ULTERIOR PURSUITS

Where we left off:

Daniel sneezed loudly. "Let's get going. I need more—more—" He sneezed again, this time more violently.

"Gee, Danny-boy, thanks for getting snot all over my McChicken!"

"Sorry"

"Snot, DanielJackson?"

"Oh boy. Thanks Jack. Okay Teal'c, Jonas…"

…and now…

Chapter VI: Things That Go 'THUMP' in the Night

"Hello. Welcome to McDonald's can I take your order." It had been more of an 'f-you wtf do you want, b-h!' statement than a friendly question supposed to be accompanied by a smile.

"Uh, hi. Hm… let me see… I like chicken. How's the chicken here?"

"It's wonderful." Hmmm… do we sense SARCASM, perhaps?

"Well, last time I had chicken here—"

"Look lady. I don't want your life story. I want your order."

Daniel stared at the woman actually sitting on a chair behind the counter at the McDonald's, reading a magazine. He quickly decided that getting into a verbal conflict with the obnoxious woman (who'd called him 'lady'!) wouldn't get him very far. Him or his Big Mac.

"I'll take the Big Mac sandwich, a medium fries and a coffee. Please." He smiled as he thought about the pleasant notion of getting her fired.

"You want fries with that?" Her boss would yell at her for ticking off six people in her 4-hour shift—from 12 to 4am.

"Uh yeah!" And she would stare at him with bored eyes.

"Okay sir. You don't need to take an ATTITUDE with me!" And DANIEL HIMSELF WOULD SAY THOSE FAMOUS DONALD TRUMP WORDS!

"Right." He said quietly, "sorry."

Sam returned to the table and sat opposite Jack. Daniel and Teal'c and Jonas were still on line "One…MACgrill with no mayonnaise, please.". She unwrapped her sandwich ravishingly.

"Urgh, I am SO hungry! I only ate soup at the last restau—" She suddenly realized that Jack had been staring at her food, "What?"

"Errr…"

She looked down at her tray and saw her unwrapped sandwich, her soda, and her hands… her hands with a CERTAIN RING ON THE LEFT FINGER. D'OH!

"Oh, I— uh— erm— you see…" she fumbled.

"C'mon, guys," Daniel said, dodging a head of lettuce hurled in his direction by the obnoxious lady. "Can we maybe—" "YOU INGRATEFUL LITTLE—!" He dodged packets of sweet and sour and barbecue sauces.

By nothing short of a miracle, they'd managed to drive away from the McDonald's unharmed… well, Jonas' face had met a nice, ripe tomato, but other than that, unscathed… but that's SG1 for ya…

They decided to rent a movie well they'd ended up getting SIX at Blockbuster to watch that night. Jack chose a horribly scary movie whose cover was so creepy that Sam refused to look at it for extended periods of time okay so if she looked at it for more than four seconds, she broke down… four seconds is a LONG time!… So, of course, Jack'd popped it into the VCR first. They used a battery-powered TV because Sam had offered okay, BEGGED for the colonel to let her fix the problem but Jack refused, insisting that she would NOT fix anything on her vacation. Instead, he and Teal'c had attempted. Naturally they'd only succeeded in worsening the problem by breaking the new fuse in the process of "fixing" their power problem. So now the five of them sat on the living room floor, wrapped in Simpson's blankets.

"…It's not THAT bad, Carter! C'mon! You could be in scarier movies about our er… journeys!"

Sam just squirmed uncomfortably, knees drawn to her chest and arms tightly hugging them.

Jack moved to return to his place to Carter's right – Teal'c on her left Daniel to his left, and Jonas to his, "besides, if you get too scared, you can just grab hold of…. of Teal'c!" he saved.

Teal'c raised a knowing eyebrow.

Jack fast-forwarded through the previews, much to the dismay of Daniel.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "I like previews!"

"You like previews," he scowled less than half-heartedly, "Come ON, who likes previews!"

"I DO!" Sam shot her hand in the air vehemently.

"You too! You guys… Ooh, nice try, Carter!"

She sulked and leaned against the wall behind her in defeat. Normally, Samantha Carter was as unconventional as possible—breaking all the rules and barriers of gender—but when it came to movies, she was 100 chick! Cried at the sappy romances, and shrieked at the horror movies. She shielded her eyes as bloody credits loomed ominously across the screen. Eerie music was playing in the background and she jumped as a high-pitched wail from the TV punctuated the pitch black silence of Jack's living room. This is going to be fun… she thought bitterly.

At the climax of the movie, Sam was 2 seconds away from completely losing it— she'd covered her eyes when blood and guts flew all over the place and the antagonists were winning. Suddenly the sounds stopped… 5 seconds later, no sound. The screen was blank but the distinct sound of distressed breathing came from the small TV.

"DON'T GO IN THERE!" Jonas screamed frantically.

"DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT!" that was Daniel, "HE'S GONNA—"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sam clung onto and buried her face into the nearest thing she could find. HOLY HATHOR! That was SCARY! She'd seen the protagonist woman (who had apparently been the one breathing) crawling frantically in a dark crawl space beneath a house (only GOD knew WHY). Suddenly a match had been lit and she found she was crawling amidst hundreds of skinless bodies. Two seconds later, her own face had been peeled off.

Sam abruptly noticed that whatever she was clinging to was chuckling softly. Still too scared to open her eyes, she muttered a few curse words into his side.

