John Doe

Chapter Twenty Eight

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't belong to me.

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Jack O'Neill stood patiently in the control room awaiting the return of his flagship team, SG-1. They had gone to P3Q-308 a little over four days prior in order for Dr. Daniel Jackson to study some ancient ruins that SG-5 had found almost a week prior to their departure. In all truths, he was surprised the archeologist had waited so long to request a mission to 308- but figured it had something to do with the rubbings he had been translating from a previous mission, almost a month before. Nonetheless, SG-1 wasn't scheduled for anything else and the world wasn't in certain doom (for the time being) so he saw no reason to deny the request. Sam and Teal'c had gone a bit grudgingly, since it hadn't been long since their last archeological mission, but he knew that they didn't mind as much as they let on- or at least as much as Sam did. Teal'c just stood as stoic as ever and excepted his fate. Besides, it wasn't every day they got to go somewhere without being shot at, so that was a major plus.

They were scheduled to return at 0900 hours, and it was only five minutes until then, so he stood behind Davis and waited for the 'gate to be activated. He didn'd have to wait long, two minutes before their due time the Stargate came to life and their IDC came through. The iris was opened and he left the control room to meet them in the embarkation room.

Teal'c was the first one through, carrying a far larger bag than he had left with, followed by Sam who's bag had not changed drastically, and Daniel who could hardly be seen behind his. "Hi, guys," he greeted with a knowing grin, "have fun?"

Sam scowled at him for good measure and took off out the 'gate room. P3Q-308 was a sand planet, she despised those as much as he despised trees, and he couldn't blame her for it. So, undoubtably she was headed for the locker rooms to steal all the hot water before anybody else got the chance, since it was still a bit early. Jack turned his attention to Daniel, who had set his bag down by then. "Find anything interesting?" D'oh- that was the wrong question.

"Actually, it was fascinating. The language on the ruins seems to be derived from a mixture of Aztec and Mayan, which is odd because both cultures thrived at completely different ti–"

Jack blinked a few times, cursing himself for opening his big mouth, and turned to Teal'c. "Got anything for me in there, Santa?"

"Indeed," he said, ignoring Jack's humor. "I do not."

Damn. Why did he have to say 'indeed' in front of everything. Gives a guys hopes up.

By that time Daniel had noticed that Jack was no longer paying attention to him, "If you didn't want to know, then why did you ask?" he questioned.

"I worded it wrong. What I meant to say was did you find anything important."

"What I found is important, Jack." Daniel countered.

"Means to aide our fight in the Goa'uld?" he questioned.

"No."

"Big, honkin' space gun?"

"No."

"Small, honkin' space gun?"

Daniel sighed, "No."

"Just a regular old space gun?"

"No," Daniel replied, getting a bit aggravated.

"Then it's not that important, now is it?" he mused.

"Maybe not to you, bu–"

Jack cut him off mid sentence, "Report to the infirmary and get checked out, debriefing at 1000 hours."

Daniel muttered something under his breath before picking the large bag up and heading out the door, Teal'c not far behind.

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As he pretended to pay attention to Daniel prattle on about the significance of a Mayan/Aztec culture fused together as one he stealthily focused on one Colonel Samantha Carter. In the few days she had been off-world he had done a lot of thinking, which was atypical of him, unless the thoughts consisted of attack plans and big honkin' space guns. Nonetheless, he had pondered over many things, the most important involving her.

"Jack?" Daniel called out, sounding more than a bit perturbed. Oops... he was caught.

"Yeah, Daniel?" he answered, trying to act as if he hadn't been ignoring his speech.

"I asked what you thought about it," the archeologist stated cryptically. Crap, not good.

"Carter," he addressed the very thing that had stolen his thoughts moments before. "What's your opinion."

She glared at him, not amused by the fact he was using her as his scape-goat, and looked over at Daniel. "This would be with whom, exactly?"

Daniel shrugged, "Any SG team available."

"Ah," she sighed, "in that case, it sounds perfectly reasonable to me. But, it is, of course, General O'Neill's decision."

Jack scowled. Her answer had been almost as cryptic as Daniel's, but he had enough to go on, and Daniel was extremely predictable. With a slight grin he answered the man's initial question. "If you want to go back, Danny, that's fine with me... I think SG-3 is free tomorrow- that is, assuming you want to leave right away."

Daniel held back a scowl. SG-3, huh? They hated archeological missions as much as he had. "What about SG-4, sir." Major Dennis was an archeology buff, after all. To have her along would make things ten times easier on him. "Are they off-world?"

Jack shook his head, "Just got back yesterday... I can present the mission to Major Dennis, but if she decides not to go it's SG-3."

He wasn't going to argue. He knew Amy would jump at the opportunity, no matter that her subordinates could care less about ancient civilizations. "Sounds good to me," he said with a shrug.

"Good," that made his life easier, anyway. "Dismissed, then."

The three began to file out of the room, but before Sam could leave he called out to her. "Colonel," not exactly necessary when they were alone, but a habitual act all the same. "Do you have anything important planned for tonight?"

She shook her head, "Not that I know of, sir."

"Good," he repeated. "Dinner at 1900?"

"I'll meet you on the surface at 1800 hours," she promised with a grin. "Dress up?"

