Chapter 8: The Ship… Not Talking About The Cruise, Either!

~~~

Jack glanced at his remaining passenger, before turning around to stare at her.

"Samantha Carter, what the hell are you doing?" It looked as if she was trying to 'jump' the seat.

"I'm sitting in the front now," she answered breathlessly. "That suitcase keeps on bumping into me."

"Well, do you want me to stop the car or something?" he asked, looking at her nervously. She was in a precarious position, and he knew that if she fell over her head would probably crack open against the dashboard.

"No, I'm okay… plus we can't afford to lose any more time." She fell into the seat beside him with a soft thump and Jack let out the breath of air he didn't realize he was holding in. Sam adjusted the seat back to the way it was and looked out the side window. Jack licked his lips.

"Sam, promise me you'll never do that again," he said. She smiled at him.

"Why, are you afraid I might hurt myself?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, Sir, you know me better than that. I can take care of myself." Jack grunted in reply. There was a short silence, before Sam spoke again.

"Sir, why didn't you just put my suitcase in the boot?"

"You insist on calling me Sir, don't you?" he asked, changing lanes. "Well, once we're at my place, we're just going to take it back out again. And it took less time to just put it in the back." There was another silence as Sam fumbled with her glasses, and when Jack looked at her for a brief moment, the expression on her face was troubled.

"What's on your mind, Major?" he questioned, overtaking a car. Sam didn't answer. Jack looked at her again.

"Sam?" Sam looked up at him.

"Sir, I…" She stopped and hesitated, before continuing on.

"I know this might sound stupid, but… did you mean what you said before?"

"Huh? What did I say before?"

"That… that you liked Teal'c more than me."

"Yeah, I meant every word of it," he replied seriously. He saw her face fall and shook his head.

"You boob, of course I didn't mean it. I like you just as much as Teal'c or Daniel, you know that. Carter, I think you're still drunk."

"I'm sorry, Sir. I think you're right. I'll just be quiet now and muse to myself." As silence swept through the car, Jack gave Sam one final look to see that she was smiling. He smiled as well.

In actual fact, for reasons he would never admit, Sam was always secretly his favorite.

~~~

They arrived at Jack's place ten minutes later and they both entered. Jack immediately made his way over to the kitchen.

"Sit down, have a drink-make yourself at home," he called. "I'm just going to call a cab." Sam nodded and seeing he was now out of sight, stood up and began to walk around his living room.

She loved his house-underline that word loved a million times over. She had only been there on several short occasions, but every time she did visit, she felt like she was going home. It was very cozy and warm to her, and everything smelt like Jack.

As Jack's voice on the phone floated to her from the kitchen, Sam's eyes happened to fall on a row of pictures, and she looked over them all, studying them. The first one was of he hand his old wife, Sara, the second of his son Charlie-the third was also of his son Charlie. The fourth was of Jack and an older woman-Sam did not recognize her, but presumed this was Jack's mother. She gazed at it for a moment, before moving on.

It was the fifth one that shocked her. It was a photo of her and Jack, laughing at some unknown location. Looking up and down at the row of pictures, it seemed to her that this one had the prettiest frame and that for some reason the glass was cleaner than the others. She was about to pick it up when a voice interrupted her.

"A taxi will be here in 5 minutes." Sam jumped and spun around, startled, to see Jack staring at her from across the room. Sam pushed her hand through her hair and nodded breathlessly.

"Good." Jack continued to stare at her and began to walk over.

"Sam, you okay? Sorry if I scared you or anything…"

"No, uhm, it's okay," she reassured, and she thought back to the picture again.

"Uhm, Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"I, uh, hope you don't think I was snooping or anything, but… when… when did this picture get taken?" She held up the photo of them together and Jack took it out of her hands and looked at it, a ghost of a smile flittering on his face.

"The last time we went to that bar, after coming back home from the Stargate mission, and I had that camera, remember?" Sam took the picture back from him and gazed at it long and hard, before nodding slowly.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's right, and Daniel almost choked on that chip." The two grinned at each other, and Sam looked back at the picture.

"I don't even have a picture of you," she stated quietly, and she ran her hand down the glass almost sadly. She looked up at him and forced a smile.

"I feel sorta bad now."

"Why? Because you don't have a picture of me?" Jack blew a raspberry.

"Hey, before this I didn't have a picture of you either, so we're both on almost level ground."

"Well, I brought my camera this time," Sam said slowly, smiling almost evilly. "So…" They were both interrupted by a loud honking noise. Jack walked over to the window and looked out of it, then turned back to Sam.

"Taxi's here," he announced.

