a/n: I know I said this would be up last week, but with the news that RDA would be coming back for episodes in season 10, I was too excited to write. Sorry! Once again, forgive me for any mistakes.

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Chapter Nine: Uninvited Guest

Sam and Jack entered the restaurant, the last to arrive out of their group. Sam entered ahead of Jack and started to head to the section where they always sat.

"Carter, where ya going?" Jack asked, stopping and watching as Sam continued to walk to the other side of the restaurant.

Sam stopped and turned around. "We," she pointed to the section she was walking to. "We usually sit over," her shoulders slumped. "You don't sit on this side?"

Jack, amusement dancing in his warm eyes, smirked and shook his head. "No. The seats over there only sit four people. We always have way more than that."

Sam nodded sadly and then started walking back to Jack. "We only ever came here for team nights. Just the four of us. Except for the one time you, Daniel, and I had the armbands."

"The what?"

Sam shook her head. "Maybe I'll tell you about them later."

Jack smiled warmly. He could tell she was remembering her reality and was getting sad. He put his arm out and swept it forward, gesturing for her to precede him to their "normal" seating area. She let just the corners of her lips perk up as she passed him. He settled his hand on the small of her back, wanting to comfort her as much as he could without making her uncomfortable.

Sam only took a few steps before she saw the rest of the gang sitting around one of the larger tables in the restaurant. It was one of those large circular tables with a booth that wrapped around it, forming a C. As soon as they saw Jack and Sam, Daniel scooted over, allowing Sam and Jack to scoot in on one side.

Jack sat on the edge, across from Kawalsky, then Janet, Boyd, Teal'c took up the entire curve, Daniel, then Sam with Jack next to her. "Already ordered you both a beer," Kawalsky announced, smiling and passing the two each a bottle of beer.

Jack grinned and opened his beer, nodding at Sam's small grin before chugging a large drink.

"Thirsty?" Sam teased, her sad mood diminishing.

"You betcha," Jack replied, setting the bottle down and grabbing Sam's.

Sam eyed him suspiciously as he opened her bottle and handed it to her. "Drink up!" he pretty much ordered.

Sam grinned and shook her head before picking up the bottle and taking a big swig.

A couple minutes later the waitress arrived and everyone placed their orders. Teasing and joking with each other over their appetites and what each person ordered.

While waiting on their food, Kawalsky and Jack both ordered rounds of shots for everyone at the table. Sam tried to protest, but Jack rebutted by telling her he was buying, so she had to drink it.

Sam knew he wasn't making sense, but the childish side, that she rarely let out, went along with it anyways.

After their second round of shots and their second bottles of beer arrived, the waitress brought their salads while their steaks cooked. Sam picked up the large slices of tomatoes off her plate and put them on Jack's, removing his cucumbers in the process and arranging them on her salad. She reached for the bottle of Italian dressing and noticed everyone at the table staring at her. "What?" she asked, looking around at everyone in confusion.

"You just swapped food with Jack," Charlie informed her.

Sam felt the flush creeping up her neck to her cheeks. "Sorry," she whispered in embarrassment, looking down at her plate, her fingers rubbing the fork in her hand.

"S'okay," Jack replied softly. "I…uh, we….did you do that? I mean, with me….him….the other me?"

Sam's cheeks were burning now. She nodded, her gaze still locked on her uneaten salad. "Yeah," she replied, barely audible. "I don't like tomatoes and you don't like cucumbers, we always used to swap. I-I haven't swapped food since you died, I don't know why I just did it."

"Habit," Jack supplied, feeling jealous that his alternate self had so many more moments with Sam than he did. "It's kind of nice. I really hate cucumbers," Jack finished, making a face and trying to lighten the mood.

Daniel, not getting the hint to drop the subject, continued to dwell. "But, Jack never lets anyone touch his food!"

Jack sighed, wishing he could reach around Sam and smack Daniel upside his head without anyone noticing.

Sam lifted her head to look at Daniel next to her. "Only his desserts, Daniel," she declared before realizing she was referring to her own Jack. "And you and Teal'c are just as bad when it comes to sweets! Teal'c does that whole death-glare when anyone even looks at his ice-cream."

Once again, everyone was looking at Sam strangely.

Daniel snickered. "You do get greedy with the ice cream, Teal'c."

Jack laughed out loud, his arm going around the back of Sam and squeezing her shoulder before dropping it, running it slowly down her back before pulling it back up to rest on the back of the seat.

