"Morning Sam." Janet said as she sat down on the opposite side of the table in the commissary the next morning.

"Morning. I thought you had the day off today."

"I do. Cassie fell asleep during the party last night so Teal'c carried her to my quarters, she's still asleep. I'll leave when she wakes up."

"Did you enjoy the party?" Sam asked.

"It was fun. There are some interesting rumours are going around about you."

"Like what?" Sam inquired.

"That you were seen coming out of Jack's quarters, wearing on of his shirts after you had both disappeared after the party."

"It's true.."

"Really?" Janet said with a grin.

"But not in the context the gossips have it going on. I left the party because I had an idea for the program I'm writing to speed up the dialling process. I wanted to get it written down before I forgot so I came down to the control room. Colonel O'Neill came down to find because he wanted to 'protect me from the airmen'. He was drunk and after he fell over I didn't want him to cause an incident so I escorted him back to his quarters to make sure he got there. I took his keys open the door, reminded him to take off his boots and borrowed one of his shirts because it was cold and Dad still had the keys to my quarters because I didn't have anywhere to put them in outfit. Then I left and went back to the control room." Sam explained.

"Oh, that's less interesting than the rumour."

"Best I can offer is he asked if I was propositioning him when I told him to take off his boots."

"He was watching you all night, scowling at everyone. Did you talk to him?"

"No, we were having fun but it wasn't the right time. It'll never be the right time and I can live with that. I've done it for years."

"Coffee, someone get me some coffee." Jack said stumbling into the commissary.

"Slight hangover there sir?" Sam said hiding a smile.

"Don't even start Carter. Doc can I get some aspirin?"

"You'll have to go and see Dr Warner sir, I'm not on duty today." The server rushed over and handed him a large cup of coffee.

"Thank you." He sat down.

"Colonel, you should eat something greasy it will soak up any excess alcohol." Janet pointed out.

"Eating would not be a good option right now." He grabbed his head.

"That would be the problem with drinking too much sir." Janet said.

"You think? What happened?"

"You were drunk so you were put to bed so you didn't cause an incident, sir." Sam supplied.

"I remember Jacob saying something about barn dancing and Texas, but not much after that."

"More of the life and times of Samantha Carter. If you'll excuse me sir, I need to get back to work. The SF's are going to need orders at some point would you like me to take care of it?"

"Sure, go ahead. Just don't let them destroy the base."

"Yes sir." Sam replied before leaving.

"So what really happened Janet?" Jack asked after downing half his cup of coffee.

"I suppose someone better tell you the truth before you hear the rumour mill version." Janet explained what had happened.

"I really asked her that?" Jack groaned.

"I don't think she really minded sir, and if she was going to proposition you I'm sure she'd do it in a better way than telling you to take off your boots. Last time she tried to jump you. But anyway you should ask for your shirt back, the people in the laundry might voice concerns as to why is going with her laundry and not yours."

"I suppose I should apologise."

"It's nice to see you're so protective of your team and so will to defend Sam's honour if the airmen could keep their hands off her in that outfit last night." Janet said as straight faced as possible. Jack scowled at her. "I'll just go and get you that aspirin sir."

~ ~ ~

"Hey Carter, can I have a word?" Jack said sitting down in one of the swivel chairs next to her as she typed at the keyboard.

"Yes sir."

"Excuse me can everyone clear out for a minute?" Jack ordered. Sam nodded at them and they filed out.

"So what can I do for you sir?" Sam asked.

"I wanted to apologise for my behaviour last night."

"No need to apologise Colonel. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have worn that outfit to the party."

"You did look great however inappropriate it is for me to say that. Thank you for putting me to bed so I didn't make a bigger fool of myself."

"All part of the service sir. I'll return your shirt later today."

"I'm sorry for any rumours that are going around."

"There are always rumours sir, members of SG-1 tend to be the subject of most of them, because of all the strange situations we get ourselves in. But you sending everyone out of the room probably doesn't help things sir."

"I didn't think of that."

"It's not a problem Colonel. There are a few ways out of it."

"Like what?" Jack inquired.

"We either confirm the rumour by telling the truth and people would believe the rumour anyway."

"That sounds pointless." Jack agreed.

"We deny the rumour and let the dust settle."

"That probably wouldn't work either," Jack acknowledged.

"Then we either do something to top it or we totally ignore it."

"Some like what?" Jack wondered out loud.

"I don't know Colonel. It's my job to present the options not to make the final decision. I'll go along with whatever you decide."

"Whatever I decide?" He repeated.

"Yes sir. I trust you and as long as we both sign a document saying we won't charge each other under the UCMJ we should be fine."

"So you're saying you wouldn't if we did something that was not a lie." Jack tried to clarify.

"Yes sir." She replied as she continued not looking at him.

"Sam are you pissed at me for some reason?"

"No sir. There's a bug in this program I can't find. I need someone else to go over the coding and you sent them all away."

"I'll go and let you get back to work."

"Before you go sir, you'll need this." Sam handed him a radio.

"Why?" He asked.

"Unlike when General Hammond is in command of the base, locating you on the base at any given moment would be difficult. All the SF's have radios too. That way if there is a problem we can contact you."

"We?"

"I have one too just in case they can't find you."

"Good thinking. I'll be back when I think of something."

"Yes sir. Have a good day and I hope your hangover gets better." Sam said with a genuine smile.

"Thank you Major." He walked down to the end of the corridor where the group he'd evicted from the control room stood. "Well get back to work, Major Carter needs help with her computer thingy."

~ ~ ~

"Colonel come in." Sam's voice crackled over the radio.

"Yeah Carter, what can I do for you?" Jack replied.

"Do you have a few minutes to come down to the control room there is something I need to discuss with you?"

"On my way. By the way do you want some coffee?"

"Thank sir. Carter out."

~

"So what's happening Carter?" Jack asked as he handed her a cup.

"We've fixed the error in the program I was working on. We've run ten successful simulations using the computer. Here's the report." She handed him a folder.

"And?" Jack said as he flicked through the file.

"I need your permission to run test the program on the gate sir. I'd like to open the gate using the program we have then run a open the gate three times using the new dialling program and check the timing."

"Where are you planning on opening the gate to?" Jack asked.

"I have a list of abandoned worlds which come from the Ancient gates so there should be no Goa'uld activity there. You have the final say on where sir." Sam handed him the list.

"Recommendations?"

"P6Z 989. It's uninhabited and the air is toxic to humans, so we should have no problems with coming under attack if anyone decides to retaliate for the gate opening."

"And you're certain that this isn't going to destroy the base, because I don't earn enough to replace a base that blew up on my watch."

"I'm confident sir. The program only varies slightly from the original program I wrote almost six years ago, and all the additional adjustments I've made since, with the exception of your addition of the Ancient's Stargates I'm the only one who has the authorisation to alter the program."

"Then permission granted."

"Yes sir."