"Good. We should make it to the airport just in time," Sam said happily. "Then we can get on that plane and get some rest."

~~~

The driver threw the suitcases into the trunk and snapped it shut, before turning back to Jack and Sam.

"So, where to?"

"Uhm, the airport," Sam spoke up timidly, glancing at Jack. The man was large and burly, with a jagged appearance, and for some reason gave Sam the creeps. Jack seemed to sense Sam's unease and put a reassuring hand around her shoulders and onto her arm. She gave him a small smile before the driver shut the trunk with a loud bang and the two got in the backseat together. The taxi started up and drove off into the night, and Jack yawned drowsily.

"Why'd this thing have to be so early anyway?" he mumbled to himself.

Two minutes later into the trip and he was thanking his lucky stars it was at this time of the morning.

Sam, obviously exhausted, had fallen asleep against Jack's shoulder. Jack watched her drowsily as she snuggled in against him and buried her head into his body.

"Mmm," she mumbled. She licked her lips before clinging onto Jack's arm. He gazed at her for a moment, before stroking her hair softly, and closing his eyes and resting his own head against hers. He must've fallen asleep too, because the next thing he knew was that the taxi was rolling to a stop in front of the airport and they had lost three minutes. Jack rubbed his eyes, before looking down at the figure leaning against him.

"Sam," he whispered. He shook her gently.

"Sam, wake up." Sam's eyes fluttered open and she looked around.

"Hmm, what's going on?" she asked sleepily.

"We're at the airport."

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah." They got out of the taxi and took the luggage off the driver, paid him, and made their way towards the entrance of the airport.

"What time is it?" Sam asked as they stepped inside. Jack glanced at his watch before looking around.

"1:15… there." He pointed towards a counter which was just about to close-it was the ride they were supposed to hitch to San Francisco. They ran towards it and halted to a stop in front of a man there.

"Please stop," Sam pleaded, breathing heavily as the man proceeded to take the velvet rope away.

"Why, are you supposed to be on this flight?" he asked. They both nodded. The man sighed, before looking towards the clerk at the counter. She nodded, and the man turned back to them.

"Okay. You're just in time, though, we were just about to close this queue."

"Thanks a lot," Jack said for the both of them, and they quickly went up to the counter. The lady checked their tickets and quickly typed something up on the computer before taking their luggage, weighing their cases, and handing them their boarding passes.

"Here you go," she presented cheerily. "Have a good flight!" they walked away, both sighing withrelief.

"That was close," Sam said. "A few seconds later and we might not have been so lucky." Jack glanced back at the counter where the clerk was standing.

"I don't know how she can be so cheery at this time of the morning," he stated. "I'm about to collapse on my feet."

"You're supposed to be used to this," Sam commented. "I'm the one with the hangover. Talking about my hangover, when's your magical cure going to work?"

"Do you *have* to keep on mentioning that?" he asked as they stepped onto an escalator.

"I'm dying here!" she moaned. "Of course I'm going to keep on mentioning it! I can't not mention it! My head is killing me…" She gripped onto his arm and looked up at him dramatically, her eyes darkening.

"It hurts like the extreme reaches of hell." There was a pause as they stepped off of the escalator.

"Well, why not try just drinking some coffee at that café over there?"

"You put me through hell with that thing. It tasted like crap. I bet it was crap."

"And…?"

"I don't want this hangover to disappear and you taking the credit for it, when it was really the coffee…!"

"You complain too much," Jack said suddenly, before looking at his watch and stretching.

"Look, do you want some coffee or not?" Sam looked at the café and sighed, then shook her head.

"No, I'm not thirsty." Jack ran his hand through his fair hair, then fell down into a chair.

"Well, let's sit down then," he said, and Sam seated herself down beside him. She looked up at a monitor on the wall.

"It's not even boarding yet," she mumbled to herself. She turned to Jack.

"I hope we don't cause any delays or anything," she said, almost nervously. Jack looked at her.

"You worry too much."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"I don't want to argue, my head is killing me…"

"You've said that already."

~~~

They waited ten more minutes before an announcement went over the PA.

"First call for passengers on flight AN33 from Colorado Springs to San Francisco-now boarding at Gate D5. I repeat, first call for passengers…"

"Come on, that's us," Jack said gruffly, and Sam nodded and followed him towards the gateway lounge. When they arrived there, they found a very minimal number of passengers boarding the plane.

"Well, of course," Sam said, as Jack pointed this out. "No one's that crazy to board a domestic carrier at this time of the morning. I'd bet half of the passengers are only here because they're going to that partnership thing too."

