Jack O'Neill was more than grateful to be released from the Infirmary.
Two weeks after his ordeal at the hands of Captain Jeremiah Kendrick, the Colonel was finally being allowed to leave the confines of the SGC Infirmary, albeit with a warning from Dr Janet Fraiser to take it easy and report back with any concerns.
Yada Yada, Jack thought as he walked out the sterile environment and out into the hallways.
He hadn't forgotten his promise to Sam, he was going to take his 2IC out on an unofficial date, show her how much she was valued and to grab some intel on how exactly she trapped herself a Goa'uld.
As he walked through the SGC, various personnel acknowledged him. Jack returned the nods and smiles and carried on.
His destination was Sam's lab. No doubt he'd find her nose deep in some project.
And he was right.
"Carter," he sighed, "just stop it, will you?"
To his surprise he saw in actual fact, Sam was sat with her feet up on the desk, laptop open, headphones on and laughing.
"OK, what's this? The effects of laughing gas on Goa'uld symbiotes?" Jack asked, "You gotta be working on some project or other…"
"Actually no. Sir," Sam added hastily, swinging her feet down, looping the headphones around her neck.
"I was surfing the web."
"Yeah, yeah, okay, but for research, right?"
"Nope." Sam grinned, enjoying the look of surprise on her CO's face.
He raised his eyebrows at her. "You mean, you're actually just..."
"Aimlessly surfing the web, yes sir."
"Woah, did I step into an alternate reality or something?"
"Who knows," Sam responded, and grinned.
"So what are you actually looking at ?" Jack asked, moving behind Sam.
"Well, I've found two very funny sites …… care to see ?" Sam asked, "The last one I was looking at needs these," she said, handing the headphones to her CO.
Jack took them, and Sam clicked refresh on the page:
http:svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHagesite/Kor/hestekor.swf
"Huh?" Jack looked puzzled, until Sam clicked on the horses.
They began...to sing.
A smile spread across Jack's face.
"Then, there is this one." Sam said, "You can spend hours reading the
"Hey!" piped up Jack, "I've been on this site...it is very funny."
Now it was Sam's turn to look surprised, she couldn't imagine the Colonel getting the fringedwellings. She smiled.
"What?" Jack asked. He shook his head to dismiss it, "Now you, Major, have presented me with somewhat of a predicament."
"Sir?" she asked questioningly.
"Y'see Carter, I came in here ready to yell a bit, shake my head, and drag you off to have some fun. It appears, however, you are already having fun all by yourself..."
"Sir ?"
"You've forgotten, haven't you ?" Jack said.
He looked at her accusingly and she glanced around, trying to remember what she must have forgotten.
"The promise." Jack prompted.
"Uh...promise, Colonel?"
""When I get let out of here,
SG-1 have a mission. To take some downtime and hit O'Malley's. And I
want you to wear THAT outfit. Quote. Unquote."
"Oh," Sam responded.
She looked slightly uncomfortable at the prospect and asked, "I really have to wear the outfit?"
"Yes," Jack said with a smile, "and explain to me exactly what 'kitten heels' are."
She looked up at him and couldn't help a slight smile. "Uhm, now, sir?"
"No time like the present." Jack said, returning the smile.
She looked at him a moment then nodded, switched off her laptop, and said, "I hope you know I vowed never to wear those clothes again."
"Y'see that's what has got me curious."
As Sam walked out of the lab, she said, "I'll meet you on the surface in fifteen minutes."
Jack waited on the surface, suitably dressed down for the occasion.
He checked his watch for what seemed like the hundreth time.
"Sir."
Looking up, Jack saw Sam stood in front of him.
The outfit she wore was certainly worth waiting for and Jack was glad he'd persuaded her to wear it.
He was also glad he'd persuaded his team to stay away from O'Malleys that night. It was time for he and Sam to have some private downtime.
O'Malleys wasn't exactly Sam's venue of choice but to her relief Lenny was keeping a low profile.
Jack made his way over to one of the booths and waited for Sam to sit down.
They ordered drinks and food.
"OK, let's get right to the intel." Jack said.
Sam hung her head.
"Kitten heels ? What are they ?"
Sam laughed and lifted her foot, "Not a high heel, but not a flat pump either. Stylish yet understated."
"Very demure," Jack grinned.
Sam knew the next questions would not be so easy to answer, or avoid.
"What happened Sam ?" Jack asked.
"You met Kendrick, that's what happened." Sam replied, not looking at the Colonel.
"I know that, what happened here, with you ?"
"I tempted Kendrick," Sam said, "I had to try something, luckily his own vain nature made it easy. We discovered later that he was farming symbiotes."
Jack didn't interrupt Sam's explanation.
"The Tok'ra had an operative watching Seth for a long time, it is believed the operative came through the Gate just before it was buried in Giza. Seth welcomed the new recruit, not knowing of the true identity of the Tok'ra.
Moving to more recent times Seth had programmed an number of his followers, including Kendrick to gather others to the cause.
Kendrick became Seth's second in command and Seth gave him a special task, to take out any threat to the Goa'uld." Sam continued.
"When we stormed the compound, Kendrick went into hiding. With his leader destroyed, he became resentful and more determined to carry out the task assigned to him.
"First of all, Kendrick trailed us and made the connection between you and the SGC. He began to frequent O'Malleys, knowing that by default you would turn up there. I think he got to like the place a little too much." Sam said ruefully.
"Kendrick always was a creature of habit," Jack agreed, "Not exactly bright either."
Sam smiled slightly at that.
"I'm not too sure I'd disagree." She said, "Not at any point during the time I was in close proximity to him, did he sense Jolinar's marker within me, although I could sense the symbiote inside him."
Sam smiled at a memory of that evening, "Janet was getting very much into spy mode, 'enemy at 9 o'clock' Even Daniel was keen to draw my attention to Kendrick. I guess they both forgot I could sense him. That's why Teal'c stayed on base, no risk of detection."
Jack watched Sam as she relaxed a little.
Sam herself felt relieved, finally able to talk about everything.
"You saved my life," Jack said quietly.
"I didn't work alone." Sam said softly, "Everyone did their part, although Anise was not the most helpful. We still don't know who the operative got back to the Tok'ra. He came through the Gate with Anise to tell us about Kendrick but again Anise didn't see fit to share his identity with us until she deemed that we needed to know."
"Sounds about right," Jack said ruefully, "But how did the Tok'ra operative get back to his bretheren ?"
"Like I said," Sam replied patiently, "Turns out the Tok'ra operative who had been in Seth's group had been there for some time. He was able to report to the Tok'ra council by way of a long-distance orb communication device. Once Kendrick was in charge and the operative found out his plans, he effectively phoned home and asked for a ride." Sam smiled a little. "The Tok'ra picked him up in a passing cargo vessel. Cloaked, of course."
"And Kendrick ?"
"Kendrick was a programmed zatarc, that's all we can deduct. As soon as I began to question him, he activated the trigger, but as he did so, you came out of whatever hold he had you under."
"Sam, I can't thank you enough." Jack said, somewhat humbled by the facts.
"What's done is done." Sam said, "For the record however, cell phone reception around your house is really bad. We lost a signal just as Janet was about to tell us something crucial about Kendrick. Luckily for you we were told later."
Jack grinned and took a sip of the drink the waitress had brought without them noticing.
Over his glass of beer he looked at Sam and saw someone more than his 2IC.
Someone who risked her own safety to help him.
A woman who was confident enough to know who she was, the position she held and the power she could exert.
More importantly, he saw Sam Carter, not just an Air Force Major……