Disclaimers and stuff in Chapter 1.

~~~o0o~~~

Grinning, Jack walked over to the doors and pulled one open. He waved a hand, ushering Sam forwards.

"Ladies first."

Sam sighed and decided it wasn't worth arguing over. After all, as he'd so succinctly pointed out earlier, how often did you get to take advantage of Jack O'Neill being chivalrous? Answer: when he was your CO, not very often. If they were *dating* maybe, but otherwise...actually, she wasn't *even* going to think about otherwise. At all. Resolving not to let things go any further than they had already - it was dangerous ground in more ways than one - she stepped through the door.

And stopped in stunned amazement, causing Jack to walk straight into the back of her. Grabbing her shoulders to stop himself from overbalancing, he stared at the scene of chaos in front of him. The door swung shut behind him, hitting him non too gently on the ass, but he didn't even notice.

"Oh, *my*..." He breathed, his tone an equal mix of shock and awe.

Having had a few more seconds for the scene to properly register in her stunned brain, Sam was the first to catch on to what was happening. And what was *about* happen. Reading the signs in front of her and hearing the cries of 'Get them!', she ducked. Jack didn't.

The incoming missile hurtled towards him too quick for him to avoid and impacted with a loud *SMACK*, right in the middle of his chest. Sam dived to one side to avoid the ricocheting splatter.

"Hey!" came his indignant yelp.

It was closely followed by several more missiles heading in their direction, as the sound of his voice attracted more attention and allowed people to pinpoint their position. Jack did what he would have done had he been paying attention in the first place and ducked, diving to the side behind Carter. The missiles flew over their heads and hit the doors and wall, showering them both in little of blobs of Jell-O. It was Sam's turn to yelp and duck frantically, as she realised that she was the one in front, once more. She spun round, trying to insinuate herself between the wall and her CO.

"Carter!" Jack yelled, noticing what she was trying to do.

"Quit trying to make *me* the target!"

"Sorry sir!" She yelled back, completely unrepentant.

She eyed the small space behind where her CO was crouched against the wall.

'Hmm, she could probably still fit in there...'

She made a dive for it. Jack spun round and grabbed her wrists.

"Stop it!" He said, laughing.

"Like hell, sir!" She replied cheerfully, her eyes glinting mischievously.

She struggled, trying to free herself, but Jack was having none of it. Gripping her wrists tightly to prevent her from moving - she couldn't get the leverage to pull herself free, crouched as she was on the floor - he did a quick reccie of the room.

First rule when you came under fire - find cover, fast. Preferably somewhere defensible, from where you could launch an attack, once you'd regrouped. Deal with insubordination in the ranks later. He scanned the room. The floor and walls were all wipe clean plastic. He supposed it was for ease of cleaning later.

'Boy, he wouldn't want *that* job, that's for sure!'

What looked like solid breakfast bar units were placed around the room. There were chrome stools at each, but most people seemed to be hiding behind the units, rather than actually sat down. Around the room was the kind of shelf you placed your tray on, when getting your food in the chow hall. Above this along the left hand side of the room, were serving hatches in the wall at regular intervals. On the shelves were long metal trays, which held paper bowls, filled with a variety of different coloured Jell-O.

Jack's keen eye picked out the perfect spot. Just *there*. Half way down the left hand side of the room, was an empty bar. It was close to the wall...and the supply of Jell-O. Letting go of Carter's wrists, he pointed out their objective.

"Over there! Go!"

She shot him a dirty look as he indicated that she go first. He ignored it and gave her shoulder a non too gentle shove to get her moving.

"Go on!" He said, trying not to laugh out loud.

Putting out her hand to keep from overbalancing at his shove, she treated him to one more second of filthy stare and then ran. He gave her a few seconds to make sure folks were targeting her and not him, then followed. Bent over double, they scurried across the room towards safety. Bowls of Jell-O landed around them, splattering them with the contents, but none scored a direct hit, proving how difficult it was to hit a moving target.

'She was gonna get him for this,' Sam decided as she dashed across the floor, instinctively ducking as a bowl whizzed past her ear. 'Big time.'

She reached the relative safety of the bar unit and dived behind it, skidding to a halt. Leaning her back against the side of the unit, she sat down on the floor. A few seconds later, Jack came flying round the corner. Twisting to one side to avoid crashing into her, he landed with a thud on the floor, his head smacking against the bar.

"Ow! That hurt!"

Reaching a hand up, he rubbed the back of his head and then shook it slightly. Served him right for watching Carter's six instead of where he was going, he supposed.

She turned to look at him, a concerned expression on her face.

"You okay, sir?"

He waved away her concern.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just wasn't watching where I was going."

He didn't clarify exactly what he'd been watching instead. She looked at him for a long moment then turned away, a small smile playing on her lips.

"What?"

The smile grew slightly wider.

"Nothing, sir."

"Yes it is, come on, *tell* me, Carter."

She turned to look at him properly and couldn't help the giggles that spilled out.

'Giggling. Very mature, Samantha...'

She waved her hand at him helplessly.

"You. You're covered in Jell-O, sir!"

And he was, from head to foot. The was green Jell-O in his hair, where a ricochet from the wall had landed, a myriad of other colours dotted his arms and legs and his shoes were covered in yellow Jell-o from a near miss as he ran across the restaurant. Not to mention the huge patch of blue, smack in the middle of his chest from the hit that had caught him off guard as they came in the door.

Of all the situations she'd ever imagined seeing her Colonel in - 'no, *the* Colonel', she reprimanded herself firmly '*the*' - and there had admittedly been a few, generally involving much less clothing - *this* was not one of them.

