Notes: Warm welcome and hugs to all the readers who reviewed for the first time after that last chapter. I'm absolutely flattered by the amount of attention this story is receiving. It is definitely making me try to work faster, but I hope I'm not sacrificing quality for the sake of speed. As far as the question about the title of the last chapter, 'Small Potatoes' is an episode of X-Files that I love, so I just wanted to call a chapter by that name. I figured it was sort of appropriate there since so far everything has been in such teeny-tiny baby steps. The next chapter is in production, but I'm officially out of the divination business on this one!

Previously…

"Maybe if I got sick Thor would have to take us home," Sam mumbled into her empty coffee cup.

When Jack didn't respond to that, she finally looked at him, and he had a strange look on his face. Like he had been in the middle of an epiphany, and somebody had shown him a bag of dead kittens. "Carter," he finally said. "I think it's time we had a little talk."

Ch 9: A Little Conversation

"You want to talk?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yeah, hard to believe, huh. And to be honest, no, I still don't particularly want to. But I'd also rather not wake up in the middle of the night, find you swimming laps like a maniac, and then have a huge fight with you. I'm too old for this, I need my beauty sleep."

She laughed slightly, looking down at her socks. "Okay."

"I'm going to go get some more coffee," Jack said quickly, grabbing his mug and hers and hurrying into the kitchen. He took his time with the coffee, trying to figure out if it was going to be possible to resolve the current issue without bringing up the big one that they were so good at avoiding.

"Here ya go," he said as he handed her coffee back to her. He sat down in the middle of the couch, closer to her than before but still leaving a bit of space between them.

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip and setting it on the end table.

"Okay. So. Um… I don't know where to start," he admitted. "I guess… I mean I can take a guess at why you can't sleep."

"You can?" she was surprised. Other people's feelings were Daniel's thing, not the Colonel's. Hell, he didn't even like to think about his own feelings.

"Well, yeah. You're sick of being here. There's not enough to keep your mind occupied. I mean, there's not really a lot to do around here. I'm used to it, and it doesn't take a lot to entertain me in the first place. I know it's got to be really boring for you, but…"

"It's not that," she said quickly, not wanting to hurt his feelings about the cabin and the fishing.

"Really?" he asked, hoping his tone didn't betray how hopeful he suddenly wanted to feel.

"Yeah. I mean, not exactly. I'm… I really do like your cabin, Colonel. I just… we've been here for a really long time."

"Yeah, I know."

"Over two months."

"Yeah."

"And… I just… I can't stop thinking about everybody else. At home - I mean, are Teal'c and Daniel not worried about us at ALL? You'd think they'd be trying to find us, and notice the Asgard are still hanging around and connect the dots. And normally even if there aren't any huge emergencies, Siler's still got tons of things he needs help with on the UAVs or the gate, or the MALPs, or something goes wrong with the gate or the other SG teams bring back something to be backwards engineered…"

"Carter, if you keep thinking about everybody else you're going to drive yourself insane. No wonder you can't sleep."

"Well, I can't just stop. I would if I could."

"Yeah… well, I was kind of thinking about it too because we HAVE been here for a really long time. And, ah, if we're being honest here I've been shocked at how long it's taking for you to go insane from boredom."

"Colonel," she objected mildly.

"Hey, come on. You haven't had anything to build or take apart for a while now. Anyway, the first thing I came up with is there was some giant emergency and Thor had to go into battle so fast he didn't have time to come get us…"

"That's encouraging," Sam interrupted sarcastically.

"Yeah. But I don't think that can be it, because he's still replacing the food and everything, even though he hasn't dropped by via hologram lately. So the other thing I thought is… well, I mean, the Asgard live a long time, right? Assuming they're not killed in battle?"

She nodded. "They're basically immortal, because they keep transferring their consciousnesses into new cloned bodies."

"Uh, yeah. So while this seems like a ridiculously long time for them to be negotiating with our government about… us… to them it's got to be like nothing, right? Especially since they seem to think the future of the entire Asgard race depends on this negotiation."

"I guess I hadn't thought about it from their perspective… but still, you'd think the SGC would need us."

"Well, if the Asgard are still hanging around, who's going to mess with us?"

She leaned back, looking at him in surprise. "That's an excellent point, sir."

