Sam sighed as she walked into Lowe's. She could get lost in here with all of the projects she wanted to do.
"Are you sure you just want help with the shelves?" Jack asked, looking over at her with an amused and insightful smile.
"Hm?" She asked, looking over at him.
"You've got that look in your eye."
"What look in my eye?" She asked, confused.
"The look that you get when you can't decide what you want to do first." He laughed. "You get it any time you have more than one new piece of technology to decipher."
She blushed modestly. "I don't..."
He nodded. "Yeah, Carter...you do..."
"Sorry." She apologized, goodnaturedly.
"Don't apologize." He said, shaking his head. "It's endearing."
"Endearing?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow, curiously.
"Yeah. Everyone loves you for it." He teased as he got a cart. "Where are we headed?"
"Lumber, closets and light fixtures."
"Light fixtures?" He asked, confused.
"For the dining room," she said, sheepishly. "It's another one of those...projects...that Cassie was talking about..."
He snickered internally. "Okay...bring on the projects."
"And I should probably get that paint I was going to use for the living room..." She mused. "After all, if I have it in the house, I'll be more likely to just get it done after work."
"Or I could come back for a visit." He pointed out.
"You don't have to do that, sir." She said, seriously. "I mean...you're a busy man..."
"That may be true, but it's mostly an 8-5 job. If you don't mind me coming in late on a Friday night, I could come almost every weekend."
She inhaled, wondering what she could say. Finally, she looked back up at him. "Cassandra could use the support right now. She's still not one-hundred percent, and I think it would be good for her to have the stability of knowing when you're coming."
"I wouldn't be trampling on your turf?"
She shook her head. "I might have to work sometimes, but you'd be fine."
"And I'd earn my room by helping you with your projects, and my board by keeping you ladies entertained." He said, shining that charming grin in her direction.
Her knees went weak, like they always did when he gave her that smile.
"Sounds like a fair trade." She finally managed, sounding more normal than she thought she should have given that she'd just imagined Jack O'Neill standing in her bedroom, wearing jeans and a tool belt as the sweat on his skin glistened in the oppressive Nevada sunlight.
Little did she know, he had visions of her in Daisy Duke shorts, a white tank top and a tool belt. Like Heidi from "Home Improvement".
"I guess I'll get the wood and the closet stuff..." Jack coughed.
"And I'll get the paint and the light fixture." She said, managing an uncomfortable smile.
"Ready...go..." Jack said, turning his direction.
Sam bit her lip before she turned to go her own direction.
Oy. What was she getting herself into?
A renovated home? Probably. Another sticky situation with her commanding officer? Most definitely.
Did she mind?
She thought for a moment. "I should care a lot more about this." She muttered as she walked to the paint chips.
"I hear you." Another woman said, shaking her head as she looked at the paint. "But my son wants a black and white checkered room, and my daughter wants this awful green with a purple stripe. Still...they're teenagers, and if I don't give into them on the paint thing, I'll have to give into them on something else. Paint is WAY lower on the list."
"Quite the dilemma," Sam managed, sympathetically. Oh, that she'd been talking about the paint, she wished internally.