The One With The Fight

Chapter One: Fury

A/N: So this was supposed to be a little more-than-drabble-less-than-story, but then I just kept writing and writing and this little gemmy thing was born. It features what I believe is the most real conversation I've ever written between Sam and Jack, but that doesn't rear its head until the last chapter. So, I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

Sam was furious. Angrier than she could ever remember being in her entire life; and certainly angrier than she'd ever, ever been at the man squaring off in front of her. She could not believe what he had done, let alone the things he'd said! Just who the hell did he think he was anyway?

"Carter, I am your commanding officer!" Well. Guess that answered that then.

"I understand that, sir." Her voice was low, full of barely restrained anger as she glared at his expressionless face. God damn it, why was his face always so expressionless? "What I don't understand is-,"

"Sam." Daniel warned, trying to keep what little peace there had been.

"Daniel!" Sam threw up her hand, not looking away from her CO. "What I don't understand, sir, is why you think that gives you the right-," She was cut off for the second time in as many seconds.

"Because, Major, I am your commanding officer. I feel like we've done this before." He made a "really?" gesture with his hands, making it perfectly clear he was not at all mystified as to his sense of déjà-vu. "And this is how it's going to be."

"So that's it?" Her voice was dangerously close to a shout.

"That's it." Jack shot back, eyes daring her to push him—to question him again.

"Sir, you had no right-!"

"The very fact that you're calling me "sir" gives me the right, Carter!" His fists clenched at his sides, muscles tightening as he fought the instinct to reach out—to neutralize. He had never seen his major this upset and with that anger directed fully at him, he wasn't really sure what to do. Yes, okay, so he may have overstepped bounds the eensiest bit when he had told the rebel leaders that Major Carter was not, in fact, a warrior, but their…um…slave.

But, hey! In his defense, the rebels had been ready to tear all of SG-1 limb from limb when Carter had unwittingly stepped in to negotiate some of their alliance terms. And it had been Daniel's idea anyway! Not necessarily the word "slave"…and maybe not the quick jerk he'd administered to Carter's hair to show dominance…

Well, yeah. He agreed that she had every right to be mad. Angry, furious, livid, murderous…whatever. But now that they were all safely back on base, and he had sworn they would never go back to that planet, the subject needed to be dropped. End of story.

"I did what I did for the good of the team." Jack half-turned, satisfied that his part in the argument was now settled.

"With all due respect, sir, but are you serious?" Her voice had risen another couple of octaves and Jack saw Daniel flinch.

"Carter, you do know that putting in that little qualifier doesn't actually absolve you of showing respect?" Jack could hear his inner voice of reason—which sounded alarmingly like Daniel—telling him he needed to shut up immediately and start doing damage control. Carter didn't know the full extent of the reasons behind his chauvinistic actions. She didn't know that-

"Colonel O'Neill, you were way out of line."

"Excuse me?" Now it was his voice's turn to rise. She had sounded way too much like the general just then.

"You had no right to identify me as the "team's slave" and you certainly had no right to grab me-,"

"I did not "grab" you." He used air quotes before he realized that now was probably not the best time to do so.

"Stop cutting me off!" This time, Sam did yell. She yelled so loudly she managed to create an echo in the entirely concrete, fully furnished rec room. After the disastrous mission, she had grabbed Teal'c and asked—told—him to spar with her for a few; anything to alleviate the fury coursing through her veins. It was there that Daniel and the colonel had found her, disheveled, exhausted, but no less outraged.

Silence reigned supreme for a few seconds as the rest of Sam's team stared at her with something akin to shock. To her surprise, it was Teal'c who broke the silence. To her even greater surprise, he picked a side.

"I do not believe O'Neill acted out of line, Major Carter."

Completely dumbfounded, Sam turned open mouthed to her oldest, and supposedly wisest, friend. "Teal'c?" It was more of a splutter than an actual word.

"Thank you, T! See?" Jack slapped Teal'c on the back, hoping that this would be enough to take the steam out of his major.

"Now, hold on a minute." Daniel stepped forward and Sam could have kissed him, she really could have. "Sam isn't out of line, either."

Sam's head jerked as she said, "Either?" at the same time Jack said, "Why not?"

