Chapter 26: Guns and Cowboys

"Everyone's staring at us," Jack mumbled, gazing down at his shoe.

"Ignore them."

"Hey, egghead!" a voice called out from across the room and the majority of the red team laughed, the sniggering echoing against the walls. Jack was about to retort with something nasty before Sam stopped him.

"Sir, remember what Simon said," she warned. "If we stuff up one more time we're out of here." Jack grumbled something, but fell silent.

"How's your hair?" another voice called out to Jack, and there was another round of laughter.

"Just peachy," Jack called back. They were all interrupted as the doors to the ballroom opened up and Simon waltzed in, grinning broadly.

"Hello, everyone, I'm trusting that you're day so far has been good?" There were nods and mumbled yeses across the room and Simon's grin widened, which Jack previously thought would simply be impossible.

"That's great. Are you all feeling energized and ready to face the day?" There were more nods and yeses, although this was far more scattered and nervous than before.

"Well, you better be, because for the next challenge you're going to need your wits about you, and you can't possibly have that if you're still half asleep." He laughed at this, before going on.

"I'm sure the cops among us will know that training before becoming a police, and even during, includes a lot of different activities to participate in. One of the things you have to learn is how to react in extreme circumstances. Say you're in a dark garage alone while there's a gang of murderers in there somewhere with guns and knives-you're going to have to know what to do! An activity that helps you be prepared for these kinds of things is a kind of… shooting game." There was a wave of murmurs throughout the room, and Jack raised his eyebrows at Sam, shrugging.

"I'm interested," he commented. "Shoot the living hell out of those bastards over there…"

"Sir," Sam replied in a warning tone of voice, and he sighed.

"Oh, come on, they deserve it anyway!"

"That might be the case, but you know what Simon said…"

"How can I forget, you keep on reminding me…!"

"I might not exactly be making myself clear as to what I mean when I say shooting game. Follow me, everyone," he called, before walking back out of the room through one of the side doors. There was a pause, before the group slowly followed him into a narrow passageway lined with benches and hooks that were covered in vests with guns attached. Some people whispered excitedly to each other, obviously knowing what they were, while Jack and Sam were at a blank.

"What the hell are those?" he asked, and Sam just shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm sure he'll explain." That Simon did.

"I see a lot of you are already familiar with these things. For those of you who aren't, I'll explain.

"These vests are electronic, and so are the guns that are attached to them." He waved around one of the guns to show everyone.

"What we will be doing today can only be described as a… virtual reality kind of game. You will be split up into groups of four people-you, your partner and another pair-and will have a group home base.

"Your objective is to shoot each and everyone of your opponent's other bases, and try to shoot as many of your opponents possible in the process. Every time you shoot a base you gain ten points, and every time you shoot an opponent you get one point. However, the reverse is also true. Every time you get hit, you lose a point. Every time your base gets hit, you lose five points.

"This is where the vests come in. You use these guns to shoot your opponent, while if your vest begins to shake, then you know you've been hit. If you are hit, you cannot shoot for a whole minute, and are pretty much useless in the game.

"To shoot a base and get points for it, you have to fire your gun at the roof twenty times. A beacon will start to flash after your fifteenth shot; while your vest will start flashing if someone is doing the same to your base. As you can see, your vest is a vital part of the game!

"So basically, that's it. Right? Got it? Okay… everybody split up into groups of four."

"Sounds like fun," Jack stated, rubbing his hands together, and Sam grinned.

"Of course you'd find it fun, the idea of shooting anything probably sends you into a spiral of thrill and joy."

"Yeah, especially when I'm going ass-hunting," he mumbled, before making an imaginary gun out of his thumb and index finger and pretending to shoot someone nearby. Sam looked around, realizing that everybody else seemed to have gotten into groups already.

"Sir… shouldn't we be teaming up with another pair?" she asked. Jack blew a raspberry.

"I'd rather shoot myself then team up with some of these bastards." It was then that they both heard a voice.

"Excuse me… could we join your group, please?" They both turned to see two lanky and-it had to be said-dorky looking individuals who looked as if they didn't know what guns were. Jack grumbled something that distinctively sounded like 'assholes' and Sam elbowed him in the stomach, before smiling sweetly at them.

"Of course you can." They both smiled appreciatively back at her, before Simon pranced over to them.

"Roger, Helen, Sam, Jack… are you a group?" The four paused, just looking at each other, before Jack shrugged and nodded.

"I guess."

