So, I started this chapter with a plan to further the plot on Terra Antiqua. Instead it turned into something else entirely. This is mostly an interlude piece that is about Jack and Sam getting to know one another. I will return to more of the storeline after this – but since this story is mostly about the relationship of these two characters, I felt this was important.

"Any luck?" He looked up from his book as the door opened and Sam walked in.

"No", she sighed. "None of the nurses seemed to know and Dr. Sergei wasn't there. He's gone on vacation for the next couple of weeks."

"Oh. Maybe we should contact the Administrator. She seemed willing to help us."

"I guess, although don't you think it might make her suspicious?" Carter looked at him skeptically as she walked in and plunked herself down on the other dining room/kitchen chair.

"I suppose", he sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to – wait a second", he stopped, a sudden thought popping into his slowly dying of boredom brain. "What if we ask someone the names of the people who rescued us? We can say we want to thank them – which actually we should do anyway."

"Of course, why didn't I think of that?" Sam sounded disgusted at herself.

Jack sighed again, wishing that Carter would stop blaming herself for everything. He hadn't thought of it either, until now, and he was just sitting here on his ass, doing much of nothing. "Don't worry about it", was all he said. "I'm sure that Administrator Salea won't be suspicious if we ask her that. We can contact her in the morning."

"Why not now?"

"Carter, it's dinner time. I'm assuming that even the people of Terra Antiqua have to go home sometimes and eat and sleep."

"Oh." She looked a bit sheepish but right then her stomach growled and she grinned. She was hungry. "Something smells good."

"Well, the least I can do is cook", he answered somewhat sharply. Since their pillow fight he'd worked very hard to be as pleasant as possible but he was going crazy stuck in the apartment and his nerves were on edge.

"I appreciate it Sir", Sam smiled at him which made him feel guilty and even more irritated. "You'll be out of that cast soon and then we can go and check out the Death Glider. I may be able to fix it."

"If we find it!"

"I'm sure we will. Your idea of speaking with the guys who rescued us was brilliant. They'll give us the location, I'm sure of it."

"And what if it's a long way away? How are we going to get there? We don't have any transportation and a limited amount of funds."

Now she began to feel irritated, although she was trying to hold it in. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"Yeah, you could always ask Sergei. I'm sure he'd do anything for you!"

She looked at him in surprise, wondering where his bad mood was coming from and why he always seemed so irritated about Dr. Sergei. He had seemed to be one of the more decent ones they'd met and had treated them both with respect and kindness.

"I'm sure he'd be just as helpful to you Sir."

The Colonel snorted, and rolled his eyes. "I doubt that Carter. Look, we'd better eat or things will get cold."

She got up suddenly and began to serve them both a plate of the meat and vegetables the Colonel had cooked up. For the most part everything looked pretty similar to Earth food, although there were a couple of ingredients she didn't recognize. She hoped he knew what he was doing and hadn't just decided to experiment.

Jack accepted the plate silently and waited while Carter sat down. He watched her take a bite but when she didn't gag or look disgusted he felt relieved. He'd never claimed to be the best cook in the world, and it was a bit of a struggle using ingredients that were foreign to him but he'd tried. He gingerly took a spoonful and tasted it.

"It's good", Sam told him. "I don't know what everything is, but it's tasty."

"I asked the lady at the store", he explained, suddenly feeling bad for having snapped at her. "She was really helpful". He suddenly grinned mischievously. "I almost bought an herb to put in the stew but fortunately she stopped me."

"Why? What was it?"

"A laxative." He grinned.

She laughed at that, feeling the tension dissipate. "I'm glad she stopped you then." She took another bite and after a moment asked. "Do you find the people here very friendly?"

"Yeah", he answered, looking at her questioningly. "Why? Don't you?"

She shrugged and took another bite. "I guess I haven't really had time to get to know them very well."

The truth was that everywhere she went she stood out like a sore thumb because of her coloring. As a result it was as if she wore a 'Refugee' sign around her neck. Many people were downright unfriendly, the rest cautious around her. Other than a few nurses at the hospital and Dr. Sergei, she hadn't found anyone who had reached out to her with kindness. As a result, she'd closed herself off, going about her business quickly with as little interaction as possible.

