Title: Five times Jack woke Sam up 1/5

Author: petite_stars

Rating: PG

Summary: Five times Jack woke Sam up…

Pairing: Sam/Jack friendship to UST to Established S/J (different in each part)

Season: 1 through 10

Author's notes: I couldn't let Sam have all the fun, so now it's Jack's turn to wake Sam up. Thanks again to wanderingsmith for the beta on this part. Feedback is very much loved!

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One (Season One - post Cold Lazarus, before Solitudes)

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Sam Carter had the coolest life.

It had been five months since she had started at the SGC and travelling off world to other planets, exploring the galaxy and shooting bad guys was never going to get old. Their current mission however, had been lower down on the excitement scale; a simple overnight mineral survey. Daniel, who had slid down an embankment on the previous mission and injured his shoulder, hadn't been cleared to go, so it was just herself, Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill.

She'd enjoyed the day, spent most of it in the dirt collecting samples while the colonel tried to entice Teal'c into conversation, rather unsuccessfully. They set up camp north of the gate, at a good vantage point for Sam to do her morning observations on the planet's two suns. The team would scout a little further after Sam had completed her morning research then head back to the SGC at 1400 hours tomorrow.

Now she was on first watch, sitting alert in front of the fire. Colonel O'Neill had already retired to the shared tent while Teal'c was kel'no'reeming on the other side of the fire. He preferred to spend the nights off world outside; Sam suspected he missed the outdoors when on Earth, still very much confined to the base unless accompanied. He also provided the added benefit of a second body on watch; while meditating, Teal'c's observation skills were nonetheless heightened. It was incredible; the tall silent Jaffa was still quite an enigma.

As was Colonel O'Neill; Sam hadn't quite figured him out yet. She'd tried to get access to his file but had only succeeded in finding an extremely censored copy. He had a long history of black ops and the only major detail she had unearthed was that he had been a P.O.W. in Iraq. The knowledge that he'd survived what must had been an arduous ordeal had only made her respect him more; he was an experienced leader and a humorous and charismatic man. If he hadn't been her commanding officer, she would have been attracted to him; since he was her C.O. however, Sam had developed what she had secretly admitted to herself was just a bit of a case of 'hero worship', nothing more than that.

The night was cool, but the fire kept Sam relatively warm; glancing at her wristwatch, she saw it was nearly time for Teal'c to start second watch so she stood up and reluctantly moved away from the warmth and walked the perimeter. By the time she got back, Teal'c was waiting for her, sitting in her previous position near the fire.

"Is all well, Captain Carter?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah Teal'c, it's been quiet," Sam said, yawning, "I'll see you in the morning, have a good watch."

Teal'c nodded at her and Sam unzipped the tent flap, scooting inside, trying not to disturb the colonel who was asleep on the far side. It was only a small tent, just big enough for two sleeping bags with a bit of space between. Before long, Sam was ensconced warmly in her sleeping bag, her gun beside her, drifting off while listening to the crackling fire and the soft sound of the colonel's breathing.

She woke up abruptly to the sound of a loud yell. Flinching, Sam was up and out of her bag, in a defensive posture, her gun in her hands trying to find the source of the commotion. She turned to the colonel for orders, only to find the man thrashing about in his sleeping bag, clearly in the grips of a nightmare. She heard Teal'c unzip their tent and push his upper body inside.

"Captain Carter?" he asked her, urgent concern in his voice, "I heard yelling."

"I think it's just the colonel," Sam relaxed her stance, putting her weapon down and scooting over near O'Neill, her hand over him, "I think he's having a nightmare."

Teal'c frowned evidently not understanding the word, "Nightmare?"

"Er, now is probably not the time to explain," Sam said distractedly as she gripped O'Neill's shoulder and shook him, "Sir?" she called loudly, trying to wake him.

Jack moved lightning fast out his sleeping bag when she touched his shoulder. He grabbed her hands tightly and pushed her backwards, pinning her to the ground, her legs trapped between his own. Sam didn't even have time to yell in protest before one of his hands pulled hers above her head, his other arm rested against her throat, threatening to cut off her air supply.

She bucked underneath his heavy weight, trying to remember the moves her level three hand to hand classes had taught her. But she was no match for the black ops, combat veteran O'Neill, who was not only highly skilled, but much bigger than she was and knew how to throw his weight to block her. His greater muscle mass and surprise attack had given him too much of an upper hand and Sam was nearly defenceless beneath him.

"O'NEILL," Sam saw Teal'c's large arms wrap around the colonel's shoulders, wrenching Jack off her. Still thrashing, the colonel turned to punch Teal'c when he suddenly froze, his fist hovering in the air, his loud gasps the only sound in the tent.

"Teal'c?" His voice sounded tired and confused.

"Yes O'Neill," Teal'c was kneeling inside the tent, his large body did not fit comfortably, and with three of them in the tent there was not much free space.

"Shit, Carter?" Jack turned frantically looking for Sam who was picking herself up off the ground, "Did I…?"

"Fine sir," Sam tried to sound calm and reassuring as she met his eyes evenly. Her heart was pounding and adrenaline rushed through her veins, readying her for attack, it wasn't every day your C.O. had a waking nightmare and tried to throttle you, "You okay sir?"

