A/N: Okay, here's the final chapter. (Cue celebratory music).  Honestly, I have been shocked and extremely flattered by the responses to this story, which I consider to be one of my worst.  Seriously, you guys are so great. Especially the ones who call me 'evil' and 'cruel.' On that note, I hope you're not too disappointed with the end.  There will be a short epilogue, but if you've read my other stories you know I don't do anything that would never happen on the show.

Ch 15 - Play on

Carter busied herself clearing away empty soda cans, pizza boxes, and greasy napkins. She took them all into the kitchen and crammed them into the trash can, although they barely fit. She wrestled the full bag out of the can and tied it, took it outside to the large can in the garage, and came back in, looking around for something else that "needed" to be done. There was nothing.

"So," the Colonel said when she went back into the living room, hoping there was a can somewhere she had overlooked, or something.

"So," he repeated, watching her curiously. He was entirely too relaxed for comfort. It wasn't right. If she was this nervous about everything that had happened and was potentially going to happen, he should be as well. It just wasn't fair.

"Um. Thanks for staying with Cassie. By the end of the night I don't think she even remembered she was mad about something."

"She's a good kid."

"Yeah."

Cue uncomfortable silence, Carter thought, looking around, trying to find something to focus on. A magazine, book... the turned-off television. Anything.

Nope. Nothing.

"So... did you change your mind?" the Colonel finally asked.

She knew what he was talking about but she looked at him with a deliberately puzzled expression. He was holding one of her throw pillows on his lap and fiddling with the fringe. "About what?" she asked.

"The... experiment. We were interrupted. You going to abort the procedure now?"

Yes. That would be the smart thing to do. Technically they had kissed. And even that little kiss had been... the smart thing to do would definitely be to leave it at that and never mention it again. Yes. Definitely.

"No," she heard herself say out loud before mentally banging her head against a wall.

He looked surprised for a moment, but he recovered quickly, and seemed to be restraining himself from smiling with great difficulty as he said, "Okay. Good."

"Do you? Want to... abort the procedure?"

She felt it only fair to ask, but the look he gave her in response was clearly translatable as roughly "Good God no" or possibly "are you freaking kidding me."

"Do you want to... stand or-"

"Yeah. Okay. Yeah."

They both got to their feet quickly, squaring off. She laughed nervously at the ridiculousness of the entire situation.

"I've asked you nicely not to giggle."

That made her laugh harder, but she had to defend herself on this one. "First of all, you didn't ask nicely, you ordered me not to. Second of all, those were entirely different circumstances."

"So you're arguing that this is a giggle-appropriate scenario?"

"Yes. I guess I am."

"Oh. Well, okay. Just try not to laugh while we're... you know."

Still laughing, she said, "Okay, I'll try."

She idly wondered if she was flirting with her CO. She had never taken the time in middle school to learn to flirt properly, and had never really tried to. Under normal circumstances, she would consider this a normal, friendly conversation she could have with any of the members of SG-1. Under the bizarre circumstances now surrounding them however... the phone was ringing. And the Colonel was cursing under his breath at said phone.

"What?!" he barked into it after picking it up off her end table. "Oh. Hi doc..."

Not good, Carter thought quickly, glancing at the clock. It was after eleven, she was going to think the Colonel was... and with Cassie here, no less...

"... no, she's asleep. At least I think she is. Want me to go check?... nothing, just... of course I'm coming to work tomorrow... of course she is... Doc, I don't think that's..."

Carter couldn't make out what Janet was saying, but she could hear that her friend was doing an awful lot of rapid-fire talking. The Colonel shot her a 'save-me' look, so she reluctantly reached for the phone, wincing as she imagined the ensuing conversation.

"Okay, Doc, nice talking to you!" her CO said loudly while Janet was still talking, handing the phone to her like he was holding a live grenade.

Laughing, she put the phone to her ear. "Jan? Breathe."

"Sam, what the hell is going on over there?" Janet demanded so loudly that one glance at the Colonel told Carter he had heard it as well.

Blushing, she took the phone into the kitchen and said quietly, "Nothing is going on Janet. He's my CO for crying... for goodness sake."

"OH NO!" Janet wailed dramatically. "You almost said for cryin..."

"JANET! Is there a REASON for this phone call?"

"I just wanted to see how it went with Cassie. I had no idea you were still entertaining company."

"I'm not entertaining company, Janet, he's just..."

"Your gentleman caller?"

"Okay, Blanche."

