Chapter 5

Jack jumped about three feet into the air hearing Sam shriek at the top of her lungs. Old combat senses kicking in, he hauled himself up the stairs and stopped outside his bathroom door where Carter was banging on the door and holding something black in her hands.

"Cassandra Frasier, you get out here right this minute!" Sam screamed at the door and banged on it again.

"Whoa, Carter, what the hell is going on?" Jack asked. "I thought someone was implanting you with a goa'uld or something.

Sam twirled around to face him. "She switched my suit on me!" She didn't even remember to add a "sir" she was so angry. She let go of the suit slightly and it unfurled in all its glory.

For about three seconds, Jack O'Neill was rendered absolutely speechless. Carter was going to wear that? Finally, coming to his senses, he smirked and said, "Nice suit you got there, Carter."

Sam turned even redder than she already was, changing to a mild shade of purple. To her chagrin, Teal'c chose that moment to walk up behind them, wearing the bright yellow shorts from earlier and a black tank top.

"I am sorry if my earlier comments were misunderstood, MajorCarter," he said stoicly. "I merely meant that the suit would not be wearable in a combat situation."

Jack whirled around towards Teal'c. "You got to see her in that?" slipped out before he realized what he was saying.

Much to his relief, the doorbell rang before he could think of a way to distract them from what he had said. He gladly took the exit opportunity and ran down the stairs to answer the door. "Danny, Doc!" he exclaimed as he opened the door and ushered them inside. "So glad you could make it!"

The banging from upstairs continued. "You just wait until your mother finds out about this!" Sam yelled.

Janet's eyes fixed on Jack's face. "What did Cassie do now?" Man, Jack did not envy Cassie for what she had just gotten herself into. He looked at her jacket pockets to see if she had any syringes stuffed in there.

"Errr… maybe you should head upstairs and talk to Carter," he said quickly. "Danny, I think T is done in my room, so you can go change."

Janet came up the stairs to see the bathroom door deserted. Seeing the guest room door shut, she knocked quietly on the door. "Sam, can I come in?"

Sam opened the door, her face still flushed, but more from embarrassment than anger. Janet silently followed her best friend back to the bed where she sat down.

"What did Cassie do?" she asked.

Sam simply picked up the swimsuit and held it out for Janet to see.

Janet's eyes got big. "I sure hope Cassie isn't thinking of wearing that."

"No, Jan, it's for me."

Janet relaxed visibly. "Goodness, then what's the big deal?"

"This isn't my suit! She switched the one I was going to buy!" Sam said angrily.

"Oh."

The two women were quiet for a minute.

"Does it not fit?" Janet asked.

"Jan! That's not the point!" Sam exploded. "I don't want to be running around half naked in front of my team!"

Janet tried really hard not to roll her eyes, and she was only partially successful. "Sam, they've seen you in less on a few occasions. SG-1 has a tendency to get into some pretty ridiculous situations." She frowned. "And injured pretty often."

"Not by choice though," Sam grumbled.

Janet shook her head and opened her mouth to speak when another knock was at the door. Both women turned to look as Cassie sheepishly opened the door, wearing her suit with a towel wrapped around her waist and holding a bag.

"Sam, I'm really sorry," she started. "It's just that you never get to dress up or do anything girly, and you're just so pretty and you don't even know it, so I thought that you'd like a cute swimsuit that you look good in even though you won't admit it to yourself." She took a deep breath, and then realized she didn't have anything else to say.

Sam looked at Cassie with her mouth slightly open. She was touched that Cassie was thinking of her well-being, even if her judgement was a bit misplaced. She found that she was not nearly as angry with Cassie as she had been a few minutes ago.

Cassie thrust the bag out for Sam. "I bought you this too," she said forlornly.

Sam took the bag and peeked into it. She pulled out a long, silvery piece of cloth that was just slightly translucent. She opened it up and held it in front of her, not too sure what it was.

"It's a sarong," Cassie told her. "You wear them to cover up on the bottom, or you can twist it around yourself into a sort of dress if you want."

"Um, thanks, Cass," Sam said uncertainly. She did not think it would cover as much of her as she really wanted.

"Why don't you try it all on, Sam?" Janet said, patting her shoulder and standing up to leave. Then turning to Cassie, she said, "We are going to go back into the bathroom and talk."

"Damn," Cassie muttered. But she really should have known she was not going to get out of this one squeaky clean.

As the door closed, Sam reluctantly looked back at the suit and wondered what she should do.