Part 48
Early the next morning Jack was eating a slice of toast when Philip shuffled down towards the kitchen. There was no way Philip would be good at stealth attacks, Jack thought to himself as he listened to the hacking cough which grew louder as Philip grew nearer.
"Morning," the sleep-wrinkled man mumbled before shuffling into the kitchen for his cup of tea.
"Morning," Jack called out, amused that Phil hadn't even waited for his response. Soon the door swung open and Phil came out, a cup in one hand. He brushed his lank, black hair off his face as he sat down. Resting his face in his hands, Philip gave a loud growl then started coughing all over again.
"Yeh, the mornings are getting colder, aren't they?"
Without words, Philip nodded the pushed back from the table and went to the kitchen, for some of his medication. From the dining room Jack could hear the sounds of the pills being rattled out of the plastic containers in there. Soon Phil reemerged from the kitchen and sat opposite Jack again.
"You're going to work?" The young man asked, his head tilted in question.
"Yes," Jack said calmly.
"Why?" Philip frowned. Jack arched his brow and was about to say something when Phil said, "I mean, not why are you going, because we kinda thrashed that out last night, huh?" He looked directly into Jack's eyes and the older man nodded, relieved to see that Phil had no desires to rekindle the argument. "I mean, why did they reinstate you again? Did I forget or did you not get around to telling me that?" He lifted the cup between both hands and held it to his mouth.
Carefully choosing his words, especially since Phil's comment about watching Daniel's six last night, Jack said, "They had a problem they needed my help with."
"What about your problem? I thought they fired you because of it, too."
Jack noted the 'too' but he didn't pursue that conversation - that could wait. He placed his cup down then folded his arms in front of him and leaned onto the table. "I'm confined to a desk at the moment. They just need me there, on hand, for some .. advisory things."
The ebony brow arched but Philip didn't lift his face as he stared into his cup.
"But I'm going to be here - when you need me. I'm not leaving you alone, Philip," Jack told him as he reached out across the table.
The younger man lifted his eyes then his face and reached out to lace his fingers with Jack's. "I know you'd never abandon me."
"Good."
"What about after ... though?" Philip asked quietly as he brushed Jack's palm with his thumb lightly. "Will you be content with just a desk job?"
Crunch time, Jack told himself. Did he continue to lie to Philip or did he tell the truth?
Slipping his hand free, the colonel sat back then sighed. "I didn't want to tell you this .. but.."
Fear instantly filled Philip's eyes. "What?"
"They're .. re-testing me.. Given me the Western Blot Test.."
"Re-testing you?" The black brow furrowed. "Why?"
"My second ELISA test came back and the results were... funky.." Jack tried to appear casual by waving his hand around nonchalantly.
"Funky?" Philip's voice was breathless. "How? And why did they give you the second ELISA already? You're meant to wait three months from the first test."
"I don't know how.. Oh, how were they funky? Um," He needed to think fast, but couldn't. Then he struck on an idea. "You remember how low my results were?"
"Yeah, they were unbelievably low.."
Jack held his hands out. "There you go then. That's why. Janet just thought that they couldn't be right, and so is .. retesting me..."
"So she gave you the second ELISA?"
"No, she's brought in the big guns."
"The Blot Test?"
"Yeah." Jack nodded.
Philip reached across the table and gripped Jack's hand in a vice-like clasp as he said, in a voice rising in excitement, "And you didn't think this was something I wanted to hear?"
"Now, don't go getting all excited! We don't know the results yet!"
"This is amazing!" Phil's face lit brightly with his smile. "Jack this.. this is everything I've been praying for! God! How could this have happened?"
With a heavy shrug Jack said, "Janet partly blames herself. Knowing .. your state, she thinks she just accepted the results without question..." He knew, should Philip ever ask her, that the Doctor would back him one-hundred percent, after all, it was her that 'invented' the explanation.
Eagerly Phil tried to fill in the gaps, "But when your second test came back .. weird..?"
"Funky.."
"She thought that maybe things weren't right?" The young man was almost breathless with hope now. His eyes darted around as he said, more out loud to himself than to Jack, "Probably because some of the proteins found in HIV are similar to proteins found in other infectious agents."
He focused on Jack, who just shrugged.
Concentrating on recalling some of the intensive research he’d done on this subject over the past year, Phil continued to mutter, "of course! But just because something in the serum they used to test you bonded to a protein from HIV… that doesn’t necessarily mean that HIV was present!" He broke off and gazed back at his lover, tears filling his eyes now. "Jack, you've no idea... This .. this is impossible! It's fantastic! It's.. it's.."
