A/N. Ok so it took me MUCH longer than I said on the last chapter for me to update. I have no excuse and have now decided not to give a timeframe as I never manage to stick to it as RL always manages to get in the way. So I am really sorry and I hope you like the new chapter
The New Guys in Town
Chapter Four – It's Not What It Looks Like!!!
When they arrived at the control room, General Hammond was talking to Harriman.
"I don't care what it takes, we need to close that iris!" Hammond ordered.
"Reporting as ordered Sir" Carter announced.
"Colonel Carter, help the Sergeant close the Iris. Dr Jackson can you identify that symbol?" The blast doors were closed but the camera's showed a box on the ramp in front of an active Stargate.
"That's the Norse symbol for peace or rather a deviation of it" Daniel told them.
"In what way deviated, as in war or love?" Jack asked. All of SG1, JAG and the CIA agents turned to look at Jack questioningly. "Well peace/war, peace/love, ya know?" he shrugged. Suddenly the wormhole disengaged.
"Did we do that Colonel?" Harriman asked.
"Nope" she replied.
"Get that box quarantined" Hammond ordered, "Colonel Carter, I want a full report of why we weren't able to get the Iris to work and Dr Jackson, get working on that box with Dr Lee" He walked out of the room towards his office.
"Is this usual?" Mac asked Teal'c
"Indeed" he responded.
"What T means to say is that this sorta stuff happens all the time. Next thing we know we'll be dragged into some disaster and we'll survive by the skin of our teeth" Jack clarified.
"Interesting" Vaughn smiled.
"Yeah sure ya betcha"
"Sir, I could use your authorisation" Sam called from the other side of the room.
"We should get back to work" Syd and Vaughn made their way out.
"Maybe we should start to Harm, afterall, we've got an entire new set of rules to write" Mac suggested.
"Yeah right, we really should get started"
"Are you guys ok finding your way back?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah I've got my Marine" Harm laughed.
"It can't be as complicated as trying to find your way around a ship" Mac grinned back.
Later, when they had made it back to their offices, Harm sighed and dropped into a seat, watching as Mac did the same on the seat next to him.
"Pretty insane huh?" he commented.
"Yeah" Mac replied. Harm noticed that she appeared to be worrying so he took both her hands in his.
"Don't worry so much Ninja-girl" Mac smiled and decided to get down to business.
"Ok so where are we gonna start? It's a huge task, you know?" she looked up at Harm and noticed that he had a weird look in his eyes, "Harm?"
"Mac, we can abolish the fraternisation laws"
There was a silence whilst this sunk in.
"Are you sure that you want to do that?" she asked and then quickly finished, "I'm not running, it's just that those rules are in place for a reason"
Harm looked Mac in the eye and she stopped panicking. It really didn't matter, she knew that they would make the right decision. He put his hand on her cheek and was just about to respond when the door burst open and Jack and Sam fell through the door and landed on top of each other. There was a shocked silence whilst the two couples took in the state they were in. Harm pulled back his hand and all four stated in unison.
"It's not what it looks like"
Jack and Sam scrambled to their feet as Jack mumbled.
"Next time I'll let you fall on your ass Carter."
"Yes Sir" Sam confirmed, a little red in the face.
After a few awkward seconds, Jack finally spoke.
"So we came to give ya these" he told them, "And now we're on our way to Carter's lab to work, well ... she is, I just wanna play on my Game Boy"
"Yes Sir" Harm responded, taking their introduction files from him.
"So, do ya have anything you'd like to share?" Mac asked Sam slyly.
"Do you?" she countered.
"So any idea how your gonna change the UCMJ?" Jack asked, changing the subject.
"Well we have a meeting with Hammond in an hour to get his thoughts, and then I think we'll need to review past case files to get a taste of how missions run and how they can vary to missions run here on Earth. We need to have an understanding of the situations that you find yourselves in before we can change the UCMJ" Harm shared.
"Might want to start with SG1, we tend to get in a lot of scrapes" Jack smirked, "Hey Carter, lets go, Mario Carts a-calling"
"Yes Sir" Sam smiled, "bye Commander, Colonel"
"See ya later"
After Jack and Sam had left, Harm looked over at Mac and said, "Finish this later?"
"Yeah" she agreed.
Meanwhile, Daniel was translating the symbols on the box. He was getting more and more confused by the minute. He decided to take a break and go and see Sam. As he walked towards her lab, he smiled at the sound of Jack O'Neill playing on his Game Boy.
