Chapter 9

O'Neill was bored. Really bored, so bored he was ready to consider doing at least a some of the endless work that faced him at the SGC maybe some paper work, form filling, box ticking or discussing the merits of types of potato. Yes, he was definitely ready to at least think about doing some work even if it required a desk. It would have disappointed his superiors that while in this rare mental state he had no access to work, paper or any form of desk.

He had exactly nothing to do. He was even considering going and disturbing Carter, he knew he should give her room, let her have some time to do the things she considered fun, but for crying out loud, he'd been doing nothing for nearly 20mins, surely that was long enough to solve the problems of the universe or at least a few of them.

It turned out that his dilemma was solved, when roughly 5 minutes later, Carter reappeared fully clothed in BDUs no less, he smiled warmly up at her,

"Hey Carter, I though you were working on the cosmic injustice of the universe but you were sewing, I always knew you had it in you!" She didn't look impressed but half smiled as she replied

"Sir, didn't you know all us females can turn flight suits in to BDUs, it's in our genes" Sarcasm was usually more his style than hers, but he had to concede she always held her own.

"Really any other tricks you can do?"

"Yes Sir"

"Such as…"

"But that would be telling Sir" She smiled and sat down beside him.

"Well, I'm never one to pry, but here is something you can tell me; while you were going from rags to uniform, do you think the Asgard made much progress in finding a solution to the universe's bug problem"

"They seem to be interested in the results"

"They?…not your bag? I thought you loved a good bit of techno talk?"

"Ah, Usually Sir, but…well…they're all really busy" She tried a relaxed smile but it was a bit half hearted and didn't convince him she wasn't interested for a second.

"Oh, welcome to my life Major, lots of people getting all het up over something you don't understand and they have no time to explain" He'd stood in many rooms at the SGC not understanding the majority of what was said, she now knew just what it was like.

"It's a bit like that Sir, they're so far ahead of us I don't think I'd work out half of what they know if I spent the rest of my life here." She looked resigned to this disappointment.

"Nah…I bet you'd crack it within' the week, but I'll let you in on a secret; sometimes you don't have to understand, just sit back and think 'that's cool'. He illustrated his point with a sweeping hand gesture and broad grin.

"But aren't you curious how all this works?" She asked incredulously, also gesturing at the ship, she often thought 'that's cool' but it was always followed by 'I wonder how it works?' she decided it was just a matter of personality. He'd didn't seem to mind her surprise and glanced around the room before answering honestly,

"Nope, not enough to let it worry me"

"So what have you been doing?" Carter suddenly wondered, he was sat almost exactly where she had left him.

"Well…"He did wonder what to say, momentarily all the answers seemed a bit lame and he was distracted, still wondering where she'd got a set of BDUs from. When he'd asked, the Asgard had assured him they could do nothing to repair her suit; it was just odd, if he'd been honest his curiosity didn't peak nearly as easily as her's or Daniel's but when it did, it really bugged him. He pressed on though with a relatively honest answer,

"I thought about the fact I'd missed a hockey game I wanted to see, I considered how long General Teacaddy is going to take to get over the our visit and the flight. Not a lot really" She looked at him for moment and then read him perfectly

"You're bored aren't you"

"Well maybe a little" he confessed

"Oh…We've got a while yet till we'll be home"

"Guess your going to miss all your weekend, any major plans?" It wasn't the most exciting question and he'd asked it just before there little bug problem started but he was still curious. What did she do when she actually left the base? This whole test pilot thing had been a surprise so he didn't want anything else to blindside him, for a good week or so.

"I was meeting a friend, getting a hair cut, seeing Cassie, nothing big. I hope I have time to see Cass soon."

"I'm sure you can get some more time off, she's doing well I hear."

"Yer, she's doing great school, better than anyone would have expected given her past."

"It's still a shame she couldn't keep that dog" This subject had once caused a great deal of stress for the planet's premiere world saving team; far more than Apophis had ever managed.

"That was a long time ago, Sir"

"I know. It's still was a shame but before you set a certain member of the medical staff on me for bringing it up, let me ask you something else. You said the recruits respond better to my teaching, but you didn't come to my lectures. How do you know I'm not a terrible teacher, I could mumble and keep bringing up completely irrelevant stories?" She smiled remembering all the terrible lectures she'd suffered during her years of education, then she realised what he was asking.

"Do you really listen that closely to what I say?" She tried in vain to distract him

"I figured it was a important conversation. Now stop stalling" She would have guessed it wouldn't work. O'Neill was infamously difficult to distract once he had taken an interest; admittedly his interests were often different to hers, Daniels or even Teal'c but she'd never know anyone with the same drive to get a rescue mission approved or complete a computer game or master a trick with the yoyo. She decided once again honesty was the best policy, also she couldn't think of an even slightly believable lie.

"I watched your clone."

"That kid. Don't tell me Hammond let him give my lecture?"

"No, not exactly but you…he insisted and it hadn't exactly been going well up till that point."

