Only 3 reviews?
Where has everyone gone off to? At least half the regular Jack/Hailey readers is missing. Is NaNo still wrecking havoc on fanfiction communities - on other fandoms there is a very big lack of the usual suspects, they're all still writing novels. Hmm.
It's been snowing nonstop since last Friday.
I. Am. Not. Amused. Grrrr.
Stupid wet, cold white stuff. My most hated time of the year has begun, :( Oh, well, at least I can take this time to either repair the damage on my poor Gixxer or sell it and buy something else. We'll see...
Btw., this fic is complete as in finished and just waiting for reviews to be posted in it's entirety. :P Hi, I'm VisualIDentificationZeta and I'm a review whore. :P Do you still love me? What can I say, checking my mail and seeing a review just makes my day. :P
Very special thanks to matsi, and sgarakaki for taking the time to leave a note of acknowledgement of this fic's existence, lol.
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Shaking his head he went back to Hailey, averting his gaze. Now that they knew the other was there and what here looked like, it was time to get to the bottom of this quite surprising situation.
Thinking it's best to distract them and get to business, starting at the beginning, rather than spend another couple of hours trying not to give into the temptation of looking at the vision of hotness and beauty opposite him, Jack started the de-briefing.
"What's the last thing you can remember?"
Suddenly, for some very odd reason, he felt yearning for an elipsoid conference table. Weird how some things can creep up on you since he abhorred everything that table represented... long, dready and boring briefings and de-briefings, Daniel's droning lectures (that guy absolutely loves to listen to his own voice), Carter's overly-enthusiastic rantings on this and that thingamajob, George's stern glances when he caught Jack pursuing more productive venues rather than listen... like playing paper football with Teal'c or taking a power nap...
Jen made a thoughtful face as she tried to remember, grateful for some sense of normalcy, no matter how twisted it was.
These two definitely weren't workaholics, living for their jobs... No way, nuh uh, dream on...
"Being on P6R-459. We went ahead of the others to open the Stargate, but when we came there, there was a wormhole already open. Then I remember being shot with something. Suddenly I started feeling paralyzed, I couldn't move and the last memory I have is of being carried through the Gate. You, sir?"
"Same." he sighed in disillusionment, there would be no rescue for them "That means they weren't native to P-whatever and came there through the Gate... which means that unless the others were by some miracle right behind us and not 10 minutes away, and could see the outgoing address, the SGC don't know where we are or who has us. Which make us basically screwed."
Jen nodded miserably "There's no way to find out where we are, sir, or how long it's been since we got taken. They took our watches. We could've been in that come for days, weeks even."
"We don't even know how to get the hell out of here." he added, thumping on the solid door that had no protrusion nor opening.
It was completely flat and fit into the wall perfectly, the fitment tight, very little space between the door and the frame. There was no way to break through it since there was no visible lock nor was it possible to force it open. Even if they had a crowbar the crack was too small to fit it in.
The only possibility was to wait for the guards to bring them food and try to overpower them. Sure, he hadn't had much luck earlier, but now there was two of them and distractions sometimes worked wonders.
Always pragmatic, he moved on from their dire situation to the reason they'd been taken.
"When I woke up I was on a table like the Doc has in her OR, with those lizards poking and prodding me with huge honkin' needles and other doohickeys, taking blood and whatnot. There was that thingamajig that I think scanned me. Then they brought me here."
Hailey was silent for a short while, pondering whether reveal everything. But then she realized that every little bit of information could be vital so she sighed resignedly, slumping "They did the same thing to me they did to you, sir, just with more... invasive... additions."
"Invasive, how?" Jack was starting to see red. If they'd touched her...
Another sigh "Gynecological exam. They essentially did a gynecological exam, sir."
Jack was gritting his teeth, the next time he saw them he'd teach them a lesson. But for now more serious matters needed his attention and he made an effort to calm down and gentle his tone as he asked her, hoping to god he didn't believe in the answer would be negative "Did they hurt you?"
Jen shook her head "Only my dignity and pride, sir. These exams aren't fun to begin with when I'm not even being physically forced into them..."
Jack grimaced, remembering all too well how much Sara had hated them.
"Sir?"
Jen called, making him look up.
