"Choose Me" by Ziva

The cafeteria at the SGC was buzzing with the news; today would be the first time that a team would go through the stargate to another planet!

Samantha Carter, Doctor of Astrophysics, expert on wormholes, sat watching the group at another table, wishing she was one of them.

The group consisted of: Dr. Daniel Jackson, linguist and doctor of archaeology; Army Sgt. Marie Sanchez, the Army's answer to Sam Carter; Marine Sgt. Charles Kawalsky, weapons expert; Air Force Major Antonio Ferretti, pilot and all around nice guy; and their leader, Air Force Lt. Col. Jack O'Neill, one of the most highly-decorated Air Force pilots living or dead.

They were SG-1, the SGC's first team chosen...the people who would make history...at least for those who were allowed to know about the stargate program.

The SGC was run by the military, and only a few highly-placed individuals, like the President, his chief advisor, the heads of the various armed forces...and of course those people who worked here...knew about the top-secret, underground base in Colorado and what went on here.

Sam, as everyone but her parents called her, was envious of them. She would have loved to have been chosen to go through the gate, but she was not military. And unlike Dr. Jackson, she had no field experience nor weapons training. She sighed as she hoped for the thousandth time, that one day any civilian with the passion to explore would be permitted to go through a wormhole to distant stars.

"What's the matter," the petite brunette asked as she sat down across from Sam, laying a paper napkin across her lap. She wore a white lab coat over a blue Air Force uniform skirt and blouse, and she had an air of authority about her that Sam envied.

'Why can't I be more like Janet,' Sam thought as she scooped up another spoonful of blueberry Jello, her cornflower-blue eyes focusing on Janet's pretty face.

"Nothing. Just star gazing," Sam told her, her eyes going back to the people at the far table.

"Them? They're nothing, Sam. You're the one who made the damned thing work! You're the reason they are going to have the experience of a lifetime, and you shouldn't forget that!"

Janet glanced over at the table where Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team sat, talking animatedly among themselves. She had always thought Jack was hot. In fact she still did. At one time she had even wished that he would take an interest in her. But as time passed, and she heard more and more about his sex-capades, she knew he wasn't the man for her.

He was too hell-bent on experiencing life, and for him that meant facing new challenges at work and in his personal life. And once he conquered a challenge, and it no longer held his interest, he was off looking for a new one.

The sad fact was that to Jack O'Neill women were nothing more than another challenge, and Janet didn't want to be one of his conquests. But he certainly was one fine looking man, and a part of her would always wonder what it would be like to sleep with him.

With the determination that had made her a Major in the Air Force and CMO of the base at the young age of 32, she pushed her foolish thoughts about Jack O'Neill out of her head and listened to what Sam had to say.

"...but knowing that doesn't make me feel any better. I just wanna do something exciting in my life, something that doesn't involve twelve-hour days in a lab!"

Sam knew that Janet was right; she should be proud of her accomplishments, and she was really WAS proud deep down inside. But still there was that nagging feeling that life was passing by, and she was really just a bystander and not a participant.

And then there was Jack O'Neill...the man who filled her night time-fantasies and her day-time musings. She had noticed him when he first came into the program four months ago. After all, what woman in their right mind could have seen him and not wondered what it would be like to be intimate with him!

With his unruly hair, sticking up like he'd just gotten out of bed, his dark chocolate eyes and his impish grin, he had every female on base pining for him. And then there was that tall, lean body that Sam figured could probably go all night without breaking a sweat. Combine all that with those adorable dimples and his air of self-confidence, and what you got was a man who was a walking, talking sexual fantasy!

Sam remembered the first time she had seen the man. It had been right after she had gotten the gate to maintain a stable wormhole for more than just a few minutes. She had figured out that the jarring vibrations coming from the giant, twelve-foot high ring were being magnified ten-fold by ricocheting off the walls of the underground bunker.

After weeks of working on a plan to dampen these vibrations, Sam had come up with a cushioning system...a system of grips that held the gate in place while allowing it to vibrate freely, thus eliminating much of the harmful tremors. She had also designed a sort of vibration-absorbing interior wall for the gate room, which helped alleviate the bouncing back of the shock waves.

General George Hammond, the commander of the base, had led SG-1 on a tour of the base, and the gate room was last on their agenda that day. The gate was activated and everyone stood there looking at the shimmering puddle. Sam stood at the back of the room, next to the emergency panel, just in case she had to shut off the power to the gate.

