Title: Jack's New Girl
Author: MissAnnThropic
Spoilers: set in season 8
Summary: Sam tried very hard not to care what her commanding officer did in his off-time.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Stargate but my rabid fan behavior. Alas.

The watchwords on base around Lieutenant Colonel Sam Carter as of late was 'tread softly'. She had been in a foul mood for days... exactly as many days as Brigadier General Jack O'Neill had been talking about her. Naturally, no one had the guts to bring Sam's bitter temperament to her attention... she was, after all, the second in command of the SGC. If anyone was going to comment on her recent hostile behavior it would have to be Jack. It also seemed Jack was not about to notice, let alone say anything, because he had a new distraction.

Sam, file folder in hand, reached Jack's office door to find it ajar. She pushed it open a couple of inches with every intention of knocking lightly to get Jack's attention when she heard his voice and it stilled her.

".. yeah, George, her name's Stacy... Mmm hmmm... About two weeks ago... Oh, she's great... Yep, yep... Oh, absolutely... You bet, I'm sure she'll love you." Jack, standing in his office with his phone to his ear, happened to catch sight of Sam from the corner of his eye and waved her in without putting down the receiver.

Sam was grateful he was too preoccupied to notice her scowl as she moved into his office.

"Beautiful... dark blonde, brown eyes... ha ha!" Jack laughed heartily and Sam wanted to spit at his wide grin. She hadn't failed to notice the new vigor and energy about Jack lately... since her. In fact, she probably noticed his change the most. She'd always been very attuned to Jack's moods, to an inappropriate degree by some people's estimations, so his transformation seemed all the more drastic to Sam's eye.

"Will, do, George... Look, I gotta go, Carter just walked in and I'm sure she wants to play 'stump the general'... You too, huh? Thought it was just me... Okay, well, nice talking to you, and I'll bring Stacy around sometime... See you then." Jack hung up the phone and turned his eyes toward Sam. His brown eyes were damn near glittering like a kid's at Christmas. It was April, for crying out loud! Did he have to look so perky?

"Hey, Carter, what do you have for me?"

Sam wanted to give him the bird, and not the colonel variety, but instead she handed over her report. "Results of the tests we ran on that object we brought back from–" before she could finish her sentence Jack took the file and started to thumb through.

Sam shut her mouth and fumed silently.

Jack was flipping through the pages in much too cavalier a manner, and with too much cheer in his aura, and Sam gave pyrokenesis a go. Sadly, neither the file nor Jack's hair caught fire.

Finally, Jack hit his limit and closed the file. As he set it down on his desk he looked up at Sam and said, "What I'm gathering is that it's not a threat?"

"No, sir. Our best guess is that it's probably some mass form of entertainment for the inhabitants of P57-456."

"TV?"

Sam used to find that kind of remark funny. Since Stacy everything Jack did just made Sam mad. "Yes, sir," she answered shortly.

"Well, long as it doesn't start playing reality television I think we can stop worrying that it's a danger, then. I take it your boys in the labs still want to play with it before it's shipped off to Area 51?"

Sam clenched her jaw. "We don't play with anything in the labs, General, we run vital, serious experiments. There is no playing involved."

Jack was smiling and Sam used to feel her stomach flip at the way it changed Jack's face. This time, no... it only made her insides twist and roil. "I read you, Carter, and duly noted. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

Sam glowered at him but he took it as harmless and even smirked at her.

Sam would really like to hit him, it would make her feel a whole lot better, she knew it. Too bad assaulting a superior officer was frowned upon.

Jack, oblivious to Sam's steaming ire, retrieved his jacket from the back of his chair and said, "Well, I promised Stacy I'd take her to the park during my lunch break. Walk with me," he ordered casually as he passed by her heading for his office door, and while Sam would rather not she obediently turned and fell into step to his left and slightly a pace behind. It was her place with him, and she used to feel comfortable there, but not after the bundle of bubbly Jack was now... since Stacy.

"... Walter about the dialing computer, I don't know, he tried to explain it to me but you know me, my eyes glazed over and I noticed the paint in the top corner of the control room needed a new coat. So if you could stop by and see what he wanted from me."

"Yes, sir."

