Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. But as newromantics pointed out: Jack does belong to me now!
Classification: take a dash of angst, add some UST and top it off with a lot of fluff
Rating: PG
Spoilers/Set: Right after Descent
Summary: Without Jonas, they'd all be dead now.
A/N: This fic came into being when some people claimed that Sam Carter is too perfect. This is my answer.
Big thanks to my beta's chiroho and splashthecat.
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Without Jonas, they'd all be dead now. She should be relieved, glad that Jonas had been there to open the doors to the glider bay, but instead the only thing she felt was a bitter taste in the back of her throat that had nothing to do with nearly drowning.
If it hadn't been for Jonas, they would be dead. No matter how many times the Colonel had patted her on the back and told her there was plenty of time, she couldn't have done anything.
She hated it.
She hated knowing that she hadn't been capable of saving her team. It really shouldn't matter, because no one else in her position would have been able to open those doors, either. Yet it still annoyed her.
"Carter!" She was startled out of her thoughts, her eyes automatically fixing onto the last sentence of her mission report. Without a second thought her fingers flew over the keyboard to finish what she had been typing: Jonas Quinn managed to reroute the power from an auxiliary control panel...
"Carter?" She didn't look up from the screen of her computer, feeling more than seeing him approach her desk.
"Sir?" Her hands stilled over the keyboard, fingers itching to hit the keys with more force than necessary.
"Watcha doin'?"
"Writing my mission report," she snapped, only just keeping herself from gritting her teeth. "Sir."
"Can't it wait?"
Her index finger tapped on the J key as she bit her lower lip. "No, Sir."
"Hammond asked for it to be on his desk by..." There was a slight pause, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him glance at his watch. "02:45?"
"No, Sir." She couldn't glare at her CO, so she scowled at the blinking cursor instead.
"So?"
"So what?" She flinched at the exasperation in her tone. She didn't dare move, her eyes still fixed on the small blinking cursor. The rhythm was really starting to annoy her as she waited for him to reprimand her, tell her she was out of line. She wanted to squirm in her seat in anticipation – even if he'd never really stood on his stripes in that way – but years of military training kept her still.
She heard him move around the desk, but still refused to look at him.
"No one's perfect, you know?" Damn him for sounding concerned and sympathetic.
She looked up at him, perfectly aware that she was now scowling at her CO. "I know that, Sir." Finally she moved, aggressively hitting alt f4 as she started to shut everything down.
"Then stop trying to be perfect."
She wondered if he'd still think she was perfect if she hit him over the head with her mouse. She grabbed the files next to her computer, and was about to rise when she felt his hand on her shoulder, the same way he'd touched her on the ship.
She slammed down the folders and turned to face him, ignoring the fact that he rocked back in surprise. "Then stop asking me to be!"
"I'm not!" He held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Yes, you are." She crossed her arms defensively across her chest, keeping herself from emphasising every word. "Every time we step through that gate, you ask me to do the impossible. You ask me to pull some trick or other out of my a... sleeve, and then act as if it's the most natural thing..." She felt some of her anger deflate, as it always did, and wished she could have held on to it. It was easier that way.
"Carter, no one expects you to do the impossible." He said softly as he lowered his hands, starting to reach out to her, but then dropping his hands to his sides, apparently thinking better of it. He cocked his head and gave her a rueful, crooked grin. "But maybe you're right. Maybe I've come to expect that somehow you'll always find a way to save our collective butts."
Sam dropped her gaze and stared down at the tips of his boots. The standards she lived up to were so high because she had set them herself. "I should have been able to get us out."
"You said it yourself – that station wasn't linked to the primary system. No one could have done it. You're only human, Carter, even if half of what you say is alien to me."
She couldn't help chuckling, and looked up at him again. He shrugged helplessly and pointed at the door. "Wanna get some cake?"
"It's nearly 03:00, Sir." She headed for the door even as she protested.
"So? I have some major shrinkage to make up for."
THE END