Title: Safe Bet

Chapter: House Calls

Summary: The clock ticked closer and closer to 0700, and Daniel's breath was beginning to catch in his chest.

Disclaimer: The show and the characters are not my property. I do not claim them as my own and I do not make any profit off of my use of them. Also, I do not own (though I wouldn't mind it) the Hummer car.

XXXX

Daniel wasn't sure if there was ever a moment in his life where he had been so nervous. Sure, he had faced Goa'uld after Goa'uld, each time with it's own dangers and consequences, and he had stared into the face of death many more times than any man should in his life, most of the times actually dying. And yeah, he had been captured by various different hostile alien races, facing imminent death... but this was the president. Head of State, himself. And Daniel was about to waltz into his office and ask him to do a favor for him. Ask him to break the rules for him.

Sam and Jack had better get him a damn expensive present for his birthday. No scratch that. Two very expensive presents. One from each of them. And Davis! Oh... he had better buy him a new car, or something.

At that time, he was attempting to hide the nervous twitch of his leg, well aware that the president's secretary, a very good looking red head that looked in her mid-thirties, was, for a lack of better words, checking him out. He placed his hand over his ankle, holding his shaking leg in place, and smiled sheepishly at the woman, who grinned back at him.

Yep. He deserved at least a Hummer for this. If not, then two. One black, the other yellow. Maybe one of them a Hummer Truck. Yeah...

The clock ticked closer and closer to 0700, and Daniel's breath was beginning to catch in his chest. There was no way that this was real. He had to be dreaming, or something like that. Stuck in some alien false reality. Those never made sense. Because this didn't make sense to him. He was sitting outside the president's office... there had to be something fishy about this.

Five minutes and counting. Maybe something serious would happen... and the president would be forced to cancel the meeting. Something liken to a war or bombing, as harsh as it sounded. That way there was no chance he would go through with the meeting, and maybe then he would forget about it all together and Daniel could go back to the SGC, like nothing had happened.

And maybe he was being childish with his irrational fears and wishes. It wasn't as if he was going into that office for him. He was doing it for two of his best friends, who didn't deserve what they were being put through. He was being selfish, and not thinking about the reason he was getting ready to make a fool of himself. Jack and Sam loved each other, and it just wasn't fair, what they were going through.

Two minutes left. Just one hundred and twenty seconds. That was all. Daniel briefly wondered whether Davis was expecting him to do all of the talking, or would be doing it himself. Then again, he was probably the closest person to both Sam and Jack on the planet, so he assumed he would be the one to explain. That was just peachy.

Sixty seconds... fifty nine... fifty eight... fifty seven.

A speaker crackled, and a muffled voice filled the air. At the same time, Davis and Daniel looked over at the secretary's desk, in anticipation. The woman nodded, seemingly to herself, and looked up at the two of them. "Major Davis... Doctor Jackson, he's ready to see you."

Daniel looked over at the clock. No. This was all wrong. He still had forty three seconds left.

Davis sighed nervously, which made Daniel feel a bit better, because at least he wasn't alone in his worries, and stood up. Following suit, Daniel got up from th e plush chair and headed towards the door, where the secretary was standing waiting for them. She opened the door for the two and stood to the side, as to let them pass into the Oval Office. As Daniel walked by her, she smiled once more, peeking behind him briefly, in a move Daniel knew well. He sighed, wondering if he would ever be able to go somewhere without having a woman (or man... Daniel shuddered at the thought) check out his backside.

When both were in the office, she closed the door, nodding towards the president. Daniel followed Paul into the office, and when the Major stood by his chair, waiting to be allowed to sit, Daniel did the same. President Hayes smiled slightly and informed them that they could sit, if they wanted, and the two men did as they were told.

"So," he began, crossing his arms over his chest, and leaning back in his large, leather chair. "What could be important enough to bring the liaison between the pentagon and SGC and the main archaeologist of the SGC to my office at 7 o'clock in the morning?"

"Well... uh, sir..." Davis began, searching his brain for the correct wording.

Seeing that neither of them were going to get very far stumbling through sentences like a school-boy with a crush, Daniel spoke up, figuring that being blunt would probably best in the situation. "We have a favor to ask of you, Mr. President."

XXXX

Sam grumbled, hanging up the phone and turning around in bed. Stupid telemarketers. It was only 0700 in the freaking morning, did they never sleep? With a sigh of discontent, she hid her head under a pillow, forcing out the sunlight that was streaming in through the window on the opposite side of the room. Within a few minutes, she began to feel herself drifting off once again, and not even five minutes after that she was sleeping peacefully.

But then, only an hour later, the shrill, annoying ring of her telephone brought her back to the world of the waking. Grumbling to herself, she reached around to find where she had thrown the phone. It wasn't on her nightstand, and she couldn't feel it anywhere on the bed, so she extended her arm out far enough to reach the floor, fumbling around, trying to make contact with the plastic device. On the third ring she found it, clicked it on, and brought the receiver to her ear. "Carter..." she greeted sleepily, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Thank God," a worried voice said at the other end, "Colonel. I have been trying to call for half an hour."

Straining her mind, she sorted through the list of men she knew, because the voice was clearly male. It wasn't Daniel, Teal'c, O'Neill, Davis, Siler, or Harriman... and definitely wasn't Felger, because she would have already hung up in that case. Giving up, she decided to question the identity of the man on the other end, "Who am I speaking with?"

The caller paused, "It's Doctor Newman..."

