Okay people you asked for it. It's all your fault! -hugs- It was supposed to be a short story, not too much plot, and then I had an idea for a sequel and you all told me to go ahead with it. And then I realized that it's gonna end up being a couple more chapters, so here goes chapter 2. Maybe not as humorous the first chapter, you be the judge, but a bit more plot to the story now. Keep in mind I said 'a bit'.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, really. I used the celery to beat David, and it broke, so I don't have that anymore either. I try to keep the characters within themselves, but if it seems a little off, well, you can't say I didn't warn you.

12:11 a.m. Jack's driveway, 2005

Sam tried to ignore that last comment as she went to open her car door, just to realize that it was locked. She went to take her keys out of her purse, but she didn't have it. She hadn't meant to leave right away after Daniel and Teal'c, so she hadn't grabbed all of her things.

She turned to go back inside, but paused. It was only in her head that that last comment had been made, right? Well, it didn't matter. She wasn't going anywhere without her purse.

So back up to the front door she went.

Before she was done knocking, the door opened to reveal Jack standing there holding up her purse. He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing as he handed it over to her.

"Thanks sir." She turned to go but when, a couple of steps away, she didn't hear the door close, she turned back to see that Jack was still standing with the door open. Just then she realized that she didn't have her gloves. She had taken them off when she got inside and set them down on a countertop.

Smiling slightly, she walked back to the door.

"Yes?" Jack drawled.

"My gloves?"

He handed them over too, saying, "Carter, you've been awfully forgetful this year. You sure you don't need some downtime?"

"Sir, I'm on downtime. Remember, you insisted on it."

"Well, maybe you need more."

"Why, so I can go fishing with you?"

"Hey, that'd be great. But it may have to be ice fishing, as the lake's probably frozen over right now."

"I was kidding, sir. Besides, what's the point in putting a hole in the lake when there are no fish to get to?"

"Carter, it's not so much catching fish as it is the act of fishing."

"But to blow a hole in the lake?"

"Good point. Bring some ice-skates."

She gave a small give-me-a-break smile, then turned again to go.

"What, no goodbye?"

"Bye sir," she said, shaking her head slightly as one might when talking to a young child.

"Bye Carter. See you tomorrow."

She paused. "I'm off tomorrow."

"I know, and it would really be great if you didn't come to work tomorrow. But, knowing you, you'll end up back at the base."

She turned to face him once again, opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind and walked silently over to her car. It was rather cold outside and she couldn't wait to get warmed up again.

When settled in with the heater on, she got her cell to call Pete. The number left on her pager was his cell number, but when she called, she got his voicemail.

"Hey Pete, it's me. I got your page. Thought you were working. Call me back. I should be at home, but if I'm not, try my cell."

When she hung up it hit her that she had not so much as said "goodbye". She seemed to be having issues remembering to say goodbye to people this year. And she seemed to be thinking like Jack quite a bit this year.

Once she got inside her house after the drive, she saw that her answering machine was blinking. Half expecting to hear Pete's voice on the machine, she was surprised to hear the general's after she had left his house not long before.

"Hey Carter. It's me. Now don't get me wrong, I still think that you should use your down time as, well, down time. But you left your sweater at my house and I figured you may want to swing by the base to pick it up. You really need to work on remembering things. Next thing ya know, you'll be off wor – out of town and realize when you get back that you can't remember the code to open your garage door." A large yawn, and then, "I shoulda taken tomorrow off too. Well, I've got your sweater so don't freak out, if you even realize that it's missing and I'll get it back to you as soon as possible. Bye."

He had almost let slip classified information over her answering machine. What if someone else had listened to it and heard him talk about something "off world"? But he had at least caught himself and she still got the part about not remembering the code for the GDO. But that was something she was not likely to forget.

She had left her sweater? That must have been why it seemed so cold. And because it was winter. Maybe a coat would have been a good idea.

But as for getting her sweater back, she planned on going to the base tomorrow anyway because there wasn't much else to do, and because she knew that if she didn't, something would go wrong and she'd be called in. What would they do without her?

"It's kind of cold in here," she muttered to herself, walking over to check the thermostat. "Sixty? No wonder." She cranked up the heat, then went to see how much sleep she could get before work.

