This is the first part of the "White Lady" series, which (if you haven't
read any further yet) is in reference to Sam Carter. This story is now
complete, and its sequel, "The White Lady of Gondor" is currently a WIP.
So sit back and enjoy!
Remember, like any sane writer, I adore feedback and reviews, so feel free
to drop me a line! :D
****
Story's Title Translation: "White Lady of the Mists"
Author: Damia
Email: Damia_1@hotmail.com
Pairing: Sam/Jack. Other/Other
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own anything Stargate SG-1! Also, don't own anything Lord of the Rings!! (Sadly!).
Season: Season 7 Stargate (Danny's back. Set Five years before Frodo and the Hobbits go to Rivendell for the Council of Elrond.
Summery: When you find yourself in a world that is not your own, you realise you are duty bound to help new friends protect theirs.
Notes: To my calculations, Sam arrives in Middle-Earth in the year, 3013 of the Third Age, five years before Council of Elrond, which is in October, 3018.
******
Part One: ""All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes.
There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméagol was young,
when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle.
Tall men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking.
They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates.
But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves,
always creeping, creeping."
Gollum at the Dead Marshes. "The Two Towers"
****
If he was honest with himself, the last few months had been some of the best in his life and Jack sure as hell wasn't complaining.
Even now, as he made his way down a corridor of the SGC, his hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was whistling happily, lost in his own little world that consisted of himself, a pot of warm melted chocolate and a very naked blonde major.
With that thought in mind, Jack O'Neill had a very broad grin on his face as he turned the corner and walked casually into the lab of his choice. Still whistling, he surveyed the room and a frown appeared on his face when he finally caught sight of the woman he was looking for. She was lying on the ground on her stomach, underneath her desk, her hands buried in a large box, rustling back and forth.
Knowing that she was completely oblivious to his presence, Jack silently shut the door behind him and leaned up against it, crossing his arms across his chest and he gazed down at the woman on the floor, fascinated, a huge grin slowly appearing on his face.
He couldn't see her face, unfortunately, but he would have bet a million dollars that her tongue would be poking out the side of her mouth and her eyes would almost be cross-eyed as she concentrated on what she was fiddling with. Even now, he could hear her muttering to herself and that notion made him grin even wider as a plan slowly formed in his mind.
Over the past two months he had learned a hell of a lot about Sam Carter that he hadn't realised before they had gotten together. Personally, in some cases, he thanked god that he hadn't known some of that stuff. How was he meant to concentrate if he knew that she had a tendency to wear totally un-regulation underwear on missions?
Her excuse had been that it made her feel more feminine on a team that consisted of her self and four males but Jack wasn't so sure. He had seen how she would wink at him as they walked up the ramp towards the Wormhole and he just knew she had done it to drive him mad. And it had worked. Now every time they went off world he would be staring at her ass as they climbed the ramp, wondering what lovely colour she would be wearing that day and how quickly they could wrap up the mission so he could find out first hand.
With that thought in mind, he noiselessly crept across the lab until he came to her desk, his feet just inches from her stretched out leg. Knowing that she had a tendency of turning off the camera in her lab if she was going to be doing anything remotely embarrassing (such as the time she spent half an hour looking for her car keys) he bent down at the knees and stretched out his hands.
Suddenly, he pounced.
Quick as lightening, he reached out with his hands and latched them onto her waist, squeezed tightly and said a loud "Boo!"
The effect was instantaneous.but not necessarily what he had been going for.
He had never heard a woman scream quite so loudly as Sam did then. His honestly thought his eardrums would never recover as she leapt upwards and seemingly tried to turn around at the same time to fend off her attacker. Jack, stunned at the volume of her shriek, just crouched there, face black and ears ringing, as she spun around on to her back, thumping her head on the bottom of the desk as she went and delivered an almighty punch to his face for good measure.
The force of the punch, aided by the fact that he was on unsteady legs, sent Jack flying.
He landed on his back and felt his breath being knocked out of him. For a few seconds he just lay there, dazed, before the sound of a woman's hysterical crying filtered into his ears.
Wincing as his knees protested, he flipped him self over and crawled on hands and knees over to Sam where she sat, leaning up against the desk, hiccupping as huge watery tears dripped down her face. There was a spot of blood on her forehead where she must have hit the bottom of the desk and Jack instantly reached out for it when he came to a stop, still on his hands and knees, in front of her.
She must have finally noticed him for she reached up and hit away his hand, still sobbing with the after-effects of fright. She turned her gaze on him as he jerked his hand back, and Jack was shocked to see her expression was murderous. Her eyes were narrowed in fury and before he could even think to move away, she reached out and punched him again on the other side of his face.
"You bastard!" she cried, sniffling, as she cradled her now throbbing hand against her chest.
Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all, Jack decided hazily as he reached up and tentatively touched both his injured checks.
Just then, the door was thrown open and Jack looked up through pounding eyes to see Daniel standing in the doorway, Teal'c right behind him, both men taking in the scene instantly. Sam sitting on the floor, crying her eyes out with a bleeding forehead and a mighty sore looking hand, while he wasn't looking much better with the beginning of two black eyes.
"Jack, what did you do to her?" Daniel cried, rushing over to Sam while Teal'c walked into the room and shut the door behind him.
"Thanks, Danny." Jack muttered back sarcastically while watching as the younger man helped Sam to her feet and lead her gently over to the chair. Even though he could be a pain in the butt, it really was great to have him back.
"Are you okay, Sam?" Danny asked her kindly, while reaching into his pocket for a hanky and dabbing it on the cut on her forehead. She had stopped crying now, but Jack could see her hands were still shaking. When she didn't answer Daniel, he turned back to Jack with narrowed eyes.
"Well?" he asked pointedly. "What happened here exactly and why is she crying!?"
