I don't claim to own or be associated with the show or the production or anything. Just wanted to write this.
Chapter 1-Bad Days
Today had not been a good day. First, he had been startled from a semi-deep sleep by an offworld activation warning and proceeded to fall out of his bunk. Normally, he wouldn't have been so jumpy but he had been having a bizarre nightmare about Dr. Fraiser chasing him down with an enormous needle. He shuddered thinking about it. Or, maybe that was from the cold. Because now, Jack was walking, with a limp he had claimed was the result of the old knee acting up but in reality had happened when he had fallen trying to put BDU's on this morning, in the pouring rain, back towards the stargate.
Everyone was quiet. Tired, cold, annoyed, and quiet. They had spent the day in a village about 3 miles from the gate. It had been an uneventful visit. The people lived simply, knew nothing of the Gou'o'uld, and had nothing even Sam and Jonas could get excited about. So they had left in the late afternoon and less than a quarter of the way to the gate, the downpour had begun.
Even though they'd been walking for upwards of 2 1/2 miles, Jack found himself getting chills. He shook as another went through him and tried to pass it off as him adjusting the pack on his back. Oddly enough, he still felt himself shaking slightly after it was over. At first, he ignored it, but no, he definitely still felt movement. He stopped and realized that it was the ground that was moving. He turned to the rest of his team to find they had much the same reaction as himself. "We have tremors, people. Let's speed it up a little, shall we?"
They quickened their pace and with each step, the tremors seemed to worsen. On reaching the gate, Jack yelled at Carter to dial home. He watched as she had to physically hold the DHD while she pressed the buttons. The wormhole activated; Teal'c and Jonas wasting no time in going through. "Alright, Carter, let's move it." She nodded and started to run up the steps alongside him. At that moment, the earthquake let loose its fury, knocking them both off their feet. The stargate started to shake and to their complete horror, the ground split right at the base. The stargate wobbled, finally falling in the opposite direction. Instinctively, Jack threw himself over Carter before its impact. After a few moments, the earthquake seemed to stop. That only encouraged the sky above to increase the rain that was still falling on them.
Slowly, Jack got up and helped Carter to her feet. They both looked, speechless, at the sight before them. The stargate lay on the ground, wormhole deactivated, partially sinking into the mud. What the hell else can go wrong today??? Judging by Carter's face, Jack wasn't completely sure if he had said that out loud or not.
"Sir, we still might be able to establish a wormhole with the DHD if the power hasn't been disconnected from the stargate."
With a wave of his hand, water flying off his fingertips, he motioned Carter to try it. He watched, holding his breath, as she went to press the red button. She held her hand there, seemingly afraid of what the outcome might be. Pushing down ...nothing happened. Damn't. He let out a ragged breath. This was definitely not a good day.
"I don't understand, Sir. Maybe it's just a connection problem. If I could just..."
"Carter!"
"Yes, sir?!"
"You aren't gonna be able to do a damned thing in this rain."
He looked over to the tree line.
"We'll set up camp over there for now and worry about the gate once this stops."
After setting up an overhead tarp, they worked to set up a tent as it didn't look like the rain was going to let up anytime soon.
Jack was trying hard to not think about what would happen if Carter couldn't get the gate working again. Then, he smirked to himself. Carter could fix anything. Of course she could fix it. It's just, he'd already been stuck on a planet, on two different occasions, and well that was getting a little old.
"Sir," Carter said, breaking the Colonel from his thoughts, "we need to get out of these clothes."
Jack's immediate thoughts on hearing those words were obvious. Carter wasn't looking at him when she said it. Instead, she was searching through her pack. It was then that Jack again realized that they were both soaked to the bone.
Sam had already removed her jacket. It hadn't done much good in protecting her from the rain. Her black shirt was dripping wet and clung to every curve. Her pants hung low, weighed down by the water they had soaked up, showing off the slightest hint of midriff.
"Sir?" Carter said, turning to face him again.
