Lockdowns and Chess
Disclaimer: Sadly, they are still not mine.
A/N: Just a little vignette type thing inspired by the Season 8 episode "Lockdown." Those were probably a very long six days when they were on full lockdown and our two favorite officers had to amuse themselves somehow. Here's what I think might've happened
Enjoy!
So, all the zones were now secure, they had enough food for five weeks, give or take, and they were all divided into the three sections. Siler had command of Zone 1, Jack and Teal'c had Zone 2, and Sam and Daniel had Zone 3. It had been the only way to divide it up so that SG-1 remained relatively together and the two most high profile areas were manned by the base's commander and his second in command.
But it left something to be desired in entertainment value. Jack wasn't used to not having Daniel babbling away in his ear and he certainly wasn't used to not being able to bug Carter. He had Teal'c, but he could only take so much Jaffa humor. He didn't even last a day before he picked up his walkie and paged Carter.
"Colonel Carter, do you read?" He drawled, stretching out her name.
"Yes, sir." He could hear the small smile in her voice.
"Carter, I was wondering if you could check something for me." Jack leaned back in his chair and threw his feet up on the desk. He looked out the plate glass window to see if anyone was in the briefing room, but it was empty and both his doors were closed. He was being paranoid, but you couldn't be too careful these days.
"Sure, sir. What do you need?" He heard rustling in the background and pictured her moving some papers around.
"I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to check on computer terminal 4-B. There may be a glitch." Jack then switched channels on his radio from the standard channel to 4B, a sub channel that was rarely used. He hadn't waited for her reply. It was a code they had worked out years ago just in case something ever happened. A "glitch" was a minor problem where no one was in immediate danger, an "error" was a potentially dangerous situation, and a "systems failure" described a situation where they were already in trouble and needed to talk where almost no one would overhear.
They had always meant to tell Daniel and Teal'c, but something always seemed to come up. So, over the years they had used this system to tell the other person the channel and the type of situation without anyone being the wiser. Usually it was for small stuff, like Kinsey royally pissing Jack off or Felger getting a little too handsy. But every once in awhile it was for something serious, like the time during the foothold situation.
A few seconds later his radio gave a burst of static then quieted. "What's going on, sir?"
"Nothing." Jack grinned. There was always a small part of him that worried she had forgotten about their code.
"General?" There was a note of suspicion in her voice and Jack knew she was trying to figure out if he was messing with her or if he was compromised. That brain of hers was always thinking.
"Relax, Carter. I was just bored."
There was a long silence, then, finally, "Of course you were, sir."
"Hey." He warned without irritation.
"To be honest, sir, you lasted longer than I thought." He could definitely hear the smirk in her voice this time.
"Carter, it's been," He glanced at his watch. "Six hours."
"I know."
Jack grinned, he loved that she let her guard down a little bit when they had these talks. "So, how's Zone three?"
"Quiet. Two?"
"Oh, you know Teal'c, he's a real chatterbox."
"Yes, sir." Sam chuckled.
"So…" Jack trailed, doodling idly on a memo.
"So." She repeated, her voice sounding slightly muffled.
"You okay?" He asked, frowning at the change in her voice.
"Yes, sir. I put my head on my arm." This time he distinctly heard her stifle a yawn.
"Tired?"
"Not really. Just bored."
"Just think, we have no set end to this." Jack grimaced slightly and leaned further back into his chair.
"Don't remind me." She groaned. A slight pause, then, "Do you have your computer near you?"
"I do. Why?" Jack dropped his feet from his desk and pressed the power button on his laptop.
"Log in using user 726."
Jack did so. "Why 726?"
"It's my encrypted interface. 7-2-6 is S-A-M on a keypad."
"Cute." The corners of Jack's lips tugged up into a smile. "Can two people be logged in at the same time?"
"They can now."
"You're brilliant, Carter, you know that?"
"Thanks, sir." Again, he heard the smile.
Suddenly, an icon flashed on his screen and he pulled his hand back, afraid he'd broken something. A moment later his colonel's face popped up on the screen in front of him. "Carter!" He would later deny that her name had come out a yelp.
