Edited and re-uploaded this chapter in order to take dietcokechic's advice. (I changed some of Jack's dialog because her suggestion sounded SO much better!)
A/N: Okay, now that I've recovered from my embarrassing error in the last chapter, I'm ready to continue. (What kind of mommy-to-twin-toddlers confuses the Three Bears and the Big Bad Wolf? Goes to show you that the fairy tales I tell my twins are more likely to contain Goa'uld and Air Force personnel than sinister animals…)
Anyway, please keep the feedback rolling. Things are going to start happening pretty quickly now, so buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Chapter 18
"Why do I feel that we've been here before?" Jack muttered absently, glancing around the grim, debris-strewn landscape.
Sam heaved a deep sigh. "Because we have been." Making a quick inspection of the surrounding woods, she nodded grimly. "Twice."
Looking clearly frustrated, Jack threw up his hands in disgust. "How is that possible? I've double-checked the compass and the map at least once an hour to make sure we were heading in the right direction!"
Sam brightened instantly. "See, I have a theory about that."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
Ignoring him completely, she fell easily into 'geek' mode as she continued. "I wasn't able to conduct a thorough spectral analysis of the underlying rock layers gathered by the MALP before we started this mission, but I'll bet if I had, I'd have discovered unusually high levels of iron ore on this mountain. If the volcano blasted away some of the iron-containing layers in an uneven pattern, we could be meandering through a jigsaw puzzle of widely varied magnetic fields. Especially if some of the underlying ore layers were deposited at a time when this planet's poles were reversed." She looked both excited and awe-struck by her theory. "We would have no idea which direction true magnetic north is until we were away from the volcano and no longer influenced by the ferromagnesian rock formations."
"So, what you're saying is…" Jack prompted, waited for a translation.
Sam blinked, realizing that he was completely baffled by what was perfectly obvious to her. Still, she'd worked with him long enough to figure out what he was asking for. "Our compasses won't work."
He gave her his familiar, 'Well, why didn't you just say that?" look and shook his head. "Great," he grumbled. "So, how the hell are we supposed to find the gate? We could try to guess our heading from the angle of the sun, but this damn overcast weather has been making that all but impossible."
Sam, however, didn't look very concerned. "I think I can help there, too," she said quickly.
"Not real surprised by that, either," he mumbled dryly. Seeing that she was waiting for him to pay attention, he nodded impatiently. "Please, be my guest."
Sam suppressed a smile. She always enjoyed coming to the rescue of 'Annoyed Jack.' When confronted by some seemingly unworkable puzzle or disaster, he'd get all grumpy and sarcastic until she managed to find a way out of it. By now, the routine had become second nature. What really made her feel all warm and fuzzy, however, was the fact that he never seemed to doubt her ability to find a solution. He trusted her completely – even if he didn't understand a fraction of what she did.
Cheered by their familiar banter, Sam pointed to a particular spot in the nearby blast zone. "We've been here before," she said simply.
Jack stared at her levelly. "Twice, in fact. But that's already been established," he said wryly.
Sam shook her head impatiently. "No, I mean we've been here before today – before the eruption occurred." Again, she pointed to a location a few hundred feet away. "See that boulder? It was one of the places the four of us scouted before breaking into two groups."
He whirled around instantly, carefully scrutinizing the landscape. "How can you be sure?" he asked incredulously. "It just looks like a rock to me."
At that point, Sam felt herself blushing. "It's the shape of the rock, sir. I recognize the depression on the near side." Seeing that he was still skeptical of her claim, she cleared her throat and continued. "If you recall correctly, we ate lunch there. I remembered thinking how nicely your backside fit into that particular depression while you were lounging in it."
Jack swiftly jerked his head back in her direction. Seeing the hot flush on her cheeks, he could immediately tell she was serious. That, of course, brought forth a heartfelt peal of amusement. "That rock reminds you of my ass?"
Sam, embarrassed by the teasing, glowered at him. "I wouldn't sound so smug if I were you. Most rocks remind me of your head."
Jack speared her with a dark glare. "Hey, watch it, there Major. That's your commanding officer you're insulting."
She smiled back innocently. "Well, I suppose, if you really want to play by the rules, I'll be happy to stop insulting my CO. Of course, that means there are a lot of other things I should be stopping, too, like backrubs and–"
"Eh!" He held up a hand to halt her mid-sentence. "No need to do anything drastic, Carter. I get the idea," he said quickly. Then, in a more serious tone, he tried getting back to the original topic of conversation. "Now what were you saying about that rock?"
