When All Else Fails

Chapter Thirty

Disclaimer: Well, the show still does not belong to me, Sam and Jack and Daniel and Cassie and Teal'c don't belong to me, Fehr and Bridges and Sanchez and Craig do... however.

XXXX

A few minutes after 1600 hours Nurse Richards and Sam came walking into the infirmary, Sam dressed in civilian clothes, her arm still in it's sling. They made their way over to the table that the four were sitting at and Sam smiled at Cassie, who had only recently torn her gaze away from the table across the room to look at the colonel. "You almost ready to go, Cass?" she questioned, throwing her a knowing look. "Or, would you rather stay for a few more minutes and enjoy the view?"

Score one for Carter.

Jack scowled and Cassie's face turned a deep shade of crimson, she shook her head, her eyes growing big. "I'm good to go," she said, throwing the older woman the dirtiest of looks. "Are you up to traveling?" she questioned in retaliation. "You know, being crippled and all." she cocked her head to one side and smiled at the scowl that appeared on the woman's face.

Score one for Fraiser.

"I think I'll be fine," she assured her. Cassie shrugged, got up from her seat, and surreptitiously glanced over her shoulder. She grinned when she caught the lieutenant looking in her direction, but did nothing to acknowledge that she, herself, had been looking. After saying goodbye to the three men at the table she looked over at Sam.

"We're gonna stop at the store first," she explained. "I'll make dinner."

Sam nodded, that was fine with her. She said goodbye to the three of them, then questioned what time Jack would be leaving the base. As he prattled on about what he had to do for the rest of the day Cassie tuned the group out, trying to listen to the conversation between the two men at the other end of the room.

"You almost ready to leave, Bridges?" Fehr asked, the clink of silverware hitting a plate following.

"Yeah, Fehr, I'm ready to take you and your bum leg to your house... the sooner I can get back to base the sooner I can get my field report done with and go home." the man sighed and pushed his chair back. "Who's that girl you keep looking at?"

He said it loud enough so that even if Cassie hadn't been straining to hear, she would have anyway.

"Doctor Fraiser's daughter, Cassandra." he replied, not letting on to his embarrassment at being caught by his friend.

"Really? I remember when they first brought her back from that planet... Hanka."

Cassie grimaced but continued to listen. "Yeah, well..." Fehr was saying, "you would, old man."

"Hey," Bridges called in his defense. "I had just been assigned here, then. Thank you very much."

"Cassie?" Sam asked, looking at the twenty one year old. "I'm ready to go..."

"Oh," she hid the blush that was dying to get out. "Alright," picking her purse up she smiled at Jack. "I'll see you later."

The man nodded, "At around 2000 hours."

Cassie wasn't stupid, she had been paying attention to his conversation with Sam, as well. "1900," she told him with a smirk. He stuck his tongue out at her, but smiled nonetheless. Yep, she had caught him trying to trick her. Her mother had taught her well.

Sam and Cassie left the commissary and headed for the elevators around the same time Fehr and Bridges did, so the two men managed to catch the elevator with them, though instead of going up like Sam and Cassie were they were headed down four floors. The elevator was relatively quiet, at first, before Sam turned to Cassie with a grin on her face.

"So," she questioned, "have you made up your mind about Dominic?"

From the corner of her eye Cassie could see Fehr's attention perk, but she paid him no mind and stared ahead as the numbers on the elevator went down, "We're over." she stated simply.

"Good," Sam replied. "I never liked him much anyway... he seemed to quiet at the party."

Well of course he had been quiet. He hadn't known a single soul there. Add on to that the evil looks from not only Jack, but Jacob, Daniel, Teal'c and Hammond, then having the President show up... he was thrown. Good thing he had left early, or the poor guy would have passed out upon seeing Thor, or he could have reacted like Larry, the Secret Service Agent had, sans the weapon. Cassie shrugged, "There was a lot going on that night... It doesn't matter, though. I gave the ring back and that's that." She sent Sam another dirty look, "You know how that works."

True, Sam knew how it worked well. She had done so twice. But really only with Jonas- since her ascension and declared death had been what broke her and Pete up. Sam shrugged just as the elevators opened and Bridges was the only to exit, "Could you hold the elevator?" he asked Cassie and Sam, "I just need to grab something from my office."

Sam was the one to answer, "Of course."

Bridges was a good man, as far as she was concerned. At first, when they had been stuck on 785 he had done his best at reassuring her and the others that O'Neill and the reinforcements would make it, and she was fairly certain that he had been doing so for himself as well. Sure, he might have been a little less than hopeful as time passed, but they all had been, and she couldn't blame him. And Fehr, well, as far as she was concerned, Fehr had the biggest part in their rescue, so he immediately had beaucoup brownie points.

The three in the elevator were silent for the entire time that Bridges was gone, when he returned Sam pressed the button for sub-level 12, and they rode in relative silence, the only noises coming from Bridges, who was humming something under his breath. Fehr seemed annoyed by it, and nudged his friend to quiet him. When they reached sub-level 19 the man was finally quiet and a look of triumph manifested on Fehr's face.

It was short lived, however, because when they got to sub-level 16 Bridges gave up humming for conversing. "So... you're Doctor Fraiser's daughter?" he asked, looking at Cassie.