Giving Teal'c a smile of thanks as the Jaffa helped him to his feet, Jack rubbed his hands over his face then winced as he touched his tender cheek. "It was an accident." Jack muttered loudly. "One that I'm sure as hell never repeating in this life time." Then suddenly, as if the injustice caused against him were finally realised, he stood up straighter and pointed at Sam.
"That woman is crazy! Do you realise that!? Completely nuts! She punched me! Twice!"
Daniel and Teal'c both stared at him like he was the crazy one but Jack didn't care. Silence filled the room abruptly, no one knowing exactly how to answer that. Then unexpectedly, Jack heard a sound he had become all too familiar with lately. Turning to Sam, he stared at her, astounded, as she did it again.
She was laughing.
"You think this is funny!?" he hollered
If he was expecting her to say sorry then he was sorely disappointed for she just looked down and wiped her running nose with the back of her hand. Snorting, unladylike, she looked around her lap at the mess on the floor and instantly frowned, all humour forgotten. Reaching out, she was about to whack Jack again, but he obviously saw her intention and jumped away from her swishing hand.
His eyes wide, he pointed at Sam and all but jumped up and down. "See!" he cried to Daniel and Teal'c. "She just tried to do it again!"
Daniel frowned at him and moved to stand slightly in front of Sam as if to protect her from her over crazed lover. "What the hell is the matter with you?" he asked, baffled at his team leader's behaviour. "Sam's the one bleeding here, Jack. A little consideration wouldn't go amiss, you know." His tone dripped disapproval.
Jack's mouth all but fell open. "I can't believe you guys!" he cried. "I try and do something funny and how do I get repaid? Two black eyes and more coming if shes got anything to say about it!"
He looked down at Sam and saw that she was smirking up at him from between her two protectors, who seemingly couldn't see her expression. Narrowing his eyes, not seeing any humour in the situation, he waved a finger right in front of her face. "And you!"
Words failed him and he desperately tried to think of a reprimand firm enough to yell at her. But she just continued to smirk up at him, not a care in the world, blood still dripping down her temple. It was the blood that did it. Jack felt his anger slip away like storm water down a drain and he just stood there, staring at her.
She saw it the second it happened and raised her eyebrows. "Well?" she said suddenly, getting Danny and Teal'c attention. "Had your fun for the day now that you've scared the crap out of me and cut my head open?"
Jack thought that 'head cutting' stuff was going a bit far but he wasn't about to say that, instead noticing instantly that she didn't sound so humorous any longer and realised that she had probably just been playing the fool to let him release steam before she tore a strip off him. Wincing, he knew he probably disserved it. Now that he thought about it, scaring her half to death probably wasn't a very good idea.
He was SO sleeping alone tonight.
Determined not to go down without a fight, he put his hands on his hips and stared her down. "Well, you shouldn't go punching people in your lab anyway! Hell! For all you know I could have been Hammond!"
All three of the people staring at him all raised their eyebrows identically but it was Sam who spoke.
"And why would the General be grabbing me round the waist anyway, Jack?" she asked tolerantly, rolling her eyes at the same time for good measure.
Sputtering, he ignored the smiles that suddenly appeared on Danny and Teal'c faces and wished fervently that he had never come into her lab in the first place and gone down to the commissary and had some pie. At least that way he wasn't going to be looking like a Panda tomorrow morning.
He groaned with that thought. Doc was going to be on his case with this one for the next five years at least.
Determined to save his dignity, Jack straightened his back and started walking backwards towards the door. "Yes, well." He said, fumbling with his words. He locked his gaze with Sam's. "I'll talk to YOU later."
And with that, he quickly spun around and bolted out the door, but not before he heard the sound of Sam's laughter and Daniel's half concerned, half joking comment of,
"Are you sure your okay, Sam? You want me to go get Janet? I'm sure she'd love this."
****
Two days later, Jack was beginning to think he would never live the incident down. He knew the grapevine in the SGC was bad, but man! He guessed it wasn't every day that a CO scares the pants off his 2IC enough to make her bled in her own laboratory. At least nobody was going over board with the rumours and adding romantic pointers to them, that would be all they needed.
Jack was thanking whatever gods existed that Hammond hadn't said anything. Oh, he had heard, that was obvious by the fleeting grin on his face when he and Sam had walked into the briefing room together yesterday morning. Jack could tell that he was just containing his mirth as he caught sight of Jack's darkened eyes and the cute little blue plaster on Sam's forehead. For all the world, they looked like a pair of causalities of war sporting their wounds.
But he had been concerned enough with Sam's head to postpone their mission a day in case she had any long term effects, a fact that had made Jack feel even more guilty than before and throw a quick glance in her direction to see for himself that she was actually okay. Which she was, of course. Over all, he had to admit she was taking it well. She was even allowing him in a 10-meter radius of her, which Jack saw as a bonus. In fact, they had shared a lovely evening just last night nursing their wounds together with a few very unconditional methods of their own.
So here they were, finally getting ready for their mission ahead, and Jack was running over a few minute details in his office before going to get geared up. They were set to leave for Cimmera in an hour, the whole team being invited back for some festival or rather. Jack didn't know all the details; he was leaving that up to Daniel, Jonas and Sam.
He had initially been surprised how well the newly formed SG-1 had worked with Daniel back in their midst after his little adventure through the stars, but he really shouldn't have bothered. Jonas and Danny had clicked together like glue and got on better than peanut butter and jam. Sam, of course, was almost always included in their little circle of brilliance, and the three of them would span off into a completely different language in Jack's books, leaving him and Teal'c to fend for themselves most of the time. Not that this bothered him overly much, for him spent the majority of his time staring at Sam's ass when she couldn't see.
He didn't know what Teal'c did to pass the time, but he sure as hell hoped it wasn't the same thing.
