Author's Note: Thank you all so much! I've never had so many reviews in one night for such a short chapter! Wow, your support is amazing!
Slash? No way! I hate slash...Besides, when it says 'implied SJ' then that's what it's going to be...
'Artifact'. See, that's what I thought it was too. Only my spellchecker didn't. It prefers 'artefact', so I allowed it to have its way this time. I consulted my trusty dictionary, and apparently 'artefact' means 'something made by human beings' (which kinda defeats the point seeing as it's alien, but...) and 'artifact' means 'see artefact'. They mean the same thing, so we won't argue about it...I'll use the 'i' spelling next time (as that was how I wanted to spell it the first time) and basically all that happened was me and my spellchecker having a disagreement.
The corner was comfy. Why were they looking at her like that? It hadn't been her idea.
"He has no idea you're here, Sam. You don't have to sit in the corner," Daniel coaxed.
She pouted. It was childish for her, but completely understandable in the current situation. "I like it down here. It's dark, and safe..." And they couldn't see the bright red blush that stained her cheeks.
Daniel shrugged and turned back to the laptop. He had made a bargain with a few of the security women, asking for them to patch through the live feed from the security cameras in Sam's lab to his laptop in return for a photo of him. He couldn't understand why they'd particularly want a photo of him, but apparently pretty much every young nurse and airwoman had a crush on him. And it was obvious to everyone but him.
The specific instructions were to start patching the feed through as soon as General O'Neill got up and headed towards Colonel Carter's lab, looking bored. Of course, it hadn't been a very long time to wait, and it left just enough time for Teal'C to slip into the lab and place the envelope where it would catch his eye before returning with Sam herself to Daniel's lab. Daniel had a call, and he had saved his documents and given them the go-ahead.
And so now he and Teal'C were watching the screen intently, waiting for Jack's reaction, and Sam was curled up in the corner, hoping against hope the floor would suddenly swallow her up.
He gulped. Woah.
Normally a photo of his 2IC wouldn't bother him. They had enough photos taken...press releases ("New advancements in Deep Space Telemetry"), updated security 'mug-shots' and pass photos...but this...
Even her in 'civvies' was a nice change to the shapeless BDU trousers. Her top was usually pushing regulations a bit; hugging her curves and leaving many of the men on base staring after her as she walked past obliviously, but her BDUs hid her legs and left everything to the imagination. Which Jack O'Neill was quite happy to do – imagine.
But even his fantasies (which were mostly classified) contained nothing like this. Okay, so many of them included a lot less clothing between them, but...
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was leaning against a wall, staring rather seductively at the camera, her eyes lined with black kohl and red lips set slightly apart, revealing a hint of teeth. Her usually smooth and controlled hair had been mussed up slightly, giving her a wild look, and the black netted top she was wearing with the word 'Love' in bold type made her look impossibly slimmer. One hand was perched on her hip, and the other was pushing the hem of the top upwards slightly, revealing her flat stomach. The bottom of the image showed the rest of the top brushing the waistband of some jeans.
"...Crap."
This was not what he'd expected. So now he was the commanding officer of a woman who could beat a man almost twice her size in hand-to-hand combat, blow up a star, build a naquadah reactor when it was required of her and look like a pin-up model in her spare time.
Damn regulations.
Author's Note: One more chapter! I know this was short, but I like my cliffhangers. Review or you don't get the conclusion! Love you all!
