Card Trick

"Hey Jack! Whatcha up to?" Daniel asked as he walked over to Colonel O'Neill in the mess hall carrying only a cup of coffee.

"Shh! Geeze Daniel, don't be so loud!" Jack spat at the linguist as he eyed his masterpiece nervously, silently begging it stay standing.

"Sorry Jack. What are you doing?" Daniel asked attentively as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.

"What does it look like Danny-boy? I'm building a house of cards." Jack explained as he added two more cards to the structure with baited breath.

"I can see that. Is there any reason why?" It was impressive to say the least. Jack all ready had three levels and was working on the fourth. Three more levels and he would have it.

"Do I need a reason?" O'Neill sighed in relief as the structure remained standing.

Daniel shrugged, "I guess not. It is you after all." Daniel joked back as he leaned in to get a closer look of the card tower.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack leaned back and for the first time since his teammate sat down, actually looked at him. "Hey! Don't get so close!" He scolded loudly, drawing all the attention in the room.

Daniel sighed and sat back in his chair once more, "Relax Jack. I'm not going to hurt it."

Jack shook his head, "No, you don't understand. I've been at this for over an hour now. Every time I get a decent height someone comes over and knocks it down. This is the highest I've gotten it so far. I want to finish it this time."

"Finish what Colonel O'Neill?" came a burly voice from behind Jack. The older man tilted his head and saw his alien friend Teal'c, and his second in command Samantha Carter.

"Oh! Are you building a card tower Colonel?! It looks great!" Samantha complimented as she sat down between Daniel and Jack; setting her food tray in front of her.

"What is the reason for this 'card tower'?" Teal'c asked as he sat across from Sam also in between Jack and Daniel.

"It's just for fun, Teal'c. No real purpose. Unless you're Jack O'Neill, then its purpose is to give you a heart attack." Daniel joked once again and laughed quietly with Samantha.

The alien studied the structure for a long moment, before reaching out to examine it more closely.

"NO! Teal'c don't!" Jack almost screamed as he reached out and stopped his friend just in time. "It's very delicate. Just don't touch it, okay?" He ended his statement softly and with a half smile as to show his alien friend that he was not mad.

Teal'c withdrew his hand and nodded slightly. "As you wish O'Neill."

Jack nodded and continued for several agonizing minutes assembling the fourth floor. When it was completed he let out a baited breath and admired his work. "Two more floors," he announced quietly, as he had just run a marathon.

Before anyone could even think of something to say, vibrations under foot quieted the room faster than a general walking in.

"What. . ." before Sam could finish her question, the alarms went off and everyone dove under the closest table to them. Hanging on for dear life as pots, pans, dishes and other objects were thrown to the floor from the shaking. It wasn't a bad earthquake, but enough to possibly harm anyone if they were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

After 23 seconds everyone slowly emerged from under their tables and looked around for any lose objects that might still be ready to fall from the quake. "Is everyone okay?" Sam called out and received nods and 'Yes ma'am.' from the whole room. She smiled and turned back to her team. "Everyone's okay in this room. Better check the rest of the mountain though."

Suddenly there was a moaning sound from under their table. They all bent down and saw O'Neill still huddled under the table; his hands over his face.

"Colonel! Are you okay?!" Sam reached out to touch her CO as he sighed and looked at her from under the table.

"It's over. It couldn't have survived that." O'Neill said as he crawled out from under the table and picked up a chair to sulk in.

It took a moment, but they finally realized what he was talking about. "The tower!" Daniel and Sam said simultaneously as they looked over to the table. To everyone's amazement, the tower was still standing!

"There's no way!" Daniel exclaimed which got Jack to raise his head. When Jack saw his tower still standing his jaw touched the floor. "You can say that again, Danny-boy. That's damn near impossible."

"Wow! That's some luck Colonel," Sam said as she leaned on the table. As she did so, the tower came down faster than anyone could follow. A thick silence blanketed the room as the members of SG1 stared in awe.

"CARTER!"

-End

Thanks for reading! XD I'm so sorry about the delay with the other stories that I have yet to finish. It's been hectic the last few months. I just registered for classes at my new University (Cleveland State University)! I'm so excited. I can't wait for August 25th! But before then I have to take the ACT and that's just for school. I still have home life, friends and misc. shit to take care of. It's just been a very busy summer. So I apologize once more for the delay. I will be finishing the other stories, it'll just take a little more time. I appreciate your continued patience. Have a great summer everyone!
OH! R&R please!! XDDD

I own nothing. This is purely fan made and is not for profit.