A/N: Finally wrote a sequel to Kissing Traditions. I'll say right up front I found out that not having the pre-ship angst is hard for me to write. Hope Cam/Jenn's 'middle of a ship' chemistry comes through in this story. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1 or it's wonderful characters.
Spoilers: Probably Everything SGA & SG1. If you are worried it may be better not to read – sorry.
On the timeline: About six months after SGA's episode Enemy at the Gate and the end of Kissing Traditions.
1 – Morning
Colonel Cameron Mitchell was awoken by the alarm on his bedside table. He groaned loudly as he lifted his body far enough off the bed to hit the off button before flipping himself onto his back.
He heard light laughter in the room causing him to break into a grin as he stared up at the ceiling. "What's so funny?" he asked, closing his eyes and absorbing her sweet laughter.
"I wouldn't have pegged you for not being a morning person," Dr. Jennifer Keller teased as she finished securing her hair in a pony tail for the day. "I thought it was a prerequisite for growing up on a farm."
"It's not about not being a morning person, I just hate waking up to that damn alarm." Cameron lifted his head slightly and took a closer look at Jennifer as she moved toward the bed. "I preferred it when you woke me in the morning," he continued with a pout. "You're not as shrill, and there's usually kissing involved."
Jennifer shook her head at his complaining, "You made it a kissing tradition," she chuckled, stopping at the foot of the bed. "Kind of demanded it the first morning after I moved onto the base."
Cameron loved that she'd finally moved onto the base. After Atlantis took up residence near San Francisco, Jennifer had resigned as CMO, spending two months on Atlantis before the resignation officially took effect and she was able to hand the entire facility over to Dr. Carson Beckett.
She'd lived on base at the SGC now for four months and he loved that she'd immediately moved in with him. She had her own quarters down the hall, but she'd never slept in her assigned room. All of her belongings that were transferred from the city to the base were delivered to her assigned room, but what she wanted and needed on a daily basis had found a home in his quarters or his off base apartment.
"Are you complaining about having to kiss me?" he asked quirking his eyebrows up in challenge.
"No," she said as she knelt at the foot of the bed and began crawling up his body until they were face to face, "but now that I'm no longer on night shifts I'm afraid that alarm will be doing most of the waking around here." She leaned down and kissed him, the sweet vanilla scent that enveloped him attesting to her recent shower.
"Not much of a morning person myself," she quietly added before capturing his lips yet again. Cameron attempted to raise his arms to wrap them around Jenn and pull her closer, but found most of his body trapped by the bedding with her body pinning him to the bed.
"You realize we both have missions this morning?" he asked, his voice getting huskier.
"Yep," she answered, as she leaned in for another kiss, his lips meeting hers for a quick kiss.
"And that we have to leave shortly," Cameron added without much conviction in his voice as he gave her another quick kiss.
"Yep," she answered absently, continuing to meet his kisses.
"Like very shortly," Cameron said as he pulled back far enough for his bright blue eyes to meet her smoky hazel ones. He saw the twinkle in her eyes and the smirk on her face and couldn't help but laugh despite her weight on his chest.
"Yep. I also know that you've been in the service long enough and had discipline and responsibility drilled into you by the military well enough," she pointed out as she dipped her head down and began planting kisses along his neck, "that there is no way you'll let us be even a minute late." By this time she'd made her way to his ear and he felt her pull back an inch before whispering, "Colonel" in his ear.
He growled as he lifted high enough to free his arms and flip her onto her back. He leaned over her. "You're so gonna pay for that when we get back from our respective missions tonight," he threatened in a deep voice.
She grinned before winking at him, "Counting on it."
Cameron wanted to glare at her, but her playful attitude was contagious and she was right… they needed to get going or they'd be late. He leaned down and captured her lips in a quick, hard kiss before climbing off the bed. He turned back and offered his hand to help her up.
Jennifer gave him a once over before taking his hand. He only had on a pair of boxers and dog tags and was a sight to behold.
Cam glared at her reprovingly when he caught her look, "I'm going to go shower," he said as he released her.
"You're taking Capt. Jacobs with you today aren't you?" Jenn inquired, changing the subject.
"Yeah, today is the first day with members of Lorne's team, just a field observation kind of thing," Cam said leaning in and kissing her goodbye, "Stay safe."
"You too," Jennifer replied. "Tell Jacobs I said hi and give him a hug and kiss for me," she added making her way to the door. "And you might want to make it a cold shower," she said with a laugh as she quickly exited the room.
Colonel Albert Reynolds walked at his teams six as they made their way toward the town of Darsam on P3X-408 located about 3 miles from the gate. Although this was a medical escort mission, his team was on alert for any danger. After spending some time escorting Dr. Keller in the past they'd found that all missions had the potential to take a bad turn.
SG-3 was typically the team assigned to escort Keller when she was off-world. Reynolds enjoyed the change of pace from time to time and his team had quickly been won over by the young doctor becoming not only protective even when not off-world but also a bit possessive. She seemed to have this sweet, girl-next-door type personality that just drew people in. It's also what made her a perfect fit in his opinion for Colonel Mitchell. They both seemed to share a small town ease and friendliness that worked well in their jobs and he enjoyed seeing the two of them so obviously happy.
