*

*

*

"Ugh. God, this is like living with my father and brother again," she said, running the water around the sink, trying to get rid of the shaving foam blobs. She was tired, she was aching and she was grumpy. She was not in the mood to play housekeeper to a man who should already be housetrained.

"Sorry, Sam," Daniel called, not really sounding apologetic at all.

Muttering to herself, Sam brushed her teeth, studying her reflection in the mirror. She was looking kind of pasty, which always came from working too late at night and not sleeping it off. That had been thanks to Daniel, who had, very inconsiderately, woken her up at some godforsaken hour in the morning because he'd forgotten to take a set of keys with him when he went to get breakfast.

Then he'd poured coffee down her pyjamas.

And to top it all off, she was *really* missing Colonel O'Neill, which seemed stupid. He'd only been gone a day.

Twenty-five hours, to be exact.

She flicked water off her fingers and came out into the apartment. The plus side had been she'd spent a relatively comfortable, albeit brief, night on the bed. Daniel had no problems sleeping on the sofa, even though he was taller than her; he just hooked his legs over the end and slept like the dead.

Daniel had spent the majority of the previous day with his nose pressed to a computer screen. The pile of paper he was printing out on the portable printer he'd brought with him was increasing at an alarming rate. Sooner or later, Sam realised, she was going to have to read some of the stuff he was producing. She'd been putting it off successfully so far - taking herself off for long runs yesterday morning and in the afternoon before work - but she knew she would have to sit down with him and go through everything thoroughly.

"So how did it go last night?" he asked, not looking away from the glow of the screen as his fingers tapped away.

"Fine. I'm getting better at it."

"Any chance of a promotion?"

Sam smirked and perched on the edge of the bed. In her mind, none whatsoever. The other women were much better waitresses than she was. "I don't know. I've been watching everyone and copying what they do. There are a few tricks to making yourself as invisible as possible..."

"Sorry? Invisible?" He blinked at her like a mole emerging from the darkness.

"The best waitresses are invisible, I'm told." She shrugged. "Particularly at this type of restaurant. They don't want to know you're there."

Back to the typing he went. "Must be difficult. I waited tables once, earning some money for college."

"Yeah?"

"I got fired on the first day."

She laughed. "What did you do?"

"Spilled coffee down...." Daniel looked up at her, noted she was now wearing a T-shirt and jeans. "Well, you experienced that."

Sam grinned at him forgivingly. "I certainly did."

"Do you overhear what people talk about?"

"Sometimes. Actually, it's kind of funny," she said, warming to her topic. "Some people stop dead when you approach the table, no matter how obsequiously you do it. But then there are some who just carry on as if you're not there."

"Because you're so successful at being invisible?"

"No, more like they just don't care. Like you're nothing." For Sam, this was a pretty illuminating experience. After all, as the top Stargate scientist, she was given a great deal of authority within the SGC. She was never treated as nothing.

"Sounds like extreme arrogance if you ask me."

"I guess. The majority of them are rich which might account for some of it. Good suits, Rolex watches, manicured fingernails. The women wear diamonds and expensive dresses and have really, really good hair."

He laughed at that. "You sound envious."

Sam reached up to touch her own cropped hair. There were times when she wished for the length she'd had when she was younger, before she joined the Air Force, but it had required horrendous upkeep. "They're all very shiny."

"Shiny. Gee, Sam, that's a nice description," he mocked gently. His hand went to the printer as the small grey machine started whirring. "You haven't asked me what I've found out."

"No. I was wondering if we should wait for the Colonel." After all, SG-1 shared information as a group and she knew the Colonel would want to be there if they found out anything important.

"Have you heard from him?"

For what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, Sam went to pick her cell up from the bedside table to check the screen. "No, I haven't."

"He must be stuck in the mountain."

"Did you get off easily enough?"

"Easy being a relative term. I had to sign a couple of trees worth of paper to get off today." Daniel shook his head wearily. "God knows what rituals Jack will have to perform to get away. For all I know, he might have to sacrifice something. Here, have a look at this."

He held out a trio of printouts to Sam and she looked down at them, frowning. "What's this?"

"It's a celebrity forum. People post 'sightings' of famous people. This one is located in Denver."

Sam grinned. "Genius, Daniel." She would *never* have thought of that.

"As you can see, your, er, friend comes up a couple of times, so they can't all be hoaxes."

Sam skimmed her eyes down a couple of pages, noting that Daniel Frakes' name came up several times. Spotted in a night club where he was almost mobbed - lovely - and also seen eating in Nicois, some restaurant in downtown Denver. "That's last night."

"So he did get out of Luxor alive. That's encouraging."

"Thank God," she murmured.

Daniel held out his hand for the sheets. "Another thing I noticed while I was wading through this... this... orgy of celebrity titbits..."

"Orgy, Daniel?" she teased.

"I'm not kidding. Some of this stuff is almost scary. There's a post back here," he scrolled backwards with his mouse, mouth quirked, "where chocolate sauce is mentioned and applied to..."

"Okay! I get the picture."