"First of all you're not supposed to be calling me that anymore. Secondly, I do have good ideas occasionally, you know."

"I know, I didn't mean it like that. And sorry. The 'sir' just slipped out. So basically, you've come to the conclusion that we're stuck here until Thor decides to let us go and we should just… relax?"

"Yup," he said with a shrug. "But I know that's not easy for you."

"You've been… making it easier," she admitted. "Than I would have… thought it would be."

He smiled, not sure what he should say.

"I just… I'm really glad we're here instead of somewhere else the Asgard could have picked, it's just… no offence, I just never expected the first trip up to your cabin to be such an extended stay."

"I know," he agreed, looking down into his coffee cup somewhat sadly. He smiled suddenly and said, "So, wait, you were planning to actually say 'yes' some time?"

"Wu…well, I hadn't… I mean it's not like it…"

He was grinning with that 'I'm not buying it' look on his face he usually wore when either she or Daniel (or sometimes she and Daniel) found themselves having to explain to him why they were up working all night in one of their respective labs.

Only slightly worse than the fact that he could make her so flustered with such relative ease was the fact that he knew he could do it. But while he excelled at throwing off her equilibrium, she was good at recovering it quickly.

"Well, you must have thought I might or you wouldn't keep asking, right, Colonel?"

Ha. There. Now his smile was normal, rather than evil, yet another silent truce having been mutually agreed to. She wondered idly how many times they had gone through this routine over the years. It had to be up in the hundreds by now. Maybe even thousands.

"Yeah," he agreed with a casual shrug. Wait, Sam thought. What was he agreeing with? Kind of impolite for him to continue their conversation while she was having a completely different one inside her own head. "I know you couldn't resist the allure of fishing forever."

Oh right. They'd been having the old 'The Colonel invites me fishing and I make myself say no' conversation. She laughed and said, "Right."

"And ideally," he added. "You would have come willingly. And there wouldn't be a force shield required to keep you here."

"Yeah," she agreed.

"We sure have lousy luck with force fields, don't we?" he asked quietly, not really expecting an answer, fiddling with his coffee cup.

"Yeah. We do," she finally said. Her first thought was, of course, the armbands that had failed at the worst possible moment. Then she remembered the shield-like doorway that had sentColonel O'Neilland Maybourne from a planet to a moon, and the whole Sentinel thing… yeah. Force fields were not one of her favorite things.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked cautiously. Sam realized she hadn't said anything in a long time.

"Yeah, I just…"

"Something else is bothering you."

"Yeah," she admitted, because he hadn't asked it as a question.

"Me?" he guessed.

"Yeah," she said, nodding, her gaze still on the coffee table. She even surprised herself with the honest answer. "But probably not in the way you think," she clarified.

"How then?"

"I ah… I guess… permission to speak freely?"

"You don't have to ask…"

"That's the thing," she interrupted. She took a deep breath and continued before she had a chance to change her mind. "I feel like I should, because you keep contradicting… what you seem to be expecting of me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He winced and clarified, "I didn't mean that defensively, I genuinely don't understand what you mean. Like the whole apple as the universe thing," he added, flashing a hopeful smile.

She smiled slightly at the memory and said, "Okay. You spent a lot of time and energy and did a lot of really embarrassing things to try and get me to stop calling you "sir.""

"Yes, I did."

"Well, I kind of assumed you… went to all that trouble because you wanted things to be more… comfortable… between us. Less… formal I guess."

"I did," he insisted. "I mean, I do!"

"Okay, but then the second I did something you didn't like, you gave me a direct order, which makes me think you were just doing all that 'sir' crap to keep from being bored or something."

"No, I didn't mean it like that. When did I give you an order because you were…"

"When I told you I wasn't done swimming," she said pointedly.

"I… I did do that, didn't I? That was a reflex, it was freezing, I was just glad you were okay…"

"I just… I don't know how I'm supposed to act around you when one minute you're making stupid bets trying to get me to call you 'Jack' and the next you're giving me orders. These circumstances are bizarre enough as it is without you being so contradictory…"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted.

"S…sorry?" He never apologized, never. Well, she had a vague recollection of Daniel telling her he had once gotten an apology out of him but she wasn't sure. And she wasn't sure she'd believed him at the time. Therefore, she wasn't certain she heard Jack right.

