A/N: Another long one for you guys. Hope you are enjoying this! r&r, please!
Sam woke and meandered out to the room. *Wow! What a nice dream!* she thought.
*I bet.* she heard Daniel giggle.
*Of course. I was in it, wasn't I?* Jack added smugly. Staring at the two of them in a moment of confusion, she suddenly remembered their latest predicament, and her eyes went wide.
*OHMyGod!* She gasped both out loud and in her head, then turned and dived back into the room.
"Aw, come out, Carter, we already heard you!" Jack called from the main room, chuckling at his 2IC's reaction. Regrouping herself and swearing to never think or dream again, she reluctantly returned, face beet-red from embarrassment. "And in case you were wondering, yes, I can do that," Jack said with a grin and Sam nearly bolted back into the room again.
"Leave her alone, Jack. It is your move." Daniel said and trying to save his friend from further torture. Sam gave him an appreciative look and moved over to their table to see that they were playing chess. Giving the board a quick glance, Sam instinctively reviewed Jack's next moves.
"Gee! Thanks, Carter. I didn't see that one." Jack said and moved his knight. "Check!" he proclaimed proudly.
"Gee, thanks, Sam." Daniel muttered sarcastically and moved his king out of danger. Sam couldn't stop herself from thinking of the final move, which Jack promptly took.
"Checkmate!" He said with a wide grin.
"Sam!" Daniel whined loudly.
"Sorry. How did you two play without reading each other's minds, anyway?" Sam questioned, watching the two set the pieces up again.
"Easy. I kept thinking of bad moves and Jack kept taking them." Daniel replied with a shrug.
"I knew you were doing that," Jack said, defensively.
"Is that why you moved your queen directly in front of mine, completely unprotected?" He asked. Jack mulled over the statement and finally shot the younger man an angry look.
"Shut up, Daniel," he said, sounding an awful lot like a petulant five-year-old, and left the table to watch some TV (he had demanded one be hooked up after putting up with the others for an hour). He slowly flipped through the channels, trying to find something on. Finally stopping, he found himself watching "Jeopardy!" He couldn't help but grin when two of the categories came up: "Astronomy" and "Fish." By the first commercial, he had only missed two questions.
* Who knew that they asked for a 'shrubbery' in that movie? * he thought to himself, shaking his head.
*A nice one. *
*And not too expensive.* came the replies from the other two in the room. Daniel and Sam looked at each other with a grin, then gave up their work and moved over to sit with Jack. When the commercial break was over, the three sat answering every question- at least one of them knowing every answer. Jack grinned inwardly when the other two stared in shock at him when he answered a question correctly in the "Nuclear Reactions" category. When the next commercial break came, Sam turned to him.
"How did you know that answer, Sir?" she demanded.
"Um...I read your mind?" Jack asked, a bit embarrassed that they had heard him. Sam and Daniel exchanged knowing grins. They were two of only a few people who knew that Jack was actually incredibly smart and just hid it well. Jack caught their look."Ok, so maybe I have just been around you too long, Carter." he tried and turned back to the TV just as the final commercial went off. All three couldn't help but grin widely as the final category popped up
"Aliens."
The game show was followed up by a movie, so they all stayed in their seats. Surprisingly, none of them had seen it, and soon were all caught up in the plot.
"How can that little kid see the dead people? I don't get it." Jack said, confused.
"It doesn't really matter, Sir. The guy is on the right track. The kid has to figure out what the ghosts want to make them go away" Sam replied.
"But, how does he see them?" Jack asked again, hung up on the point.
It was during one of these discussions that Teal'c walked into the room, finished with his kel-no-reeming. As he took a seat next to Daniel, the movie came back on for a commercial break. Not far into it, Teal'c realized that he had seen this particular film.
*The man is dead already. * he thought to himself. The other members looked at him, back at the TV, then each other, and groaned.
"Thanks, T." Jack said ruefully. Teal'c, realizing the situation, nodded his head in apology.
"I apologize for revealing the end, O'Neill." He said and Jack shook his head.
"Don't worry about it. Daniel, I will pay you the $10 tomorrow," he said to the grinning young man. Dispersing, they tried to return to their different past times- work or video games- but soon had to give up. It was just too loud in the room with all four of them thinking so much! Converging back at the table, they stared at one another. blankly for a long minute.