The sound of the door opening caught his attention and he looked up to see the woman in question silently walk through the door, turn around and quickly shut it, flicking the lock. Watching her, Jack frowned. She had never done that before, for obvious reasons. It would be way to obvious if someone found them locked together in his office.
"You okay?" he asked, getting a bit concerned when he saw the expression on her face when she turned back to face his desk. It was one of resolve and determination, as if she was about to drop a bombshell and was forcing herself to do it.
"I'm fine, Jack." She answered. "Great actually." Then a small, gentle smile appeared on her face as she reached out and dragged the other chair over to his desk. Sitting down serenely, she continued to watch him to his dismay.
"You sure, cause your really starting to freak me out."
A small smile tugged at the side of her mouth and she took a deep breath. "I skipped a period." She announced calmly.
Taking a sip of his coffee at the moment probably hadn't been a very good idea for he spat it right out again all over his dreaded paper work and stared across at the woman before him, wondering how the hell he was going to answer that one. Swallowing, he went for the diplomatic version, his brain not fully understanding what she was on about.
"Ahh..really?" he said, one eyebrow rose in delicate question. "Isn't that normal?" He coughed and quickly added, "I mean, doesn't that happen sometimes?"
Jesus, he wasn't up with all this woman crap, Jack thought absently. How was he supposed to deal with this?
"Not two in a row, Jack."
The penny finally dropped.
Jack stared at her, his mouth falling open in astonishment. He suddenly hoped by some slim chance he happened to have two hearts in his body for his first one sure wasn't up to working at that moment. A million thoughts unexpectedly flew through his mind and he wondering how he was ever going to sort through them all.
"Holy Shit." was all he could make out, as he continued to stare at her, amazed that she could be so calm as she sat there, gazing back at him. She raised an eyebrow at that and Jack realised she probably wasn't very impressed with his timely answer.
"I mean.are you sure?" He didn't know what the hell to do, whether he should get up off his seat and go around to her, or just sit there for the next few minutes until the feeling returned to his legs.
Sam tipped her head as a small smile appeared on her lips. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure, Jack."
Silence filled the room as she obviously gave him a few moments to get this all in. Jack just sat back in his desk and gaped at her, completely forgetting that the cameras in the room were probably monitoring their conversation at full volume.
Finally, Jack shook his head slowly and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "How?" he whispered, stunned at this new development.
Her eyebrow shot up again and she regarded him with the faint amusement that woman were so fond of using when men were being dumb asses. "Oh, I don't mean *how*, how. Just.. HOW, how?"
Sam cocked her head to the side slightly and grinned. "Was that actually a sentence?" But when Jack scowled at her, she chuckled, calm-as-you-please, and took pity on him.
"You remember a few months ago I had the flu?"
Jack snorted. Hell, of course he remembered. That, added with Daniel's unexpected return shortly before, had been that catalyst for them getting together in the first place.. but that was a whole other story!
Seeing she was waiting, he nodded his head and wisely kept his thoughts to himself. She continued with, "Yeah, well, it turns out that Janet stopped my birth control as they interfered with the medicines she was stuffing into me." Sam pulled a face with that. "I guess she just forgot to tell me."
"So we can pretty much blame this on the Doc?" Jack asked, sitting up straighter in his chair, liking the idea immensely.
But Sam frowned at that, not pleased. "I don't think there should be any blaming, thank you very much." Almost unconsciously, her hand went down to rest on her flat tummy. Seeing where she was heading, Jack jumped out of his chair and rushed around to her side of the desk, getting down on his knees before her, even though they both winced when they popped.
"Now don't you go thinking like that, Major." he said quickly, gathering both her hands in his, not caring what the cameras saw. "I didn't mean it like that, and shame on you for thinking otherwise." He reaching up and scratched his head, giving her a sheepish look.
"Just came at a bit of a shock, that's all."
Sam looked slightly peevish. "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting it either, Jack."
They looked at each other suddenly, both lost in the wonder of the news. "What are we going to do?" Jack whispered, mostly to himself, but she obviously heard for her face softened and she reached down to cup his cheek.
"I don't know, but we'll think of something." Then she looked at him with a shy smile. "I'm quite excited."
Jack looked up at her and felt the first signs of a grin appearing on his face. It grew and grew until he was out right smiling. "Same." He whispered, squeezing her hands.
There was no talk of them not having the baby, for it wasn't an option. They both loved kids, and there wasn't a chance in hell that they were going to get rid of it. Okay, so the timing was a little off, but that couldn't be helped and they would work with what they had to make a go of it. All of this didn't need to be voiced for they both already knew it in their hearts.
Finally, Sam gently let his hands go and stood up with a stretch. "Anyway, we better go get geared up or the others will start to wonder where we are."
Talk of the mission seem to drag Jack out of his wonderous gaze at Sam's belly and he threw a troubled look at her face. "Oh, hell, the mission." he stated, his tone full of dread.
She looked at him with an eyebrow raised, puzzled at his manner. "What about it?" she asked.
Jack spread his hands wide to include her body. "You can't go on a mission pregnant, Sam!" he cried, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Sam frowned. "Why ever not?" she asked, then seemingly realised what he was on about. "Oh, come on, Jack. It's Cimmera, for heavens sake. What's really gonna happen to me there?" Seeing that he was about to interrupt, she quickly continued. "And if you worried about Gate Travel, there is no reason what so ever that I can't go off world. Nothing Danny or any one else has found states any dangers to Gate Travel for a pregnant woman, 2 weeks or 9 months gone."
Jack snapped his mouth shut with that, but he still glared at her, clearly unhappy with the situation. Smiling, she went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick kiss on the lips that successfully wiped the frown from his face. Instead, he jerked his head in the direction of the cameras, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Your handy work, I gather?" he asked dryly, realising that she would never be this forward if they were being watched, not to mention the conversation.