"Ooh, good one," Janet said, giggling. "Okay. Well, tomorrow at lunch you're telling me everything."

I wouldn't count on that Carter thought, feeling slightly guilty. But she knew she had been right earlier. Nobody else would possibly understand the situation. It had to stay between the two of them. At least until they retired or something. Or managed to create intergalactic peace. So basically forever.

"Sam? Are you listening to me?"

"Sorry," she said, blushing again. "Cassie's fine. She watched some silly movie and..."

"It's NOT silly!" the Colonel called loudly from the living room. Carter rolled her eyes and waited for Janet to stop laughing.

"What movie?" Janet asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know, something with Adam Sandler, he was a hockey player and then he started playing golf..."

"Sounds... wonderful," Janet said dryly.

"I concur."

Laughing, Janet said, "All right, well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Carter hung up the phone and turned around, jumping slightly and dropping the phone because he was standing right there. The phone clattered loudly to the ground. She heard it open up and the batteries fall out and roll off in various directions, but didn't go searching for them, because he was looking at her very seriously. Too seriously for the experiment.

"The Fraiser women have very bad timing," he stated.

"Yeah," she agreed, wishing there was space for her to take a step back. Unfortunately, whoever built her house had decided to put a counter there. "Umm, just to... clarify... the rules..."

"Suck?" he guessed, finishing the sentence for her.

She laughed nervously and said, "No. Well, maybe. But... you um... still agree? To the... the rules?"

"Yup."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

She wasn't entirely sure, but she rather thought they both moved to close the gap between them at the same time. However it started, she quickly found that not only was she being very thoroughly kissed, she was pinned between him and the counter, her hands had slid up his back, and his were tangled in her hair. At first she was much too overwhelmed to think of anything at all, then all of a sudden her mind was flooded with random thoughts, everything from how late is it to he did NOT kiss HER like this to what if his hand got stuck there and we had to explain that to the General.

It also gradually became apparent that she had forgotten what should have been an important rule: there should have been something restricting hand movement as well. Although at the moment she wasn't sure it would have helped, because hers didn't seem to be listening to her, as she gradually became aware that they were in random places like his chest or back or the nape of his neck. He seemed to be having the same problem. Or maybe he knew exactly where they were and what they were doing, she wasn't sure, but she was aware of the fact that she knew what his hands were up to a lot more frequently than her own.

She was almost relieved when the kiss ended, because she felt like she might do something incredibly stupid if it went on for another second. At the same time, she felt suddenly cold and disappointed. As he was still standing right in front of her, she stared absently at his chest for a long time, not willing to glance up and see what he was looking at or how he looked.

She would have been perfectly happy for a Fraiser, or anyone or anything for that matter, to interrupt at that point, because she had no idea what to say or do. The experiment had failed spectacularly, and now that it had, she felt ridiculous; she should have known it would from the beginning. Yet, the more she thought about it, the less certain she was that it had failed. Her feelings about the entire situation had been so muddled. At least now they were clear. Clearly not the type of clear she had hoped for, but at least they were clear. And the confusion she had over how she wanted him to feel about her twin was gone as well, because he had definitely not kissed her like that. She wondered if he had deliberately not kissed her in his usual way, so that she would truly get that he wasn't her husband. It sounded like something he might do.

"Umm... the rules."

He was going to try to make her have a conversation now, after that? Bad idea.

"Sir?" she said, choosing that word extremely carefully.

"The rules... were a good idea."

"Yeah."

They were silent again for some time, and he let out a sigh. "Dammit Carter."

"What?" she asked defensively.

He ran his hand through his hair impatiently. "Nothing. Just... I hope this worked for you because you just sure as hell made my life even more complicated than it was already."

"It was YOUR idea. SIR," she reminded.

"Yeah, well you're the smart one. You should have talked me out of it."

"You know me and experiments sir..." she said somewhat lamely. He nodded. When had his eyes gone all... twinkly?

"Okay. Well. It's late. I have to go."

"Yes."

They headed through the house to the front door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and turned back to her. "I um... hope it... pays off. For you. I know I'm not allowed to mention it anymore but just... yeah."

"Well, as you pointed out earlier, I am a scientist. When a theory is disproven, it's just as interesting as when it's proven correct."

"Well that's very nice for you, because whatever the hell caused this in the first place, I'm pretty sure it's contagious."

"Sir?"

He smirked and opened the door. "Yeah. I'll definitely be dreaming about that for a long time."

The End.