"They didn't hurt me. Not one of them touched me through the whole thing, they were in another room and robotic arms did the tests. Nothing they did had anything sexual to it, they used instruments and robots for everything. In fact, in all their procedures and protocols they were very scientific and professional. I'm not saying they were humane and what they did wasn't uncomfortable or even a little painful at times, but they weren't trying to intentionally cause pain. it was more like a..."
"... like we're rats put in a maze for some research project?" Jack finished for her, receiving an agreeing nod.
"Exactly, sir."
Jack sighed, backing up to a wall and then sliding down to sit on the floor. Rubbing a hand over his face he muttered tiredly as the analysis of their situation was complete "Oy."
Now that he had a minute to think it over he realized he wasn't feeling that well. Or, at least, as he should've been feeling.
His heart was racing, his head was starting to swim, his mouth had gone dry, hands clammy and for some reason South was starting to rise up again. Heck, if he didn't know better, he'd think he was aroused and not just because of the obvious give-away.
Aroused and beginning to get really horny and after half an hour of inner battle, one that was eventually lost, he found himself stealing glances at his naked subordinate. Even more, he caught himself liking what he saw, to his consternation.
It had always been his modus operandi to never think about a coworker and sex in the same sentence, because as soon as you start it adds an unwelcome undertone to your relationship. Especially if it's a coworker of the opposite sex and you find them attractive. Once you get there it's then inevitable that the way you act towards them, your relationship and your communication, will change and it will be impossible to get back to neutral.
And in the military where people are pushed more into each other's personal space than in the civilian world and where "privacy" is an unknown word and concept, starting to think of your coworker as anything but gender-neutral being is highly unrecommended and unwanted, especially by your commanders.
He slipped once, with a blonde astrophysicist (Hailey was one too... what was it with him and astrophysicists?) and look where that got him...
His thing for Carter had irrepairably altered the entire team dynamic, introduced unwanted and unneeded tension between two team-members where there shouldn't have been any and awakened yearnings for a future when it would've been better if there were none. Without them at least he wouldn't be hurt and disappointed when his hopes and expectations were inevitably dashed.
His mistake with Carter was a clear example for why you should never allow yourself that shift from completely professional.
With Hailey there were even more factors involved in him never seeing her and never wanting to see her as anything but a subordinate. She wasn't just his subordinate and a lot lighter in rank, but also so much younger than he, making him feel like a pervert for seeing as her anything but some kind of a daughter, not to mention a craddle-robber and because of all that was his shock was huge over suddenly admitting her attractiveness and his sudden lust for her.
Unfortunately he couldn't help it, he was powerless against it.
Whatever it was, it was using his own body against him. He was a healthy, fully functioning man and there was a naked woman, a very good looking one on top of that, and she was right there, just a couple of feet away from him, directly in front of him.
He never thought himself a pervert, but how could anyone with a pulse ever ignore a naked woman, especially a nude Jennifer Hailey?
Now that some kind of switch had been thrown and he was seeing her as a woman and not as merely a subordinate or a quasi-daughter, he had to admit she was a knockout.
She had a very attractive facial bone structure, with eyes the same color as his, awesome cheeks, face full just right and the loveliest set of lips he'd ever seen. Full, big and pouty, just the right width... the lips wet dreams were made of. Not just her lips, but everything about her face was simply right, perfect, as if some genius artist had sculpted her.
Her body structure was a small-boned one and he couldn't help but admire those strong legs and arms, no fat with just the right muscle tone to make her look seductively feminine, unlike those starved-out models who's legs look like thigh bones covered with flappy skin, no flesh or muscle to fill it into a gentle shape; but she was not the type of muscular that would make her look like a virago or like she was taking male hormones. She was definitely all woman and not even a little man, thank god. Then there were those delicate ankles with tiny feet. Deceptively gentle-looking small hands. Flat stomach with the slight seductive bulge that nothing can take away. Tiny waist that flared on one end into a lovely pair of firm hips and on the other into a ribcage. An uninvited thought popped up that he loved what the military life style had done with her body, she looked very fit, healthy, not to mention hot.
It became clear to him something strange was happening to him when he realized he really wanted to see what she was hiding under her hands.
This wasn't normal, not for him, something bigger was going on here and he tried to fight it, but it was stronger than him, even though he'd been trained in fighting mind-controlling chemicals and techniques. His own hormones had rebelled and were actively working against him, to turn him into what it wanted. Whatever it was, it had usurped his body and was now using it to fight his conscious mind.
And the most frightening part was, that it was winning.
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