Disclaimer: Not mine. But Santa can give them to me anytime!
Timeline: Post Chimera, Pre The Lost City.
A/N: Mistletoe is traditionally hung over doorways, but I thought, if we have a very big circular, wormhole door that could work too right?
This is for all of you who don't get hot weather during Christmas! By the way, Janet is NOT dead in this fic. I HATE writing her dead…much as I love the new doctor, who is played by Alisen Down, who was on Mysterious Ways! (hehe, go Miranda/Declan!)
Thank you to all of you who reviewed this, I had a lot of fun reading writing.
Big thanks to Waddles52 and Bekki who both helped with storylines and the beta part!
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The next morning, O'Neill made his wanderings into his 2IC's lab. They were going to be on a tropical planet all day and weren't due back til the next morning…. YEP, life was good. AND he was getting paid for it. Returning on Christmas Eve was cutting it a bit close, but at least he wasn't part of the team staying on base this year. Poor Reynolds. Besides, it was Janet's turn to host the 'shindig' this year so that saved the last minute shopping.
He arrived at Carter open doorway, and saw her working diligently on some doohickey she'd acquired. He paused at the threshold for a while, leaning against the doorway as he let his pack slide to the ground. He stood observing her work, and the amount of attention that she focused on examining the metal object in her hands.
His eyes wandered to her figure, which to Jack who was used to seeing her in green or blue fatigues, look alluring enough to break some rules. Fraternization rules. She'd had sense enough not to wear flip-flops to an off-world mission, instead she wore her sneakers. You never knew when some crazy Goa'uld was going to start running after you with an advanced stick they called a staff weapon… not they were expecting trouble on P3X 492.
She wore jeans that hugged her figure well and her regular tank top, only this time in a pretty blue. Jack saw the ties of her swimmers peeking out at the base of her neck, and swallowed. He'd been half joking, half serious about the bikini, but if Carter was fine with it, who was he to complain?
Her little 'outfit' was topped off with a pair of sunnies sitting on top of her messy style blonde hair. He wondered briefly how this was tropical attire, but he supposed it wasn't his place to comment. Clearing his throat, to make his presence known, he flashed her a smile before saying, "Knock. Knock."
"Oh, hi sir. Almost done here," she replied without looking up.
Jack made a face, "All right, I'll try again," he slowly emphasised, rocking on his heels slightly, "Knock. Knock."
Sam rolled her eyes, "Who's there?"
Jack grinned, "Iman."
"Iman who?"
"I'm an incredibly handsome Airforce Colonel here to sweep a certain beautiful major off to a tropical planet."
"Mmm. Sounds tempting." She murmured to her gadget, before turning her head sideways slightly to smile at Jack. Sam pretended to focus all her attention back into the object in front of her so she could finish off her analysis and file her report.
In actual fact, she was finished examining the object in her hands. Her mind was still trying to process the image of her CO in civvies. He was dressed simply, clad in khaki cargo pants and a button-down maroon shirt, but she couldn't seem to get his image or inappropriate thoughts out her head.
Jack didn't seem to notice her lack of attention toward her work. He couldn't describe the feelings that washed over him, as she responded to 'sweeping her off her feet'. It was so tempting to just wrap his arms around her behind, kiss her neck and never let go. He knew that were they not at work, he would have done something very similar, perhaps minus the kiss for now.
He wondered further into the lab toward his 2IC, hiding a cheeky grin, deciding to settle for something a tad less extreme.
Today was going to be a day of fun and games.
"Yeah, well, we've only got twenty minutes 'till we leave."
Jack tried to smother his grin at her surprise, almost burying his face in her neck for a snuffle before catching himself, as Sam dropped the device and let out a small noise.
Sam had been so intent on pretending to work that she hadn't noticed the Colonel sneak up behind her. Right now their stance was about as close as they could legitimately get without getting court marshalled.
Jack was standing so Sam's back almost touched his chest. He had his arms around her, supposedly (this was his excuse) to tell he about the time. At least that's what his mind told him, his heart and body weren't so agreeable.
Jack leaned forward slightly and tapped the face of his wristwatch in a light voice, said, "And knowing you, it'll take half of that time to get there. And we need to get there."
"Funny sir." Sam breathed, Jack's proximity clearly affecting her. She turned to throw him a look that teetered on the edge of insubordination, almost touching his face with him, "Funny."
