Stuffed with Lemons by Mandarax
Rated T (for one little word, really).
Summary – Set after 48 Hours, Teal'c's back and he's okay, so why is Sam so down? Spoilers for 48 Hours (obviously) and Window of Oppurtinity.
JS UST
Author's note – I put season5 in the background while cleaning my room yesterday. And then 48 Hours was on and a younger and thinner version of McKay appeared and I remembered just how annoying he was back then (as opposed to the slightly less annoying version of him on SGA) that I had to write something.
She sat in her lab, staring absently into the dark liquid in a coffee cup she hadn't finished drinking hours earlier. Teal'c was back and he was fine, and he had no memory of being dissolved into teeny tiny little molecules for 48 hours. Daniel was back from Russia and had left the explanation of what happened to the DHD to Major Davis and his friends. Colonel O'Neill was back wandering the halls of the SGC, all effects of his rough landing prior to Teal'c's disappearance in the Stargate gone.
Everyone was fine. Everything was good. Simmons was taken away, Maybourne disappeared into the shadows after helping them once again, the Russians went home and took McKay with them.
It was interesting, having someone to share a scientific conversation with. It was even entertaining at times. To bounce ideas off someone who understood the meaning of what she was saying. Someone she didn't have to dumb it down for. But the ego on that man… That he dared assume he knows the gate better than she does. That her field work had somehow reduced her understanding of the gate system and its mechanics... That man... He just pissed her off.
"CARTER!"
She looked at the door quickly to find her CO leaning against the frame, and it seemed he'd been there for a while. "Hi, sir."
He strolled in, "You okay?"
"Fine, sir," she smiled weakly at him.
"Right," he sat down on the chair she vacated. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing, really, I'm okay sir."
"Carter."
"It's just that… It's silly, sir," she shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against her desk next to him.
"All the more interesting," his eyes flashed and he gave her a tight smile.
She ran a hand through her hair. "It's McKay."
"That slob? What's he done that got your tail so twisted?"
She sighed. She seriously didn't want to tell him. She didn't want her CO to know that that annoying little creep got to her.
"Carter… When you're not in focus, none of us know what to do, so you need to tell me what's going on so I can fix it, so you can go back to being yourself."
Somehow he always knew what to say to her.
"He thinks he's better than me," she muttered. "He…" She groaned, "He called me a dumb blonde."
O'Neill jumped from his seat. "That idiot! Next time I see that son of a bitch, I'll stuff him with lemons."
She chuckled at his response.
He sat back down, and after a moment which he used to gather himself, his gaze met hers. "Sam, you're the smartest person I know. And you're the most beautiful woman I know. McGeek doesn't know what he's talking about. You shouldn't let him get under your skin."
Sam hadn't expected such an honest response from him. She could feel the blush coloring her cheeks red, "Thank you."
The smile he gave her reminded her of the one he'd given her that day after the time loop ended, when they sat in the commissary for breakfast and Daniel asked him if he'd done anything crazy. There was something sweet, something real in his smile, something private and personal in his words. Like the guy who asked her if he could help the day before, and then asked her if she wanted a cup of coffee. There was something very Jack O'Neill about it. Something that wasn't Colonel O'Neill at all.
"I, uh, I should go," he rose from his chair.
She watched him walk away, and anything remotely upsetting she'd felt earlier because of McKay was gone, replaced by her friend's sweet words.
As he reached the door of her lab, she stopped him. "Sir?"
He turned around, "Yeah?"
"Thank you." And they both knew she wasn't just thanking him for his kind words, but also for what they meant.
"Anytime, Carter," he answered, his eyes never leaving hers. Then, with a quick shrug he turned and left her lab.
From that day on, Sam was impervious to anything Rodney McKay had to say to her. And if he did manage to get to her, she imagined her CO obviously enjoying himself while stuffing the little man with lemons.