Title: Long nights and shared beds.
Summary: SJ. Sam and Jack get up close and personal…
Characters/Pairings: Sam/Jack.
Genre: Humour/Romance
Warnings: Umm… nope. Don't think so.
Rating: K (All ages)
Beta: Not this time… any mistakes are mine
Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Except this laptop. I own this laptop.
Spoilers: None.
A/N: I wrote this on a crazy whim whilst insomnia refused to let me sleep…

xXxSGxXxSJxXx

Colonel Jack O'Neill was known to be a little bit relaxed with his orders. Some called him rebellious, he preferred to use the term 'lenient'. He was surprised as anyone that he hadn't had his ass kicked out of service. He supposed he had kicked himself out when he retired but of course, they dragged him back in. Not exactly kicking and screaming but it had been a close call.

He had reconsidered the lack of kicking and screaming as soon as she walked through the door to the briefing room however. He reminded himself forcefully of the USAF regulations. Namely, Air Force Instruction 36-2909- Professional and Unprofessional Relationships.

This was the regulation that Jack had found himself cursing more and more over the past few years. This regulation essentially forbade a relationship between two officers in a direct chain of command and in Jacks mind, it was in all intents and purposes the most ridiculous regulation of them all.

Sure there were some pretty outrageous regulations but all of them had a reason and a logical explanation.

He supposed the frat regs also had some sort of reason behind their implementation. Somewhere. At that moment though, he was having a rather tough time figuring out just what that logical reason was.

xXx

They had been forced to share accommodation as he was sure he would phrase it in his report (need he mention it at all) as, as accommodating as the lovely inhabitants of P5H-290 have been, they simply didn't have the room for all team members to sleep separately. They had been asked, with many many apologies if they would possibly mind having to share a room.

Of course no one on SG1 had minded at all, they had slept in the same vicinity as each other plenty of times before- in much worse conditions no less. Bunking in the same room would be no problem at all.

It wasn't until the door had shut on Jack and Sam (Major Carter he forcefully reminded himself) that they had really looked at their accommodation for the night. A tiny room barely big enough to contain the bed crammed inside. The small single bed. The room itself gave very little room for anything else, barely enough room to shuffle around tree sides of the bed and absolutely no chance of sleeping room.

Sucking in a breath to steady himself he glanced sideways at Carter seeing a similar look of apprehension on her features.

"So" he started in an attempt to make light of the upcoming awkward as hell night "looks like we're gonna be pretty cosy tonight Carter"

A look of… he wasn't sure what that look was of but it didn't look too good… flicked across her face as she tried to smile in response. He wondered if she was having a hard time breathing properly too.

xXx

Damn. Damn damn damn damn damn! That pretty much summed up Sam Carters thought process for the past half hour.

A slight feeling of… dread? No, not dread… nervousness? Yes, nervousness. A slight feeling of nervousness had settled upon Sam the moment the leader of the mildly primitive people of P5H-290 had told SG1 (and subsequently apologised profusely) about the lack of proper sleeping accommodation that they could provide for the team.

The Colonel had of course been overly chipper about the prospect of bunking together and Daniel and Teal'c had been bustled off to another hut in the village looking decidedly less chipper. She had no idea why. Teal'c didn't sleep anyway.

Why was it always Jack (No, Colonel O'Neill she corrected herself) that she ended up spending the nights with? Not that she was complaining. Not as such. It just made… things… harder to ignore.

The less said about those 'things' the better. She controlled herself and agreed with the Colonel; it wasn't the first time they would have to have spent the night in the same room. Cell upon cell sprang to her mind immediately. Followed quickly by dozens of forest floors and assorted planets. No, this sleeping arrangement would turn out just fine. It didn't mean that they would have to be sleeping on top of each other. Even if it happened to be the same bed (which it tended to be more than often than not) they didn't even have to touch. The Colonel would insist that he sleep on the floor and she would of course deny him and insist that the bed is more than big enough for the both of them.

The door shut in their faces and Sam turned to take in what she was sure would be a large bed.

