Title: Safe Bet
Chapter: Major Discussions
Summary: ...So the
earth wasn't in danger, nobody was dying, and the 'gate wasn't about
to self-destruct. He simply wanted her there with him for the
negotiations between the Tauri and the Tok'ra...
Spoilers:
Everything so far, mostly things from Season 7 and 8 (up to reckoning)
Disclaimer: The show doesn't belong to me, the characters (all of them so far, I think) don't either. It's kind of sad, but I don't mind.
XXXX
Jack had spent twenty-five minutes explaining the situation to the president before the question he had been waiting for was finally asked, "You're not being too credulous in believing all of what these Tok'ra say, are you, O'Neill? Can you trust them undoubtedly?"
"Yes sir, I can. Jacob wouldn't lie about this," he assured the president. "We can trust him."
"And this Anise," he continued. "Is she trustworthy?"
Jack thought very carefully about his answer, "On matters this important, yeah. She is too, sir."
"Well," Hayes inquired, "what is your suggestion?"
Jack sighed; that was the second question that he had been waiting for. "To tell you the truth sir, I am still undecided on the issue. I'd like to know more about why they reconsidered, but I can believe their story, and since it came from who it did it just makes it all the more believable. Both Doctor Jackson and Teal'c have speculated that by realigning with the Tok'ra it will ultimately bring them back together with the rebel Jaffa, and with an alliance of all three our chances of defeating the Goa'uld increases greatly." He paused to catch his breath and give the president a chance to intervene, when he didn't Jack continued. "I'm inclined to agree with them, also the Tok'ra are very valuable to us, even if they do not reconsider the Jaffa. We do need them, sir. Even though I don't like to admit it, we're better off having their eyes and ears amongst the Goa'uld and relaying information to us. We can't win this war on our own. It would be foolish to think that we could."
"Well, after thinking this over I have to agree with you. It is in the best interest of earth that we join forces with the Tok'ra again. If we can get them to do the same with the rebel Jaffa we can give the Goa'uld a run for their money, but there's no way we could do it on our own."
There was a knock at the door and it creaked open, Sam stuck her head inside, and Jack waved her in. "Yes, sir. They're very important in the grand scheme of things."
"When the Tok'ra make contact with the SGC again find out the specifics of the alliance, relay them to me, and then we'll give them a decision before they have to leave." The president sighed, "I guess I'll be talking with you later."
"Yes sir, I'll call as soon as I know." He held up a finger to Sam, letting her know he would be done soon, and went back to the conversation. "I am sure their terms won't have changed much, if they have at all."
"Let's hope," Hayes replied. "Goodbye then, General."
"Goodbye Mr. President, sir. Take care." When the other line clicked Jack hung up and turned to Sam, "Anything I can do for you, Carter?"
"Well ... sir," she replied nervously. "I was kind of wondering if we could talk- over lunch. That is, if you're not too busy, sir."
"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "Not anymore. Let's go."
XXXX
"So," he asked when they sat down at a table in the oddly empty commissary. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"
She began to play with her blue Jell-O; "It's about dad." Looking up from the table she continued, "So much has changed since the last time I saw him ... I started dating Pete-"
Jack felt a pang of jealously in the pit of his stomach, but he continued to listen. It had been a long time since they had talked, and he wasn't sure they had ever talked like this. He wasn't gong to jeopardize her newfound openness.
"-We defeated Anubus..." She looked back down at the table, twisting the engagement ring around her finger. "Your being frozen in the Antarctic and then finding Atlantis." A smile spread across her face and she looked back up, "Teal'c got hair-"
He smiled back at her, "I think he probably noticed that already."
"Yeah ... but he hasn't seen the pictures from when it was first growing." A devious smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "The one's Teal'c didn't even know I took. Anyway, back to the subject. There are our promotions, which he knows about now, but not all the details. Everything with 'The Trust' and then Pete proposing-"
There was that jealous feeling again. He pushed it aside and forced a smile, listening to her prattle on about all the things she would have to tell her father about. After nearly ten minutes she calmed herself down, "I'm boring you aren't I?"
He shook his head, "Not at all." In fact, it was the exact opposite. He could watch her talk technobabble all day and not once nod off- although, he would never let her know so- and this was far more interesting than technobabble.
She stared at him incredulously, "Anyway, moving on. What did the president have to say about Dad and Anises' drop by?"
