Synopsis: Sam doesn't do girl talk very well, but that's ok, Jennifer Keller is bright enough to read between the lines.

Notes: Takes place after the episode 'Trio'. I don't even like the character of Keller. Go figure why I put her in a story.

Thanks to Julia (la_tante on LJ) for the beta.

Girl Talk

Jennifer Keller walked into Colonel Carter's office with a forbidding look on her face. It was business as usual on Atlantis. Work continued, men and women came and went as their duties began and ended. There was only one thing amiss, and Samantha Carter knew it was up to the expedition's CMO to rein it, her, in.

"Don't say it," Sam said with a sigh. She didn't look up from the file she had open currently.

"Then you already know what I'm going to say." Keller crossed her arms over her chest and walked further into the room.

"That I shouldn't be up and back to work so soon." She knew someone out in the control room had turned her in.

"So why are you?"

Sam finally looked up at the younger woman. "I was going crazy."

"And work is going to keep your mind off the pain?"

"There's no pain." Sam shot her CMO a lopsided grin. "Your drugs work too well."

Sam heard the younger woman's soft snort of disapproval and then noticed Keller's eyes sweep across the desk behind her.

"Which one's your Washington guy?"

Sam's eyes widened in momentary panic. The conversation from their time stuck in the underground Genii facility raced to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh, uh . . ." She flailed for a moment before finally settling on a not-so-direct answer. "This is my old team. I stole some photos when I left."

"SG-1, right?" Keller moved closer and Sam hoped her cheeks hadn't flushed too pink.

"Yep." Sam felt her chest swell with pride. Some days she missed them all so deeply that it hurt.

"Those guys are legendary."

The words were said with, not quite awe, but with a tone that revealed the fact that they were, indeed, more true than even Sam had ever admitted. She'd been on the team. She didn't think anything about her boys other than that they were family. A very lucky family to have lived through all they had.

"They bleed like everyone else." Sam didn't know what possessed her to say those words and they earned her a strange stare from the doctor. Keller didn't say anything but simply returned her eyes to the photo closest to Sam's shoulder.

"That him? You two look pretty happy."

Sam didn't need to turn around to know what photo Keller was looking at.

"Its tough being so far away," Sam began, not sure why she was carefully avoiding the confirmation Keller was looking to get from her. "I miss them all very much."

"I'd know your fella if you told me his name, huh?"

Keller was looking directly at her now and Sam found it very difficult to meet her gaze.

Denial wasn't only a river in Egypt. Daniel hated that phrase but Sam found it oddly appropriate. "I don't remember saying -"

"Yeah, but you've hedged enough."

Sam couldn't help but grin wryly. A woman that young didn't get to be the CMO of an off-world expedition team without being at least a little bit bright.

"It's ok. I didn't really come in here to grill you about your love life."

Sam exhaled the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about him. She did. But – not like that. It made her think that what they had was somehow dirty. She'd never been good at girl talk. She'd rather just talk to him. But he wasn't there, and she missed him terribly.

"I came to grill you about why you came back to work so soon."

Keller's words jarred her back to the present. "I'll leave as soon as I'm finished with this report."

Keller looked skeptical.

"I promise," Sam said, looking back down at the paperwork on her desk. Truth was, she didn't want to be left alone with her lonely thoughts. She wanted to bury them in work.

"I'll be back in thirty minutes to make sure you've left."

Sam tried not to look too triumphant. "I'll be snuggled back into my bed like a good little patient."

Keller's eyes flicked back to the photo of the two of them sitting on the dock. "He's cute."

Sam bit her lip to keep from smiling too widely. Cute wasn't really a term she used to describe Jack O'Neill and she was certain if he'd heard of anyone describing him that way she'd never hear the end of it. No, cute was not a word she associated with him. Unbelievably handsome, hot and – talented came to mind, but not a word as teenybopper as cute.

She could sense the long stretch of silence but was so locked in her memories of Jack that she didn't have the desire or ability right at that moment to fill the silence with words. And she never had to with Jack. She missed that. To her relief, Keller did it for her.

"I bet he misses you just as much as you miss him."

A sad smile turned the corner of her mouth. "Yeah."

A technicians poked his head around the door and looked at Sam. "Incoming data burst from the SGC, Colonel."

"Anything I need to see, Sergeant? Otherwise," Sam glanced at Keller, "the doctor here is ordering me back to bed."

"Well, there's a pretty insistent General O'Neill waiting to talk to you."

Sam ignored the slow smile she saw spread across Keller's face. The doctor had access to her medical file and history. She'd have seen him listed as her emergency contact.

"Oh?" She knew the word, spoken with as much innocence as she could force into her voice, didn't fool Keller. "Insistent, you say?"

"Yes, Colonel."

"Well, pipe it in. We wouldn't want to keep the man waiting."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sam shifted her gaze to Keller's face as the Sergeant left to carry out her order.

Keller pointed toward the door. "I think this'll be a private conversation so I'll just - go."

"Oh, no," Sam said suddenly. "Stay, you can explain exactly how well I'm doing so the General doesn't need to worry about replacing me until I'm fully recovered."

Sam noticed the doubt flicker in Keller's eyes for a moment and smiled triumphantly to herself. Maybe she'd fool the young doctor yet. Although, she still wasn't sure why she wanted to.

The screen blinked on and the intimidating image of General Jack O'Neill, wearing his dress blues, stared at her from across a galaxy. Damn the man. He knew exactly what seeing him in that uniform did to her.

"Carter, what the -" He stopped when he noticed Keller standing in the room.

"General. I asked our CMO to brief you on my condition since I didn't think you'd believe me if I said I was fine and fit to return to duty."

Sam saw Keller's eyes flit back to the photo on her desk; the one of her sitting beside Jack at his cabin. The woman allowed a momentary smile to cross her face before giving the general her full and undivided attention.

"General O'Neill. Colonel Carter is doing well. I've confined her to bed rest for the next two days."

'Traitor,' Sam muttered under her breath. She knew Keller deliberately mentioned the orders to her superior officer so Sam couldn't easily dismiss them and come back to work early.

"Thank you for the report, doctor."

Sam could see the triumphant smile cross Keller's face.

"Anytime, General. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to your business."

She didn't miss a beat and Sam was suitably impressed; until the brilliant doctor turned completely away from the monitor to face her and mouthed, 'He's hot', before walking out of her office.

Yeah, that was a word Sam could definitely identify with Jack O'Neill.

END