A/N: A new one shot, yay! I've had this idea on my computer for quite some time, I believe. I just went through some old stuff and found the lines for this and thought "Why not?", so here it is! This takes place somewhere in Threads/Moebius, before the fishing trip but after all the tedious stuff of being in imminent danger, Pete and Kerry.
Spoilers: Threads
Characters: Sam, Jack, OC
Suppose
Samantha Carter headed out of the women's locker room and rolled up the sleeves of the large, blue shirt to her elbow. As she headed down the hallway, there was a sprint to her steps, all because of the recent mission to PX5-959. As the leader of SG-1, she'd been in charge of both her own team and SG-12 for the meeting over naquadah resources. The aliens, the Horia, had been reluctant at first to agree to a bigger exchange, until Sam had proposed a fair deal.
The Horia weren't too advanced in technology so, simply enough, Sam had offered them help in that area. It hadn't taken the Horia long to accept the deal after that, and Earth now had a backup naquadah mine if they ever needed one. Over all, it had been a fairly successful mission. This was good, considering all the problems with Anubis less than a month prior, something that had worked out well in the end.
Sam felt as if, for the first time in a long while, things were beginning to move her way again. After the Pete fiasco, Anubis attacking Earth and her dad dying, she'd been moving one step back after another for an extended period of time, something that was now beginning to turn.
"Carter!" a familiar voice called from behind and Sam stopped. She turned just as General Jack O'Neill came towards her, a winning grin on his face. Sam smiled back.
"You left in a hurry earlier," Jack said as he reached her side. "I never got a chance to congratulate you on a mission well done. I knew you'd be better at those things than me."
Sam refrained from rolling her eyes. Jack had a certain way of downplaying his own social skills often. "Thank you, sir," she smiled instead.
Jack's chocolate brown eyes travelled momentarily down to her lips and Sam felt her heart pick up speed. She felt like a hormonal teenager who was having a crush on a gorgeous military man. She had always had a thing for uniforms. Before Sam let that line of thought stray too far, she blinked and tried to clear her mind from all mental images of Jack in dress blues. It wasn't such a good idea to have daydreams about your CO at work, with said man standing less than a few feet away. Maybe, if things were different…
Then again, things between them were beginning to change. They'd moved out of the dark abyss of dread and angst they'd dwelled in during the time Pete had been apart of Sam's life, it seemed like they had finally stepped into the sunlight again. In the sun, everything seemed to be brighter and happier, and even flirtier. Still, nothing had really come out of it since Sam had admitted to breaking up to Pete a month earlier. Jack had, in turn, told her that he and Kerry had gone down different paths as well, but still they remained Lt. Colonel and General.
The air had shifted between them, and at times Sam wondered if they hadn't moved into the moonlight, where emotions ran deeper than a casual flirt. Where everything meant more on a personal level than it ever could out in the open sunlight, where everyone could see and intrude on their privacy. In the moonlight, it was only the two of them, no titles, no restriction. Just Sam and Jack.
"Are you heading anywhere in particular?" Jack's words pulled Sam from her thoughts and she stared up at him.
"Oh, eh…" Sam racked her brain to try and remember just where she'd been heading. Her mind seemed to have gone a bit haywire when Jack had arrived, making it hard to think clearly. She really had to get her mind out of the gutter. It wouldn't do well if she admitted to all her inner most feelings at their current location. There wasn't an easier way to get a one way ticket to a court martial. Then again… a court martial could help solve some of their problems. If either of them was fired, the regulations wouldn't stand in their way.-
"I'm heading to my lab, sir," Sam said in a strained voice. Jack noticed the character of her voice, but only raised a questioning eyebrow that she chose to ignore. She jerked her head in the general direction of the elevators and looked up at the General questioningly. They'd always been good at silent communication, and this was no different. With a brief nod, Jack took a step forward, and Sam followed suit.
Sam noticed from the corner of her eyes how they seemed to be instep, mirroring each other's movements, and smiled in amusement.
"Colonel Carter!" a voice called from behind, again. Sam and Jack turned as Lt. Colonel Burt Wood came towards them. His flaming, red hair blended well with his fair complexion and freckled cheeks. The Colonel was recently promoted and had just taken over SG-12 not a week ago, so he was still a rookie as far as being a team commander. All things considered, though, Sam figured he had done a good job on their last mission.
Now, his pale, green eyes gleamed with a boyish gleam as he walked over to Carter and O'Neill.
"Colonel," Jack and Sam greeted at the same time.
"General," Rollins nodded to Jack, before turning to Sam. "Colonel, you did well out there."
