"Belle, you want to come on my date?" Jack addresses his snoozing dog. Bella lifts her head and looks at him. She closes her eyes and puts her head back down on her paws. She's happy sleeping in the sunbeam by the fireplace.

"Fine." He tells her. Bella isn't that enthused about the instructor. Luckily he has two dogs. I mean the date is to walk dogs. "Merlin!"

The pup barrels around the corner, his ball firmly lodged in his mouth. Tail whipping wildly he sounds a muffled bark at the front door. He dances from side to side while Jack gets the leash.

"Yeah, wait a minute," Jack grumbles fondly.

Merlin hops in the front seat of the truck. "No shotgun for you, pup." He says sternly. Merlin whines. "You'll fall out of the window."

Merlin whines again. "Harness," Jack orders. Merlin crawls in the back seat and mopes as he gets buckled into his seatbelt. As the buckles get clicked he stares out the window, pointedly ignoring Jack. "You're not as good as Bella, bud." He chuckles at the dog's pouting.

As soon as the truck starts up Merlin forgets about the back seat and strains against the harness to stick his nose out the window. The dog's nostrils quiver as he takes in the smells of the road. His ears flap in the wind. Merlin barks happily as they pick up speed.

Out of habit, Jack scans the parking lot. Minivans, sports cars, and everyday cars. Nothing pings his radar. Good.

Merlin barks at him. The dog's version of 'Lemme out of here!' He smiles. Once the truck is off the dog can't wait to get out of the harness. The small bumps and thuds are Merlin straining against his seatbelt.

"You know the drill." Jack says. He shoves his keys and phone into his pocket. They go through the same routine as always, Merlin trying to get out of the harness, barking and licking him, while Jack hooks the leash onto his collar. He made the mistake of letting him out without the leash, once.

The dog jumps to the ground and spins a few times, happy to be released. Jack looks around for Kira. He doesn't see her, but true to military training he's early. Seeing a low wall near the trail he heads over there. Merlin trots at his heels, stopping to sniff interesting patches of ground.

The dog circles the post and wall for a few minutes. "Whatcha got there, pup? Jack asks as Merlin finally stops investigating and looks at him. He barks once and pulls on his leash.

"We're waiting for someone," Jack explains. Merlin tugs once more, then gives up. He moves next to Jack and jumps up on the wall. He stretches his nose into the air. His nostrils quiver and the white stripe on his head gleams in the sun. Merlin jumps off the wall and circles around. Two white paws land on his legs as the dog shoves his face into Jack's.

"C'mon Merlin." Jack moves his head, to watch the parking lot.

A stifled laugh alerts him that his date is here. He shoves Merlin's head to the side and grins at Kira.

"I'd stand," he starts. Merlin turns his head. He hops off his human and politely wags his tail at the newcomer.

Kira laughs again. "Hi Jack." She offers Merlin her fist to sniff. She's dressed in walking gear. Leggings and a dog t-shirt. He smiles at the cute dog cartoon and admires her.

He finally noticed she's alone. He's positive she said walk dogs. Plural.

"Where's your dog?" he asks.

She taps the dog on her shirt. "My apartment building doesn't allow dogs." She shrugs. "Soon, I'll have my own place." He sympathizes remembering his own years in military housing. Still it's a little odd.

Merlin barks and yanks on the leash. "Okay, pup," Jack takes pity on him. Kira purses her mouth as Merlin heads on the left path a few steps ahead of his humans. He stops for a moment and sniffs the ground. His tail wags and he continues on.

Jack chats lightly with Kira while guiding Merlin away from the bushes and trees. He notices the path is getting crowded and takes a tighter hold on the leash.

Kira asks about his work. "Oh, aside from tracking Santa it's pretty routine." He grins. "Those reindeer are FAST."

She hesitates for a moment and then giggles. "Oh NORAD, right."

Jack nods. "Yeah."

He's running out of conversation topics with her. Suddenly Merlin barks and breaks into a run. The leash is yanked out of Jack's hand.

"OW!" his shoulder aches with the sudden movement. "Damnit get back here, Merlin!" he shouts in his 'Colonel' voice.

The dog ignores him and runs around people up the path. The pup disappears around a curve in the path.

Cursing under his breath he breaks into a run. Running around the curve he sees Merlin dancing around another dog and runner.

He recognizes them immediately. Carter and Jester. So that's what the dog wanted. Jack nods to himself.

Kira appears at his side. She's panting slightly. "You shouldn't let Merlin bother other people."

"Oh, that's Jester." The dogs are now sniffing each other and barking. Carter is looking amused.

A quick flash of annoyance passes over Kira's face, but she smiles at him. Kira looks carefully at the dog. She recognizes it now.

"Hi, sir!" Carter calls. She has snagged Merlin's leash while he plays with his brother.

Jack jogs over and takes it back. "Thanks, Carter."

Jester greets Jack with a leap and wildly wagging tail. "Ooof! Yes, I love you too pup. Get down now." He says as he scrubs his ears. Jester hops down and sits at Sam's feet. He looks up at her with his tongue hanging out.

"Borrowing Jester for some fun, Major?" he teases.

"Dog sitting." Sam replies. "Siler and his wife had to go out of town."

Kira slides up and smiles at Sam. "Hi. I'm Kira, Jack's date."

Sam blinks. "Nice to meet you. I'm Major Carter."

The younger woman steps back. "Oh, you work with Jack?"

"Yes." Sam turns to the Colonel. "Nice to see you, sir." She nods at him. "Jester and I are going to finish our run."

Sam pets Merlin goodbye and jingles Jester's leash. "C'mon bud," she says. Jester pops to his feet, barks at his brother and Jack as he runs alongside his adored Sam. Tongue hanging out, he looks up at her every few steps.

Jack chuckles. "That dog." He shakes his head as the two of them disappear around the curve.

Merlin trots over to Jack and watches Sam and Jester go away. He sits down and whines a little. Jack strokes his head.

"I know."

The three of them continue on their walk. By the time they reach the top of the path, Jack's bored. Kira's pretty. Nice and she obviously finds him attractive. But she's not as interesting as say Carter.

To Jack's relief his phone rings at the end of the walking path. He smiles apologetically and shrugs as he takes the call.

"O'Neill." He barks.

"Hi, sir." Carter's voice greets him. "Sorry to interrupt.."

"No, that's fine." He answers her. Truthfully he's relieved. Kira was hinting for another date and he's can't think of a polite way to say no.

"I'll be right there," he says. Jack snaps his phone closed and turns to Kira. "Duty calls." He dredges up a charming smile.

She's disappointed. "Oh, I had a nice time. Maybe we can do this again, soon?"

"I'll have to see my duty schedule. I think we'll miss class this week as well." Jack shrugs. The good thing about a military town is most people understand how your schedule can change.

They part ways and he waits until she's out of the parking lot to call Carter back.

"Hey Carter. What did you need?"

Sam chuckles. "Date not too interesting, sir?"

"Something like that. Everything ok?"

"Siler left me a message. They're going to be out of town longer than expected and with the temporary duty to SG-9." She trails off.

"You want me to dog sit Jester." He finishes her sentence.

"Siler's okay with it."

"Yeah, it's fine. When do you want to transfer custody?"

Sam laughs. "Tomorrow night is fine."

They say goodbye and Jack turns to Merlin in his seatbelt. "Your brother is going to visit for a while,"

Merlin barks.

"Glad we agree." Jack makes a note to stop by the store and stock up on dog food. Three dogs back in the house. He smiles. He likes having his 'kids' home.