"Yeah," the colonel pushed passed Teal'c, aiming for the hole in the tent, "Bad dream, go back to sleep."

He left the tent, and the two stunned teammates, behind. Teal'c looked uneasy as he stared after the colonel.

"Is he affected by something on this planet, Captain Carter?" Teal'c looked like he wanted to follow the colonel but Sam knew that that was the last thing her C.O. would want. Her Air Force father had suffered similar nightmares, and she had vague memories of finding him alone in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning; even young as she had been, she'd understood that his body language screamed 'give me space', it was the same tension the colonel's body had now, "Should we return to the SGC for medical aid?"

"No Teal'c," Sam shook her head and tried to explain to the confused Jaffa, "It looked like it was just a nightmare. Uh, a bad dream, like, you relive fears, kinda like a movie when you're asleep."

"Is it customary to wake violently from a nightmare?" Teal'c asked.

"Not always, depends on the person," Sam said, finally feeling her heart return to a normal rhythm as the quiet calm of the tent was restored, "They can be random occurrences or related to a bad experience which stimulates them, sort of your subconscious dealing with trauma…" Sam trailed off; she could only guess at what the colonel dreamt about, black ops and war prisoner aside, he had also lost a son in the most awful way possible.

"I see," Teal'c said, he didn't sound completely reassured but he seemed to trust her, "I have two hours still left on my watch." Teal'c disappeared back out of the tent and Sam busied herself with righting the sleeping bags and their gear which had been tossed around in the struggles.

She rubbed a hand against her throat absently, still feeling the pressure of his arm as Jack had leant his weight down to choke her. She shivered; the colonel knew what he was doing, she hadn't even had the chance to make a noise before he had her pinned, if Teal'c hadn't been there…

"Carter?" As the colonel slipped back inside the small space, Sam pushed their packs to the back of the tent and, kneeling on her sleeping bag, turned to face the colonel, "I… how's your throat?"

"You didn't do any damage sir." Sam said, and it was the truth, he hadn't done any damage. Maybe given her a fright, but she'd had worse in basic training.

"If you want to bring me up on charges I'll…"

"No sir!" Sam said loudly, horrified he would think she would want charges against him, "It was nothing… I should have been more careful in waking you."

The colonel shook his head, "Carter, I assaulted you without reason, you should…"

"No sir," this time Sam put a bit of the bite she had learned from the colonel into her voice, "We can just forget this happened, okay? I won't say anything and neither will Teal'c." Sam knew she could vouch for Teal'c without talking to him, the Jaffa had sworn allegiance to O'Neill and Sam knew he would never give him up.

The colonel looked at her for a long moment and Sam couldn't read the expression on his face, "All right, get some sleep Captain." his voice was just an unreadable as his face.

She shifted back into her sleeping bag, wanting to say something but knowing the colonel wouldn't appreciate her interference. He was an extremely private man, she hadn't even known he had been married with a child before Daniel had told her. They socialised off base on occasion, but mostly it had focused on going to pubs or local haunts that they could take Teal'c to and introduce him to Earth's culture without attracting too much attention. She hadn't really learned much at all about Jack O'Neill, she knew enough about Colonel O'Neill, but the military man was undoubtedly very different when he was away from his rank and in his own space.

She rolled over in her sleeping bag, turning onto her side and facing the colonel. She was surprised to find him sitting on top of the bag, showing no inclination of going back to sleep himself, "Sir, aren't you going to go back to sleep?"

"I will Carter," he said, and this time Sam could hear the tiredness in his voice, "Just give me a minute."

Sam shifted again, uncomfortable. She'd never been good with emotion and men, hadn't had much experience with them in truth; her dad was a typical stoic military man and her only serious relationships had mostly been with Air Force men who had the same 'way of the warrior' approach to emotion.

"Sir, are you…" Sam couldn't help but ask him; he looked tired and beaten, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it, "Okay?"

The colonel turned to look at her and he smiled at her but Sam could see it was forced, "Nothing to worry about Captain, go to sleep."

She spoke her next words softly, "If you need to talk, I… can keep a secret."

"Have no doubt that you can, Captain," the colonel said, his voice genuine, "But I don't do the talking thing. I don't need to. Now go to sleep."

Sam could hear the order in his voice; he hadn't sounded mad, but she could hear the slight 'back off' tone to his words. She closed her eyes, determined to go back to sleep; she would stop pushing, it wasn't her place, he was her C.O., and it wasn't appropriate. She felt a little wary about how much concern and empathy she was feeling for him; she hadn't been this involved with any of her previous C.O.'s. It was just the situation, she told herself, the close quarters and near death experiences had bonded them more closely than would have otherwise occurred. It was completely normal, comradeship and friendship developed through intense situations that tied her to him, exactly as it did the rest of the team. Nothing else.

Sam was almost asleep when she heard the colonel whisper to her softly, "Next time you want to wake me up Captain, chuck a boot at me." His voice was light but Sam knew he meant his words.

She smiled, hearing him rustle around and lay down in his sleeping bag. She relaxed, feeling the events of the night slip away as she gave into the weariness of her body. The colonel was fine, he was a big boy and didn't need his 2IC to hold his hand while he slept, he'd be fine. She listened to the rhythmic sound of his breathing, and the crackle of the fire as she once again drifted off to sleep.

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