Chapter 2: We'll Always Have Paris...
An hour later camp had been set up and they were just waiting on the final team of two to show up. Of course it had to be Carter and Makepeace.
He and Daniel had been joined rather quickly by Teal'c and Johnson and had no problems quickly setting up camp. Within minutes of their success Prounce and Bouver had revealed themselves leaving Jack to secretly guess that they had just been waiting to rejoin the group. Then they waited.
Jack thought there was a possibility that Makepeace had thrown her off a cliff. Daniel was worried that Jack was going to start sprouting feathers.
After spitting on each other's hands Sam and Makepeace had begun dripping little morsels of conversations into the search. After getting Jack's message they relaxed a little and made their way back towards the camp. That was when they had begun the real talking.
They still shied away from the really deep soul searching personal discussions and stuck to little favorites of this and that or recent SGC gossip.
Reaching the edge of camp and seeing Teal'c sitting stoically on a log with Daniel on the ground kind of next to him bent over a rubbing from the temple and a cup of coffee in one hand, Johnson valiantly trying to heat the MRE's to make them eatable, Prounce and Bouver whispering quickly in the corner across from Teal'c and Daniel, and Jack pacing around them all, brought the two back into the reality of their lives. Robert leaned over and gave Sam a squeeze on the shoulder.
"Ready Air Force?"
She nodded. "Yea, Marine."
They made their way into the circle of their teammates.
000
Hearing footsteps approach Jack paused mid stride and studied the forest line. He saw two figures pause before the light and share a brief.. embrace? He narrowed his eyes and watched them pickup their return.
"Carter?" The figure momentarily froze but continued its path. When she had been fully revealed by the campfire Sam smiled.
"Yes sir."
Jack left out a breath of relief. "Good." He paused. "I was afraid Makepeace had shoved you off a ledge or something." The man by her side smile broadly as Sam chuckled.
"Not yet sir."
Jack nodded and searched her for the tension he had felt earlier. A small part of it was still there but nothing like what he had felt before. All the better for him, really, soldiers couldn't be coddled, if she had managed to resolve her issues by herself kudos. Brushing off his momentary lapse Jack snapped back.
"Okay campers, since this is a two night mission we'll trade on watch tonight will be SG1 tomorrow SG3. Everybody good?" Watching the nods he rubbed his hands. "Okay, Teal'c you've got the first watch, Carter second, Danny fourth." As his team assented he turned to Lt. Mike Johnson. "How those MRE's coming along?"
000
Someone had forgotten a tent.
Glaring at each other Colonel's O'Neill and Makepeace dared the other to blame it on the opposite team. Sam picking up on the strain intervened.
"Sir, there is going to have to be a tent of four or two tents of three."
Jack clinched his teeth and nodded. "Okay, two of three it is. Daniel, Johnson, and Prounce, Bouver and Teal'c, and the three of us." He gestured to the two other senior officers.
Teal'c inclined his head. "O'Neill. I do not require a tent to kel'nor'reem."
James Prounce loudly exhaled in relief.
Jack just gave Teal'c a weird look. "Riiight."
The group broke up and headed to their respective tents.
Sam Carter's Watch:
Sam watched the stars flicker overhead and contemplated her truly weird existence. In less than a month she had gone from just being on SG1 and dying for some private time to branching out of her shell and making new friends. She growled quietly to herself. She was lying. To herself; how dumb was that.
Okay, so not so much friends as friend. He was nice, kind of cute and pretty funny but beyond all the superfluous stuff, like how good he smelled, there was a man she truly wanted to get to know. He wasn't a battle-hardened ass; he was just a guy trying to do his job well. Once you got beyond the marine front, she had decided, he was rally kind of great.
Sighing she fingered her growing hair and curled it around one of her fingers. If he was soo great then why was she so nervous. Honestly, she chided herself; you are such a liar. She knew exactly why and she thought she had conquered the problem years ago.
As a military brat and a woman competing in a man's world you had to get over yourself. You had to grow into your own self-confidence because everyone else only wanted to tear you down. You had to move beyond the rumors and what people thought of you to get the job done.
Eventually you do your job right for long enough and people will start to respect you, begrudgingly, or at least your work.
SO why all of the sudden was she so concerned about what three men thought of her personal relationships. The evil truth side of her brain began whispering again.
They aren't just three guys or just your teammates. They are the closest people to friends and family you've had in years, and you don't want to lose that. Even for a chance of normal happiness.
Coward.
Suddenly cool rough hands brushed over the tips of her ears and up around her eyes blocking her sight.
"A franc for your thoughts?" he whispered.
"On Earth they'd only bring a penny, I guess that's about all they're worth." She smiled.
He leaned in. "I'm willing to be over charged."
A tension filled the sweet night air with unspoken and unsought promises and wonderments of the possibilities. Suddenly it was all bearing down to hard and too heavy and began to crush her.
Sam took one step out of his embrace and took several deep calming breathes. "Call me."
Makepeace titled his head, wondering if she had lost it. "Sam?"
She heard the quizzical note in his voice and smiled. "When we get back."
He nodded to the darkness, understanding her need for normalcy. "Sure."
"Thanks." She didn't turn around and they both settled into semi-rigid stances watching borders of camp and the twinkling stars.
And both were completely oblivious to the fact that the third person from their tent had been silently watching the entire exchange.