"It's okay," Jack laughed good-heartedly, "it's over. The movie's over. Good job, Carter—you mad it through alive…and…with your skin!"

"DANIEL!" She called, head still tucked into Jack, "IS HE TELLING THE TRUTH? IS THE MOVIE REALLY OVER!"

He laughed, "Yeah, Sam. You can look!"

She snapped her head up and saw the credits rolling. "LT. COLONEL JONATHAN O'NEILL! DO NOT EVER DO THAT EVER AGAIN!"

"….ouch," came Jonas and Daniel's response from across the room.

"THAT IS INSUBORDINATION, MAJOR!" Jack teased, pretending to peel her face off.

"That's not funny!" she grinned like an idiot despite herself. She buried her face into her arms in protection from being 'skinned.' She would have called on Teal'c for assistance but:

a he would've knocked O'Neill's lights out if he thought Carter were in real danger, and

b He'd fallen into a deep state of Kel'no'reem halfway through the movie.

When suddenly…

THUMP

They all stopped.

THUMP

"…..What was that?" Daniel asked quietly.

THUMP

Sam squealed and actually buried her face into her CO's side. She heard –or, rather, felt—his heartbeat quicken through his shirt… It reminded her briefly of the time on Hathor's planet when she and Jack were roaming the facility in search of Daniel. A bunch of Jaffa had been passing by and her memory recall device had set off—Jack had pulled her to safety behind a column against his front side. She suddenly felt very secure, knowing Jack would protect her… even through the bumps—er, THUMPS—in the night.

Jack rested his hand cautiously and protectively over her shoulder. "Daniel!" he whispered, "Jonas! Get over here!"

There was shuffling, a thud, and more shuffling as Daniel and Jonas got up, Daniel tripped over an unlit candle and made their ways blindly toward O'Neill and Carter,

THUMP

"what is it!" Jonas asked urgently.

"If I knew—"

THUMP

"It sounds like it's coming from………….."

THUMP

"The basement," they agreed. Sam squeaked,

"Let's check it out," O'Neill suggested.

THUMP

"C'mon, Carter," O'Neill gently coaxed.

"…all right…" she agreed reluctantly, "But if we get murdered…"

THUMP

"…don't blame me."

Jack smiled, seriously doubting that there was an axe-murderer in his basement. He stood up and offered Carter his hand. They did that on the field occasionally, after a long night in a really uncomfortable and crowded tent, he would offer her his hand—just a little reminder that he would always be there to help her up.

They were switching into field mode now—a reconnaissance of Jack's basement!

Sam grabbed her CO's hand and he pulled her up; she was constantly surprised by his strength, no matter how many times he displayed it. But then something happened that didn't normally happen on missions—he held her hand. He didn't let go as he usually did after she'd gotten up. Sam mentally kicked herself as she found that his action had made her blush! Unwilling to give him the wrong impression, she neither passionately returned nor resisted his protective grasp. Instead, she let her hand rest comfortably in his. She turned to stare into his gaze but was only met by pitch- blackness.

THUMP

"Hey guys…" Daniel broke their brief moment but neither let go. "Flashlights?"

THUMP

The strange noises and/or her contact with Jack were making Sam's heart pump. They also made her acutely aware of her surroundings… and willing for distraction. "Over there, by the VCR, Daniel."

Daniel was guided to the VCR by its blinking lights. "Got 'em." He said, clicking one on and shining it in Teal'c's direction. "Hey Teal'c," he said, trying to awaken the Jaffa from his deep meditation.

"Yes, DanielJackson?" he asked monotonously.

"There were, um, sounds, coming from the basement," Jonas said.

Sam could tell that Daniel was raising his eyebrows in that way as Jonas explained their rather pathetic situation to Teal'c.

Jack began to walk towards Daniel to retrieve a flashlight, and he pulled Sam along with him, their hands linked behind his back.

"All right kids," Jack said affectionately. "Let's go meet the boogie-man!" He handed Sam a flashlight. His stare, now slightly more visible held Sam's for a few seconds longer than truly necessary, asking if she was comfortable.

She clicked hers on and held it under her chin, "boo" she said, grinning like an idiot.

THUMP

Jack smirked and tightened his grip ever-so-slightly, "let's move out. Teal'c—you, me and Carter down first. Jonas—stand at the top of the stairs and shine your –"

He was cut off by a loud knock at the door

"AAAAAAH!" Sam and Jonas both screamed—Sam grabbing onto Jack and Jonas to Teal'c (who raised an eyebrow in a very confused and uncomfortable manner).

"Daniel, get the door," Jack said, both amused and confused by this new side of Carter—an afraid one…!

Daniel smirked and walked to the door.

"Uh, hello, what are you do—" they heard him say and then be cut off a few seconds later.

"Daniel!" Jack called.

No answer

"DANIEL!" he called again.

No answer.

"Oh for cryin' out loud! C'mon everyone," He walked off in Daniel's direction followed by Teal'c and Jonas…but not by Sam. She was not going to face her doom out—

THUMP

Okay, doom with everyone else was certainly better than doom alone! She raced off to where everyone else had gone, only to find-

To be Continued!

A/N: I swear I'll be better about updating…. I've just read loads of spoilers and I'm FULL of Fanfic ideas! At least this chapter was nice and long-D

Sorry, no preview of the next chapter—I must keep you in suspense!