SG1 in Atlantis
Disclaimer: they don't belong to me, though I really wish they did. Neither does the whole concept of Atlantis or a city control mentally, I'm just playing with it.
Chapter 2 (Jack a Workaholic?)
Elizabeth led the group into the conference room and took her accustomed seat at the head of the 'table'. AG1 also settled into their usual seat and SG1 and Gen. O'neill sat on the other side of the table-like structure.
"Nice," was Jack's comment as he entered the conference.
"Yes, we like it," was John's reply.
Sam looked between the two men as she was sitting down and thought that they just might be more alike than anyone had realized – not an all too comforting thought, actually more like a scary thought. She already had more than enough trying to keep both Jack and Cameron in line, not to mention playing referee between them and Daniel; she really didn't need an additional 'kid' to look after. And then she thought, 'let him be Elizabeth's problem', not a very charitable thought but a 'Col. had to do what a Col. had to do' she added with an internal smirk.
"Well," Elizabeth began as she folded her hands on top of the table.
Sam saw that Elizabeth notsure how to broached the subject diplomatically so she saved her the trouble, "you're probably wondering why we're here."
"Yes, now that you mentioned it, I am," Elizabeth said with a relieved glance in Sam's direction.
"That's somewhat of a long story," Daniel cautioned her.
"Oh, we have time, don't worry; there's nothing really urgent. We usually try and clear the day we know the Daedalus will be dropping by." Elizabeth assured them with a smile.
"Ok, well it all began when we found out that Jack had turned into a workaholic." Sam began.
"Really?" Elizabeth really didn't mean to sound so disbelieving but that wasn't the impression she'd gotten from the man when she was in charge of the SGC; it hadn't been all that long, granted, but still . . . As she looked around the table she saw that she wasn't only one surprised, if Rodney's barely concealed snort was any indication. She glared at him and he settled down, some.
"Yes, it took all of us by surprise too," Sam agreed with the expressed disbelieve as Daniel shook his head as if he still couldn't believe it.
"Oh, for crying out loud! I've always gotten my work done, you know, yet, you guys are carrying on as if my doing my job was a big surprise." Jack exploded throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"Yes, dear, we know," Sam reassured him, patting the hand he'd settled back on the table. As an attempt to sooth him, it didn't really work as he just glared at her; but it did quiet him down. She did, however, had to smother a grin as he settled back on the chair, crossing his arms and pouting as if he was a five year old that hadn't gotten his way.
Shaking her head at how childish her fifty plus years old her husband could act, Sam turned to looked at Elizabeth. Only to find that the Dr. was trying to smother her own smile; and as she turned and looked around the table, Sam found that everyone was finding Jack's antics vastly amusing. She also saw that Tayla was looking between John and Jack with a look of recognition in her eyes. Catching her eye, Sam could see that Tayla knew exactly what Sam had to deal with on a daily basis; 'yep,' she thought, 'this two are two peas in a pod. God help us all.' In that moment, Sam also confirmed her suspicion that Tayla and John were more than just team mates; how much more, she'll figure out later. But now, she had a story to continue. And she better try and placate her husband too, otherwise they'd be dealing with a seriously annoyed Jack O'neill; and really no one want that.
"Jack, you have to acknowledge, that while you got all your work done, you never really went out of your way to get it done on time. And you certainly never stay late to get ahead of the paperwork. Goodness Jack, how many memos did you lose when you were in SG1? How many times did Gen. Hammond have to order you to get your reports done because they were late? You know you've always hated paperwork and used any and all excuses to get out of it. So, how can you be surprised at our surprise that you've been staying late doing your work?"
Jack knew that everything Sam was saying was true, that, however, did not mean that he had to agree with it, and not just because he was being petulant, but because he had a point too. "How about because I've always being responsible and never shirked my duty, no matter how much I fooled around? Or how about because you know that the new job" (he'd been head of Homeworld Security for three years now, and he still referred to it as new; after all it wasn't the nine years he'd had at the SGC), here Jack stopped noting for the first time that they were not alone, and that he'd gotten way more serious that he'd meant.
