VIII. Leave Taking

      Samantha looked up as the door to her lab opened. A military personal stepped into the room, and looked up. He was tall, had dark hair and seemed to be lost. Sam gained her posture and cleared her throat, and the personal looked at her. "May I help you?"

      "I think I'm…a little lost."  He answered, looking around. Sam lifted her eyebrow and he turned to leave. "Sorry for bothering you…..Ms…?"

      "Lieutenant Colonel Carter." Sam told him. He turned back to her and thought for a moment. "And yes if you were wondering I am the one that is taking the crew on the EC4567 Horizon, yes I have been with the SGC for eight years, and yes I am single."

      "Well….that was a bit more than I wanted to know." He smiled, and Sam looked at him oddly. "I was just going to ask where the food was."

      "Wrong floor…."

      "Major." He answered. "Major John Sheppard at your service, Lieutenant Colonel." He waved to her and she nodded.

      "John Sheppard, I've heard a lot about you." Sam commented. She stood and came over to him, and he lifted his eyebrow. "Dr. Weir doesn't think it is too wise to bring you onto the Atlantis expedition." John rolled his eyes. "However, I do think it is a good idea. You had better prove to me that you were worth fighting about, Major. Weir and I had a heated talk about you."

      "She is a heater all by herself." John mumbled and followed Sam out as she exited. "Weir has her head too far up her ass to even see what I was trying to do, but I guess that's what you get for being a doctor of social human health. Seriously, what kind of doctor is that? What is she going to do, make my mental boo-boos better?"

      "She is a valuable member to the expedition, but I do agree that her field of study is a bit…off." Sam stepped into the elevator and John joined her. She smiled to herself, John reminded her of Jack. He sighed and straightened his jacket, the Atlantis badge on his arm. "I doesn't seem like you are quiet ready for this, Major."

      "Well I sit down in this odd looking chair and find out I have some alien weirdo gene in me, then I'm shipped off to a facility underground where a giant stone dohnut is going to take me to a new Galaxy, yea I am defiantly not ready for this. But thank you for your concern." John sighed and folded his arms, looking at her. "So…what is a EC4567 Horizon? Sounds like something from that old show Thunderbirds that they are making a movie out of."

      Sam smiled and shook her head. "It is a ship that Earth and our allies the Asgard are building." She looked at him as he stared blankly at her. "I take it you….don't know anything about the SGC program."

      "Nope, not a damn bit." John sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. "Though I take it that you won't be here on Earth for long….you think you'll be in my nick of the woods?"

      "The Pegasus Galaxy?" Sam thought. "Well, the Asgard ships can go into other Galaxies, I suppose so…but it all depends if it's on my way of my mission, Major…why?"

      "Dunno." John shrugged. "Just thought you could go out for some fresh air and take a step out of that office of yours, Lieutenant Colonel." John smiled at her as her eyebrows met her hairline. "And yes if you were wondering that was an invitation to dinner." The elevator stopped and he got out. "See you around, Lieutenant Colonel." He waved and headed down the hallway.

      Sam stood there before hitting the button on the elevator to go down another floor. She hadn't dated someone since she broke up with Pete over Jack's 'death'. She blinked, being in shock as the elevator headed to its destination.

      "So, then did you do it?" Lieutenant Aiden Ford asked as John walked by. John stopped and gave him a smirk and continued on his way. Aiden ran after him, looking at him. "You did do it! I can't believe you, Sheppard, what are you thinking? We are going to be leaving in a few days and you are asking the leader of another expedition for a date?!"

      "Ok for one, it was a dare to tick off McKay." John explained, and moved aside as a doctor passed. "Two, she's always stuck in that lab of hers, thought I'd be friendly and bother to ask her. And anyways, come on, if she says no then I wont really be heart broken."

      "You shouldn't have done that." Aiden warned. John stopped and looked at him oddly. "From what I hear she was personal from a Stargate team." John blinked. "They have teams of four men or more that go through the Stargate for exploring worlds, she was part of SG-1. From what I hear, the rest of her team was killed off on a mission…asking for a date might not be the best things to do right now, Sheppard. You had better watch what you do around her, people say she can rip you apart with a look."

      "You heard that from the whacko Russian cook didn't you?" John asked. "If I over stepped the boundries, then I'll find out…in the mean time, don't trust that Russian cook….I hear that he crushes Asgard bones into his food."

      Aiden stared at him as he walked away. Aiden blinked and frowned. "Asgard bones? Where the hell did that come from?"

-----------------

      "And that in a nutshell is the theory of relativity."  Rodney finished, putting down his fork. Jennifer Hailey and Jared Jameson stared at him. Jennifer smiled, understanding it while Jared sat there and continued to stare blankly at him. "Maybe now we should get into physics."