Something in him was thankful for the change in subject; the last thing he wanted to hear about was her growing relationship with Pete and how her father was going to feel about it. After all, nobody had known she was dating him until almost two months into their relationship, and the Tok'ra had already cut off all ties to earth by then. But then again, it had been a long time since they'd had a meaningful conversation, and he wasn't sure they had ever had such an open discussion, he enjoyed it, even if the subject was Pete. He missed having her as a friend. He missed that most of all.
"Well," he explained, "he's a little skeptical, but who can blame him? I trust Jacob completely and even I'm a bit wary of their reasoning. I convinced him that we can trust your father on anything and Anise for the most part," he was surprised by the flash of emotion in Sam's eyes. Was it ... no, she couldn't be jealous of Anise- why would she be jealous of Anise? "...He still wants us to find out more about their terms of rekindling our friendship, but I was already planning on doing so myself. I doubt that anything will have changed, they'll probably just want to go back to the way things were."
Sam sighed, "It seems like they're taking us for granted, doesn't it? Like they only want our help when they need it and not the other way around."
He stared at her in shock, "Wow ... that was unexpected." Sam actually said something negative about the Tok'ra.
She tried to stifle a grin but her efforts were to no avail. "I should probably get back to work, sir. Pete and I are going out to dinner tonight and I want to be home on time." Standing up she grabbed her Jell-O from the table, "I'll see you later, sir."
"Yeah. Go ... run ... experiment." He smiled, "Have fun."
"You know me, sir." she replied with another grin. Somebody up there must like him, he thought, because she was smiling a lot lately. It had been awhile since he had seen her smile this much ... and it wasn't even because of Pete, which was a major plus.
As she walked off he went back to his previous thoughts. He missed having her as a friend, ever since the za'tarc incident they didn't talk much, even more so since she started to date Pete. Above all, he wanted her to know that no matter what he would always be her friend, that he would always be there for her. If he couldn't have the part of her that he really wanted he would have to settle for friendship, and it looked as if they were working towards that again. At least, he hoped so.
XXXX
She had managed to tear herself away from her newest experiment at a quarter 'til 1900; her dinner reservations with Pete were at 2000 so she would have to rush with getting ready. After talking her way out of a speeding ticket she made it to the restaurant at 1958, no doubt Pete would already be there waiting on her. A chubby waiter brought her over to his table and hung around to get their drink orders, he ordered a beer and she just opted for a diet soda.
"You're improving," he said with a grin, after the waiter had left.
Confusion stepped in, "On what?"
"Tardiness, Samantha. You were actually on time tonight."
She could feel her cheeks flushing, "I almost didn't make it on time. I had to speed ... got pulled over."
"You got a ticket?" he asked, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"No," a grin stretched across her face, "as soon as I explained that I was late meeting my fiancée-who happened to be a Denver detective- for dinner he let me go with a warning." A devious look passed through her eyes, "That, and I flashed him some cleavage."
He didn't reply and his face turned ashen.
She couldn't help laughing, "I'm just kidding!" she exclaimed, her own eyes dancing with laughter. "You're so gullible."
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah ... I guess."
The atmosphere around them turned thick and silence manifested. After playing with the straw in her soda for a minute or so she looked up at him, "I saw my dad today."
"Oh?" He asked, "How is he doing?"
She debated telling him about her father being a Tok'ra, but decided against it. Pete knew nothing of the Tok'ra, all he had the clearance for was Orisis, and she wasn't sure that he would understand the difference between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. "He's fine."
"Where did you see him at?" he inquired, taking a sip of his beer.
Her throat became scratchy; Pete's cop nature was digging. "...Work."
"Really?" He asked, thinking things over in his mind. "He has clearance for the SGC?"
Nodding, she continued her explanation, "For a couple years now ... almost as long as I've been working there. With his military background it didn't take him long to figure out that space-radar telemetry wasn't what I was spending all my time working on, especially when I turned down work at NASA."
"So..." he gave her an incredulous look, "you just told him?"
She shook her head, "No, I could never do that. It's ... classified, Pete. I really can't tell you."
"Does this have something to do with your fathers miraculous recovery from cancer?" Pete asked, not willing to let the subject drop.
"No," she lied. "Pete you know that I can't talk about anything work related. You're lucky that you know what little you do."
He snorted, "Yeah ... lucky."
