Author: RowenaR

Rating: K

Category: Friendship

Disclaimer: Stargate belongs to Gekko and… all those other people making money with it. Anyway, I don't. Honestly. So – I don't own, you don't sue. Deal?

Summary: Off-duty Teambuilding 101 for the members of SG10... because what else can you do when General O'Neill grounds you and orders you to stop working? Sequel to 'Odd Man Out', original characters again.

A/N: By popular demand (I always wanted to write that :D), another (multichaptered) SG10-story. Just a little lighter, just a little more relaxed than the last. And really... they deserve some down-time after what I put them through in the last story ;)

Anyway, as always: Not a native speaker, so please excuse any weird grammatical constructions, run-ons and typos. Feedback will earn you a cookie, flames will roast my marshmellows.

Minor Characters II: A Little Change

"Somebody once asked could you spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change."

Smash Mouth, "All Star"

Moore

Whoa, that was one hell of a mission. Two days after the final clear up and I still haven't fully recovered from that whole body-changing thing. And O'Neill gave us the "When I say off-duty, I mean off-duty."-speech again and banned Laura, Dee and Reece from their precious labs and offices and me from the shooting range, the office – I'll just remind him of that next time he comes hunting me down for lack of paperwork – and even the work-out room. And he forced me to postpone the survival exercise. Mh. Okay, so the survival exercise was actually Laura's fault, but O'Neill surely would have forced me even without her pronouncing as all unfit for it.

So now I'm prowling the SGC, because I'm bored out of my wits. Okay, I could leave Cheyenne Mountain and head for my house in town, but honestly: I'd be as bored there as I am here, and I'd be bored there alone. I know for a fact that both Dee and Reece practically never leave the base on downtime – though I have no idea why – and actually use their quarters here as living quarters and Laura decided to pass the weekend on the base, probably out of the same reasons I decided to stay.

Okay, so… where are my people now? None of them are in their quarters and Reece isn't sneaking around the linguistics office or the library. Laura isn't trying to sneak into the biologics lab and Dee isn't conducting some private experiments on the surface, because it would still be a little difficult for him to get there. And neither of them is in the mess hall having breakfast. So where the hell…

"Morning, sir!"

"Morning, Tom!"

Startled I turn around to see the female members of my team running down the corridor and grinning cheerfully. Obviously they just came back from a morning run on the surface. Oh God, Laura obviously found another morning person. So now I'm the only one on the team who's not a morning person. Great. Just fucking great.

"Hey, was that what you meant with "he can be a bit slow in the morning"?", I hear Reece call out a few feet away from me, and Laura replies something I can't understand because it's drowned in both of their laughs. Just wait and see until we're on duty again and I give you my night alarm routine, girls.

Okay, so now I know where the girls went this morning, but where's my NCO? Maybe I should…

"MAJOR MOORE!" Whoa, how can O'Neill bellow that loud even before 9 a.m.? And what did I do wrong now? If this is about over-due paperwork… "What is your NCO doing in the demolitions lab in the middle of the night?" Ah, good to know that General O'Neill considers everything before 10 a.m. to be in the middle of the night as well. But… what does he have to do with the demolitions lab and why is he asking me of all people? Suppressing a sigh I turn around to face the wrath of Kh… General O'Neill.

"With all due respect… I have no idea, sir." I'm already waiting for the blow-up to descend on me, but obviously O'Neill just realized he sent us all off-duty and therefore excused me of my responsibilities for the whereabouts of my team. He sure looks a little grumpy now.

"Well… you might want to take a little detour and have a look at it yourself. If you – by any chance – discover your NCO working then you have my full permission to drag him out of the lab by his ears." Am I supposed to thank him now? Oh well… better not take any chances.

"Uh… thank you, sir. Will do, sir." He nods.

"Good for you. Maybe that will spare you and your team a lecture on the correct use of recovery time. Really, Moore, all of you are old enough to know that all work and no play makes my soldiers cranky. And I hate to have cranky soldiers." God, someone had to sleep on the couch tonight, sir?

"Of course, sir. If you'll excuse me now, sir… I've got an insolent NCO to explain to how he's supposed to use his spare time." At first O'Neill only nods, but then my words hit home and he realizes that I just told him what I think about ordering his people what to do when being off-duty.