"Good! That's great. You guys will have the purple base," he added, before handing them four vests and walking off. Jack strapped the vest on enthusiastically and began waving the gun around, pressing on the trigger numerous times. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Boys and their toys," she quipped, shaking her head as he began to shoot at an imaginary bad guy.

"Oh, I know you like it just as much as I do Sam," Jack responded. There was a pause, before she grinned, closing her eyes.

"Yeah. That's true."

"Okay, listen up people," Simon called. Everyone turned to him, and as Jack looked around, he could see that he wasn't the only one who had been 'experimenting' with his gun.

"We're going to go head next door now into the area we'll be using. You'll have thirty seconds to get to your base and get yourselves ready, before a loud siren will sound. When you hear that, the game will start. Everybody ready? Great. Let's go!" He opened the door up and the large crowd jostled into the area, which upon entering reminded Sam more of an underground club than anything else. It was dark with large, flashing lights in various places, and there were a lot dark objects and walls scattered around them. In the distance, she saw a purple dome, which she assumed was their base.

"That's our base, I suppose," Jack muttered to her, coming to the same conclusion that she did.

"Well, it's not that barrel over there." The pair headed over to the dome only to realize that the other half of their group was missing.

"Okay, where the hell is the rest of our group?" Jack asked, looking around.

"Maybe they got lost."

"Oh, yeah, and maybe they entered one of those parallel universes when they walked through that door!"

"What were their names? Rog… Roger! Roger! Er… Maria!"

"Wasn't it Clyde?"

"Clyde is a guy's name."

"I meant instead of Roger."

"Sorry, we got lost." Jack and Sam both turned around to see the duo lurking in one of the dark recesses near the base.

"I told you, Sir."

"Alright, look, we need to get a plan so we can…" The loud siren Simon had talked about suddenly interrupted Jack, and as soon as it sounded he felt his vest begin to vibrate.

"What the…?" he questioned, looking down, before looking back up to see Roger with his gun raised, a fearful look on his face.

"You shot me," Jack stated simply. Roger swallowed.

"Oh, sorry, it was an accident. The siren scared m…"

"You shot me! You shot me! You're on my team, for crying out loud! Carter, shoot him back!" Jack said, turning to Sam, who blinked a few times before shaking her head.

"No, I…"

"Aren't we supposed to be partners in crime? Shoot him back!" There was a pause as Sam continued to shake her head, before Jack grabbed her gun and shot Roger.

"What are you doing?" he asked incredulously. Sam suddenly felt her vest shake and looked up to see Helen also had her gun raised.

"M-my finger slipped, I swear!" she stuttered.

"When will this thing stop shaking?" Jack asked, hitting the plastic vest a few times, trying to make it stop. They were all interrupted by nearby footsteps and voices, which were steadily getting closer.

"Oh, great, we're about to be infiltrated and we can't even fight back properly, no thanks to you!" Jack said, pointing his finger in Roger's face. He swatted it away.

"Well, if you hadn't had shot me, we would've at least had two people to fight back!"

"Sweet, you're all out of action already!" The four turned to see a sandy-haired male standing there, grinning as he watched their packs shook.

"This is going to be easier than I thought," he said, before getting closer to the dome.

"Don't just stand there, shoot him!" Jack spat at Helen, who shook her head, looking as if she were about to cry.

"No, I can't shoot people, that's-that's awful…"

"You managed to shoot her!" he exclaimed, pointing at Sam.

"I… I…"

"Oh, for God's sake…" Sam muttered, before sticking out her foot as the guy walked past. He shouted something out before falling to the ground with a loud 'oof'. Jack looked up at her.

"Anything else you want to tell me about yourself? Perhaps a tattoo of a naughty word splashed across your ass?"

"More are coming," Roger announced, looking around the edge of a nearby wall. He nodded towards Jack's vest.

"It's stopped shaking, by the way, you might as well shoot that guy on the floor there."

Too busy thinking about Sam's ass to realize that, eh Jack old boy?

"Good thinking."

"We need to get a plan together if we're seriously thinking about winning this thing," Sam stated as Jack zapped the man who was still on the ground.

"You bitch, you tripped me!" he shouted up at Sam. There was a pause.

"No I didn't, you fell. I saw it," Jack said. He turned back to her.

"And what are you suggesting?"

"We split up into groups of two. Two of us stay here and defend the dome while the other two go attack the others. It seems like the only logical thing to do."