He chuckled. "So I've printed off a number of pages, ranging from when you arrived to the present day, and I've also book-marked the site. With our highlighter pens at the ready we can probably pinpoint just who is visiting the Goa'uld's restaurant."

"Excellent."

"In addition to that, I've been looking up local newspaper articles. In some of the gossip columns there are also sightings of celebrities and I'd use them first since they are probably more reliable."

"Do you have printouts?" She jumped off the bed and came to look at the daunting pile of paper he was intending to sift through.

"Yeah, right at the bottom."

She crouched down and started sorting through, shaking her head at some of the things Daniel was coming up with. She paused over several sheets of what looked like information on the Goddess Mut. "You know we have the file you did for the SGC, don't you?"

"Yes, but that's... well, let's just say I did that relatively early on during my time at the SGC and I wasn't exactly sure what people would be looking for." He smiled to himself slightly. "I'll update it for our purposes. Don't suppose you can get a picture of her, can you?"

Sam made a face. "I can't exactly do that without being obvious, Daniel."

"Let's ask Jack. I'm sure he has some 'friends' who can help us out. Tiny cameras or something."

"Some guy came round and swept the apartment for bugs the other night so you're probably right," she said dryly.

Just then, her phone started ringing. She flew over to her cell and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, sorry. I'll be there in about three hours."

"Tough time getting away?" She listened intently for background noise. It sounded as though he was near moving traffic.

"Surprisingly, no. Hammond knows."

"What?"

"I mean, he's pretending like he doesn't, but he does."

She smirked. "I guess both you and Daniel disappearing is a pretty big hint."

"Yeah. Teal'c's still off-world. I've left a message in his room basically explaining what's going on. Are you okay with that?"

Sam went to stand by the window, looking down into the street below. "Exactly what's going on?"

"The bare details. Not the personal stuff, obviously."

"Okay."

She guessed that would be her choice. Daniel had taken it well, better than the Colonel had, at least. He'd been very understanding, very supportive, which she should have expected from him. Teal'c was another matter, but only because she knew by telling him the truth she would let him down and she desperately didn't want to disappoint him. It used to be that she could do very little wrong in Teal'c's eyes and losing that faith would be a burden she didn't want to endure.

"So for the time being, SG-1 is in limbo. I'm bringing paperwork with me, by the way, and I fully expect you to help me with it."

Sam grinned at the teasing tone in his voice. Obviously, their relationship was moving somewhere new and it was definitely refreshing. "Oh do you?"

"I do. Or you're sleeping on the sofa again."

"Actually, sir, Daniel doesn't mind the sofa. I got the bed last night." Which brought about a point she'd been wondering about. "Just exactly where is everyone going to sleep?"

"I'm not sleeping with Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, behind her.

"Tell him I heard that. And tell him I don't want to sleep with him either."

Sam sighed as if this was all deeply irritating. "Fine. Guess I'll have to sleep with you then."

"Guess you will."

Okay. She was starting to blush. Time to move the conversation on... "Right. I'll see you in three hours."

"Thereabouts. Anything you want me to pick up?"

"I can't think of anything. Daniel? Do you need anything?" Sam turned to look at him.

"Three hours? Grab some subs. For lunch."

"Oh, good idea. Daniel wants subs, sir He has lots of things for you to read, sir," she said brightly.

"Fantastic. Summarise everything for me? I'm not kidding about the paperwork."

*

Sam tried prying her eyes open with her fingers but it was no use. The words were blurring. It was, after all, past two in the morning and she hadn't slept since.. since..

Look. Now her brain was going as well.

Time to go to bed.

She slid off her stool, just about remembering to turn off her laptop, and wandered out of her office towards the elevator.

"Carter, hold the doors."

Covering her yawn, Sam turned on automatic and pushed open the doors, waiting for her CO.

He smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks. You're up late."

"So are you," she pointed out, yawning again.

"Dammit, Carter, don't..." He caught the yawn dramatically and rubbed his hands over his face. "Yeah, I'm up late too. Paperwork. You?"

"Paperwork."

He did a deliberately comical double take and she giggled tiredly. "You? Little Miss Perfect? Don't you get everything done on time? I never get late reports from you."

"That's because I pull all-nighters. I'm just not a paperwork person. Not Air Force paperwork anyway. Astrophysicist paperwork... fine and dandy. But triplicates? A play by play account of the most boring missions? Give me a break."

He blinked at her, obviously a little surprised at her outburst. "Sure, Carter, be blunt."

She started to blush. "I'm really tired, sir."

Thankfully, the doors opened on the floor which housed the base quarters and she was saved from any more embarrassment.

He walked with her to her quarters and paused outside her door. "Get some sleep, Carter. And try not to dream of triplicate reports."

"I'll try, sir. Er... you too, sir."

The Colonel laughed and Sam thought it sounded rather bitter. "I don't dream about things like that, Carter. Goodnight."

"Night, sir."

She stepped into her room but doubled back, surprising herself. Leaning out into the corridor she watched him walk away just because she wanted to look at him a little more.