Title: Girl Talk
Fandom: SG-1
Genre: Gen
Characters: Jordan O'Neill, Katherine Jackson
Summary: Mirror-verse. Interlude between chapters 4 and 5 of Mirror. Jordan and Katherine spend some down time talking like teenage girls do.
Author's Note: Jordan is about 16 and Katherine is around 15.
"Hey, you want to hit the commissary? I want some free food." Jordan's voice startled Katherine, and she almost dropped the tablet she was holding.
"Oh! Uh, Hi, Jordan. When did you get here?" She placed the tablet safely on the counter before turning to smile at her friend.
"About twenty minutes ago. I was bored at home, so I came here to annoy Dad, only to be bored here. He's in meetings all day." She sighed melodramatically. "Food?"
"Sure." Katherine made sure she saved everything she'd been typing on her laptop and closed it. "I could use a sandwich. I haven't had anything to eat since," she looked at her watch, "wow. No wonder I'm hungry."
"Loser." Jordan snorted. "Let's go."
As the two of them were heading into the commissary, a group of people were heading out when suddenly one of them poked Jordan in the shoulder. "Beck!" Jordan stopped walking and punched him in the arm. "I didn't know your team was back already. I thought you were off-world."
"Got back this morning. I heard you were on base."
"Yeah. I'm working on what will probably be classified beyond me by tomorrow. Oh yeah. Katherine." Jordan pulled Katherine forward. "You haven't met Beck yet."
"Hi. I'm Katherine Jackson." Katherine extended her hand. The young man really was pretty cute. He was probably around 18 or 19. Quite young to be assigned to the SGC. Katherine figured he must have quite the service record under his belt. They had other airmen his age, but it was still not something taken lightly.
"I'm Tommy."
"Tommy?" Katherine was confused. Hadn't Jordan just called him.---.
"Back." He dragged his pointer figure across the name tag on his uniform. Katherine understood. She mentally snorted. She was surprised Jordan hadn't been born with a crewcut and a commission.
"Ah. Nice to meet you."
"Beck's a total loser. But, sometimes I hang out with him anyway." Jordan insinuated herself back into the conversation with typical Jordan-esque manner. Beck snorted.
"Hey. You can't talk about me like that anymore, O'Neill. I'm a Lieutenant now."
"First of all, I can talk about you any way I want. Second of all, who says you're a Lieutenant?"
Tommy leaned forward, showing her the rank insignia on his uniform.
"The United States Air Force, babycakes." He smirked. Jordan pushed him backwards.
"You know, you can get in a lot of trouble for impersonating an officer, Beck. Even if it is only a Second Lieutenant." She pretended to inspect the lapels carefully. Beck snorted and aimed a half-hearted kick at her shins, which she easily dodged.
"Uh-huh. Well, you just watch it, O'Neill or else."
"Or else what, Lieutenant?" Jordan was mocking. Katherine was just mesmerised by what she was seeing. It was slowly adding up. Jordan was flirting with this kid, and he was flirting back. She'd never seen Jordan flirt before, and wondered if there was some kind of class that taught that kind of confidence in the face of the opposite sex. If there was, she needed to enrol pronto.
"You don't want to know." He grinned and Jordan snorted.
"Hey! Beck! Captain Morse says you better move it!" All three looked to the end of the hall where Lt. Caldwell was standing waving at his comrade. "Quit courting reassignment to Antarctica and get down here!" Tommy went red. Jordan looked unabashed.
"Shut up, Caldwell, before I tell your wife that your girlfriend is waiting for you at the Colorado Love Motel!"
"I don't have a girlfriend, Jordan."
"She doesn't know that." Jordan waved her cell menacingly. Caldwell crossed his beef arms looking unimpressed. Katherine snickered. Jordan really was a slight pain in the ass.
"I better go, O'Neill. I mean, I appreciate the offer and all, but Caldwell's wife terrifies me. She could take me."
"I wouldn't brag about that, Beck. Get out of here. Go see your precious Captain. Tell him I said hey."
"Will do." Beck tipped a casual salute and jogged down the hall. He and Caldwell disappeared around the corner exchanging jibes and manly gestures of affection.
"So?" Katherine gave Jordan approximately ten seconds before tugging on her arm.
"So what?" Jordan went to open the door to the commissary, but froze at Katherine's next question.
"So how long have you liked Tommy?" Jordan turned and raised her eyebrows in a gestures decidedly similar to her father.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Kath. I think you've been staring at glyphs too long."
"You were totally flirting."
"Was not."
"Jordan." Katherine gave her a completely unconvinced look. Katherine grabbed her arm and pulled her down the corridor. They stopped a few feet down and Jordan dropped her voice to a whisper.
"You can't tell anyone. If my Dad ever finds out, Antarctica would be an improvement on where he'll send him."
"Who am I going to tell? I spend my whole day surrounded by texts and my father and neither one is listening to anything I say." Katherine shrugged, a little confused by Jordan's sudden ferocity.
"We're dating." Jordan shrugged as if she were being nonchalant, but Katherine could tell that she was worried about the reaction.
"You and---" Katherine gestured in the direction Beck had vanished.
"Yes. We have been for about… four months now."
"He's cute." Katherine grinned.
"Yes. He is."
"He's what? 18?"
"19. Last month. I can't believe that bastard didn't tell me that he made Lieutenant." Jordan leaned against the wall, seemingly relieved at Katherine's apparent lack of disapproval.
"And your dad doesn't know?"
"Great un-snakey gods, no." Jordan rolled her eyes. "He'd gate him to a lava planet and then have Walter cover it up."
"Ha!"
"See, Dad knows I'm dating, hypothetically. We talked about it when I went to college. He flipped a shit, as expected. It's amazing." Jordan shook her head "He raised me around boys my whole life, but put me around one that doesn't know to be instantly terrified of him and he can't deal."
"Yeah, but Tommy would be---"
"We've been over this. Tommy would be dead. My dad would figure it was worth the inevitable court martial."
"Ah. Right. No telling Jack. Got it." Katherine made a note on an invisible note pad and Jordan threw an arm around her shoulder.
"Good deal. Now, how about that sandwich."
"Sounds good. Hey, Jordan?"
"Yeah?" Jordan half-turned
"He a good kisser?" Katherine smiled. Jordan's grin widened.
"Ohh yeah. That boy has got skills that no off-world invasion will ever be able to use. Let's discuss it over lunch."
"Right." The two girls linked arms and walked, giggling, into the commissary. It was nice to pretend, despite their surroundings and everything they'd both been through, that everything was normal. Even if it only lasted the length of a tuna fish sandwich.