Sam opened her mouth to ask him what the hell that was supposed to mean but a figure to her left caught her attention. She turned towards him, disbelief in her eyes. "What are you doing here, sir?"
O'Neill shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously. "I tried your cell ... it was off. Cassie said you'd probably be here. Something's come up at work." Through the whole explanation he looked past her shoulder, his hands jammed into the pockets of his brown bomber jacket. "I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner ... but we really need you."
"Well," Pete started, "she's a little busy" the rest of his fit went unnoticed to the other two at the table.
Jack finally managed to look her in the eyes; he was startled by what he saw. Fear. She was worried about her father, or maybe the fate of the planet, with his cryptic explanation anything could have gone wrong. The look didn't last long, once she realized that he could see her worry it was replaced with the cold façade of an Air Force Colonel. Her blue eyes locked with his brown ones and through a silent conversation he assured her that everything was ok, it wasn't as bad as she thought. Nodding with relief she began to scoot out of the booth she was sitting in.
Pete stopped in the middle of his rant to stare at Sam with surprise. "Sam...?" he questioned.
"I'm sorry Pete," she told him. "But, I have to go."
Jack picked up her coat from the side of the booth and helped her into it, "I promise I'll do my best to have her back to you by midnight." He said, swallowing the lump in his throat.
Sam picked up her purse and gave Pete a chaste kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you later."
"Bye, hon." Pete said quietly as he watched them walk out together. He threw some money on the table to pay for the drinks and a slight tip, then grabbed his own jacket and headed out of the restaurant to his SUV just in time to see her silver Volvo and his black truck leaving. A stab of jealously ran through his veins, was this how their life was going to be? Work first, him second?
Would he always interrupt to take her away from him?
Would she always pack up and go? Just like that, with no questions asked?
He felt like he was the other man, hell not even that. With that geek Daniel character and that freak of nature Jaffa thing he would always be the fourth on her list of important people.
Was that really what he wanted?
Could he settle for that?
XXXX
He hadn't explained anything to her when they left the restaurant. Instead he had gone straight to his truck and instructed her to follow him back to the SGC. Her mind was still racing with the different scenarios, some wanna-be-bad-ass Goa'uld was threatening earth, some kind of system malfunction in the 'gate, somebody was injured badly and this would be her last chance to say good-bye.
No, it couldn't be those things. The look that the general had given her in the restaurant was very distinct; there was nothing-major wrong. Perhaps her father and Anise had just returned early and the Tok'ra wanted to get the discussions over with ASAP.
After five minutes of driving she could take it no longer, she rummaged through her car at a red light and found her cell-phone. It was turned off. She pushed the power button and waited for it to power-up, then pressed number one on her speed-dial. He answered at the first ring.
"Took you long enough," he said with a sigh.
"What's wrong," she demanded. "...Sir."
"Relax, Carter. It's not anything horrible."
"Well, then?" She asked, annoyance starting to take over.
"Jacob and Anise just showed up a bit early is all. Guess the Tok'ra high council is a little anxious for our help."
"Doesn't this worry you, sir?" She asked, turning on her blinker and following his truck as it veered to the left.
"Yes, Carter, it does." He explained," That's why I need you there."
"I don't understand," she confessed. She wasn't a diplomat, why would he have to have her there?
"I'm not sure about how easily he could lie to me, but it would be pretty damn hard for dad to lie to you."
"So, what, I'm like a human lie detector?"
He sighed, "That and I really don't like to be around Anise without some kind of body-guard."
She couldn't help but laugh, "What about Teal'c, sir?"
"I prefer having a female body-guard, thank you very much. It seems to be more effective with her."
"Well, I'm honored, sir." They pulled into the first checkpoint for access to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. "I'll see you at the SGC then."
"Right," he said. Then the line went dead.
She threw her phone into the passengers seat with a sigh, so the earth wasn't in danger, nobody was dying, and the 'gate wasn't about to self-destruct. He simply wanted her there with him for the negotiations between the Tauri and the Tok'ra.
She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that that excited her.
XXXX
A/N:
I'm not sure what the reasoning is for the 2IC of the base, but the way
I worked it out was that SG-1 is the flagship team and right under the
General in the chain of command. Since Sam is the leader of SG-1 she's
2IC of the base... it may be wrong, but I really don't know how it
works so I made something up for myself.
Please review!
