Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of the characters you recognize. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. There is no monetary gain and no copyright infringement intended.

AN: Thank you Gategirl7 as always! Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing.

Previously:

"New plan, Major," he said, idea forming in his head. Jack reached for Sam before he had time to think about what he was doing. He didn't want to argue and it seemed the easiest solution. He lifted her up slightly, making room for him to slide over in the middle of their shelter. He stretched out his legs and set her back down between them. He'd get leg room and she'd get what heat he had to offer. Now if he could just control his body's reaction to Sam pressed so intimately against him, they might just make it through the night.

Chapter 4 - Warmth

"Colonel!" Sam screeched in surprise. She was zoning out because of the cold. Dimly, she knew she wasn't getting warm enough fast enough, but her impaired mind wasn't ready for the strong arms that simply reached forward and lifted her in the air as if she weighed nothing. The next thing she knew she'd been deposited between long, warm male legs, his legs!

"Easy Carter," his voice was soothing. "With it still raining buckets out there the fire isn't getting much of a chance to warm this place. You're too cold. Lean back against me," he instructed her. She was so cold and she trusted this man completely so she didn't hesitate to comply with his order. As soon as she relaxed against him, she began to feel warmer. She was aware of him taking the edges of the edges blanket from her numb fingers and wrapped them better around them. His long legs stretched out alongside hers. She could feel his body heat through his pants warming her bare legs. Her smaller limbs were protected from the cold by his much larger, muscular... Sam shook her head slightly. This was not the time to be thinking about her commanding officer's well shaped thighs being pressed against her or where her bottom was cradled. She barely managed to stop from squirming instinctually against his crotch. She could feel the outline of parts of his body she had no right to think about and all she wanted to do was to rub back against him. His power, his feel called out to her on a primal level and in her weakened frame of mind she was having a lot of trouble not answering.

Try to focus Sam, she told herself. This is your commanding officer. He's off limits and even if he wasn't he wouldn't be interested in a young tomboyish scientist. She forced her body to be still and relax more against Jack. "You're warm," Sam muttered between shivers as the heat from his naked chest began to filter through the relatively thin material of the cotton shirt she wore. She'd left her wet bra on which wasn't helping her warm up, but she needed the garment to make her feel dressed and she wasn't giving it up. "You're very warm, Sir," she pointed out again.

"Been told I make a good heater Carter, glad I can be of service," he chuckled. Sam shivered again, but this time she wasn't sure if it was the cold or the fact that his overly large shirt had slipped down in the back and she could feel the scratch of his chest hairs against the base of her neck. The tickle when he moved combined with the play of muscle against her back was warming her again in ways that had nothing to do with air temperatures.

"The middle of your back is soggy Major." She stiffened. They were not going to discuss her removing her bra and being any more naked then she already was. That wet garment was her safety blanket at the moment. "Yes it is Sir. It will dry." Her tone left no room for argument. She felt his chest rumble a little behind her. Was he laughing at her?

At least he seemed to drop the subject. "So how far down do you think the Stargate is buried?" he was asking. She knew what he was doing. He had to keep her awake until the shivers were gone and her body had warmed up. It was not going to be easy. After being so cold and having to work so hard in the rain to get away from the crumbling mountain and then to help set up camp, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

Sam focused on his question. She tried to think about where they'd ended up in relation to where they'd been before the landslide had started. She'd only had a few glimpses of the hillside before they'd taken off running when the new tremors had started, sending a new river of rock and debris hurtling toward them. She felt like she was fighting with her brain. Her thoughts felt sluggish still.

"I'm not sure Sir. I'm hoping it isn't out of the reach of the two camp shovels that we have with us." She really didn't think it should be unless the mountain side had shifted much more than she thought it had. She startled as the colonel wrapped his arms around her waist. She knew that he was just trying to get comfortable and keep her as warm as possible, but it felt very intimate with the deluge outside obscuring visibility and the light of the fire casting the interior of the shelter into shifting shadows.

Sam wasn't sure how much heat was actually making it into the shelter, but their combined body heat was beginning to do its job, she was starting to feel warmer. As another shiver raced through her body, Sam shifted against the Colonel's chest frowning, the trembles did not seem to be lessening anymore, even though she felt warmer.

Pushing down her discomfort, Sam made herself focus. She considered the planet they were on. "Even if the gate is buried too far for us to reach, we are not that far from Earth, in a relatively busy area of space from what I can tell by the few contacts we've made with allies and patterns of the few System Lords we've dealt with." She considered. Then a darker thought that had been hovering refused to be ignored any longer. "Do you think Daniel and Teal'c were caught in the event horizon?"

The colonel didn't answer at first. Sam hoped he was considering his answer and that he hadn't seen something she had missed and just didn't want to say. Last she'd remembered, he'd been turned around walking backwards toward the Stargate, saying something smart to Daniel before stepping through the event horizon. Maybe he already knew the answer. Grief stung the back of her eyes for a moment before she pushed it back.

"I'm not sure," her CO started, "but I think the gate shut down before they were able to step through." He paused, he adjust his position under her slightly. She liked the roll of his muscles against her back. She smiled and allowed herself to enjoy the movement. "Daniel was a few seconds behind me and Teal'c behind him. The gate shut down so quickly I would have checked to see if I had all my limbs if I hadn't been surfing down the mountain side." That statement made her feel better. The unconscious way he was rubbing her arm with one hand while the other was looped lightly over her stomach was helping too.

Sam sighed. She could feel her eyes drooping shut. She was feeling so much warmer. She just wished she'd stop shivering so hard. If it wasn't for that she could fall asleep against Jack's chest. Whoa, her cold numbed mind rallied, she couldn't afford to think of the man behind her as anything but her CO. She'd begun to refer to him in her mind by his first name. She was way too aware of his body heat, his scent. Mmmmm, his scent smelled so uniquely Jack O'Neill. She could get lost in it, she thought as she slipped quietly into the comfort of the darkness pushing at her. She was so tired. She thought she heard him calling her name, but she was so tired. It wouldn't hurt to just take a nap. Jack would watch out for her, she was safe.