"Ok, let's look at our situation a bit, shall we?" Jack proposed, his need for action kicking in. The other three nodded in unison, and he continued. " Number one: we can't work or do anything since we all think too much. Number two: we are all driving each other crazy. Everyone agree so far?" Everyone nodded again, emphatically. "Ok, so, since we are stuck with each other, we need to figure out a way to keep our sanity. Any suggestions?" Everyone looked at each other and notice that, for the first time since they had returned from the planet, there was complete silence. Finally, an idea came out. The other three team members turned slowly and glared at the owner.
"No, Jack. Killing the rest of us is not going to help our situation." Daniel informed him in short, clipped tones.
"No, but it will help MINE!" Jack shot back. Daniel simply rolled his eyes.
"How about this. Why don't we all work on the same thing? Then anything we are thinking about is at least related." He offered.
"Like what, though?" Sam asked, warming hesitantly to the idea.
"Well, I have this text that needs to be translated..." he started before being bombarded with thoughts from the others. "Okay! Sorry! It was just a suggestion!" he cried out, covering his ears. The complaints died down slowly and with a final * Hell No! * from Jack, stopped completely. They all sat in silence, waiting for an answer with nothing forthcoming.
Getting restless, Sam stood to get some water. On her way over, she accidentally hit her foot on the table. The three men turned and looked at her in shock.
"Wow, Carter. I didn't know you knew those words!" Jack exclaimed. Sam smiled tightly and condescendingly at the same time while hopping on one foot.
"Sir, I have a father who was a General, and I went to the Air Force Academy. Of COURSE, I know those words." She replied and limped on to the sink to get the water.
Minutes later, General Hammond entered the room. He was both amused and confused to see the four people sitting and staring hatefully at each other in apparent silence.
"How are you all doing?" he asked as they all looked at him.
"Peachy, Sir," Sam replied, wincing as she realized that Jack had just thought the same harsh comment. "Sorry, Sir." she apologized. Hammond just grinned at her. He had been warned about the team's short tempers due to the circumstances, but he still couldn't help but find it slightly amusing.
"It is alright, Major. I'm sure that this is a stressful situation for us all," he said.
"General, we are driving each other nuts! Can't we have separate rooms or something?" Jack whined.
"Sorry, Colonel. SG's 11, 6, and 7 just came back from off-world and are all carrying a virus. They are taking up all of the other isolation rooms." Hammond replied. Jack winced and stared at Sam, who promptly apologized at her wandering thoughts.
"Is it serious, General? The virus I mean?" Daniel asked, genuinely worried for the other teams.
"No, Doctor Frasier is in the process of curing them. It was a simple strand, and easily treatable, but she would like to quarantine the virus as much as possible." He answered.
"You know, General, I haven't been feeling too good recently. I may have contracted the bug, too. I really think I should be separated from the rest of the team, in fear of contaminating them." Jack said, feigning sickness. Hammond just grinned at him.
"Sorry, son, but there is no way you could have caught the virus. And even if you did, the other three here would probably already have it by now, anyway," he said.
* hehe * Daniel thought towards Jack.
*No such luck, buster. * Sam also thought. Jack glared at both of them.
* Had to try.* he said back with a shrug.
"Sometimes I worry about you all" they heard Hammond say from behind them.
"Sorry, Sir. It isn't like we can help it, but you shouldn't worry." Jack replied irritably, not looking up.
"It is ok, Colonel. I am not worried." General Hammond said, slightly thrown by the comment. "I just think that you all will be the cause for my loss of sanity someday."
"Oh, come on, General. We aren't that bad. And we will not cause you to lose your sanity." Daniel said. George looked at him, even more confused.
"Doctor Jackson, I never said anything about that, at least not out... loud," he explained, then paled as he realized what he just said. SG-1 looked up at him slowly, dread filling their faces. Closing his eyes, he prayed his theory was wrong. *I do think that we should switch to decaf on base though. * he thought to himself.
"No!" Daniel cried, worriedly.
"You heard that?" George asked and the team nodded.
"Oh boy." Jack said, lowering his head into his hands.
"Sir, can you hear our thoughts?" Sam asked, scientifically.
"I don't think so. Is anyone...er...thinking anything?" he asked, looking around.
"Oh yeah, we sure are," Daniel replied with a chuckle. If the General had heard Jack's thoughts, he would surely be court marshaled.
