"Colonel," she began quietly as he turned around to face her. "I need to"
"No. You don't." Jack interrupted, not wanting to hear the words from her.
"Sir?"
"Drop the sir, Carter. Just for a minute, would ya?"
She squinted at him, confusion written all over her face. He liked having the power to confuse her. Sometimes, it didn't take much. Just him saying a word or two she didn't expect. Like now.
"Okay," she agreed.
"I'm sorry for all the crap that happened yesterday, Sam."
"I know."
"No, actually you don't," he said again. There was no way she could, and he needed her to understand how he was feeling without giving away too much. Without falling apart himself. "I was out of line. I'm sorry about Simmons... and the thing about your uniform. The whole nine yards."
Jack watched her deep blue eyes well up at his words. Her actions mirrored his thoughts. He didn't want to be drawn back into his own grief, so he looked away, not willing to risk loosing face, even with one of the few people he inherently trusted.
"Are we really staying here?" she asked, breaking a long minute of silence.
"You tell me," he snorted. "Can you think of anywhere else for us to go?"
"That depends if you want to be a farmer or not."
"Hey," he warned even as her face carried a trace of a smile. "It turns out I'm not such a bad farmer."
"You don't want to be a farmer any more than I want to be a"
"A Tok'ra?" He was sorry as soon as the words left his mouth. He was digging himself in deeper, something he couldn't afford to do given their dire situation in the tunnels. Carter was still glaring at him. "Look, we'll figure something out. First we need to find Daniel, and SG's Two, Nine and Thirteen."
"If we had anywhere else to go" she started.
"I know, I know." Jack held up his hands in surrender as he went on, "It makes some kind of sense staying here. But as you may have noticed, I don't really want to be here." He had to be honest with her, and himself.
"I know that sir, and there are lots of our personnel who agree with you. We certainly had evidence of that this morning." She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"What happened?" he asked, knowing it had to be an interesting story whatever the outcome.
"Astor freaked out about not wanting to be a host."
"And the problem?" he asked with feigned innocence.
"We were having breakfast." Carter explained. "Surrounded by Tok'ra. Major Davis had to confine Astor to her quarters."
"Sorry I missed that," his brows furrowed as he tried to imagine the scene.
"Sir?"
"Davis giving orders."
When he saw the grin on her face forming, he knew he'd achieved his goal. They were now back on course, back on the same side. Not that he'd really worried about that, but it still felt better. More normal. More... comfortable. "Let's just see what your dad can work out. If they toss us out on our asses, we'll figure out what to do then."
"Yes, sir. Sounds like a plan."
"And Carter..."
"Yes," she asked.
"See if you can find a change of clothes somewhere. I've seen some civilian clothing that you might be able to borrow."
"I've seen some, too. Several of which seem to defy the laws of gravity."
He pictured his second-in-command in one of the little numbers he'd seen earlier in the morning on a Tok'ra scientist. Not that Carter would ever wear anything remotely like it, he knew. It would be far too... impractical. He quickly filed any further thoughts of Sam's wardrobe from his conscious mind. "On second thought, maybe you should keep these for now."
"Jack!" Jacob bellowed through the corridor, Martouf at his heels. "We've been looking for you two."
"Doesn't this place have some of public address system?" Sam asked.
"Of course," Martouf replied. "But it's only for emergencies."
"What's up, Jacob?" Jack asked.
"The council has made its decision," the elder Carter grinned. "You can stay."
