"Major Carter, what do you think you're doing?" Hammond asked as he entered
her lab. Sam was stood on her desk scrubbing the ceiling with wire brush to
try and get rid of the smoke marks.
"Cleaning sir." She said.
"And why exactly are you scrubbing the ceiling? It's not in your job description and you're supposed to be on downtime."
"Colonel Hudson called me into take care of the situation, but there is nothing I can do until requisitions opens at 0900 so I thought I'd clean up and save maintenance from doing it since they're not here yet."
"What situation?" Hammond demanded.
"Someone decided to use my lab after I left and made sure everything was secure. They managed to leave the microscope to over heat causing it to explode upwards embedding glass in the ceiling and causing a smoke mark."
"Was anyone injured?"
"No sir. It just caused a loud bang sir and a puff of smoke." She explained.
"Some else could have dealt with this, it definitely doesn't require your expertise."
"Colonel Hudson ordered me to be here half an hour after he called to 'fix' the problem sir. Since as I said there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time, I thought I should clean up."
"What time was this?"
"I spoke with him at 0430, but he'd been paging me for ten minutes before that and had someone ring me sir."
"And why didn't you answer his initial page?" Hammond asked.
"We were on the roof watching the sunrise sir. So we didn't hear it but it woke Annabelle."
"I see, I'll have a discussion with Colonel Hudson. Go home Major."
"Sir, the requisition paperwork for a new microscope." Sam handed him the file with the paperwork in.
"Enjoy the rest of your downtime and next time take your pager onto the roof with you." He winked at her.
"Yes sir." She smiled.
~
Sam pushed open the door to the house it was almost 0830. The smell of coffee hit her.
"Got a spare cup of that?" Sam asked.
"You're back." Jack smiled.
"Fixed the problem."
"Did one better I got the base commander to spring me and I brought breakfast." She held up a box of pastries.
"Did you buy cake?" He asked.
"Jack, it's not even 0900 it is too early for cake. But not for cream pastries. If you want a cake we'll try and bake a cake later."
"You really want to try that?" He asked.
"We've got somewhere else to stay if we burnt the place down."
"So you think you're up to baking a cake?"
"Well I haven't had chance to blow anything up for while and the closest I get to it is someone exploding a microscope over my lab so I think it will be worth it."
"They exploded a microscope? How do you manage that?" He asked.
"By leaving it on and it over heating. Since I couldn't do anything except fill out a requisition form I couldn't file, so I cleared the glass out the ceiling and scrubbed it with a wire brush to get rid of the smoke marks."
"Don't you have maintenance people for that?" Annabelle asked as she joined them.
"They don't start until 0800. I brought pastries for breakfast. Besides after being ordered to the base, cleaning was something to do if I don't want my lab smelling of smoke when I go back to work on Monday."
"I suppose so."
~
"Call us when you get home." Jack hugged his mother goodbye.
"It was nice to meet you in person Annabelle. Sorry about all the work interruptions." Sam said as she gave her a hug goodbye.
"It was nice to meet you too Samantha. Remember to send me a wedding invitation this time."
"I promise. Have a good flight." They watched as she walked through the gate.
"Shall we go home?" Jack asked.
"We've got a cake to make."
TBC
"Cleaning sir." She said.
"And why exactly are you scrubbing the ceiling? It's not in your job description and you're supposed to be on downtime."
"Colonel Hudson called me into take care of the situation, but there is nothing I can do until requisitions opens at 0900 so I thought I'd clean up and save maintenance from doing it since they're not here yet."
"What situation?" Hammond demanded.
"Someone decided to use my lab after I left and made sure everything was secure. They managed to leave the microscope to over heat causing it to explode upwards embedding glass in the ceiling and causing a smoke mark."
"Was anyone injured?"
"No sir. It just caused a loud bang sir and a puff of smoke." She explained.
"Some else could have dealt with this, it definitely doesn't require your expertise."
"Colonel Hudson ordered me to be here half an hour after he called to 'fix' the problem sir. Since as I said there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time, I thought I should clean up."
"What time was this?"
"I spoke with him at 0430, but he'd been paging me for ten minutes before that and had someone ring me sir."
"And why didn't you answer his initial page?" Hammond asked.
"We were on the roof watching the sunrise sir. So we didn't hear it but it woke Annabelle."
"I see, I'll have a discussion with Colonel Hudson. Go home Major."
"Sir, the requisition paperwork for a new microscope." Sam handed him the file with the paperwork in.
"Enjoy the rest of your downtime and next time take your pager onto the roof with you." He winked at her.
"Yes sir." She smiled.
~
Sam pushed open the door to the house it was almost 0830. The smell of coffee hit her.
"Got a spare cup of that?" Sam asked.
"You're back." Jack smiled.
"Fixed the problem."
"Did one better I got the base commander to spring me and I brought breakfast." She held up a box of pastries.
"Did you buy cake?" He asked.
"Jack, it's not even 0900 it is too early for cake. But not for cream pastries. If you want a cake we'll try and bake a cake later."
"You really want to try that?" He asked.
"We've got somewhere else to stay if we burnt the place down."
"So you think you're up to baking a cake?"
"Well I haven't had chance to blow anything up for while and the closest I get to it is someone exploding a microscope over my lab so I think it will be worth it."
"They exploded a microscope? How do you manage that?" He asked.
"By leaving it on and it over heating. Since I couldn't do anything except fill out a requisition form I couldn't file, so I cleared the glass out the ceiling and scrubbed it with a wire brush to get rid of the smoke marks."
"Don't you have maintenance people for that?" Annabelle asked as she joined them.
"They don't start until 0800. I brought pastries for breakfast. Besides after being ordered to the base, cleaning was something to do if I don't want my lab smelling of smoke when I go back to work on Monday."
"I suppose so."
~
"Call us when you get home." Jack hugged his mother goodbye.
"It was nice to meet you in person Annabelle. Sorry about all the work interruptions." Sam said as she gave her a hug goodbye.
"It was nice to meet you too Samantha. Remember to send me a wedding invitation this time."
"I promise. Have a good flight." They watched as she walked through the gate.
"Shall we go home?" Jack asked.
"We've got a cake to make."
TBC