Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/1149331.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/M Fandom: Stargate SG-1 Relationship: Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill Character: Sam Carter, Jack O'Neill Additional Tags: Fluff and Humor, Episode: s04e06 Window of Opportunity, Time Loop, One Shot Stats: Published: 2014-01-24 Words: 1329 Let the World Stop
by iblamethenubbins
Summary
Sam keeps having the same brilliant idea.
Notes
In Miss Parker's AU version of Window of Opportunity, Sam convinces Jack to take advantage of the situation. I kept playing with the idea of Sam going to him over and over again, and then this happened.
Bethanyactually once again beta-read and I can't thank her enough. This work was inspired by The Short Straw by missparker
Knock knock.
Jack sighs and waits for the inevitable.
"Sir, can I have a word with-"
"Carter, I'm exhausted!" he shouts back.
"Sir?" Carter asks, letting herself into Daniel's lab and closing the door behind her.
"Give me a break, will ya?" Jack replies. "Look, I tried to do the right thing, I really did. But that never worked. Well, it did a few times and then-and then I gave in. And it was great, don't get me wrong. Heavenly, even. But the thing about time loops is that…they keep looping! And looping and looping and…can I have, like, a couple off? Just to recover?"
Carter looks stunned. "Sir, are you telling me that we have…that we already…?"
"Yes, Carter. Yes," he says, dropping his forehead on his arms.
"Oh."
Sam pauses for a second. "All the way?"
Jack raises a finger at her. "I did try to stop it."
Sam doesn't need to ask any further. She can see in his face that he truly doesn't have any energy left in him.
She tightens her fists and looks away. "Dammit."
Jack looks up, only mildly surprised at her reaction.
"So…more than once, huh?"
"You had VERY convincing arguments."
"Did I?"
"I'm telling ya."
"Such as…?"
He only needs to close his eyes to still feel her body pressed against him, her mouth gaining control over his, her fingers tangled in his hair, her soft curves awakening his senses all at once…
"Just, forget about it, okay? Not gonna happen."
"How many times?" she insists. She still looks angry and disappointed, but there's nothing he can do about it. He's too tired.
"About, uh, five times? Give or take."
"Dammit", she says again, under her breath. She sighs heavily and then walks toward the desk where he's sitting. "So, you're saying that there's absolutely no way now."
He shakes his head. "Have some compassion."
She nods. "Right. Fair enough."
She sits herself on top of the desk and turns to look at him. "So, how was it?"
"Carter…really?"
"But, sir! If you can't even... the least you can do is fill me in. It's only fair."
Jack realizes he really doesn't have an easy way out of this. "Fine. We did it a couple of times here."
"On Daniel's desk?" she asks, jumping off it.
"Well, um," he mutters, "kinda, yes." They had managed to stay on the desk most of the time, but then things got out of hands, both times. A great side effect of time loops is, you don't need to clean up after yourself. Daniel wouldn't have appreciated them smashing his precious artifacts in their frenzied state.
"Oh come on, be specific." She forgets to add the "sir" at the end, but he doesn't even notice at this point.
"Jesus, Carter! This is hard. And weird. And did I mention hard?"
"Okay, okay. Sorry. Then...where else?" she asks, sitting on top of the desk again.
She looks so entertained now. Jack imagines her munching on popcorn while he relates to her all their sexual endeavors. It is weird.
"In the showers."
"Oh, really?" She looks impressed.
"Yup. Your idea," he smiles, remembering how her wet and soapy skin had felt under his hands, the hot water making her cheeks flush, her eyes shine…
For a moment she looks like she's going to say "dammit" again, but then she recomposes herself. "Okay, that's three. Where else?"
"In the elevator."
"Wait, what? Why?"
"Well, again, your idea. You grabbed me in the corridor and pushed me inside. It was a really good strategy, I have to say. It's nearly impossible to say no to you when you want something, you know that?"
She looks more smug by the minute. "Go on."
"The locker room," he says, and before she can ask, he adds, "for old times' sake."
"Ha." Now it's her turn to be embarrassed. "Your idea?"
"Oh yeah," he says proudly. "Shame you didn't have that little tank top on. But it still worked."
She smiles, despite herself, and nods pensively. "So…"
"So?"
"You-we...haven't used our private quarters yet? Either of them?"
"Funnily enough, no."
She looks at him, raising her eyebrows, a tiny smile on her lips.
"Nuh-uh. No. I said this is it, Carter."
"This is it? I thought you said you just wanted a couple of loops off."
"Yeah. I did say that. But shouldn't we try to get us out of this mess, at some point?"
"Just one more," she says.
Jack starts to shake his head, but she gets off the desk, goes around it and stands in front of him.
"I'm not looking for anything this time, sir."
She offers him her hands and after a moment of hesitation, he takes them, lifting himself up.
"I promise."
She leads him outside the lab by the hand and then lets him go. "You said you needed rest, right?"
He nods.
"Then, let's rest."
And her voice is so soothing and so inviting, but also commanding and confident, and so damn convincing that he just follows her, in a daze, all the way to her private quarters.
Once inside, she takes his hand again and leads him to the bed. She pulls the covers down, climbs in and then pats the space beside her with her hand.
He is so tired, the thought of just snuggling with Carter in her bed seems, in that moment, the most tempting and welcome activity he can dream of.
He lies on his back and she scooches herself on to his side, shifting one leg over his hip, one hand resting on his chest. He hears her breathing in deeply, to take in his scent, and then he sees her smiling, pulling her body even closer to him. He wraps one arm around her shoulders and buries his nose in her hair. Finally he lets himself relax.
If only he could stop this loop, his whole life even, at this precise moment.
"I'm sorry, Sam."
She lifts her head and looks at him.
"What for?"
"I wasn't strong enough. I ruined everything." She starts protesting, but he continues. "I had this grand idea in my head. This perfect image to hold on to. That when we finally got together-"
"When?" she interrupts, her eyes shining.
"Yes. I do believe we will have a 'when'. And I wanted it to be special and forever, for both of us. I ruined it."
"No, sir, it was me. And I am sorry I don't remember any of it. But, to be honest, I'd do it again, if I could."
"I know."
"I wish I could say I'm sorry, but.…" She stops and buries her face into his chest, making a sound he doesn't expect. Is she crying? Please, let her not be crying.
He looks down. No, she's trying not to giggle. Thank God.
"It did sound like we had a pretty good time," she finally says.
He grins. "We so did."
"Just, promise me something".
"What?"
"Promise you will tell me, one day. If…when the time comes."
"You'll hate me, Carter."
"I won't. Okay, maybe at first. But I'd still want to know. Everything. Even this."
"I'm not sure it's-"
"I can't promise you, because I can't," she interrupts. "But I know, I just know that I'll understand, eventually. Also, I will probably guess it soon enough."
"Yeah, about that. It's gonna be hell trying to keep it from you. You have a way of…seeing things."
"That's why I'll need you to tell me. I'm gonna wreck my head trying to figure out what it is you're keeping from me, so you better be straight up about it and confess all your sins."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Glad we have that sorted."
She smiles and rests her head on his shoulder again. "So long as we have our 'when' one day," she says in a whisper.
"You bet."