"Tell me, Samantha, do you know whether this cruise is open to military personnel only or to cops as well?" Jack asked as they got in line. Sam shrugged.

"I have no idea, Jack." They presented their boarding passes to the man standing there, and when given the all clear, walked down a set of stairs and into the boarding corridor. Just ahead of them were a very sleepy looking pair, walking at a slow pace.

"Honestly, I don't know why they're setting this whole thing up so early," the first one grumbled-it was a female.

"Hey, remember that time when we staked-out all night? Now that was worse," the second one spoke. This one was male.

"What, you too?" Jack called out. They both turned around to him.

"San Francisco to Honolulu?" They shared a look, then turned back to him, nodding.

"What, are you?" the man asked, and both Jack and Sam nodded.

"5 days on the 'Lola Moon'," the man stated, and he rubbed his hands together.

"Can't wait." He looked at Sam for a moment, before turning back to Jack as the four continued on walking together.

"Hi, my name's Harry, Harry Pavlich." He outstretched his hand and Jack took it.

"It's nice to meet you," Jack said politely.

"This is my partner, Joanna Thred." Joanna waved at him. Jack gave her a terse smile.

"I'm Jack O'Neill and this is my partner Samantha Carter." They all shook hands, and Harry held onto Sam's hand a little longer than he did with Jack's.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," he uttered, and Sam nodded, her blue eyes wide.

"Er… the pleasure is mine…" She pulled away jerkily, and slowly moved closer to Jack.

"Um, if we don't get on that plane soon, they're gonna take off without us," Joanna spoke up, smiling although it didn't really reach her eyes. Harry turned away and went to Joanna's side.

"See you on the plane, Samantha," he said, and he placed his hand on Joanna's back and led her down the corridor and towards the entrance of the plane. Jack and Sam both stared out after them, before walking on themselves. Jack glanced at Sam, smirking.

"He seems nice," he commented. Sam grimaced.

"Hmm." Jack grinned slyly.

"He seems to like you." She didn't reply.

"Oh, so he has a little crush on you. Not the first time, if you remember."

"How could I forget, you remind me every other week." They presented their boarding passed to the flight crew at the entrance of the plane, who pointed them in the direction of their seats.

"You should be flattered, Carter," Jack said, as she followed her down the aisle.

"I should," she agreed. "But… I dunno. There's something about him… something I just don't trust."

"Women's instincts, Carter?"

"Combined with the instincts I've developed thanks to the Stargate program." She stretched out and shifted in her seat, before yawning, and Jack mesmerized by her at that moment that he forgot what was happening or what he was actually doing, and it was only until she spoke again did all sense return to him.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep, I can't stay awake much longer."

"Want me to wake you for meals?" he asked almost teasingly as her eyes drifted close. A smile proceeded to play on her lips.

"You do and I'll kill you."

"Sweet dreams, Carter."

~~~

"Would you like a drink, Sir? A snack maybe?"

"No thanks."

"What about your friend? Should I wake her?" Jack grinned at the stewardess.

"I do not advise you to do so." The attendant grinned back.

"Well, if you need anything, just call me back, okay?" Jack nodded and she walked off. Silence took over once again and Jack shivered slightly. It was a very unnatural silence-almost frightening.

Half an hour had passed and Jack was bored stiff. He had read the on-flight magazine twice through and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get to sleep-he was never able to get to sleep on a plane.

The movie wasn't even worth watching.

Instead he turned to Sam for the zillionth time that night. Whatever he did to try and preoccupy himself, he always ended up turning back to her.

He began to pull the hair out of her face, wanting to see her properly. Moonlight filtered through the airplane window and shone onto her pale face, illuminating her features and giving her face an almost bluish look. As Jack continued to watch Sam as she slept, he found that the longer he looked, the harder it was to turn away from her.

She suddenly shifted. Jack pulled away, thinking she was waking up, but when found she wasn't, immediately got closer to her again. He very gently took her cheek into his hand, caressing it tenderly, and was about to kiss her when he felt her shiver against him. He hesitated before pulling his hand away and quickly taking a blanket out if its packet and spreading it over her. She mumbled something and snuggled into it.

"Colonel," she uttered, and Jack stroked her hair softly.

"Shh, go to sleep," he replied. She smiled.

"Thanks."

"It's okay," he said quietly. "Now go back to sleep." Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"That concoction you gave me still isn't working yet, Sir…"

"Go back to sleep, Carter." Her smile widened as her eyes slowly closed again.

"Yes, Sir." As she drifted off again, Jack watched her for a while, before pulling his head close to her ear.

"I love you Sleeping Beauty," he whispered. Silence followed and Jack forced himself away from her.

But he didn't mind. He knew that he loved her, and at the moment he was happy just living with that.