"Hi, sir." She smiled and gave him a small wave.
"How did you-," He started into the walkie, then shook his head realizing he didn't need it, and dropped it onto the desk. "How'd you do that?"
"Through the webcams, every personnel computer has one." She looked slightly paler than usual, but other than that the picture was perfect.
"Does everyone know this?" He, for one, had never heard of this.
"Pretty sure there was a memo." She grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile back.
"Yes, well, you know me and memos." His insides liquefied a little bit when she laughed.
"So…I was thinking…" Sam trailed, eyes downcast for a moment.
"A dangerous thing, Carter." 'No, what's dangerous is this flirting you're doing.' He thought to himself.
"Funny." Sam rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we never played that game of chess you challenged me to awhile ago."
"No, no we didn't." Jack smirked. "If I remember correctly we haven't arm-wrestled either." 'Oh my god, what are you doing?' It had to be this lockdown situation. He was never this flirtatious.
If Sam minded, she didn't show it. "No, sir. But one of those things we can do over video, one of them we can't."
"Right. So, how do we do this? I don't have a board with me."
"One second, sir." He saw her look down and heard her rapidly pressing keys. "Program should be uploaded to your terminal."
"Where?" Jack was thrown slightly by how fast she had managed to do that. Sometimes, her abilities really did floor him.
"Bottom left of your screen. Look for a little chess piece." Her lips quirked into a small smile.
"Ah. Cute, Carter." He clicked on the little dancing rook. A chess board popped up in front of him, the white side closest to him. "Letting me be white, colonel?"
"Yep. Just showing you that I don't need any advantage to kick your butt." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Insubordination, Carter." He winked and relented. "Alright, I'll take this bone…but only because your brain is ten times bigger than mine. That's the really unfair advantage."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand dismissively. "Your move, general."
Four hours later saw Sam and Jack on their fifth game with Sam effectively kicking his butt. "You're cheating." Jack accused for the third time.
"I most certainly am not." Sam called for checkmate—again—and Jack threw up his hands.
"You are too. This is your program and somehow you made it so only you can win." He dropped his chin into his hand and stared at her through the computer screen.
"No, I didn't." Sam glared at him. "I won fair and square, you're just mad that I beat you."
"Whatever." Jack growled. "Chess is a stupid game anyway."
Sam chuckled. "Yes, sir." He looked at her for a long moment, her blue eyes boring into him even through cyberspace, until he finally cracked. He rolled his eyes and a grin lit up his face.
"You win, Carter. But only because I'm tired." He held a finger up and she laughed again.
"Bedtime, sir?" Even as she said it, a yawn broke over her smile.
"For one of us, maybe." He raised an eyebrow at her.
"For both of us, sir. We've got a long few days ahead of us."
"Don't remind me."
Sam grinned when he stole her earlier words. "Sorry, sir." She paused and he could tell she was weighing whether or not to say something. "You know…you could always set a rematch."
"You're on." Jack gave her his best "game" face and she laughed, blue eyes sparkling.
"Same time tomorrow?"
"It's a date." The words were out before he could stop them. A long silence ensued and Jack could only stare at his colonel wondering what the hell he could say that would save that slip. "Carter, I, uh, didn't…"
But Sam only smiled softly. "Sleep well, sir."
Jack smiled back, relieved and a little bit disappointed. "You too." He moved to disconnect, but her voice stopped him.
"Jack?" Her voice was quiet and her expression unguarded.
Jack looked at her, surprised at the use of his given name. Though his previous comment had already kind of blown propriety out of the water. "Sam?"
"Stay safe."
He smiled and held her gaze. "You too."
"Goodnight, sir."
"Night, Carter." They disconnected, the boundaries back in place if not slightly skewed.
Jack locked his office door behind him and made his way down the hall, grinning. Maybe this lockdown thing wouldn't be so bad after all.
End
Just a silly little story, hope you guys liked it! Please R and R!