"Alright. Who's with who?" There was a zap as Roger shot the guy again, who quickly went off.

"I want to go with you," Jack said, watching Helen warily as she closed her eyes and began to mutter to herself.

"I don't trust myself with a gun and being near these people. The two things will interact."

"Sir, I understand that, but if you don't mind me saying so, I don't think they'd do a very good job if they were teamed up together," Sam murmured in an undertone. "I mean… look at them! I can tell just by looking at them that this is probably the first combat experience they've had."

"Ahh, gees, I think I've shot myself!" they heard Roger call out in the background.

"I see your point," Jack replied. "I'll go out there with Roger, you can stay here with Helen."

"Alright," Sam decreed, glancing at the girl and sighing. "Good luck."

"Come on, Roger, we're heading off," he called out, and Roger, who was doing something with his gun, blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"We're offense. Come on, let's go kick some butt, we've wasted enough time in this place." He winked at Sam and set off, Roger quickly following. Helen turned to Sam, swallowing.

"I've… I've never operated one of these before… that's why… that's why I didn't shoot that guy." Sam glanced at her, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Just pull the trigger. There's nothing to it… do what you did when you shot me." Helen looked down at her gun, before looking back up at Sam again and blasting a shot from her gun. There was a pause.

"I didn't mean do it again!" Sam cried out exasperatedly as her vest began to shake again.

~~~

Jack's military senses kicked in as soon as he stepped off of base. This was where he really shone, in the field in actual combat-this was what he did best.

"Orange is just over there, and I can see green and yellow just beyond that," Jack whispered to Roger. "We'll go for them first. You go ahead first, I'll cover you."

"Why don't you go ahead first, and I'll cover you."

"Because I don't trust you. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Pardon me?"

"I-I mean, yes Sir."

"That's better." He gave Roger a slight push, who swallowed and walked forward, his gun raised and in front of him. Every now and again they would shoot at moving objects around them, occasionally hitting members of other teams, before Roger arrived at orange base.

"I don't think anyone's here," he called out. When he heard no reply, he looked round back over his shoulder.

"Jack?"

"They're attacking from all sides! Just shoot at the damned base already!"

"Where… where do I shoot?"

"The roof, Goddamn you, the roof!"

"Oka… hey, don't…! Someone shot me."

"For crying out loud…" Somehow they both managed to get out there and Jack dragged Roger back to home base.

"What are you doing?" Roger asked, confused, as Jack pulled him along by the wrist.

"I'm switching with Carter. She's more… patient than I am when it comes to these sort of things." They rounded a corner only to see that about ten other opponents, who all seemed to be from different teams, surrounded Sam and Helen.

"Oh my God," Roger muttered.

"It's not as bad as it looks, they seem to be knocking each other out," Jack replied offhandedly, before turning to him.

"You stay here and shoot as many people as you can while I go get Carter."

"Do you do anything?!" Jack heard Sam shout as he neared her, and he was amused to see that Helen was on the verge of tears.

"Sam! Swap with me, I can't deal with this guy," he shouted over the noise of all the guns going off, and Sam nodded immediately.

"Glad to!" They switched and Sam and Roger quickly shot a few more people before running off.

~~~

"You better have me covered, Roger," Sam called out, looking around and treading carefully.

"Don't worry, I do."

"Why don't I believe you when you say that? Up there," she added quietly, pointing upstairs where behind a wall a head was just visible.

"Who is it?" he asked as they slipped behind a wall and crawled towards the ramp as quietly as possible. She glanced at him.

"Who cares? It isn't Colonel O'Neill or that Helen, so therefore it is blastable." She turned around, staring upstairs, before turning back around to him again and pushing his gun down.

"And don't point that thing at me," she muttered, before looking back up the incline again.

"Okay, I'm going to go up first," she whispered. "You stay here until I call for you. Someone will have to make themselves visible if they're going to shoot me, so if you see any one at all, shoot them."

"Yep." Sam left and made her way up the slope, trying to hide in the shadows as much as possible, almost on her hands and knees. There were at least five bases up here, and she knew that if they could get to them and shoot them they would be far ahead in this game-and that would make the Colonel very happy.

And when the Colonel was happy she was happy.

She made it to the upper level and as soon as her foot touched the ground there were blasts from every direction.

"Goddamn it, Roger, are you doing anything?" she shouted as she tried to shoot three people at the same time, which didn't exactly work.

"Roger? Roger!" She turned around abruptly as she sensed someone move behind her and shot at them, only to realize that it was Roger.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled.