"Well, it must be spreading, but only one way," Sam observed. Jack nearly screamed as she, Daniel, and even Teal'c suddenly started thinking rapidly.
"STOP IT!" he yelled. It was this scene that Janet walked in on with a polite grin at the General and others.
"Oh, hello, sir." she said. *Come to visit the psych ward, too, I see. * she added mentally. Jack and the others grinned at each other and turned to the unsuspecting Doctor.
"The psych ward, Doc?" Jack said, grinning as Janet blanched.
"You heard that?" She asked and the team nodded.
"Oh boy." Janet said. *This is not good. *
"You're telling me!" Three people responded in unison, followed by a stoic, "Indeed." Janet rolled her eyes at them.
"Well, something is changing. I will to run need more tests." she said, thankful when she found that she couldn't hear the team's thoughts. Of course, from the daggers coming from their eyes, she didn't really need to. She got the point just fine.
"For cryin' out loud!" was the only response she heard, other than mutual groans. Daniel and Teal'c were the first to be dragged off, leaving Jack and Sam sitting in uncomfortable silence.
"Aren't you tired, sir?" Sam asked, hopefully.
"Not really. I slept some last night in here." Jack answered.
"You sure? I mean, you could catch a few more hours in one of the beds. You really should get some good sleep." Sam suggested, trying to sound as casual as possible, but Jack knew better.
"I know, but I don't think you would want to hear my dreams," he said with a wiggle of his eye brows, making Sam blush.
"Yeah, about that...um..." she started but he waved her quiet.
"Don't worry about it." he replied out loud. *It is nice to know you dream of me, though * he added mentally, causing Sam to blush further and look away.
* Can't really help it, Sir. I can't control my dreams. * she pointed out.
* Sam, we are reading each other's minds, I think you can drop the 'sir' * Jack suggested gently.
* Shame he doesn't dream of me. * she thought before she could stop herself. She closed her eyes, wishing she could take that back and Jack smiled softly at her.
*I do * he replied. Their mental conversation was interrupted by Daniel and Teal'c arriving back, scowls on their faces.
*How could anyone so beautiful and innocent hurt so much? * Daniel thought to himself, rubbing his backside. He then remembered that everyone in the room could hear him and froe like a deer caught in the headlights. * I shouldn't have said that. * Sam smiled at him in happy surprise.
*Beautiful, eh?* Jack teased and Daniel rolled his eyes.
*Wait till Janet hears this!* Sam exclaimed happily.
*No, Sam, please don't tell her!* Daniel pleaded.
"We'll see. Hmmm...where are those pictures that you have again?" she asked, her smile turning wicked.
*Blackmail, Carter? I didn't know you had it in you. * Jack threw in with a chuckle.
*Guess it is I who have been around you too long, Sir. * She replied with a smug grin.
"The pictures are in my office, Sam. I will get them to you as soon as we are out of here." Daniel said quickly and Sam nodded.
"So, what did we find out?" Jack asked, changing the subject.
"Well, Janet needs sleep, Teal'c's temperature is normal, and Siler thinks that we are somehow faking this so that we can get more downtime." Daniel replied, plopping down into a chair, then winced as his backside reminded him of the huge honking shot he had just received.
"Ok, anything pertaining to our problem, that will help us?" Jack clarified.
"Doctor Frasier believes that injuring our skulls may help." Teal'c offered, making Jack and Sam frown at him in confusion.
"Actually, she said, and I quote, 'Maybe if I just smack them upside their heads, it will fix them,'" Daniel explained and chuckled again as the good doctor walked in.
"So, Doc, you think physical abuse will help, huh?" Jack quipped, and Janet looked at him, horrified.
"Sorry, I forgot..." she trailed off and shook her head. "Anyway, it is your turn, Colonel, and yours too, Major. Follow me, please." She said and started out of the room. Jack and Sam stood to follow and Daniel caught Sam's arm.
* Sam, please don't say anything. You promise? * he asked, and Sam smiled at him.
* I won't say anything, Daniel. Yes, I promise. * she pledged. He let go and sat back, relieved. Just before she and Jack left, Jack looked over his shoulder at Daniel.
*Ah, but I never promised anything, Doctor Jackson. * he said with an evil grin, then started singing *Daniel and Janet, sitting in a tree...* as he shut the door.
Teal'c barely caught Daniel as he launched himself at the retreating Colonel.