"Thank you, Colonel," Sam smiled politely and waited for the man to get to his point.
"I was wondering…" Rollins began and cast the General a fleeting look before leaning closer to Sam, she lent back on reflex from the close encounter. The boyish gleam in the man's eyes had suddenly turned impish.
"Is there any chance I might…" he continued in a lower voice, "be allowed to buy you a drink some time, perhaps with dinner on the side?"
Sam tried to keep her reaction neutral at this. She hadn't been expecting Rollins to ask her out, she'd been dead set that he didn't prefer… Well, she hadn't expected to be his type, anyway.
"Oh, eh…" she managed to stutter out and wished her mind hadn't been stumped already before Rollins had arrived. Sam sneaked a glance at Jack from the corner of her eyes; the General's eyes were observing something very interesting in the ceiling above their heads. Whatever he was seeing must be very fascinating, Sam noted, as his lips were pursed tight so as to keep himself from grinning.
Sam turned forwards once more, to the expectant Colonel awaiting there. "I'm… flattered by the offer, but I'm sorry, no."
"Oh… I thought you and that civilian guy…" Rollins drifted off and Sam got the message. Her breakup with Pete was known all over base, then, just as she'd feared. Sam made a mental note to talk to Daniel about this, he had always had a big mouth when it came to gossiping with the nurses. Sometimes Daniel could be such a woman.
"We did. Break up, I mean," Sam clarified and moved one blonde lock of hair behind her ear.
"Oh…" Rollins' voice was definitely confused as he tried to wrap his mind around Sam's dismissal. "But you're taken?"
Sam bit down on her bottom lip. She had hoped questions like these wouldn't come about until after she'd made her emotions perfectly clear to Jack, who, by the way, had turned from the interesting ceiling and was awaiting her response along with Rollins.
"Eh… I suppose." That was the worst answer Sam could have thought of, but it was the first that had popped into her mind.
"Ah, alright then…" Rollins suddenly looked out of place. "Well, eh, I'm sorry for… Well, if it doesn't work out with the other guy, give me a call. Colonel. General."
"Colonel," Jack nodded his head once and then Rollins was gone down the hallway.
Sam bit down on her lip again as she looked straight ahead, down the hallway the Colonel had just disappeared. After a couple of seconds of standstill, something that was probably true for them in more than one regard, Sam turned to Jack and nodded in the direction of the elevator. Without a word, they set off down their path again, once more falling into step with the other.
"So…" Jack drawled and Sam held her breath, waiting for the inevitable. "Taken?"
"I…" Sam began and glanced at him, his head was turned in her direction. "Suppose."
"Suppose, you say?" Jack's voice was highly amused and he glanced around to see if anyone was around. The hallway was fairly empty except for two airmen further away, both whom were busy with other stuff then to be bothered with Sam and Jack.
Sam decided to dare a short nod. "Yes."
"Doesn't sound very convincing to me, Colonel," Jack pressed on.
Sam took courage in the fact that he was pushing her for more information, instead of letting it go or being awkward about it. They reached the elevators then and as Jack pulled out his security card, Sam shrugged her shoulders.
"It is," she said and tried to keep her voice void of emotion, but her voice sounded just as amused as Jack's to her own ears. "At least it would be if you asked me to dinner. I suppose, sir."
Jack's hand froze over the card reader. "Ah, I suppose." He swept his card through the reader and turned back to Sam.
Sam, in turn, tried to read the look in his eyes, but wasn't sure just what she saw in them. He seemed hesitant about something, but at the same time he was free from anxiety, as well. He wasn't uncertain or awkward in his body language, which Sam saw as a plus, too. The doors to the elevator opened before Sam's study had a chance to come to a conclusion.
"This way," Jack mumbled and gentlemanly put his hand on her back to lead her into the empty elevator.
As they stepped inside and faced away from the back wall, Jack pressed a button and stretched tall, away from the control panel. Sam noticed that the small, warm pressure on her back remained in place. As the doors closed, she was just able to hide a gasp as Jack's hand travelled down to rest at her lower back. Sam felt her back tingle where his hand had touched her and worked hard on trying to stand motionless, so that his hand would stay.
She smirked as he made no notion of removing it at all. "If you lower that hand any further, you'll have to ask me to dinner."
The pressure on her back lowered and Sam felt her heart speed. With eyes wide, she whipped her head in Jack's direction. The General was looking down at her through dark eyes, trying to determine her reaction. He must have read something to his liking in Sam's eyes, as suddenly a confident smirk spread on his face.
Slowly, he lent close to her ear to whisper, "I suppose."
Thoughts? Opinions? Just want to give a review for the heck of it? Please, do!