"Yeah. Really sorry," he added.

"It's okay. I know this whole thing is just as weird for you as it is for me. You've been making it easier on me while I've been making it harder on you," she observed, realizing it was true only as the words tumbled out of her mouth.

"Yeah, and I'm not as smart as you so you've got to cut me some slack," he said, nudging her shoulder.

"Yes, s…" she caught herself and smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, see! Right there! It's hard for you too!" he pointed at her with his coffee mug.

"I know, I know. And I'm sorry too. I normally wouldn't be so… this is just…weird."

"Ah, yeah. Definitely weird. Okay. I'll make you a deal. I give you one more order and you follow it."

"One more? For the whole time we're here?"

"Yup."

"Hmm… okay. Deal."

"All right, now since the last time you weaselled out on a technicality I want to make sure I get it right this time… any time we're not in uniform, you have to call me 'Jack.'"

"Yes, sir."

"Ack, Carter!"

"What?" she asked innocently. "You said it was a direct order, that was the proper response!"

"Very funny," he said with a smirk. "I hope you enjoyed that, Sam, because that was the last one."

"Fine. Jack, would you like some more coffee?" she asked in a much-too-polite voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Why, yes, I would, Sam, thank you very much."

When she came back with their mugs, she sat down again, muttering, "I might as well give up going to sleep tonight."

"Don't worry about that, it's decaf."

"It's… oh. Okay then." She sipped the hot coffee quietly for a few moments, glancing at him surreptitiously, trying to decide if this was a good time to ask.She decided it was. "I have a question."

He ignored her for several seconds, determined to milk the order he had just given her for all it was worth, and finally said, "Oh, sorry, were you talking to me?"

"Yes, Jack."

"Hey, you don't have to say it like there's supposed to be another word after it!" he objected.

"Sorry," she giggled.

He rolled his eyes, realizing he wasn't going to be able to order her not to giggle anymore now either, and prompted, "What's the question?"

"Er… well, I couldn't help but notice you sort of… I mean after the initial excitement wore off, you seem to have enjoyed the fishing more when there weren't any fish in your pond."

"Not really," he said with a shrug. "I mean, I like catching fish as much as the next guy but it's a little too easy now. Part of it is the uncertainty, ya know. Knowing you could spend hours…"

"Or years."

"Smartass. Okay, fine. Years waiting to get something… in some ways its better than actually catching the fish itself."

Sam swallowed hard, looking away quickly. If that was the way he felt about fishing, what did that say about their relationship, or whatever they had that substituted a normal relationship? That the only reason it had even lasted this long was that they knew it would never really go anywhere? And if it did, it would get really old, really fast? It had always been her biggest worry every time she had let herself really think about the remote possibility of any type of real relationship with him. It wasn't like they had a lot in common apart from where they worked.

"Sam? You okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she said with an unconvincing smile, getting up quickly. "Um, I think I'll try to get some sleep after all. Goodnight, s… Jack."

She hurried off to her bedroom. He watched her go, completely confused. One minute they had been chatting casually, lightening everything up after the serious, but extremely good, conversation they had just had, and the next minute she had been extremely uncomfortable and practically sprinted off to her room.

What the hell? And where was Daniel when you needed him? Most of the time, Jack tried to tune him out but every now and then, his translation and people skills did come in handy. Especially as far as figuring out Sam Carter went.

Okay, so she'd asked him about fishing. She'd been thinking about fishing. That was… kind of funny, actually. He'd been shocked when she seemed to find it mildly entertaining, expecting her to hate it. That had been a very pleasant surprise.

So… she'd wanted to know why he preferred fishing in an empty pond to one where they practically jumped in your lap. He'd tried to explain how it wasn't about keeping the fish itself… he thought through their conversation carefully.

"I don't get it," he finally announced to the empty room with a note of finality. He wondered if she'd explain it to him if he asked, and if she would need fruit or donuts as visual aids in the explanation. He decided to try asking. It had been a while since she'd had to explain something he didn't get to him. Maybe she'd just do it for the sake of tradition.

He knocked on her door quietly. No response. "Uh, Sam, you still awake?"

