So this has been a while in the writing, I started it one Wednesday a few weeks ago in one of the notebooks for college and finally finished it and typed it up a few days ago, but I wanted to post it after Baby Rush, so here it is.
This is based when Sam has been posted on Atlantis, and I won't give you anything more than that since I don't want to spoil it :P
Hope you like it.
"Colonel Carter to the gate room," came the call over the Atlantis city wide broadcast.
Sam stopped her sparring match, taking a step back and lowering the pole she was using as a weapon to indicate that she was withdrawing from their match. Teyla dropped out of stance too and the two women gave each other a shallow bow before Sam looked at her watch.
"Crap," she cursed quietly. She had completely lost track of time while she had been sparring with Teyla. They were expecting a group from Earth and she had meant to leave Teyla in enough time to have a quick shower before going to the gate room and meeting them, now however she didn't have time. Luckily she knew who was coming though, and she also knew that they weren't going to mind that she hadn't managed to shower. With that in mind she quickly handed her pole to Teyla before she grabbed her towel from the floor and gave her face a wipe. Once she had done as much as she could she grabbed her jacket and hurried out of the room and towards the gate room.
As she went she juggled with the towel, wishing she'd thought to leave it in the gym, and put her jacket on.
Sam slowed as she reached the entrance into the gate room, giving herself a chance to catch her breath a bit. Just as she entered the room the force field went down, meaning they'd received an IDC, and then a group of people came through the gate.
A few months ago, while carrying out repairs after a Wraith attack, they'd found a hidden room full of information on the Ancients before they'd ascended as well as some new technologies that they were guessing needed the Ancient gene to activate. No one however had been able to decipher the writing as it wasn't a dialect of Ancient that they were all familiar with and for that reason Sam had decided that John wasn't allowed anywhere near the room or machinery in case some of it was dangerous.
While Sam knew they could have worked on deciphering the language there had been other things on their minds so instead she had requested the assistance of someone who had come across the dialect before. Sam had sent pictures of everything along with a video of the entire room but the man had asked if it was possible to visit the room its self, just to make sure that nothing had been missed or taken out of context. Sam hadn't had a problem with it and neither had General Landry and the powers that be. Which was why Daniel was currently standing in front of the gate along with Cam, Vala and Jack.
"General O'Neill," she greeted, coming to a stop at the bottom of the steps and saluting, proud of herself for not running to him as soon as she had seen him. Jack rolled his eyes, he had asked Sam time and time again not to salute him but she still did it anyway, and saluted in return. Sam then turned to Cam and greeted him, "Colonel Mitchell."
"Colonel Carter," he replied, a grin on his face.
All attempts of keeping it professional then went right out of the window as Vala launched herself forward, having been under her best behaviour for quite long enough, and wrapped her arms around Sam in a massive bear hug. Sam stumbled back a step in shock before she returned the hug with one arm, the other still full of towel. "Hello Vala," she muttered, a light sigh preceding her words.
"Hey Sam," Vala beamed as she pulled back, released her grip, and took a step away from Sam.
Sam shook her head, aware that everyone in the gate room and above them in the control room where all shocked by the way Vala had greeted their commander; they'd never seen anything like it before. Then again Sam reasoned with herself, there weren't many people like Vala in the galaxy.
Sam looked round Vala and nodded to Daniel. "Daniel," she greeted, barely containing her laughter when she saw the look on his face. When they had been SG1, and by they see meant herself, Daniel, Teal'c and Jack, the look he had given whenever Jack had done something particularly annoying had been very similar to the look of suffering that currently adorned Daniel's face.
"Sam," he returned the greeting and nod.
"Come on," Sam motioned, "I'll show you the room and you can tell me why the four of you are here instead of just Daniel like I was expecting."
Jack gave her a smirk and a wink and once again Sam had to stop herself from running straight into his arms. Daniel noticed the exchange and gave Sam a knowing smile while Cam and Vala watched on, having not noticed anything.
Sam led the way out of the gate room and down towards the lower areas of the city, where they had found the room, stopping under the balcony as Chuck dropped a head set down to her. Once they were well clear of the gate room, and going into the less commonly used corridors, Sam asked, "Why are the four of you here? I only asked for Daniel."
