Major Samantha Carter looked up from the computer console before her when she heard someone walk into the control room from the hallway beyond. Immediately spying the interloper, she scanned his appearance, taking him in from head to toe.
"Excuse me, George…"
Her jaw fell slack.
What on earth is he doing?
Why is he in street clothes?
And just what the hell is he thinking calling the General, George?
She opened her mouth to speak, to put words to the questions that were plainly written on everyone's face, only to have it asked for her.
"Colonel, what are you doing out of uniform?"
Colonel O'Neill looked at his watch.
What? Was he in a rush or something?
"Handing you my resignation," he replied perfectly calmly – too calmly – as he turned toward her.
Her eyes widened and went back and forth between the General and the Colonel before she propelled herself to her feet. She couldn't take this anymore. What the hell was he doing?
She stood up, staring at him, watching him stare at his watch and following his gaze there. "You're resigning? What for?"
Why was his watch so damned captivating, anyway? It was just a watch….
"So I can do… this."
His hands came up to frame her face and she could feel her heart pound heavily against her chest.
What was he doing?
He couldn't be doing what she thought he was going to do.
There was no way.
They were military. It was against the regs.
NO WAY.
But he'd resigned.
Just now.
Hammond is standing not three feet away.
He tilted his head and moved in closer.
Oh, my God.
He was.
He was going to.
Oh, my God.
She stood there, frozen.
Hammond was standing not three feet away, for crying out loud!
Oh, yeah, definitely been spending too much time around him.
His lips touched hers and she felt herself falling deeply into the whirlwind of thoughts and sensations that flooded her.
His lips on hers.
Her body responded automatically to his touch, like it had been waiting forever for just this moment.
His tongue gently, hesitantly, traced her lips – almost as if he were nervous of what her reaction might be.
Her hands spread out slightly at her side, she wanted to touch him, craved to feel him beneath her fingers, but they were in the middle of the control room, surrounded by people. Her hands held back, resisting the urge to move up and envelop him yet her lips parted for him before her mind could scream at her.
Hammond was less than three feet away!
Her superior officer was less than three feet away, still holding the paper that was her now-former Commanding Officer's letter of resignation.
All the while she stood here firmly in his grasp involved in the most passionate kiss she could ever remember.
Aside from that one time in the locker room when she'd been infected with the broca virus...
And then suddenly, she wasn't standing anymore. Not completely, anyway.
His arms encircled her. Her skin tingled slightly in response to his touch as her mind and world reeled.
Even with her eyes closed she could feel Hammond's gaze on the two of them. Her heart clenched at the thought but nothing could stop her from eagerly responding. Her right hand wound its way around Jack's neck, delighting that even if only for a moment she could think of him as Jack.
Her left arm looped under his right and held tight to his shoulder, making sure that the hold his mouth had on hers stayed firm. Finally clutching at him with her hands, feeling his muscles bunch under his shirt as he supported her weight and held him to her, she didn't want to let go for anything.
God, she wanted this moment to last forever …
She blinked again.
What on earth is he doing? Why is he looking at me like that?
"What are you smiling at?"
He seemed as if he were broken out of a pleasant daydream and she shifted her body, a little curious to just what may have been going through his mind.
"Nothing…"
Uh huh.
She shifted the papers in front of her. She'd known him four years too long to believe that that was true for even a second.