Now getting by without a cane, Sam sat in a crowded bar one night with Jack, T, Jonas, Shauna and Val, most of everyone laughing heartily at Jack and T's contest to outdo each other in outrageous storytelling. As Sara joined the group, Jack got up to kiss her as they all whooped. Jack, an eyebrow raised and an arm around a slightly embarrassed Sara, said as they sat down,

"Grow up, kids."

T slipped an arm around a laughing Shauna, replying cheekily, "Ooh, tough words, Jack… look who's talking."

Jonas added with a chuckle as Val held his hand, "You're a fine one to talk."

Jack turned to Sam, who was trying hard to suppress her laughter, and asked with a weary expression, "You too?"

Sam replied, almost swallowing her laughter down but not hiding her mischievous smile, replied as she feigned innocence, "Didn't see the point, Sir. It's common knowledge why what you said was ironic."

"Harsh, Carter… harsh."

Val asked, glancing at Shauna as T and Jonas went to get more drinks, "So…when is that Captain coming back?"

Looking confused for a moment as Jack and Sara talked softly to each other, their heads close, Sam replied, "Ah… in a couple of days. He called last night from Baghdad."

Shauna remarked in amusement, "So, it's either going to be Rachel and Monica, or Chandler and Monica…"

Jack, looking up briefly from his conversation, added with a smirk, "… or Ross and Rachel…"

Sam rolled her eyes and replied, "No… I'll admit he is pretty hot – I'm not blind – but he's like a brother to me."

Val remarked with a wink as the boys returned, "You could always go for perceived incest then."

"Eww, no. Definitely brother material."

T asked, looking around at them when he had resumed his seat, "Hey, who are you talking about?"

Shauna replied as she stroked his forearm, "Captain Mitchell. Sam's going to jump his bones when he comes home."

Sam's eyes widened briefly and she said, embarrassed, "Uh… no."

T laughed as Jack remarked, "Well… in another universe, maybe… but…"

He looked at T, who said, his arms folded across his chest, "… there's a Shrink in the mix."

"I'm thinking love triangle here."

Sam rolled her eyes and remarked in disbelief, "Do you guys not have a life!??"

Jack looked at Sara, who shrugged and replied with a chuckle, "Maybe not, hon… but you're the odd one out here."

Sam cleared her throat and replied, embarrassed and feeling awkward, "Yeah, thanks for that. Sam the dateless wonder. Fine. I'll have you know my brother's fixing me up with someone."

T remarked, "Your brother?! That guy… no offence, and big respect to 'ma and 'pa Carter who are six feet under and seven trillion miles up, but your brother sucks as a matchmaker..."

Jack asked, concerned, "Who is it?"

Sam replied, looking down with a sigh, "Uh…a Cop from Denver."

The others exchanged worried looks, each looking as though they were trying to encourage each other to say something to her, when Sam, a resigned expression flitting on her face, said softly as she got up, "I'll just go get a refill… Anyone else want one?"

Without waiting for an answer, she made her way through the crowds, limping ever so slightly as she did so, and Jack said quietly as they all continued to look worried, "Our girl needs a pretty big eye-opener. What does some… Cop from Denver chosen by her dull as Canada – no offence Val – brother, have over that Shrink?"

Shauna shrugged and replied, "Well, I'll bet he's unattached to begin with… me and Sam saw Doctor Jackson with his girlfriend a couple of weeks back."

She added with a brief smile, "The girl didn't look too happy at Sam going up to their table to say 'hi'."

Jonas said, leaning forward slightly, his hands clasped together as he looked around at his friends, "What we need is a plan."

T remarked in bewilderment, "Oh yeah, we're not doing anything that ends up with us dressed like the Village People and having to run when someone sees us and we end up in a gay bar doing 'YMCA'…"

When everyone looked at him in bemusement, Shauna looking at him in sceptical amusement, he continued with a shrug, "What!? It could happen… and there's only one person getting all this."

He and Shauna kissed as Jack remarked, closing his eyes for a moment and wincing, "Get a room…"

He continued, looking around at everyone, "Probie is right for once… we need a plan, a big plan. We know… we know that he digs our girl. You can't fake the looks he gives her when he looks at her. So… here's what we'll do…"

--------------------

Sam managed to reach the bar eventually and find the only empty barstool. With a relieved smile, she said as the barman looked at her, leaning closer to hear her over the loud atmosphere,

"One Peach liqueur on the rocks, please, Fred."

Fred replied with a smile as he went about pouring a drink, "Sure thing, Sam. Coming right up."

He asked as he passed several glasses to other people before getting to her order, "Not with your friends?"

"Just having a little timeout."

"Good idea… they're all getting tipsy and conspiratorial."

He gave her a glass and asked, "Anything else?"

She shook her head with a smile, giving him some money, and he said with a smile, noticing the extra money, "Thanks, Sam… but…"

She replied with a wave of her hand, "No, it's yours Fred. You work your butt off and you don't get much for it… you deserve way more than that."

He smiled at her in thanks before being called to the other side of the bar, and she sipped her drink with a thoughtful expression. A tap on her shoulder brought her attention to her right where she saw a tidy-looking older man in what appeared to be his fifties, with white hair, and he asked, his voice bearing a soft southern lilt, a smirk tugging at his lips as he placed a hand on her shoulder,

"Can I buy the lady a drink?"

Blinking in surprise on recognising Senator Robert Kinsey, and remembering his 'Mayor Quimbyesque' reputation, as Jack had put it on more than one occasion, she said with forced politeness,

"No thanks."

He then caressed her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "I promise we'll have more fun than a silly ol' drink… perhaps breakfast too."

Angry, she shot back, her eyes icy, "What kind of a girl do you take me for?! Do you see the blonde hair and assume that I'll let you get me drunk and then take me to a cheap motel?!"

