Chapter 11: Cruisin'
It was 6:30 pm when the dynamic duo returned to their cabin after dinner.
"I'm gonna go grab a shower," Jack announced lazily, stretching his arms out slightly. He patted his stomach and muffled a burp. Sam fought to keep her face straight.
"Perhaps you shouldn't have eaten so much, Sir," she commented in a teasing tone of voice, and he lifted an eyebrow at her which reminded her only too well of Teal'c.
"Well perhaps you should mind your own business, Carter," he replied, poking at her nose playfully, and she laughed slightly, before pushing him away from her.
"Sir, leave my nose alone," she said, playfulness draped in every syllable she uttered, and Jack suddenly had an urge to tickle her-just to see what her reaction would be.
But, instead, he decided to take a shower-he could always tickle her after…
"You'd better watch out, Carter," he said sort of warningly, his voice low and husky.
"After my shower, I'm coming to get you…"
"Yeah, right, shoot me with the gun you didn't bring!" she said under her breath. She turned to see that he had already left to go into the bathroom and, heaving a sigh, she decided that after him she would take a shower herself, and she pulled up her suitcase and opened it up, looking for clothes to change into. Jack came out of the bathroom again unexpectedly and Sam swore out loud, before the suitcase snapped shut against her fingers. She swore again and pulled back quickly, before feverishly sucking on her middle finger.
"Oh, jees, I'm sorry, Sam," Jack said quietly, quickly walking over. She shook her head quickly, stepping away from him.
"No, no, I'm okay, you just took me by surprise is all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Jack paused for a moment, looking at her worriedly, before going on.
"Uh, I saw a pool on deck before when we were all meeting for the first time, and I was just wondering whether you wanted to go for a swim or not." Only one thing reacted in Sam's brain at that moment-Colonel O'Neill in board shorts or Speedos.
Like she could miss that opportunity.
"Well, er… yeah, sure, if you want to."
"You want to?" Jack asked, his tone suddenly a *lot* more cheerful, and Sam nodded, a huge smile on her face.
"Yeah, I would love to." Jack grinned too.
"That's great. Do you want to go now…?"
"Uh, sure, but could I possibly get changed…?" Jack nodded quickly, and for the first time that he could remember he felt himself blushing slightly.
Major Samantha Carter-changing clothes. A million of his fantasies involved those very same thoughts, although he would never tell her that.
"Okay… I'll be in the bathroom. Call out to me when you're ready." Sam nodded.
"Okay." He left again, and Sam turned back to her suitcase, praying to dear God that she brought something resembling a swimming costume. She rummaged around, finding things that she never would have packed had she had done this herself; weird and wacky shirts, some with holes in them; hair bands and hair lackeys that held no use or interest for her; a blue USAF cap with the stitching becoming undone, and that she never wore anyway; something black she didn't particularly want to go near…
She eventually found something.
"Oh my God," she whispered, pulling it out from underneath the rubble and staring at it, gob smacked.
"What the hell…?" she uttered. "How…?"
~~~
Teal'c knelt down and pulled out a pile of clothes from the bottom of Sam's closet when a flash of light blue caught his eye. Putting the pile of clothes down and looking around to see that Jack and Sam were fighting over something, and that they weren't paying any attention to him, he pulled it out and blinked rapidly as he realized what it was.
A two-piece bikini.
And this wasn't any ordinary bikini either. Teal'c remembered seeing something similar on that show Baywatch or whatever it was called when he was experimenting with the TV set on base. This was the kind of thing that young teenage girls would wear on the beach with their boyfriends, or if they were trying to attract one.
What was Sam Carter doing with one?
Teal'c turned back to Jack and Sam again. He saw the way they looked at each other-didn't everybody notice it? He knew their unspoken feelings for each other, and the attraction was so strong that he could almost hear the buzzing whenever they were near each other.
What was so wrong with giving fate a helping hand? If Doctor Fraiser were in this situation, she would do the same thing… so would Daniel, right? There was nothing wrong in helping…
Teal'c managed to slip the bikini underneath the pile of all the clothes and said nothing about it, but smiled serenely to himself.
"What are you so happy about?" Jack asked sulkily as he looked around, before planting some rather old and-it had to be said-disgusting shirts into her suitcase.
"Ha, there's a nice piece of karma for you… enjoy your shirts…" he mumbled to himself as he stacked them in a corner, an evil glint appearing in his eyes.
"You will be happy soon too, Colonel O'Neill-I reassure it," Teal'c said all-knowingly.
~~~
Sam blinked a few times, before trying to hide the bikini and looking through her suitcase again. She had to have something else… something… anything at all…
Nope. Looks like it had to be the bikini.
