Chapter Ten

Daniel smiled. If Jack believed in the ghost of a cell phone, it had to be a short trip to Jack believing in the ghost of Samantha Carter. "No, it's not levitating. Sam is holding it."

Jack looked angry. "Why are you having a harder time grasping this concept than I am? Sam's not holding anything. She's dead, Daniel."

"And her cell phone isn't?" Daniel rolled his eyes. "Really, Jack, are you telling me you'd sooner believe in a levitating cell phone than in Sam's ghost?"

"Yes, I am. Because I see a levitating cell phone." Jack reached over and grabbed the phone.

"Ow!" Sam snatched her hand back from Jack's crushing grip.

"Sorry." He said it without thinking, without connecting the voice to a name. He glanced at Daniel, glanced at the empty place beside him that had spoken, and then back at Daniel. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That sound."

"I heard you apologize."

"Did you hear something before that?"

"You mean when you said you believed phones could fly?"

Sam glared at Daniel. "Please don't encourage him, Daniel."

"No, after that." Jack looked as irritated as Sam, giving Daniel the idea that he shouldn't tease either of them and certainly not both simultaneously. "And I didn't say phones could fly. I said they could levitate. There's a difference. I'm sure Carter can tell you all about it, if you're so sure she's here." Jack lifted the phone up to shoulder height and let go, watching in dismay as it clattered to the floor. "I guess there's a trick to it."

Sam nodded, forgetting that he couldn't hear her. "Flying would involve traveling toward a destination while levitating is more of a state of being."

Daniel snickered. "Please don't encourage him, Sam."

Sam glared at him.

Pleased that he'd managed to spare listening to a scientific explanation of something, Daniel smiled at Jack. "You mean did I hear something when you grabbed the phone out of Sam's hand and she said ow?"

Jack watched as the phone got up off the floor and moved back onto the couch. Then he looked at Daniel. "Yeah, did you hear the phone say ow?"

Sam glared at Jack and examined her phone. "This had better not be broken." She shook it and thankfully heard nothing rattling inside. "I'll have a hell of a time getting a replacement with the whole dead thing. Somehow I bet that'll pop up on the credit check."

Daniel shook his head, knowing he had to facilitate Jack's recognition of Sam or else he was going to wind up having the same conversation at the wireless store. "No, Jack, I did not hear the phone speak."

"Oh." Jack looked back at the phone. "I want a phone that can move by itself. You think they make ones that will go to work for you?"

Irritated, Sam decided to check how real the phone was, considering that it apparently had more physical consistency than she did. She flipped it open and dialed Jack's number. The cordless phone on the coffee table rang a moment later. Both Daniel and Jack looked at it.

Daniel picked it up and handed it to Jack. "I think you should answer it."

Jack looked at the display. "It's Carter's cell."

Daniel prayed for the strength not to strangle his friend and amazingly found it in the knowledge that if he killed Jack, they would both end up haunting him. "I doubt Sam's phone wants to talk to you."

"Then why is it calling me?"

"It's Sam. And you should answer it."

Jack sighed and pressed the button. "Hello?"

"Hi." Sam wondered why she hadn't thought of calling him sooner.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Hello?"

Sam's smile faded as she realized Jack couldn't hear her. She didn't know what to say.

"You should know it's horribly rude to steal a dead woman's phone." Jack hung up, looking more dejected than he had when Sam had first gotten there.

"Unless you're the dead woman!" Sam threw the phone at Jack's head and, since she was sober, it connected nicely with its target. She ignored him when he glared at the phone. "Daniel, I think we should get him really drunk."

"He's still really drunk, Sam. Can't you tell?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "I mean back to semi-conscious stupor drunk. I had better luck then." She stood up, pushing past Jack's legs to get to the kitchen. A minute later he voice sounded from the other room. "All I can find it beer. Ask him where the good shit is."

Jack was doing a hell of a job pretending an invisible someone hadn't just brushed by his legs and was so busy concentrating on that pretending that he barely noticed the slamming kitchen cabinets.

"Sam wants to know where the strong stuff is."

Jack pointed at the shards of glass littering the floor in front of the fireplace. "I drank the rest."

"There is no more, Sam."