"Very funny, Major. Some day I'm gonna make you commander of the SGC for one day. Let's see how you think about having to order people what do to on their spare time then." I really like the threats O'Neill likes to make. They're always so… creative. I can't suppress a smirk.

"I'm absolutely looking forward to that day, sir."

He raises an eyebrow, takes in the smirk and then says: "I seriously doubt that. Now, go chasing down your team and have a nice weekend. That's an order, Major."

I can't help but snap into a mock crisp salute and actually throw him a good, old-fashioned "Sir, yes, sir!"

O'Neill just rolls his eyes and walks away, grumbling something that sounds suspiciously like: "Is it just me or is the SGC turning into a kindergarten more and more each day?"

Oh well. Time to take care of my very own kindergarten. Step One: Find the two insolent girls and make them find a way to get rid of my boredom. Step Two: Drag my disobeying NCO out of his lab for some lunch. Step Three: Find a way for the paperwork to take care of itself.

Yeah.

Good plan.

Reece

"Gotcha!"

A ball of crumpled paper suddenly hits the open book in front of me and with a start I jerk up and nearly fall of my chair. Holy… oh, fuck, it's the Major. Who just caught me at what looks like disobeying a direct order from General O'Neill. Oops.

"Sir, I can explain it…" My voice falters when I see the big grin on his face. Oh. That's… something new. Usually I get frowns and growls and disapproving looks. He saunters into the office I share with a few other linguists, still with the grin on his face.

"Explain what? Why you're sitting in your office and translating something when you absolutely shouldn't? Or how you can translate something with that strange noise you call singing?" What? Oh… oh. He meant the singing along with one of my CDs. I'm just so used to doing that when I'm alone in the office that I wasn't even aware of it. "And by the way… you listening to the "Top Gun" soundtrack? Shouldn't it be "Jarhead" or stuff like that?" He turns around, leafing through one of the texts lying on one of the other desks. Should I tell him to keep his fingers off?

Nah. I've been stretching my limits enough with the "being a bit slow in the morning"-comment, I think. But I just couldn't help that one. Ever since I've been in the Major's body… nearly been him, he kinda stopped being so… scary. He's still intimidating and awe-inspiring and pretty difficult to read, but he stopped being downright scary. Doesn't make being around him any easier, though.

"Hey, Earth to Lieutenant Reece. You still with us?" Looking at me with a raised eyebrow now. Just without the usual condescending note. Huh?

"Yeah. Uh. Sorry. I've just… What exactly are you doing here, sir?" Wow, great! Best defense is a good offense. You finally mastered that one important piece of Marine training, Lieutenant!

"Actually, that's what I have to ask you, Lieutenant. Don't try to divert my attention. Now… is there any sensible explanation as to why you're working in your office when you were ordered not to?" Obviously he finally decided to stop prowling the office and has sat down at the desk opposite to mine, lounging around in the chair and somehow looking more like a lazy schoolboy than a hardened Special Forces officer.

"I… errr…" I could try to lie now. People do that frequently. I could try to tell him some stuff about how I just chose the office to read a book totally unrelated to work because it's practically deserted and not crowded like the floor with the personal quarters or something like that. But, as I said before, I'm maybe the world's worst liar. So better just stick with the truth. "Well, I figured since General O'Neill had to take off to some international conference on Earth defense and you would most probably be in Colorado Springs there'd be nobody to actually enforce that stupid order and I could get some work done. And I mean… this isn't even actual work. It's more of a… private project." Errr… I didn't just call a direct order from General O'Neill "stupid", right?

"A private project, huh?" Thank God, he ignored the "stupid order"-part. "And did you of all people just call a direct order of your commanding General stupid?" Or maybe not. Argh, Am in trouble now.

"I didn't… I didn't really mean it. I was just… you know… people always…" Argh. I'm a linguist. We're supposed to be eloquent. We're not supposed to be stammering idiots. And stop looking at me with that slightly raised eyebrow. It's so not helping.