Even though the Colonel didn't get out as much because of his leg, he seemed to fit in better with the locals. His coloring was such that he didn't stand out, but beyond that, he just seemed to find it easier to talk to people. Sam was pretty sure that he'd be making friends in no time. She just wished she had the same ability.

Jack noticed that Carter was starting to look tired – or depressed – and wished he could do something to help. Again his frustration mounted over his injury. It was keeping them from discovering a way home and preventing him from doing anything to really help. "Look, soon we'll find the ship and see if we can get her flying again, then we can make it home."

"What if we can't?" Now it was her turn to be negative.

"Well then, we find a Stargate and make it home that way."

"Have you found any references to one?" She glanced over at the stack of books she'd brought from the local library. It was his task to read through them to discover anything that might help them. She felt badly for him, knowing it wasn't his favorite thing to do. Where was Daniel when you needed him?

"No, not yet, although I've only made it through a couple of the volumes", he grimaced. "I am learning lots more about the history and customs of people on this world." He didn't sound particularly happy about it.

"I'm sorry Colonel." She was playing with her food.

Jack took a deep breath, knowing that they had to stop this. They were both feeling depressed and soon would be taking it out on one another. "Look Carter, it's hard right now. I'm feeling useless because of this leg and we're both in a strange place with no one to turn to. I think we need to relax a bit and not worry so much. As you said, I'll soon be out of this cast and then we can really start looking. In the meantime we have a roof over our heads, food and we're safe. We're better off than we have been on lots of missions."

Sam sat there for a moment, thinking about his words. Eventually she looked up and gave him a smile. He was right. She was letting everything get to her when, in reality, they were in pretty good shape. Both of them were healing, they were safe and well fed. "You're right Sir. I guess I'm just frustrated!"

"You and me both, but it's not getting us anywhere. Why don't we just relax this evening and forget about finding the Glider or a Stargate or the fact that we're stranded on an alien planet and do something else."

She raised her eyebrow at him but then nodded. "Okay", she answered. "What should we do?"

Damn, now he had to figure something out. It's not like they had a TV that they could turn on and they couldn't listen to music or go bowling! If Daniel and Teal'c were here it wouldn't be a problem, but he wasn't used to being alone with Carter except when it related to work. They'd been very careful, over the years, to never put themselves in a position where they were alone in a more social setting. Now however, they were not only alone, they were living together.

Up until this moment it hadn't been an issue. Carter had insisted he take the bed since the couch wasn't long enough and would have been uncomfortable with his cast. She turned their little living room into her bedroom at night and always made sure to be up early in the morning, before he came out for breakfast. It had all worked well and everything had been totally professional. Until he'd opened his mouth and suggested they do something different.

"Uh – why don't you tell me something about yourself before you joined the Air Force", Jack suggested. Surely finding out aobut Sam as a young girl couldn't pose any problems. If anything, it would be a reminder of how much younger she was than him and help keep his baser instincts at bay.

She looked at him skeptically. "I wasn't very interesting", she claimed.

"Ah, come on. You must have had some adventures as a kid. Don't tell me you didn't get into some scrapes. I mean, Jacob had to have lost his hair over something."

She laughed at that. "That was all Mark's fault", she told him. "Okay, I'll tell you about my wild youth, but only if you do the same."

"Me? But Carter -"

"Uh uh. Fair is fair Colonel. And somehow, I expect your youth really was wild."

He smirked and waggled his eyebrows. "Don't worry Major. I'll keep it to the PG version. Now, let's sit in the living room. I wanna hear all about little Sammy Carter."

"Sir, I threatened my brother with a long, slow death if he ever called me that."

"Uh – does that mean you don't want me callin' you Sammy?"

"That's correct Jacky." She gave him the evil eye, which caused him to smirk even more.

"Okay, okay Major. I won't call you Sammy – at least not until we're back on Earth and Daniel's around."

She tossed the cushion at him, but this time he only grabbed it and put it behind his back. "Come on. I'm waiting!"

