"Babe, what about this one?"
Sam sighed internally, she had wanted to do this alone. Picking a new shampoo each time she ran out was something she always looked forward to. If she told people they would think she was mad but truth be told, she found it extremely relaxing. Totally monotonous and unimportant - a bad decision wouldn't result in a catastrophe and she didn't have to consider anyone else but herself and her own preferences - normally.
"I don't like that one, tried it before," she said, trying to hide her frustration. Why couldn't he just give her a moments peace. 'That's probably not a good thing to be thinking before you've even moved in together, let alone get married,' her inner self chided. 'He's just so freaking enthusiastic though…about everything. Would it kill him to not care about something I'm doing just once?' She frowned and looked down at her basket. At this rate the store would be closed before they were done.
Every decision she made had an alternative suggestion thrown in, he even had the gall to take some things out of the basket and replace them with 'better' brands. Why did he care about glass surface cleaner? How different could they possibly be? Why did every decision need to be a big discussion? She wasn't used to having someone second guess her. It wouldn't be so annoying if he wasn't so cheery throughout the whole thing. If she was honest, she couldn't figure out why it bugged her so much but she found his constant smiling tiring.
A woman walked by with her young son as Pete held up two different blue bottles of coconut hydrating 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner. "Oh, look, these have extra vitamins for better shine. Worth a shot, no?" he asked hopefully as his gaze drifted from her back down to the shelf. The woman looked at Pete, then at Sam with an 'it's none of my business but girl are we seeing the same thing here?' look that made Sam cringe inside.
So Pete was definitely more masculine than that particular moment had made him out to be but she couldn't lie, he wasn't exactly an Alpha. His sweater had ridden up slightly from bending down which made him look larger around the waist than he was. His jeans were also belted a lot higher than Sam would have liked and those worn out sneakers really needed to be thrown out…about three years ago. His hair wasn't styled but it lay flat on his head as always and his baby face grin while now holding 2 floral bottles didn't exactly give her butterflies. He just wasn't impressive. But he was a lot of good things and not everyone could be impressive, she reminded herself.
"I'm gonna go grab some soap in the other isle, be back in a minute," she said feeling the need to move away before he could ask any other questions or keep her longer. 'Finally, a minute to myself,' she thought, only to round a corner a few aisles down and stop dead in her tracks. Well worn but well kept black leather boots, long lean legs covered by slim fitting beige pants. White round neck t-shirt, that was particularly well fitted around toned, tanned biceps. A leather jacket flung casually over his shoulder and ray bans hanging loosely around his neck. Perfect posture and unruly salt and pepper hair. A walking sin and oh yes, her commanding officer.
Obviously sensing her gaze, he looked up from the product he has been studying intently. "Carter, fancy seeing you here, what ya up to?" he said with a slight quirk of his mouth. "Hi Sir, just picking up a few things, you?" she said, motioning to his hand as she walked toward him. "You seem very interested in…carpet stain remover?" she looked at him incredulously while holding back a laugh. He looked a little sheepish and shifted slightly, rather adorably actually if she was honest though she knew he would be horrified if he knew that's what she was thinking. "Well apparently, the brand makes all the difference ya see…" he said looking between her, the product in his hand, the shelf and back again, clearly not fully convinced. "Although how any carpet cleaner could survive without actually working is anyone's guess so I figure that's just a bit of an oversell," he finished looking more bemused than when he started. "Cleaning products aren't really my thing," he said shyly. He glanced at her briefly and frowned when he saw she was obviously enjoying his indecisiveness. "What happened?" Sam asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Pizza…and maybe a little beer…and a very poor defensive performance by the home team," he said not looking at her.
She was fully smiling now, seeing him clearly a little flustered was a nice change from the self-assured man-in-charge, General in the USAF, can kill with just his hands Jack O'Neill that she was used to. He looked at her again with a clear 'help me decide here Carter' look in his eyes. Deciding to put him out of his misery, she pointed to a different brand in front of him. "This has always worked for me," she said pulling it off the shelf and holding it out to him. Putting the other brand back on the shelf, backwards and in the wrong place, he took it from her. "If it's good enough for Carter, it's good enough for me," he said grinning. Unable to stop herself, Sam felt herself grinning back.
She wasn't sure how long they had been staring at each other smiling but just as she became aware of the fact that it had probably been longer than it should have been, given it was about carpet cleaner, his smile faltered. Almost instantly, she felt a hand at her lower back and had to suppress a shudder. "Colonel O'Neill, so nice to see you," Pete said, a little too disingenuously for Sam's liking. "It's General, actually," Jack pointed out while noticing that Sam's eyes were still shut. "Carter and I were just discussing the benefits of different brands of carpet cleaner. Thanks for the advise Carter, I'll let you know how I get on."
Sam had opened her eyes at this point and went from looking across at Pete, who was staring expectedly at her, up to Jack who's almost black eyes were boring into her soul. Or at least that's how it felt. Jack gave one final small smirk to Sam and a curt nod to Pete before turning on his heel and walking down the aisle. Sam watched him go until her rather pleasant view was interrupted by a not-so-smiley Pete. "Soap, eh?" he said, with a hint of jealousy. "I didn't think that would require someone else's input," he mused clearly irritated, "unless it's mine of course."
Rolling her eyes, Sam looked at him pointedly. "He's my boss, I could hardly ignore him!" Pete turned with a sour look on his face, "you could have actually, I would have if it had been the other way around." Sam looked at his retreating back in exasperation as he went to go find soap. She looked past him just in time to see Jack turning the corner, at the same time as the mother and son walked by. The mother actually stopped and turned back to look at Jack and after getting an eyeful while ignoring her child she caught Sam's eye and raised her eyebrows in an appreciative manner. Gathering her son up she continued on her way leaving Sam to focus on the man in front of her who seemed to have recovered and was smiling while discussing the brands of soap he preferred in Denver.
Not all men can be impressive she thought wistfully.