Ten

Interlude II

SG-1 was sitting together at a table in the commissary relaxing with good coffee and those almond, icing sugared, custard filled croissants which Daniel had thoughtfully brought in. Sam felt a little spoiled about that, sitting slouched in the chair, weighing a treat in each hand. Not that the others were treating her like the birthday girl, but things were beginning to settle back down.

She'd noticed Colonel O'Neil was rather relieved that she seemed to be back to her old self… the threatening-her-commanding-officer incidents had really shaken him.

Though eating quietly while the guys talked, Sam was a galaxy away in her thoughts. She couldn't help being tickled by this days revelations of even more pleasant memories to add to the dreams she'd been having. The intensity of the what she was seeing and feeling took her breath away and once again the blood was rushing to her face.

A moment later her laughter rang out and ended in a gasp as an invisible party did something awful.

The colonel turned blue and sprayed his coffee everywhere including all over Teal'c who raised his eyebrow at the incident. The colonel was about to admonish her for the un-major-like outburst when he saw the beautiful, glowing smile evoked on her face along with the mildly sinful glint in her eyes.

It turned instantly to embarrassment when she snapped out of it and found she'd been staring ahead at where Daniel was seated opposite, in her line of fire, and noticed the silent shock of her colleagues.

She jumped up out of her seat and quickly left the scene, rushing though the corridors and avoiding running into anyone on her way to her office.

O'Neil forgot he could start breathing. Daniel cocked his eyebrows and leaned back with a long sigh. Teal'c left to take a shower.

This was certainly a change.

Their second run in had been off-world on their last mission, which, thankfully, otherwise had been uneventful.

Carter had snapped at Jack, "Return to your primitive world and see how far you get without us," and that was only for making a crack with Daniel about her energy bar preparing skills.

"What?" he'd said after a long pause. If it were a joke he would have gotten it… but it very clearly wasn't.

Danny had looked genuinely confused and tired just trying to get his head around the situation, but also like he was amused too for some reason.

Jack finally whined, "I'd lose my job!" and had spent the rest of the mission avoiding her.

Carter probably thought it wasn't her fault Jack had to be so intrusive when she was busy trying to figure out how to improve the unsatisfactory technology. Her behaviour was abnoxious. It even made Teal'c and Daniel flinch at times.

By the time the third confrontation went down though, they'd dragged him stunned out of her lab by the arms – it hadn't been for her safety either. They'd known he was too shell-shocked to get out while his own feet were carrying him rather than a naqada enhanced force.

Due to all the confusion, he'd sent Teal'c over to visit her at home after hours to show her the security videos from her lab.

For over two hours of the tape she stood by a wall with her head bowed in silence. Then when the double snapped out of it… if only it had simply been her mannerisms and speech patterns that were different. It was like re-watching the tapes of that Goa'uld walking around in her body.

Maybe it hadn't been the best thing to do. With these things plaguing her mind constantly after that, Carter had been eating her words and tripping over the 'royal we' for days. Watching herself from without seemed to leave her very deeply disturbed.

But now it was a few days later and at least she was back to working steadily

Sam stood for hours at her desk trying in vain to concentrate but she was just too distracted.

In a last ditch attempt to clear her mind she sat down on the floor and tried to kel'no'reem. Her legs were too stiff. She crossed them over the other way. The floor was too hard so she switched to kneeling. Something kept sticking into her knee. She lay down and a bit of dust fell into her eye. Rubbing it she stood up and kicked the metal wastepaper basket over on her way out.

"Whoa, slow down there!" said Dr. Fraiser ushering her back in.

Sam leant back against her desk and tried not to frown so much.

"What's going on?" Janet asked with a loaded smile.

"Nothing."

"Then you wont mind going home to get some rest," Janet smirked, probably thinking Sam would spill rather than stop working.

Oh no ya don't, I'm not going anywhere- On second thought though...

"That's a good idea, see you Monday," she said grabbing her coat and hurried out.

When Sam got home she left her coat, shoes, keys and worries at the door. She didn't like her home nearly as much as the base because she couldn't bring her projects home and that was pretty much why she hadn't bothered making it feel more personal but this night that made it a great place to escape to.

With bubble bath and music she closed her eyes and relaxed letting her mind wander and pushing away all negative and annoying thoughts and soon she started slipping off to sleep in the heat.

It felt like barely a minute later that she jumped at a soft stroke against her thigh.

She wondered if something had fallen into the tub but didn't think so. She knew she could get some real sleep for once if she just ignored it. But she felt it again exactly the same, a real de ja vous, and this time her mind pulled her in completely, telling her it was real and happening.

Over his tanned arms as they moved in and out of the water with hands massaging her back, she watched twinkling crystal bubbles evaporate. Glasslike, in each one five candles burned and rainbow atmosphere swirled into a black hole weakening the surface tension until it burst.

His hot wet hand stroked over her cheek and pulled up her chin. She didn't not know this man… but he seemed to know her intimately. He traced her lines with his eyes, a naughty smile blossoming as he watched her looking up at him.

His tilted his head then and his entire body slid down as he lowed his head to press his lips to hers.

She jumped, heart beating wildly and trying to understand what was happening to her.

Her eyes opened, her hands grasped the sides of the bathtub. She was alone. The only signs of life there were her breathing and the dripping sound of water-beads rolling off her fingertips, the tickle of cold air.

She pulled herself out of the thin foam, pulled the plug and turned the shower on telling herself that she couldn't still smell his perfumed scent.