But she just grinned, unabashed at her trickery, and kissed him again, hard on the lips.
When she drew back she was faintly proud to see the dazed look had reappeared on his face. Leaning forward so their foreheads touched, she looked deep into his eyes and whispered, "When we get back we'll sit down and talk it all over, okay? And I'll explain everything again cause there is no way you just took it all in just now." She grinned as he grew thoughtful, wondering if that was a complement or not.
Then he growled deeply, "You better." Pulling back, he punched a quick kiss to her nose and cupped both her cheeks. "I'm happy with this, Sam, I really am."
Tears forming, she looked up at him through blurry eyes. "I know. And so am I."
With that, the two lovers regretfully parted and Sam quickly reached up to wipe her eyes. It wouldn't do for people to see her crying in Colonel O'Neill's company twice in one week.
When she was ready, Jack opened the door and ushered her through, both of them now far to distracted to concentrate of the mission ahead.
****
They met up with the rest of their team a while later in the gate room where they were waiting for them. Teal'c and Jonas were standing together, having a casual conversation at the base of the ramp, while Daniel was kneeling down, rummaging through his backpack. He looked up as the two of them entered through the blast doors and smiled at them.
"There you are. We were beginning to wonder if you guys were going to turn up at all." He joked, his tone quiet as there were Airmen around who would have heard if he'd been any louder and Daniel definitely didn't want to be the one who gave Sam and Jack's secret away. He and the others had known they were seeing each other secretly practically since it had happened, but that didn't mean he had the right to go blab it onto the next person. He had been touched that they had trusted him enough to keep it a secret and he honoured that trust greatly. He knew that Jonas and Teal'c felt the same.
Sam looked into Daniel's face and smiled, even though there was still the faint spookiness she felt seeing him without his glasses. There were some advantages to Ascending and Descending, she understood, and getting perfect eye vision was one of them.
Giving Danny a slap on the back as a greeting, the more thoughtful Colonel than usual greeted Jonas and Teal'c with a soft 'Hello.'
"Ready Campers?" he asked, turning his gaze up to the Control Room when they all nodded. He tipped his hat at General Hammond who was standing there, watching them, and he could see him ordering the Gate be dialled up through the glass. Turning back to face his team, he noticed Daniel frowning at him in concern as he flicked glances back and forth from him and Sam.
"You okay, Jack?" he asked, wondering what he was missing to make the Colonel so subdued, yet calm.
Jack smiled at his friend but shot Sam a fond look before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine, Danny." Before the Doctor could answer, Jack turned back to the ramp as the gate started to dial up.
Jonas and Teal'c broke off their conversation and walked over to stand next to Sam and Daniel. "I can't wait to meet this woman, Daniel." Jonas said, excitedly, and he was all but pulling on his friend's sleeve.
Sam hid her smile but Jack turned to regard Jonas with bland interest. "If you talking about Gairwyn, then your in for a treat, Jonas. Shes a great old bird." He shot Sam an amused glance. "You'll really like her."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that as the sound of the gate dialling up filled the room. "I do not see the resemblance to the Lady Gairwyn and a bird, O'Neill. Am I to believe you speak of her with some injustice?" His tone was disproving and Jack looked at him in surprise.
"Hell no, Teal'c!" he said, shaking his hands in front of him. "Its nothing like that!" As Teal'c still regarded him stonily, he turned to Daniel and pointed in his direction. "Danny will help you, Teal'c. He's good with this sort of thing." With that, he grabbed hold of Sam and Jonas by their sleeves and all but pulled them up the ramp as the Wormhole appeared, bathing them all in a blue light.
"You really did disserve that, you know." Sam told him frankly as they walked up the ramp, Teal'c and a busily explaining Daniel behind them.
Jack sighed. "That man will be the death of me, I swear."
Laughing, Sam turned around and walked backwards towards the Wormhole. "As long as it's not in the next few days, I'm not complaining." she teased, now that they were out of range of the Airmen. "We still have to have our talk, you know," she reminded him tenderly.
Coming to stop just inches from the Wormhole, Jack gave her a warm smile. "I look forward to it, Major." He said affectionately, causing Jonas to look between the two to see what he missed. But they both ignored him, lost in their own little world for the moment before Sam started to turn around as her body began to disappear through the blueness.
"See you on the other side, Colonel." Sam taunted, before turning around and disappearing completely.
Intending to follow her through, Jack instead heard the warning signs of the Gate's build up of power a second before he was thrown through the air so forcefully that he landed at the bottom of the ramp and rolled a few times before coming to a stop by the wall.
The gate room erupted in noise as the Gate started to scream, blue energy flickering over the Chevrons angrily. Faintly hearing the sounds of Daniel, Jonas and Teal'c landing and rolling next to him as they too, were thrown away from the gate, Jack looked up from the ground through dazed eyes at the gate as it began to flicker in and out, the sound of General Hammond's voice sounding through the room.
But Jack ignored it, he instead concentrated all of his power on the gate, knowing that his vision was fading into darkness as unconsciousness called. He watched as the Gate suddenly vanished before appearing again, causing alarms to sound loudly through the already chaos filled room.
Someone grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over onto his back, but he didn't see them, instead slowly closing his eyes against the pain, but his mind screaming out for him to get up and find her, to see where she had ended up. He forced his eyes open slowly and looked around the hazy room, but he couldn't see her at all.
"Sam." he whispered hoarsely, brokenly, as his thoughts suddenly returned to him and he realised in growing horror that she had gone through the gate.
"Sir, just try and stay still." He recognised Janet's voice through the dim, but he couldn't reply, he again closed his eyes and let his head fall limply to the side, not hearing her cry of alarm as he did so.
She was gone. Gone through the gate.
Both of them.
