CHAPTER SIX: MAJOR HELPING.
At dinner that night Vicky and the General talked into the small hours of the morning. After her uncle had walked her back to the guest VIP quarters she tried to sleep, but she was having a hard time. The part of their conversation that kept running through her head was about Jack, of course.
"You know, Uncle George, I did love Jack, but I wonder after all this how really accurate those memories are. I'm sure that I romanticized it all as a coping method. I don't want to be with him because he feels he has a duty to me, even I really have been lonely. I tried not to let it bother me, but I didn't' realize how much it did until today. Also, a blind person could see the he and Major Carter have feelings for each other."
"Yes, we are all aware of that, but they have never acted on them."
"Only because of the regulations. If it weren't for them I have no doubt that they would be together."
"She is seeing someone now and she seems happy with him."
"So everyone keeps telling me."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
After much tossing and turning she manager to drift off for a couple of hours but was awake by 0500 hours. She grabbed some breakfast and asked a passing SF to show her where Major Carter's lab was.
//Damn, I can't believe she's already here\\
Sam had her head inside of a piece of equipment when Vicky rapped lightly on the doorframe. Sam's head whipped up and she hit it on the casing.
"That's gotta hurt!"
"M'am, you startled me. Usually I'm the only one here this early."
"Why don't you call me Vicky? After all I don't know yet it I'm still in the service, being dead and all."
Sam gave her a big smile and nodded, "OK, but only if you call me Sam"
"Deal. I understand that you have all of the alien technology that I brought here."
"Right in my safe. I thought I should keep it locked up until we could both look at them."
"Good choice, because they are keyed to my DNA and if you had tried get into any of them they would have self destructed." Noticing Sam's expression she continued quickly, "They would have fused the insides and would be useless. They wouldn't have blown up or anything."
Sam turned a little pink and her over active imagination and opened the safe to give the things to Vicky.
They set the equipment on a near by empty lab table. Vicky picked up two objects about the size of large paperback books. "These are data storage devices."
"Oh, like my laptop."
"What's a laptop?"
"Sorry, I forgot that you've been...away for a while. A laptop is a computer smaller than a briefcase."
"Cool. And I've been off world. Saying I've been...away makes me seem like I was committed to an institution."
Sam gave a little snort at her joke.
"Anyway they are basically the same sort of thing using Asguard technology. I color coded them to make them easier to tell apart the blue one contains what are more or less technical manuals for all the Asguard and Go'ould devices that I have come across. The red one is my journal and mission reports for the last twenty-three years. Now give me your hand."
Sam was practically drooling over the tech manual one. But looked puzzled when asked for her hand.
"I am going to key your DNA so that you will be able to access the technical stuff."
"Wow, that's great, M'am." She looked like she had just been given all of her Christmas wish list at once.
Vicky stopped for a second, "now look I'll only do this if you call me Vicky."
"Sorry, Vicky, I promise. Holy Hannah, I'll call you your majesty for that!"
"No, Sam, Vicky is just fine. I'm going to have to go through the other one to check for personal stuff before I open it to you." "I understand. It would be like reading your diary. I sure wouldn't want anyone to read mine."
"You keep a diary?"
Sam blushed again. Gee, this was becoming a habit. "Doesn't everyone?"
"Some how I can't see Jack writing in one."
"I think you're right. Maybe it's a girl thing."
They got down to some serious work and really didn't talk for a while. While they were waiting for some test results, Vicky thought it would be a good time to bring some things that were bothering her.
"Sam, can I talk to you about some things? Jack mainly. If it makes you uncomfortable we don't have to. I just don't have any friends and it's not really something I can talk to Uncle George about."
Carter looked kind of uneasy.
"That's Ok, forget I said anything."
"No, we can talk if you need to. I'm sure this has been traumatic for you."
"That's an understatement. Thor gave me about thirty seconds warning before beaming me down. I never expected to be on Earth again much less see Jack. So much has happened to us I know we have both changed. I'm thinking of leaving again after I set you up with everything. Jack will want to be responsible for me out of duty, and I don't' want to be an obligation. And are we even really married? I think we have the "til death us do part" cover, not to mention that technically I'm a clone, even though I have all the memories of the original."