She smiled once more before focusing on the matter at hand. "The gate can't be more than two miles east of it. The ground starts swelling just on the other side of the boulder, which eventually terminates in the cliff where we first arrived."
Jack let out a deep breath. "I'm still not sure I want to travel two miles through that blast zone. If we don't find the gate by nightfall, we'll have no place to camp. The ground is still mostly covered by downed trees."
Sam nodded. "I agree. But at least now we know where we're heading. If we follow the edge of the blast zone south, it should eventually be clear enough to pass through. Then, we'll just have to swing east until we see the cliff to the north. I'd be willing to guess that because of the sharp drop-off, the destruction will be nominal at the cliff's base, and we'll be able to reach our destination fairly easily."
Jack thought about this for a moment and nodded. It was already apparent that the farther they traveled from the crater, the less the devastation in the blast zone. Initially, every tree had been stripped to the bark and completely flattened. Now, however, a few of the largest trees were still standing, testament to the gradual decline in the energy of the blast as it rolled down the mountain. Jack estimated that another half-day's walk, and they'd be able to turn toward their destination. "Sounds like a plan," he said decisively. "With any luck, we'll be able to stay on course from here. If we're really lucky, we should be in sight of the cliff by nightfall."
Sam smiled, happy to have provided another solution for a seemingly unsolvable dilemma. She glanced back over to the rock that had prompted her brainstorm. Suddenly, something caught her eye. Reaching for her pack, she pulled out a small pair of binoculars and examined the boulder more closely.
"What's up?" Jack asked quietly, waiting for her to complete her assessment.
"Well," she said slowly, still looking through the binoculars, "I just noticed that the ground on one side of the stone was sheltered from the blast. It's still green – except for one area that seems to have been burned. No, wait," she added absently. "I take that back, it's not a charred spot. It's… I really don't know what it is."
Jack looked toward the boulder. "Can't be more than a few hundred feet away. Should we go check it out?"
Sam nodded. "Wouldn't hurt."
He sighed. "If we're lucky, it won't hurt. All those downed trees really make me nervous."
Sam used the binoculars to carefully examine the debris field that lay between them and the boulder. "It might be slow-going, but I think we'll be okay if we take our time."
Shrugging, Jack looked resigned. "We're gonna have to walk through some of that mess eventually. Might as well start now." He then began removing his pack. "Let's travel light. The less stuff we've got weighing us down, the easier this will be."
Sam followed his example and removed her heavy backpack, keeping a canteen and a few trail bars in her pockets. Within minutes, they were ready to start crossing the blast area.
Navigating a path through the tangled wreckage was, indeed, an excruciatingly slow ordeal. Jack went first, carefully picking his way through the maze of downed trees. After a few minutes, he paused abruptly. "Hey Carter," he said quietly.
"Yes?" Her reply was somewhat distracted as she concentrated on the ground in front of her. In fact, she was focused so intently on keeping her footing that she hadn't realized he'd stopped moving. Consequently, she only saved herself from toppling them both over by a making nimble half step around a tree trunk.
Jack grinned at her, clearly amused by her clumsiness. "You really should be more careful," he teased.
Sam glared at him. "Maybe if someone hadn't blocked my path, my feet wouldn't have gotten tangled."
He continued grinning. "I just wanted to make sure you were actually looking where you were going."
She blinked incredulously. "Where else would I be looking?"
Jack wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Oh, I don't know. I seem to recall a having conversation with you not so very long ago where you confessed to being distracted during certain missions. You know, missions that involved standing or walking behind me…" he trailed off, mischief gleaming in his deep, brown eyes.
Sam flushed instantly, but didn't look away. "Well, don't worry, Jack. I think I can resist the luring temptation of your backside long enough to reach the boulder in safety."
He laughed out loud at her dry comment. "That's a good thing," he replied warmly. Then, leaning over, he swiftly placed a firm kiss on her lips. "You do realize that I'll never be able to walk in front of you again without wondering if you're looking at my ass?"
With that comment, Sam, too, felt herself chuckling. "And just think," she said with a teasing smile, "most of the time, I will be."
He rolled his eyes and smirked before returning to the task ahead of him. In a matter of moments, the pair was once again focused on slowly climbing over the treacherous, ash-laden debris field.