"Crap, move it, you big red ..." Jack started but was cut short by Sam's response.
"Finish that sentence and I'll dismantle the console Sir" she threatened.
"Superior Officer Carter" he reminded her teasingly.
"I'll blame it on Daniel" she teased back, Daniel decided to make his entrance.
"You'll blame nothing on me Sam, I take credit for my own screw ups only" he smiled.
"Danny-boy!" Jack greeted, "How about a team night at mine tonight, I'll spring for pizza?" he asked.
"Sure, I'll tell Teal'c" he agreed and turned to leave. He need to talk to Teal'c, he had a plan.
"7 Danny!" Jack shouted after him.
"We'll have to be careful Daniel doesn't drink too much beer if he's got to be up translating tomorrow Sir"
"Good point Carter, I'll bear that in mind"
"You do that Sir" Sam inwardly cringed. What was she doing? She was flirting with her CO ... AGAIN! And bladly at that, but he was just grinning sexily at her. No he was just grinning not sexily, just grinning.
"Ok then, 7, right Carter?"
"Yes Sir"
"Sweet, well I'll leave ya to yout doohickeys"
"Thank you Sir" he wandered out of the lab whistling the Simpsons theme tune and left Sam to berate herself further for fantasising about him, not that he knew it, of course. At seven exactly, Sam pulled up her car next to Jacks truck and noticed that Daniels car wasn't in the driveway, meaning that Daniel and Teal'c weren't there yet. That meant that she and Jack would be alone ... she caught herself before that thought headed towards dangerous territory. She waited for a moment after she knocked until Jack opened the door.
"Carter, come on in. I'm just about to order the pizza, ya want your usual?" he asked.
"Yes Sir" she smiled back at him and she was then left to amuse herself in his front room. She took off her jacket and threw it on the couch and sat down. As she reached for the remote she could hear Jack joking with the guy on the other end of the line. She turned on the TV to the Discovery channel, there was a documentary on about ancient Egyptian Gods. She hated those. Since she had started working on the Stargate program she knew the majority of the stuff was false and it bugged her. She changed the channel to the Simpsons. She smiled and left it on. A minute later Jack came back into the front room and sat next to her on the couch and handed her a guiness.
"Thanks" she said, taking swig.
"Sure thing, Carter" They sat watching the Simpsons until the episode ended, enjoying the comfortable silence until the phone rang.
"O'Neill" Jack answered, "Daniel, where are you and Teal'c? ... what? ... but ..." he sat listening to Daniel and turned to Sam and rolled his eyes at what he was hearing, "Yes Daniel, Carter's already ... because Daniel ... so you're not coming ... what about Teal'c? ... you're both lightweights ... yeah ok not Teal'c but you are" Daniel was obviously calling to say they couldn't come. Suddenly Jack blushed very slightly at what Daniel was saying and he stood up and walked into the kitchen. Sam was intrigued, the colonel never blushed, so she lowered the volume a bit so she could hear what he was saying.
"Daniel" he growled in a low warning voice, "No ... because SPACE MONKEY it would make things incredibly tense ... no ... no! Daniel ... ok, I'll tell her you'll see her tomorrow" he finished the call abruptly and came back into the room frowning.
"Daniel can't come, he's got too much translating to do and Teal'c is kel'nor'reeming and apparently asked not to be disturbed so it's just you and me" he passed her another beer that he had brought from the kitchen when he came back. Sam grinned and tried not to feel uncomfortable at being left alone with him.
"That's a waste of pizza Sir"
"You've never had left over pizza for breakfast before?" he asked, smiling.
"Yes but not ham and pineapple, urgh!" Sam said and they both laughed and pulled faces at Daniels favourite pizza. "Ok then Sir ... well what movie are we watching?" she asked.
"Well as Teal'cs not here we can get away with not watching Star Wars" he said, looking over at his DVD collection, "Anything in particular you want to watch, Carter?"
"What about Shaun of the Dead in honour of our soon to be English colleagues?" she suggested.
"Good idea Carter" he got up and went into the kitchen and came back with a few more beers and a bowl of popcorn. He turned on the DVD player and reached for the disk when the doorbell went.
"Get the pizza Carter, the money is on the side"
"Yeah" she went to the door and opened it to a smiling teenage boy who looked surprised to see Sam.
"Hi, pizza delivery for Colonel Jack" he grinned.