"I can't even imagine what you are going through. I do want to ask do, or did you love the Colonel?"
'We may have started out married as a mission, but yes, I really loved him. I still do."
"I think the two of you should talk and take it slowly and get to know each other. The Colonel is a good man and I know that he loves you, too. Maybe you can have a relationship again, but at least you'll still have a good friend and won't be alone anymore."
"Damn, you're smart. I am glad I talked to you. I hope we can be friends, too."
"I'd like that."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~
Several hours later they trying to get the devise back together. Vicky was mumbling unkind comments about Asguard contortionists. She had one shoulder on the floor with her arm inside the other arm was trying to hold a piece higher up in place. Her knees were against her chest leaving her ass in the air.
//I'm sure this is SUCH an attractive position\\
She felt someone behind her and heard a familiar jingling of change and keys.
//Perfect, just great\\
"Did you want something, Jack?"
She heard Sam giggle, and saw that he was staring at her ass.
"She glanced at Sam and said, "It's not MY ass that you're supposed to want!"
Almost simultaneously.
"Um, I'm a guy?"
"Vicky, we NEVER..." from a VERY embarrassed Major.
"Relax, Sam, I know. I was just teasing you. You are WAY to serious."
"She's right, carter. Vicky? You can call her Vicky after one day and can't call me Jack after eight years?"
"I'm just cuter than you Jack."
"I'll agree with you on that one. Cuter? Something you two want to tell me about your...lifestyle?" //Like I needed that image running around in my brain\\ Jack start's tl mentally field strip a P-90 to tame his thoughts.
"So, did you want something other than staring at my ass?"
"While I could stare at it all day I thought you needed to take a lunch break."
"You are such a guy."
Jack grinned and Sam looked at her watch, "Wow, it's already 1300. You go ahead and eat, I just want to finish this."
"Is she always like this?"
"Pretty much."
"I'm sitting right here you know."
"Yes but you are going to eat lunch with us or I'll remove your access to the manuals."
"That is so not fair."
"Blackmail, I find that often works with Carter myself."
Jack offered both of them a hand up and they headed off to the commissary with a sulky Carter behind them.
At dinner that night Vicky and the General talked into the small hours of the morning. After her uncle had walked her back to the guest VIP quarters she tried to sleep, but she was having a hard time. The part of their conversation that kept running through her head was about Jack, of course.
"You know, Uncle George, I did love Jack, but I wonder after all this how really accurate those memories are. I'm sure that I romanticized it all as a coping method. I don't want to be with him because he feels he has a duty to me, even I really have been lonely. I tried not to let it bother me, but I didn't' realize how much it did until today. Also, a blind person could see the he and Major Carter have feelings for each other."
"Yes, we are all aware of that, but they have never acted on them."
"Only because of the regulations. If it weren't for them I have no doubt that they would be together."
"She is seeing someone now and she seems happy with him."
"So everyone keeps telling me."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
After much tossing and turning she manager to drift off for a couple of hours but was awake by 0500 hours. She grabbed some breakfast and asked a passing SF to show her where Major Carter's lab was.
//Damn, I can't believe she's already here\\
Sam had her head inside of a piece of equipment when Vicky rapped lightly on the doorframe. Sam's head whipped up and she hit it on the casing.
"That's gotta hurt!"
"M'am, you startled me. Usually I'm the only one here this early."
"Why don't you call me Vicky? After all I don't know yet it I'm still in the service, being dead and all."
Sam gave her a big smile and nodded, "OK, but only if you call me Sam"
"Deal. I understand that you have all of the alien technology that I brought here."
"Right in my safe. I thought I should keep it locked up until we could both look at them."
"Good choice, because they are keyed to my DNA and if you had tried get into any of them they would have self destructed." Noticing Sam's expression she continued quickly, "They would have fused the insides and would be useless. They wouldn't have blown up or anything."
Sam turned a little pink and her over active imagination and opened the safe to give the things to Vicky.
They set the equipment on a near by empty lab table. Vicky picked up two objects about the size of large paperback books. "These are data storage devices."
"Oh, like my laptop."
"What's a laptop?"
"Sorry, I forgot that you've been...away for a while. A laptop is a computer smaller than a briefcase."
