A/Ramble: Fluff warning for this chapter. Girlie gossip. Next chapter, a little Sara and Charlie angst. Oh, since Sam wore glasses in Moebius, I think it's within the realm of possibility she does here too. No horn-rims. Please, Enjoy!

~ 28 ~

2146h
Saturday, 27th July 1996
Jack's House

"Really?" Jack stopped in the doorway that led from the den to the kitchen, too absorbed in the sight of Sam with her head stuck in his fridge. Their fridge. "You been here a little over ten minutes and you're already raiding the refrigerator? Seriously?"

Sam popped her head over the open door of the Kelvinator, her hair held together in a precarious bun and her reading glasses sitting high on her nose. God, they just completed the hot geek look. Not that he was game to tell her that.

"I've been dying to get rid of some of the crap you've got tucked away in here." Again, she disappeared into the appliance. She muttered something about being attacked by mutant Chinese takeaway leftovers. Jack shook his head and came over to lean on the open door, avidly watching her while she rummaged.

"Can't this wait?" There's a heap of boxes for us to go through..."

Sam stood suddenly, making Jack straighten his stance before she smacked into his nose. She was holding a bowl of what looked like the chocolate pudding he'd made two nights ago in her hand.

"How long's this been in here?"

"Less than forty eight hours."

"Are you sure?"

He pinned her with a scornful glare, snatching the bowl from her. "Yes. I'll have you know that this is a very old family recipe for pudding." Sam squinted dubiously. "You should try some."

"I'm fine, thanks. I really need to watch what I eat." As she returned to the fridge, she missed the dramatic slump in Jack's posture and the disbelieving look on his face.

"Excuse me?"

Sam emerged again, tucking her errant hair behind her ears. "What?''

"You eat better than I do, Sam. One dessert isn't going to make you explode.''

She said nothing, knowing her concerns were irrational. Jack pulled part of the plastic wrap off the bowl of pudding and swiped one of the estranged spoons off the counter near the fridge. He dipped the spoon in, and then lifted it to her nose, wiggling it in front of her.

"Come on, Sam," he sang, pushing the door closed to corner her in the fridge. "You know you want some."

"Jack..." Her warning fell flat when he saw the temptation seeping into her eyes.

"Do it, Doc. Give into the chocolate. Eat the pudding, eat the pudding, eat the pudding, eat the pudding, eat the pudding..."

In an effort to shut him up, Sam surrendered and ate the delectable chunk of pudding. Damn, the man was good. Simple man, simple foods; but oh, did he have a knack for desserts. She nodded, trying to subtly check her teeth for remnants of chocolate with her tongue.

"Alright. That one can stay, but the rest goes. You need more fruit and vegetables. The ones in takeout don't count."

Jack groaned and puckered his lips lightly in sheer disapproval. Suddenly, he remembered something that sent his gaze to somewhere far away. After a minute, Sam lifted her head and frowned at his unusually pensive look.

"Jack?" This brought him back to the present abruptly, so he didn't have a chance to disguise his sudden change in expression. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

Well, that was a long debated subject, wasn't it?

"Yeah. Just thinkin'.''

''Should I be worried?'' She teased with a smirk.

"You should always be a little worried." With that he shovelled an impossible amount of pudding in to his mouth.

There it was; they officially lived together. The moving process had taken more a month to complete, but since they'd only really been together for a little over three, it seemed to slow down such a quick decision. He wouldn't call it rushed, per se, but they certainly weren't moving at the conventionally slower pace. The feelings had been there long before they actually got together. Official relationship: three months. Mutual affection... five months. Split the difference and four months didn't sound so bad.

''Nah... I remembered that I've gotta do a day trip up to Denver next Sunday. You won't even notice I'm gone.''

While he steeled himself for an inquiry, he was glad when Sam didn't ask about the trip.