He wanted to know about her childhood did he? She squinted at him and then got a pleased expression on her face. She'd start at the beginning and bore him to death. "Well, I was born when my Dad was stationed in California", she said. "Mark was two and Dad was a Captain. Mom had been a teacher, but she retired when Mark was born although she used to do some part-time teaching at some of the bases where we lived." She then proceeded to go into detail about her life as a young child. Like many military families they moved around a lot. Mark seemed to resent that from an early age. He was the kind of person who liked stability and hated having to make new friends everywhere they went. She, on the other hand, took refuge in her books and her studies.

"I didn't have a lot of friends growing up", she said matter-of-factly. "I was shy so instead I read."

"You were a geek even at a young age?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I was a studious child, that's all. I was never a geek!"

"If you say so Carter", he said, being agreeable. Actually, he felt rather bad for her. He understood where her desire to be the best came from. If she had been shy as a young girl she probably used her brain and her abilities as a defense mechanism. He'd hated to hear that she didn't have many friends, although that explained her devotion to her team – and the fact that she was such a workaholic who didn't seem to have much of a life outside the SGC.

"I joined the cheerleading squad in High School", she told him, to prove that she was more just a 'geek'.

"Really?" His mind instantly turned to Sam in a skimpy little cheerleading outfit. He told himself to stop it – but hell, what a great picture. "Uh – did you enjoy it?"

"No, I hated it. The other girls all knew one another – I was an outsider. Besides that, the only thing they were interested in was boys and make-up."

"And you weren't?"

"Oh, I was interested in boys all right", she grinned, "but I wanted one who had some intelligence and at least two thoughts to rub together. All they were interested in were -" she stopped right there and looked at him guiltily. "Uh – other things."

"Carter! Come on, you can't stop there. What things?" He had to bite his lip to keep from grinning.

"Oh, you know Sir."

"Never having been a teenage girl, I'm afraid I don't Carter."

"No, but you were a teenage boy. What kind of things were you interested in?"

"Well, it wasn't a girl's brain or how many thoughts she could put together", he told her. "Basically I was interested in -" he paused, "other things."

She laughed. "Yes, I'm sure you were - Sir."

"So, little Samm – antha Carter was more interested in a guy's mind than in his – other attributes?"

She sighed. "No", she admitted. "I was actually in love with Tyler Stokes, and he wasn't very bright."

"So, not for his brains. What was Tyler known for?"

"He was gorgeous", she sighed. "And he had muscles and whiskers. Let me tell you how many tenth grade boys had muscles and whiskers– not very many."

"So, did you win handsome Tyler?"

"No", she sighed again. "He dated Kim Zeigler – she was Captain of the Cheerleaders."

"So, a forbidden love? Sounds painful Carter", he joked. It was only when her eyes flew to meet his that he cursed himself. He instantly tried to change the subject. "So, who did you date?"

"Uh –" she blanked out for a minute, cringing at her reaction to his words. She was so embarrassed she wanted to run into the bathroom and lock the door. "Uh – Norman Pierce", she finally said.

"So, tell me about Norman." He could tell that Sam was embarrassed and he wanted to gloss over the awkward moment. This was the reason for having been so careful for so many years.

"Norman was – smart", she said and stopped.

"Smart – and?"

"And smart. That was it. He was shorter than me by a full six inches and didn't have muscles. He was a sweet kid."

"But not gorgeous."

She let out a sad breath. "No. In fact, I think he was gay but either hadn't realized it himself or was keeping it secret. The one time he tried to kiss me he looked sick. In those days admitting it would have meant a lot of bullying."

He nodded, feeling sorry for both Norman and for Sam. "But don't tell me you didn't go out with other, more suitable guys."

"Not in high school", she told him.

"What? They were all blind?"

She laughed self-consciously. "I was a bit of a geek", she admitted, "And I was taller than most of them. Besides that I was skinny and not very attractive."

Jack just shook his head. "God, I hope I wasn't as much of a moron when I was in school as the guys in your school must have been." He grinned again. "Did you ever go back for a high school reunion?" He could just picture it – Sam had probably been one of those girls that grew fast and didn't quite fit into her body as a young woman. She was also way smarter than any of the other kids and would have been intimidating as hell. No, he could imagine that she blossomed after school. He would absolutely love to watch those same guys if she walked in the room now. She'd knock their socks off.