For a while, the two just looked at each other, expressions unguarded. It was as if the SGC didn't exist for a few seconds in time, and they were only Sam and Jack. Jack unconsciously closed his arms around her waist as Sam's face inched forward just a fraction of an inch.
Daniel and Teal'c suddenly appeared at the doorway, wearing BDU's in contrast to the rest of their team, ruining the private moment. They both had packs on their backs; Daniel was about to speak when he noticed his other two teammates in a rather interesting 'conversation'.
"Hey, Sam. Where…Ok, maybe we're in the wrong reality," He said to Teal'c as he grabbed the Jaffa's shoulder and started to exit backwards.
O'Neill and Carter instantly broke out of their reveries at their favourite and the only 'Spacemonkey's' voice, blushing and avoiding each other's eyes.
"No Daniel. It's fine." Sam said, the first to find something suitable to say.
Daniel looked at her suspiciously; Teal'c had an equally doubtful expression on his face, "Right... What were you two doing anyway?" Daniel, his face changing into a grin.
"Ah. The Colonel was teaching me how to read his watch."
"Carter refused to look at the time. I tried to convince her. " They both said at the same time, and winced once they'd both finished, and they realised how bad their stories didn't click.
There was an awkward silence, uncharacteristic of SG1, before Jack broke in with one of his famous rhetorical comments. "So Daniel, Teal'c …what's with the clothes?"
Daniel just gave him that ruffled-brow, 'huh' look. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. "What's with your's Jack?"
Jack did his eye-squint thing, not unlike what he did when they revived him from stasis, the second time around when he'd been asking about Teal'c's new hair-do, he repeated his question "Daniel…what's with the clothes?"
"Shall we proceed to the armoury?" Teal'c said, speaking up for the first time since entering the room, and making sure his friend's didn't start a squabble.
"Do we really need weapons?" Sam asked frowning, as she locked up her equipment, " I mean, according to Daniel and the UAV, it's supposed to be an uninhabited planet, threat free from the Goa'uld."
"Doesn't hurt to be cautious, Major" Jack said. "You never know when some alien squirrel feels the sudden urge to guard that Ancient/Goa'uld rock."
"Yes, Sir." With that, she grabbed her pack and headed for the door, the rest of the team following.Teal'c fell into step beside her, and they walked together in relative silence.
As soon as they stepped into an adjacent hallway, Sam and Teal'c could hear, Jack and Daniel heatedly discussing their clothes, behind them. Sam and Teal'c tried to ignore their childish behaviour, but couldn't stop the amused looks on their faces.
"Jack! How come you get to wear normal clothes and I'm stuck in this!" Daniel whined, gingerly picking and looking at his standard black T-shirt, as if it were contagious.
"Because you were so excited about your stupid rock talk that you forgot that Hammond practically gave us permission…well sort of."
"He did?" Daniel gave Jack a sideways look of suspicion.
"He did." Jack confirmed.
"No, he didn't."
"Yes he did." Jack said in a matter-of-fact tone, a mocking grin on his face.
"No."
"Yes!"
"No!" Daniel shot back, his voice increasing in volume.
"Yes!" Jack practically all but yelled back at his friend, earning him odd looks from nearby personnel. He gave them all withering looks before turning back to Daniel.
"Look, Daniel. It's supposed to be an easy mission, no snakeheads, no overly eager natives, plenty of rocks for you, plenty of dirt for Carter. Plenty of air for Teal'c. Plenty of trees for me. Why don't you just relax.?"
"But Jack…."
"Daniel, you're not even military. All they ask of you is that you don't go through that gate in a wedding cake. You've got, what," Jack glanced at his watch, "10 minutes before we REALLY need to be geared up, so if you and Teal'c really want to go change, grab your swimming gear then…shoo!"
"Really?" Daniel's face lit up with childish glee. Sam looked back at the pair, she was sure that if Daniel were about twenty years younger, he would have been jumping und down, clapping his hands.
"Yes, really." Jack said, getting annoyed. He really had no idea why Daniel cared so much about attire all of a sudden. I mean look at his wardrobe, it just sooo screams out…. DANIEL!
He chuckled to himself as he watched Daniel grab Teal'c's pack and steer him toward the change rooms, practically bouncing off the walls. In truth, Hammond had really said nothing about civvies; he and Carter had merely twisted his half-sarcastic words.
It wasn't like they were going to get kicked out of the SGC for it just this one time…right? It was like a threat free, tropical, holiday planet. It was legitimate payback for working so close to Christmas, right? Right?