It was that thought that suddenly made Jack O'Neill finally give in to the darkness, his mind growing with the horror, ready to be unleashed on him when he awoke.
But for now it would just have to wait.
***
****
Story's Title Translation: "White Lady of the Mists"
Author: Damia
Email: Damia_1@hotmail.com
Pairing: Sam/Jack. Other/Other
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own anything Stargate SG-1! Also, don't own anything Lord of the Rings!! (Sadly!).
Season: Season 7 Stargate (Danny's back. Set Five years before Frodo and the Hobbits go to Rivendell for the Council of Elrond.
Summery: When you find yourself in a world that is not your own, you realise you are duty bound to help new friends protect theirs.
Notes: To my calculations, Sam arrives in Middle-Earth in the year, 3013 of the Third Age, five years before Council of Elrond, which is in October, 3018.
******
Part One: ""All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes.
There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméagol was young,
when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle.
Tall men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking.
They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates.
But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves,
always creeping, creeping."
Gollum at the Dead Marshes. "The Two Towers"
****
If he was honest with himself, the last few months had been some of the best in his life and Jack sure as hell wasn't complaining.
Even now, as he made his way down a corridor of the SGC, his hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was whistling happily, lost in his own little world that consisted of himself, a pot of warm melted chocolate and a very naked blonde major.
With that thought in mind, Jack O'Neill had a very broad grin on his face as he turned the corner and walked casually into the lab of his choice. Still whistling, he surveyed the room and a frown appeared on his face when he finally caught sight of the woman he was looking for. She was lying on the ground on her stomach, underneath her desk, her hands buried in a large box, rustling back and forth.
Knowing that she was completely oblivious to his presence, Jack silently shut the door behind him and leaned up against it, crossing his arms across his chest and he gazed down at the woman on the floor, fascinated, a huge grin slowly appearing on his face.
He couldn't see her face, unfortunately, but he would have bet a million dollars that her tongue would be poking out the side of her mouth and her eyes would almost be cross-eyed as she concentrated on what she was fiddling with. Even now, he could hear her muttering to herself and that notion made him grin even wider as a plan slowly formed in his mind.
Over the past two months he had learned a hell of a lot about Sam Carter that he hadn't realised before they had gotten together. Personally, in some cases, he thanked god that he hadn't known some of that stuff. How was he meant to concentrate if he knew that she had a tendency to wear totally un-regulation underwear on missions?
Her excuse had been that it made her feel more feminine on a team that consisted of her self and four males but Jack wasn't so sure. He had seen how she would wink at him as they walked up the ramp towards the Wormhole and he just knew she had done it to drive him mad. And it had worked. Now every time they went off world he would be staring at her ass as they climbed the ramp, wondering what lovely colour she would be wearing that day and how quickly they could wrap up the mission so he could find out first hand.
With that thought in mind, he noiselessly crept across the lab until he came to her desk, his feet just inches from her stretched out leg. Knowing that she had a tendency of turning off the camera in her lab if she was going to be doing anything remotely embarrassing (such as the time she spent half an hour looking for her car keys) he bent down at the knees and stretched out his hands.
Suddenly, he pounced.
Quick as lightening, he reached out with his hands and latched them onto her waist, squeezed tightly and said a loud "Boo!"
The effect was instantaneous.but not necessarily what he had been going for.
He had never heard a woman scream quite so loudly as Sam did then. His honestly thought his eardrums would never recover as she leapt upwards and seemingly tried to turn around at the same time to fend off her attacker. Jack, stunned at the volume of her shriek, just crouched there, face black and ears ringing, as she spun around on to her back, thumping her head on the bottom of the desk as she went and delivered an almighty punch to his face for good measure.
The force of the punch, aided by the fact that he was on unsteady legs, sent Jack flying.
He landed on his back and felt his breath being knocked out of him. For a few seconds he just lay there, dazed, before the sound of a woman's hysterical crying filtered into his ears.
Wincing as his knees protested, he flipped him self over and crawled on hands and knees over to Sam where she sat, leaning up against the desk, hiccupping as huge watery tears dripped down her face. There was a spot of blood on her forehead where she must have hit the bottom of the desk and Jack instantly reached out for it when he came to a stop, still on his hands and knees, in front of her.
She must have finally noticed him for she reached up and hit away his hand, still sobbing with the after-effects of fright. She turned her gaze on him as he jerked his hand back, and Jack was shocked to see her expression was murderous. Her eyes were narrowed in fury and before he could even think to move away, she reached out and punched him again on the other side of his face.
"You bastard!" she cried, sniffling, as she cradled her now throbbing hand against her chest.
Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all, Jack decided hazily as he reached up and tentatively touched both his injured checks.
Just then, the door was thrown open and Jack looked up through pounding eyes to see Daniel standing in the doorway, Teal'c right behind him, both men taking in the scene instantly. Sam sitting on the floor, crying her eyes out with a bleeding forehead and a mighty sore looking hand, while he wasn't looking much better with the beginning of two black eyes.
"Jack, what did you do to her?" Daniel cried, rushing over to Sam while Teal'c walked into the room and shut the door behind him.
"Thanks, Danny." Jack muttered back sarcastically while watching as the younger man helped Sam to her feet and lead her gently over to the chair. Even though he could be a pain in the butt, it really was great to have him back.
"Are you okay, Sam?" Danny asked her kindly, while reaching into his pocket for a hanky and dabbing it on the cut on her forehead. She had stopped crying now, but Jack could see her hands were still shaking. When she didn't answer Daniel, he turned back to Jack with narrowed eyes.
"Well?" he asked pointedly. "What happened here exactly and why is she crying!?"
Giving Teal'c a smile of thanks as the Jaffa helped him to his feet, Jack rubbed his hands over his face then winced as he touched his tender cheek. "It was an accident." Jack muttered loudly. "One that I'm sure as hell never repeating in this life time." Then suddenly, as if the injustice caused against him were finally realised, he stood up straighter and pointed at Sam.