Kinsey looked embarrassed as he straightened his hair, looking around to see whether anyone had noticed, and Sam continued, her frustration getting the better of her as she threw his hand off, standing up,

"Take your filthy hands off me, Senator."

Straightening his tie, he shrugged and said, smirking still, "Well, I saw you were all alone…"

A man clearing his throat drew both their attentions to behind Sam where none other than Daniel straightened up and said, pushing his glasses up as Jack, T and Jonas got up from their seats, "The lady's with me."

As Sam's eyes widened in surprise, most of everyone gathering around them at a safe distance as her friends readied themselves, Kinsey looked him up and down with an insolent expression, remarking sceptically, "Really? You're not really much to look at. You're just a geek."

Daniel stood up as Sam's eyes stayed wide, and he said, squaring his shoulders casually, "At least I don't have to have money and status to make friends. You are an insult to the human race, and I suggest that you leave the lady alone."

Sam said quietly, scared as she glanced at a now seething Kinsey, "Daniel…"

Kinsey stepped up to him and remarked, cocking his head arrogantly, "You suggest? Let me tell you something son… I'm a Senator, which means that I was elected… chosen to be in my position, and..."

"That I may be so, but being a Senator means that you have a certain level of responsibility too… You, on the other hand, are a fool."

Kinsey laughed as he looked around at everyone, trying to make light of Daniel's words as he said, "The only fool here is the one standing in front of me thinking that he can pick a fight with me… listen one cotton-pickin' minute, you punch me and I'll have this place wrapped in litigation so fast that your grandchildren will be making court appearances."

Daniel said, unflinching as he stood in front of the Senator, "No, I'm not going to hit you. I don't see why I have to fight or strike blows when I can use words."

The Senator said with an arrogant smile as he grabbed Sam's arm, "Well, in that case, the lady and I have a little business to attend to."

Before Daniel could reply, Sam stood up, wrenched her arm free as Jack and T held an angry Jonas back, and she sent Kinsey sprawling with a hard punch. The crowd parted as he fell backwards towards them, and Sam grimaced as she looked at her reddening fist, remarking as she looked down at the injured yet surprised Senator,

"I bet you never saw that coming, Senator Misogynist."

As Fred and another barman threw the Senator out, the crowd broke out into applause as Sam looked embarrassed, and her friends stepped forward to hug her, Jack remarking as he checked her knuckles out,

"I see that seven years in a civilian force hasn't softened you up… you might want some ice though."

T added as he kissed her cheek, the crowd dispersing, "You showed him, girl."

Jonas hugged Sam, saying fondly, "Go, Sam."

They were about to drag her back to their table when Jack suddenly smirked on realising who else had been there. He discreetly nudged T who grabbed Jonas' arm, and Jack said with a little smile as Sam looked confused,

"Go back to your little drink."

"Sir?"

"Trust me on this. Good luck."

She frowned in confusion and then turned around to see Daniel, his back to her as he sat on his stool again, and it hit her. She smiled briefly and then said as she approached him, retaking her seat,

"Hey."

He smiled softly, replying as he looked across at her, "Hey."

She placed a hand over his and said with a smile mirroring his, "That was a really great thing you did. Thanks."

His features clouded with anger as he said quietly, "I hate it when guys like that think they can get anything or anyone they want because of their money and status…"

He smiled and continued as Fred passed an icepack over the bar for Sam's knuckles, "That's some right hook you have."

She smiled in reply, saying as she looked down at the bar top in embarrassment, "Level three advanced combat training… It's an Air Force thing."

She asked, her head inclined slightly as he looked amused, "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

He sighed, gesturing to his still full glass as his smile faded, remarking as he pushed his glasses up, "I came here to drown my sorrows but I couldn't even drink the first glass. Pretty pathetic, huh?"

She asked, worried, "Why would you want to drown your sorrows?"

He grimaced as he looked down at the bar top, replying as he closed his eyes briefly, "My girlfriend and I broke up a few weeks back."

Surprised, she said sincerely as she touched his hand, "I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't mind me asking… why?"

He said, meeting her gaze, "It's ok – it just didn't work out. It was the end of the road for us, I guess. I just couldn't give her what she wanted."

Raising her eyebrows briefly, she looked down at the bar again, saying quietly, "Oh."

He nodded slightly, and then said with a little smile, "How are you doing? You're not using your cane, I see."

She replied with a slight smile, resting her chin on her palm, "It's a lot easier to walk now… just got a little limp and the scars are not that noticeable. Oh, and Cam's coming home by the end of the week, and… I have a date on Saturday."

Confused and secretly disappointed, he asked, "With Cam?"

She looked at him in bemusement, saying before her gaze moved to her glass, "No, he's like a brother to me… It's someone Mark fixed me up with."

He asked with an inaudible sigh, "Well, how do you feel about it? You look a little scared."

She replied as she moved her eyes to look at him, "The last time I had a long-term relationship was… a long time ago when I was engaged to some goob that I should never have got with."

Feeling hurt, much to his own surprise, he said gently, "Not every guy is going to be like Jonas."

She looked at him in surprise and then realisation, saying with a slight smile, "You always seem to get things out of me without me realising it."

He smiled briefly, remarking, "I'm a Psychologist – it's my job."

They gazed at each other for a moment and then both looked down before she asked, glancing at him, "Hey, do you want to go for a walk?"

He remarked, pushing his glasses up with a small smile, "Isn't that my line?"

Her smile grew wider as she retorted, "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"What about your friends?"

"Oh, they're busy being tipsy."

Smiling, she held his hand as they left, neither noticing the other main members of the Colorado Springs Fire and Rescue and their WAGs staring at them with wide eyes before cheering wildly and hi-fiving.