Chapter 18: The Clash

This is nice. Kneeling down on a bathroom floor, my ears in my fingers, while my 2IC pees into a toilet bowl beside me. My idea of fun.

Jack sighed to himself, shifting uncomfortably, before making a note to himself-before this trip was over, he promised himself that he would punch Simon once, just once, so he'd stop smiling that damned toothy grin for at least half an hour.

He was dreamily thinking about doing this when Sam's voice floated out to him through the fingers in his ears.

"Sir, you can unblock them now, I'm finished."

"You sure?"

"Sir, I think I'm pretty sure whether I'm done on the toilet or not."

"Fine." He unblocked his ears, rather gratefully, before she dragged him over to the sink and began to wash her hands. There was a silence for a short while as Sam inspected her reflection in the mirror, which Jack found quite amusing, before she spoke up.

"Now that wasn't so hard now, was it?" His amusement died away and he grunted.

"Oh, no, that was damned easy. Trying to block out the fact that my 2IC, no wait-my partner-was peeing beside me. Yeah, that was *very* easy." There was another, longer silence as Sam continued to stare into the mirror, but Jack suddenly got the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't inspecting her reflection anymore.

"You are an asshole," she suddenly spat out, turning to him. Jack flinched and his stomach suddenly dropped away from him when he saw tears building up in her eyes, and he licked his lips and swallowed.

"I… I don't…"

"Any other person wouldn't have made such a big deal out of this, you know. They would have been supportive and easy-going and wouldn't have cared. But you… you just had to keep it going didn't you? I'm supposed to be your partner!" She quickly wiped away a tear that had rolled down her cheek and closed her eyes.

"Sam, I'm sorry…" he began, attempting to put his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away from him and turned away.

"Don't talk to me," she hissed, her voice icy and cold. "Simon's right, there is a problem here. A huge one." She stared off into the distance, her back facing him, and Jack felt his gut wrench in every possible direction. He had absolutely no idea he had been making her feel like this… he was just being…

Himself.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… I just… I'm sorry. I didn't purposely want to make you feel bad. It's just…" She didn't answer, and Jack sighed, giving up.

This is even more fun, Jack old boy. Being chained to the woman you love when she isn't talking to you, and presumably hates you. You're going to have a fun six days, that's for sure!

~~~

Teal'c looked around, a small smile on his face.

"So this is a fair?" he asked, looking around interestedly, and Daniel glanced at him, nodding.

"Yep. This is a fair."

"Amusing."

"What do you want to do?" Daniel asked, eyeing a nearby mini roller coaster warily. He didn't like the looks of that loop.

Please don't say the roller coaster, please don't say the roller coaster…

"I would enjoy looking at those small animals located over there." Teal'c pointed to the farm animal display where a number of children were cuddling different kinds of animals, and Daniel shrugged to himself. He didn't have an allergy to animals… he didn't think. There was no harm in it. And it wasn't the roller coaster-that was the main thing.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Daniel nodded.

"Okay, let's go and have a look. Remember where we parked the car," he added, before they made their way over there.

"And perhaps afterwards we could ride on that… roller coaster." Daniel's eye twitched involuntarily as Teal'c eagerly pulled out a pig from a pen.

"Fine with me," Daniel said through gritted teeth.

~~~

"Sam… um, is it alright if we head into the main room instead?" Jack asked carefully. She didn't reply.

"Sam?"

"Do what you like," she replied tersely. "I suppose you will anyway."

"Sam, please don't be like this."

"So it's Sam now? Not Carter? Not 'Major'?"

"Now this is getting ridiculous," Jack said indignantly. "You are my 2IC, I have every right to call you that."

"Seemingly not when you want something."

"I don't want to fight with you. The only reason I've survived so long on this trip is because you've been here. Do you realize this?" She said nothing, and Jack continued on, choosing to take this as a good sign.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." There was a long pause as Jack waited nervously for her reply, biting his lip as he watched her. He blinked when her shoulders began to shake, and he tilted his head slightly as her hand that wasn't cuffed to him flew up to her face, covering it.

You made her cry, Jack! Congratulations!

He walked around to her other side so she was facing him, and before she could turn away he had pulled her hand away from her face and was holding onto her chin, looking into her tear-filled eyes.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked, her voice choked and broken.

"What is it about me? Do… do I disgust you? Did I do something wrong…?"

"No, no, no…" Jack shook his head, running his hand from her chin down to her shoulder.

"You don't do any of those things, and you never have…"

"Then why are we always fighting? Why?" Jack blew a loud raspberry.

"That's what makes us such great partners!"

"Us fighting all the time?" She looked doubtful.

"And we don't fight all the time… just a lot of the time."

"But why is that?" The desperate look on her face melted Jack's insides and the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was get rid of the rest of the world so it was just the two of them… so he could tell her everything would be okay… so he could sweep her into his arms and kiss her, comforting her, and then lead her towards…

"It's only because…"

"Why? Why? I've been thinking about what Simon said to us and what he says is right! I don't understand why…"

"Sam, listen to me. You think too much-just forget Simon! He's pathetic, don't think about him!"

"But he's right, that's the whole point of all of this!" She quickly rubbed the tears off of her face as Jack replied to this.

"Sam, we work fine together. How could we have saved the universe so many times if we didn't?"

"We could work better Sir, that's the point!"

"Oh, so that's the point…" Sam smiled, despite herself, and Jack perked up slightly.

"Sir, just… just promise me that you'll give this a go. I want us to work better as a team…"

And therefore get closer… right, Sam? That's what you're thinking, right?

Sam shook her head slightly, trying not to think those thoughts. Again.

"Sir, please, just promise me. It would be beneficial to the both of us."

Like he could say no to her when she was giving him that look… the fact that she had just been crying also sort of came into it too, he guessed…

"Sure. Anything for you, pardner," he said, doing that ridiculous accent again, and Sam accidentally snorted. Jack shook his head, sighing exasperatedly.

"What is so wrong with my Clint Eastwood accent?"

"Noth… I thought it was supposed to be John Wayne." There was a pause.

"Whatever. Let's go get a bite to eat. We can… work together… to find the way…" There was a pause.

"You only just had something to eat this morning," she pointed out. He shrugged.

"That was this morning."

"It's still this morning!"

"Okay, okay, we'll do what you want to do," Jack said testily. There was a pause.

"Actually, I feel like something to eat too," she stated blankly, and Jack shook his head as they were leaving the room.

"Women…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

~~~

A/N: I couldn't believe Sam cried over something like that either (sniggers).