Blinking rapidly behind his glasses, Daniel strategically sidled in between the two officers, hoping that lack of a direct path of anger would help dissipate it. "I understand where you were coming from Jack, I'm sure Sam does too—," The derisive half-muffled snort behind him indicated that Sam most certainly did not, but Daniel ignored her for the moment. "But you took it too far. The slave thing was questionable, the list of, ah, duties she attends to probably unnecessary, but you never should have laid a hand on her."

"O'Neill was merely asserting his dominance over what the rebel faction needed to see as his property." Teal'c was looking directly at the wall on the opposite side of the room, refusing to let any of his friends' expressions sway his opinion. He had a particular weakness for Major Carter, but, in this case, he needed to view her as a fellow warrior instead of as a sister. "He did what was necessary to ensure our successful escape."

"I don't believe this!" Sam threw up her hands, ripping off the head guard she'd been wearing for her sparring matches. She'd be damned if she was going to spar—hell, do anything—with Teal'c for a very long time. Throwing the guard across the room, she almost smirked when all three men flinched at the sound it made as it hit the weights.

"Sam, wait," Daniel held up his hands like he was trying to soothe a wild animal. And, looking at her, he realized that was almost exactly what he was doing. Sam was dressed all in black—black sweatpants, black tank top, black tennis shoes—her skin was flushed and slick with sweat, her recently exercised muscles standing out in sharp relief. Her hair was wild from the head guard, but instead of making her look ridiculous, Daniel was reminded of the mugshots from those 'Most Dangerous Criminals' shows. "I think we all agree that Jack went too far, but we also all know that if he didn't do what he did," He looked meaningfully at all three. "We would not be standing here discussing this. Discussing anything." When nobody moved, Daniel threw his hands out, palms up. "Because we'd be dead."

"Yeah, got that Daniel." Jack waved the archaeologist down, still-unreadable eyes boring into his second in command's. "Did you, Carter? Get that, I mean?" Daniel dropped his head into his hands and got out of the way; he wouldn't even try to help Jack if the man insisted on "poking the bear."

Sam didn't respond; instead she turned away, running rigid fingers through her feral hair. Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c took the momentary reprieve to all glance at each other, wondering just what the hell they were supposed to do next. Sam was generally the most level-headed out of all of them all things considered…she was also turning out to be the most terrifying.

When it became clear that neither Teal'c nor Daniel was going to step in again, Jack rolled his eyes. "Look, Carter, I know you aren't happy-,"

"Happy?" Sam whirled around, eyes bluer than he'd ever seen them before. He briefly wondered if anger could actually intensify eye color, but quickly realized a wandering mind was not the best way to defend himself. "I swear to God, Colonel, if I thought it would do any good I would have you up on charges of gross misconduct."

"Sam!" Daniel's voice was sharp, but went unheard.

Jack had been irritated before. But now? Now he was angry. "Gross misconduct? Major, are out of your goddamned mind?"

"I don't know, sir! You might've jostled my mind around a bit when you grabbed me!" Ripping off her gloves for emphasis, she threw those aside, before turning to give the full force of her ire to her commanding officer. Somewhere deep, deep down inside of her, she knew that this right here was a court-martialable offense fifty times over. All he had to do was give the word and she would be arrested so fast, her head would spin. A very small, very tiny part of her desperately wished that someone would stop her.

She was too far gone to stop herself.

"Oh, please, Carter, you're overreacting." Jack fought to keep from rolling his eyes. He'd barely touched her, really. Just reached up and gave a little tug on her hair. Nothing to write home about.

"Overreac-!" Sam cut herself off abruptly and her hands flew to her temples, as if that would hold in her rage. Like that would keep her sane. "Leave, sir."

"What?" At least two of them spoke, maybe all three, but Sam didn't look up to check.

"Get out. I can't look at you right now."

"Don't you think you're being a bit of a drama queen?" Jack raised an eyebrow, that annoying little Daniel-voice nagging at him. 'You know you screwed up. You know you screwed up big and now you're trying to deflect. Can't let anyone see that tough ol' Jack is embarrassed or apologetic…no way, no how.'

Without thinking, Sam took a quick step forward, arms automatically dropping into a defensive guard. How dare that man! If he was surprised, he didn't show it. "What, you want to hit me, Carter? Go ahead." He spread his arms out, leaving a wide open target. "If that will get your head out of your ass, go for it!" He hadn't spoken to anyone like this since he was head of training at the Academy for a brief stint. And he certainly never would have thought that those words and that tone would ever be directed at his major. Never. Not at Carter.

