Jack wandered along the corridor towards Carters lab, at a slow pace still
wondering what on earth he was going to say when he arrived. He was
greeted by an, empty lab, and forced to ponder whether to wait for her
return. Hovering in the doorway for a moment, he entered further looking
at the instruments lying around her lab. He picked up a mean looking
doohickey and fiddled with it wondering what on earth it was. On the other
hand, maybe it wasn't from earth, with this thought he set the object back
where he had picked it up from and moved toward her desk. Settling himself
down on a chair he fiddled with a pen, he could wait a few minutes, they
really needed to talk.
His eyes settled on a board on the wall filled with figures and numbers turning his head this way and that to further understand what was written on it.
"Sir?"
Jack jumped, and swung round in the chair to see his 2IC approaching, settling an armful of folders on a clear space of her workbench.
"Carter"
"Something you need Sir?"
"Actually yeah"
Sam looked over at him curiously waiting for him to go on. Instead standing, he cast his eyes back over her workstation. His mouth felt suddenly dry. Sam watched him closely she had been surprised to find him here of all places, surprised he hadn't avoided her until the briefing they were due for in a couple of hours. He obviously had something on his mind, but didn't now where to start. She would have prompted him on but she really didn't know how. Surprised the situation wasn't more awkward than she had thought it would have been she looked down at the pile of work she had just settled onto the bench and flicked through a few files, setting them into piles as Jack fiddled with a magnifying glass.
Jack realised he was fiddling and shoved his hands into his pockets. He also realised Sam's concentration was being taken up with files and paper. He cleared his throat.
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
Sam stopped what she was doing and looked up at him across the bench.
"Can we sit down and talk"
"Sure"
Sam walked around the bench as Jack motioned to her to sit in her chair, pulling up one for himself. He sat facing her and wondered yet again what he was going to say. Twiddling her fingers together so as not to fold her arms across her chest Sam watched Jack as he ran a hand through his hair nervously.
"I think we, I, need to clear the air over this whole Alpha site team leader..... thing"
Sam stayed silent, acknowledging that he wanted to talk about it but not willing to lead the conversation. She hadn't wanted to leave it either but couldn't find any real reason that she could have challenged him on why he had made the decision. A good enough reason, according to the higher powers of the SGC had been given in the report and she as a subordinate to them would have to take that as that and get on with it. Thankfully O'Neill thought differently. Realising Carter was not going to give him an easy time with this, not that he expected one, and he took a deep breath.
"I dont want you to think I saw your name put forward and said no straight away. I've got no doubt in your leadership qualities, nobody does. Hell if it had been a position here at the SGC I'd have said yes straight off no questions asked. I wasn't surprised your name had came up, neither was Hammond. But the Alpha site program is just new on it's feet to begin with, you'd be living on base for a start, with a team you hardly knew, in strange surroundings. You'd probably handle it as well as most, but you deserve better than that Carter. Throwing you in the deep end that just wouldn't have been right. Your a hell of a soldier, there isn't anyone who wouldn't put their life in your hands who knew you. But your also a scientist, you need your stuff, even just to blow off steam. On the Alpha site, you wouldn't have that. The site is being used a training facility for teams, not science. If the teams field units or otherwise find anything of study the information will be sent here for the checking out."
Jack paused his eyes on Carter who was taking all the information in without any word, nod of head. Just the blank concentration on his words, he sat back relaxing a little into his chair and realised she had stopped twiddling her fingers listening to him.
"I sat for hours going over all the names, the two guys we chose for the field units, are highly experienced in training. The four guys we chose here, they have hardly any connections outside of here. Their life is basically coming to work everyday, hell I'm surprised they don't sleep here. They said themselves; they didn't have any ties to severe. My gut reaction when I saw your name was to say you were the best of any of the names volunteered. You still are, and I would have said yes. However, there was something holding me back. Hammond told me to think about it for a few days, not that I had much time. Our missions haven't exactly been the easiest over the past few weeks. But then after a few heavy missions we all go out and chill, together.
Remember when we all went over too Daniel's after the routine mission to P9x-430?"