''I'm sure I will. I might come back to the fridge and sort out the stuff in the bathroom." She slid out of the doorway and shut it. He couldn't really smile with his mouth full of food when she brushed her thumb on the corner of his mouth, presumably to wipe away a bit of chocolate. "Can you come and give me a hand once you're done?"

Whatever she wanted. Jack nodded quickly, still chewing.

~ SJ ~

1212h,
Wednesday, 31st July, 1996
SGA infirmary

"Knock knock." Rather than doing as she'd said, Sam waved as she entered Janet's office. "You know it's lunch. Food time?"

Janet flicked her wrist to check the time on her watch, grinning at her friend's quip. "Speak for yourself. Alright, drag me away from this mess." She stood and rearranged a hefty pile of... whatever Janet normally worked on. Sam had enough of her own reports to go through, let alone take the time to learn about Janet's job.

"You call that a mess?" Sam waved Janet through the door and joined her as they trudged through the unusually quiet infirmary, excluding a few of the nurses changing the bed sheets and an electrician checking the power outlets. "That's nothing compared to my lab when the chem boys have come through."

"Good point. Hey, did you wanna go out on Friday? I think Kawalsky mentioned a poker game with the General, Ferretti and Hammond. Boys night in, girl's night out?"

"Yeah, Jack said he invited some of the boys over. Movie?"

"'Twister'? 'Jerry Maguire'? Tom cruise... I trust I don't need to elaborate."

"I'm more of a Clooney fan," Sam shrugged, dodging a second electrician.

"Peirce Bronson?"

"Oh, yes."

"You can't wait for Jack to get grey hair, can you?"

"My secret shame. But, should Jack keep his hair until my grey comes through, I'll be very happy."

Janet chuckled and fell into a swagger, bumping her shoulder playfully against Sam's.

"Sounds like a plan. Then we can get tipsy." Sam shot Janet a look, wondering if she were ill. "Hey, it's a Friday! Not flat out drunk, but enough to give the boys a handful."

Sam strongly debated whether or not to voice the response that instantly came to mind, but, since this was Janet who would beat her to the punch anyway, "A hand full of what?"

"A lady never tells..." Janet clicked her fingers, "I've got it! 'Mars Attack's'!"

She women left the infirmary with a cheeky giggle between them. At one of the beds, two nurses exchanged a frown and one mouthed "Jack?"

~ SJ ~

A little later,
SGA Mess

"Kari! Get over here!"

Senior Airmen Smith jumped at her name and looked to the right where two nurses, Jeanie Symes and Tamara Jackson, were eagerly waving her to their table.

While the military tried to operate on a reasonably gender neutral system, in which men and women were always encouraged to work together, it wasn't an uncommon thing for all the ladies to sit together during meals. Civilians and servicewomen alike. There were a few other girls at the table, so, as with most meals, Kari came over and sat down.

Jeanie pointed to her with her fork. "You're in admin; you know everything that happens on base. We need to know: does the General go by 'Jack'?"

Kari bit her bottom lip. "Uh, yeah. He's only really Jonathan on paper. Why?"

"Ha!" Jeanie pointed to Tamara, who rolled her eyes as she chewed on her carrots. "Told you!" Kari couldn't help but notice the increased chatter amongst the girls with her apparent confirmation.

"What's going on?"

One of the girls further down the table, a technician in the Control Room, leant across. "We're trying to work out if Doctor Carter is dating General O'Neill."

Uh oh. Thanks to some change-of-address paperwork that had crossed her desk this morning, Kari not only knew that that was indeed the case, but also that Doctor Carter was now actually living with the General. But, since this was all confidential, she wasn't permitted to tell the girls.

"Sometimes they arrive in the same car," Jeanie interjected.

"They could carpool. Heaps of people do it," Tamara rebutted with a shrug.

"What about when Carter shot the alien in the Gateroom? She pretty much saved the General, "Another woman added.

"True! And they work out in the gym together," Tamara offered to her avid listeners. Girls and gossip; it was a law of the universe.

