Hiya. I've decided to write a few more chapters to this supposed one-off as a few of you suggested. However I'm not going to continue the story now, rather write the same scene from different points of view (I'm saving the continuation until right at the end. You know, just to keep you suspended. Lol.) So next up… Teal'c. Gotta love that big guy. Thanks to everyone that reviewed.
Teal'c pulled down his hat and sipped his milkshake cautiously. He had been recommended it by O'Neill and while he would trust his fellow warrior with his life on the battlefield, Teal'c was not sure that his taste in beverages matched his own. However he was relieved to find that he actually quite liked it and nodded his appreciation to O'Neill who was sitting next to him.
But O'Neill was not looking at him; instead he was glancing, eyes just visible through his sunglasses, from Major Carter to her boyfriend, only this morning to whom Teal'c had been politely introduced as 'Pete', and back again. Frowning slightly Teal'c followed his gaze towards Major Carter who was staring fixedly at Pete with a complicated expression on her face.
Teal'c had been watching Pete for most of the afternoon, trying to weigh up what sort of person he was. He was fiercely protective of Major Carter, indeed he was of all of his team, and was concerned about her decision to 'go out' as he believed the Tauri called it, with this man. While seeming to be perfectly courteous and amiable at first, Teal'c had noticed that Pete did not meet his eyes the few times he had talked to him. On Chu'lac a Jaffa was considered to be weak of will or devious if he or she did not look a speaker in the eye. Teal'c was aware that on Earth the Tauri did not follow the customs of Chu'lac but his old habits remained and he could not decide if he liked Pete or not.
The man in question was currently talking to Daniel Jackson about a place he had heard O'Neill mention occasionally, normally in relation to food; Mexico. Pete had, perhaps sensing a chance to show off his travelling experience to the people present, immediately began to speak as soon as Daniel Jackson as stopped, although, as Teal'c kept telling himself, he mustn't keep seeing the worst in him. Perhaps O'Neill's mood was contagious.
As if physically attempting to see Pete in a better light, Teal'c tilted his head slightly. At least he was fairly certain that Pete would treat Major Carter with the respect that she deserved. Teal'c could tell that he liked her very much as he always stayed very close to her; only grudgingly sitting opposite her at the café table because Daniel automatically sat beside to her, as was usual at briefings.
Teal'c could practically feel the jealousy radiating off him in regards to the relationships between Major Carter and the rest of SG1. What Pete could not seem to understand was that SG1 was a family. He kept shooting strangely apprehensive glances at them, in particular O'Neill, as if they were in some way intruding upon him and Major Carter. Perhaps it was because the rest of the team were male. Or possibly because he felt intimidated by them. Whatever the reason, Teal'c could tell Pete was uneasy around Major Carter's teammates.
Teal'c then focused on the main source of Pete's disquiet; O'Neill. He was watching Major Carter, his face a mask, not a glimpse of his inner emotions showing through his unreadable exterior. To Teal'c this revealed more about what him was feeling than a facial expression ever could. O'Neill seemed to sigh inwardly and started to draw in the sheen of condensation on the table, left there by his beer bottle.
There was a slight break in the conversation and Major Carter blinked slowly and her eyes shifted to the right to rest upon O'Neill, whose tall frame was still bowed over the table, apparently deep in thought.
Taking another sip of his milkshake Teal'c sat back and watched what Daniel Jackson liked to call a 'Jack O'Neill moment' unravel. Oblivious to his subordinate officer's gaze, he picked up the beer bottle and studied it carefully. It was like observing Major Carter in her lab or Daniel Jackson in some long abandoned ruins; he had the same sense of child-like fascination. Smiling faintly Teal'c turned back to look at the busy street to in front of him.
Suddenly Teal'c heard the loud snap of plastic on plastic and, twisting around in his seat to look, found that the source of the noise had been O'Neill putting his sunglasses clumsily down on the cheap café table. He then slowly raised the bottle up to the sunlight so it shone through the glass, a green shadow across his face.
Raising a customary eyebrow, Teal'c glanced bemusedly at the rest of his teammates. Daniel Jackson was plainly trying not to laugh and, after seeing Pete's expression, Teal'c knew why. Pete was glaring at fiercely at O'Neill who was quite oblivious to anyone or anything except the beer bottle. Or at least that was how it seemed, for Teal'c was almost certain that O'Neill was perfectly aware of Pete's anger and, for whatever reason, was doing nothing about it.
Major Carter was also smiling but so indistinctly that Teal'c doubted that anyone but himself, O'Neill or Daniel would notice. As Pete and Daniel's conversation finally resumed, she didn't move, her gaze remaining on O'Neill.
Teal'c felt strangely separate from the rest of the people at the table; O'Neill and Major Carter seemed to create a sort of bubble of understanding around them, as if they shared a secret joke that no one else knew the meaning of. He watched as O'Neill realised he had an observer and grinned lopsidedly at her. She smiled back. Then they just stared at each other, the moment frozen in time.
Teal'c knew that O'Neill and Carter had a bond that was different from that of say Daniel and Teal'c. It was never mentioned except in very extreme circumstances, and by SG1's standards extreme could mean even beyond death, but somehow people knew. O'Neill's and Major Carter's feelings for each other used to be an unspoken constant apparent to everyone but the two people involved. However recently, although those feelings were still there, the previously evitable outcome did not seem so evitable to most people anymore. Pete was the physical manifestation of that.
But Teal'c was an observant person. He knew better than most people.
"O'Neill." Deciding that O'Neill and Major Carter's exchange had gone on too long, Teal'c interrupted them. "I believe it is time for the hockey fixture." Acting as if nothing had happened, they looked suddenly away and O'Neill turned to Teal'c.
"So it is." He and Daniel Jackson got up. "You sure you don't want to come with us Carter?" He asked her casually.
"Sorry we've got plans." Said Pete, answering for her and moving closer possessively.
"Nice to have met you." Said Daniel Jackson courteously.
"Indeed." Said Teal'c neither disagreeing nor agreeing.
"Yeah." O'Neill said dismissively. ""Well we'll see ya tomorrow then Carter." Then they walked off and as Teal'c glanced over his shoulder he could see that Major Carter looked strangely small.
Immediately O'Neill launched into a tirade about the Tauri sport known as hockey, waving wildly at him. Teal'c recognised this as an excuse for distraction but was still slightly disturbed by the enthusiasm that the people of Earth reserved for talking about sports.
As Teal'c stared at the ground, trying to block out comments such as "You should really try ice-hockey T, you've got the build for it." He noticed the dappled green shadows on the ground cast by the trees overhead and was reminded forcibly of why two of his best friends had a big decision to make.