MISSION BREIFING

Vicky could not believe she was in this position. Not only did O'Neill get into the house but also he had a gun to her head. She was both pissed and elated. Pissed because she took this as a failure, and she didn't take failure well, and elated to finally find someone who could actually watch her six on this dangerous mission.

The mission had to be done, she knew that and the Admiral was getting impatient.

"As a matter of fact you do."

"Excuse me?" Jack couldn't believe what she had said. His body started to react before he could rein his imagination in. Damn, what the hell was he thinking? /don't kid yourself, Jackie-boy, thinking is the last thing on your mind/

You pass the test, Captain, if you would be so kind as to remove the gun from my head I can brief you on the mission."

Jack let her go quickly, "Um, sorry about that."

"Don't be, Captain, you're the only one who even came close to passing the test." She led him into the living room of the house where she lit several candles, giving Jack a chance to look her over for the first time.

As she bent over to get some more candles from a cabinet her got a really good view of her ass. /nice/

"Beer?"

"Huh?"

"Would you like a beer, Captain? There are some in the fridge and it would be a shame for them to get warm."

"OK, sure"

"Oh, right, sorry." Vicky smiled and held out her hand for him to shake, "Commander Vicky McPherson."

"Captain Jack O'Neill."

"I know, I read your file," she told him over her shoulder. "Have a seat, I'll be right back."

Jack looked around and picked a seat on one end of the couch. He stood when Vicky came back and handed him a beer. "Thanks, Ma'am."

"Call me Vicky we'll be on first name basis for the mission."

"Uh, OK, then call me Jack."

"Have a seat, Jack." She went to a briefcase that was on the floor, picked it up and then set it on the coffee table and sat on the couch next to Jack. "By the way, you didn't kill the dogs, did you?"

"Jack was horrified at the very idea, "No, Ma'am, I used a tranquilizer gun."

She gave him a big smile, "good, I would hate to think you killed them."

"No, Ma'am, dogs are my favorite people."

Vicky laughed, "Mine, too. And Jack?"

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"For crying out loud, drop the Ma'am."

He gave her a big smile and look a gulp of his beer, "so what's this mission, Vicky?"

She smiled back and opened the briefcase and got out some files. "It has come to the attention of the United States government that a number of drug and arms dealers are in a dangerous alliance. There is a credible threat that terrorist have also become involved. They're using drugs to finance acquiring arms and money to further their agendas."

"I see where that is a concern but where do I fit in? Aren't there people who are better trained to handle this kind of thing?"

"Yes, but there appear to be several major leaks on all of the government agencies that are involved."

"All, even the military?"

"Yes, unfortunately." Vicky sighed and laid out a number of pictures. "These are pictures of a number of our agents who have been killed because of these leaks."

"Why the hell would anybody do that?"

"Money, what else?"

Jack frowned; money would never motivate him to do anything like that. As a matter of fact he couldn't think of anything that would motivate him to betray his country or the people he worked with.

"Bastards!"

"Exactly."

"So what are we going to do, go undercover?"

"Yes." Vicky held her breath at what was sure to be his next question, and he didn't disappoint her.

"What's our cover?"

"We are going to be married."

Jack's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "We're posing as a married couple?"

"No, we are going to really get married. They own to many people to take the chance that they would find out it was a cover so we really have to be married."

He gaped at her. "Get married? Is that why the Admiralâ€wait a minute, Admiral McPherson? Are you related?"

"He's my father."

"Jesus Christ! And he's letting you do this? That's why he asked me about girlfriends."

"He knows this had to be done. I volunteered for this mission."

"That's why the test, you wanted to make sure someone was good enough to protect you."

"Not protect, I can take care of myself, someone I can count on not to get me killed."

Jack stared at the floor. /shit, married? He hadn't counted on that/

"This is strictly voluntary, if you don't want to do this I'll understand and I'll find someone else."

Jack looked at her, she was obviously apprehensive. Damn she was beautiful, smart, too. Hell, if she could do this"I'll do it, surprising him as much as her."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Vicky didn't know why it was important to her that he agrees. Probably, as her father pointed out, they were running out of time.

"Well, good. Another thing is that you'll have to resign your commission." She put up her hand when he started to protest, "it's not for real, though only a couple of people will know that. My father will have a file with a letter from him and a letter from the president saying that you did this under orders so after you can go back to your career. I'll have to do the same."

"So, married huh? How long will this be for?"

"we figure it will take about six months. Unfortunately our families, except for my father, will have to think that it's real."

"I really don't have much of a family, so that's not a problem. What about you Mom?"

"My Mom is great and I think as long as she thinks I'll be happy she won't have a problem with it."

Jack gave her a shy smile, "Well good. Then after the mission?"

"We can get divorced and go our separate ways."

"Umâ€sis months living as"

"Well, we will be marriedâ€but let's not get ahead of ourselves there fly-boy"

Jack blushed and smiled sheepishly. "So exactly how do we go about this."

"We'll spend a couple of weeks dating, during which we will both study as much of the Intel as we can, then after a whirlwind romance, we get married." Vicky studied him as he pretended to study the files. "Jack," she said softly. When he looked up at her she continued, "this is going to be hard on both of us, but we'll get through it. We can use this time as an opportunity to get to know each other and trust each other. We will have to trust each other with our lives."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"And I won't let anything happen to you."

Jack smiled, "so, can I call you? Do you want to see a movie or something?"

Vicky laughed, "That's a good start. I think we're both tired and need sleep so why don't we do something tomorrow afternoon?"

She got up to walk him to the door.

"Sorry about your electricity."

"Don't worry about it. I don't live here. This is a house that is used for SEAL training." She handed him a card, "This is my address and phone number, why don't you come by about one o'clock tomorrow and we'll do something."

"It's a date, then." Jack gave her a little smile and headed off through the woods humming to himself. This mission wouldn't be bad at all.

As she watched him go Vicky thought much the same thing.