Cassie smiled lightly, "Yeah."

"You're mother was a very... commanding woman." Bridges said with a grin. "She was a wonderful person, we all miss her very much."

"Thank you," Cassie said. "That means a lot."

They reached their destination and exited the elevator, only to get into another. Obviously, Bridge's round of twenty questions wasn't over yet.

"You broke up with your boyfriend?" he questioned, speaking of the conversation that Sam had started up a few minutes prior.

"Fiancé," Cassie corrected. "And yes, I broke up with him."

"Oh, you know Fehr here–"

"Colonel Carter," Matthew said, cutting his friends sentence short. Much to Bridges and Cassie disappointment. "How is your arm doing?"

Sam smiled, and went along with his change of topic. "It's a lot better, Lieutenant. Which is why I'm allowed to go home. What about you? How's the leg?"

He looked down at it, and shrugged. "It's still a bit sore, and Doctor Brightman is concerned about infection, since I went so long without treatment... But, I'm fine." Looking up he sighed, they still had six floors to go. "Have you heard anything about Major Sanchez?"

"Yeah," Sam told him. "They got the Goa'uld out and he's doing fine. The Tok'ra are going to keep him with them for a couple of days, to make sure that he's completely out of the woods, and then they'll be returning him home." They reached the stopping point and the elevator doors opened, and the four of them exited the elevator. "Take care, Lieutenant."

"You too, ma'am."

She nodded and looked at Cassie, "To Oz."

XXXX

Sam was curled up on the couch, wrapped in an afghan, watching the TV when he walked through the front door just after 1930 hours. She smiled up at him when he came in, and made room for him next to her on the couch. "How did everything go?"

Jack shrugged, "The usual..." He looked around the room, "Where's Cassie?"

"Kitchen," Sam replied. "Finishing up her paper for psychology."

"Did you two make dinner?" he questioned. It certainly smelled like somebody had cooked.

"Cass did," Sam said with a nod. "We went ahead and ate without you, but there's leftovers on the counter."

He nodded, but didn't get up from the couch. Instead he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, careful not to hurt her wounded one, and she leaned into his embrace. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Doctor Brightman gave me some pain medication and it's working pretty well. I'm still a bit sleepy, but I'll be alright." With a sigh she sat back up to look at him, "Jack... where am I going to be sleeping tonight?"

"In the guest bed... Oh."

"Cassie's going to be sleeping in the guestroom."

"I'll just sleep on the couch," he said with a shrug. "You can have my room."

"I am not going to make you sleep on the couch, Jack. This is your house and you didn't have to take care of me, so you shouldn't have to be uncomfortable. I can sleep on the couch."

"No, you're arm is still far too wounded to be sleeping on the couch. I don't mind, I swear."

"Jack..." she said in a warning tone. "You are not sleeping on the couch."

"Fine," he said, giving up to that part of the conversation. "But, neither are you."

"Cassie isn't sleeping on th–"

"I didn't mean that Cassie would," he told her. "My bed is big enough for us both."

"I don't know, Jack..." she said. "I mean, is it really smart for us two to shar–"

"I'm not going to try anything, Sam," he assured her. "So, unless you do we've got no problem."

She sighed, "Alright- but I get the right side."

XXXX

Cassie went to bed at a few minutes past 2300, claiming that she had to be up early for her psych class the next morning, even earlier since she would have to drive all the way to school (which was only about ten minutes away). Jack and Sam stayed up for a little bit, long enough to watch the beginning of Jay Leno, before going to bed themselves. He had to wake up early for work the next morning and she was just tired.

Since she had already been in her pajamas when he arrived earlier that night she climbed right into bed, her eyes closing the instant her head touched the pillow, though she was not yet asleep. He changed into a pair of sweats quickly and slid under the covers next to her, draping his arm around her waist protectively. She relaxed into his embrace and snuggled closer, sighing sleepily.

It only took a few minutes until they were both asleep, content in lying in each others arms.

XXXX

When Sam woke the next morning she felt cold and alone, which was probably because Jack was no longer in the bed, and somehow she had kicked the covers of off her during her sleep. She yawned, stretching her good arm out, and then ran her hand through her messy hair.

Voices from down the hallway caught her attention, which confused her when she looked at her watch. It was already 1100 hours, both Jack and Cassie had been gone for many hours. Who could be at his house? She made her way out of the bedroom and into the living room... where she met up with Daniel and Teal'c, who were sitting at the couch watching TV.

"Hey guys," she greeted sleepily. "How long have you been here?"

"Not very long," Daniel told her. "You slept late?"

Sam nodded, "I was tired. What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, first you go and shower, then we go out."

"Out?" she questioned. "Where?"

"Daniel Jackson wishes to 'eat out' for lunch, Colonel Carter." Teal'c explained.

"Oh." Sounded good to her. "Alright, I'll be out in half an hour."

The two nodded and she turned around and headed back for the main bedroom, which had a bathroom branching off of it. Grabbing her bag from the floor by the bed she pulled out an outfit for the day and the items that Nurse Richards had given her to make showering easier with her hurt shoulder.

Twenty minutes later she walked back into the living room, pulling on a sweater. "So... where to?"