At First Sight

Chapter 11:

It was 1100 when we were finally let out of the briefing. For the remainder of the time we had gone over specifics of the gate, the planet, the people who had lived there. Even a very detailed profile about Daniel Jackson was brought up.

"Daniel," I had told the room, "is a scientist. He sneezes a lot. He's kind of nerdy. But the thing you have to know about Daniel is that he has a very large heart. He cares for everything and everyone. He puts 120% of his heart into everything he does," Kawalsky and Ferretti nodded as I told everyone about Daniel. Sam smiled a bit, which made me angry inside. There was no way she could possibly find Daniel in anyway appealing.

When went up to do her bit on the Star Gate, I couldn't keep my eyes off her. Her skin was fair, with a bit of flush in her cheeks. I could tell that she was nervous now, standing up in front of the men, but she wanted nothing more than to prove herself worthy, as was indicated by the ferociousness of those bright blue eyes. Her full lips taunted me as she spoke confidently and passionately about what she had uncovered while working on the Star Gate. She tried not to fidget too much, but she often made small gestures with her hands, flinging the remote control for the projector around with her hand movements.

"One of the most fascinating things I discovered about the Star Gate is that there are nine 'Chevrons' that seem to be able to be activated, but it only requires seven to create a wormhole, which leads me to believe that it has other functions," she told us excitedly at one point in her presentation. 'Wormhole physics is just such a complex topic, that it's almost impossible to completely explain it in such a short time!"

Ferretti laughed at her enthusiasm, which I found somewhat endearing, however, I understood very little of what she was saying, or maybe I had just been too preoccupied by looking at her that I just stopped listening, and when I would jump in, it all sounded far too complex for me to even being to understand.

Finally, Hammond let us go, satisfied that he knew everything he could possibly need to know about the Star Gate, telling us that the mission would leave at 1500. He had insisted that he understood everything possible in case anything should happen. Most of the men had stopped paying attention to the briefing somewhere during Sam's bit, but Sam and Hammond gave their undivided attention for the entirety of the briefing, which impressed me quite a bit. Sam however, started to fade when there was about 20 minutes left of the briefing, and as soon as Hammond dismissed us, she quickly stood up, and left the room. Curious, I followed. It turned out she was making a break for the cafeteria, which had been serving a little of food, while this place was only being used as a top secret storage facility, for the few officers that watched the place. Now however, with the place full of activity like it had been 3 years ago, a lot more food was being served.

I could smell the bitter smell of coffee in the air. It seemed as if the poor women who ran the commissaryhad been brewing pots of coffee non-stop since personnel had started arriving again. I understood. There had been many late nights since the aliens had come through the gate. I myself had spent more than half of the nights since my return to Cheyenne Mountain up past 2 AM trying to help draw up maps of the area surrounding the Star Gate. I spent hours describing Ra and his men. I explained the transport rings, the ship that Ra flew (somewhat inaccurately since I hadn't been inside). On many of those occasions I drank cup after cup of coffee. And now it seemed that the commissarywho permanently smell like coffee.

However, other scents wafted into my nose. Chicken noodle soup, tuna sandwiches, blue raspberry jell-o, apple pie. It was overwhelming. My stomach started grumbling, reminding me that I hadn't eaten since 7 o'clock that morning before the briefing. It felt as though my stomach, having nothing else to tame its hunger on, was digesting it's self.

I watched as Sam stood impatiently in the line for food, piling a whole assortment of food on to the tray she was carrying. Crossing the room, I ended up behind her in the line.

"Hungry are we?" I asked her. She turned quickly, the can of soda toppling off her tray. With reflexes like a cat, she snatched it right out of mid-air, and quickly placed it back on the tray.

"Starving," she said coolly, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Me too, I haven't eaten in over 4 hours," I told her, trying to start a conversation.

"All I've had since 4 this morning was a piece of toast," she informed me. I looked at her in amazement.

"You have amazing focus! I would have gone crazy in there if I hadn't eaten in that long," I told her, completely serious, for once. "You've grown into quite the woman Sam."

"So you do remember me," she replied, under her breath. I wondered if it was more to herself than anything else as she looked away, trying to see if there was anything else worth eating. Apparently there wasn't because before I could go against my better judgment and tell that I did remember her, she turned on her heel, her body language clearly telling me to get the hell away, and chose a table at the far end of the commissary.

"Of course I do, how could I forget?" I told her as I followed close on her tail. "You remember me, don't you?"

I watched her expression change from cold, hard pain to shock. It appeared she hadn't thought of it that way, or maybe I had hit a nerve. I was leaning towards the latter as she started chewing her cheek impatiently. A loud noise rumbled from her stomach, and Sam blushed slightly, turning towards her food, breaking eye contact with me.

"You go, eat, I will see you later," I told her, laughing slightly to myself. What a woman she had turned out to be. Such a hard worker. I thought back to that first time I saw her, sitting out in the sun of early spring, it making her golden locks shimmer, hunched over some algebra problem that I would never be able to solve. She was the same in that aspect, the part I'd fallen in love with at first sight. The difference lay with the way she carried herself, much more confident than the young girlI had known all those years ago, and never stopped thinking about. I still felt that it was my right to protect her, but no longer as a child, but as one I wanted to keep close to my heart forever.

I shook myself out of it. It was wrong on so many levels to be thinking of Sam the way I was. She was under my direct command for one. Any fantasies I had ever had, and was currently having would have to remain personal. That is if I could contain myself.

A/N: so there you have it. It's very late, yes I know... I'm sorry. I've been having a relatively crazy life of late. =) The end is a failure. I know Jack would never do some of these things, but, I dunno, it just has to work... so no complaining... actually if you have any feed back, please provide it =)

FANKS!