A quick little one shot that popped into my head as I was procrastinating from exam study. Set just after S4_E01: 'Small Victories'.
Enjoy!
It wasn't often that Jack lost track of his 2IC.
This evening, however, was one of those rare times.
It had been an eventful two weeks, beginning with the destruction of Thor's ship and the very real probability that the three of them were going to die aboard the alien vessel. After yet another near-miss on a Russian submarine, the four team members had ended up gathered at the Colonel's house.
He still hadn't managed to ask Carter about how exactly she came to the conclusion that the only way to save the Asgard was to blow up their brand new ship. One ostensibly named after himself.
It was definitely going to take him a while to forgive Carter for that one.
Daniel and Teal'c sat outside, chatting idly about the new enemy they were bound to meet again. In Daniel's words, it made the Goa'uld look like children's toys next to this new version of techno-bug. Arrogance they could handle, but a technological enemy immune to conventional weapons was slightly more terrifying.
Carter had gotten up from their little campfire in Jack's backyard and he hadn't seen her since.
He figured she probably didn't want to be reminded of their near-miss tonight.
Jack made his way through his house, checking her usual haunts whenever she came over. She was, apparently, nowhere to be found. That left the roof.
It was certainly not out of place to find her there, watching the stars as her mouth moved in silent calculations; her brain working in overdrive even when she was supposed to be resting.
Just as Jack was convincing himself it was too cold for her to be up there, a noise from the back bedroom drew his attention.
'Carter?' Jack pushed the door open, peering into the room.
Well, he found her.
Carter was balanced precariously on a chair, standing on the balls of her feet as she reached up to the ceiling. Her jeans hugged low on her hips, and her pale blue sweater had ridden up slightly, exposing an expanse of skin Jack was studiously trying to ignore.
It was the single sexiest, and intriguing thing Jack had seen in a while. And that was including Carter beaming into the middle of an Asgard cargo hold armed to the hilt and sporting a weapon nearly half her size.
'Carter?' Jack tried again, this time effectively getting her attention.
'Colonel!'
His entry startled her, and she whirled around quickly, the momentum forcing her to step down from the chair quickly as she lost her balance.
'Whatcha doing?'
She looked suitably contrite. 'Uh, well,' she started, trailing off as she pulled the blue sweater down to cover her skin, fidgeting as she tried to fob off his questioning glance.
Jack stood still, cocking his head to the side and doing his best Teal'c eyebrow impression.
'Cassie mentioned that she really wished she could see the stars when she slept here. So I may have purchased three thousand glow-in-the-dark stars to stick all over your roof?'
Huh. So that's what she had been doing.
'Three thousand you say?'
She grimaced, fiddling with the packet in her hand. 'I'm sorry, I know I should have asked first. But Cassie was pretty insistent, and I wanted to do something to surprise her.'
Jack smiled and waved his hand dismissively. 'It's fine Carter.'
He saw her relax as the tension eased from her shoulders.
'I hope you don't mind,' Carter spoke, gesturing to the array of tiny little stickers already on the roof.
'It's been a long time since I had glow-in-the-dark-stars in my house,' Jack shrugged. 'And to be honest Carter, I'd prefer that to you cutting a hole in my roof for some kind of crazy, Carter-enhanced observatory.'
She ducked her head and smiled.
'Need some help?' he offered.
'Sure. I'm pretty sure there are about two and a half thousand to go,' she said lightly, throwing him a bag of stars that had been sitting on the bed.
Jack began to work from the other side of the room, pushing the small pile of Cassie-sized clothing out of the way so he could get into the corner properly. They worked silently for a while, listening to the slight breeze rustle the trees outside.
'Hey, Carter?' he spoke finally, turning around to find her perched dangerously on the chair again.
'Sir?'
'Have you ever noticed that these little rockets look exactly like – '
'Like what, Sir?' she cut him off quickly, spinning around once again on the chair.
Well, he was going to say they looked a lot like something decidedly rude, but the glare he was currently facing forced him to change his mind.
On the other hand, she was thinking exactly the same thing.
And that thought went to parts of his mind that stored things in locked boxes that he should definitely not be opening.
Jack cleared his throat. 'Nothing,' he muttered, getting back to sticking a whole heap of stars in one corner that would certainly not pass the Carter precision test.
They were, apparently, supposed to look just like the night sky.
He could practically feel the burn from her glare radiating behind him.
He heard her huff, before a slight thump on the carpet told him she had stepped down from the chair.
'Sir,' she said, an air of firmness about her words that was definitely not appropriate for a subordinate. She pushed her way past him, reaching up to yank several stars down from the ceiling.
It was quite literally a stretch, as without the chair Carter was up on the full extent of her toes, grazing the ceiling with the slightest touch of her fingers. Their height difference without the combat boots was noticeable as she stepped back down, glancing up at him with a sense of frustration. He was waiting for the 'you're not doing it right!' to come out of her mouth.
All that was missing was the little pout.
He watched as her mouth opened, and closed quickly, as if she realised in that moment how closely she was actually standing to him.
The walls they'd so carefully constructed in the last few months were getting dangerously close to crumbling down.
He could feel the tension radiate from her body, his normally decisive Major now frozen as Sam struggled to work out which way to run. He knew he should step back, give her space to move. But his feet stood still, eyes drinking in the way she stood before him, back pressed up against the wall, blue eyes shining bright.
He was beginning to realise that he knew this woman far more intimately than he should.
Like how he knew she loved candles, but hated how they burnt unevenly leaving one side of the candle with untouched wax and a wick so close to the bottom it was impossible to light. How she could never sit through to the end of a movie, because she'd think of some device and disappear into her study to make the calculations.
How she wore the same pair of socks around her house in a fluffy blue, because it reminded her of autumn and that was her favourite time of year.
But mainly, he knew how she'd avoid his gaze studiously and pretend to be completely focused on something else, the blush creeping up her neck the only thing giving her away.
He wasn't going to admit to himself that he found himself staring at her long enough to wait for the reaction.
This thing between them was getting harder to ignore.
And it was going to get them into trouble one day soon.
'I should probably check on Daniel and Teal'c,' he offered, waiting for her to take the opportunity he was presenting.
She swallowed thickly, blue eyes piercing in the dim light of the glowing stars. Her tongue came out to lick her top lip slightly.
Jack thought it was most certainly breaking some sort of rule between them; to stare this intently at each other and not move.
'You should,' she whispered, moving only slightly to take the bag of stars from his hand.
She avoided touching his fingers.
He cleared his throat and stepped back, feeling oddly warm and uncomfortable.
The delicate lines of her face reflected the light softly, a complete contrast to the sharpness in her eyes and the determined, hard line of her mouth.
It was good to know she was finding this as difficult as he was.
Jack moved toward the door, listening as Carter all but ran from her place in the corner to somewhere far safer.
When he turned back, she was back on the chair again, pale skin exposed dangerously close to the line of her jeans.
This time though, he could most definitely see the blush creeping up her neck.
Fin.