Sam alsorealizing that they were not alone and that she just might have given the wrong impression about the General's work ethic, responded, "Jack, we all know how dedicated you are to the Air Force," the look she gave him said 'didn't it take us nine years to get together because of it?' The small smile Jack got meant he'd gotten the message. "But you can't deny that you hate paperwork, can you?"
'No,' Jack thought, 'can't very well deny that.' So, he just shrugged and looked down as his fingers starting tapping on the table. Sam knew this meant he'd calmed down.
She looked back at Elizabeth and kept going, "You can't image my complete and utter shock when his doctor told me he had collapsed from overwork." Silently she added, 'nor my complete and utter fright when I heard it.' She turned to look at Daniel and Teal'c and knew by the look in their eyes that they had felt the same way as she when she told them about it. Jack always looked so strong, vital and almost indestructible that the news he'd collapse had thrown them for a loop – especially when they heard it was because of paperwork; they hadn't known whether to laugh or cry. There was the man that had survived two Ancient download, an ancient plague, torture at the hands of one of the most sadistic System Lord and that was just some of the highlight, and he'd been brought down by paperwork? The irony was incredible. But while Sam, Daniel and Teal'c were reliving those moments Jack was getting indignant.
At the word 'collapsed', he'd straighten in his chair and giving his wife a death glare, stated very clearly, enunciating every word carefully, "I. did. Not. Collapse." And the last word was said with a sneer.
Daniel, trying to lighten the mood into which Sam, Teal'c and himself had fallen, said with a smirk and a patently false soothing tone of voice (a combination that he'd probably learned from Jack himself), "Of course not, Jack. You just . . . what?" and he tapped his chin as he pretended to look for the right word, "fainted?" At Jack's growled "Danny", Daniel pretended confusion and, trying not to smile, kept going, "no? ok, didn't faint either. So how about . . ."
"Danny boy, you'd better stop." Jack softly warned him.
Daniel knew that Jack was at his most dangerous when he went quiet like that. Unfortunately for Jack, Daniel had lost any trace of fright he might have ever felt towardshim years ago. Still, he just raised up his hands as if in surrender, figuring he'd teased Jack enough for the time being. Finally giving in to his grin, he leaned back into his chair and quieted down. Jack knew that the quiet wouldn't last long, but having gained the upper hand for the moment, he too leaned back in his chair and let Sam continued with her story.
"Anyway," Sam ignored the by-play and kept going, "the doctor informed me that Jack's blood pressure was through the roof, as was his cholesterol and sugar levels. He was also borderline anemic and somewhat dehydrated."
She was interrupted by Jack muttering as he fidgeted in his seat, "Doctors, what the hell do they know? Bunch of power fiends, like to feel important by making everyone else miserable." Jack wasn't comfortable talking about his health in front of others like this, but knew that Sam was doing it so that they willall keep their eyes on him; which would be a real pain in his six. But he also knew that behind the calm exterior, she was real concerned about him and nothing he said would change that; so, he let her do whatever she felt she needed to do. Not that he could really stop her, stars or no when it came to his health it had somehow been decided (and he still wasn't sure when and if he'd been involved in the decision at all) she was the one in charge and she could be as strict and unbending as some of the worst drill sgts. he'd known.
"The doctor recommended a vacation," as seemed to be normal, Sam just ignored him again, "but Jack here, decided he knew best and showed up at work like always the next day."
"He's never listen to doctors," Daniel added shaking his head in sympathy with Sam.
"Or his wife apparently," Sam added with a death glare of her own at her husband. Jack flinched inwardly when he saw it, but managed to maintain an innocent who-me expression on his face as he looked back at her. Not believing that innocent expression for a minute, Sam ignored it and turned back to look at the others as she resumed the story, "Well, he may ignore his doctor and wife but even him can't ignore the president."