      "With all due respects, I don't think Lieutenant Jameson could stand another lecture." Jennifer smiled. Rodney sighed and leaned back in his seat. Jennifer looked over at Jared. "So, what do you enjoy doing?"

      "Reading comic books." Jared answered. "Like the old Spider-Man and X-Men comic books. The movies that they made were pretty good too, although I really don't like some things. But besides that, the occasional murder mystery is always good."

      "Odd sense of taste." Rodney mentioned, chewing his food with a rather odd face on. "I meant the food, don't worry." He gulped it down and looked at the two. "Seems like on Friday we are shipping off!"

      "Seems that way."

      The three turned and saw John Sheppard standing there, hands in his pockets. Jared and Jennifer nodded too him, and Rodney moved over so the Major could sit down. They all gave their introductions, besides Rodney who already knew John. They began eating for a bit before Rodney cleared his throat.

      "Word has it you asked Lt. Colonel Carter out for a date." Rodney said. John nodded and looked at Jennifer and Jared who shared looks of shock. "Not sure if that is a good idea, I mean why bother to start some kind of relationship when we are going to be out in a whole other galaxy?"

      "It's not a relationship." John muttered. "I just offered to take her out so she is outside the base. Friends is all, I mean, come on, I barely know more about this…Stargate than I do women…or at least military woman that work on secret projects." He took Rodney's fork and ate a small part of the food, making a sour face. "What the HELL is that?!"

      "Maybe its Asgard bones." Rodney mumbled and took his fork back.

      "I'd advise you not to get too wrapped up in the idea of Lt. Colonel, Major." Jennifer said. "I know what you mean, it's just…she had a hard time, as I am sure you know. She isn't really open to any person, not even her friends. Just as a heads up if she agreed to your little date." John nodded and looked up at the clock. Rodney stood and pushed John out of the way. "What's up?"

      "We got to get packing." Rodney answered and pushed John towards the door.

-----------------

      Sam entered the Embarkment Room. The whole Atlantis team was lined up inside, talking amongst themselves. She made her way through, coming over to Dr. Weir and Colonel Marshall Sumner. Colonel Marshall Sumner was the military man behind the Atlantis team. He reminded Sam of an old war hero, ignorant and rude. She nodded to both of them. "Ready?"

      "Not really, then again no one ever would be I suppose." Dr. Weir sighed. Sam nodded and looked over at Hammond, who nodded. Sam took a step aside.

      "May I have your attention?" Dr. Weir asked, and everyone turned their eyes to her. "We are about to try and make a connection with Atlantis. If we are successful in creating a stable wormhole, we will proceed. We only have enough power to make it through the gate this once, and we may not have enough power to return home." There was a mummer of uncertainty. Dr. Weir and Colonel Sumner moved down the ramp as the gate began to dial. Sam watched as the eighth chevron locked and the wormhole formed.  Dr. Weir nodded and Colonel Sumner moved forward with his men into the Stargate. Sheppard stopped and smiled at Sam.

      "Looks like we'll have a rain delay on that cheeseburger, Carter." He smiled and Sam nodded. "See you in the neighborhood?"

      "Hopefully, Major, hopefully." She smiled back and John entered the Stargate, following Aiden. She came over to an Airman who handed her a bottle of Champaign. Sam nodded to him and came to the gate once they had gone through, and slipped the bottle through the worm hole, and then it closed.

      John turned and looked as Weir as she headed to the gate in Atlantis. He came over to her, looking at the green glass bottle in her hands. A small note was attached to it that said. 'See you 'round, Space Cowboys. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and the crew of EC4567 Horizon'. John smiled and laughed, taking the bottle from Dr. Weir and headed out.

-----------------

      "How long do you think it will be before they open that bottle?" Jennifer asked as she moved to straighten her sitting position in the chair. Sam turned from the window and looked at Jennifer as they sat in the briefing room. "I mean, it is the last real carbonated drink from our Galaxy…and I don't think the Asgard would be happy for us playing Soda Boy with their ship."

      Sam smiled and sat down beside her. "We'll see when we get there….we might have to go to the Pegasus Galaxy anyways, but we'll see where our adventures take us now."

      Jennifer smiled and sighed. "I'm going to make a t-shirt. It's going to say 'I joined the Air Force, got shipped to a top secret program, went through the Stargate, nearly got killed by Goa'uld, and came back…and all I got in return was this stupid shirt." Sam laughed at that and nodded. "I'll make one for you too then, Carter."

      Sam nodded and looked down at her hands. Jack and Daniel would have loved that idea…she could just see Teal'c's reaction. His eyebrow uplifted, staring at them all as if he did not understand, but he would have understood that they thought it was funny. 'We Earthlings are just oddball I guess.' She thought.