"That woman is crazy! Do you realise that!? Completely nuts! She punched me! Twice!"
Daniel and Teal'c both stared at him like he was the crazy one but Jack didn't care. Silence filled the room abruptly, no one knowing exactly how to answer that. Then unexpectedly, Jack heard a sound he had become all too familiar with lately. Turning to Sam, he stared at her, astounded, as she did it again.
She was laughing.
"You think this is funny!?" he hollered
If he was expecting her to say sorry then he was sorely disappointed for she just looked down and wiped her running nose with the back of her hand. Snorting, unladylike, she looked around her lap at the mess on the floor and instantly frowned, all humour forgotten. Reaching out, she was about to whack Jack again, but he obviously saw her intention and jumped away from her swishing hand.
His eyes wide, he pointed at Sam and all but jumped up and down. "See!" he cried to Daniel and Teal'c. "She just tried to do it again!"
Daniel frowned at him and moved to stand slightly in front of Sam as if to protect her from her over crazed lover. "What the hell is the matter with you?" he asked, baffled at his team leader's behaviour. "Sam's the one bleeding here, Jack. A little consideration wouldn't go amiss, you know." His tone dripped disapproval.
Jack's mouth all but fell open. "I can't believe you guys!" he cried. "I try and do something funny and how do I get repaid? Two black eyes and more coming if shes got anything to say about it!"
He looked down at Sam and saw that she was smirking up at him from between her two protectors, who seemingly couldn't see her expression. Narrowing his eyes, not seeing any humour in the situation, he waved a finger right in front of her face. "And you!"
Words failed him and he desperately tried to think of a reprimand firm enough to yell at her. But she just continued to smirk up at him, not a care in the world, blood still dripping down her temple. It was the blood that did it. Jack felt his anger slip away like storm water down a drain and he just stood there, staring at her.
She saw it the second it happened and raised her eyebrows. "Well?" she said suddenly, getting Danny and Teal'c attention. "Had your fun for the day now that you've scared the crap out of me and cut my head open?"
Jack thought that 'head cutting' stuff was going a bit far but he wasn't about to say that, instead noticing instantly that she didn't sound so humorous any longer and realised that she had probably just been playing the fool to let him release steam before she tore a strip off him. Wincing, he knew he probably disserved it. Now that he thought about it, scaring her half to death probably wasn't a very good idea.
He was SO sleeping alone tonight.
Determined not to go down without a fight, he put his hands on his hips and stared her down. "Well, you shouldn't go punching people in your lab anyway! Hell! For all you know I could have been Hammond!"
All three of the people staring at him all raised their eyebrows identically but it was Sam who spoke.
"And why would the General be grabbing me round the waist anyway, Jack?" she asked tolerantly, rolling her eyes at the same time for good measure.
Sputtering, he ignored the smiles that suddenly appeared on Danny and Teal'c faces and wished fervently that he had never come into her lab in the first place and gone down to the commissary and had some pie. At least that way he wasn't going to be looking like a Panda tomorrow morning.
He groaned with that thought. Doc was going to be on his case with this one for the next five years at least.
Determined to save his dignity, Jack straightened his back and started walking backwards towards the door. "Yes, well." He said, fumbling with his words. He locked his gaze with Sam's. "I'll talk to YOU later."
And with that, he quickly spun around and bolted out the door, but not before he heard the sound of Sam's laughter and Daniel's half concerned, half joking comment of,
"Are you sure your okay, Sam? You want me to go get Janet? I'm sure she'd love this."
****
Two days later, Jack was beginning to think he would never live the incident down. He knew the grapevine in the SGC was bad, but man! He guessed it wasn't every day that a CO scares the pants off his 2IC enough to make her bled in her own laboratory. At least nobody was going over board with the rumours and adding romantic pointers to them, that would be all they needed.
Jack was thanking whatever gods existed that Hammond hadn't said anything. Oh, he had heard, that was obvious by the fleeting grin on his face when he and Sam had walked into the briefing room together yesterday morning. Jack could tell that he was just containing his mirth as he caught sight of Jack's darkened eyes and the cute little blue plaster on Sam's forehead. For all the world, they looked like a pair of causalities of war sporting their wounds.
But he had been concerned enough with Sam's head to postpone their mission a day in case she had any long term effects, a fact that had made Jack feel even more guilty than before and throw a quick glance in her direction to see for himself that she was actually okay. Which she was, of course. Over all, he had to admit she was taking it well. She was even allowing him in a 10-meter radius of her, which Jack saw as a bonus. In fact, they had shared a lovely evening just last night nursing their wounds together with a few very unconditional methods of their own.
So here they were, finally getting ready for their mission ahead, and Jack was running over a few minute details in his office before going to get geared up. They were set to leave for Cimmera in an hour, the whole team being invited back for some festival or rather. Jack didn't know all the details; he was leaving that up to Daniel, Jonas and Sam.
He had initially been surprised how well the newly formed SG-1 had worked with Daniel back in their midst after his little adventure through the stars, but he really shouldn't have bothered. Jonas and Danny had clicked together like glue and got on better than peanut butter and jam. Sam, of course, was almost always included in their little circle of brilliance, and the three of them would span off into a completely different language in Jack's books, leaving him and Teal'c to fend for themselves most of the time. Not that this bothered him overly much, for him spent the majority of his time staring at Sam's ass when she couldn't see.
He didn't know what Teal'c did to pass the time, but he sure as hell hoped it wasn't the same thing.
The sound of the door opening caught his attention and he looked up to see the woman in question silently walk through the door, turn around and quickly shut it, flicking the lock. Watching her, Jack frowned. She had never done that before, for obvious reasons. It would be way to obvious if someone found them locked together in his office.