"Of the United States?" asked John with awe and disbelieve on his voice. John had been enjoying the interaction between husband and wife; it amused him to no end that a man as powerful and dangerous (the man had been a legend before there'd been an SCG because of his Special Ops. career) as Gen. O'neill was, could be so completely managed by his wife, and all without uttering much more than a token protest. He'd had been much less amused if he'd realized that he was managed just as much as the General by the woman in his life. But though John had known Jack O'neill was an important man, he hadn't known he was so important that the President of the USA would take a personal interest in his health.
Sam turned and looked at John, smiling at his incredulity, "Yes, of the United States. He's a very nice man and quite fond of Jack."
Jack shrugged again, uncomfortable with the looks he was receiving and with the idea that he was someone 'important'. "Yeah, well, save the planet a couple of times and important people start to like you all of the sudden." Jack said, as always trying to down play his own worth.
John knew that it had been more than a couple of times that the planet had been saved because of the actions of SG1 and in particular Gen. O'neill. He also knew that he had a special relationship with the Asgards. So it did make sense that the President be interested in the health of such a valuable and important man.
Sam just shook her head, used to Jack disliked for praise. "As the President is the Commander in Chief, General O'neill," and she put extra emphasis on the rank, "had no choice but to follow orders."
Daniel snorted at that, knowing how much Jack loved following those kinds of orders. Sam again ignored Daniel's snort and Jack subsequent glare, "Jack was ordered to take at least two months off."
"That's all very well and good, but why did you choose Atlantis as your 'vacation' spot." Elizabeth was genuinely curious. It wasn't that she wasn't glad to see them but Atlantis just wasn't on any travel brochure and up until now no one but military personnel or scientist assigned there had ever come. It just was too top secret and too expensive to get there. Although with the security clearance this group had the top secret portion wasn't really a problem and since it seemed they were good friends with the President the expensive part probably wasn't either. All of which still didn't explain why they would choose to come to another galaxy, one which was still in the midst of a great war.
"Well, you see, Atlantis really wasn't our first choice," Sam began.
"It'd have been mine," Daniel muttered, apparently unable to keep quiet for more than five minutes at a time. But a glare from Sam quieted him and brought a sneer to Jack's lips – he sure loved to see Sam reprimand someone other than him.
"He came over to Colorado Springs, we figured we'd just take it easy and laze around the house. I was on down time but would be close enough in case anything happened at the base and they needed my help."
Now it was Jack who couldn't stop the snort as he muttered, "something always happens that only she can fix." Sam glared at him, but he ignored her and said, "And you know the irony of that is that I left DC because she thought if I'd stayed I would be called in to work because of some crisis and wouldn't relax. But of course it was perfectly fine for her to stay in contact in case they needed her, which of course they did less than two days later."
Sam wanted to contradict him, but she couldn't because he was right and she knew it– what was worse he knew that she knew it. So, she did the only thing she could and ignored him again. "Unfortunately, they called me in and he came with me so that he wouldn't be left alone and bored at home. The problem took me a bit longer to fix that I had originally thought and when I went in to report to Gen. Landry that it was done I found none other than my dear husband, who had promised that he would only go to either bug Daniel in his lab or eat jello in the cafeteria" she shot Jack another glare and he just gave her an innocent smile back, "sitting very comfortably in the General's office going over mission reports and plans for future missions." Everyone could tell how infuriated she had been at that discovery by the way the memory was still setting her off.
Everyone could also see that Col. Mitchell seemed to be very uncomfortable all of the sudden. They all realized why when Sam turned the full power of her glare, which she had learned from Jack, on him, "and you, you were there to keep him from those types of situations not to help him get in them."
Mitchell shrugged his shoulders and tried to defend what he knew to Sam was the un-defendable, "What could I do? On leave or not, he's still my superior. I couldn't very well tell either him or Gen. Landry what to do, now could I?"