Doctor Newman... Oh, the new Physicist. Right. "What is it, Doctor?"

"I don't know!" he cried out. "That is why I called you."

Confused and still very sleepy, Sam sat up in her bed, and rested her back against her pillows. "Excuse me?"

"The device that SG-2 brou--"

"May I remind you that we are not on a secure line, Doctor," Sam said curtly.

"Oh, yes," Newman said sheepishly, "I am sorry. I know that it is your day off, Colonel... but I think it is going to blow up."

"What is?" she inquired, stepping out of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It didn't seem likely that she would be getting back to sleep that morning, so she might as well wake herself up completely.

"Ma'am, I can't really explain it over the phone..."

"Brief descriptions, Doctor."

"Right... small, oval, red and purple blinking lights all around it. At the moment, a continuous ticking..." the doctor's voice was nervous and Sam realized, extremely worried. "It won't cause much damage if it blows, Colonel, but we will not be able to find out what it is and what it does, were it to do so. Nobody here can seem to figure it out."

Sam remembered the device. SG-2 had brought it back from P4A-227 five days prior. She had glanced at it briefly a few times, but never really had the chance to look at it in full detail. Now she wished she had taken the time. "How long has it been ticking?" she asked, heading over to her bureau, grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt to change into.

"Maybe five minutes."

Sam sighed, looking at her clock once more, and wishing she was still in bed, asleep. "I'll be there in less than half an hour. Call me on my cell phone if there are any changes in the situation before I get there... and get that thing into a secluded area. Even if it doesn't do much during explosion, it could still cause damage."

"Yes ma'am," he paused, "thank you, ma'am."

"Don't thank me yet, Doctor. I haven't done anything yet..."

"Right... Goodbye, Colonel." Newman hung up the phone and Sam did the same with hers, throwing it haphazardly onto her bed, and pulling off her pajamas to change. Less than ten minutes later, she grabbed her keys and locked up her house, jumping into her car and speeding off down the road.

So much for downtime.

XXXX

During the night, he had consumed six cups of the stash of extra-strength coffee Daniel had left at his house. The man had complained years prior, at a team meeting, that the brand of coffee Jack usually bought was terrible and there was no way he would be able to drink it, so Jack had told him to buy his own and bring it over, and he would keep it there just for him. It seemed as if that had been a bit of a fib, but to his credit, Jack had only done such once before. And that was under extreme circumstances that he really didn't want to remember.

When the sun began to rise over the horizon, turning the sky a magnificent orange, Jack ventured onto his back deck and took his temporary insomnia to use. After watching the sunrise, he headed back inside and showered, then poured himself another cup of coffee and got ready for the work day. It was going to be a very boring day, as far as he was concerned. Nobody was going to be there for him to procrastinate with. Daniel was in DC with Davis, doing his homework for him, as Jack had decided, and Teal'c was visiting on Chulak, and then there was Carter, who he had ordered to take downtime. Yep... he was in for a dull, dull, dull day.

Or so he thought.

It was a few minutes before 0800 when the frantic technician knocked hurriedly at his door. Some new scientist had managed to turn on some kind of bomb and now he had no idea how to stop it. According the the young woman, the explosion, were it to occur, would not be dangerous, and the debris would more than likely cause more damage than the path of the explosion. Still, it could be dangerous, and it would be better that the device not blow up.

And so the day began. Not knowing what the best thing to do would be, told the technician to get the alien doohickey out of whatever office it was in, and hide it away in some empty room on Sub-Level 16, unaware that at that very moment, his 2IC was telling Doctor Newman the exact same thing, only in a less select manner. The woman scurried off and Jack leaned back in his chair, sighing to himself.

So much for a boring day.

XXXX

Sam pulled into an open parking space and let out a sigh as she shut off her car. She pulled out her cell-phone, along with the number Newman had called from, and silently thanked the man, or woman, who invented Caller ID. Dialing quickly, she put the phone to her ear and waited for it to be picked it. When it was, she was relieved to hear Doctor Newman on the other end.

"Doctor, it's Colonel Carter. I am at the SGC now. Where is the device at currently?" she headed into the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, showing the uniformed guards her clearance.

"Level 16, in the second room on your right, as soon as you exit the elevator." the man replied. "It is still ticking away, although, the ticks are becoming more and more frequent."

Holding back a snort, Sam told him goodbye and hung up the phone. Of course the ticking was becoming quicker, it was a bomb, most likely, and most bombs did that. Not letting her annoyance get the best of her, she got into the elevator and made her way to sub-level 16, whereupon she hurried down the corridor and into the room Newman had claimed the "bomb" was in.

To her surprise, when she entered the room, Newman wasn't the only one inside. Along with him was a younger woman, a technician, she recognized, and also, General O'Neill. He looked at her, smirking slightly, and she could feel her cheeks redden under the gaze.

"Colonel," he questioned, "shouldn't you be on--"

"Downtime, sir?" she said for him. "Yes, sir." Ending the conversation with that she went to work with the alien device, doing her best to ignore the comments that Newman was making, concerning what he believed the device was and how long he thought it had before it blew. For all the knew, it wasn't even a bomb, and the man was completely over-reacting. But, seeing it again, Sam doubted that such was the case.

This was a bomb, or some kind of weapon, and sometime soon it was going to go off. And she had no way of knowing when it was going to do so, or how to stop it.

XXXX

A/N: Ah! School is out for summer! Woot! Hopefully this means updates will be more continuous. Anyway. Let me know what'cha think.