"No. I didn't go to my ten year reunion. I didn't see a reason to. I'm not sure when the next one will be."

"Well, let me suggest you do go", he waggled his eyebrow. "Believe me, it will be well worth it."

She felt herself flush, knowing that the Colonel was paying her a compliment. She decided to change the subject off of herself. "So, tell me about your high school years."

"Mine? Oh, they were nothing special. I was tall and skinny with a face-full of zits", he told her. "My passion was hockey, my bike – a Yamaha 100 – and girls. I did pretty well at hockey, spent a lot of time on my bike and -"

"And?"

"And didn't have much luck with girls."

"I don't believe that Sir", she scoffed. "You? I bet the girls were salivating over you."

"No", he answered seriously, grimacing slightly as he tried to scratch his leg through the cast. "They went after the guys on the football team. I told you, I was too tall and skinny."

"But I bet you were cute", she grinned.

"Well, I guess my Mom thought so and my Grandma – but I think they were the only females who did."

"So, who did you go to the prom with?"

He really grimaced this time. "Constance Rose."

"So, tell me about Constance." She turned and made herself more comfortable. "Was she pretty?"

"God Carter, I don't remember. It was thirty years ago."

"Was she cute Colonel?" She pushed him.

"I guess", he shrugged. "All I really remember -" he looked at her sheepishly.

"What?"

"Well, she had really big" he held his hands out.

"And that's why you asked her to the prom?"

"Well of course it was", he answered, as if she was crazy to even ask. "I was seventeen Carter. That's about all I was interested in – that and hockey and motorcycles."

She rolled her eyes at him again but then she laughed. "So, you were a pretty typical boy?"

"Young man Carter, young man!" he said, sounding affronted.

"Young man", she agreed generously. "So tell me", she asked then, "what did you do after graduation? Did you join up right away?"

"No", he shook his head. "I got a job for a while and saved up some money. My folks weren't well off and I wanted to do things. I worked on a road crew", he told her, "And it paid well. Next I decided I wanted to travel, so I got on my bike and wandered all over the country. After that I went to Europe and back-packed around for almost a year. By the end of the year I figured I was ready to -" he closed his mouth with a snap.

"You figured you were ready to – what Colonel?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Uh – my mother and father – you know what parents are like Carter."

"Yes", she smiled. "What Colonel?"

"They wanted me to go to college."

"Yes?"

"So I did." He stopped, with a big grin.

"What did you study?"

"Just a bit of this and that – I wasn't a genius like you."

"What was your major Colonel?"

"English", he flinched.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me", she nodded. When he looked startled she explained. "I've noticed how you hate bad grammar. You're also very obviously well-read, even though you try and hide it."

He stared at her, wondering how in the world she did that. "Uh – how do you know I'm well-read?"

"Because you almost always understand what Daniel's talking about. If you weren't you wouldn't be able to get half the things he's saying.

Jack's nose crinkled up. "Do you think he knows?"

"Who? Daniel?" She laughed. "No, he doesn't have a clue. Sometimes I want to hit him over the head. He still hasn't figured you out completely."

"And you have?"

That stopped her cold and she immediately felt like she'd eaten a huge plate of her own foot. "Uh – not completely, no. But I do know you're smarter than you let on."

"Why thank you Carter", he grinned. "That means a lot coming from a genius."

"So, when did you join up?" she asked. She'd often wondered what had made the Colonel choose the military. He spoke so little about his life outside work.

"After college I wasn't sure what I wanted to do", he told her. "I had a degree that wasn't going to get me very far and boundless energy. I tried working at an office job for a while."

"You hated it", she said, and it wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I hated it. The guy who was my boss was a moron." He paused. "I told him that."

"So, you didn't work there for long?"

"No", he laughed. "They were glad to see me go. Anyway, I was walking around, trying to figure out what to do with myself, when I happened on a recruiting station. I went in and saw all the pictures of jets and decided it would be cool to learn how to fly. The officer there also told me I could get more education if I wanted to."

"And did you?" she asked in surprise.

He gave her a side-ways glance. "Well, a BA in English wasn't going to do much for me and I kind of figured I'd need something else. I didn't plan on staying with the Air Force for long but thought I could get a free education, fly some planes, put in a few years and then get out."