Jack was sneering at Cameron's predicament; he knew Cameron could not and would not have stopped him. As the man said, Jack was his superior officer and Cameron was too good an officer to try and tell a superior officer what to do. He knew that now and he had known it then, which was why he'd been able to get away with going to Hank's office and talk shop to the man. He wouldn't have been able to do that if Daniel or Teal'c had been the watchdog Sam had saddled him with. He'd been friends with both men for far too long to be able to intimidate either one with his rank, not that he had ever intimidated Teal'c or Daniel long for that matter. But Cameron, now Cameron was another story; he Jack could still bully – you really gotta love Air Force rank and chain of command, which was a completely ironic thought for a man that had made insubordination an art form.
But for all his rank, Jack had known that if he got caught by Sam he'd be in trouble; it seems superior rank got thrown out the window once you marry a subordinate – at least it did if the subordinate was Sam. But he had figured that if Sam didn't want to upset him too much, she would not yell at him for too long. He had also known that Cameron and maybe even Hank wouldn't be so lucky; but perverse man that he was, Jack had enjoyed that thought, he had even almost wanted to get caught just to see her go off on them. And boy, had he gotten his wish. He had really enjoyed seeing her put them in their place; of course he had had to be really careful to keep his enjoyment from her or she would have forgotten about his high blood pressure and really let him have it. But that didn't mean that he couldn't relish the memory in the privacy of his own mind, as he was doing now.
He wasn't the only one that was enjoying that memory. Daniel snorted a laugh and told Cameron, "I don't see why not, Sam didn't see to have any problem with it." Sam had the grace to look sheepish as Daniel, grinning from ear to ear, went on to recount the incident, "I had just finished the translation I'd been working on when I ran into Sam, who was also on her way to Gen. Landry's office. So I was right there when Sam found Jack doing exactly what he had promised not to do. You should have seen the look on her face," he told the Atlantis crew, who were fascinated by this amusing tale, "I don't think I've seen her quite so mad in a long while," he stopped to consider that and added, "if ever really. Sam has an incredible ability to keep her temper in check in most situations; she'd have to, really, to deal with Jack. That's not to say she doesn't have a temper, she does; she just doesn't really lose it all that often." He went on to explain.
Jack, who had been trying to keep a low profile so as not to provoke Sam further, couldn't keep his snort quiet. He had seen Sam mad plenty of time, and though that time had been a beauty, it hadn't been the worst. He internally flinched when he remembered that occasion, and then banished the memory again, so not something he wanted to remember.
As Sam had done before him, Daniel ignored Jack and kept on going, "but what almost made me laugh out loud were the looks on the faces of Cameron, and Gen. Landry. You should have seen them. They looked like two kids that had gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar and knew they were going to pay for it and there was no escaping it." Daniel turned to look at the man in question and was not surprised to find that Cameron was wearing a very similar look now. "But Jack, now Jack just had this supremely innocent expression and just looked at Sam, smile and said 'all done, dear?' And Sam looking as she was going to blow a gasket said, 'Jack, what are you doing?' And he answered 'nothing important, honey. We're just going through a few un-important things, you know to pass the time.' Trying to pass off the many folders and important documents visible on the desk as 'nothing important' when it was blatantly obvious that they had been doing some very important, official SGC business, which Jack had expressly been told to avoid. Sam knew this; not only is she a genius but Jack's innocent looks have really stopped working quite a long time ago."
It was clear Jack didn't like hearing that, as he frowned rather ferociously at Daniel.
Once again, Daniel ignored him as he went blithely on, "the look on his face when he realized he'd been caught and wasn't getting out of it was priceless, they all were really." And Daniel couldn't help but laugh as he remembered them.
"Danny," Jack growled in warning.
But Daniel just waved him off and ignored him, "Sam just told him 'I'll deal with you later,' then She turned to Cameron and told him, 'I thought you were going to keep an eye on him for me; make sure he wasn't doing anything he shouldn't be doing. Is this how you keep an eye on him? Is this how you keep him out of trouble? Really, Cameron, I thought you had more sense than this. This' she emphasized with a sweep of her arm over the folders, 'is exactly what he should have been avoiding.' And when Cameron tried to defend himself she just put up one hand and said, 'I really don't want to hear it, Cameron. I'm very disappointed in you.' Cameron just hung his head, knowing from her tone of voice that any arguing would be futile."
