Title: Red Shoes and Hurricanes

Summary: Sam discovers that sometimes doing one's duty completely sucks. A post Seth SG-1 adventure full of angst, whump and teammy goodness.

Category: General team fic, with focus on Sam

Rating: Mostly K+, but later chapters might be T because of some whumping scenes. I'll warn you before hand.

Set in early Season 3, which means (to me), no shippiness. Although we *may* see some awfully sweet hurt/comfort in later chapters.

Related Episode (Tag): This story takes place a week or so after the events in episode 302 - Seth.

Disclaimer: The characters from Stargate Sg-1 are not mine. I am just really glad they're available for my imagination to play with. (Sorry Jack. I ended that sentence with a preposition.)

Chapter 1

Colonel Jack O'Neill was not a happy camper.

He angrily shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked briskly down the SGC hallway, wishing there was a Goa'uld or some other alien bad guy nearby that he could beat the crap out of. The two hour meeting he had been forced to sit through had been bad enough, but the fact that they didn't actually listen to a damn thing he had said made his skin crawl. SG-1 was his team. He should have been able to stop this. Jack knew this was a very, very bad idea, but he had his orders. Rubbing his temples in an attempt to dissipate the rapidly growing headache, Jack turned and headed towards the elevators.

Jack exited on Level 19 and slowed his pace as he neared what used to be an empty lab. Sometime in the last two weeks however, it had gained an occupant. Under normal circumstances, Jack would have passed right by, barely noticing the change and certainly not bothering to stop and say hi. It wasn't like there was much of a reason for Colonel Jack O'Neill to check-in on one of the SGC's scientists. Now his scientists however, often needed frequent check-ins. His scientists needed reminders to eat and sleep. Jack was pretty certain both Carter and Daniel did indeed eat on a quasi-regular basis (they never would have cleared medical for off world missions if they were anemic or something), but Daniel once admitted that he had worked 72 hours straight, sleeping only the occasional cat nap and consuming only granola bars for fuel. Those were his words. 'Fuel'. Jack made a note to invite those two - and Teal'c - to his place for a team BBQ soon.

The now not-so-empty lab seemed to pull his attention away from his destination at the end of the hall. Nothing wrong with a little pit stop, right?

"Knock, knock." Jack rapped his knuckled on the open doorway and poked his head inside, surprised to see the usually tidy lab piled high with tagged artifacts and binders. Standing to one side holding an unfortunately familiar-looking black sphere was a shorter than average man in a white lab coat.

Jack felt his heart race, as military training took over and he stepped towards the scientist. "Hey! Put that down! " The scientist immediately turned towards the voice and, startled, dropped the round object.

Not what I meant!

Jack reacted instantly, throwing himself to the ground and covering his ears. A moment passed, then two. He cautiously removed his hands and opened his eyes. No explosion.

"Oh! Colonel O'Neill! You scared me!" Jack looked at the still-standing scientist in confusion.

"I scared you?" Jack stood up and took a quick breath, trying to dispel the excess adrenaline still shooting through his blood stream. It took him a moment, but the scientist realized what this must have looked like and had the good graces to look guilty.

"Er...sorry about that, Colonel O'Neill," the scientist said, bending down to pick up the round object. He waved it casually in the air a few times. "This Goa'uld shock grenade isn't active you see."

"Of course it isn't," Jack declared, shaking his hands slightly as he exhaled. On the plus side, the adrenaline surge had released a cocktail of all-natural endorphins that were still coursing through his body. For the moment, his headache had completely vanished. Jack studied the scientist before him and mentally snapped his fingers in memory.

"Dr. Lee," Jack said in only a slightly irreverent tone, "playing with dangerous doo-dads I see."

"Yes," Dr. Lee said nodding, picking the object back up. "Well, no..." he paused, placing the potentially hazardous 8-ball-looking device on the table in front of him. "This isn't truly dangerous. Now I mean." He paused again and looked at O'Neill. "Captain Carter had already deactivated the stunning mechanism."

"Of course she did," Jack replied. It was after all, Carter that had hired Dr. Bill Lee away from MIT earlier in the year. She wouldn't have given the newbie scientist anything truly dangerous. Right?

"So..." Jack once again shoving his hands into his pockets in an attempt to be casual. "How's things?" Dr. Lee looked at him in confusion. Colonel O'Neill hadn't said more than three words ('Welcome to the SGC') to him since he arrived. Truth be told, he was a bit surprised the man had remembered his name. It was very strange to have him here in his lab.

"Everything is fine, Colonel," Bill said finally. "I'm just doing one last technical review of these artifacts before they're sent to Area 51 for further analysis. " There was silence as neither man knew what to say next.

"Well," Jack said finally, "I'll leave you to it." Feeling rather foolish for stopping in the first place, Jack gave the scientist one last nod and exited out of the lab.

"That man is awfully strange," Bill muttered to himself as he picked up a shiny black (alien!) rock and placed it into a padded case. Idly, he wondered what that one did.

Jack only needed to walk a few more feet before he found himself at his destination. In an unusual fit of cowardice, Jack rather hoped the occupant of said lab wasn't there.

Naturally, she was.

Sam sat in the corner of her office, madly typing away on her computer, oblivious to the new comer leaning against her doorway. Jack took a moment to study her profile while she worked. Off world, Carter was hyper vigilant and an excellent soldier. One of only a handful of individuals he truly trusted to have his back. On world however, Sam tended to lose herself in mathematical equations and gate-related diagnostics and improvements. As one of the foremost experts on Gate technology, Sam tended to carry the weight of all technological-related decisions on her shoulders. And although Jack could definitely relate to the feeling that his decisions sometimes carried considerable weight and consequence, his extra decade and a half of service made it...easier. No. Easier wasn't the right word, it was never easy. Although Jack would never admit it aloud, he knew he was a pretty competent strategist. He was no Sun Tzu, but he knew he was quite good at making decisions and living with the consequences. He might not always make the right call, but the decisions made were the right ones based on the information available at the time. He almost never second guessed himself. Unlike Carter that is. She seemed to never be truly satisfied with her decisions and craved assurances that her choice was the right one. Jack needed to work with her on that if she ever wanted to lead her own team one day.

