Disclaimer - You know the score

Summary - Not my usual S/J shippiness. I decided to challenge myself with something a little more angsty for S & J for a change. Let me know what you think. Sam's more than a little pissed at her CO (as you will tell from the first word!). Why? You'll have to read on to find out. R&R Please, Sara Lou.

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"Bastard" yelled Sam as her fist collided with the locker door next to her own, a slight indentation in the metal appearing, half wishing it was her CO who had been in it's place. The pain now shooting through her knuckles did nothing to curb her anger at him or the events of the day, only fanning the flames, which were threatening to rise even more. She glared through angry tear-filled eyes at the door before grabbing a few things from her own open locker, shoving them into her duffel bag.

"Major Carter?" came a quiet voice from behind.

Sam couldn't keep the impatience or anger from her voice as she answered the younger officer.

"What?"

"Are you ok Ma'am"

Slamming the locker door closed with a resounding crash, she turned her eye on the young lieutenant who was standing on the opposite side of the long bench, which divided the lockers. The younger woman looked slightly nervous and apprehensive at the usually calm Major's aggravated attitude. Sam struggled inwardly to calm her anger, not wanting to alarm the young woman any further. She took a deep breath and counted down from ten quickly in her mind as the younger woman wondered whether to go back to whatever she was in the locker room for or stand waiting for an answer and a more formal dismissal.

"I'm fine Lieutenant"

Choosing not to elaborate on the matters and seeing the Lieutenant was getting more and more nervous Sam slung the long handle of the duffel bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. Her anger seemed to emanate from her and she knew she had her dangerous 'do not disturb' look on her face. She saw frowns reflected back to her from familiar faces and even Siler managed to avoid eye contact.

Sam made her way to the surface of the complex and was soon on her way home, her mind was still reeling from the day's events. She managed to keep some semblance of sanity as she drove home, eventually arriving at her front door. After dumping the bag and her coat in a heap on the floor of her hall she made her way straight to the kitchen, grabbing a cold beer from the fridge. Wrenching off the bottle cap, she took a long cool drink from the bottle seating herself at the kitchen bench on one of the high stools. Once comfortable she set the bottle down, folded her arms on the surface and rested her head in them, finally allowing the tears she had been keeping at bay to surface.

As the tears which showed no sign of subsiding quickly, kept coming and the sobs broke through her usually guarded reserve her mind wandered over and over the days events. Or rather, the fateful meeting with General Hammond which had been in everyone's positive opinion a long time coming.

'Obviously not to one Jack O'Neill' thought Sam to herself, before checking herself. Like an internal command inside telling herself that could be considered an insubordination. Jack had obviously had a reason to have done what he had. She just hoped he would be man enough to step up too the plate and explain his actions.

Sam took another swig of beer, trying to calm her frayed nerves. She looked down at her hands to see swelling and a slight bruise start to appear on her right knuckle where she had hit the locker door. She angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks and eyes with the back of her hand, wincing slightly at the growing pain.

Picking up her beer she slipped down from her seat and wandered into her living room, collapsing onto the couch. Laying back her head she closed her eyes and tried to arrange the actions of the day in order to understand why her world seemed to have toppled down around her.

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Jack sat in the darkness of his office thinking back on the day or rather the fateful meeting which had caused Carter to barely cast the frosty, steely glare over his form before retreating first to her office, the locker rooms and then home for their weekend downtime.

He could barely meet Hammond's eyes before beating a hasty retreat to his office and absorbing his attention with overdue reports. Unfortunately they hadn't lasted long enough and he had sat for the last half-hour with the image of her eyes on him for that instance. Those eyes had told him a lot, mostly pain, hurt and anger. Disappointment and the threat of tears had also been present; Jack had not needed to see Sam's eyes to know it was there.

Sighing, Jack pushed back from his desk and rose, walking slowly to the door, resigning himself to the fact that nothing could be done now till the following Monday. It would give Carter a chance to think about things. Maybe see things from his point of view, although he was unsure of that himself.

'You did the right thing' he thought to himself as he ventured along the winding corridors to the elevator to make his own way to the locker rooms.

He stuck his hands deep into his pockets and tilted on his heels as the elevator made its slow way upward. A quiet a skeleton staff was in the running in comparison to the usual hustle and bustle, but with only two teams off world, and they too two indigenous planets with no sign of any 'intelligent' life. Most teams were on a downtime or taking the time on base to relax, catch up on work or revise up on new missions.

Having come back from a heavy mission themselves only the day previous SG1 had been put on downtime until the following week. Jack shook his head, as he headed for the locker rooms. He felt like a traitor in a sense. He knew Carter had been working hard for the chance, hell she had been working for the chance ever since she joined the SGC eight years ago. Everyone knew about the new teams being formed as a starting point for the Alpha site, and that as a valuable, important and experienced member of the SGC Carter's name had come up in suggestions for team leaders.

Jack groaned and sat down on the locker room bench. He just could not get his head round his own thoughts. As the Commanding Officer of the flagship team and second in command of the SGC he had played an important role in the casting of the Alpha site teams. He and Hammond had studied laboriously over the details of each team, so many officers, as many known as unknown to them. It had been a long weary process, which had been going on for months. Carter, along with all the other officers in the running had been informed her name had came up as one of the runners for leading a team at the very beginning. It was also well known when it came down to it, it was Hammond and O'Neill who had the final says. The commanding officers of team members up for the running of any placement had been given the chance, as was their rightful honour and duty to do so, to recommend, advise and agree, about any team member under them in the running.

Jack grimaced and opened his locker and quickly changed, not wanting to dwell on the thoughts any longer. It hadn't even reached the painful part yet and he was already depressed and angry with himself enough. After changing he grabbed his jacket and made his way to the surface. In his case the airmen he did come across avoided any eye contact and managed to mumble 'sir' as they passed quickly.

'News travels fast' Jack thought, finally escaping into the cool night air. He jumped into his truck and made a quick getaway from the suffocating atmosphere of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. After stopping off to grab a chinese he arrived home and found the suffocating atomsphere must have followed him home.

He busied himself sorting the chinese pots onto a tray and settling himself into the sofa, a couple of beers within easy reach also. It was going to be a long weekend, and who knew what sort of welcome he would get from his 2IC on Monday?

~~~~TBC~~~