"They're probably just friends," Kari suggested, waving her fork of peas.

Jeanie scrunched up her nose in thought. "I dunno... I mean, it's hard to tell. I don't think they'd be very open about it." She turned and looked down the table. "This is the General we're talking about here." This invoked a rhythm of nods. Jeanie turned back to Kari, "But we were in the infirmary and Doctor Carter and Doctor Frasier were talking about having a girls night out because..." she lifted her hands to make air quotes, "...the boys... were having a poker night. And when Frasier mentioned the General, Doctor Carter called him 'Jack'. What do you make of that?"

"Ah..." her voice wavered a little, inciting some curious looks and a little leaning in from some of the girls. Busted. "Okay. If I tell you this, you are all sworn to absolute secrecy." Even further leaning. Kari hunched over, "I can't tell you how I know this since it's, you know, job related..." More nodding. "...but yeah, they are together."

"Yes!" Jeanie yelled, perhaps too loudly, judging by the odd looks some of the boys at the other tables sent her way.

"But you need confirmation! Don't take my word for it." Kari held up her hands, worried the girls would go overboard with this juicy information. "And you know how they are. They've probably been trying to keep this quiet. We shouldn't spread it around."

Tamara and Jeanie exchanged a cheeky smirk. They both stood at the same time.

"We'll go ask Doctor Carter," Jeanie grinned and hastily moved to the doors.

"Wait! Hang on- Oh crap..." Kari slapped her hands over her eyes.

~ SJ ~

"Epsilon zero... God, I'm an idiot..." Sam muttered as she crossed out an error in her equation. This is ridiculous. Physics should be far simpler. Movement in the doorway brought her eyes to two nurses who were evidently having a difficult time containing themselves. "Hi..."

Somewhere in that unsure 'hi' must have been an invitation to enter. The girls tensely moved across the room to Sam's bench.

"Doctor Carter, I hope we're not disturbing you."

"Not particularly. Anything I can help you two with?"

The girls both opened their mouths, but stopped and looked to one another, trying to discern who would be the first to speak. In the end it was Jeanie.

"Well, since nurse Jackson and I are against possibly harmful gossip-"

"Completely against it..." Tamara added, her head moving in a circle as if it didn't know if it was shaking or nodding.

"We've been wondering something and, of course, we decided we should get it straight from the horse's mouth-"

"Which would be you." Tamara interjected, opening her hands to Sam imploringly. Sam lifted an eyebrow. She was no fool when it came to the rumour mill. Hell, on the rare occasion when she made it to the mess during meal times without Jack, she'd personally engaged in said gossip.

"Okay..." Sam drawled slowly, now painfully curious. They girls leant over her bench.

"Are you going out with General O'Neill?" Jeanie asked quickly and eagerly. "And if you are, we swear we won't tell anyone."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Define 'we'..."

"Us and maybe a few of the other girls we eat with. There are, maybe, six of us."

Sam sighed deeply through her nose. Well, it was going to come out next month anyway.

"Yes, I am."

The girls muffled a squeal. This actually startled Sam; she was so used to the calm and professional demeanour of the military personnel, it was very strange to see these women slowly digress into excitable teens. It was almost disturbing.

"We're going to the ball at Peterson next month. That was going to be our 'coming out' event. Can you guys keep it to yourselves until then?" Sam continued, still watching the girls practically bounce on the spot.

"Absolutely! We won't even look at you differently." Jeanie nodded energetically.

"Or the General. We've had our suspicions anyway, and we know you guys are totally professional at work." Tamara added, pointing to her companion.

"Him too." Jeanie agreed quickly.

"Thank you. We appreciate it. Is that all?" Sam suspected it was.

"Yep. That's it. Keep up the good work, Doc." Tamara chirped and with a gentle tap to Sam's desk, dragged her friend from the room.

