A bright thought occurred to her. He didn't know it was her. Just like she didn't know it was him who left the card. She was pretty damn certain, but she didn't actually know. So that was all right, then. She'd covered her tracks thoroughly – special ops had nothing on her when it came to smuggling large bunches of flowers through the SGC. It was a long, involved tale of bribery and corruption and hiding in storage closets, but at least she was sure he'd never have any actual proof.
Argh. What a... damn stupid stunt to pull. And on her new CO, too. It was all his fault, with his casual attitude and his 'Sam' and his teasing and his warm brown eyes... Argh! No, no, no. She should never have done it.
Still, he'd looked kind of... well, she'd thought he was being inscrutable at the time, but now she looked back she was thinking it was more of a hurt-she-doesn't-like-my-card sort of look. She'd called it tacky, right to his face. And cute. It probably wasn't how he wanted the card to be received. It was probably meant as just a... a what? What had he meant? What had he meant?
Yeah, she was probably over-analyzing this. Jack O'Neill wasn't one for much introspection. It had probably been just a passing thought on his behalf. So she shouldn't read... well, anything into it.
Damn. Why had she bought him flowers in return?
Her phone rang, startling her. "Carter." It was him. Her stomach did an unpleasant little jig. "Hi, sir, what's up?" What? Dinner? Was he... "Dinner?" Oh. With the team. Oh, thank god. "Oh, yeah. No, not got any plans, that'd be great. Yeah, it looks nice there. Yeah, nineteen hundred's fine. Okay, that's great. Yeah. Bye."
Her heart was pounding when she hung up. He'd not said anything about the flowers. Was that a good or a bad thing? If he'd not known they were from her, would he have been more or less likely to mention it? Well, from what she'd observed so far, he probably wouldn't really have mentioned it either way – that just wasn't like him. He didn't like discussing personal things. She guessed that getting a secret Valentine's gift counted as 'personal'.
So. Dinner, eh? What was all that about? Yeah, team bonding, yadda yadda – but what was it really about? Was he thinking that they'd got some kind of... understanding going? Because that was so not the case. An understanding was the last thing she'd call this – this weirdness. If anything, it was a misunderstanding. Two people at cross-purposes. He was... sending her cards, and she was... giving him flowers, but she hadn't meant... and then the dinner... but with the team...
Argh.
Oh, if only Daniel was a girl. And, you know, not inclined to laugh his ass off at her. Anyway, the military thing was completely beyond him – he just couldn't get his head around it. She might tell Teal'c, who understood the strict enforcement of military rules and regulations, but then she'd have to explain the whole Valentine's Day thing, and he'd probably give her that look that said he thought humans were nuts. She really had to cultivate a closer friendship with Doctor Frasier – she seemed like a nice person, pretty understanding, and with a sense of humor. Not that she could tell the doctor that she'd bought her CO flowers, or that her CO had (probably) given her a Valentine's card. Not in a million, bazillion years. She might feel she'd have to report it to Hammond, and then maaaaajor badness would ensue.
Oh, this was all so stupid. What the hell was she worrying about? She was reading too much into it. He'd just bought her a card, as a nice gesture, and in return she'd bought him some flowers. It was all perfectly innocent. It wasn't like they had some secret romance going on. And now the team was going to dinner. Which had nothing to do with anything.
Yeah, right. All perfectly innocent. All harmless fun, right up until the point she was court-martialed for fraternization.
Dammit, no. They were just becoming friends – there was no harm in that, although strictly speaking even that wasn't really encouraged in a military environment. She would just have to remember to keep her respectful distance from now on. Be professional.
Yes, thought Captain Sam Carter, determinedly. From now on, her relationship with Jack O'Neill would be strictly professional.
That should be easy enough, right?
Right?