Sam walked to the window on her way back from the bathroom, pushing aside the curtains and peering out at the night-draped street. Two cats howled and screeched as they fought, their cries echoing down the street and reverberating through the entire neighborhood. As the cats continued to their battle, Sam's attention turned to the window itself. It was dirty, smeared, marked... in some places, it was downright filthy. Between off-world missions, the SGC and her recently reborn love-life, it was hard to find time for a chore she despised.
The windows on TV were always pristine, crystal clear, shining and sparkling, despite the fact no one ever came near them with so much as a rag. The TV industry apparently believed Americans employed a phalanx of unseen, unheard maids that swept in and worked feverishly while the cameras were all facing the other way. Windows on TV were always clean, she mused. Bad guys didn't win, problems were solved in either a half-hour or an hour (depending on the time slot) and love was always black-and-white (unless you got into the soap operas. All bets were off then...).
Here in the real world, television illusions always fell flat.
Here in the real world, it was sometimes easier to admit you were in love with two very different people rather than choose between them or live without either.
She turned from the window, dropping the curtain back into place and leaving the cats to their nocturnal fighting. She walked back to the bed and looked down at the two people laying there. Jack O'Neill was in front, hand resting on the pillow in front of his face, lips parted slightly and his face twitching every now and then with a dream. Behind him, Janet had her face against his shoulder, her hands resting lightly on his flank just under his arm, her fingers splayed over his tanned skin.
Sam slipped off the boxers she'd put on - Jack's - and stripped off the t-shirt - Janet's - and pulled back the covers. She climbed into bed and pressed herself against Janet's naked back, kissing the other woman's shoulder as she drifted back to sleep.
TV got it all wrong.
Bad guys sometimes won. Windows were dirty. Love was complicated.