He nodded, "Better make it 1730."

"Alright... I'll see you for lunch at 1300?"

"Yep," knowing her she would be stuck in her office until he came by to get her at 1315. "Go experiment on your doohickeys."

A grin stretched across her face. God, he loved it when she smiled. "I'll see you later, sir." With that she took off out the room and towards the elevators, leaving him to get ready for his briefing with SG-8 at 1130.

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They met, as planned, at 1730. Since she had been on a mission her car was at their house, therefore she rode home with him. They dressed quickly, Sam wearing a black, strapless dress and heels that made her three inches taller, although she didn't need them. He wore a pair of khaki pants with a blue button up shirt, foregoing the tie that Sam had wanted him to wear. She didn't really want him to, anyway, she just wanted to tease him.

After giving Pandora an overdue hello and goodbye they left the house, headed for her favorite Italian restaurant, Lomeli's. Since he had called ahead for reserved seating they didn't have to wait in the medium sized line. They were seated by a window that looked out over the mountains, one of Sam's favorite things about the restaurant, and left to search through the menu.

"How did Pandora do while I was away?" Sam asked, not wanting to let on that she was worried about her puppy. Pandora was only a little over 8 months old and was still in the chewing stage, whatever she could get a hold of was spared no mercy.

"She was fine, Sam," Jack assured her. "Don't worry so much."

She sighed and set her menu down, she already knew what she would get, anyway. "I try... but, you know how 'Dora gets."

"Do I ever," he said with a grin. "She was a little lonely with you gone, but I brought her to the park and she got over it."

Sam grinned, Pandora loved the park. Like others of her breed she was a friendly dog and always eager to see a new face, more so if it was a child. What was good about her was that since she was still so young she hadn't grown fully, she was only at 25 pounds and had ten or more to go, and her bright, blue eyes had a way of letting others know just how much she loved people. New people were always better, she was a curious animal, after all. "How'd that go?"

"She made a couple friends, like always." He didn't appear too enthusiastic but Sam knew that Jack loved Pandora just as much as she did... well, maybe almost as much.

The waitress returned, took their orders, Sam getting chicken fettuccine and Jack getting shrimp fettuccine, then went off to give them to the cook.

"I was surprised you agreed to Daniel going back so soon," Sam pointed out, taking a sip of the wine Jack had ordered for them. "Normally you put up a bit of a fuss."

He shrugged, "I figured I'd let him have some fun... there's nothing around base that requires his knowledge. Besides... I think Major Dennis has a bit of a crush on him."

"Really? Major Dennis... what makes you say so?"

"I happen to know, for a fact, that Dennis cannot stand archeology." he grinned at her. "Haven't you ever wondered why whenever SG-1 doesn't go with Danny to those ruins her team is the immediate back-up?"

She shook her head, "I was always under the impression that she was interested in the study."

Jack shook his head, "Nope. You know, she came on board while Daniel was... away, and she had the opportunity to go on an archeological dig back then, she declined. Told me that there was no use studying it, the civilizations were already dead. Who cares, they're all dead and gone, anyway, were her exact words, I recall."

Shaking her head with silent laughter she thought about the possibility of Daniel dating again. "You're trying to play match maker?"

"Oh, yeah..." he said sarcastically. "I just want to see what's gonna happen."

"They've been on missions together before, you know," she pointed out.

"True... but when Captain Craig and Lieutenant Peters are called back to the SGC..."

"Your plan is flawed," Sam informed him. "Daniel will want to return with them. So will Dennis."

"No need, Craig and Peters, along with all other male members of air force working at the SGC, are having a mandatory physical. The women will be next Monday, and the non-military members next Tuesday... they'll be back by then."

Sam grinned, "I don't know... your plans have a tendency to blow up in your face."

"Not all of them," he said defensively.

"Yeah," she countered, "all of them."

He sighed, "That's no good for you, then."

"What does that mean?" she asked, her interest piqued.

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged. "It wouldn't work in the first place."

She pondered his statement for a moment, then decided that maybe not all of his plans turned out in disaster. "Ok, so most of your plans have a tendency to blow up in your face..."

He eyed her suspiciously, "Are you only saying that because you want to know what the plan is?"

"No," she lied, doing her best to hide a grin.

Sending her an incredulous look he picked up his menu, "Sure..."

Damn. Didn't work.

"Jack," she asked, her newly bare foot traveling under the table and connecting with his leg, "what's the plan?"

He looked up, his eyes gleaming, "Never gonna work."

Her foot traveled further up his leg, "You sure?"

Not phased he nodded, "Positive."

Further still, "What's the plan, Jack?"

He shrugged, "Maybe later."

Damn. Didn't work. Her foot retreated and he smiled in defeat.

"You can wait a couple hours, right?"

If she must. "Maybe..."

"I don't think you have much of a choice, Sam."

Well, that was true. Unless she came up with a brilliant idea then she'd have to wait. Of course, she was a genius, or so he said.

She took another sip of her wine, her eyes never leaving his. "Fine... I can wait."

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A/N: Liked it, loved it, hated it, loathed it... let me know either way. But, try not to be too harsh- I have feelings, ya know. Anyway, I'm thinking two more chapters, that way it ends up being thirty even.