In order to avoid the largest of the fallen trees, the path they took to the boulder was circuitous. Still, it didn't take very long for Jack and Sam to reach their destination. Since there had been a small clearing around the rock before the eruption, the area surrounding it now was mostly free of obstruction, which made it a perfect place to stop and rest. Sam dropped unceremoniously to the ground and took a few swallows from her canteen. Jack, however, slowly wandered toward the boulder, moving somewhat stiffly. Sam could tell that his knees were bothering him from the way he was walking.
"How are you holding up?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.
He smiled wryly. "Not too bad – for an old guy, anyway." Then, he shrugged. "I'm pretty much used to the pain by now." Still moving slowly, he finally approached the gigantic boulder and walked to the far side of the rock, where the ground had been sheltered from the blast. Almost immediately, he began to chuckle. "I'll be damned," he said quietly.
Curiosity piqued, Sam put away her canteen and got to her feet. "What?" she asked interestedly.
Jack shook his head. "That's our Danny Boy for ya. So focused on his projects that he forgets the simple things." Then, reaching down behind the boulder, Jack picked up the object in question and held it in the air so Sam could see it.
She stared in amazement. It was Daniel's pack. Since he and Teal'c had not been setting up any scientific equipment, Daniel's bag had been smaller than the ones carried by Jack and Sam. Perhaps due to its smaller size, Daniel must have forgotten it after the team's lunch break all those days ago. "Wow," she said softly.
As Sam continued to cross the clearing, Jack began to inspect the bag more closely. "Looks pretty beat up. The rock might have shielded it from some of the impact, but it still took quite a bit of damage."
Reaching his side, Sam also examined the dented pack. She nodded absently. "Not surprising, when you consider what that blast did to all the trees in within a few dozen miles of here."
Jack unbuckled the pack and began rifling through its contents. "Hey, look at this," he said suddenly, pulling a small handheld video camera from inside the bag.
Sam smiled brilliantly. "Daniel's camera! I wonder if it still works. We could get some great images of the blast zone!" She could barely contain her excitement.
Jack shook his head. "Well, not to diminish your geekish glee, but this camera isn't going to be taking pictures of anything." He turned it over and showed her the lens, which was completely shattered. "The light goes on, but nothing appears on the screen."
Sighing, she took the camera from his hands and looked at it closely. Sure enough, the small LCD display remained completely blank, even when the power and record lights went on. "Drat," she muttered softly.
Jack reached over and rubbed the back of her neck. "C'mon, Carter, look on the bright side." When she looked up at him, he winked and grinned wickedly. "No camera means we won't waste any time taking boring pictures of fallen trees."
Sam objected instantly. "Boring pictures of fallen trees? Jack, we're talking about firsthand data of alien geological phenomena! This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to–"
Her words were cut off by Jack's mouth crashing down on hers. Passion flared instantly, and within moments, the two were tangled in a fierce embrace. When he finally ended the kiss, she looked dazed and happy.
Taking in her sleepy, satisfied expression, Jack grinned again. "You were saying?"
Sam shook her head. "I have no idea. But clearly it wasn't as important as I thought it was." Blushing in spite of herself, she nodded at the open space around the boulder. "This might not be a bad place to set up camp for the night."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Camp? But it's barely past noon. Even if we walk back to retrieve our packs, it won't be much past two o'clock. We could probably reach the cliff by tonight if we keep moving."
Sam's blush deepened. "Walking to the base of the cliff isn't a bad idea, but I can think of better ways to spend the afternoon…" She trailed off suggestively, looking at him in a way that left no doubt about what was on her mind.
Suddenly, Jack caught her train of thought. "Oh!" Then, looking back across the mangled expanse of trees that they'd have to cross to get their packs, he sighed dramatically. "You know," he said slowly, "That obstacle course really took a lot out of me. Maybe we'd better rest before we go back for our stuff."
Sam heard the warm, sensual tone in his voice and instantly understood what he was saying. She wholeheartedly agreed with the idea. "Well, I can't have you getting tired, can I? After all, you old guys are pretty fragile. I wouldn't want you to strain anything," she teased with a smirk.
"Old guys?" he exclaimed loudly. Then, faster than she thought possible, Jack lunged forward and wrapped her in arms of steel. "And, let me get this straight: You wouldn't want me to strain anything?" Dark eyes flashing, he spoke with a deep, smoky quality to his voice that sent little shivers of delight up her spine. "If I were you, Carter, I'd worry more about what you might strain this afternoon."
Laughing breathlessly, Sam allowed herself to be drawn into his embrace. Leaning forward to place a swift, soft kiss on his lips, she met his smoldering gaze boldly. "Whatever you say, sir."
It was a long while before either of them spoke again.