"Geez, you're actually blushing. I never saw a jarhead blush before." And comments like that? Not helping either. "Holy shit, don't start hyperventilating, Kid. I was joking." I was not starting to hyperventilate. I was just… well… trying to compose myself. And I really still have no idea why it's Kid all of a sudden. Not that I really mind, because it's better than a lot of other stuff he could have come up with after this last mission – "Nuts", "Wacko" and "Lose Screw" come to my mind immediately – but… it's still boggling my mind a little.

"Well… to be honest… I've heard funnier jokes. Sir. And yes, a private project." Let's see if he's interested enough to ask.

"Uh-huh… are you just telling me that you actually do this… language stuff as a hobby?" Well, no, I'm only pretending to because my real hobby is base-jumping… not.

"Yes, sir. Exactly. And honestly… I would really like to continue the text stuff." Come on, give it up, go torture Laura or something like that.

"Sounds… fascinating. What exactly are you doing there?" I knew it. God, must the Major be bored if he actually pretends to be interested in the stuff I do.

"Translating Ancient poetry. Yes, sir, just for fun. Well… mostly. Permission to ask you something, sir?" He just shrugs and gestures me lazily to go on. "Why exactly are you here? If you're not here to give me a lecture about disobeying direct orders, I mean." A grin lights up the Major's face and he leans forward on the desk and starts to toy with one of the artifacts standing there. Hasn't this guy learnt anything from our last mission?

"Well, because I'm bored of course. I'm not allowed to have a go at the shooting range, I'm not allowed to use the work-out room, I'm not even allowed to finish my paperwork. And even if I did throw General O'Neill's orders to the wind I'd be bored." Well then, go and bother Laura or Dee. And anyway, since when is the team responsible for the entertainment of their CO?

"You have my utmost sympathy, sir. But, you know, I am not bored and I would really like to…" He suddenly throws up his hands in exasperation.

"Sheesh, Kid, I'm just trying to be nice here. You know, getting to know my resident Marine better and all that stuff. So you could be at least a bit more hospitable." Oh. I'm being inhospitable and he's just trying to be nice? Couldn't he have found another moment for that? I was really working on this one Ancient poem. Ever since I came here, the Ancients' language has absolutely fascinated me and I was actually delighted to hear that I was not only allowed, but expected to study it. And this was one of the few days I could have spent completely with my Ancient texts, but things of course never go the way we want them to.

"Alright, sir, then… let me tell you something about your resident Marine: She really likes her Ancient texts, and she likes to read them alone." Oh God. I've gone too far. I can already see the clouds forming over the Major's head. Why did I let myself be fooled by the strange bantering and… just argh. "Oh… sorry, sir. I was completely overstepping my boundaries and I really should have… I won't do that again. Honestly." Shut up, Reece, shut up. Stammering won't make it any better, dammit.

Or maybe it will. The Major's face lightens up again and he laughs a little. What the…? "You're starting to hyperventilate again, Lieutenant. I still just can't help being thrown off-course whenever you can't shut up yourself fast enough and actually show something resembling a backbone." Hey! It's not nice to say such things, you idiot! "I'll… just try to get used to seeing my resident Marine come out of her shell, that's all. And honestly… what's so exciting about Ancient?" Mh. All of a sudden he seems to be really interested. Maybe I should stop to forget that he as well must hold some academic degree, though I have no idea what that could be. They don't award degrees for cockiness and superior skills in the field of intimidating people at the Air Force Academy, do they?

"It's… intriguing, because it looks so familiar at first – some traces of Latin, some traces of Greek, some of Assyrian… – but then you have a closer look and it doesn't make any sense at all anymore. It's a kind of… brain jogging. Keeps my mind in motion. It's just… well… cool." He grins again. What?

"Show that kind of enthusiasm the next time we're on the shooting range and I'll guarantee you you'll push up your accuracy rating about 10." Ha, ha, really funny, sir. That would make a total of 80, which would make me the… fourth best shooter in the team. Just my luck that we're only four in total.

"If I'd had letters and commas and syntaxes to shoot with I certainly would, sir.", I say with an absolute straight face and he laughs again. Mh. I could really get used to seeing the Major laugh. It's certainly nicer than to see him frown.