Sam returned with two bottles of beer. She had no idea if she could drink, but she really felt like having a beer and she figured if she could carry them she should be able to drink them too. Jack watched with wide eyes as one of the flying beer bottles approached him and hovered in front of him until he carefully reached for it. She grinned at his obvious discomfort. Jack was a laid back guy. He was always calm and relaxed. He just didn't get nervous. Very little frazzled him. Even when people where shooting at him, he was always cool. So Sam found some perverse pleasure in seeing him anxious and freaking out.

She sat down next to him once again and smiled at Daniel. "Go get him some whiskey."

Daniel wasn't sure about the wisdom of giving him more alcohol since he'd only just started to sober up. "Maybe we should keep showing him that you're here."

"Daniel, if he really believes my cell phone just called him of its own accord, we're definitely going to need alcohol to get anywhere."

Daniel stood up. "Fine. I'm going."

Jack, who was watching Sam's beer bottle turning and emptying itself in mid-air without spilling, looked at Daniel in fear. "Where are you going?"

"To get you whiskey."

Jack swallowed hard. "I don't think I really need anymore to drink just now, Daniel."

Daniel smiled. "As glad as I am to hear it, Sam thinks otherwise and we all know Sam is always right." He turned away then, heading for the door.

Jack jumped up, grabbing Daniel's arm. "You can't leave me here with that!"

"It's just Sam, Jack. She's not going to hurt you." Daniel thought about his words. "I'm sure there are times when she's wanted to, and actually, now might be one of them, but I doubt she'd actually do it."

Jack warily looked at the space Sam occupied. "You're sure it's Carter?"

Daniel nodded. "Absolutely. Anyone else would have long since given up on you and moved on to rattling chains."

"Ok, then, I guess she can stay." Jack sat back down on the couch, staring straight ahead and drinking his beer down in a few gulps. A few minutes later, he looked back where Sam was. "Are you really here?"

His voice was so raw, his emotions so clear, his need so obvious, that she felt a physical, or as near to physical as ghosts can feel, ache to comfort him. She's grown used to not being able to do anything over the years, but being limited by regulations was different. She found it especially frustrating because she couldn't even hold his eyes or make a vaguely reassuring comment that would let him know that she understood and that she was there for him. So she did what she could.

She set her beer down and took the empty bottle from his hand. Then she slid over next to him, lifting his arm up and wrapping it around her shoulders. It was obvious that he couldn't see her, but she wondered how his brain was reconciling the physical touches she believed he felt. She didn't let herself ponder for long. She was too caught up in what she was feeling herself as she snuggled against him. She draped her arm across his waist and burrowed her hard under his chin. She was a very content, very happy camper, grievances with the death process notwithstanding.

Except for the whole dead thing and the fact that the man with whom she was cuddling didn't really believe she was there, life, or death she thought with a smile Marge would have appreciated, was good.

She felt his head dip down and his lips graze her ear as he spoke. "Jesus, Carter, this had better be you cause I swear, if I'm about to be molested by a demon I'm going to be so unhappy."

She giggled, realizing he could probably feel her response even if he couldn't hear it.

"Are you laughing at me, Carter?"

She nodded, careful to keep her head in contact with him so he would feel it. His arm tightened as it fell from her shoulders, moving to hold her waist instead.

Talking was out. Seeing was out. Feeling was the way to go.

She decided to go for broke and shifted around until she was straddling him. Then she leaned down, holding his face with both hands so she could kiss him.

He resisted at first, probably something to do with the sensory overload combined with not being able to see what was causing the physical sensations. But then he relaxed and gave him, using his hands to pull her harder against him. The change, she realized, coincided with when he closed his eyes. She wondered if somehow he could sense her better with his eyes closed. But then his tongue moved across her lips and she forgot about thinking altogether.

Some time later, when Daniel cleared his throat, Sam pulled back.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Damn it, Daniel!" She glared at him, feeling guilty when she saw him holding the bottle of whiskey she'd sent him to get. "I know you mean well, but you really need to work on your timing." She turned back to Jack, ruefully preparing herself to give up her hard-earned seat in his lap. But when she looked, she saw something strange. Two somethings, in fact.

He was staring right at her.

And, more importantly, he was smiling.