Author: A. Karswyll
Rated: K
Words: 1,039
Summary: Jack delivers his Valentine's Day gifts to his wife Sam and gets a sweet surprise of his own. GateWorld Valenship 2014.
Jack awoke in the darkness of another winter morning and lay still. Was he alone or was his wife in bed with him? No sound of breathing came to his ears and he didn't have the sense that Sam lay beside him so cracking his eyes open for a look around, he confirmed that he was alone. Darn. That meant she had won.
He gave a wry smile in the dark. Not that she was aware he considered their early morning tradition of putting out Valentine's Day gifts on the kitchen table for the other to discover a race, but he did. It added a bit of spice to an otherwise expectant holiday.
Rising from the bed he pulled on his robe, retrieved his gifts to Sam that he had hidden in his dresser, and went to go discover what she had given him in turn. Even if the gift of chocolates were cliché her cards were always worth a smile when sentimental or a laugh when humorous.
Speaking of humorous, he couldn't wait to see her reaction to the card he'd found for her this year.
Downstairs in the lit kitchen he found Sam at the table sipping at her morning coffee while doing something on her tablet, reading probably from the way her finger was swiping the touch screen. Across from where she sat, before his chair, was a white box about the size of a shoe box tied decoratively with a red ribbon.
Now that was intriguing. He'd expected to see a traditional box of chocolates no different from the dozens of boxes being sold right now by everyone from the basic retailers like Walmart to the high end chocolate boutiques. Had she gotten him a real gift of sorts and not the expected chocolates?
"Morning Sam," he crossed to her side and when she lifted her head to smile up at him he dropped a light kiss on her lips. "Happy Valentine's Day," he presented his gifts to her.
"Happy Valentine's Day Jack," Sam returned the greeting as she accepted the heart shaped box of chocolates and card. Setting the box aside she slipped the card out of the envelope and raised an eyebrow. On the cover was a penguin couple in bed with the words 'To my wife. Tonight I'm going to let you have what you desire—all night long!' and when she opened the card she laughed warmly at the punch line 'The covers!' and the picture of the husband penguin shivering while the penguin wife was wrapped in all the covers.
Jack gave a satisfied grin at hearing her laughter.
"I might hold you to it," she grinned up at him with a twinkle in her eye.
His grin turned into a smirk. "I think you're going to be too occupied to think about covers tonight."
Sam snorted and laughed again and put the card aside to open the box of chocolates to reveal a collection of round chocolates coated in a variety of toppings. "Ooh, truffles. Wonderful." She selected a cocoa dusted truffle, popped it into her mouth, and as she chewed a blissful, sensual expression settled on her face and her eyes fluttered shut.
Jack swallowed and coughed and looked around for a distraction. No smart man got between a woman and her chocolate at the best of times and when she wore that look, almost exactly the very same one he put on her face when they were, er... well, he only played at being dumb.
His eyes alit on the box before his chair and his interest in it was piqued again. Moving to it he took his seat and picked it up.
"No shaking," Sam cautioned from across the table, her attention clearly and fully focused on him now.
He looked across at her and was further intrigued by what he saw in her blue eyes. Was that a hint of uncertainty?
Setting the box back onto the table he picked up the envelope that had been beside it and took out the card. On the front decorated with hearts and stars were the words in an elegant script 'I love being married to you. I love the boy in you—the one with the big grin and warm hugs who says and does so many things that make life a lot of fun...' he flipped the card open to read 'But, even more than that, I love the man you are—your strength, your friendship, your warmth, and all the other things that make you special. I love everything about you and I always will!'
It was a very tender card and when he glanced up he was sure his gaze conveyed the exact same message of overwhelming love to Sam.
Propping the card up, he turned his attention back to the box, untied the red ribbon, lifted up the lid, and looked inside. Six heart shaped cupcakes covered with white icing and decorated with either pink sprinkles, red and white heart sprinkles, or purple sprinkles sat inside. The exact same assortment of sprinkles he'd seen show up in last week's grocery purchase.
Sam had made him cupcakes. His second favourite form of his favourite dessert—cupcakes after all were just mini cakes and cake was his favourite. But why had she apparently felt nervous about giving him homemade cupcakes?
It was a surprising and touching gift and made him feel a bit guilty for just buying her chocolates even if she really did like them. Not that he would have made her truffles—he won't have dared tried making truffles—but he could have made her something. What he didn't know, but surely he could have come up with an idea.
Looking up from the box of tempting desserts he smiled at her. "Thanks Sam, they're great."
"Not too cheesy?" Sam fiddled with the envelope of her card.
"No," he shook his head. "I got cake for Valentine's—what more could I ask for?"
That evoked a laugh and a glowing smile from her and he settled back to enjoy the sweet sight of his wife sitting across the table and a tasty treat for breakfast that she had made especially for him.
-FINISHED