Sam's body warmed a few degrees by the contact and she squirmed in her seat, subconsciously scooting closer to Jack. She could feel his body heat radiating towards her and the alcohol was causing her head to buzz simultaneously.

Sam's attention fell back on her cucumber-covered salad, and she finally drenched it in Italian dressing and dug in. Jack theatrically moaned as he ate each of the tomatoes off his salad, causing Sam to lightly elbow him and everyone else to laugh.

Shortly after finishing their salads and the complimentary breadsticks that had been sitting in the middle of the table, their dinner arrived. Sam reached the salt and pepper first, and after sprinkling the spices on her steak, she handed them to Jack, grabbing the steak sauce and doing the same with it.

Jack and Sam were both oblivious to everyone staring at them as Sam handed him everything he always added to his dinner. They eventually started eating, not even noticing how quiet their table had gotten.

The alcohol kept on coming as the dinner was slowly eaten and cleared away. Jack had just come back from the restrooms with another round of beer, causing Daniel to groan in protest. "Oh, Daniel, it's a celebration. Do it for Carter," Jack told him, still standing at the end of the table, sorting his bills in his wallet before sitting back down.

As soon as he sat down, Sam took Jack's bottle from him and hid it on the other side of her body.

"What the?" Jack started, looking around for his bottle. Charlie and Janet were smiling at her and Sam couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh, you want to play games, do ya, Carter?" Jack announced in a playful voice.

"I have no clue what you are talking about, sir," she replied, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the smile off her face.

"Uh, huh," Jack replied, reaching one arm around her back and setting the other one on the table across Sam. "And, what would that be on the other side of you?"

"Nothing," she said between a laugh.

Jack grinned, his alcohol-heavy mind trying to figure out how to get his bottle back with the most amount of human contact without being noticeable. "Well, let's just see about that," he said, moving both arms at the same time and wrapping them around Sam's slender frame.

Sam squealed her protest, kicking her feet uselessly. "Sir!" she cried between giggles as he assaulted her sides with his fingers, tickling her to the point of hysterics.

"Ca-ar-ter," he drawled, pulling her closer to him while he tickled her sides, the bottle of beer forgotten.

"Hello, Jack."

Everyone, except for Sam who was still laughing, froze at the sound of the voice. Jack stopped tickling Sam, but his arms still stayed wrapped around her as if they were stuck. "Kerri? Uh, what are you doing here?" Jack managed to get out after staring at the auburn-haired woman for several seconds.

Kerri cleared her throat and Jack finally removed his arms from around Sam. "I got some time off and thought I'd come out and surprise you." She looked at Sam for a moment and then back to Jack. "Apparently, I was successful."

Sam looked at the woman in confusion. She had no idea who she was. Hoping to get some sort of vibe from the rest of the gang, she looked over at Janet and Charlie. They were both avoiding her eye-contact. In fact, Sam noticed everyone was avoiding looking at her.

After several very uncomfortable seconds, Jack finally made a noise similar to a grunt and stood up quickly. "Well, welcome, then. Uh, we were um, all celebrating Carter being back. Uh," Jack looked from Kerri to Sam, a guilty, sad look in his eyes as he stared down at the confused colonel sitting at the table staring up at him. "This is Lt. Col. Samantha Carter. Uh, Carter, this is Kerri Johnson, uh, CIA. She works in Washington. Helps out with…stuff….from time to time."

Kerri looked at Sam, a fake smile plastered on her make-up clad face. "It's nice to finally meet you, uh, colonel, is it?"

"Yes," Sam answered, standing up momentarily to shake the woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

"So, how much more celebrating is there left to go?" Kerri asked, looking at each member of the table.

"I'll, uh, go get you a drink," Jack said, taking a step away from the table and holding his finger up towards Kerri. "What do you want?"

"A chardonnay," Kerri replied, slipping into the seat next to Sam.

Sam scooted over closer to Daniel and noticed Charlie roll his eyes while Kerri adjusted herself in Jack's spot.

Kerri looked up to see Jack at the bar and felt the irritation radiating from the others at the table. Coming here had seemed like a good idea, but she really didn't want to have to deal with Jack's friends. "Oh, that goofy man, I should go help him," she announced with a laugh before standing back up and heading to Jack at the bar.

Sam watched her walk away. As soon as the woman was out of earshot, she turned on her so-called friends at the table. "Who is that woman?" she asked, looking pointedly at Janet and Charlie.