She was seething. Her teeth were bared and her chest heaved as she regarded the man in front of her, barely noticing that Daniel had a hand pressed against Teal'c's chest, stopping him from getting in the middle. Her CO didn't move a muscle as he watched her watch him. Sam was no bright-eyed optimist, she held no naïve ideals about love and honor. She had long ago accepted that her feelings for her commanding officer were so far outside the parameters of appropriate that not even NORAD would be able to track them.

But that didn't mean to she had to agree with him, cow-tow to him, or even like him. In fact, she felt that she had every right to really not like him and not just because of this mission. Five years…five years! Five years and nothing. They were still stuck in an eternal stalemate and by God, if she couldn't have him then she was damn well going to hate him.

"No, sir." Sam sucked in a breath as she lowered her arms, blood pounding in her ears.

Jack didn't say anything for a long moment, knowing that the tension in the room was reaching either its breaking point or its recession. He and his second regarded each other, expressions stony. Never in a million years had either one of them ever thought they were capable of this.

"Well, good." Jack said. And the tension snapped.

Launching herself forward, Sam grabbed the front of her CO's shirt and, nearly lifting him off of the ground, shoved him against the wall. Jack blinked at the stars that exploded in front of his eyes, not really believing that what had just happened had actually just happened. For what felt like an eternity, the two officers glared at each other, breathing hard. Then, Jack wrapped his long fingers around Sam's and, breaking her hold on his shirt, spun and slammed her against the wall.

Eyes wide, Sam stared hard at the man who had her pinned against the wall. She hadn't ever been afraid of him, not once in the five years she'd served with him. Not after everything she'd seen him do, not after anything she'd ever read that he'd done. And she'd be damned if she started now.

Every inch of his hard body was pressed against hers and, knowing that this should absolutely not be turning her on in anyway whatsoever, Sam twisted her hips, pleased when he grunted. Whether it was in pain or pleasure, she didn't know, and she didn't pause to find out. The second his grip loosened the slightest bit, Sam pushed forward, the heel of her foot jabbing into the back of his knee, sending him crashing to the mat on his back.

Unfortunately for her, his reflexes were not nearly as slow as he wanted people to believe. Reaching out with both hands, he grabbed her waist in a vice grip and took her down with him. As though through a fog, he could hear Daniel and Teal'c both shout out, but neither moved to stop the brawl.

They landed—hard. Sam's chin bounced off of Jack's sternum, the blow reverberating through her skull and rattling her teeth. They each scrabbled for the upper hand, yet neither went for the obvious choice of just straight up hitting. Instead, Jack grabbed for Carter's wrist, putting her in a textbook arm bar. Sam bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out and only tasted blood for her effort. Planting both of her feet on the ground, she pushed herself up enough to twist her body, driving her free elbow down into his stomach.

But she found she couldn't put her whole weight into it. Something internal stopped her at the last second, the blow glancing off of his side instead of causing any actual damage. Still, it was enough to get him to let go of her wrist and Sam whirled again, straddling his hips and twisting. Jack reached up and grabbed the straps of her tank top and—consequently—her sports bra and flung her off of him, using her momentum and his weight to flip their positions. Now she was on the bottom.

"Carter-," He bit out, the rest of his sentence lost when she moved suddenly.

Arching her spine as much as she could, Sam brought her knee up, executing the first truly dirty move of the fight. She watched as her commanding officer screwed up his face against the pain, but his grip didn't relent. She should've known better. Trying a different tactic, Sam went back to basic psychology.

She shifted her knee quickly, like she was going to jab him again. He didn't move completely out of the way, but he shifted just enough for Sam's knee and foot to squeeze out from beneath him. Muscles she hadn't used in at least a decade screamed in protest as she stretched up and hooked her knee over Jack's shoulder. His eyes widened and Sam knew that, for as long she lived, she would never get that look out of her head.

His eyes clouded and she suddenly understood why he had the reputation for being the most lethal, dangerous son of a bitch on that base. But it wasn't just anger that flashed across his face; it was heat, and surprise, and desire, and pride, and something else that she couldn't name. Not that she tried very hard.

