o0o

The Middle

Or perhaps not. After all, if she'd thought it through instead of acting on impulse, she wouldn't be here right now.

Probably.

Sam was about to start yelling for help again when the door to the cell opened and two men entered the room. One was a guard who normally brought her food, and the other…was Jack O'Neill.

"Hey Carter, what's up?"

She glared up at him from below, trying to ignore the well-muscled thighs directly in her eye-line and huffed heavily. She was pissed and he wasn't going to distract her. Despite the very nice view up the strong line of his body that the angle at which she was lying gave her.

"That's funny sir, really."

o0o

The Conclusion

Shivering slightly in the cool breeze of early morning, Sam walked stiffly beside the Colonel. She tried to keep up with his fast pace. Normally that was not a problem,but the hours spent in the cell had aggravated her muscles and made the long-legged gait nearly impossible.

Just as she was about to speak up, Jack turned to face her and seemed to notice her difficulty.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that, Carter. I didn't think."

He slowed down to a easier pace and asked, "so, you gonna tell me what all that was about?"

"A preposition?" Sam smirked, but then with a more serious expression said, "I have no idea, sir. One minute I was sleeping in the room we were assigned to after the party and the next I'm being dragged into a dark room and chained to a table."

"Huh, that's strange, the Elder's wife insisted you volunteered." Jack stated skeptically.

"Volunteered! Sir, I've been hanging upside-down for three days! Why on earth would I want to do that?"

Sam knew she bordered on insubordination, but was too incensed to care.

Jack stopped walking and scuffed his boot in the dirt, eyes aimed at the ground.

He coughed nervously and said, "After you were taken, she came to talk to me. She let me know you'd be gone for a few days. Said you needed some time to yourself. Then she gave me this really weird look and said she thought it would 'fix things'. She said you did it for us. "

"What?" Then realization dawned and Sam knew precisely to what he was referring.

"Oh, that! Um…I didn't, I mean, not exactly. She offered and I said I'd consider it."

She bowed her head in embarrassment and then stated wryly, " of course, I had no idea what she had in mind. I figured she have me drink a potion of some sort. I definitely wouldn't have agreed to spending half a week in the Tower of London."

"Yeah, well, Daniel thought you were at a communal retreat or something. He was actually jealous of you. He thought the whole experience would have been enlightening. I told him if he asked another question as to why you got to stay there and he didn't that I'd send him home."

Sam frowned and then glancing up at him, asked, "does he know the truth?"

"No." Jack said firmly. "It was none of his business. It's no one's but yours."

"Oh."

She dropped her gaze to her boots, then his boots. His foot was still shuffling the dirt around and causing dust to cover their feet.

With a slight smile, Sam whispered, "thank you, sir."

Startled by her words, Jack looked up to see her smiling shyly at him. "For what?"

Without hesitation, she answered, "for being my friend. It wasn't exactly professional of me to let this mission go to my head. I appreciate your trust in me. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble for you with General Hammond."

"Nonsense. I told him you were in private negotiations with the Elder's wife. As the 'medical expert' on the team, the Healer insisted on your participation. Hammond understood and gave us a few extra days to get things settled."

"So, what happens now?" Sam asked, noticing the faint smile on his face.

"How should I know? You're in charge here."

Jack grinned and then turned on his heel and began walking again.

"How 'bout we say our farewells and then head home? That sound good to you, Major?"

Sam fell into an easy pace with him and replied cheerfully, "That sounds very good to me, sir. Thank you."

Long soak in a hot tub and a bottle of chardonnay, here she came…

o0o

Arriving back on Earth several hours later, Dr. Fraiser cleared the team and General Hammond allowed them each an extra day of leave. They were not scheduled to return to the mountain until Monday morning, and had decided to get together at the Colonel's house for an evening of pizza and movies.

"So Daniel, you never did tell us how your date went." Jack reminded smartly.

"Fine."

"Fine? That's it? No juicy details to share?"

Jack prodded the younger man.

"No." Daniel retorted. "So Sam, what was the Tower like?"

"Well, it wasn't anything like the one here on Earth."

"Oh. What was the ritual that Annara mentioned?"

Somewhat embarrassed, she muttered, "uh, it was nothing really."

"You were gone for three days, it must have been something." Daniel argued.

"Um—" Sam started, but was effectively interrupted by Jack.

"So Daniel, are you planning a second date with what's her name?"

"Allysa, and no. She was only in town for a couple days."

The glare sent in Jack's direction did not go unnoticed.

"So, Sam," Daniel looked pointedly at the Colonel. "What were you doing in the Tower all that time?"

Swallowing the bite of pizza, she glanced at Jack before answering coolly, "it's classified. Annara insisted that I not violate their privacy. Sorry, but I honestly can't tell you."

"Oh, but you can tell Jack?" Daniel huffed angrily.

With a shake of her head, Sam said quietly, "no, I didn't."

"Huh?"

Jack interjected caustically, "listen, Danny, I'm her C.O. She had to explain that she'd be gone, but not what they were doing. And frankly, it's none of your business. If The Powers That Be on another planet want to talk to her instead of you, who are we to argue? Now, back to the real question at hand. How was your date?"

o0o