~~~

"Could you buckle your seatbelt, Sir? We're going in for landing."

"Okay." CLICK. The attendant smiled and walked off just as Sam began to wake up.

"Top of the morning to you," Jack greeted. Sam ran her hand through her hair and stared around.

"What time is it, Sir?"

"A quarter past 3. You'd better strap yourself in, Major, we'll be landing soon." Sam buckled her seatbelt up and sniffed.

"How was the flight, Sir?" she asked, studying the patterns on the seat in front of her lazily.

"Incredibly boring and long. How was your nap?"

"Restless. Actually, I think I would describe it exactly like how I would describe your time awake." There was a silence as the plane descended and the two mused to themselves, before they touched down.

"Smooth landing," Sam stated as they got off the plane.

"Yeah, just like walking through the Stargate," Jack replied with a smile. They collected their suitcases and stepped out of the terminal to a gush of cold wind.

"So where to now, Colonel?" Sam asked, her teeth chattering due to the cold.

"The ship doesn't leave until 5:00. We have another half hour or so to get there and board in time." Jack shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe we should just head down to the wharf and make our minds up there." As Jack flagged down a taxi, Sam paused before turning to him.

"Sir, you did bring our tickets, didn't you? I mean, General Hammond gave you the tickets. You do have them? You brought them, right?" Jack paused himself, before nodding quickly.

"Yeah, I'm-I'm sure I've got them in my suitcase."

"You're sure? Sir, how sure?" Jack swallowed.

"I dunno, uhm… 80%?"

"Sir…" He suddenly grinned and pulled them out of his coat pocket, before waving them underneath her nose.

"Just jerking you, Carter." She poked her tongue out at him and snatched them out of his hand. He grinned.

"Pacifica Bay, the Blue Star Docks," Jack ordered, and the driver nodded curtly before driving off.

They arrived at the Docks in less than then minutes. Walking up and down the jetty, Jack spotted the ship they would be taking and pointed it out to Sam.

"The Lola Moon," he muttered, staring at it. Sam blinked and her eyes widened slightly.

"It's so big," she stated. She turned to Jack.

"I wonder how many people are going?"

"Well, if we're using this ship, probably a lot," he said. He looked at his watch. The minute hand had just ticked onto the four. Sighing, he looked back up at Sam.

"We still have fifteen minutes 'til we even board. What do you wanna do?" Sam clutched at her head and shrugged weakly.

"I dunno. As long as it consists of sitting down, Sir, then I don't care." Jack looked around, before pointing to a nearby café.

"How about there?" he asked.

"Sir, I honestly don't care. My head hurts…" Jack dragged her over to the entrance and went inside. Expecting it to be completely empty, he was taken by surprise-it was almost packed with people. Only one booth remained, and the pair quickly took it.

"So much light," Sam mumbled, and she slipped on her glassed. Jack looked around.

"I didn't think there'd be so many people here," he commented. "They're probably all going on that cruise." A waitress walked over to them.

"What'll it be?" she asked. Her voice sounded croaky and parched and black was piled in a terrible mess atop her head.

"Coffee," Sam answered immediately. "As strong as you can make it."

"Coffee, gotcha," the waitress sated. She turned to Jack.

"And you, Sir?"

"Just… just give me some coffee too, not as strong as hers though," Jack ordered, and the waitress nodded.

"Two normal coffees," she muttered to herself, writing something down on her pad, before leaving. Jack eyes lingered upon her for a moment, his eyes darkening slightly. He then turned back to Sam to see her staring into the distance.

"You okay, Sam?" he asked quietly.

"I think sleeping made my hangover even worse," she uttered. There was a silence, Jack unsure of what to say.

"Take off those glasses," he spoke finally. "I can't tell whether you're looking at me or not."

"So much light," she mumbled. There was another silence.

"Carter, tell me the truth," Jack said after awhile. "Are you really in pain?" The response was instantaneous.

"It's hard not to pass out, Sir," she answered. Jack leaned over and pulled off her glasses, before looking into her eyes.

"Much better," he commented. "Now people can see your beautiful eyes."

"Yeah, and I end up being in a hell of a lot of pain." She reached out for her glasses but he pulled them out of her reach.

"Sir, give those back," she said weakly.

"Say please," he teased. She leant her head against the table.

"I don't care," she mumbled. The waitress came back over and dumped their two coffees in front of them before walking off wordlessly.