He opened the door cautiously and peeked in. "Are you… are you crying?" he asked incredulously. She never cried. But she was curled up in bed and hadn't even sat up when he came in the room, or even looked at him, and her shoulders were shaking slightly.

"Okay… I'm coming in, all right?" He had no idea what was going on. He knew she was really upset about something, obviously, but had no idea why, and he was trying not to come off CO-like here, but he wasn't just going to leave quietly if she was crying.

Well, she didn't scream at him or throw anything, so he figured he was clear to enter. He crossed the room cautiously. Funny, it had never seemed that big before.

"Umm, look," he finally said, sitting down carefully on the edge of the bed. "At the risk of… upsetting you even more, I… I have absolutely no idea what I said… or did. Seriously. Could not be more confused right now if Daniel was in here trying to teach me ancient Egyptian."

She laughed self-consciously and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's nothing. I'm just so tired, I'm not… myself ."

"Okay, me not giving you orders doesn't mean you're going to start lying to me all the time, does it?" he asked.

"No, of course not. I just… we've talked so much tonight. Please, I don't want to go into it right now. It's stupid. It's not something that needs to be discussed. I swear I'll be okay in the morning."

"But I want you to be okay now."

"Then please, let me sleep, Jack."

The still unfamiliar sound of his own name caught his attention, and he figured he should probably back off for now, no matter how much he didn't want to. "Okay."

He reached out to squeeze her hand but stopped, not sure how that would be received. He covered the half-completed gesture by fiddling with the comforter a bit, then repeated, "Okay."

He got up and went to the door, pausing hopefully. Hey, maybe she'd change her mind. Nope. "Night, Sam."

"Good night, Jack."

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"General Hammond, is this a bad time?" Daniel Jackson asked, poking his head into the General's office.

"Come on in, Dr. Jackson, what can I do for you?" the General asked.

"Um, well, I can't find Sam."

"I see. Well, if I hear from her I'll let you know," Hammond said with a smile, shuffling the papers on his desk so he wouldn't have to look Jackson in the eye. That boy had an uncanny ability to read people.

"But… it's Sam. I mean, I just thought with everything going on she would be hiding in her lab, working her a… working hard. But I haven't seen her in a really long time. Neither has Teal'c. Jack disappearing is at least in character but…"

Thor suddenly beamed in, right next to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson," he said, registering incredible surprise, which for Thor meant that he leaned his huge head back slightly and his eyes widened a bit.

"Thor," Daniel said, showing much more surprise. "I didn't… realize you were still… in town."

"I see. General Hammond, I have a matter of great importance to discuss with you."

While Daniel fancied himself an expert on that type of thing, he figured even Jack would have picked up on that non-invite. "I'll get out of your way then, Thor. Um, sir." He nodded at them both and left to go see if Teal'c had any updates on Sam.

As soon as Daniel was gone, Thor said, "It appears we have a problem."

Hammond got up to lock his door, just in case, offering Thor a seat on his way back. Maybe he could borrow one of the tiny chairs from his granddaughter's little table that her dolls sat around and used for tea parties. It would fit him much better. But he might misinterpret the gesture. It would probably be best not to try his hand at redecorating.

"All right, how bad is the problem? Did Major Carter figure out a way to turn the television into a Colonel-Killing machine?"

"No," Thor stated.

Hammond couldn't tell if Thor got that he was joking or not. Oh well. Better find out what had Thor so concerned.

"O'Neill and Major Carter have been arguing vehemently for some time. I am concerned that Major Carter cannot handle being confined with nothing to do for so long. She is taking out her frustration and boredom on O'Neill. Observe."

Hammond watched the footage Thor provided and nodded thoughtfully. "What do you want do?" he asked the alien.

"I am afraid we may be forced to terminate the procedure."

"I don't know… I think we've all put a lot into this thing, Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill especially. And I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. They're not naïve little kids, they know any relationship, even friendship, isn't just goofing off together. They're going to need to have a lot of conversations like this. And then some."

"I did not think this would take so long," Thor confessed.

"Well, all relationships are complicated. Add their history, and the fact that they're two of the most stubborn people in the universe… they're going to be there for a while."

"Very well. Still, I believe it would be wise to remove the fish from O'Neill's pond."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," Hammond agreed.

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