"OK, firstly someone could have told me, I met some of those guys and they kept staring at me, at least now I know why"

"It was in my review Sir," She said defensively

"Oh, not in a one of those memos I don't seem to get"

"No Sir, it was included in the review of the security risk the other you posed."

"OK but I shouldn't have done that"

"Don't worry there's not likely to be a repeat situation."

"Did they really pay attention to a kid?" He asked, his mind boggling at the idea. Carters mind wanted to reply sourly 'that they paid a lot more attention to the kid than her' But she didn't because she knew it wouldn't help so she decided to follow one of her old CO's favourite sayings, 'Credit where credits due'.

"Yes Sir, you were most persuasive"

"Bet you stood up for me"

"You didn't really need my help"

"Thanks for giving it anyway."

"Sir, the teaching doesn't matter" Her voice was firm that this was not to become an issue, but he had other ideas.

"Well I disagree and next time there is schooling to be done your going to do it,"

"No Sir, they learn more from you and other people they're willing to listen to."

"They could learn more from you; they should listen to you, I couldn't have pulled off saving those Asgard, Carter, that was all you"

"I'm still not sure I should have taken risks like that, maybe there was a better solution."

"Not that we were going to think of, and don't for a second you regret your actions, we are fine, the Asgard are fine 100 mission success."

"I broke the 302" She pointed out

"Everyone will get over that, things are repairable or replaceable, people and other good guys are not disposable." She smiled a full blown grin

"What's funny Carter, it's true"

"The Asgard don't do repair" She watched as he thought about it, realisation dawning quickly on his features.

"That's where you got the BDUs." He stated, his mind working quicker than most people would have thought it able.

"Well I asked for a replacement"

"And I asked for a repair" The stupidity of inter species communication dawned on him, he also wondered if all the Asgard had that little common sense, but then again he hadn't realised, it hadn't occurred to him to ask for replacement clothes, only for those they had to be repaired. Then he realised something else

"So they just made you the clothes you asked for?"

"At the touch of a few buttons"

"And with all the styles of clothes in the universe to choose from, you chose BDUs?"

She was surprised he'd even considered her choice, it had just seemed the natural response when the Asgard had asked what she wished to wear but there had been some good reasons she hadn't asked for something with a bit more style;

"I didn't want to annoy the general anymore when we got back to Base, I thought beaming down in civvies with half a 302 might be a little antagonistic"

"You really are quite smart, Carter, have I mentioned that before?"

"Once or twice Sir" She smiled at him and he couldn't help returning it. The early worries he'd had about her health and state of mind were diminishing as she relaxed again, but he wanted to make sure she knew he wasn't giving up on her lecturing skills.

"Next time I'm going to ensure all the recruits reap the benefits" The smile went down considerably

"Let it go Sir, it doesn't matter,"

"That's something you are wrong about, so how about next lecture, team effort,"

"If that's what you want Sir," She sounded resigned.

"OK, now that's settled you can tell me something else"

"What is this 20 questions, I thought you weren't one to pry?" she countered not liking how often he was putting her on the spot lately.

"Times are changing Carter, if I get 20 it might just occupy us till we get home" He said smiling and looking at his watch.

"I think maybe I'd have more fun with the Asgard" She said, beginning to rise.

"OK, no questions" She sat down again "I'll just tell you about how to make spaghetti bolognaise again" he sounded serious, she groaned, was he ever going to let her forget one tiny error.

"Sir, I know in theory." Her voice was firm "it's just cooking isn't one of my strengths, we all have bad days. I've never called a General by the wrong name" She rebutted

"I was distracted Carter, but you do realise he's not going to forgot this, he's just got no sense of humour at all"

"He'll get over it" She assured him "I heard a maintenance guy dropped paint on him about 2yrs ago, rumour has it they both survived, he's due back from the Artic quite soon I believe."

They continued to bicker and laugh about people from work for a good half an hour before Thor came and interrupted them to inform Carter that the information she had requested was available. O'Neill shot her a questioning look which she pretended not to see.

Thor was about to leave the chamber, but turned to watch O'Neill and was suddenly curious;

"Have you found a productive use for your time O'Neill?"

"Um…I'm still thinking buddy, it's not like I've got a lot to work with here"

"I am sorry O'Neill but there is little I can provide that you would be familiar with"

"Never mind, not even the General can say I should've done my paperwork without paper or pen"

"I can synthesis you paper and a writing implement if this would facilitate your ability to work, O'Neill."

"Sure why not, wouldn't want to get behind" He said in a rather sarcastic tone, which unfortunately for him and fortunately for interspecies relations was entirely lost on the little grey alien.

"I will see it is arranged" He then continued through the door, pleased he had been able to help. Carter followed, poorly disguising a smile and afraid to look round again at the stunned Colonel for fear she would laugh aloud. Despite their friendship she tried to avoid outright laughing at her CO, it was frowned upon.

Meanwhile the stunned Colonel decided the conspiracy theorists were right, aliens did exist and they were out to get you; this conversation was undeniable proof.

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