"That was nice," Jack stated. Sam picked up her mug quickly and sipped some coffee down, before gagging.

"Ugh, too hot," she complained.

"Gee, Carter, you whine a lot when…"

"Sir, I'm granting myself permission to speak freely, and I advise you to shut your damn mouth."

"Hey, I give the orders around here," he said, but neither said anything afterwards. They both drank their coffee, sipping more and more as it cooled down, until both had none left. Jack glanced up at Sam, before looking back down at the table. Sam noticed but said nothing. He did it again, and Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" she asked. Jack shrugged and began to twirl an Equal packet between and through his fingers.

"Nothing." She turned away ad he began to stare at her, and she caught him again.

"What?" she asked, and he shrugged again.

"Nothing." She looked away and he did it one more time.

"What is it?" she shouted, and he gave her a cheeky smile, before shrugging.

"Nothing."

"Look, don't nothing me, mister! I'm too tired and too freaked to put up with this crap…"

"Whoa, whoa, I was just looking at you. Is that against the law?" There was a pause, and she pushed her hand through her hair roughly.

"You are ridiculously immature, do you know that?" she asked, and Jack grinned.

"You know you like it."

"Yeah, it feels like I'm baby-sitting a child!" There was a silence, before Jack looked at his watch for the umpteenth time that night.

"Look, do you wanna go take a walk down the wharf?" Sam's shoulders slumped noticeably and she nodded half-heartedly.

"Yeah, I guess." Jack called the waitress back and paid both the bill and the tip, then the duo went outside and slowly walked down the pier leading to the Lola Moon. Sam gave a huge shiver.

"View's great, but it was warmer in the café," she remarked. Jack glanced at her, before making out to take off his jumper.

"Here, do you want to wear my jacket?" he offerd. She looked at him and shook her head.

"Uhm, no, it's okay Sir, I'm not that cold anyway." Jack was just about to argue when Sam cut him off.

"Sir, I think the 'Lola Moon' is boarding," she said, and Jack looked at the ship to see that she was right. A smile formed on his face.

"Finally, let's get on that Goddamn thing." They quickly made their way over to the gangway and up towards the ship. When they got to the entrance to the boat, Sam showed their tickets to the man standing there, who nodded and let them continue on. Both Jack and Sam gasped when they got inside.

It was like stepping inside a 5-star luxury, 20-floor Grand Hotel. Lush plants furnished the foyer; corridors, counters and stores went off in every direction; and directly in front of them stood a pair of golden-lined elevators.

"Oh… my God…" Sam breathed out, thunderstruck.

"I could get used to this," Jack said. They walked over to the counter in awe and showed their tickets to a lady at the counter. She processed them.

"Okay, your room is 17A, located on B1-the first floor below deck-and you should see it just down the corridor as soon as you exit the elevator." There was a pause.

"We're sharing a room?" Jack asked. The lady looked at them both, from one to the other

"Sir, it's compulsory."

"But isn't there a law against partners of the opposite sex sleeping in the same room?" Sam asked. Jack smirked to himself-God knows they had broken that rule before.

"That rule is overruled for this trip, ma'am," the lady said brightly. "It was in the guidelines."

"Okay, then, thanks," Jack said for the both of them, and they left and made their way over to the elevators. They got off at the first floor below deck and followed the lady's instructions, and soon found themselves staring at the door of 17A.

"Well, here goes," Jack said, and he pulled out the room key the lady had given him and unlocked the door. They stepped inside, dragging their suitcases behind them.

"I can't believe it didn't cost us a cent," Jack said, his eyes traveling over the room, and Sam grinned.

"It's just like out of a movie." It certainly was. There were two single beds separated by a bedside table against the wall, a wooden wardrobe that was hand-finished and hand-crafted and looked as if it had been stolen straight out of the Gothic Ages and the lamps cast a beautiful light over the entire room. The two drifted towards the beds and collapsed onto them, and Jack switched off the light lazily. They both sighed in complete comfort and there was a silence before Jack spoke up.

"I feel like I haven't slept my whole life."

"Yeah try having a hangover."

"Goodnight Carter."

"Goodnight Sir."

~~~

A/N: The shippiest chapter so far : D hope it wasn't too corny! (tho I didn't mind!!!) School is up again tomorrow (exams, oh so many exams) so I'll be extremely busy and chapter posting might be a little slow. However, if you review, I'll be quicker in posting them up ^.^ -hint hint- (by the way, thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! I get a huge boost out of reviews, and I find them as a 'high' alternative to po… never minds).

I actually thought this was a rather boring chapter. It gets better though… :) well, me thinks so anyway… hope so… betting on it…