"Cool. And I've been off world. Saying I've been...away makes me seem like I was committed to an institution."
Sam gave a little snort at her joke.
"Anyway they are basically the same sort of thing using Asguard technology. I color coded them to make them easier to tell apart the blue one contains what are more or less technical manuals for all the Asguard and Go'ould devices that I have come across. The red one is my journal and mission reports for the last twenty-three years. Now give me your hand."
Sam was practically drooling over the tech manual one. But looked puzzled when asked for her hand.
"I am going to key your DNA so that you will be able to access the technical stuff."
"Wow, that's great, M'am." She looked like she had just been given all of her Christmas wish list at once.
Vicky stopped for a second, "now look I'll only do this if you call me Vicky."
"Sorry, Vicky, I promise. Holy Hannah, I'll call you your majesty for that!"
"No, Sam, Vicky is just fine. I'm going to have to go through the other one to check for personal stuff before I open it to you." "I understand. It would be like reading your diary. I sure wouldn't want anyone to read mine."
"You keep a diary?"
Sam blushed again. Gee, this was becoming a habit. "Doesn't everyone?"
"Some how I can't see Jack writing in one."
"I think you're right. Maybe it's a girl thing."
They got down to some serious work and really didn't talk for a while. While they were waiting for some test results, Vicky thought it would be a good time to bring some things that were bothering her.
"Sam, can I talk to you about some things? Jack mainly. If it makes you uncomfortable we don't have to. I just don't have any friends and it's not really something I can talk to Uncle George about."
Carter looked kind of uneasy.
"That's Ok, forget I said anything."
"No, we can talk if you need to. I'm sure this has been traumatic for you."
"That's an understatement. Thor gave me about thirty seconds warning before beaming me down. I never expected to be on Earth again much less see Jack. So much has happened to us I know we have both changed. I'm thinking of leaving again after I set you up with everything. Jack will want to be responsible for me out of duty, and I don't' want to be an obligation. And are we even really married? I think we have the "til death us do part" cover, not to mention that technically I'm a clone, even though I have all the memories of the original."
"I can't even imagine what you are going through. I do want to ask do, or did you love the Colonel?"
'We may have started out married as a mission, but yes, I really loved him. I still do."
"I think the two of you should talk and take it slowly and get to know each other. The Colonel is a good man and I know that he loves you, too. Maybe you can have a relationship again, but at least you'll still have a good friend and won't be alone anymore."
"Damn, you're smart. I am glad I talked to you. I hope we can be friends, too."
"I'd like that."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~
Several hours later they trying to get the devise back together. Vicky was mumbling unkind comments about Asguard contortionists. She had one shoulder on the floor with her arm inside the other arm was trying to hold a piece higher up in place. Her knees were against her chest leaving her ass in the air.
//I'm sure this is SUCH an attractive position\\
She felt someone behind her and heard a familiar jingling of change and keys.
//Perfect, just great\\
"Did you want something, Jack?"
She heard Sam giggle, and saw that he was staring at her ass.
"She glanced at Sam and said, "It's not MY ass that you're supposed to want!"
Almost simultaneously.
"Um, I'm a guy?"
"Vicky, we NEVER..." from a VERY embarrassed Major.
"Relax, Sam, I know. I was just teasing you. You are WAY to serious."
"She's right, carter. Vicky? You can call her Vicky after one day and can't call me Jack after eight years?"
"I'm just cuter than you Jack."
"I'll agree with you on that one. Cuter? Something you two want to tell me about your...lifestyle?" //Like I needed that image running around in my brain\\ Jack start's tl mentally field strip a P-90 to tame his thoughts.
"So, did you want something other than staring at my ass?"
"While I could stare at it all day I thought you needed to take a lunch break."
"You are such a guy."
Jack grinned and Sam looked at her watch, "Wow, it's already 1300. You go ahead and eat, I just want to finish this."
"Is she always like this?"
"Pretty much."
"I'm sitting right here you know."
"Yes but you are going to eat lunch with us or I'll remove your access to the manuals."
"That is so not fair."
"Blackmail, I find that often works with Carter myself."
Jack offered both of them a hand up and they headed off to the commissary with a sulky Carter behind them.