Thanks a lot for the reviews, Natters and Sway13.

More chapters to come, so keep up the R & R guys…pretty please!

SLEEPING BEAUTY.

by LetitiaRichards

Previously:

The spell was broken and the resultant surprised yelp from Sam Carter when she opened her eyes startled him into reality, and they both leapt away from each others embrace like startled deer caught in the headlights.

"Sir?" she cried.

Jack gulped. How the hell was he going to explain this?

Chapter 6

"Carter! Calm down!" he ordered, waving his hands at her, trying to ward off the inevitable explosion. "It's not what you think!"

'God,' he thought, 'she's never gonna believe this.'

"I can explain," he gasped through a mouth gone suddenly dry. He swallowed harshly.

Sam Carter sat on the bed, her mouth agape with surprise; her lips still tingling from his kiss; her heart still fluttering with the desire it had invoked.

"Someone out there is messin' with our heads!"

She sat silent watching; waiting for him to make what had happened into something ostensibly rational. Her hand drifted unknowingly to her mouth where she ran the tips of her fingers across the tingling lips. He had kissed her. Jack. Colonel Jack O'Neill had...kissed her. 'Oh my god!' she cried inwardly beginning to panic. She never thought he'd ever do it. It was a dream come true.

"Carter?" Jack could see she wasn't listening to him.

Her blue eyes filled with moisture and gazed up at him, longingly.

"You kissed me?" she whispered softly still trying to take it in.

Guilt, embarrassment and not a little smugness crept in and filled Jack's heart, but he dropped his head to study his boots whilst nodding.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry but I... It was something I had to do. It was the only way to wake you up!" he explained hurriedly. "It's that damn fairy-tale Carter. You touched something and fell asleep."

"What?" she said incredulously. "You think I'm gonna believe all that?"

Jack waved an irritated and impatient hand at her.

"Take a look at yourself Major! That's not exactly a government issue uniform."

For the first time Sam glanced down at what she was wearing, and jumped off the bed, unable to believe what she saw.

"How the...? What the...? Sir?" she blustered, pulling at the dress and screwing her head round to see her back. She just couldn't understand what had happened.

"While you've been playing the part of Sleeping Beauty, I've had to fight off a dragon and cut my way through hundreds of thorny brambles. I got singed and tossed against a wall by the Dragon; I got scratches all over from the damn brambles to prove it too. See?" he asked showing her his bleeding hands, then turned his face and pointed with his finger to show her the one on his left cheek.

She gaped at him speechlessly.

"I told you Carter, someone's messin' with our heads!"

"So none of this is real?"

"What do you think Carter? It's not exactly our usual run of the mill face off against the Goa'uld mission is it now?"

"How did they...? I mean, who changed my clothes...sir?" she asked still looking down at herself. She longed to have her BDUs back.

"Hey! Don't look at me. I was out for the count. I woke up to find you..." he waved a dismissive hand at her attire. "...like that." He gulped, trying to remind himself not to think about how 'hot' she looked in that wonderful blue dress; and now he looked closer, he could see it matched her eyes perfectly now that they were open. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear his wayward thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking those sort of things.

"Sir?"

Jack felt her hand on his arm and almost leapt away from her but he curbed the action with difficulty.

"Let me see to those wounds sir," she sighed resignedly.

If they were really in this peculiar situation, then there was no reason he should suffer without the necessary attention to his injuries. They'd need to guard against a possible infection.

He sat transfixed by her as she worked to clean his hands up; wiping the blood from them oh so gently. She'd improved her bedside manner since Antarctica, and he was lulled by her soft touches, relishing the contact.

"So..." she sniggered, bringing his thoughts back to the here and now. "You're my prince; my knight in shining armour come to rescue me?"

Jack could see the amusement on her face as she accepted their situation.

"I guess!"

Her gentle teasing laughter at his efforts to be the man of her dreams was his undoing.

He leaned forward, dark eyes holding hers. She was breathing as heavily as he was when their lips met. His free hand slid around her neck, keeping her there and he could feel her fingersclawing at his back, pulling him closer.

"Oh god!" they both moaned as they reluctantly parted, still clinging to each other.

"Can this be real?"

"I don't know, but it sure feels real to me!" he gasped breathlessly.

"We shouldn't be doing this!"

"I know!"

"Jack...I love you!"

Jack's heart sang and he sucked in a huge breath, feeling his heart swell with love.

"I love you too Sam!" he whispered with an agonised sigh.

Their foreheads rested against each other for long moments as they fought to control their desires.

"We ought to find a way outta this!" Jack sighed.

"I know. It's just...hard."

More tense moments passed by but with little movement from either of them.

"We should go find the others," she said sadly.

"Yeah. I guess we should," he said, breaking away with an effort, his overwhelming desire was to stay right there in her arms, but he shouldn't.

He was the Colonel and it was up to him to make the break. He was ultimately responsible, not only for not overstepping the regulations but he also had missing team members. Duty came first.

He straightened up, climbing stiffly to his feet as the pain in his back made itself known again. He bit back a whimper of discomfort, not wanting to broadcast his distress. He had a job to and he was determined to get them out of this place, wherever it was.

TBC