"The one where we hid in the forest for eleven hours after being chased by the natives away from the gate no matter how much cover fire we laid on them?"
"Yeah, and we were eaten alive by those damned bugs which were like mosquitoes only smaller and had a nastier bite."
"It was a good night Sir"
"Yeah we all looked like circus freaks seeing as the bite marks had turned purple. It helped make my decision Carter. It wouldn't be fair to send you into the Alpha site just to give you a position which is now long overdue. I'd rather you have to wait around a few more months and be stuck with us than be stuck on another planet for months at a time with people you didn't know running training simulations. It's true the SGC does need you more, your expertise in the gate system, because I'd be damned to have Mckay running round giving his advice. The science stuff, well who would I have to explain the stuff to me? Or the other guys for that matter, they make out like they understand you but truthfully they come running up to me after you've explained it in laymans terms for explanations. Even Daniel"
Sam smiled, she understood what he was saying, and she knew it took a while to get the man talking but once he was on a roll it was getting him to stop.
"Look Carter, are you getting any of this?"
"Loud and clear Sir"
"Thank god, I think I didn't do too bad considering I had no idea what I was going to say when I arrived here. I guess when push comes to shove, the problem with you becoming a team leader of an Alpha site team was you have way too many ties here to severe. I wasn't going to be held responsible for your unhappiness at the cost of promotion"
"I get it Sir"
"Course you realise if you had felt the need to shoot someone out of boredom I wasn't going to have it hanging over my head"
"Sir"
"Although we were interested in finding out how much the new recruits could have taken before dropping out, knowing you of all people could definetely sort the boys from the men"
"Uh Sir"
"And of course it would have been interesting how long Mckay would have lasted before I shot him"
"JACK"
Jack stopped his babbling and looked at Sam who looked exasperated and was smiling.
"I get it, ......... and Thankyou"
"Your welcome Carter. Well now thats cleared up, I'm going to get some cake, you gonna join me?"
"I think I will"
They rose and exited, silent but in higher spirits than either of them had been on arrival. Jack felt a heavy weight had lifted. Sam's mind was more at ease.
Truth of the matter was, they were part of a team, a family which had seen more in eight years than anyone could have imagined. It's hard to let one of your own move on even onto better things, but at least you could have the power decide where and when they moved onto, in order to make the change a happy one for everyone.
~~~~~~~the end~~~~~~ (
His eyes settled on a board on the wall filled with figures and numbers turning his head this way and that to further understand what was written on it.
"Sir?"
Jack jumped, and swung round in the chair to see his 2IC approaching, settling an armful of folders on a clear space of her workbench.
"Carter"
"Something you need Sir?"
"Actually yeah"
Sam looked over at him curiously waiting for him to go on. Instead standing, he cast his eyes back over her workstation. His mouth felt suddenly dry. Sam watched him closely she had been surprised to find him here of all places, surprised he hadn't avoided her until the briefing they were due for in a couple of hours. He obviously had something on his mind, but didn't now where to start. She would have prompted him on but she really didn't know how. Surprised the situation wasn't more awkward than she had thought it would have been she looked down at the pile of work she had just settled onto the bench and flicked through a few files, setting them into piles as Jack fiddled with a magnifying glass.
Jack realised he was fiddling and shoved his hands into his pockets. He also realised Sam's concentration was being taken up with files and paper. He cleared his throat.
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
Sam stopped what she was doing and looked up at him across the bench.
"Can we sit down and talk"
"Sure"
Sam walked around the bench as Jack motioned to her to sit in her chair, pulling up one for himself. He sat facing her and wondered yet again what he was going to say. Twiddling her fingers together so as not to fold her arms across her chest Sam watched Jack as he ran a hand through his hair nervously.
"I think we, I, need to clear the air over this whole Alpha site team leader..... thing"
Sam stayed silent, acknowledging that he wanted to talk about it but not willing to lead the conversation. She hadn't wanted to leave it either but couldn't find any real reason that she could have challenged him on why he had made the decision. A good enough reason, according to the higher powers of the SGC had been given in the report and she as a subordinate to them would have to take that as that and get on with it. Thankfully O'Neill thought differently. Realising Carter was not going to give him an easy time with this, not that he expected one, and he took a deep breath.
