Denial

It was just a river in Egypt…right?

Disclaimer: I haven't owned it in the past, I don't own it now, and it's doubtful that I will own it in the future…but a girl can dream, right?

Humor/Drama

The Morning After

Jack O'Neill awoke, the sun's rays aggravating his already pounding headache. "Ugh!" He said, rolling off of his stomach and onto his back. He brought his palms to his eyes, trying to shield them from the sun's light, but as he did so, he saw the gold wedding band that adorned his left hand. He stared at it, surprised.

He must have placed his old wedding ring on his finger in a moment of drunken sentimentality he reasoned with himself, even though he was certain that he was lying. However, the alternative, that he had up and married someone while he was drunk, seemed too overwhelmingly stupid to deal with.

In any case, he decided that it didn't belong there, so he took the ring off and placed it on his nightstand. He'd deal with it after he cleared his head a little.

He walked into the kitchen to find Teal'c brewing a pot of strong coffee. Almost instantly, he was handed a cup of the steaming liquid. "Thanks, T."

The Jaffa nodded before squinting at his own cup of coffee. "I do not understand why humans of the Tau'ri would subject themselves to this kind of torture voluntarily."

"You know, T…at this point, I'd have to agree with you, but…by the time the hangover's gone, I'll think you're crazy."

Teal'c just shook his head. Though he was now freed from his dependence on symbiotes, and therefore was much more like his human friends, he still didn't understand much about Earth culture. He had pretty much given up on ever understanding it.

"Teal'c…do you remember anything that happened last night?" He asked, casually.

"I do not."

"Yeah…me either." He said, a nagging sense of wrong-doing on his conscience.

--

The coldness of the porcelain on her cheek was the first sensation she awoke to. The second was the nausea that flooded over her as she opened her eyes. Sam grabbed the sides of the toilet bowl and pulled herself up in time to release the contents of her stomach. As she raised her head, she noticed the sparkle from the diamond ring and wedding band that she wore on her left ring finger. , she thought, her eyes widening.

She wiped her mouth, and stood up. As she did so, she realized more fully that all she wore was a man's white, collared, button-down shirt that came midway down her thighs. Double , she thought to herself.

She rinsed out her mouth and set out into the hallway in search of her clothes. She didn't have to go far before finding her shoes. A few steps more into the hallway revealed a slip. Another few steps, her dress, and so on.

The thing that horrified her the most, however, was the fact that each stitch of clothing was accompanied by its male counterpart…and the trail ended at the end of the hallway between two open doors. The one on the right side of the hallway was her commanding officer's room, and the one across from it was the guest room. She took a deep breath. This was going to get sticky.

Embarrassed, she quickly gathered up her clothes and hurried to the guest room, hoping that it was empty…or that it would hold the key to the wedding and engagement rings on her left ring finger. Somehow, she realized that either way she would be disappointed. After all, she knew that she had drunkenly married one of her team mates…of that she was relatively certain. Unless there was someone that she barely knew lying in the guest room. Almost instantly, she dismissed that notion. Hopefully, that was not the case.

Then again, hopefully that was the case.

She took a deep breath and hurried into the guest room. A quick sweep of the room indicated that there wasn't anyone in there.

That meant she had spent the night in the other room…didn't it? And from the way the clothes were strewn around, she could only imagine how the night had gone after the…ceremony.

Trying desperately to push the nagging suspicion from her mind, she shed the shirt and donned the articles of clothing she'd collected.

There was a groan and she turned, mortified to find a hung-over Daniel lying on the floor behind the bed. She couldn't see much of him, but what she could see terrified her. He was not wearing a shirt.

She'd married Daniel. Almost immediately, she stuffed the rings into the first place she could think to place them: in her bra.

As much as she loved Daniel, it was in NO way a romantic feeling. She shuddered. She must have been VERY drunk to become Samantha Jackson. And to…she gulped, consummate that relationship.

Her head swam with dizziness and she left in search of coffee to clear her head.

--

"Carter."

Sam smiled; it looked more than a little forced. "Sir."

"Major Carter, how do you fare?" Teal'c asked, reaching for another of the coffee mugs he had gotten out for the team. He poured some of the strong coffee into it for her.

"I think I'd be better if I could at least remember what happened last night." She admitted.

Jack's heart started pounding as he remembered the ring on his nightstand. She wasn't wearing a ring, but that didn't mean that she hadn't done what he had done…

"Something happen last night?" Jack asked as casually as he had asked Teal'c about what had happened the previous night.

"Oh…no…I…I always feel that way when I have a hangover." She said, trying to sound natural as she drank her coffee. Her eyes darted to Jack's face when she saw what she thought was a flicker of emotion. Relief? She asked herself. Suddenly, she was terrified. What if she had totally just come to the wrong conclusion? She paled at the thought.

"Carter, you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said, before ducking into another drink from her cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, part of him was fighting back sweet relief and bitter disappointment from showing on his face.

"Where's Daniel?" He asked, trying to hide his reaction.

She tensed at the name of her new 'husband.' "I…I'm not…I mean…"

"Hey guys…" The groggy archaeologist greeted.

"Coffee?" Sam asked, reaching for the coffee pot and the last empty mug and trying to distract everyone from her nervous agitation.

"Yeah…thanks." He accepted the cup after giving her a small smile; it seemed innocent in nature, but after what had probably happened after the drunken wedding, she was sure that his intentions were MUCH less than innocent. Or…he didn't remember any more than she did. She REALLY hoped it was the latter.

"So…do YOU know what happened last night?" Jack asked. He, alongside Teal'c and Sam, looked at Daniel, eyes full of curiosity.

"Why're you looking at me?" He asked, looking over the rim of his mug at them.

"Because you're the only one who hasn't answered the question yet."

"Well then, you're wasting your breath. I don't know anymore than the rest of you seem to know."

All three of the expectant team members sighed.

"So…nobody took pictures?" She asked, almost wanting to find proof that she had married Daniel. She was fairly certain that she couldn't legally marry Teal'c, and while no civilian court of law would take issue with her marrying Jack, the military courts would view it differently.

"Not that I know of." Jack said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"For what reason do you have such an urgency to discover what transpired at last night's festivities, O'Neill?"

"Hey! I didn't ask the question." He defended.

"I only asked the question because you seemed curious about what happened last night." She retorted.

Teal'c and Daniel looked at one another. "So…breakfast?"

"I will assist you, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, rising in conjunction with Daniel.

They turned their backs on the couple, and Sam looked at the dark liquid in her mug. Just because she had done something stupid…she didn't have a valid excuse for the way she had treated Jack.

"Look, sir…I'm sorry. I just…I like to be in control. But…if I can't remember what happened last night, I can't control my reaction when someone tells me what I did."

He nodded, now staring at his own cup of coffee. "And even if my head is about to explode, I shouldn't bark at you for your natural curiosity."

"So…all's forgiven?" He asked, looking up from his coffee.

She couldn't help but smile. "Yeah."

"Good."