"That's oka…"

"I'm going to go blast the gray dome. You… stay there. If anyone comes… the gun can still be used as a weapon."

~~~

"Eat ray! Gah!" Jack zapped two more people before seeing someone trying to sneak over to the dome out of the corner of his eye.

"Helen, over there!" he shouted, pointing, before turning back and trying to deal with the other three people shooting at him. He heard Helen whimper, but didn't hear any blasts apart from the ones his and his opponents' guns were making.

"Helen?" he shouted.

"I don't… I…"

"Oh, for crying out loud…" He turned as his vest began flashing and he dived as another round of blasts fired around him, before he stood up, facing the person attacking his dome. His mouth dropped open when he saw who it was.

"You!" Jack yelled angrily. It was the guy who had put the egg in his hair.

"Oh, not you again…"

"Goddamn you!" Jack shouted, before raising his gun. Before he could shoot, however, his vest began to shake, and he turned around to see Helen with her eyes shut, pulling the trigger on her gun over and over and shooting things at random.

"Adios amigo," the man said with a grin, and with that he ran off.

"Gahhh…!"

"Sir?" Helen stopped shooting and Jack blinked.

"Carter?"

"Yes, Sir." They both looked around.

"Where are you?"

"Up here." The pair looked up to see Sam and Roger staring down at them, both waving.

"Aren't you supposed to be blasting other people's bases?"

"We've done all the ones up here," Roger replied.

"Then shouldn't you be doing the ones down stairs?"

"Actually, I was wondering if we could talk," Sam said as the two disappeared from sight. A moment later, they walked around a wall and reappeared again.

"There's a ramp around there," Roger explained, and Jack blinked before nodding.

"Very good, Clyde."

"Roger."

"Whatever. So, what exactly did you want to talk to me about, Major?" Jack asked quietly as he and Sam walked into the shadows. Sam glanced at Roger and Helen before looking up at her CO again.

"Actually, I… I want to team up with you now." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"What, you're dumping Roger?" She smirked.

"No, I just think that he and Helen would work better together. I saw what happened down here just a moment ago," she added before Jack could speak.

"She just couldn't shoot that guy. Maybe with her partner she'll feel more comfortable and be able to."

"I don't know, Carter. I don't really trust those two."

"Roger is actually very good with a gun, he just needed to feel more at ease to show it. And plus we would make up for whatever they lack, because we make a great team," she added, giving him a brilliant smile, and he sighed. Like he could say no to her, and like he didn't want to anyway.

"Okay. Roger, Helen, you two stay here. Me and Sam are heading off. You'd better guard base properly," he added, before the couple left. There was a pause before Roger turned to his partner.

"You know, I get the distinct feeling that they don't like us." Helen raised her eyebrows, tilting her head.

"What makes you think that?"

~~~

"You know, I was that close to shooting her, I swear." Sam grinned through the darkness at him.

"Now you know how I feel when I was with her."

"I don't want to be mean or anything, but I didn't think it was possible to be that incompetent."

"They're probably administrative assistants or something, or lab technicians. She told me it was her first combat experience."

"I wonder why they're here," Jack wondered aloud. Sam glanced up at him.

"Why are we here, Sir?" He looked down at her, narrowing his eyes, before turning away and shrugging.

"I blame it on an intricate Government conspiracy…"

"Sir, we're already a part of an intricate Government conspiracy anyway, why would there be a conspiracy against a conspiracy?" There was a pause.

"I wonder why they're here." Sam smiled.

"Yes, Sir." There was a comfortable silence before they both heard a series of faint zaps.

"I think we're nearing a base… cover me, Carter," Jack whispered. Sam nodded silently and Jack walked on, Sam following at a distance. They both rounded a corner to see about ten to fifteen other people all shooting at each other, the nearby dome almost completely forgotten. Among them was the guy that had squished the egg into Jack's hair and who had blasted their own dome earlier.

"That asshole… it's like he's following me or something," Jack whispered.

"I suppose your goal today is to shoot him, Sir, again and again and again and again…?"

"And again and again and again and again. Oh, yeah." Two people suddenly began shooting their way and Sam and Jack both dived in different directions, before getting up and running, shooting as many people as they could along the way as they tried to get to the maroon base.

"Carter, you get those three, I'll deal with the ones over here!" Jack shouted to Sam over the noise of everyone else's yells and gunshots.

