Pairing: Sam/Pete, Sam/Jack

Time: Season Eight, post-Affinity but before Threads

Spoilers: Affinity, maybe a few vague season 7 or season 8, I'm not sure. Other then that, only the fact that Sam's with Pete, which I think is common knowledge.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, wish I did, I'm just having fun. If I owned it Sam and Jack would be together by now. Not making any money.

Authors Notes: My first Stargate fic. I'm a die hard shipper, but sometimes I think it's almost more fun to go into their "non-relationship" then have them be together. Please review, but no flames! I am a pathetically sensitive person.

Pete Shanahan was happy. He had convinced Sam to convince Hammond to allow Pete to eat lunch with Sam at the base today, since she never seemed to have enough time away. He was only allowed to go to the commissary, but that didn't bother him. Sam had asked him earlier if it was okay that the rest of her team eat with them, and he had no problem with that, either.

Sam was waiting for him at the security check point, and she gave him a smile which he whole-heartedly returned.

"Hey, beautiful." He greeted her once he was through security. He gave her a quick kiss.

"Hi. Ready to eat?" She smiled at her fiancé as they headed toward the elevator. She was actually surprised at how easy it had been for Hammond to agree to allow Pete for lunch, but she was glad he had. She supposed that since Pete had already seen the whole base and knew the basics of what went on, just coming to commissary for lunch wasn't really a security risk.

"You bet."

As they got off the elevator, they could hear Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c talking as they waited for them.

"Daniel, spending 3 days doing nothing but studying artifacts on p-whatever is not my idea of a fun, fruitful mission!"

"But Jack, think of everything we could learn about the culture there!" Daniel argued. Knowing that Jack was more a military man, Daniel tried to entice him that way. "Maybe we'll learn something about the Gou'ld. Something to help in our fight."

"I said forget it, Daniel. Maybe I'll send another team at some other time, but not now. It'd be nothing but an expensive field trip! As much as I hate to sound like Kinsley, it'd be a waste of money!"

"Discontent among the ranks, sir?" Sam asked playfully as she and Pete walked up.

"Nope, just Daniel's usual over-enthusiasm with anything over 100 years old."

Daniel protested, and the argument continued until they were almost to the commissary, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. By the time they stepped into the commissary, however, both men had settled down and the group was chatting.

"Busy place." Pete commented as he scanned the crowed room.

"I'll grab a table." Sam told them, and they went to do just that.

"Wait!" Pete tried to call after her, but she was already gone. "Isn't she going to eat?" he asked the others.

"Of course she will." Daniel assured him as they got in line behind Teal'c and Jack.

As they went down the line, they picked up entrées and sides. There were a lot of choices. Pete couldn't help the wide-eyed look he gave Teal'c's tray as Teal'c piled on food. Noticing the look, Daniel chuckled and Jack said, "Yeah, T does tend to get a lot of food."

Speaking of a lot of food, Pete noticed that Jack's tray was getting two portions at every stop. Almost like he was getting two separate meals. Not as much as Teal'c, but enough.

As they stopped to get drinks, Jack filled one cup of regular soda and then started filling another with diet. He made a face. "Ugh, diet."

"If you don't like it, then why are you getting it?" Pete asked.

"Because I'm not the one who is going to drink it. She claims it tastes better."

"Who does?" Pete was confused.

"Carter. What other she are we going to be eating with?"

It suddenly clicked with Pete. Jack's tray didn't just look like it was getting two separate meals. It was two separate meals.

"You're getting Sam's food?" he asked, surprised.

The other members of SG1 looked surprised as well, and Teal'c said, "General O'Neill and Colonel Carter have been doing this routine for years."

Daniel was nodding, "When we go to eat, especially if it's busy like this, Jack or Sam go to get a table, and the other one gets their food. They rotate. Today was Jack's turn."

"But how do you know what to get her?" Pete asked Jack.

Jack shrugged. "Eight years of eating the vast majority of meals together on base, when she isn't holed up in her lab, anyway, and you learn what the other person likes."

"Only Jack and Sam rotate because I don't think I'd choose the right stuff." Daniel said as they moved on to the deserts.

"Nor would I." Teal'c agreed.

Jack had reached the deserts. "Crap. No blue jell-o." He already had a red one on his tray.

"Does it taste different than the rest?" asked Pete, wondering why the color of the Jell-o mattered.

"No, but Carter thinks it does."

Daniel shrugged. "She'll have to make due with another color."

"Colonel Carter will most likely not eat any other color, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c pointed out.

It was Jack's turn to shrug. "Her loss, my gain." He put another red one on the tray.

Daniel laughed. "You choose your favorite because you know that Sam's going to offer her portion to you when she finds out it's not blue."

"Hey! Might as well, since we all know who's going to be eating it!" Jack defended himself.

Pete was stunned, and a little uneasy. These men obviously knew Sam well. Too well. Pete hadn't even known Sam liked any Jell-o, let alone had a favorite color of it, and these guys acted like it was something the whole world knew.

They walked over to the table Sam was saving for them. Pete sat down next to Sam, who gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Jack sat across from her and set the tray in the middle so he and Sam could both reach it, and they started separating whose was whose. Pete noticed Sam knew without asking which items Jack had got for her and which items Jack had gotten for himself. They had just started unloading the tray when suddenly Sam stopped and look at Jack with a questioning expression. Jack, who had obviously been expecting the look, kept unloading as he told her, "All out."

Sam's expression changed to disappointment. "None? Shoot. Well, do you want mine, sir?"

"For cryin' out loud, Carter, just because the Jell-o isn't blue doesn't mean you can't eat it!"

"What about you and your red jell-o, sir? Which I noticed you chose for me because you knew I was going to offer it to you when it wasn't blue."

"Well, if we're all out of red Jell-o, I would still eat a different color. It doesn't make that much of a difference!"

"Do you want it or not, sir? I'm not going to eat it."

Grumbling, Jack none the less took the container of Jell-o over to his side of the table. There was something different about Sam when she was here on the base, with her team, Pete thought as he watched her interact with the others. He couldn't put his finger on it. Then, after a moment of consideration, it hit him.

She was much more open. These guys knew her well, and she them. Especially one Jack O'Neill. Pete remembered that Daniel and Teal'c had each said they couldn't load a tray for their friends, but Jack and Sam could for each other. Pete didn't think he would be able to correctly pick out Sam's meal from a cafeteria-like setting, because there were so many choices, and he was Sam's fiancé. But Jack had obviously had no trouble knowing what Sam would want.

Pete knew the main reason for this was that Sam couldn't really share her work with him, and work was a huge part of Sam's life. She spent a lot more time with Jack, and had known him much longer.

With Jack O'Neill, he was her work, because he was the commander of the base and had been her CO for seven or eight years before that. Nothing was classified from him like it was from Pete.

Jack O'Neill, she trusted beyond a doubt. She had trusted her life and sanity to him more than once, and she had been trusted with his. They had saved each other's butts and the world more times than either cared to count.

With Jack O'Neill, she had been through hell and back several times. They had seen the good, bad, and the ugly in each other and still came out friends.

And suddenly Pete had a disturbing thought: How could he compete with that?

As he watched Sam laugh at some antic of O'Neill's, Pete knew the answer: He couldn't. But he was sure going to try.

What'd ya think? I made up the "routine", but hey, I though it was kinda cool. R&R!