She felt out of sync with the universe.

The cursor on her screen blinked obliviously in monotonous rhythm, cementing her thought. Even it followed a structure.

And then there was the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall behind her. Without looking she could imagine its circular dance, in step with some fathomless passage of time.

Dull thuds bounced through the door into her lab, Siler she assumed and his wrench. Thud, thud, thud….. Thud, thud, thud… even he followed some unwritten, unspoken, musical score.

Everything in the world, it seemed, knew its cues. Cursor, clock, Siler, the dripping tap, that doohickey on her table…

She knew if she listened hard enough, which she found herself trying, she'd be able to make out the internal workings of her wrist watch adding its sounds to the universal symphony.

Only she was the bum note; the one out of step. Staccato.

And suddenly she had the urge to shut it all out. Hold her hands over her ears and not hear. Why was she so aware of the pattern, the rhythm, everyone followed and expected her to follow?

For honour and respect and professionalism's sake she had to dance to the rhythm, stay in time and never falter.

But inside she felt she'd already missed the cue and couldn't see life's invisible conductor anymore. She was playing blind, desperately trying to follow a score unrehearsed.

She sighed, sat up straighter on her stool and scrubbed hands over her face trying to dislodge the fatigue in her eyes. Then ran her fingers through her hair, partly in frustration, partly in a half hearted attempt at taming her locks.

A mirthless laugh bubbled to the surface and quickly died on her lips. She wanted to laugh at herself. Major Samantha Carter, sitting in her lab mauling over the meaning of life stuff in terms of musical scores and a universal symphony.

Before she could truly think about the ridiculousness of her thoughts a knock at her lab door had her head turning its way. She knew before seeing him standing there, who it was. That rhythm uniquely his (the thought had her eyes rolling internally 'rhythm'?) never failed to have something indefinable pulse at the pit of her stomach.

"Sir!" she enthused, injecting a little more life and astonishment at his presence than was needed. Hopefully he'd missed the self-deprecating laughter she was indulging herself in just before his arrival.

He dropped his hand from where it had landed on the door and flashed her a curious glance. Apparently he had detected the slight over enthusiasm in her voice at his presence, but let it go.

Slipping his hands into his BDU pockets, no doubt to prevent his restless hands from roaming, he bounced on the balls of his feet expectantly. When he realised there was going to be no response he decided to give her a clue. Tapping the face of his watch he said, "Lunch time, Carter."

That was all the help he was willing to impart to her apparently after which he stood silently watching as her eyes flicked to the screen clock on her laptop and understanding dawned.

Lunch? Already?

The meaning of life stuff really wasn't her forte, better off leaving it to Daniel to decipher. She was spending way too much time on the subject.

The cursor carried on blinking still blissfully oblivious. She hadn't actually done any work that morning but now it would have to wait. There was no arguing with the colonel today as evidenced by the fact that he'd already left, fully expecting her to follow.

And so with a last glance at the screen, and yes at the cursor that never faltered, she slipped off the stool closing the laptop.

She had the sudden urge to be able to look through the lid of her laptop to see if the cursor had finally stopped its blinking. Carefully disregarding that urge she left on the trail of her CO.