"You okay?" he asked, getting a bit concerned when he saw the expression on her face when she turned back to face his desk. It was one of resolve and determination, as if she was about to drop a bombshell and was forcing herself to do it.
"I'm fine, Jack." She answered. "Great actually." Then a small, gentle smile appeared on her face as she reached out and dragged the other chair over to his desk. Sitting down serenely, she continued to watch him to his dismay.
"You sure, cause your really starting to freak me out."
A small smile tugged at the side of her mouth and she took a deep breath. "I skipped a period." She announced calmly.
Taking a sip of his coffee at the moment probably hadn't been a very good idea for he spat it right out again all over his dreaded paper work and stared across at the woman before him, wondering how the hell he was going to answer that one. Swallowing, he went for the diplomatic version, his brain not fully understanding what she was on about.
"Ahh..really?" he said, one eyebrow rose in delicate question. "Isn't that normal?" He coughed and quickly added, "I mean, doesn't that happen sometimes?"
Jesus, he wasn't up with all this woman crap, Jack thought absently. How was he supposed to deal with this?
"Not two in a row, Jack."
The penny finally dropped.
Jack stared at her, his mouth falling open in astonishment. He suddenly hoped by some slim chance he happened to have two hearts in his body for his first one sure wasn't up to working at that moment. A million thoughts unexpectedly flew through his mind and he wondering how he was ever going to sort through them all.
"Holy Shit." was all he could make out, as he continued to stare at her, amazed that she could be so calm as she sat there, gazing back at him. She raised an eyebrow at that and Jack realised she probably wasn't very impressed with his timely answer.
"I mean.are you sure?" He didn't know what the hell to do, whether he should get up off his seat and go around to her, or just sit there for the next few minutes until the feeling returned to his legs.
Sam tipped her head as a small smile appeared on her lips. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure, Jack."
Silence filled the room as she obviously gave him a few moments to get this all in. Jack just sat back in his desk and gaped at her, completely forgetting that the cameras in the room were probably monitoring their conversation at full volume.
Finally, Jack shook his head slowly and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "How?" he whispered, stunned at this new development.
Her eyebrow shot up again and she regarded him with the faint amusement that woman were so fond of using when men were being dumb asses. "Oh, I don't mean *how*, how. Just.. HOW, how?"
Sam cocked her head to the side slightly and grinned. "Was that actually a sentence?" But when Jack scowled at her, she chuckled, calm-as-you-please, and took pity on him.
"You remember a few months ago I had the flu?"
Jack snorted. Hell, of course he remembered. That, added with Daniel's unexpected return shortly before, had been that catalyst for them getting together in the first place.. but that was a whole other story!
Seeing she was waiting, he nodded his head and wisely kept his thoughts to himself. She continued with, "Yeah, well, it turns out that Janet stopped my birth control as they interfered with the medicines she was stuffing into me." Sam pulled a face with that. "I guess she just forgot to tell me."
"So we can pretty much blame this on the Doc?" Jack asked, sitting up straighter in his chair, liking the idea immensely.
But Sam frowned at that, not pleased. "I don't think there should be any blaming, thank you very much." Almost unconsciously, her hand went down to rest on her flat tummy. Seeing where she was heading, Jack jumped out of his chair and rushed around to her side of the desk, getting down on his knees before her, even though they both winced when they popped.
"Now don't you go thinking like that, Major." he said quickly, gathering both her hands in his, not caring what the cameras saw. "I didn't mean it like that, and shame on you for thinking otherwise." He reaching up and scratched his head, giving her a sheepish look.
"Just came at a bit of a shock, that's all."
Sam looked slightly peevish. "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting it either, Jack."
They looked at each other suddenly, both lost in the wonder of the news. "What are we going to do?" Jack whispered, mostly to himself, but she obviously heard for her face softened and she reached down to cup his cheek.
"I don't know, but we'll think of something." Then she looked at him with a shy smile. "I'm quite excited."
Jack looked up at her and felt the first signs of a grin appearing on his face. It grew and grew until he was out right smiling. "Same." He whispered, squeezing her hands.
There was no talk of them not having the baby, for it wasn't an option. They both loved kids, and there wasn't a chance in hell that they were going to get rid of it. Okay, so the timing was a little off, but that couldn't be helped and they would work with what they had to make a go of it. All of this didn't need to be voiced for they both already knew it in their hearts.
Finally, Sam gently let his hands go and stood up with a stretch. "Anyway, we better go get geared up or the others will start to wonder where we are."
Talk of the mission seem to drag Jack out of his wonderous gaze at Sam's belly and he threw a troubled look at her face. "Oh, hell, the mission." he stated, his tone full of dread.
She looked at him with an eyebrow raised, puzzled at his manner. "What about it?" she asked.
Jack spread his hands wide to include her body. "You can't go on a mission pregnant, Sam!" he cried, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Sam frowned. "Why ever not?" she asked, then seemingly realised what he was on about. "Oh, come on, Jack. It's Cimmera, for heavens sake. What's really gonna happen to me there?" Seeing that he was about to interrupt, she quickly continued. "And if you worried about Gate Travel, there is no reason what so ever that I can't go off world. Nothing Danny or any one else has found states any dangers to Gate Travel for a pregnant woman, 2 weeks or 9 months gone."
Jack snapped his mouth shut with that, but he still glared at her, clearly unhappy with the situation. Smiling, she went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick kiss on the lips that successfully wiped the frown from his face. Instead, he jerked his head in the direction of the cameras, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Your handy work, I gather?" he asked dryly, realising that she would never be this forward if they were being watched, not to mention the conversation.
But she just grinned, unabashed at her trickery, and kissed him again, hard on the lips.
