Several hours later Sam walked into the infirmary to check on her CO. "Hey sir, how you feeling?"

Jack looked up when he heard her voice, "Hey Carter," the smile spread across his face. "Knee hurts like hell, but thanks for asking!"

Sam smiled back. "Is Janet still going to keep you here overnight?"

"Yeah," he told her dejectedly. "She wants to make sure that the swelling doesn't get any worse. She thinks I tore my ACL, but we won't be able to check that until next week…"

Sam frowned, "I'm sorry to hear that sir."

Jack waved his hand, "Ah, I guess it was bound to happen… What are you doing here so late on a Friday?"

"Oh, I just thought I'd stop by. I wanted to ask Janet a question, actually I should go do that now sir."

"Yeah, go see the evil doc," he told her slyly. But he thought better of it then, "Hey don't tell her I said that, she'll probably keep me here another week!"

Sam barely contained her laugh, "Yes sir." Sam turned away from her CO and entered Janet's office and closed the door behind her. Ten minutes later they both re-emerged. Janet went straight to Jack's side while Sam left the room.

"How's the knee doing Colonel?" Janet asked as she picked up his chart.

"As good as can be I guess, considering that it's the size of a cantaloupe!"

Janet smiled at his analogy, "Well, from the description you gave, I'm surprised it's not the size of a basketball!" Janet looked away when she heard Sam re-enter the room pushing an empty wheelchair. "Colonel, Sam's talked me into letting you go for a little field trip on base." Jack's face immediately lit up, Janet never let them leave the infirmary before discharging them from her care. Janet raised her voice and spoke like a true reluctant doctor, "But, if the pain gets any worse I want you to get back here!"

"Yeah whatever doc!" he said as he inched over to the edge of the bed. "Give me a hand Carter!" he said with a huge grin on his face.

Sam contained her laughter as she placed the brakes on the wheelchair beside his bed. With Janet's help, she was able to get the Colonel situated in the chair. "The knee still okay?" she asked as she pulled out the footrest for his right leg.

"Yeah whatever," he replied ignoring any pain that there was because he was so excited to just be getting out of the infirmary. "Come on Carter, let's blow this pop stand!"

Sam smiled, "Yes sir," as she released the brakes and started to push him out of the infirmary.

"Sam!" Janet called after her as she grabbed a cold compress from one of the shelves. "Remember to periodically ice it and keep it elevated. If he has any serious discomfort, I want him back here right away!" she told her friend sternly.

"I promise. Besides, the Colonel will be on his best behavior, won't you?"

Jack looked up at Carter over his shoulder and then around her to the doctor, "I always am!" he replied as he was pushed out of the room. Just before he turned the corner he turned back to Janet and stuck his tongue out.

"I saw that Colonel!" Janet yelled as she smiled and returned to her office.

"How old are you sir?" Sam asked him teasingly.

Jack didn't respond as he was led into the elevator and watched Sam press the button for Level 14. "So, where we off to Carter?"

Sam leaned down next to his ear, "It's a surprise!"

As Jack felt her breath against the side of his face his heart skipped a beat, 'Calm down boy!' "You know I hate surprises, so why don't you just tell me?"

"You'll like this one sir… But if you don't want to see what the surprise field trip is, I can take you back to the infirmary," she told him as she waved her hand just in front of the button for Level 27 where the infirmary was.

Jack grabbed her hand and pulled it away from the console of buttons, "That won't be necessary Carter!"

Sam looked down at her CO and flashed him her trademark smile, "If you say so sir… Ah here we are," she told him as she pushed him off the elevator.

As he was being pushed through the hallways by his 2IC, Jack could hardly contain his excitement at seeing the surprise Carter had in store for him. When they entered the base rec room Jack looked up at Carter confused. "This is my surprise? A trip to the rec room? Oh joy!" he added sarcastically. "How long do we get to stay here?" he asked with mock joy.

Sam ignored his sarcasm, as she wheeled him next to one of the sofas and grabbed a remote control, "We stay as long as the game is on," she told him as she switched the TV to ESPN where the pre-game show was wrapping up.

