Title: Nothing Tastes as Sweet as What I Can't Have
Author: love-child-1403
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, as much as I try to convince myself otherwise...
Brief Summary: Jack comes across an artifact on a previously unexplored planet which forces him to re-evaluate his relationship with Carter, whilst the girl-genius herself is having some pretty odd dreams...
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Carter breathed a deep sigh of relief and immediately went back to her analysis of P3X-765's atmosphere. Its composition intrigued her. She had been half-way through the analysis when Daniel had rushed in, arms laden with rolls of ancient alien text, claiming that he had just located the whereabouts of some city or other – she wasn't exactly sure; she'd barely been listening. She usually paid full attention to Daniel and his drawn-out, stuttered explanations but tonight she just couldn't work up the enthusiasm. Eventually she had managed to convince him to leave, telling him that they both ought to get some sleep. Of course, Daniel didn't believe her – sleep hardly being high on Sam's list of priorities – but he left nonetheless, knowing full well that he was making a nuisance of himself.
So now Sam could give the computer her full attention, despite the slight droop of her eyelids…
Boy, she thought foggily, concentrating as hard as she could on the screen in front of her. She could swear the text was becoming smaller. This desk is actually starting to look quite comfortable… Sam yawned and leant her head on the desk. Just one minute, then I'll finish this… thing…
Sam suddenly jumped up from her seat. Sleep was a very dangerous thing for her to be craving – she had to finish the analysis by tomorrow. She didn't have time for sleep…
Coffee. That was what she needed. She winced slightly as she realised that she was starting to sound like Daniel, who couldn't put together a coherent sentence in the morning without his daily cup of coffee. Sam scooped up the multitude of half-empty coffee-cups from the untidy mess she could barely recognise as her desk, chucking them in the trashcan on her way out of the room. She ran a hand absentmindedly through her messy blonde hair as she walked down the deserted corridors of the SGC, trying to remember which atmospheric anomaly on P3X-765 she was most worried about. There was the excess of ammonia… then there was the equally excessive-
"I'm singin' in the rain-" Sam was jerked out of her reverie by the sound of someone attempting to sing down the corridor to her left. She abandoned her original route to the mess hall in favour of the corridor, curious to see who, or what, was inflicting such unnecessary pain on her eardrums. The volume of the noise seemed to escalate as she followed the empty concrete passageway, meaning Sam began to wince ever so slightly whenever a high note was attempted.
As she neared the end of the hallway, Sam noticed a door to her right that was slightly ajar. She quickly determined that this was where the awful caterwauling had originated, despite the fact that the voice had now been silenced. A quick scan of the corridor told her that she was completely alone. However, what her brief assessment of her surroundings had also done was alert her to the fact that the door she was facing just screamed "restricted access". It wasn't in any way a military thing that was stopping her from crossing the threshold; it was the fact that the door she was about to open… was the door to the men's locker room. Sam grinned mischievously. Whoever it was inside there was going to get such a teasing…
She opened the door a little wider and was astonished to see Colonel Jack O'Neill with his back to her, humming loudly and tunelessly as he dried his hair absentmindedly with a towel. But what really had Sam rooted to the spot was the fact that her CO was wearing absolutely nothing on his upper half. Something else about the situation that she couldn't deny liking was that she could clearly see the beads of moisture running slowly from the back of his neck to the waistband of his rumpled khaki pants. She bit back a groan and tried to suppress a tidal wave of thoughts that manifested themselves with this particular image but it was no use. Her mind was way away…
Jack obviously sensed her behind him as he chose that particular moment to turn around, towel still in hand, a suspicious look on his face. Sam's bright blue eyes flew up instantly to meet his heart-warming, chocolate-brown gaze, hoping against hope that he hadn't realised where her eyes had been only a moment ago. She saw the half-grin form on his lips and cursed inwardly. No such luck…
"Carter?" Jack's voice sliced through to Sam's consciousness like a knife.
"Yes, sir?" she answered breathily, trying to get a hold of herself. If he'd just put a shirt on…
"What are you doing in the men's locker room?" It was only after a couple of seconds of gaping that Sam registered the hint of amusement in Jack's voice. She quickly shut her mouth and straightened up.
"I could ask you the same thing, sir," she said airily, unable to keep the smile from her face, "the women's locker room is across the hall." Jack looked wounded.
"Ouch, Carter…" An impish grin passed across his face. "That hurt!" Sam smiled and gestured towards the door.
"I heard your… 'singing'," she said, wincing slightly as she remembered the all-too-recent assault on her eardrums, "and I just had to come and see who was-"
"Come on, Carter," he said, grinning slightly at her reluctance to call his tuneless screeching anything but what it was. Sam pushed her hair back from her face, brow furrowed.
"What do you-" Sam stopped mid-sentence, pinned to the spot by her CO's mesmerising gaze. It seemed the gap between the two of them had vaporised, leaving their bodies mere inches from one another.
"I don't know who you're trying to kid, Sam," he said softly, the use of her first name coming as a surprise to her. But she couldn't help but squirm girlishly inside, despite the initial shock the simple word had caused.
"Sir, I think… Are you… Why?" For the first time in her life, words completely failed Samantha Carter and she found herself being drawn deeper into Jack O'Neill's soft, unwavering stare.
"Samantha?" he said as the space between their lips gradually lessened, his voice barely a whisper.
"Yes, sir?" Sam's heart was in her mouth, her stomach was doing back-flips and her mind was screaming at her to turn back before she did something really stupid like-
"Wake up." Sam frowned.
"What?" she asked, her confused stare mingling with Jack's look of concern.
"You need to wake up," he repeated, taking hold of her shoulders and shaking her gently. "Come on, wake up!"
Sam felt her eyelids drift slowly open, and she was greeted by the familiar surroundings of her desk at the SGC, covered with scraps of paper and half-empty coffee-cups. Hadn't she just thrown them away?
"Carter? You alright?" came a voice so close to her ear that she sat bolt upright and nearly fell off her chair. She looked slowly around to see Colonel Jack O'Neill leaning against her desk, looking slightly worried at her lack of composure. Sam coughed awkwardly, recalling exactly where her mind had taken her just seconds before her rude awakening, and straightened up in her chair.
"I'm fine, sir," she said, barely thinking about what she was saying – the image of Jack's half-naked body was fresh in her mind. He shot her a disbelieving look and she couldn't help but smile at his concern. "Really," she added firmly, turning back to the computer screen and trying (in vain) to concentrate on her work.
After a few moments of silence, Sam turned back to Jack, surprised to see that he was now sitting on her desk, an amused look dancing across his features.
"What?" she asked suspiciously, knowing the famous O'Neill smirk all too well. He slipped down from the desk, now opting to lean against it, arms folded.
"You fell asleep, Carter…" The tone of her CO's voice was almost infantile – he was clearly extremely proud of himself and tickled by the fact that he'd caught her taking a nap on the job.
"Sorry, sir. I just can't seem to work out what's wrong with this planet's atmosphere – there's something about it that just doesn't seem right…" she trailed off, frowning at the screen.
"Maybe you're reading too much into this, Carter – it is 0200 hours, y'know?" Jack leaned over and gently tapped her temple. "You need to give that genius brain of yours a rest – I think the entire base would go crazy if you were out of action…" He then raised her a mock salute and left Sam to her all-too-erotic thoughts.
Although he was still wondering why he had heard her say 'Yes, sir' a few moments before she'd woken up.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Well, I hope you enjoyed it! I'll be bringing the next part out asap!
In the meantime, please review - it means a lot to me and helps me to improve my writing.
Ciao xxx