She held up a wad of dry clothing. Somehow they had escaped the onslaught of the rain in her pack.
Hearing her voice, he returned to reality. Grabbing his own pack, he pulled out his extra set of clothes. His had not been as fortunate as Carter's. The only thing that had managed to remain dry were his pants and they were a little damp. Looking up, Carter was in the same predicament, only it appeared her pants were the only thing that hadn't remained dry.
Jack smiled. "Well, together, we have one complete uniform."
Carter set her pants on the top of the tent to dry. Looking at the clothes the colonel held, she agreed, "Yes, sir, it appears as though."
Jack looked around and realized that they didn't exactly have any privacy with which they could change.
"Carter, you go in the tent to change. I'll, um, change out here."
Carter nodded. She looked tired. He could tell she was trying to figure out the stargate problem even now.
Once Carter had zipped up the tent, Jack tried to figure out how he was going to do this. He set the wet clothes from his extra set with Carter's on the top of the tent. Removing his shirt, he threw that on the tent too. Then, he heard a loud "Umph" from followed by a light thud.
He smiled. "Ya alright in there, Carter?"
Having to yell to be heard over the still pouring rain, she shouted, "Yes, sir, I just slipped, that's all."
Despite the situation, Jack chuckled to himself.
Scrunching his face, Jack tried to figure out how he planned to take off his boots, stand in/on them to avoid muddy feet, and take off his pants, while avoiding falling like he had that morning, all the while holding his dry pair in his mouth. He was sure glad Carter couldn't see him right now.
After much effort, and two near falling instances, Jack managed to get into his dry pants.
"Carter, you all done in there?"
"Yes, sir. You can come in whenever you're ready."
Climbing inside, he saw Sam was already in her sleeping bag. Wait, what was he doing calling her Sam? Carter, Carter was in her sleeping bag. Better.
Her eyes widened ever so slightly as he ducked into the tent. For a second, he thought that she was looking at something behind him and stopped. Then, he saw that she was looking at his bare chest.
As if realizing she'd been caught, she looked away. Jack thought of several wise cracks he could use right about now, but decided he probably shouldn't.
(Sam's POV)
Today had been a BAD day. Make that a bad couple of days. She'd been trying to figure out how the device they had retrieved from P3X-739 worked nonstop since they'd returned. Yesterday, she thought she'd had a breakthrough to only be let down...again. This morning, she'd woken up, hearing the unscheduled offworld activation warning going off. She rushed off to see what was going on, barely noticing the odd looks she got along the way. Then, she ran smack into Teal'c, falling to the ground in the process, him not even wobbling. Offering his assistance and apologies, he helped her to her feet.
Raising an eyebrow, Teal'c said, "Major Carter, are you aware that there appear to be several small square shapes on your face?"
Sam's hand shot up to the right side of her face, suddenly aware that she had woken up on her keyboard.
Finally reaching the control room, Sam almost ran into a limping Colonel O'Neill. On seeing her, his face scrunched up in confusion.
Before he could say a word, she raised her hand and with a menacing glare said, "Don't ask!"
A few hours and mishaps later, Sam found herself walking in the pouring rain to the gate, from a village that while friendly was scientifically insignificant. The Colonel had been in a fowl mood all day, adding nothing pleasant to her own. And Jonas, the man just didn't know how to be unhappy. Here they were, having walked 2 1/2 miles in the rain, and he was still smirking to himself about something. The idea of shooting him with her P-90 vaguely crossed her mind.
As if she needed another thing to go wrong today, she then proceeded to trip over a rock, barely catching herself as she flew forward. She started shaking as she tried to steady herself. Wait a second, that wasn't her.
Looking up at the others in front of her, Sam heard the colonel tell them to speed things up. Tremors! Peachy. Just peachy.
By the time they reached the gate, Sam could barely see anything through the sheets of rain falling and the ground was shaking so much she had to grab hold of the DHD to dial out.