"Colonel Jack?" Sam yelled questioningly towards the front room and Jack's reply was shouted back in amusement.
"Hey Kyle, don't tell any of your bad jokes to Sam" she was momentarily shocked that he called her Sam but she turned back to Kyle and smiled, taking the pizza's from him and giving him the money. He started routing for change but she stopped him.
"That's ok, keep the change" she smiled.
"Thanks and ma'am, take care of Colonel Jack, he deserves some happiness now" he smiled and walked back down the driveway, leaving a gobsmacked Sam behind, although she realised straight away that it was understandable for Kyle to think that she was Jack's girlfriend, it still shocked her.
"Carter?" Jack was suddenly next to her, taking the pizza's from her, "Hey are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, just ... sorry Sir" she quickly shut the front door and turned to bump straight into Jack's chest. There was a tense moment of silence until Jack cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was somewhat croaky.
"Well, movies ready to go and ..." he trailed off as he looked into Sam's eyes. She couldn't help herself as they slowly drifted closer together. As she stared into his chocolate brown eyes, she was screaming inside her head about the regs but she slowly allowed her lips to meet his. She couldn't help the low moan that escaped from her as his free arm that had rested on her waist to pull her closer. When they finally drifted apart they both seemed to speechless but Sam felt like ... like ... she felt like she was finally where she was supposed to be. It was strange. He could melt her insides by just sitting next to her and render her speechless with a single kiss, but yeah, what a kiss. He was first to regain the power of speech.
"Maybe (he cleared his throat again) maybe we should go and watch the movie" he suggested whilst still holding her around the waist.
"Yeah good idea" she croaked back. As they walked into the front room Jack's free hand slipped from her waist to take her hand, which just felt so natural to Sam it actually scared her a little. She suddenly felt very curious about what Daniel had actually said to Jack when he called.
"Si ...Jack, what did Daniel actually say when he called?" she asked. She caught the slight pause as he put the pizza boxes down and sat down on the sofa, pulling her next to him.
"He wanted me to tell you how I feel, I think he organised the whole thing tonight so that we would be alone, he's so damn sneaky ya know" Sam chuckled as she buried herself in the side of Jack's chest.
"Yeah, I noticed he's been spending a lot of time with our new CIA agents" she frowned as the whole extent of what Jack had said sunk in. "Wait ... 'how you feel about me'?" she questioned.
"Come on Sam, ya must realise that my feelings towards you haven't changed the Zanex thing"
"Well you didn't say anything since then and ... "
"Neither did you and besides you were the one who wanted to leave it in the room, but to be honest, I didn't think we were ready then" he finished and pressed play on the remote.
"Ready doe what?" she questioned.
"For this ... for us"
She could only smile as they sat and watched the movie. Now Shaun of the Dead is an hilarious movie and she loved how the film just didn't take itself too seriously and how the Brits all poked fun out of themselves, however she did fall asleep about half way through. Next thing she knew, Jack was gently shaking her awake.
"Sam, come on, the spare bed's all made up for ya" he stood up and helped her up. Maybe it was her state of being half awake, half asleep or the fact that she really didn't care anymore but she found herself saying,
"I want to stay with you tonight"
"Sam..." he warned.
"No, Jack, I mean it. I just want to feel safe tonight and your arms make me feel that. I know an Air Force Colonel should be able to protect herself but as lame and girly as this sounds ... you make me feel safe" she admitted a little shyly and quietly to him but she also said it firmly so he was in no doubt as to what she wanted. Jack's carefully placed ice exterior of an Air Force Colonel melted under Sam's intense gaze and for the first time since Charlie had died, he felt truly happy and content. He smiled warmly at her.
"Ok" he replied simply. He took her hand and they walked into Jack's room. He got Sam a big t-shirt and shorts which she could change into and stripped to his boxers whilst she changed in his bathroom. When Sam came back into the room, she quickly took in Jack's appearance as Jack did to her. They were both surprised at the lack of embarrassment on both sides. They both got into bed and on instinct, without even thinking about it, Jack placed a gentle arm around Sam's middle and pulled her into spoon against him. She relaxed into him immediately and after a minute whispered into the darkness.
"Thank you" Jack knew he didn't have to say anything so he just pulled her slightly closer and kissed the back of her neck.
'First thing tomorrow' he thought to himself, ' I'm going to speak to the general'.
A.N. Please, please, please review ... pleaseeeee. Thanks guys, luv Nicki xoxo