"Agent Kerri Johnson. She's the CIA agent in charge of the investigation of the goa'uld still at large from the trust incident. Uh, she and Jack kinda get together, sometimes, when she's in town," Charlie said in a quiet voice, his shoulders slumped down and his head low to the table.

"Oh," Sam softly replied, her face turning crimson again. She lowered her gaze from Charlie's, not wanting anyone to see how much this new information was affecting her. Then a thought struck her. "Oh!" Her head snapped back up, her eyes wide in terror. "I can't stay with him tonight! I don't want to be there when they're….."

"It's okay, Sam, you can stay with us," Janet quickly interrupted, knowing how uncomfortable her friend must be. "Cassie is still at school, so you can have her room."

Sam nodded, grateful for her friend's invitation. "Um, I actually think I'm all partied out. You guys aren't ready to leave yet, are you?" she asked with pleading eyes.

Charlie smiled knowingly at her. "Yeah, I'm ready, and since you're coming to my house for the night, I am obviously your ride, so ladies, if you would allow me to escort you to my awaiting chariot?"

Janet giggled and smacked Charlie in his arm.

Sam smiled warmly at the couple.

"I shall depart, also," Teal'c announced from his spot.

"Yeah, Daniel, I'm ready, too. You riding home with me?" Boyd asked, feeling just as uncomfortable as everyone else.

"Oh, yeah," Daniel replied, shuffling out of the seat behind Sam.

Just as Daniel crawled out of the seat, Jack and Kerri arrived back at the table. Jack looked around holding unopened bottles of beer in his hands. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around at the guilty faces of his friends.

"Uh, T's ready to split, so we all thought we'd head off, too," Kawalsky announced as he helped Janet on with her jacket.

Jack turned to Sam, his eyes filled with confusion. "Carter? I'm your ride," Jack said quietly.

Sam took in a deep breath and then bit her bottom lip. "Uh, yeah, about that, I thought you'd like some privacy so I'm just going to stay with Janet and Charlie."

"What?" Jack asked, his shoulders slumping and his face covered in disappointment. "What about your brother?"

"Um, well," Sam stuttered, having forgot about her brother.

"It's okay, Sam, you can borrow my car in the morning and go to Jack's house."

"Okay," Sam replied, quickly looking at Janet and thanking her silently.

Jack let out a long sigh. "You sure?" he asked in a quiet voice and looked at Sam.

Sam gulped as she took in the intense look on Jack's face. Could he really be that upset that she wasn't going home with him?

"She's sure, Jack," Kerri's voice cut in.

"Thank you, sir," Sam finally answered. "But, I'm sure. I really want to meet little Samantha anyways."

Jack followed the group as they walked to the door, leaving Kerri standing by herself at their table.

Teal'c, Daniel, and Boyd nodded their good-byes and walked out the door, Charlie and Janet right behind them. Just as Sam went to walk out the door, Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her back in. "Sam," he breathed as he pulled her back towards him.

Sam's heart jumped at the deep sound of Jack's voice softly calling her name. "Sir?" she asked, looking up into his deep eyes.

"I'm sorry," he told her, still holding onto her arm. "I didn't know she was going to come…."

"I know, it's okay, really. I really am looking forward to staying with Janet," Sam replied, trying to smile and reassure him that she wasn't holding a grudge against him for his uninvited guest. She looked past him to the area where she knew his girlfriend was. Where they were at, they had limited view of the restaurant and the restaurant had an even smaller view of them. "You should probably get back to your, uh…" What was she supposed to call her? His girlfriend? Sam had no idea!

Jack looked behind him in the same direction Sam was looking. He turned back to the woman he was still holding on to. "It's not serious or anything," he told her, his other hand shooting up and running over his hair.

"It's none of my business," Sam immediately replied, lowering her head to the floor.

"Well, I just, I wanted you to know. Uh, yeah, anyways."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Well, I should probably go, I don't want to keep them waiting."

Jack pulled his arm back quickly as if he just realized it was still there. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, bye, sir," Sam replied before turning and rushing out of the restaurant.

"Bye," Jack replied in her wake. He watched the door swing shut and shake briefly on it's hinges before completely going still again. Finally, he turned and headed back to his uninvited guest. The celebration now definitely over.

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a/n: Did any of you really think I was going to make it easy for them to get together? All death-threats can be forwarded to my bodyguard Katie, you can find her under the profile name: bamagirl.