Recognizing that he just needed to rip the band-aid off, Jack stepped into the room and cleared his throat. "Hey, Carter."

Sam's hands immediately stilled, as she looked up from her computer screen and gave her commanding officer a smile.

"Sir," Sam said, immediately standing up. "What brings you down to my neck of the woods?" Jack pulled up a stool and sat down, motioning for Sam to do the same.

"Just thought I'd see what you're up to," Jack answered casually. Sam gave him a quizzical look, but before she could say anything, he continued. "How was your visit with your brother?" Sam gave a genuine smile.

"It was good. Really good," she replied honestly. "I admit there was some initial nervousness, but we worked through it. Dad headed back to the Tok'ra last night. He said it would be better to arrive during the day. I guess there's a bit of a time difference between the worlds." Sam gave Jack a somewhat cheeky smile and he returned it with warmth, both remembering a mission where SG-1 had arrived after sunset. It hadn't been dark when the MALP returned images of a temperate planet in daylight. However, by the time they arrived 45 minutes later (Daniel needing extra time to find a particular book), it was pitch black. And raining. Not their finest moment.

"Ah yes," Jack said remembering his surprise at arriving in near complete darkness. Okay, maybe surprise wasn't the right word. At the time, he'd been more than a little annoyed at Daniel. His initial instinct was just to dial home and try again 'tomorrow' (planet time), but he figured his team could use the practice of setting up tents with limited visibility anyhow, so he ordered them to stay. Thankfully, the sun rose just 6 hours later and everything had quickly dried out.

"Way nicer to arrive during day light hours," Jack said finally. "Any idea where Dad was going?" Jack was fishing for information, but so what? He liked fishing!

"Sorry, Sir," Sam said with a shrug. "Dad wouldn't say."

Sam's forehead crinkled in mild concern as she waited for Colonel O'Neill to tell her why he was there. She looked at her watch, wondering if more time had passed than she had thought. Nope. Still morning. "It's too early for you to be bothering me about lunch, Sir."

"Bothering?" Jack teased, raising an eyebrow.

"What I meant, was..."

"Relax Captain," Jack said lightly. "I'm not here to remind you to eat your vegetables. I have something else to discuss with you." Jack began to tap his fingers idly against his pant leg. The action did not go unnoticed.

"Sir," Sam asked, as her eyes narrowed, "is everything all right?"

"Oddly enough Carter," Jack said with a sigh, "no." He abruptly stood up and started walking around the lab.

"You see..." Jack began, stopping to pick up a pencil. "I've been in a meeting..."

Sam surprised herself by interrupting the Colonel. "I know how much you like those, Sir."

"Yes," Jack drawled out, "I've always been so patient with long meetings." He stopped and put the pencil back down.

"The thing is..." Jack continued, as he clapped his hands together and spun back around to face Sam. "This meeting was about you."

"About me, Sir?" After a little over 2 years on Colonel O'Neill's team, Sam was confident in her competence as both a soldier and a scientist. She knew she was good at her job. Not only had she and SG-1 literally saved the world the year before, but they had recently helped bring about the downfall of Hathor just the previous month. And then there was Seth... Sam shuddered minutely as she thought about that mission. Sam still didn't know if it was her or the hand device that had killed him. She was trying her best to put the whole thing behind her. She hoped if this concerned anything she had done wrong, it wasn't something that would result in her being removed from SG-1.

Jack could read the myriad of emotions on Captain Carter's face and knew he needed to get this over with fast before she spiraled into self-doubt. For such a brilliant woman, Carter had self esteem issues. For the life of him, Jack could not understand why, but as her CO, it was his job to help build that confidence.

"You've done nothing wrong, Sam," Jack said, taking a step towards her and pulling up a stool. "Actually, it's because you're so damn good, that we're in this predicament." With a sigh, he sat down facing her. His nervous energy seemed to leave him all at once as he solemnly met Sam's questioning gaze.

Off comes the band-aid.

"Seth." The lone word struck Sam like a blow to her solar plexus.

"Oh." Why did it have to be that? The one area Sam really didn't want to revisit. Jack could see shoulders slump in acceptance. "They want me to use it again, don't they?"

"Yeah." They sat in silence for several long moments.

"I really don't want to," Sam whispered, looking down at her fingertips.

"I know." More silence. Jack knew using the Goa'uld hand device on Seth the week before had been hard on Sam. His asinine 'Hail Dorothy' comment hadn't helped matters either. He knew it frightened her. Hell, it frightened him. But he also, grudgingly, recognized that having Sam practice on the damn thing might come in handy one day.

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

Sam squared her shoulders and sat up a little straighter. It was her duty after all. "Okay," she agreed. Sam couldn't help but notice the concern on her CO's face. He obviously didn't like the idea any more than she did.

"It will be okay, Sir." Sam wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more, the Colonel or herself.

A/Notes: Hang on kids! We're in for a fun adventure. Whee! Although this one centers around Sam, all of SG-1 will be major participants and I anticipate action! adventure! whumping (of multiple characters) and of course hurt/comfort. You know I write faster if I know folks are reading this, so let me know what you think of the premise so far!

A HUGE thank you to Flatkatsi for the fantastic title suggestion and beta love.