O'Malley's was unusually packed. Well, more packed than it had been the whole other three times that they'd come here. But it was a Friday night, and their crazy work hours at the SGC meant that the weekend tended to begin at two in the afternoon on a Wednesday.
Sam wondered briefly if it was a bad thing she'd gotten used to her new schedule so quickly. They all had, really. Gating to another planet at 2300 Earth Standard Time to arrive at their destination during the day had brought a whole new meaning to jet lag.
So, either there was something extra in the coffee keeping everyone at the SGC going, or they were just all exceptionally good at snatching a few minutes rest wherever and whenever they could. Sam suspected a mixture of the two, and that Daniel had some involvement in both. The man could sleep standing up with both eyes open.
Daniel and Teal'c were around somewhere. Well, she could only assume they were, and that they hadn't given up on the mission to acquire another round of drinks and just gone home, as she couldn't see them through the heaving mass of people surrounding the bar. So it was just her and the Colonel, sat opposite each other in the tiny booth, knees knocking together under the table. She could slide sideways into Teal'c's seat to give them both some more room, but he wasn't moving anywhere so neither was she.
Somehow, even within the babble and music and clattering and general rowdiness of O'Malley's, there was something ever so slightly intimate about sitting there with him like that. It was probably him, she guessed. If it were her and Daniel crammed together in the booth instead, they'd be talking about something, leaning over the table towards each other in excitement and to prevent any eavesdropping; she couldn't imagine a silence with Dr. Jackson, let alone the comfortable one that pervaded the (small) distance between her and the Colonel.
"You know, Carter, when you came into that first briefing I had the strangest feeling that I'd met you before," he told her, casually balancing his beer bottle on the edge of its base and supporting it with a fingertip at the rim.
"Really, sir?" so had she, except she'd suspected when she heard the name and known for sure when she walked in the room and saw those eyes.
He took his finger away and the bottle swayed for an instant, not sure which way to fall. With a decisive thud though, it toppled back upright and his eyes flashed up to meet hers. "And then I worked it out." He pointed at her across the table, leaning forwards and grinning. "You probably don't remember. Maple Avenue, Minnesota. '73 or '74... You were six years old and the cutest damned thing I'd ever seen in my life."
She laughed a little uneasily then. She did remember. Jack O'Neill had been her first crush, after all, and it wasn't something you easily forgot.
"I remember. You saved me from those bullies, after all."
"And you still owe me one." He winked and was still smiling at her, and honestly, her knees were a bit on the weak side from the combination. Or maybe it was the alcohol. In fact, she hoped to God it was.
"I will be forever grateful, sir."
"Well, I'll have to think of something to do with that, Carter. Eternal servitude sound about right?" his eyes were laughing. She'd never thought eyes could really do that before. Then he leaned in even closer. "You know, it's a real pity you cut off those pigtails. They'd have gone so well with your P-90."
"Remind me again why General Hammond keeps you around… sir?" maybe it was the beer, but she was the most relaxed she'd been in months, and that was definitely the rudest thing she'd ever said to a CO. If she was expecting a dressing down though, she was disappointed.
"Oh-! Let's see… my charisma, my wit, and my boyish good looks of course."
"Of course," she nodded at him, eyes twinkling and he only laughed more.
"But we both know my fantastic leadership abilities have nothing to do with it: there is nobody on this Earth who could control Daniel, Teal'c is much larger than me and you only pretend to do what I tell you…"
"Now, sir, you know we all respect you deeply…"
"That may be. But Carter, I never said that was a bad thing. Whatever happened to that insubordinate little girl you used to be?"
Carter hadn't wanted to give the two boys her doll. That was how it had all started.
He'd been walking home the same way he always did when he heard an indignant shout of "No! Shan't!" from across the street. He'd looked over and seen a tiny blonde creature, one fist balled up on her hip and the other clutching something, defiantly facing down two boys nearly twice her size.
"Come on, Carter, we just want to have a look!" the girl's frown deepened and she made to storm past them but they blocked her path, moving easily to get in her way. Jack stopped walking and took an instant to decide if he should intervene. He didn't know the boys' names but bullying was bullying, and the girl's eyes were welling up, and anyway, he was bigger than both of them.
"You were a belligerent little thing," he said fondly.
"I had an older brother," Carter replied lightly. "He was worse."
Jack saw the two boys off with some strong words and a glare, then turned back to the girl, Carter. Weird name. Next thing he knew, she had latched onto his side in a tight hug. "Boys are mean,"she told his leg. "But you're not."
He'd awkwardly patted her bright blonde hair, pulled back into two long plaits down her back. It was soft under his hand and she snuggled into him a bit more before pulling back to regard him more closely. "Thanks. I owe you one," she said.
"No problem," he smiled down into her big blue eyes. "Hey, if those boys give you any more trouble you let me know, ok?"
She grinned up at him and held out a hand, which he shook gently, completely enveloping it in his own. "Deal. My name's Samantha but everybody except Mommy calls me Sam."
"Samantha? That's nice. I'm Jack. "
"You were charming," Carter said, eyes still recalling long lost memories of when they'd been friends. Jack watched her for a long moment and then remembered he shouldn't do that, dropping his gaze to the table.
Collecting himself, he asked, "Were, Carter?" and she grinned and ducked her neck in the cutest gesture he'd ever seen on anyone before.
No, he shouldn't get caught up in her.