"Sir, behind you!" Jack turned around, shooting haphazardly at anything that could possibly be behind him, managing to hit two people before he lunged behind the circular object rising up from the ground and looking up from behind it. He could just make out Sam in a shadowy corner directly opposite from him, trying to shoot as many people as she could without drawing too much attention to herself. His view of her was interrupted, however, when a person dashed out in front of her, obviously trying to run away from someone. He tripped, and it was then that Jack realized it was 'that guy'. Grinning maliciously, he got out from his hiding space and leant over him, his gun just poking the back of the guy's vest.

"So we meet again. I should be merciful, but… nah," Jack muttered, still grinning, before pulling the trigger on his gun. And then doing it again and again and again and again…

~~~

"And the winners today were the purple team, with Roger Newton, Helen Spazkovich, Jonathon O'Neill and Samantha Carter!" Simon announced, that huge grin on his face, before handing over a ridiculously large trophy up to the podium where the four were all standing. Jack looked down at the cup before raising it triumphantly into the air, and the room erupted into applause and cheering for the team. Jack handed the trophy over to Sam who instantly passed it onto Roger, her eyes never once leaving Jack's.

"Sir, I love you," she announced, before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately.

"Sir…"

"Sir?" Jack blinked and looked up to see Sam gazing down at him expectantly, both eyebrows raised. In the distance Jack just faintly managed to hear Simon announce the green team as the winners of the game and sighed deeply.

And the kiss felt so real this time, too.

"Sir, I know you're feeling dejected about not winning," she said, sitting down beside him on the bench and putting a comforting hand on his forearm.

"But we came third, and considering who else we had on our team I think we did a pretty good job." Jack looked up into his partner's face and smiled.

"And plus you did get back at that guy," she added, a grin growing on her face, and they both turned around to see him and his partner sitting on another bench not too far away, both looking sour and surly.

"I mean, at least we didn't come dead last," Sam pointed out, and Jack laughed slightly.

"And we also get a fancy ribbon." She pinned the green ribbon to his shirt and he looked down at it as there was a round of applause in the background.

"Roger and Helen are ecstatic about it. Third is a huge step up for them from tenth, or so Roger said."

"Tenth? What…"

"I think he was talking about the running races he participated in at school." Jack laughed again, only harder.

"Well, if you look at it like that…"

"Okay, everybody, listen up," Simon called out over the dying ovation. "Before you leave for dinner I just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is the last day of the cruise trip and most of the day will probably just be dedicated to preparations for tomorrow night's ball. I hope you all know whom you're going as, because there is only one day to prepare for it all. Okay, I think that's all, you can go now…"

"Ball?" Jack and Sam questioned simultaneously, looking at each other with mixed expressions of confusion and anxiety.

"Simon, Simon wait," Sam called out, standing up and rushing over to the man with Jack quickly following.

"Third; I'm very impressed and proud of the both of you," Simon said, beaming. "See, I knew you could do work well together if you just tried."

"Uh, yeah," Sam agreed offhandedly. "But that's not what we wanted to talk to you about."

"Well, what's this about, then?"

"Ball. Explain."

"Oh, gee, that's right, you weren't here when I announced it, were you?" Simon questioned, and they both slowly shook his head.

"Well, tomorrow night starting at 7:30 pm after dinner there'll be a huge fancy-dress dance party involving everyone on board this ship."

"Fancy-dress, what the hell?" Jack asked, horrified.

"Dance… party?" Sam gasped out, just as aghast at the news as Jack.

"You have to come to the party dressed as a famous couple, duo or partnership throughout time… for example, I heard a pair say they would come dressed as Mulder and Scully from the show the X Files."

"So we have to come dressed as a famous couple?" Jack repeated slowly, and Simon nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep! Now as you may have noticed there are a few 'shops' in the lobby that cater for this very thing, so you can go down there, pick what kind of clothes you'll need and wear them! It's that simple! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get going. Good luck, and I'll see you at the dance!" he added with a wink, before leaving.

"Wow, a fancy-dress dance party," Jack said, turning around to Sam before shaking his hips and doing a kind of jig. He noticed the color drain out of Sam's face as she watched him, and he furrowed his eyebrows together before taking hold of her hand.

"Sam? Something wrong?" There was a pause prior to her shaking her head and looking up at him, smiling.

"No, everything's fine. Dance party. Great." Jack grinned.

"Shouldn't be that bad. Plus tomorrow will be the final day of the cruise and the end to all of this torture, so it'll be extra sweet."

"Right. You're right."

"So, I say that we go get something to eat before we go back to our cabin and maybe discuss who we're going to be for tomorrow's party," Jack said as he led her out of the room and towards the dining hall.

"Who were you thinking of, Sir?"

"Well, since Mulder and Scully are seemingly taken, I was actually thinking…"

"Yes, Sir?" she pressed on as they walked down a long corridor.

"Jack and Rose from the movie Titanic." Sam stopped and snorted, before laughing out loud. She stopped when he saw her glaring at her and blinked.

"Oh, you're serious."

"And why wouldn't I be?"

"It's Jack and Rose, Sir… he dies and she becomes old… before dying. And Sir, no offense, but you couldn't exactly pass for Leonardo DiCaprio."

No, you're much better.

"I thought it would be good. I mean, my first name is Jack. His first name is Jack."

"I know, Sir, but…" She sniggered and Jack quickly held up his hands.

"Alright, alright, I understand. The whole Titanic thing sucks. Okay, well, who did you have in mind?" Sam shrugged slightly, suddenly starting to fidget as they entered the dining hall.

"As a matter of fact, I was thinking more along the lines of Sleeping Beauty and her… her counterpart." It was Jack's turn to snort.

"Oh, Sleeping Beauty. Flattering yourself there a little, aren't you Carter?"

Oh, but isn't she?!

"Alright, fine," Sam grumbled, already seeing that Jack would never go for the idea, and if he was seriously considering it now he would completely back out the minute he saw the kind of 'medieval' costume he'd be wearing.

"Well, then, who are we going to go as Sir?" Sam asked as they walked over to the buffet table and began to take various food items. Jack pushed about seven different kinds of food into his mouth before turning to her and shrugging.

"That don't matter, Carter," he said, a piece of lettuce jutting and hanging over his lip.

"We'll figure out by tomorrow. And if we don't, we can always still go as Jack and Rose."

"It might be a jinx," Sam commented as they took their trays full of food and sat down at a nearby table.

"Jinx?"

"The ship might end up hitting an iceberg and sinking." Jack smirked.

"If only we should be so lucky."