John couldn't resist looking over at Cameron, to see how he was taking all this; he found him involved in a very intense study of his fingernails, doing his best to ignore the laughs he knew everyone was going to have at this expense later on. Before turning his attention back to Daniel, John turned to look at how the General was taking all this. But Jack was a man used to being teased by his best friends and this wasn't even the worst he'd ever gotten, so he appeared completely unmoved by it all. Though by the smirk he had in his face when he looked over at Cameron it appeared that he was enjoying the teasing Cameron was getting.
John turned back to listen as Daniel started on what Sam said to General Landry, "after she was done with Cameron she turned to the General and just looked at him for a few seconds. I'm sure the Gen. and Cameron were thinking that she was getting her temper under control before she said something she'd later regret to her CO. But Jack and I knew better; I mean she hasn't spend the last dozen or so years around Jack for nothing." At this Jack actually looked proud; noticing this, Sam couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. All of the things he'd taught her, it was just like him to be proud of her insubordination skills.
She was debating whether she should stop Daniel from going on with this story. It really didn't cast her in the best light; she had been incredibly insubordinate with her CO after all. But she had started the story telling with a specific purpose. She'd wanted to let the others know that Jack was here on a vacation and not to solve their problems – the fact that the problems they had in Atlantis were completely different from the ones they'd dealt with back on Earth didn't change the fact that Jack was a great tactician and his experience was invaluable, so she'd wanted to nip in the bud any idea of going to him for help. He was here for a vacation and that was that. But she'd known that Jack would object to her saying any such thing; and while she normally had not problem with doing what she thought best even if it annoyed him, she didn't want to upset him unduly right now. So, she'd figure telling it as a humorous tale would work. Oh, he'd know what she was doing; but knowing his twisted sense of humor, she also knew he would enjoy it and wouldn't make such a fuss about it.
But now, Daniel was really embarrassing her and maybe it was time to stop him; he really was enjoying this too much. On the other hand, Jack was also enjoying it and had calmed down. And it wouldn't hurt for the others to see just how serious she was in making sure her husband was allowed to relax as he needed to; if she stood up to her CO then there really wasn't much she wouldn't do, was there? With a smirk of her own, she settled back down and let Daniel go on with the story – at least for a little while more.
"After knowing her three years and Jack for at least that long, they really should have known better too. But I guess her perfect soldier act had fooled them." This was said with a slight smirk in Sam's direction, to which Sam responded by sticking her tongue out at him; a bit childish perhaps, but when in Rome. . .
"After a few minutes of silence, during which Sam was probably getting what she wanted to say just right, she started on the General. She began all military and proper calling him 'Sir' and everything, that didn't last long however."
John noted that by this point in the story Cameron had gotten over his embarrassment and while he was still looking at his hand he was now smirking too; apparently he too found the memory of Sam going off on their CO vastly amusing.
"'Sir', she began 'did I or did not I tell you that Gen. O'neill had been given strict instruction by his doctor to avoid any and every conversation about work; any and every situation that could possibly cause him any hint of anxiety? Did I or did not I tell you that the President himself has ordered him to take it easy and to have nothing to do with work what so ever for at least two months?' Her voice had being steadily increasing since she began and by this point she was well on her way to yelling. What's more she wouldn't let Landry talk. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, to somehow defend himself, she would ignore him and keeping talking, deliberately keep making her points and as her voice kept going up, the only way for Landry to be heard over her was to engage her in a shouting contest. And he really didn't want to that; he was wrong and there was nothing he could say really, so after a while he just let her talk and sat back to take his punishment like a good soldier."
'Ok, enough is enough,' thought Sam. Daniel was making her sound like a shrew and it was time to take control of the story and direct it to where she wanted it to go. With that thought, she straighthen in her seat and after softly clearing her voice said, "Daniel, that's enough."