Seeing Teal'c and Jonas run through the gate, Sam started up the steps herself when the ground seemed to move right out from underneath her, knocking her flat on her back. For a moment, the breath was knocked out of her and rain fell hard on her face. She sat up, seeing the stargate wobble and lean away from where she was lying.
Pushed back down, Sam heard the gate ripping from its base and hit the ground. It wasn't until the colonel offered her his hand that she realized that he had even been on top of her, protecting her from any debris. A million thoughts raced through her mind as she saw the stargate lying inactive on the ground.
"What the hell else can go wrong today???" The colonel's outburst had shocked Sam out of her thoughts.
"Sir, we still might be able to establish a wormhole with the DHD if the power hasn't been disconnected from the stargate."
He motioned her to do it. Punching in the symbols, she couldn't even tell whether or not they were lighting up, the rain was coming down so hard. She paused, holding in her breath, before she punched the red button. She saw the colonel looking at her, and with a heavy sigh, pressed it down.
Nothing. Not a thing happened. What could be the problem? It could simply be that the power has been disconnected somehow. She could fix that if she could just...
"Carter!"
"Yes, sir?!"
"You aren't gonna be able to do a damned thing in this rain."
Had she been talking out loud? She must have been.
"We'll set up camp over there for now and worry about the gate once this stops."
The Colonel was pointing to the trees just ahead. Sam wanted to object, but taking another look at the gate, knew he was right. If she was really going to be able to do anything, it would be a lot easier if it wasn't raining while she was doing it.
The colonel and herself had set up a tarp above their tent for the night and now she realized just how cold and sopping wet she was. Her jacket had done absolutely no good in keeping her dry so she ripped it off to get the weight off of her. Grabbing her pack, she looked through it for her extra set of BDU's, mentioning to the colonel that he needed to do the same.
Finally finding what she was looking for and realizing that the colonel hadn't said anything, she turned towards him.
"Sir?"
She briefly thought that he may have been looking at her stomach when he grabbed his pack and started looking through it. Her spare shirt and panties were slightly damp but she couldn't say the same for her pants. They were pretty soaked through.
"Well, together, we have one complete uniform."
Sam set her pants on the top of the tent to dry; confused as to what the colonel meant when she looked at his clothes. In one hand he was holding a wet t-shirt; in the other, dry pants.
"Yes, sir, it appears as though."
Sam was just thinking about how they were going to go about changing when the colonel seemed to read her mind.
"Carter, you go in the tent to change. I'll, um, change out here."
She nodded. She was worried about getting home. She wished that this stupid rain would just hold up so she could go look at the damage and hopefully figure it out. She hated not knowing.
Zipping up the tent, she tore off the wet clothes. Realizing she didn't have anything to dry herself off with and she was still dripping wet, Sam reluctantly started to put her dry clothes on anyway. While trying to stay ducked down in the tent and pull up a dry pair of panties on wet skin, she managed to slip and fell flat on her bare bum.
"Ya alright in there, Carter?"
She sighed. Yelling over the rain, she told him she had slipped. She just knew he was laughing at her even though she couldn't hear him. Yep, this had turned out to be one great day.
Crawling into her sleeping bag, Sam realized how much the day had exhausted her. Still, she got knots in her stomach, turning the ideas about how to fix the stargate over and over in her head.
"Carter, you all done in there?"
"Yes, sir. You can come in whenever you're ready."
He unzipped the tent and on bending down, Sam saw that he had no shirt on. Seeing his bare chest shocked her. She didn't exactly know why. It was silly. She's seen him without a shirt on before. Oh crap. He hesitated, looking at her. Feeling the color coming to her cheeks, she turned her head, hoping he'd quit looking at her. Stupid, stupid Carter. That's just great. Looking at your CO's chest. Lovely. And then she saw the slightest little smirk on his lips. She glared at him, though she was sure he didn't see it, as he was trying to get in his sleeping bag. He thought it was funny. And despite herself and this horrible day, she found herself fighting back a smirk of her own.