"I dont want you to think I saw your name put forward and said no straight away. I've got no doubt in your leadership qualities, nobody does. Hell if it had been a position here at the SGC I'd have said yes straight off no questions asked. I wasn't surprised your name had came up, neither was Hammond. But the Alpha site program is just new on it's feet to begin with, you'd be living on base for a start, with a team you hardly knew, in strange surroundings. You'd probably handle it as well as most, but you deserve better than that Carter. Throwing you in the deep end that just wouldn't have been right. Your a hell of a soldier, there isn't anyone who wouldn't put their life in your hands who knew you. But your also a scientist, you need your stuff, even just to blow off steam. On the Alpha site, you wouldn't have that. The site is being used a training facility for teams, not science. If the teams field units or otherwise find anything of study the information will be sent here for the checking out."
Jack paused his eyes on Carter who was taking all the information in without any word, nod of head. Just the blank concentration on his words, he sat back relaxing a little into his chair and realised she had stopped twiddling her fingers listening to him.
"I sat for hours going over all the names, the two guys we chose for the field units, are highly experienced in training. The four guys we chose here, they have hardly any connections outside of here. Their life is basically coming to work everyday, hell I'm surprised they don't sleep here. They said themselves; they didn't have any ties to severe. My gut reaction when I saw your name was to say you were the best of any of the names volunteered. You still are, and I would have said yes. However, there was something holding me back. Hammond told me to think about it for a few days, not that I had much time. Our missions haven't exactly been the easiest over the past few weeks. But then after a few heavy missions we all go out and chill, together.
Remember when we all went over too Daniel's after the routine mission to P9x-430?"
"The one where we hid in the forest for eleven hours after being chased by the natives away from the gate no matter how much cover fire we laid on them?"
"Yeah, and we were eaten alive by those damned bugs which were like mosquitoes only smaller and had a nastier bite."
"It was a good night Sir"
"Yeah we all looked like circus freaks seeing as the bite marks had turned purple. It helped make my decision Carter. It wouldn't be fair to send you into the Alpha site just to give you a position which is now long overdue. I'd rather you have to wait around a few more months and be stuck with us than be stuck on another planet for months at a time with people you didn't know running training simulations. It's true the SGC does need you more, your expertise in the gate system, because I'd be damned to have Mckay running round giving his advice. The science stuff, well who would I have to explain the stuff to me? Or the other guys for that matter, they make out like they understand you but truthfully they come running up to me after you've explained it in laymans terms for explanations. Even Daniel"
Sam smiled, she understood what he was saying, and she knew it took a while to get the man talking but once he was on a roll it was getting him to stop.
"Look Carter, are you getting any of this?"
"Loud and clear Sir"
"Thank god, I think I didn't do too bad considering I had no idea what I was going to say when I arrived here. I guess when push comes to shove, the problem with you becoming a team leader of an Alpha site team was you have way too many ties here to severe. I wasn't going to be held responsible for your unhappiness at the cost of promotion"
"I get it Sir"
"Course you realise if you had felt the need to shoot someone out of boredom I wasn't going to have it hanging over my head"
"Sir"
"Although we were interested in finding out how much the new recruits could have taken before dropping out, knowing you of all people could definetely sort the boys from the men"
"Uh Sir"
"And of course it would have been interesting how long Mckay would have lasted before I shot him"
"JACK"
Jack stopped his babbling and looked at Sam who looked exasperated and was smiling.
"I get it, ......... and Thankyou"
"Your welcome Carter. Well now thats cleared up, I'm going to get some cake, you gonna join me?"
"I think I will"
They rose and exited, silent but in higher spirits than either of them had been on arrival. Jack felt a heavy weight had lifted. Sam's mind was more at ease.
Truth of the matter was, they were part of a team, a family which had seen more in eight years than anyone could have imagined. It's hard to let one of your own move on even onto better things, but at least you could have the power decide where and when they moved onto, in order to make the change a happy one for everyone.
~~~~~~~the end~~~~~~ (