"Gee Carter," Jack teased, "It's nice to know we're wanted."
"That's not what I meant and you know it sir," Sam retorted.
The other three watched on as Jack smirked at her and asked, "What's with the towel Carter?"
Sam looked at the towel that was still in her hand. "I was training with Teyla and lost track of time so didn't have a chance to shower and change." She also put on the headset on so that if there were any problems she'd be able to get into contact with help, although she wasn't expecting anything to go wrong.
"Keeping up your fitness?" Cam questioned.
Sam nodded. "Running takes too much time, plus I prefer running outside and there isn't really all that much of that on Atlantis, so sparring with Teyla is the next best thing. Plus it keeps my fighting skills up should I need them."
"Always the solider," Jack commented with a smirk.
"Sir yes sir," Sam replied, "Although I get plenty of opportunities to be the scientist too."
Jack didn't quite know what to say to that and Daniel just shook his head as they continued walking, even after all these years of not being the original SG1 the way the two of them spoke had hardly changed at all.
"So why are you all here?" Sam asked again, "You didn't answer before."
"Well Daniel's here because you asked for him," Jack answered, which earned him an eye roll from Sam, although it was a very subtle one that only Jack actually saw, "And Vala didn't want to be left on Earth without him. Cam was bored and is trying to avoid Landry."
"What did you do?" Sam cut across Jack to address Cam.
"Nothing," Cam answered, "General O'Neill knows full well that I'm not avoiding General Landry, I just wanted a change of scenery and this was the easiest since SG1 is on down time at the moment while Teal'c visits the free Jaffa."
Sam gave him a smile before she spoke again. "Well, we're here."
They all stopped in front of the door and waited for Sam to open it. "Have at it Daniel," she teased once the door was fully open.
Daniel ignored her and went in, Vala close behind. "What about you General?" Sam asked.
"Ah I'm here for my speciality skill set," Jack answered in a serious voice. Sam didn't say anything in response, just leant against the wall beside the door and looked at him expectantly. "Daniel wanted someone with a strong Ancient gene," he continued eventually, "And since mine and Sheppard's are the strongest we know of he asked if I would be able to come along in case Sheppard was busy. Plus," he added, his voice becoming more joking in tone, "It got me out of Washington for a while so who's complaining."
Sam rolled her eyes before looking back to Cam and asking, "Do you want to stay here or go and look around for a bit?"
"Go and look around if that's ok with you Sam," Cam answered, "And see where all our bags ended up."
"Course it's ok Cam, I wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't," Sam replied with a smile, "Your bags should be in the room next to mine. I organised for them to be moved this morning."
"Well that explains why those Marines took them once we got through the gate," Cam commented.
Sam nodded. "I've also sorted you out with rooms along the same corridor as mine, since Dr Weir set them aside for visitors. There are however only three rooms so two of you are going to have to share."
"I'll share with Daniel," Vala chimed in.
Cam, Sam and Jack all looked to Daniel for conformation that he was alright with that. The three of them then smirked as Daniel nodded.
"Well I'll go and sort out whose bags need to go where and then I think I'll go and have a wander round," Cam stated.
Sam nodded and Cam walked back the way they had come. As Daniel and Vala returned to what they had been doing Sam turned to Jack and asked, "What about you sir? Daniel doesn't need a guinea pig at the moment."
"Funny Carter," Jack replied with a scowl. He then looked her up and down before adding, "However, since you're already dressed for it, how about we do some sparring? So long as you're not too busy of course."
Sam smiled. "Sounds like a plan sir."
Jack smiled in response. "Race you there he suddenly said."
Sam raised an incredulous eyebrow but Jack just smirked before he turned and started jogging down the corridor.
Sam smiled at Daniel and Vala before she turned and jogged after Jack, going a little faster than he was going so she'd catch up. Jack however must have heard her behind him because he soon sped up. They were soon both up to a run. Sam however was faster than Jack, mainly because she was younger and a little bit fitter than the General, so she soon caught up.
Her running beside him obviously made Jack's competitive streak come out because he began to push a little harder, trying to pull ahead.
Luckily for the two of them they were going through corridors that were rarely used. If they had passed too many people then Sam knew more than a few of them would have wondered why the expedition commander and the Head of Homeworld Security were running through the corridors, not even trying to hide the laughter.