Damn.

xXx

"Uhh… well I guess we should get some rest…" Jack said quietly. Was it his imagination or had a certain atmosphere settled upon them?

"Yes sir" she replied and Jack had to suppress a grin. Even in the most potentially intimate situations she always called him 'Sir'. It was probably safer that way he mused. And they were technically still on duty.

They got ready for bed in silence. Sam simply took off her jacket and changed her BDU pants for some standard issue track pants. Jack stripped off his jacket and t-shirt leaving him topless and changed into some similar track pants. It was too warm on this planet to stay in their clothes and have a comfortable nights sleep. He contained an amused snort. 'Right. Like that would happen.'

They both lay on the small single bed awkwardly.

The whole right side of Sam's body was connected with the whole of Jack's left side leaving next to no room either side. If they moved any further apart they would fall off the edge of the bed and no doubt end up wedged in the small gap between the bed and the wall.

"Not much wiggle room is there?" He said no doubt trying to diffuse the situation. He was pretty sure she could feel the same tingle running through her body. It was rather difficult to ignore.

"No sir"

He bit back a request for her to call him Jack. That would not be safe in this situation. Not safe at all. 'Still on duty Jack.' he consciously reminded himself.

"So uh… Goodnight Carter" he knew he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon but he felt he should make at least an attempt.

"Goodnight sir." He rolled onto his side and immediately missed the contact of her body. 'Stop it'

xXx

Her eyes remained stubbornly open as he rolled onto his side giving her a little more room and breaking contact with her body. She chastised herself for missing the feel of his body pressed up against her. 'Stop it!' she told herself firmly.

She knew she should get some sleep but try as she might she couldn't stop thinking about the man lying next to her. Her mind drifted to what they could be doing in this small bed in order to… save room. She refused to let herself think about those thoughts too long, now wasn't the time.

She was rather proud of herself for keeping up such a professional distance between them even as they lay so close. Her mind was begging herself to call him Jack just once but she flat out refused to acknowledge that idea with anything near to acquiesce.

She could tell that Jack was as asleep as she was but they both remained silent. She wondered if he was having as hard a time with this as she was or if he was simply waiting for sleep to take him over. She silently wished for the first option and immediately halted any further thought along those lines.

Now, what could she do with the generator she had seen on the way in? Perhaps she could hook up some sort of rudimentary circuit giving the village lights in the very least.

'Very good Sam,' she congratulated herself 'concentrate on that. Not on your gorgeous CO lying right next to you. In bed. Topless. Oh God… this is going to be a long night…'

xXx

He could practically hear the wheels turning at double speed in Carter's mind. He knew she knew he wasn't sleeping but he didn't attempt starting a conversation with her. That would mean facing her. And if he turned again he would end up on his side facing her. And they would end up much too close for comfort. Staying as he was pretending to pretend to be asleep was the best idea he could come up with to save an awkward conversation.

It was much much later when Sam's breathing eventually evened out indicating that she was finally asleep. It was only then that he allowed himself to get into a more comfortable position. His arm had gone decidedly numb from lying on it for so long, and so when he rolled over onto his back and stretched his arm carefully so as to be sure he didn't knock Sam and wake her, the last thing he expected was for what happened, to happen.

Sleeping, Sam had also shifted into a more comfortable position. More comfortable for the both of them it had to be said, but this position would undoubtedly be cause for some awkward looks if they woke up like this. At that moment though Jack couldn't care less about the morning. Oh no, at that moment the only thing that he could focus on was the head off his beautiful 2IC resting on his chest. Her hand came up to rest next to her head unconsciously caressing him. However wonderful it felt, it held the least of his focus. His mind was largely homing in on the leg she had casually slung over his tangling them quite effectively together. It was almost as if they had just- 'No. Stop. Those thoughts will get you nowhere Jack. Well… A court martial perhaps.'

He sighed dramatically but didn't once attempt to disengage himself from her. This was the best he was ever going to get and he'd be damned if he didn't let himself enjoy it. Just a little. God he loved this woman.

And he hated the stupid regulations even more.

xXxXxXxXxXx

A/N: Well there you have it… let me know what you think… :)

Just Breathing