The ringing phone cut through the light doze Janet had slipped into, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes as it rang again. Looking to the right, she saw Cassandra and Sam curled up together, giggling away at something, clearly without any intention of answering the phone.
"Please, don't both rush to get up," Janet stated dryly, pushing herself to her feet and feeling a tingle of warmth course through her. Eyeing the mostly empty blender still sitting on the end table beside her, Janet decided that she'd definitely had enough margaritas for the night, no matter how much Sam tried to convince her otherwise.
"We're not answering it on purpose," Cassandra informed her in between giggles, raising her voice to be heard over the persistent, shrill ringing that demanded their attention.
"Why not?" Janet pressed, glancing at the television: Clooney on a weird looking set, which explained the Giggle Twins. Sam was probably ripping apart all the so-called science in the movie and entertaining Cass to no end with her snarky, nit-picking commentary.
"It's just the guys," Sam rolled her eyes before pointing at something on the screen that sent Cassandra off into a fresh wave of giggles. "They'd already left a half a dozen voicemails and five text messages apiece on my cell phone before they started calling the house."
"Did either of you bother to let them know that you wouldn't be going back to the Colonel's tonight?" Janet asked, patiently even as the continued ringing began grating on her nerves. She carefully stepped over two presumably empty soda cans and a half-finished bag of candy as she tried to extricate herself from the mess her living room had become.
"Not yet," Sam replied, pointing at something else in the movie before cracking up completely and taking the teenager along with her.
"Don't you think you should have called them? They're probably worried sick!" Janet exclaimed, disbelief that Sam could be so inconsiderate and irresponsible evident in her tone. To Janet's relief, whichever member of SG-1 was calling had grown impatient and hung up mid-ring. Now they were all able to lower their voices to a more conversational level instead of practically yelling at one another to be heard over the noise from the phone. Or at least, they would have been able to, if only Sam and Cassandra had been able to stop howling at the TV.
"Mom, it's not even 9:30," Cassandra gasped out in between peals of laughter. Janet couldn't see her daughter's eyes, obscured as they were by fingers wiping away laughter-induced tears, but she had heard that tone often enough to know that Cassandra was rolling her eyes.
Checking her watch, Janet saw that it was, in fact, just a few minutes before 9:30 – she was definitely getting too old for this – and suddenly she understood why Sam was being so nonchalant about the whole situation. She wasn't dismissing her teammates' well-intended concern so much as ignoring their complete and utter paranoia. All things considered, Janet couldn't really blame her. The rest of SG-1 had the best intentions, Janet knew, but they were driving Sam crazy. Taking advantage of the first real opportunity that had presented itself in the last few days, Sam was asserting her independence from the rest of her team. Janet understood where Sam was coming from, really she did, but there had to be a better way to go about it.
Preferably one that didn't involve leaving the phone to ring indefinitely and placing three-quarters of SG-1 on medical stand down, having suffered simultaneous acute cardiac episodes.
"They're not going to stop calling just because we don't answer," Janet pointed out. She felt like she was stating the obvious – Sam was well aware of just how stubborn her teammates could be – but someone had to be the voice of reason right now and clearly neither of the pair still curled up on the couch felt any inclination to step up.
The phone began ringing again and Janet decided that this was getting absolutely ridiculous. She'd taken all of two steps towards the phone when someone banged determinedly on the front door. Deciding that the phone could wait two more minutes – they'd waited this long, after all – Janet moved to answer the door instead. As she made her way into the front hall, fresh waves of laughter erupted from the pair curled up on the couch and Janet had to smile.
Making her way through the dark house, Janet carefully navigated her way around the many pairs of shoes scattered throughout the front hall – an occupational hazard of living with a teenage girl – and flicked on the interior light just as another loud knock echoed through the front hallway. Janet unbolted the door and turned the lock as yet another impatient knock rang out. Huffing a sigh of irritation, she managed to open the door all of three inches before it was pushed open the rest of the way and a tangle of bodies tumbled through and into her front hallway. She pressed back flat against the wall and stared in astonishment as the men who had just stormed her house sorted themselves out and took up positions, covering the entrances to the kitchen and the living room, as well as the front door.