"And that was how many years ago?"

"Uh almost twenty-five."

"Good plan there Colonel."

He laughed. "So, what can I say? I liked it."

"Did you go back to school?"

"I did." He wasn't going to say anymore but Carter gave him that look – the one that told him she wasn't going to let him off the hook. He sighed. "I got a masters in Astronomy."

"I knew it!" she slapped her thigh. "Daniel owes me!"

"Carter?"

She looked a little self-conscious but then shrugged. "Daniel didn't believe it when I told him you had to have a university degree. He didn't know it was a requirement for officers. When I heard you talking about the stars so knowledgeably I figured you must have studied astronomy. Daniel bet me you didn't. Of course I didn't know it was a graduate degree. I thought it was your undergraduate degree."

"So, betting on your superior officer Carter?"

"Yes Sir. Don't tell me you didn't do the same sort of thing."

"Yeah, but I bet on more interesting stuff."

"Like what?"

"Never you mind." There was no way in hell he was ever going to tell her some of the things he and Kowalski and he and - Cromwell – ever bet on. Even now he cringed at the memories.

"So Carter, now it's your turn. What made you sign up?"

"Nothing very interesting I'm afraid. I was an Air Force brat and that's all I knew. Like you I also liked the idea of a free education. Unlike you, I signed up immediately after high school."

"You didn't take any time off?"

"No", she said. "I probably should have, but I was anxious to go to college."

"Of course you were", he nodded. He looked at his 2IC and thought that it was rather sad she hadn't had a chance to experience life outside the military. No wonder she found it so hard to relax and let go. She had lived her whole life with rules and regulations and duty.

Suddenly he was feeling depressed again. It had been a great evening, but it was getting dark. He noticed that Carter was also looking serious and he hated to leave the evening like this. "So, what other things did you bet on about me?"

He could immediately see the red creep up under her color and into her cheeks. His eyebrows went up, wondering suddenly what in the world that was about.

"Nothing Sir."

"Sam!" he narrowed his eyes. "Come on. There's something else, I know it."

There was no way in hell she was going to tell him about the bets she'd made with Janet. They were definitely 'girls only' kinds of things and quite naughty. Neither of them had really expected to be able to win, but just the betting was fun. Janet, of course, knew things about the Colonel that Sam would never know, but she was too good a doctor to ever reveal any confidential information, even though Sam had been dying to ask a few – pertinent – details. She couldn't help but admire the Colonel's physique and often wondered – stop it Sam! She could feel herself blush even more and the Colonel was definitely looking intrigued.

"Uh, Janet and I", she stopped, trying to think of something innocuous. There had to be something.

"Janet and you -?" Now he really was intrigued. What were these two women up to?

"We just bet silly things. You know, like when would be the next time you'd get into an argument with Daniel, or how many bowls of fruit loops you'd have in a week – you know, things like that."

He didn't believe her, that was obvious. Or at least he suspected that there was something else, which there was. But, he'd have to torture her to get her to admit it and he seemed to realize that.

"Okay Carter." He turned to glance outside. "It's getting late so I think I'll turn in. This has been fun."

And it had been fun, she thought to herself. It had been great to see the Colonel so relaxed for once but even more than that it was wonderful to get to know him as someone other than her CO. She'd seen glimpses of it with Daniel, but never just with her. She felt warmed, somehow, and knew it was because he'd treated her as a friend, not as a subordinate.

"It was fun Colonel, thank you."

That night both of them had trouble falling asleep, and for much the same reason. They were each thinking that they'd been wrong, that this planet wasn't safe. In fact, they were in much more danger now then they'd ever been before. They weren't in danger of capture, or torture, or death – but of allowing the defenses of years to crumble. The door to that room was starting to open, and they were both very, very afraid.

The part about Jack almost buying a laxative is based on something that actually happened to me. I was living in Spain and decided to make Spaghetti for the family I was living with. Instead of buying what I thought were bay leaves (laurel), I bought what turned out to be an herbal laxative and used that in my spaghetti sauce. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience. My Spanish hosts couldn't stop laughing about it (once we'd all gotten over the affects).