especially out back," Jack explained with some pride as the windows were one of the reasons he'd gone with this unit over one of the squished-in-the-middle ones. The many big windows were not the best security for controlling access, but there were other security tradeoffs like his old place had had. "There's a park behind this place instead of more houses."
"A selling point?" Daniel promoted with a grin.
Jack smiled and nodded and led them over to where Carter and Hammond were.
As the three men and Carter exchanged their own greetings, he took the gift of bundled firewood from Teal'c so the man could clasp forearms with 'Hammond of Texas' and set it beside the boxed bottle of whiskey. It had been some time since everyone had seen each other as Hammond had been living in D.C. for some time now, first heading up HWS and now in his retirement as a special advisor.
Daniel turned from greeting Hammond and offered his gift with both hands. "Here Jack."
Jack took the long thin white box and feeling that it had a bit of weight to it, he set it down on the kitchen counter. After digging out a knife from a drawer to cut the tape he lifted off the lid. Nestled on the packaging foam was a bronze sword about two and half feet in length with a blade that was leaf-shaped and the hafting plate had rounded shoulders.
Jack whistled low as he reached into the box and picked up the sword, feeling its weight in his hands. As he held the weapon he felt Carter move close and peer over his shoulder.
"Wow," Carter agreed.
Daniel looked pleased at both their reactions. "It's a replica—that is fully functional and crafted in the same manner of an original—of a Late Bronze Age cloidhem which is Gaelic for 'sword.' The form itself is widely distributed in Europe but the one you're holding is a native Irish version of which slightly more than twenty swords have been found in Ireland."
"Irish you say?"
Daniel bobbed his head and smiled. "I thought you'd like that."
Jack put the bronze sword back onto the foam and reached out, gripping the young man firmly on the arm. "Thanks Daniel."
Daniel's smile broadened and it was plain he was thrilled his gift had gone over so well. "I thought it would go well on the wall with your medals."
"It will," Jack assured as he returned the smile. Then lifting his hand from Daniel's arm he waved it at the cheese and wine landed table, "Well, help yourselves. Teal'c, do you want ginger ale or juice? It's cranberry."
"Cranberry juice."
Jack crossed to the fridge and took out the plastic bottle and poured Teal'c a drink into one of the wine glasses on hand and handed it over. Return the bottle to the fridge he close the door and they joined the three at the dining table. Carter handed the glass that had been poured for him earlier and he raised it up, "Sláinte!"
His four guests raised their glasses and echoed the Gaelic toast to health.
When the toast ended Daniel stepped up beside him with his glass of wine in hand. "Cheese and wine Jack? I was more expecting peanuts, pretzels, and beer. Not… this." He used the hand holding the glass to gesture at the table.
"What, an old Irishman can't be cultured?" Jack quipped.
Daniel gave him a look that said plainly he would not be taken in by any of Jack's tricks on this.
"Okay, okay," Jack surrendered. "Carter said if I wanted cheese, no beer."
Daniel turned a considering look towards Carter in her testosterone rising black dress as she chatted softly with Hammond and Teal'c.
Jack braced himself when Daniel looked back at him with a speculative look on the younger man's face—it wasn't hard to get speculative when Carter was wearing something like that—but to his relief Daniel didn't say anything about it.
"But why cheese?" Daniel asked.
"Because I'm celebrating," Jack explained. He had a reason for not having peanuts or chips for snacks after all. "And I thought it important to mark it."
"Yes, that's why we're here."
"No, I'm marking that the move here official means I'll never have to deal with it again."
Daniel furrowed his brow in puzzlement. "What are you talking about?"
"The holiday."
"What holiday?"
"Moldy Cheese Day," Jack announced.
"Moldy Cheese Day?" Daniel echoed incredulously. "What kind of holiday is that?"
"Indeed O'Neill," Teal'c rumbled. "Why would one mark a day that celebrates the decomposition of a nourishing food?"
"Hey, don't ask me why the holiday exists. I didn't make it up—"
"Sometimes I swear you do—" Daniel muttered.
"Hey! I heard that Daniel," Jack glared at his younger friend before continuing, "As I was going to say—I'm marking it because as of today I will never have to clean out my fridge again because of getting stuck off-world."
"Oh," Daniel said. He looked down at the glass in his hand, before looking up again with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yeah, some of those were... yuck."
"Yuck? You know what, twenty-three languages—"
"Twenty-six now."
"—and 'yuck' is the best word you can come up with?"
"I have to agree with Daniel," Carter stepped up beside them with Hammond at her side. "There isn't a much better word for dealing with the stuff in your fridge than 'yuck.'"
Jack hadn't cleaned out his fridge as many times as his teammate had—as it seemed he got stuck off-world alone more than they did so they did it for him—but he could see where they were coming from. When there had been base lockdowns he'd had to do it for himself, not to mention cleaning out Daniel's fridge all those times he'd 'died'... never for Carter though, and Teal'c living on base didn't have that issue.
"Your leftovers were bad," Carter continued.
Daniel shuddered. "Not as bad as the salsa though."
"No," she agreed, "never as bad as that and I still can't believe you kept claiming that was a science experiment."
"It was," Jack insisted.
"Toxic concoction is more like it," Carter retorted.
"Indeed," Teal'c affirmed.
Jack looked the three in the face, Daniel determined, Carter teasing, and Teal'c resolute, and surrendered. He could win sometimes when it was just Daniel, but you'd think after seven years he'd know to just throw in the towel when Carter got started, not to mention Teal'c. Must be the stubborn Irish in him. "Okay, okay, yuck it is."