Jack stepped away from the group and went to stand at the top of the ramp, his feet apart, his arms reaching out with fingers extended to touch the event horizon. He looked positively fearless! And in his dress blues he had looked every bit the hero she had heard he was, and Sam's body had tingled all over.

"Hey! Earth to Sam!" Janet tapped her on the wrist with a manicured finger, and Sam blinked twice before shifting her eyes from Jack to Janet.

"What?"

"I said," Janet repeated patiently, "how would you like to come to my place on Saturday? I'm having a little get together for some of the SGC personnel. I thought we could all use a little fun and relaxation."

"Oh, sure! I'd love to come," Sam answered, thinking that even a party with her co-workers would be preferable to her usual boring weekends.

Oh, sure she loved working on her vintage Indian motor cycle and riding it, but other than that, she usually spent her weekends working on something for the SGC that really wasn't that pressing.

In fact, now that she had solved the vibration problem and SG-1 was set to go through the gate to another planet, all she had to do was wait for her first big assignment! She hoped they'd be bringing back plenty of wonderful technology for her to take apart and study!

"Good! Then I'll expect you about three! Oh, and I should probably tell you that besides my staff, I've invited your lab assistants, Dr. Lee and his staff...and SG-1. I thought it would be nice to mix in a few more military."

Sam sucked in a quick breath, intending to rescind her acceptance of Janet's invitation. To her great surprise and horror, she felt some of the Jell-O getting sucked into her trachea. And it was just about the same time that Jack and his team were passing her table as they left the cafeteria. Sam coughed once and grabbed her throat, as her face turned beet red. Seeing her obvious distress, Janet reached out a hand to her, but Jack was quicker.

"Don't panic. I've got you," he said with confidence.

He had grabbed her by one arm and hauled her up out of her chair, stepping behind her and wrapping his arms around her middle. With fists pressed into her stomach just below her ribcage, he was about to squeeze when Sam slapped his hands vigorously and tried to pry them off her.

"NO! I'm all right now...really," she managed to say, before coughing five or six times into the napkin she clutched in her hand. The last thing she wanted to do was hurl blue junks of Jell-O everywhere, but if she'd been truthful, she didn't feel too well.

Jack quickly let go of her and stepped to her side.

She glanced up at him through teary eyes, but when his eyes met hers, she let hers drop to the table. The members of his team patted him on the back for his gallantry, wished her well, and urged him to come along with them, but Jack stayed there with a curious look on his face as the others left the big room.

Only Dr. Daniel Jackson remained behind, a sincere look of concern on his boyish face.

"You okay," Daniel asked before giving his eyeglasses a shove with one finger.

Janet looked at Daniel with renewed interest. She had noticed before that he had this little nervous habit, and she thought it was charming and kind of cute.

Sam coughed a few times and cleared her throat, feeling like crawling under the table instead of standing there to face the two men. But she sucked up her courage and turned toward them anyway.

"Yes. Thank you," she rasped, her throat suddenly feeling tight. She experienced a sudden feeling...almost like she was on the deck of a ship...a feeling like the floor was tilting and out of her control. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, blinking rapidly.

"I'll see in the briefing room in ten, Jack," Daniel told him. Then he looked straight at Janet before grinning and walking away. Jack simply nodded at him, and then turned back to Sam.

"You okay? You sure," Jack asked her. He looked genuinely worried, but Janet had her doubts. He was probably only taking a moment to check Sam out, she thought suspiciously.

"Sam?" Janet put her hand on Sam's arm, and found her skin to be cool and clammy.

Jack looked quite concerned, and Sam didn't want to worry him or have him think she was weak or sickly. She really wished he would move along and stop staring at her like that! She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself and raised her eyes to meet his again, putting as much strength into her reply as she could muster.

"Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you, Colonel O'Neill."

"You sure, 'cause you look a little peaked to me," he told her, reaching a hand out to brush a stray lock of long, blonde hair off her cheek.

Her skin felt cool to the touch and very smooth, yet Jack jerked his hand away as though burnt. 'What are you doing, man! Leave this innocent child alone, before you get her into trouble,' he warned himself.

While normally she would have enjoyed having Jack touch her face, Sam did feel a little woozy. And the feeling made her want to sit down as quickly as possible. She turned back toward the table and suddenly everything went black.