When she drew back she was faintly proud to see the dazed look had reappeared on his face. Leaning forward so their foreheads touched, she looked deep into his eyes and whispered, "When we get back we'll sit down and talk it all over, okay? And I'll explain everything again cause there is no way you just took it all in just now." She grinned as he grew thoughtful, wondering if that was a complement or not.
Then he growled deeply, "You better." Pulling back, he punched a quick kiss to her nose and cupped both her cheeks. "I'm happy with this, Sam, I really am."
Tears forming, she looked up at him through blurry eyes. "I know. And so am I."
With that, the two lovers regretfully parted and Sam quickly reached up to wipe her eyes. It wouldn't do for people to see her crying in Colonel O'Neill's company twice in one week.
When she was ready, Jack opened the door and ushered her through, both of them now far to distracted to concentrate of the mission ahead.
****
They met up with the rest of their team a while later in the gate room where they were waiting for them. Teal'c and Jonas were standing together, having a casual conversation at the base of the ramp, while Daniel was kneeling down, rummaging through his backpack. He looked up as the two of them entered through the blast doors and smiled at them.
"There you are. We were beginning to wonder if you guys were going to turn up at all." He joked, his tone quiet as there were Airmen around who would have heard if he'd been any louder and Daniel definitely didn't want to be the one who gave Sam and Jack's secret away. He and the others had known they were seeing each other secretly practically since it had happened, but that didn't mean he had the right to go blab it onto the next person. He had been touched that they had trusted him enough to keep it a secret and he honoured that trust greatly. He knew that Jonas and Teal'c felt the same.
Sam looked into Daniel's face and smiled, even though there was still the faint spookiness she felt seeing him without his glasses. There were some advantages to Ascending and Descending, she understood, and getting perfect eye vision was one of them.
Giving Danny a slap on the back as a greeting, the more thoughtful Colonel than usual greeted Jonas and Teal'c with a soft 'Hello.'
"Ready Campers?" he asked, turning his gaze up to the Control Room when they all nodded. He tipped his hat at General Hammond who was standing there, watching them, and he could see him ordering the Gate be dialled up through the glass. Turning back to face his team, he noticed Daniel frowning at him in concern as he flicked glances back and forth from him and Sam.
"You okay, Jack?" he asked, wondering what he was missing to make the Colonel so subdued, yet calm.
Jack smiled at his friend but shot Sam a fond look before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine, Danny." Before the Doctor could answer, Jack turned back to the ramp as the gate started to dial up.
Jonas and Teal'c broke off their conversation and walked over to stand next to Sam and Daniel. "I can't wait to meet this woman, Daniel." Jonas said, excitedly, and he was all but pulling on his friend's sleeve.
Sam hid her smile but Jack turned to regard Jonas with bland interest. "If you talking about Gairwyn, then your in for a treat, Jonas. Shes a great old bird." He shot Sam an amused glance. "You'll really like her."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that as the sound of the gate dialling up filled the room. "I do not see the resemblance to the Lady Gairwyn and a bird, O'Neill. Am I to believe you speak of her with some injustice?" His tone was disproving and Jack looked at him in surprise.
"Hell no, Teal'c!" he said, shaking his hands in front of him. "Its nothing like that!" As Teal'c still regarded him stonily, he turned to Daniel and pointed in his direction. "Danny will help you, Teal'c. He's good with this sort of thing." With that, he grabbed hold of Sam and Jonas by their sleeves and all but pulled them up the ramp as the Wormhole appeared, bathing them all in a blue light.
"You really did disserve that, you know." Sam told him frankly as they walked up the ramp, Teal'c and a busily explaining Daniel behind them.
Jack sighed. "That man will be the death of me, I swear."
Laughing, Sam turned around and walked backwards towards the Wormhole. "As long as it's not in the next few days, I'm not complaining." she teased, now that they were out of range of the Airmen. "We still have to have our talk, you know," she reminded him tenderly.
Coming to stop just inches from the Wormhole, Jack gave her a warm smile. "I look forward to it, Major." He said affectionately, causing Jonas to look between the two to see what he missed. But they both ignored him, lost in their own little world for the moment before Sam started to turn around as her body began to disappear through the blueness.
"See you on the other side, Colonel." Sam taunted, before turning around and disappearing completely.
Intending to follow her through, Jack instead heard the warning signs of the Gate's build up of power a second before he was thrown through the air so forcefully that he landed at the bottom of the ramp and rolled a few times before coming to a stop by the wall.
The gate room erupted in noise as the Gate started to scream, blue energy flickering over the Chevrons angrily. Faintly hearing the sounds of Daniel, Jonas and Teal'c landing and rolling next to him as they too, were thrown away from the gate, Jack looked up from the ground through dazed eyes at the gate as it began to flicker in and out, the sound of General Hammond's voice sounding through the room.
But Jack ignored it, he instead concentrated all of his power on the gate, knowing that his vision was fading into darkness as unconsciousness called. He watched as the Gate suddenly vanished before appearing again, causing alarms to sound loudly through the already chaos filled room.
Someone grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over onto his back, but he didn't see them, instead slowly closing his eyes against the pain, but his mind screaming out for him to get up and find her, to see where she had ended up. He forced his eyes open slowly and looked around the hazy room, but he couldn't see her at all.
"Sam." he whispered hoarsely, brokenly, as his thoughts suddenly returned to him and he realised in growing horror that she had gone through the gate.
"Sir, just try and stay still." He recognised Janet's voice through the dim, but he couldn't reply, he again closed his eyes and let his head fall limply to the side, not hearing her cry of alarm as he did so.
She was gone. Gone through the gate.
Both of them.
It was that thought that suddenly made Jack O'Neill finally give in to the darkness, his mind growing with the horror, ready to be unleashed on him when he awoke.
But for now it would just have to wait.
***