"Not confirmed .. yet!" Jack said, deflating his lover's growing bubble of excitement. He really wanted the results himself before he would allow either of them to get excited by this. Still, he was impressed by Phil's knowledge on the subject, and the fact that he could still recall the research. Sitting forward, he held his hands open as he told the wide-eyed man opposite him, "All I'm saying that she's asked me to take precautions until my results are back."
"Oh god! Jack!" Phil reached out and clutched Jack's hands again. "You've no idea how many times I've fantasized about this very thing! I've even prayed - and you know I don't believe in God.."
"Sometimes miracles can happen," Jack said, allowing himself to feed Phil's excitement for a moment then he held up a finger and said, "But there's no reason to celebrate until I'm sure - okay?"
"No," Phil said, assuredly. "This is real! This is Karma.."
"This is a conversation we should not be having, not yet!"
"No, I'm sure you're okay," Philip announced. "Those results you gave me when you first told me, they were unbelievably low! There's no way you could have gotten that low so quickly!"
"Philip," Jack said, catching the beaming face in his hand. "Slow down! This is not a given yet. I don't want you getting all worked up!"
"You don't believe in miracles, do you?" the young man asked suddenly. "Jack, sometimes miracles happen - to good people! This is your miracle - for all the good you've done in this world."
If Jack were a spiritual person he might just buy all that but he couldn't. "You're a good person, Philip. If miracles happen to the good, you should be cured by now!"
The young face broke out into a gentle smile as the black pits misted over. "Hun, you're the one I wanted cured. I never asked for it myself.. just for you."
Jack choked as his throat constricted. Standing and leaning across the table he cupped the happy face with one hand and then swiped his thumb across the clean, dry lips. Leaning closer, he placed a chaste but tender kiss onto Phil's mouth.
"You should have asked for your own miracle, my six isn't worth saving," Jack told him in a low voice.
"Says you."
Jack broke out in a smile. "Says me." He moved around the table now and, as Philip rose to his feet, Jack engulfed him in his arms. They exchanged smiles as they both moved in for another tender, but chaste, kiss.
As Philip pulled back he said, breathlessly, "This takes me back.."
"What does?"
"This kissing. Takes me back to how we used to do it.."
Jack blinked then gave a slight nod as he said, "Yeah. Sure does." As he closed his lips over Phil’s he allowed the floodgates of his mind to open and allowed his thoughts and fears on this subject to flow forth. Up until now he’d been telling himself that Philip shouldn't know this - but why? Was it purely because he feelt guilty? Guilty for not dying? Guilty for not dying – while Philip had to? Or was it that he was scared? Scared of being inept at explaining the miracle to his lover? Either way, Philip's reaction here proved to him that he had made the wrong call in trying to keep this from him. Philip didn't seem to feel slighted that he was still dying while Jack wasn't, and he was intelligent enough to know enough facts about the disease that science - not science fiction - could be the reason for the, apparent, miracle recovery.
Jack sighed heavily, feeling the weight of burden lift from his shoulders as he hugged Philip against his chest even closer. Philip arched back and gazed up into Jack's eyes. His happy smile stabbed Jack's heart and brought tears to the light brown eyes. Brushing his hand gently under Jack's lower lashes Philip asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jack shrugged as he shook his head.
“Hun?” Philip pressed on gently.
“It’s just…. I want a miracle for you now.”
Philip’s smile broadened. “This *is* my miracle.”
Jack screwed his face up as he said, “It’s not enough..”
Shaking his head, Philip assured him, “It’s more than enough. I haven’t given you this death sentence. You have no idea how much that makes me want to celebrate..”
Jack clenched his eyes shut tight and pulled Philip to his chest, burying his face in the curve of the neck. “Love you,” he whispered.
Philip comforted his distressed lover with gentle strokes across his back. “I love you too, Jack.”
<End of part 48>
Next lot out other night... soon..
Stories on this page are the property of Nessessitee and Slida. Please do not copy these without the written permission of the Author. All Rights are acknowledged for MGM, Gekko and Stargate Productions as to the Copyrights of the characters within this story and no infringement on the copyrights are intended. For the Bombshells Series the character of Philip Simmons is entirely the creation and intellectual property of Nessessitee and Slida.
While the performances given by RDA and MS help to fuel the author's desire to write for their characters in a niche that she feels is present on the actual show, the portrayal of their characters in loving relationships in no way reflects the Author's opinion of the men's private life, nor should it be construed in that manner.