When they reached the sparring room Sam sped up and pulled away from Jack. The General had nothing else to give so watched as Sam crossed the threshold of the door first, and win their race.
They both stopped inside the door and watched Teyla spar with one of the Marines as they caught their breath. As they watched Teyla quickly got the Marine into a position where his only possible action was to surrender, which he did with a bow. Teyla returned to bow before she turned away and caught sight of Jack and Sam standing by the door. "Colonel, General O'Neill," she greeted them, making everyone else in the room aware of their presence. Everyone saluted the two of them before Jack gestured for them to relax. "I was not expecting to see you back so soon Colonel," Teyla continued.
Sam smiled. "The General and I wanted to spar," she answered, "It's been a while." There were a few snickers from around the room but a glare from Jack soon put a stop to that.
"Of course," Teyla replied, handing Sam the poles.
Sam waited for Jack to shed his jacket before she passed him one. As the two of them moved onto the mats in the centre of the room Jack spoke. "Just like old times?" he asked.
"Is there any other way?" Sam replied before she quickly stepped forwards and rapped Jack across the knuckles.
"Hey," Jack complained while the rest of the room watched on in silence, no one knowing why Sam had done that before they'd actually started, "That's my trick. You can't use my own trick against me."
"Guess you should be paying more attention then sir," Sam replied, just the right side of cheeky, "That's why you always used to do it to me."
Jack shrugged before he suddenly surged forward. Sam however was ready and quickly moved out of the way.
Everyone watched as the two officers danced around each other. Each time one landed a hit they would flinch in sympathy for the one on the receiving end of the blow. It was clear to anyone watching that while they were pulling their blows a little, they weren't doing it by very much.
At one point Sam managed to knock Jack's pole out of his hand, but in doing so lost her grip on her own, and the two of them ended up falling to the side of the mats with a clatter. Sam and Jack stepped away from each other and everyone else thought that was the end of it. However they were proved wrong when the two advanced again and started on the hand-to-hand.
There was a blur of hands and feet as the two fought and then suddenly Jack had Sam pinned to the floor. "Give up Carter?" he managed to puff out as the two of them breathed heavily.
Sam didn't answer, just twisted her hips and hooked her ankles around Jack's legs and flipped them. Jack tried a few times to do the same thin but quickly gave up when he couldn't move an inch. He lay back on the floor and relaxed and then Sam rolled off him and onto the floor beside him. Both lay on their backs for a few moments, catching their breath, while around them the watchers a whispered to each other. None of them had ever seen anything like it, even when Teyla and Ronan sparred they didn't have the same fluidity of the two officers who were still lying on the floor.
Sam was the first to get up and she offered Jack her hand. Jack took it but rather than getting up he pulled Sam down and used his legs to flip her over him. Sam landed with a thud while Jack quickly got to his feet. "Bugger," Sam puffed as she got to her feet again, "I should have known you'd do that."
Jack nodded and smiled, "It was you who introduced that idea to me after all."
Now the two of them were on their feet Teyla came over and handed both of them some water before handing Sam her towel. They both smiled before Sam used the towel while Jack drank some water. Sam then handed the towel to Jack before she had her water too.
"That was impressive," Teyla commented.
"Thank you," Jack replied before he looked to Sam and asked, "Fancy showing me my room Carter? I think I shower might be in order."
Sam nodded before she bent and picked up the poles and handed them to Teyla with a smile.
They walked out, Jack grabbing both their jackets off the floor on the way, and headed towards the rooms.
They walked in silence, both still trying to get their breath back, when they reached the rooms Sam stopped in front of the one that was going to be Jacks.
"This is you," she stated, opening the door.
Jack looked up and down the corridor before he went in and pulled Sam in behind him. He quickly shut the door before he turned to Sam and kissed her. Sam returned the kiss happily. "God I've missed you Mrs O'Neill," Jack breathed once they pulled back.
Sam smiled. "You have no idea how hard it was for me not just to run into your arms when I saw you were here," she breathed in reply.
Jack captured her lips again and the two of them headed to the bed, never breaking contact as they did.
The flipping move that Sam had used earlier was used again more than once in the space of the next hour, but for a completely different reason to sparring.