As the three celebrated the win in their own ways, Jack found his gaze caught by Hammond who raised his glass in silent toast. Jack returned it. He knew that his old commander understood in ways his former team didn't, or hadn't, grasped yet. He was celebrating yes, but he was also mourning. No more moldy food meant no more trips off-world. More than his promotion to commanding SGC where he'd managed to sneak a handful of trips off-world, this move to D.C. meant he was grounded. Most likely for the rest of his life.
"So, son," Hammond gestured to the table, "I've been snacking on a few but why don't you tell us what I've been snacking on?"
Jack nodded and pointed to the first platter of cheeses and bottle of wine behind it, "Now with the Pinot Noir are three soft cheeses: brie, camembert, and feta."
"I am unfamiliar with the words brie and camembert," Teal'c stated.
"They're all cheeses, just different names for specific ones. Brie is a mild, creamy cheese, the camembert a rich, creamy cheese and the feta is a white salty Greek cheese. The brie and camembert are cut into the wedges and look pretty much the same so the fork-tine patterns on some mark them as the camembert. The crumbly cubes of course are the feta and you've had feta in those Greek salads you like ordering at O'Malley's."
Teal'c popped a cube of feta into his mouth and nodded.
"The second platter with the Zinfandel behind it has harder cheeses: Asiago cheese, blue cheese, and gouda cheese."
"Asiago?" Daniel promoted and ate some brie. "That sounds Italian."
"It is, Italian I mean, and it's got a rather nutty flavour to it—that's the white cubes on that platter. The blue cheese has a sharp and salty flavour to it and is in wedges, so is the gouda cheese which is yellow in colour and is sharp and salty in flavour with a bit of spice to it."
Daniel made a face. "I can't believe you bought blue cheese."
"What is wrong with the blue variety of cheese?" Teal'c asked.
"Blue cheese is a cheese that has had mold added," Daniel wrinkled his nose, "and it smells like moldy socks."
"Do you not consume a fruit-flavored dessert made from collagen extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, and intestines of animals?" Teal'c countered.
Jack chuckled. "He's got you there Daniel."
"It smells," Daniel insisted; his glasses riding high on his scrunched up nose. Pointedly, he took some camembert and ate the wedge.
Jack just chuckled again and moved on. "The last bottle is the Valpolicella." Jack frowned and he tried to remember what the shop girl had told him about the cheeses. "Well those three are all artisan cheeses and I don't remember what they're called."
"I'm surprised you knew all you just told us," Daniel teased.
"Hey, it's been a while," Jack kept his face very straight. "I can't remember everything all the way back to the beginning of the program."
Daniel gave him a curious look.
"Yeah, I've been saving up all this cheese from the first year for a special occasion—and this is it. Hey, don't look at me like that Daniel. You don't think I let you guys throw out all my science experiments now did ya?" Jack protested.
The two men, and even Hammond, cast dubious glances at the cheeses they'd just been eating. Daniel even went so far as to put down the second wedge of camembert he'd just picked up.
Jack slid a glance at Carter from the corner of his eye and even though she—his co-shopper—was looking spectacularly innocent herself, the wicked gleam in her blue eyes was just too much and he couldn't keep in a snorted chuckle. That was too much for her it seemed, and she promptly started giggling which made it impossible for him not to laugh too.
"Funny Jack," Daniel said as he picked up the piece of camembert again, "very funny."
"I thought so," Jack grinned wickedly and put his glass down on the table and clapped his hands together. "Now, who's up for a tour of the new house? We've still got time to kill before dinner is delivered."
"I would enjoy a tour of your new abode," Teal'c said.
"Before we start though," Daniel put his glass down, "what's for dinner?"
"Mexican."
"Mexican?"
"Yeah, nachos and cheeses, I figure it'll go good with the cheese." Jack popped a piece of cheese into his mouth and grinned when Daniel gave him a look. Oh, he wasn't joking about the Mexican but he was about the nachos and cheese. He'd actually ordered pozole and some other real stuff from a small ethnic place, and not Tex-Mex or anything.
"Now, the tour!" Jack stepped back from the dining table and swung his arms out. "You've seen the living room and kitchen. Follow me, and we'll go out back for a look at the back deck and backyard."
Setting off, Jack found himself rather enthused as he showed his new home off to Daniel, Teal'c, and Hammond. After showing off the deck and backyard, he directed the guys back into the house and up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, he stepped off the staircase into the small hallway and pointed things out.
"That's the laundry stuff and the bathroom is between the two bedrooms. You two will be sharing the big one," Jack addressed Daniel and Teal'c, "so feel free to bring your bags up later. There's a computer set up in the room too for a home office, but it's not really a home office 'cause I'm not willing to put up with the security needed for it so don't expect me to be in there using it. Carter might be though as she's in the second bedroom which is computer free."
Jack ignored the look that Daniel gave him at that statement. Carter was sleeping in that bedroom, just like she slept in the other bedroom at the cabin, and everything between them and the future was... complicated.
He gave a shake of his head and returned his attention to the men poking around his new house. There wasn't too much to see, the rooms had as little furniture as the first level but there was more stuff up on the walls up here from his old place than downstairs.
Jack checked his watch and realised that it was close to delivery time. "I'm heading back downstairs because the take-out should be here shortly. Feel free to look around here more and upstairs—it's just my bedroom and the really big bathroom with the jacuzzi tub but the view's really good—and I'll call you when dinner's set out."
"I'll help you put away the platters," Carter offered.
"Thanks," Jack accepted and turning they started down the stairs. As they moved down, he cast a look at the women beside him and when she gave him a small smile at catching his look, he himself gave a satisfied nod.
Yes, the future was complicated, but good.
-FINISHED
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