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Once Sam had driven off, Jack went back inside the house for that drink he had been meaning to get earlier. But he walked into the living room first and saw that Sam had forgotten something else. And the thought of Sam made him remember her earlier comment about his liver. She had been joking, but in his tired state he knew that what she said was valid.

So instead of heading for the fridge, he called her home phone and left a message. Afterward he thought that perhaps he could have caught her on her way back home, but he decided to leave it. He knew she would show up to work tomorrow, and it would be nice to think that she at least had a reason other than "I'm a workaholic."

Speaking of work, there was that tomorrow. Just because it was Saturday didn't mean that Cheyenne Mountain closed down. There were still teams off world and one – he couldn't remember which – was scheduled to get back sometime later that day.

So it was off to bed. The living room could wait to be cleaned; it wasn't as though he was expecting company. Of course, there had been that one time he hadn't been expecting company and then he woke up with Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c in his room. But how likely was it that anyone would try to clone him again? That reminded him that he hadn't anything medically out of the ordinary with him all year. And he wondered for how much longer that could possibly keep up.

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"Teal'c, did you have to take that turn so fast? I think I was asleep."

"You were indeed sleeping. I did not take it any faster than I would usually. Perhaps that is how you perceived it because of the annoyance of being woken."

"Yeah, maybe it was that. Unless you're just eager to get your first speeding ticket of the year."

"I have not in fact received any speeding tickets at all during my time driving."

"Yeah, but how many 'warnings' have you gotten?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "I choose not to disclose that information at this time."

They remained silent through the rest of the trip.

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The next morning, Daniel got up at five, despite getting all of three and a half hours of sleep. He wanted to get on that translation. If he was right, it had something to do with the Furlings. So a cup of coffee from the commissary and he would be off to lose track of time.

Daniel had been riding alone in the elevator for a short while when it stopped and let Jack in.

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"You're here early."

"I've been here since last night."

"Oh yeah. Actually it was this morning. So, you haven't actually been home all year then."

"Haven't given that up yet, then?"

"Nope."

"Is that Sam's sweater?"

"Yup."

"She leave it at your house last night?"

"Yup."

"Was she there much later than us?"

"Nope."

"It was freezing cold. How did she forget it?"

"How should I know? After you guys left she was in a bit of a hurry to get home. She tried to leave without her purse and gloves. She came back for her purse and had to be reminded of the gloves."

"Ah, being forgetful this year."

"It would appear that way."

"Uh, Jack?"

"Yes?"

"She's on downtime."

"You're on downtime too."

"Right. She doesn't understand the meaning of downtime."

"No, she doesn't. Do you?"

"I guess not."

"The elevator's really taking its time this year."

"Yes it is."

"It doesn't feel like it's moving."

"No, it doesn't, does it?"

"That's what I just said."

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Sam yawned. She had been in her lab for about an hour, since 0400. After having lain in bed for about two hours, getting no more than half an hour of sleep, she decided she may just as well get up and head on up to the base.

There was a knock on the door and Siler stepped in. "Um, ma'am?"

"You didn't break the gate already did you?"

"No, the elevator."

"It was fine when I came in."

"It's not anymore."

"And you can't fix it?"

"I think we can handle it, but I thought that you might want to know that the general and Dr. Jackson are on board."

"Oh. Where's it stuck?"

"Between here and sublevel 20."

"Let's go."

"Yes ma'am."

As they walked, she continued to question him. "So, if we can get the doors open, we should see there heads and they may be able to climb out."

"Except that there's not that much space. We've already got the doors open. That's not the hard part."

"Well can we get to them from level 20?"

"We're not sure, but probably not."

"How did the elevator stop anyway?" she asked, getting annoyed.

"We're working on that right now."

"How long have they been stuck?"

"About thirty minutes, but according to the general, for a tenth of the year, which isapproximately a couple days more than a month. "

She gave a half smile, but when she spoke her voice kept its annoyed tone. "And you only just now came to tell me?"

"It's just the elevator."

"Right. I'll see what I can do to help."

"That isn't necessary, ma'am. It was just made apparent to me that you may like to know."

"What, you think I can't handle an elevator?"

"No, not at all ma'am," Siler replied, slightly taken aback at her snappy tone. "I just meant that it didn't mean we can't handle it."

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Okay, there you go. Second part. Working on chappy three right now. Don't bite my head off if it takes me two or three days to get it out though, kay? Last minute late work and studying for midterms are about to bite me in the butt.