~~~

Jack stretched as he closed the door to the bathroom and ran his hand through his wet hair, damp due to the shower he had just had, before flopping into bed beside Sam. They hadn't been bothered to pull the beds apart because Sam theorized that there would be more room for the both of them if they left the beds together. Jack didn't quite understand how this could be so but agreed to anyway, if only to save himself from listening to her blather on about calculations and whatever.

He turned to his partner now to see that she was reading a book, and before she could react in anyway he pinched it off of her and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You're reading on this fabulous cruise ship? Sheesh, Carter," he said.

"Sir, give me my book back," she replied, reaching out for her book only to have him pull it away at the very last moment.

"Na-ah… what are you reading anyway?" He looked at the cover, a large grin cracking his face.

"Mills and Boon, 'Medical Romance'… Captive Heart," he read aloud, the grin growing, and Sam rolled her eyes before reaching out for it again. He pulled away.

"No, no, no, I'm not finished yet," Jack said, before flipping the book over and reading the blurb.

"Hmm, Jed Daniels and Gabrielle, eh?" he stated, turning back to her with waggling eyebrows, and Sam finally managed to grab it back off of him, before putting it away, all the while blushing profusely.

"I had nothing better to do," she mumbled, trying to make her cheeks stop reddening.

"Y-you were in the shower, and it's… it's not like I was just going to sit around doing nothing."

"So you decided to read an illustrious romance novel," Jack uttered in a husky voice, and Sam rolled her eyes again.

"Hey, Sam, tell me something-does it have any… you know, scenes in there? I mean, is there anything dirty in there?" Sam turned away, choosing to ignore him, and Jack suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

"Oh, Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. It's good that you read… books, and it is healthy to fantasize…" Sam grabbed hold of her pillow and batted him with it, and he started laughing.

"Hey, stop it, I was trying to make amends…!"

"Idiot," she whispered, poking her tongue out at him, before rolling back over again.

"But to answer your question, yes there are 'scenes' in there, as you put it…"

"Really?"

"Yes, and if you're a good boy I'll lend the book to you when we get back home," she added, and she drifted into sleep as Jack whooped into the air.

~~~

A/N: It's so long! Hope you liked this one :) Oh, yeah-and RDAMAD ;) (love the new name) enwrapped is a word… or it is to my computer's spell check, anyway (blastable sure ain't though :P)