Was once a songfic, now is not. The song was Blue and Yellow by The Used. Lyrics available online.

SJ pairing, as usual. This one's a three parter, with spoilers to Nemesis, The Other Side and Upgrades. They're pretty short chapters, so I should have em all up in the next three days.

Jack's POV

Say

I meant to tell her.

I didn't know exactly when or where, but I had meant to. I guess I was just waiting for the right moment to come along to maybe, accidentally-on-purpose, let something small slip.

Or maybe the whole 'right moment' thing was just an excuse. Any reason to postpone, ignore and pretend that nothing had happened.

But it was getting harder. Every time it was just me and her, without Daniel and Teal'c to be a subliminal reminder of the job we were here to do, awkwardness just kinda floated in from somewhere. I'm supposing that this time isn't going to be too much different.

I wander into her lab, hands thrust deep into my pockets. I'm trying to convince myself that I'll be doing the same thing that I did with Daniel and Teal'c: saying a quick goodbye before I head off. Somehow, that sounds a lot easier than it seems at the moment I realize as I walk down the hall leading to her lab.

"Carter!" I call over the noisy machine she was using. She immediately looks up, removing her mask.

"Sir!" She looks happy to see me. "Hi. How's Daniel?"

"Oh, he's gonna be fine," I reply. I nod at the device on her bench. "What are you doing?"

She turns to look at...whatever the thing is. "I'm getting ready to do a detailed analysis of..." I can't properly understand what she just said. Besides...

"I'm on vacation!"

She smiles again. "Yes, sir."

"So are you." She knows perfectly well she's on vacation. I don't know why I even bother trying to get her to do anything about it. But maybe I just like hearing any reply...

"I know. It's not that I'm happy that Daniel's in excruciating pain or anything like that, but I've been looking forward to an opportunity like this for quite some time."

Uh-oh. I'm running out of things to say. Time to put my "wit" card into play. "You know, maybe it's just me, but I always thought when one got a chance to leave, one actually left." She chuckles. I continue. "Daniel's recoup-ing, Teal'C's off visiting his kid somewhere, personally, I have a date with a lake in Minnesota where the bass grow that big." I indicate the size with my arms.

"Really?" Sarcasm.

She knows me too well.

"Oh yes." Momentary pause. "What I'm describing here involves a very special element."

She nods, pointing at her little science project. "This is fun to me, sir."

"Well, if playing with your little reactor sounds better than exploring the lakes and natural beauty of Northern Minnesota, there's not much I can do."

Hang on a second...Did I just invite her to come fishing? That definitely wasn't in my mental script. Maybe she'll not notice the discrepancy and I'll just walk out of here...

"Was that an invitation, sir?"

Ah. Busted. Act cool.

"Nothin' wrong with that, is there? A couple of co-workers - friends, if you will - fishing? It'd be fun."

"Wow." She looks down - considering my offer? Oh geez. "I appreciate the offer, sir - it sounds great...B-but I should probably-"

"No sweat!" I answer quickly, hoping my relief isn't showing. "See you in a week. By all means...have fun!" I leave quickly, before she can change her mind.

This thing that's happened between us is borderline on 'a problem': At this point, I don't even have the guts to call it anything but this thing... and that certainly can't be good.

But I'm not allowed to be feeling what I'm feeling. So I'll ignore it for now.