~ SJ ~

That evening,
Jack and Sam's House

The house was quiet when Sam finally made it home. The Engineering Department had been running slow with a virus coming over a few personnel, and hence were late in returning their latest report.

"Jack?" Sam called, locking the front door behind her and shedding her jacket. She'd have to tell him that their relationship had leaked into the bases female population. Not that it really was much of a secret anyway. Charlie, Janet, George and Margaret, Catherine and Ferretti knew about it. As much as the girls assured her they wouldn't treat she or Jack any different, she knew Jack would notice the moment one of them slipped up and gave him a knowing look.

Not in the living room, not in the kitchen. Sam tossed her keys next to Jack's on the counter. It was a good thing they took separate cars today. She walked halfway down the hall, but upon seeing the door ajar and the bedroom empty, she spun on her heel and began in the other direction. He's probably in the gym. It wasn't really a gym; in fact, it was really their office, but they'd pushed the desks against the walls to make way for his treadmill and large weight contraption he'd bought on Sunday. It now also included her gym ball, medicine ball and the lower weighted dumbbells. She'd had a good giggle when she walked in on Jack while he was bouncing up and down on the pink gym ball.

Ah, here we go. He was lying on his stomach on her red gym mat, medicine ball tucked into his side.

"Jack?" No response. "Honey?" A groan. "Honey bunny?" A grumpier groan. The man wasn't big on pet names. She rarely got away with 'dear' or 'honey'. He learnt very quickly he couldn't get away with any pet names for her.

Sam tilted her head, shamelessly admiring him as he lay on the ground in his black, knee length shorts and white singlet. He still had the normal prosthesis on, so he obviously hadn't gotten to the treadmill yet. Poor baby. She may have contributed to his current exhaustion. She'd kept him awake for a few hours last night.

Sam pushed off the doorframe and kicked off her heels, padding gently across the floor to his prone figure. Good thing she was wearing slacks; she swung a leg over him and sat down on the base of his spine. Jack lifted his head in protest, but dropped it back onto the mat when she pressed her hands into his shoulder and began to knead the tense muscles.

"Hello..." He sighed happily, clearly enjoying her attentions.

"Hi," she grinned, "How was your day?"

"Long... Yours?"

It was times like these that made Sam very glad she had Jack pinned to the ground.

"Not much. Although..." She took a deep breath and tried to say very quickly, "...some of the girls asked if you and I were together and I had to tell them."

Suddenly Jack was quite awake. "What?"

Hold him down. Hold him down. Hold him- WAH!

Jack pulled his hands from beneath her knees, planted them in the mat near his shoulders and effectively did a push up with her on his back. Sam near toppled to the floor, but managed to lift up onto her knees, allowing Jack to twist onto his back. He sat up, resting back on his hands with her now sitting in his lap.

"Which girls?"

Bugger.

"They just had a suspicion and wanted to confirm it. They assured me they would keep it to themselves." Sam sighed and dropped her hands into her lap. "I wasn't going to lie, Jack."

He rubbed a hand up and down her arm affectionately.

"No. I don't expect you to. It just surprised me. We're going to the dining-in night in two weeks, so it doesn't really matter." He gave her a small, lopsided smile. "I haven't gotten any weird looks yet, so they're keeping their end of the bargain." His arms snaked around her waist, "now, since I've got you here..."

"I thought you were tired." It didn't stop her from tilting her head when he kissed her neck. Oh, she was relieved he wasn't mad about her spilling their non-secret, but that relief had quickly been replaced with a very different feeling.

"I was... I'm not now."

Compelling argument. Then again, Sam would agree with anything at this stage.

"You give me one carpet burn; you're explaining it to Janet." She whispered, eliciting a chuckle from him.

She didn't get any carpet burns. Luckily for Jack.

~ SJ ~

The Denver trip is very important. Mistakes are mine. I thank Michelle for pointing out one for me already. BTW, the movies I listed where released in '96. Please don't get picky with the months. Reviews?