"I don't doubt that. Uh… Kid?" I raise my eyebrows. "Don't worry about your marksmanship. I've helped worse shooters than you pass their tests with flying colors." That… does come as a surprise now. Is this the same guy who'd wanted to get rid of me as fast as he could just a few days ago? If I got that right… translated into normal English, he just told me that he thinks me worthy of his help, and that's really some kind of admission.

I feel myself blush, and I'm really grateful for the sparse light in here, because the Major is the last guy I want to blush in front of.

And thankfully, I'm suddenly saved from answering be someone else barging into my office. "Ah, there you are, Maureen! Oh… and if that isn't Major "I'm so bored, Laura, entertain me!" Moore." She comes into the room and gives him a slight shove that makes him nearly topple off his chair. He gives an indignant call but she just giggles and I can't help to join her.

"Just wait until our next field exercise. Let's see how much giggling I'll hear then from you." The Major shoots scowls at both of us, but Laura just sticks out her tongue at him. You know… technically I know that they've been friends for nearly all their lives but I'm still a little bewildered every time they actually show it through small gestures of affection or bantering all the same. It's just that every time they do this, it seems like the Major is letting a mask slip and a completely different guy is shining through that gap.

"Well, depends on how much giggling you want to hear.", Laura answers nonchalantly which earns her a rolling of his eyes from the Major. "Anyway…", she turns to me now, "You still on for tonight?" Tonight? Tonight, tonight, tonight… Oh. Oooh. Of course. The Girls' Night Out she talked me into.

"Well, you know, uh… I'm actually…" She crosses her arms in front of her chest and gives me the raised eyebrows and the foot tapping. Argh. She really expects me to come along with her. And what Captain Laura Greenspan wants, Captain Laura Greenspn gets, no matter what it takes her. I simply have no alternative to saying that of course I will come with her.

"Tonight? What are you on to, Laura?" Really, sir, as if that was any of your business. She throws him a look that says exactly that and he raises his hands to stop her from saying anything. "Hey, I'm just trying to take an interest in your life, Greenspan."

She snorts and answers: "Why does your "taking interest in my life" always sound like you're trying to interrogate me?"

A disbelieving expression appears on the Major's face as he turns towards me. "Lieutenant, you do agree that I was anything but interrogating her, don't you?" Hey, don't drag me into this!

"Well… uh… actually… uh… sir…" He throws his hands up in air and gets up, making a show of being exasperated. Seems having to wear his heart on his sleeve for the last mission made him a little more open. Or maybe I just haven't had the privilege of seeing a truly off-duty Major since I came here. He's nearly out of the door when he suddenly turns around.

"You know what… just for that last insult I should… I should invite you for tonight, thus spoiling your probably carefully planned "girls' night out". Coming to think of it…"

"Oh no, you don't.", Laura interrupts him, and in the first moment I'm shocked at the fierceness in her voice and the sheer audacity to interrupt the Major, but then I remember that they've probably done this several hundred times before. And yes, a feral grin spreads over the Major's face.

"Yes, I do. My house, tonight at eight, no buts about it. Laura, you get some DVD, Reece, you get something else than beer to drink, I'll get food... and we'll see about Dee. In fact… I think I'll better have a look at him and tell him." With that he turns around again and is ready to leave when he's suddenly hit by the same ball of crumbled paper he'd thrown into my book. He whips around again, and as always I'm amazed at the grace and speed with which he moves in every situation only nearly resembling combat.

"Who…?" In an amazing bout of reflex I manage to point at Laura the same moment she points at me. Hey! That was you who threw the damn thing. The Major looks from me to her and then settles his gaze at me again, only to grumble something resembling: "Damn jarheads that only hit you from behind." Grrr. GRRR.

He turns around to stalk out of the room, and out of some stupid impulse I crumble one of the sheets lying around and fling it at him, saying in a voice loud enough that he just has to hear it: "Damn zoomies who always shoot first and ask later.", but he obviously chose to ignore it as he doesn't come back for a wigging.

God… did I just really do that? Geez… Beside me bubbling laughter can suddenly be heard and I turn around to see Laura shaking with said laughter. Well, nice to know that at least one of us obviously profited from my slip of tongue.