Reynolds team was not infamous in the galaxy like SG-1. His team's names would never precede them, bringing both excitement and relief to some worlds, dread and a challenge to others. Reynolds smiled thinking of how despite that, they were still starting to make a name for themselves. Not as SG-3 or even as Colonel Reynolds, Captain Baker, Lieutenant Bosco or Lieutenant Mooney, but rather as those who brought the Tau'ri healer.
The worlds they escorted Dr. Keller to seemed to fall under her spell as well. She was quickly trusted and given the same kind of treatment you'd expect to see given to a favorite aunt. Darsam wasn't any different. The fact that Reynolds thought of it as Darsam and not P3X-408 was a perfect example of the influence she had over them all.
Today's medical mission was just a follow-up, almost an excuse to be off-world. Dr. Keller had promised the parents of an eight year-old boy that she'd return to check on his healing progress, even though it was unnecessary.
About four weeks before - his team's arrival on P3X-408 had been a routine check in with a trading partner, but Reynolds had quickly discovered a problem when the rulers of the town wouldn't meet with them. Their behavior didn't add up to what he knew about the ruling family so he decided to ask a few more questions. Once he'd ascertained the reason he'd sent Bosco and Mooney to the gate to radio the situation in to General Landry and request Dr. Keller.
The son of the rulers had received a wound while disobeying his parent's orders to not be playing down by the river where he'd slipped and cut his leg. He'd been able to hide the injury from his unsuspecting parents until he began to burn with a fever.
Jennifer had treated the child for the infection that'd ravished his body and they'd spent an extra night on the planet until the fever had broken. By the time they'd headed for the gate the next day they were on first name basis with the family and Jennifer had even shortened their names to ones she could manage without any objections from the family.
Reynolds noticed the town was now in view and was not surprised to see the friendly welcome in the waves and greetings of those they passed. He shook his head, it was nice to be recognized, even if it was because of the young doctor in their midst.
Colonel Mitchell entered the Gate room and found most of his team assembled; they seemed to be waiting on Dr. Jackson. This mission was right up Jackson's ally as far as missions went. SG-16 had scouted the planet a couple days before and found no signs there were any inhabitants on the planet, but ruins with writings on them would definitely interest Dr. Jackson.
Cameron noticed Capt. Jacobs talking with Teal'c and Vala and began to make his way toward the group. Capt. Jacobs was one of a long list of personnel from Atlantis that'd recently been rotating into the SG1 lineup. Cameron had struck a deal with Colonel Sheppard to do many of the field evaluations of the military personnel on Atlantis. It suited both Colonels perfectly… Sheppard hated to do the evaluations, so having Cameron do the field component was a load off his shoulders and more importantly eliminating even a portion of the paperwork had the man doing cartwheels. Being close to the SGC Sheppard was under pressure to finish them in a timely manner.
In turn, Cameron was under a bit of pressure himself to fill the vacant slot on the SG1 team with the departure of Colonel Samantha Carter. She'd finally taken command of the Daedalus Class ship General Hammond, and although she seemed settled, Cameron wanted to hold her vacancy open as long as possible. A very small part of him was still holding out hope that she'd miss the team and the missions and decide to come back.
It wasn't an unfounded hope by any means, after all Sam had already come back to the team twice. The first had been her return from the R & D department at Area 51 when Cam had first become the leader of SG-1 and then again after her year away to lead the Atlantis Expedition. The rational side of Mitchell knew he'd have to fill the vacancy, but he was allowing himself this moment of denial for a little bit longer.
"Captain Jacobs," Cam greeted as he came to stand with his team.
"Colonel Mitchell," Jacobs returned coming to attention in front of his superior.
Mitchell held in his sigh, "At ease, Jacobs. Let's not stand on ceremony the rest of the day, got it?"
"Yes, sir," the Captain returned with a grin. He'd heard that Col. Mitchell was relaxed in his command, similar to Sheppard in his style. He'd been in Mitchell's presence a few times since Atlantis had come back to Earth, but this would be the first close encounter with the man. He figured though if Mitchell had Jennifer's heart he must be one of the good guys. "Hear I just missed seeing Dr. Keller, seems she went through the gate with Colonel Reynold's team just before I arrived."
"Yes, well, Jennifer says hello," Mitchell began, "but the non-frat regs keep me from delivering the rest of her message," he finished with a tolerant roll of his eyes.
Jacobs had the good sense to not say anything, but couldn't keep the smirk from his face.
"So, did you arrive this morning through the gate," Cameron asked, hoping for some small talk while they waited for Daniel.
"No, the Daedalus is back in orbit. Colonel Caldwell beamed me over," Jacobs responded.
"Bet the Colonel hates playing doorman," Cam commented wryly shaking his head.
Jacobs smirked, "Just chalked it up to him not being much of a morning person, sir."
"Bet the engineers would be done installing the Asgard beams in the SGC and the City if the Colonel was checking on their progress from time to time," Cam thought aloud with a small grin.
Jacobs was saved from having to find an acceptable response with the appearance of Dr. Jackson. Mitchell signaled to Walter they were ready and the gate began the process of locking in chevrons.