Jack reached the elevator and swiped his card then turned to face her while they waited for the cubicle. Sam counted the seconds, knowing each one that passed that she didn't 'get insubordinate on his ass' was a triumph.

"So, you can hold down the fort until I get back?" Jack asked playfully.

Sam looked up to meet his eyes, on principle and to show him just how unbothered she was by him just taking off to spend time with Stacy the Wonderful, but her gaze never quite made it to his eyes. Her eyes stopped on his shirt collar. A damnably visible blonde hair stood out in contrast to Jack's black T-shirt.

Sam hated it. Only a hair but it earned her hatred, lock, stock, and barrel. Before she could stop herself she reached up and pointedly pulled the gold hair off him. She held it up long enough for Jack to see it and he chuckled. The bastard chuckled like it was nothing.

The elevator doors opened and Jack stepped inside. "See you after lunch, Carter. Don't forget to talk to Walter."

Sam only nodded and turned on her heel and left before the elevator doors finished closing.

She tried very hard not to care what her commanding officer did in his off-time, because it really wasn't her business. He was a grown man, he could do whatever he wanted, but it still got under Sam's skin. Stacy the Fantastic had been all he talked about lately, it seemed. And even when he wasn't talking about her, it was obvious she was in the back of his mind. Because there was constantly that cheerful glint in Jack's eyes, a quick and ready twitch at the corner of his mouth, a bounce and levity to his step. All thanks to the young new blonde in his life.

And it shouldn't bother Sam, because it wasn't her business. Jack didn't need her permission, that was for damn sure, but still. Still. She wasn't sure 'still what', but still. She knew it was Jack's decision if he wanted to spend all his free time lately with Stacy instead of with the team. Wasn't really his team anymore, anyway, so why shouldn't he branch out? It most certainly was not Sam's place to be jealous of Stacy for all the attention she was getting from Jack, her new adoring fan. But damnit, Sam was jealous!

And she hated that even more than she hated Little Miss Perfect Stacy. She let it get to her because she'd taken for granted Jack calling her to shoot the shit, chew the fat, contemplate their figurative navels. She missed eating with him in the mess hall during lunch and more often than not dinner. She missed going out to the park with him, Daniel, and Teal'c, or the team-nights at his house with movies, popcorn, and beer. Or even more rare but even more treasured, the times when he'd show up on her doorstep some Saturday morning just for the company. She missed Jack, in all the platonic sense she'd had him, but now it was all Stacy. Stacy the new mistress of his every spare moment, and Jack was like a damn little boy for it.

Sam shouldn't hate Stacy, but holy hannah did she.

Sam was still stewing when she walked straight into Daniel's office. The archaeologist was sitting at his desk, bent over an ancient scroll trying to decipher the text.

Even before Daniel had a chance to look up at his friend Sam was speaking... rather forcefully. "I can't stand this Stacy-this and Stacy-that crap anymore."

Daniel sat back and looked placidly at Sam as she continued to rant. "He just can't stop talking about her, all the time! 'Stacy's so pretty, oh, she's so smart, you have to meet her, George'... Argh! I am sick of it! And can he have the decency to pull her hairs off his clothes before he comes to work? I mean, is that asking too much!"

"Jack seems a lot happier since–" Daniel began, his voice annoyingly calm and unruffled, but Sam interrupted him.

"Because Stacy's just so great, why shouldn't he be a little boy at Christmas over her?"

"Sam, you really can't begrudge him, Jack's been alone for a long time..."

"What? His friends weren't good enough? Aren't you insulted!"

"No," Daniel said with a smirk, "I think it's great. It makes Jack happy, and I like Stacy."

Sam threw up her hands. "Oh, of course you do, everyone loves Stacy."

Daniel did the worst thing he could have possibly done in Sam's book. He laughed.

Sam whirled and pinned him with a dark stare. "That's funny!"

"Well... yeah! Come on, Sam, admit it. You have issues."

"I have issues!"

"Yes, issues. Stacy issues."

"You don't think the general's going a little silly over her?"

"I think you are."

Sam blinked, aghast at her friend's betrayal. First Jack's, now Daniel's.

"I can't believe you said that," Sam said indignantly.

Daniel chuckled. "Sam... she's just a dog!"

END