Crap. Jack thought, Maybe this isn't such a good idea.
"Maybe we should lace his coffee with alcohol. Shut him up for a while," Jack said, as he sped up to walk next to his 2IC.
"Sir! This is Daniel, we're talking about. He's worse with alcohol that I am. Who knows what would happen to him?"
"That's what I'm counting on, Major."
"But he's a 'friend'," Sam protested, as they pushed open the door to the armoury. Not sure whether Jack was serious, she couldn't tell.
"He's a pain in the ass, that's what he is." Jack grumbled. He nodded to the sergeant on duty as he gathered the 'basic' kit. Beretta, P90, U-knife…that was about it. Maybe a zat…just to be safe.
"How so?" Carter asked, curious to know what it was Daniel did to make her CO ticked. All of a sudden she was very glad that they were a very close team, and they could throw subjects around like this. Now if only Daniel hadn't walked in on their little 'discussion' earlier…
"Well, for one. He always gets injured even on the simplest missions, and we then have to haul his Spacemonkey and often-unconscious ass back here and then WE'RE the ones who have to explain to Hammond. And don't even get me STARTED on his rock talk." O'Neill said while fixing the last strap to his leg.
"But it's all part of his charm, sir." Sam said, defending her absent friend and fellow scientist, as she too fiddled with the straps that held her knife and sidearm in place.
Jack didn't reply, instead he sat down on a near by bench, waiting for Daniel and Teal'c to arrive. It was true; Daniel's 'charm' made him strangely endearing, Teal'c and his generally peaceful nature made his unique. As for his 2IC…. all he to say about her was that she was unique for being Samantha Carter.
Frankly, the fact that they'd been in such close proximity together, at work and not under any alien influence or Tok'ra technology made him question his self-control. Had his Special Op's training not taught him anything? He'd once carried out missions that had been classified 'Covert Red' for cryin' out loud!
Now that he sat down and started thinking about it, the waves of emotions that had crashed down so suddenly on him before, now scared him. He stole a sideways glance at his 2IC, and it occurred to him that she might also be thinking of their previous little 'discussion'. He let out a heavy sigh and tried to change his line of thoughts to fish.
He's just gotten to thinking about trout when Teal'c and Daniel arrived. The two quickly grabbed what they needed before the whole team headed for the Gateroom, right on time, either fiddling with straps,
90's or tying shoelaces.
"Colonel. Where the hell are SG-1's standard uniforms?"
"In our lockers sir. We thought we'd give the lonely squirrels on P3X 492 a taste of Earth downtime culture." Jack replied, as if it were perfectly normal, "Besides, it's almost Christmas."
"Very well." The General consented, as he instructed the Gate technician beside him to dial the sequence. He seemed to remember mentioning something very vaguely about swimwear to SG-1. He decided he'd let it go just this once. Besides, when O'Neill and Carter returned, he, along with the Control and Gate room personnel would be well entertained.
He figured it was near Christmas, and since SG-1 was the wackiest team in the program and had had a long year, they deserved it. Besides, the Tok'ra and Asgard, had also labelled PX3 492 threat-free and uninhabited.
What could go wrong?
"Chevron 7 locked" Davis announced.
"SG-1 you have a go. We expect you back at 0900 tomorrow." He watched as Jack snapped a sloppy salute and the team disappear through the event horizon.
"Finally, peace and quiet until tomorrow morning." Hammond sighed.
"What's happening tomorrow morning sir?" A nearby lieutenant asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing, airman."
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A/N: Ack! This was SUPPOSED to be a simple one shot; a 'kiss' and 'the end', and NOW look what happened. It seems I have an inability to write short fics, for that matter.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this, or if you didn't enjoy it, or even if you just simply want to get on my case for giving you such a sucky chapter, then do be nice and review or email me! I should have the next chapter up sometime in the future…
Wormhole Disengaged from P3x- Black Storm
Eh…this is just news I can't keep bottled up. But I got the Stargate Season 4 Box set for my Birthday! (5th Feb, you do the math) And its …..astronomical to use exactly the right word! LOL
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FYI: Covert Red and Cover Green.
Basically, they're to determine just how much 'Secrecy' is involved in a mission. It's the policy of all American elite forces (e.g Striker and Delta) to leave nothing usable behind.
In some cases, where the mission was Covert Red, no one is to know the forces had even been there, even shell-casings are collected. Covert Green means that, it is only necessary that the identities of the operatives never be revealed.