Arching an eyebrow at her words, he took his turn, looking her up and down appraisingly. A faint tinge of pink covered her cheeks at his gaze and she dropped her eyes.

'Don't encourage him, Sam. Not a good idea, not with the way you're feeling tonight...'

A hand made it's way into her field of vision and gently touched her cheek. His thumb rubbed across her cheekbone, removing a piece of Jell-O she hadn't even realised was there.

"So are you," she heard him say in an amused tone.

She shivered slightly, suddenly feeling anything but amused. She raised her head up again and caught his gaze with her own. Their eyes locked again - how many times did that make it this evening? - Sam couldn't remember, as she watched the amusement leak out of his eyes to be replaced by something darker. Her breath caught in the back of her throat.

The pressure on her cheek increased as he moved his hand to cup the side of her face. She turned her head slightly to lean into the caress and let her lips brush the palm of his hand. His eyes darkened further and Sam didn't feel like she could pull away if her life had depended on it.

THUNK!

The sound of a loud impact from the other side of the bar jolted them both out of the moment and they sprang apart. Jack scrambled back to his sitting position, making sure no part of them was touching. He deliberately hit his head back against the bar a couple of times.

'Oh God, oh God, that was stupid! Stupid! What the hell was he doing?! Deep breaths Jackie-boy, deep breaths...don't think about what you almost did, don't think about it...'

He closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself down. He just could not get a handle on what was going on tonight. For crying out loud, they'd *danced* together on team nights before after a bit to drink and he'd never been struck with the urge to kiss her like he had tonight! At least nowhere near as bad *this* anyway. His self-control was definitely shot to pieces.

He cracked open his eyes and risked a glance at her. She was back to staring at her hands.

'Darn it. So much for making amends...you need to fix this Jack, before you end up hurting her even more.'

He cleared his throat, trying to gather his thoughts. He had no idea what he was going to say. Somehow he didn't think 'do you mind if I kiss you senseless?' would go down too well right now.

Thankfully for Jack he didn't have to, as a loud cry echoed through the room.

"Surrender or be Jell-O'd!"

A small smile flickered over her lips at the ridiculous phrase and she looked up. He opened his mouth to say something, apologise, anything, but the look in her eyes stopped him.

'Don't.' It said. 'Please.'

So he didn't. Changing what he was about to say, he raised an eyebrow.

'Teal'c would be proud' he thought fleetingly.

"Surrender or be Jell-O'd?" He said instead, repeating the phrase.

"Sounds like a challenge to me, sir." She replied, the glint back in her eyes, along with what looked like gratitude.

Well hell, if she didn't want to deal with this, he wasn't going to push. Not when he didn't have a clue how to deal with it himself. If she wanted to gloss over it, that was *fine* with him. It wouldn't be the first time their flirting had brought them close to the edge. Admittedly never *this* close, but still, they'd never let it become an issue before, no reason to now. Ignoring the small sense of disquiet that was pleading to be heard, he said:

"Never let it be said that Jack O'Neill turned down a challenge."

Drawing a breath, he yelled: "Never surrender!"

"Then prepare to be Jell-O'd!" Came the reply.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Oh *please*. Melodrama anyone?" He said, blithely ignoring the hypocrisy in that statement.

Sam smiled. "You know, we could have just turned round and gone back out of the door again."

She ignored the little voice that was telling her that would be a really good idea right now. Despite that little hiccup a few moments ago, this was the most fun she'd had in *months*. And it was with him.

Alright, so what had almost happened there proved how dangerous *that* was at the moment. But they were both grown adults. They could deal with this - whatever it was - without it becoming an issue. And she didn't want tonight to be over. Not just yet.

Apparently he felt the same way, as he sniffed and she heard him say:

"Never gonna happen, Carter. I paid for my $3 worth of Jell-O, I'm gonna *get* my $3 worth of Jell-O."

Sam chuckled. "I'd say you've already got it, sir."

Jack was debating whether to come back with a snarky remark, concerning her own Jell-O covered state - or stick his tongue out at her - when a series of thuds and splats caught them unawares and had them ducking for cover.

It took a moment for them both to realise they weren't being covered in gunk and then they grinned sheepishly at one another.

"I think we're gonna be alright, sir." Carter said.

"It seems the bar is too high for the Jell-O, uh, bombs to reach over. At least those thrown by hand anyway."

With those words, an angled shot cam flying round the end of the bar, clipping the edge of it, as it sailed past to impact on the wall. Sam let out a squeal of shock as she was caught unawares and leapt sideways to avoid being hit, ending up in Jack's lap.

His arms shot to steady her automatically and they both froze. Coming so soon after their last little bout of bodily contact, it was an awkward situation. Jack gave a laugh that to his credit, only sounded a little strained.

'Don't think about where she's sat, don't think about where she's sat...'

"The great Samantha Carter," he teased. "Able to face down an army of Jaffa with only her trusty P90, terrified of a little flying Jell-O!"

His words eased the sudden tension and Sam snorted, her face half-buried in her shoulder.

'Don't laugh at him when he's teasing you', she scolded herself...for all the good it did.

Reaching out her right hand she slapped him on the chest.

"Stop it!"

Her hand hit the patch of blue Jell-O he'd been hit with earlier.

"Euww!"

She felt his body shake as he chuckled.

"Serves you right. Anyway, I thought you liked blue Jell-O."

She pushed herself upright, feeling an odd sense of loss as his hands left her shoulders.

"To eat, yes. To *wear*? No."

She shook her fingers, trying to get rid of the stuff. Jack sighed.

"Just wipe it on your pants, God knows they're covered in the stuff already."

Sam glared at him. He stared impassively back. It wasn't coming off. She gave up and wiped her hand on her pants.

~~~o0o~~~