Suddenly afraid, a feeling she hadn't thought was possible with the amount of anger and adrenaline coursing through her, a cry tore from Sam's lips. Using her leverage, she wrenched her back as she twisted, throwing him off of her.

The silence was deafening. The two officers lay on their back, breathing hard and blinking away the sweat that had dripped in their eyes. Well, most of it was sweat. Sam could feel the slightest prickling at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to give in. Not now, not in front of him.

It was Jack who broke the silence. "Daniel. Teal'c. Go." Sam was annoyed that his voice didn't sound out of breath, or any different than usual at all, actually.

Half expecting an argument, Jack was surprised when the two non-battling members of SG-1 left the room without a word, the door closing firmly behind them. That had been too easy. They were probably waiting just outside the door, listening for anything that would warrant their speedy return.

The only sound in the room for long time was their breathing. Jack could feel his heart rate slowly returning to normal, the blood roaring in his ears now for an entirely different reason. He had just gotten in a fight with Carter. He wasn't sure what surprised him more; that it had happened or that it had taken this long.

He wasn't a stupid man, regardless of what he sometimes wanted people to think. He had known for a long time that despite all of the professionalism in the world, this…thing…between him and Carter was going to have to come to a head at some point. Granted, he'd sort of seen the release going a little…differently…but, hey, maybe things could go back to normal after this. They'd been wonky for awhile now, probably ever since that damned za'tarc thing. Or when they'd had their memories stamped. But, let's not forget that whole Jolinar disaster and, oh yeah, that time when he'd had to kill her.

Okay, so they were screwed six ways from Sunday.

"Feel better?" He asked, once he was certain she wasn't going to attack him again. Not that he hadn't invited it, of course.

Sam didn't answer for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and ragged. "No, sir."

Jack sighed and nodded, knowing that she couldn't see him. If he was honest, he did know why he'd taken that mission as far as he had; he was angry with her. Had been for a quite some time. He was angry and he'd seen an opportunity and his mouth and body had acted without his consent. He had wanted to make her just as angry as he was.

What he hadn't counted on was the fact that she was, apparently, already incredibly angry with him.

He didn't need to be an astrophysicist to know that two plus two makes four.

Throwing propriety and caution to the wind, Jack let one of his hands fall to the mat, palm up, inches from his major's. He apparently did, however, need to be an astrophysicist to understand that whole 'time relativity' thing because the next sixty seconds felt like an eternity.

Not really expecting her to accept his olive branch, he nearly cried out in surprise when her fingers wrapped around his, squeezing slightly. He squeezed back and together they lay on the garish blue mat, staring up at the ceiling, not needing to say anything.

"Sir?"

Or not.

"Carter, at this point, I think the 'sir' is void."

"I'm not going to apologize."

"I'm not going to ask you to."

Sam blew out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She had just assaulted her commanding officer. Knocked him flat on his back. If this had been a training scenario or a physical evaluation she would be over the moon with her performance—thrilled that she'd managed to, sometimes, get the better of an officer much more experienced than she. And one who certainly outclassed her in weight and strength.

But not him. They were a team; she was his second in command. There was supposed to be some semblance of respect between them and she had just blown that idea right out of the water. But why wasn't he racing to go write her up? Maybe she'd actually hurt him and he was just waiting until he regained the use of his faculties?

Doubtful.

As though reading her thoughts, Jack squeezed her hand once, then sat up and pulled her with him. Turning to face her commanding officer, she searched his eyes for some clue as to what he was thinking. She couldn't remember ever being this close to him, but still, nothing in his expression gave him away.

Her chest brushed against his as he reached out and took her other hand, surprised to feel how much she was shaking. Jack knew a part of it was from the inevitable adrenaline-crash, but a part of him hoped she felt the same fear that he did at being so close to each other. He took a slow step forward and she matched him, taking a step back. Jack kept pushing her until her back pressed against the wall, forcing her chin to tilt up to maintain eye contact.

He could feel every inch of her as his gaze roved over her face. He felt her doing the same and knew that, without a doubt, this was a turning point in their relationship. Of course, there were upwards of four billion possible directions for it to turn towards… but, they were still on base. Still colonel and major.

Still royally screwed.

TBC

A/N: I wanted to try to break this up so you guys would have less to slog through, but I really didn't want to break the tension. Hopefully that was okay! Please R and R!