Jack was fast to act, slipping one arm around her back, while he slid the other under her knees and lifted her. Everyone in the cafeteria looked over at the three, conversation taking a back seat to the event that was unfolding before them.

"Come on, we'd better get her to the infirmary," Janet told him, and he hurried out of the cafeteria carrying Sam, with Janet hot on his heels.

The bright light of a portable lamp shone brightly in Sam's eyes where she lay on the gurney, causing her to throw an arm up over her face. The light was immediately extinguished, and the smiling face of Dr. Janet Frasier appeared in its place.

"There you are! I was wondering when you were going to stop shirking your duties," she teased, knowing full well that this young woman never took even so much as ten minutes for herself when on base.

And from what Janet had seen, Sam didn't even take time to eat real meals, and that was something Janet was going to have to talk to her about, before her workaholic tendencies put her in the infirmary for a lengthy stay.

She reached for Sam's wrist and held it, breathing a sigh of relief at the regular pulse. Then she removed the blood pressure cuff that circled Sam's left arm. Sam hadn't even realized it was there.

"Well, I'm glad to see your heart rate and your pressure at back to normal."

"What happened?"

"You don't remember? We were in the cafeteria having lunch. Well, I was having lunch, and you were eating that blue stuff. Which reminds me; you really need to eat more real food."

Janet turned to a tray filled with syringes and other items, and picked up an empty vial and a syringe.

"I'm running a blood test. And I'm going to give you a mega dose of vitamins, but I want you to begin eating more healthy meals, or you could wind up in here for a lengthy stay."

Sam still looked confused, so Janet gave her the condensed version.

"You choked on that damned Jell-O or something, and Colonel O'Neill came to your rescue. Do you remember now?"

As the realization of how Jack had witnessed her little Snow White episode hit her, Sam groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"OH, MY GOD!"

Janet smiled as she cleaned off a spot on Sam's arm with a cotton ball. Then she withdrew a vial of blood. She wanted to make sure Sam was not anemic.

"I can't believe what happened, Janet."

Then a sort of dim memory began to surface in her foggy brain...a memory of a hard chest pressed against the side of her left breast...of her arms around a smooth neck...and of a scent as fresh as a mountain stream.

"H...how did I get here, Janet," she stuttered, feeling fairly certain that she knew the answer. For some sick reason she needed to hear Janet confirm it.

"Colonel O'Neill carried you. He was quite a gentleman, Sam," Janet told her with a wry smile, as she injected Sam's arm with the vitamin supplement. "He was several minutes late for the mission briefing, but he wouldn't leave here until I could guaranty him that you would be okay."

"Really? That was nice of him, but I really wish he hadn't."

Sam shut her eyes and tried to envision the memories that were now flooding her mind. She could see the side of his neck now...tanned and firm and so close she could have kissed it.

Janet looked at her curiously, but she didn't say anything about Sam's remark.

"Sam, I'm giving you this pamphlet to read. I want you to start eating three healthy meals a day. And just so you know, Jell-O is NOT included in any food group! And I don't want you going back to the lab this afternoon."

When Sam began to protest, Janet held up a hand, palm out.

"Sam! I will not argue with you. You either go home, or I will order you to go home, and you know I can do it."

Sam knew that even though she wasn't military, Dr. Frasier's orders did pertain to her as well as to the military personnel at the SGC.

"I know you can. You won't have to order me; I'll go," she relented, sliding her feet to the floor.

"Now what say we go and wish SG-1 Bon Voyage before you go home," Janet suggested, her eyes searching Sam's face. She had a suspicion about her new friend, and Sam's reply seemed to confirm it.

"No, I think I'll just go get my things and leave," Sam said softly.

"Okay then. Oh, and I'll see you on Saturday...three o'clock! I'll have plenty of salads and other things, so just bring your own meat. I'm sure one of the guys will happy to throw it on the grill and burn it to a crisp for you."

Sam looked at her quizzically, and Janet shook her head, realizing Sam had no idea what she was talking about.

"Never mind! I'll call you later, Sam. Just go home."

Janet watched as the thin young woman walk slowly out of the infirmary. If Janet was reading her right...and she'd bet money she was...the silly girl was smitten with that rascal Jack O'Neill!

"Well," Janet said to the empty room, "I'll have to do something. I can't let her be hurt by the likes of him!"

TBC