"Carter!" he called out her name. She stopped abruptly, evidently startled and turned around making eye contact with him. Even as he approached her, he could tell she was tense.

"Carter," he said again, upon reaching her. This time playfully drawing out her name.

"Sir," she replied in her best devoid-of-emotion military voice. She always behaved so proper.

"A bit chilly here, don't ya think?" he said, casually throwing a glance at their surroundings, then looked back at Carter, scanning her face for some hint to her emotional state.

"I suppose," she said. She was actually only now noticing how cold her hands felt. Up till now she had been too preoccupied with her thoughts. She slightly rubbed her hands against one another and then hid them in the pockets of her jacket. "But you're out here." she pointed out, raising her gaze to meet O'Neills.

"Yup. I came here looking for you." he said, gazing deep into her blue eyes.

"Oh." Sam breathed. "Have I forgotten to hand in a report?" she asked, evidently worried.

Jack couldn't suppress a grin. As always, thinking of duty, Carter's typical priority and that was also why he valued her so much as his second-in-command. That and her immense expertise, even though listening to her techno-babble was often overwhelming. But sometimes she was so tense, so hard on herself. But O'Neill was amongst the more perceptive and let us say emotionally intelligent residents of planet earth and so he observed that she was more proper and strict on the outside when something emotional was bothering her on the inside.

"No, you haven't," he assured her, smiling. "Walk with me for a bit."

A questioning look appeared on her face but she turned on her heel and started walking next to O'Neill.

"Soo, Captain," he said putting emphasis on her rank. When they first met, she had asked him to refer to her by her military rank instead of her scientific title. He hoped it would make her feel more comfortable in the conversation, she took great pride in her professional accomplishments. He tried to steer away from making it seem personal since personal matters seemed tended to make her anxious. "what are you tinkering with currently?" he asked.

His playful tone had the desired effect as he saw Carter smile.

"I was examining the artifact that SG-2 had brought from a temple on P3X-996." she said.

"Umm, which one was that?" he asked.

"Artifact or planet?"

"Both."

"P3X-996 has pink to purple skies during the day because it is orbiting a red star and that combined with gas in the atmosphere-" Carter had a small smile on her face and a light in her eyes as she began explaining to him.

She liked explaining things to him, which was why he often asked her stuff, sometimes even if he knew more than he let on, it was worth listening to her and seeing that spark in her eyes. "On the surface, there are vast coral beaches and many temples made from turquoise stone." his mind wandered to the scenery she was describing and he imagined himself and Carter at one of those beaches.

Oblivious to his fantasies Carter continued: "SG-2 found the artifact in one of the temples, there were several of the same kind. It is a round object made out of dark stone and it's giving off weak energy readings, but I can't figure out why. This morning I even thought I saw some golden writing on it but when I looked closer it was gone. So I probably imagined it." she said with a frustrated tone, bringing her talk to an end. She sighed and her breath turned into white steam.

O'Neill was pleased, she had opened up. Shared something with him and for a few precious minutes didn't suppress her emotions. He looked at her, she looked relieved, he gave her a smile. "Did it help?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?" she said confused.

"Did talking about it help?" he said, still smiling.

She blinked a few times and then said, sounding a little surprised: "Actually, sir, it did." It dawned on her how good it felt to let that all out and how much she felt like herself. She also realized she didn't mind O'Neill's presence at that moment, more on the contrary actually...

"You know, you can always talk to me about stuff that bothers you, right?" O'Neill said, looking at her.

Carter glanced up at him. She looked into his brown eyes which seemed to radiate warmth and a feeling of support and comfort, at the same time her cheeks gradually gained a light shade of pink.

"Carter," O'Neill said, his voice low and soothing. "The truth is, I came to look for you because there's also something I want to confide in with you."

She gave him a curious look.

"I've gotten the feeling that you're avoiding me."

Carter dropped her gaze.

"Of course you're in no way obliged to spend more time around my persona than necessary, I've been told I can be downright annoying and let's face it - my jokes really aren't that funny," he said humorously, giving her a grin that was so typical for him.

Carter managed a small grin, but she looked embarrassed.

"But I've got the feeling it has something to do with our last mission.."

Carter's cheeks turned a shade darker. "Sir." she managed to say with a strangled-sounding voice. "I'm sorry, Sir, I-" she stopped, looking for words. "Had some stuff to... I know I mustn't let that effect my productivity..." her voice trailed off in an unusually high-pitched tone. Her throat felt too tight to speak and she felt pressure around her eyes.

O'Neill took a step closer and put his hand on her shoulder, lightly squeezing it. "Sam."

She looked up at him with half-glossy eyes.

"C'Mere," he said, and lightly enveloped her in an embrace. His one hand rested on her hair, with his other he traced tiny circles on her back and shoulder. She had an arm wrapped around his back and the other around his shoulder. The embrace felt like a silent confirmation of something they both knew deep down but neither could say out loud. That they cared for each other a lot more than they should according to the military's rules.

O'Neill gently brushed his hand through Carter's hair while leaning in to whisper: "You know, we do have the excuse of being under alien influence."

He heard as well as felt Carter chuckle, the sound vibrating through her chest. "Which can stand for practically anything." he added.

"Especially in our profession." Carter said.

"Exactly." O'Neill said. He continued the embrace for the shortest of moments, savouring it, before pulling apart, to gaze into Carter's blue eyes, while still gently holding her shoulders.

He smiled at her. "Ready to head back?"

Carter ran a hand over her cheek then nodded, saying: "Yeah." she managed to return his smile, which in turn made him smile even brighter at her.

As they headed back over the green lawn, Carter looked at her watch. "Shoo, we're late."

O'Neill glanced at her watch, then waved his hand. "It's only a few minutes, don't worry about it."

"But, what are we gonna say?" Carter asked, sounding worried.

"You had a headache, needed a break, went to get some air, I went to get and found you! End of story." O'Neill said, waving his hand.

Carter gave him a sceptical sideways look.

"What? Anybody who knows you, knows you work way too hard Carter. Hell, you're usually so immersed in your work that I have to go tell you at the end of a day to go home and sleep." O'Neill said, and raised an eyebrow at her.

The corners of Carter's mouth turned up.

"Plus anyone who goes through a spinning wheel into space on a daily basis is entitled to a headache every once a while. It's pretty bonkers when you think it about it..." he looked at her for a reaction.

Carter grinned at him. "It is pretty whacko."

"My sentiments exactly." O'Neill said, smiling at the scientist and patting her shoulder.

Carter placed her hand on top of the one he had on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. They would both retract their hands once they reached the tunnel of Cheyenne mountain and assume postures worthy of the scrutiny of military protocols, but they weren't there just yet...