Disclaimer in Part 1

Bringing his voice down to barely above a whisper, he turned away from Sam and through clenched teeth continued. "You have exactly 10 minutes to get this elevator moving, Siler or that wrench you carry will be placed strategically. I've got a hot-tempered Captain down here, and if you relish this Colonel's sanity then you'll get me the hell out of here… double quick. Is that understood?"

Sam, hearing the words 'hot tempered' felt her blood pressure raise a few notches. Hot tempered? If that's how he saw her now, he hadn't seen anything yet as far as she was concerned.

As soon as he came of the telephone she crossed her arms purposely across her chest. "Problem Colonel?"

"No, not really. Lets just say it's going to be a while."

"How long is a while, sir?"

"Um…maybe two or three hours."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not, Captain. Look, Carter, I want to get out of here, as quickly as you do. But since this isn't Siler's priority at the moment, we're on our own. So, how about passing me over that tool kit."

"I don't think so, sir."

"And why's that?"

"Do you know the first thing about fixing this?"

"No, but do you really expect me to wait until they come get us…" Jack stated unequivocally before muttering, "…especially with the mood you're in?"

"Excuse me?" Sam replied heatedly catching the tail end of his reply. As far as she was concerned, it was his fault she was in a mood, and here he was having a go at her?

"Well let's face it, you're not exactly stimulating company at the moment, Carter."

So this was how it was going to be, was it? Fine! If that's the way he wanted to play it, two could play that game. "Fine, sir. Knock yourself out." She replied her irritation increasing. Throwing the bag in his direction, she turned and slid down the furthest wall from him. If they were going to be stuck in this confinement for the next few hours, the one thing she could do was get herself as comfortable as possible.

"So you're not going to help?" Jack asked as she proceeded to slide down the wall.

"Let me get this straight. You insult me, then ask for my help? So which is it, sir? Are you saying you need my help?"

"Not with that attitude, I don't. Besides, I'm sure I'm more than capable of handling this task on my own. How complicated can this be…" Jack finished talking to no one in particular.

"That's fine by me." Sam finished crossing her arms.

"Good." Jack said wanting to have the last word.

"Fine." Sam continued.

Ignoring her surly comment, Jack opened the panel to reveal a plethora of wires and lighted instruments. Okay, so this wasn't going to be as easy as he'd anticipated. Mulling over what to do first, he began checking each individual wire to ensure there was not one burning or a loose connection. Pulling back the circuitry wires one by one, he caught his hand on a live wire; the electrical current tore through his fingers like a bolt of lightening, and in response turned the lights out.

"Ow! Crap." Jack shouted blowing on his burned fingers before waving them madly in the air in an effort to cool them down.

"Great, now not only do I have to stay here for hours, but from all accounts you've knocked out the main breaker. Nice going, sir." Sam sighed shaking her head. Why he couldn't leave well enough alone was beyond her. What was it men and their tools? She never could understand it.

"I've burned my fingers, Carter. Could I at least have a bit of sympathy before you do the whole 'I told you so' speech." Jack remarked stoically with a pained expression in his chocolate brown eyes.

"I did warn you." Sam answered unperturbed by his melodrama.

"I don't need a lecture from you." Jack continued irately, looking for something in the first aid kit attached to the wall.

"Oh that's charming. So I'm being referred to as "you" now am I? Thanks very much, sir."

"Hey you started it." Jack retorted over his shoulder, before continuing his search for the elusive ointments and band-aids.

"Me?" Sam asked with incredulity. "How the hell did I start it? I wasn't the one who decided to fiddle around with the circuit board."

"And you expected me to spend the next two hours stuck alone in here with you, in such a delightful mood did you, Captain?" He answered with increasing frustration. Growling at the fact that his now burnt fingers were stopping him from opening the saline solution to calm the heat emanating from his fingertips, he turned towards her, giving her a look. "Are you just going to stand there and yell or are you at least going to give me a hand with this." Indicating to the saline.

"Well, sir, since it was you who took out the main breaker and plunged us into darkness, we'll probably be here for more than two hours. If you had let Siler do his job in the first place and fix the damn thing, we'd probably be out by now. But no, you had to go and play macho man, Colonel Jack O'Neill to the rescue." Sam retorted walking over to him and grasping the saline from his fingers, Jack winced at her lack of sympathy, then suddenly he felt the soothing liquid flow down his slender fingers.

"Yeah well it sure beats the hell out of having Captain Carter to the rescue every time."

"Ah, so that's what's been annoying you. Would you prefer I leave you on some god forsaken planet next time you're stranded, sir?" Sam retorted sarcastically, finally realising why he was in a bad mood. He was pissed with her for rescuing him. Now she understood.

"Well at this moment in time, being stranded on some god forsaken planet would be a hell of a lot better than being here with you." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them, trouble was, he couldn't take it back. He didn't mean to say it, and that really wasn't what he felt towards her, but how could he tell her the truth given their circumstances?

"I can't believe that just came out of your mouth."

"I didn't mean it like that." He replied softly.

"Yes you did." Sam continued not giving him an inch. This time he really had pissed her off.

"Didn't."

"Did."

Finally it came to a head when both of them lapsed into silence, their verbal sparring was becoming petty and childish. Neither of them was able to look at each other as they walked to opposite ends of their metal confides; their faces hidden within their dark shadows.

End of Part 2

AN: thanks peeps for your great reviews, I love ya and my muse loves you more :0)