She sighed as she held it up. She was starting to remember where she got it-a certain Doctor named Janet Fraiser. It was a birthday gift, and Janet insisted it would help make 'a certain man' fall for her. Sam knew who she was referring to-and she had thrown the bikini into the back of her closet and forgot all about it. But how did it end up in her suitcase?
Like Jack or Teal'c would ever plant it in there… would they?
"Carter, are you done in there yet?" Jack O'Neill's annoyed voice rang out through the large room and Sam blinked a couple of times.
"No, sorry, I'll be ready in a second, just wait," she called back.
"It's gonna get too cold soon," Jack whined.
"Alright, alright," she muttered under her breath, before gazing at the swimming costume sadly.
"Here goes nothing," she uttered, before pulling off her clothes.
~~~
"So, what you wearing underneath that jumper and skirt, Carter?" Sam was silent for a moment, trying to figure out the right words to use, before just answering simply with
"You'll find out."
"I'll show you what I'm wearing," Jack whispered seductively. Sam snorted.
"You're showing everyone what you're wearing." And she was so glad of it, too. His muscular, golden chest glittered in the setting sun and his shorts, although quite baggy, still managed to show a little…
Sam shook her head, trying to clear it. Thinking like that was evil.
"Pool!" Jack shouted, and he ran over to the swimming pool and jumped in, a huge splash of water falling over Sam.
"Come on in!" he shouted, beckoning to her, and he went underneath the surface of the water, before resurfacing again.
"The water's magnificent! You gotta get in here!" Sam sighed, a smile lighting up her features.
"Okay. I'll be in there in a second." She swallowed, feeling butterflies suddenly enter her stomach, before she pulled off her skirt and thick black jumper. The Colonel, who was watching, blinked as he watched her reveal the bottom part of her swimming suit, and when he saw what was underneath the jumper, his jaw fell open.
"There is a God…" he whispered to himself. She swallowed nervously as she noted the awed expression on his face and he noticed this, and quickly shut his mouth and blinked again, mentally slapping himself.
"You look… really nice, Samantha…" He mentally slapped himself again.
Idiot! You called her by her full first name. Now she's really going to think something's wrong.
But it was just so true-in fact, it could only be described as an understatement-as far as he was concerned, she looked like a damned Goddess.
"Thank you, Sir," she said softly, slipping into the pool beside him. Jack stared at her for a few moments, before he withdrew a deep breath and tried to regain some sort of composure.
"It's true, Carter."
"You don't look too bad yourself," she replied, poking him in the stomach playfully, and in return he splashed her with a large amount of water. She laughed gleefully and followed suit, and suddenly they found themselves in a huge water battle, their shouts and squeals ringing into the night air.
"You get here NOW…" Jack said, a slight rasp-like quality to his voice, and he grabbed her around the shoulders and dragged her down into the water. She shrieked into the night air, laughing uncontrollably, and spun around to him. But whatever she was going to do didn't end up happening, and instead she ended up falling against him, unable to stop laughing. His arms slowly enclosed themselves around her back as he laughed with her, although he did wonder immediately whether this was the right move or not.
Apparently it was. She put her arms around him in return and they just sort of held each other for a moment, neither saying nor doing anything, until Sam gradually pulled away.
"This was so much fun…" she said, her voice trailing off, and Jack nodded.
"I agree. I… I loved it." Sam distanced herself away from him even further and looked around.
"I'm surprised there aren't more people here. It's like… this boat is deserted or something." Jack felt his stomach drop a few notches as he realized what she was doing.
She was distancing herself away from him again.
This usually happened, and he was always so used to it-it was like a ritual with them. Get close… get even closer… then they would push each other away again and the cycle would start again.
He sighed inwardly as he watched her turn around to her, and he mindlessly realized that she had put the distance from him and herself even further away from him.
"Sir, I'm actually starting to get a little hungry again," she said with a small smile.
"Is it alright if we maybe go and get something to eat?" There was a silence for a moment, before Jack smiled and nodded at her.
"Sure," he uttered softly, and they both got out of the pool. As they made their way back towards their room, Jack decided to try something that could have the ability to destroy their friendship and closeness-or do the exact opposite.
He comfortably slipped his arm around her waist and under her jumper slightly, so his hand was resting against her jumper but his fingers were lightly brushing her stomach.
Sam glanced at him for a brief moment, before doing the exact same thing, her hand resting against the side of his stomach, the tip of her index finger tracing circles against him.
Jack smiled to himself.
"You know, Carter, I had more fun than I realized…"
~~~
A/N: I could just imagine Teal'c switching onto something like Baywatch and then looking slightly bewildered at by what he saw…
The idea amused me to no end.