Jack's eyes went wide with excitement, "Sweet!" He then transferred himself to the sofa and began to get comfortable, as he was positioning his leg he looked over at Carter who was standing beside him, "Thanks Carter. I appreciate this."

"I figure it was the least I could do for you sir. The way I see it, your wanting to see the game may have saved us from encountering more Jaffa," she told him before she walked to the back of the room towards the kitchenette.

As Jack heard the sound of the microwave running he spoke, "Hadn't thought of it that way… I knew hockey would save me one day."

Sam didn't respond as she waited for the popcorn to finish. When it was done she headed to the sofa and set down the popcorn and handed him a bottle of coke. "I'd offer you a beer, but it's against regulations sir," she told him as a smirk peeked on her face.

Jack closed his eyes and thought of a beer, "That would be nice, but we can't have a drunken Major driving a wheelchair bound drunken Colonel around the base now can we?"

Sam laughed as she created a mental image. "No sir, that wouldn't be good," she told him through laughs as she sat down on the couch next to him.

Jack looked over at Sam as he watched her make herself comfortable, "You going to stay?"

"What, you don't want my company sir?" she asked as she acted offended.

"No!… I mean yes…" he sheepishly laughed at himself as he tripped over his answer. "I just didn't know you liked hockey."

Sam looked over at him coyly, "You never asked, there's a lot about me you don't know!"

Jack's eyes went wide, 'Was that an invitation to find out?'

Sam continued on once she elicited the shocked response from her CO that she was hoping to get, "Besides, part of the deal I struck with Janet was that I had to baby sit you sir."

"I'm fo-" Jack stopped himself before he let her know how old he was, 'She doesn't need to know how much of an old fart you are Jack!' "I'm a Colonel in the US Air Force, but the base doc thinks I need a babysitter to watch a hockey game!" an exasperated Jack exclaimed.

"Hey if you don't behave, I'll be forced to call the base doc who'll come up here and get you herself," she threatened.

Jack raised his hands in mock surrender, "I'll be good I promise! Just keep me away from the doc and her toys for as long as you can!"

Sam laughed, "I'll try sir!"

The game started then and brought their conversation to a halt for the most part as they watched the first period of play. When the Avs scored a goal against his beloved Blackhawks, Sam was worried that she was going to have to take him down to the infirmary because he was investing himself very deeply in the game. When the Avs scored, in his anger he had absently slammed his hand down on his right leg. He'd convinced her (and pleaded with her) that it was just a shock, that the pain was only temporary. Sam relented when he flashed her a worried look that he wouldn't be able to watch the game.

During the intermission they picked up their conversation. During one of the commercials right before the second period started Jack remembered that it was a Friday night. "Carter didn't you have any plans for tonight?"

Sam looked at him confused, "Excuse me?"

"It's a Friday night… Tell me you weren't planning on spending it in the lab?" he asked her concerned that she was.

Sam laughed, "No sir. I wasn't planning on spending it in the lab!"

Jack's face fell as he thought that maybe she had cancelled plans with someone else, he didn't want to be robbing her of her free time, God knows she needed it! "You didn't have plans with Pete did you?" he asked her barely hiding his dislike for the man.

Sam looked away from him and down at her hands which she started to fidget with. "Hey, Carter? Is everything okay? With Pete I mean?"

Sam could detect his true concern for her, 'There's no time like the present to tell him.' "Actually sir, Pete and I broke up last week."

Jack struggled to maintain the concerned look on his face, internally he was doing cartwheels. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Sam looked up into his eyes, "Don't be. It wasn't meant to be." Sam stared deep into his brown eyes and willed for him to know that it wasn't meant to be because it wasn't him. "We had some nice times… but he wasn't the one for me."

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat, "Uh, have you met the 'one'?" he asked her as he read something more in her eyes.

"Yes," she told him confidently as she continued to gaze into his eyes.

Jack broke eye contact first, 'Me too…'

Before the silence between them reached an even more uncomfortable level, Daniel walked into the room oblivious to the conversation he had walked in on. "Hey, how's the game going?"

TBC