Author's Note: You guys are awesome for reviewing, and though I'm taking this in a much different direction than I thought I would, I figured it'd be fun to throw some action into the mix, because although Sam and Jack complete each other, the other thing they love is their work. So here's some fun with how two loves can get in the way of one another, but they figure it out rather quickly…
Disclaimer: Unneeded, truly it is, but they're not mine. So sad, but true. fake sniffles
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Previous:
"I don't wanna pull rank, Carter, but I will if I have to. Now seeing as Teal'c is still away, let's let this wait until he gets back. I'm putting the remainder of SG-1 on vacation until then. You're dismissed."
Before either one could gape any longer, he was in his office, the door closed behind him.
Daniel swore under his breath as he went back to his lab to ready for vacation. Sam stayed at the closed door a bit longer than her aggravated friend, her arms crossed and teeth grinding. She thought to herself.
'You want a fight, Jack? Then let's fight. I always win.'
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Jack opened the door to his house, sorting through the weeks of mail jammed into the box very tightly. The mail still retained its rectangular shape; it'd been in there so long. Frustrated, he tossed the stack on the counter with his keys as a flickering light caught his eye. It came from down the hall. As he walked toward it, he knew which room it originated from. His bedroom. A smirk found his face as he opened the door, but it wasn't at all what he was expecting.
Sam was standing in the middle of the room, fully dressed, holding a candle to her angry face. She blew it out, then pressing a button on the remote of Jack's fan, giving light to his bewildered face. "Sam?"
"Close the door."
He chanced a step closer to her. "Sam…"
"Fine, I'll do it," she turned quickly after doing so, crossing her arms, "You're not leaving here until this gets settled."
"Sam, what are you talking about?"
"Daniel. And the tablet. And why the hell we can't go on the mission!"
"I just don't see any good coming from it."
"That's bull, Jack. Tell me the truth."
His face went blank, obviously trying to come up with something to say. "Umm…Carter?"
"Not working, Jack. Talk to me, or I'll walk out of here so fast that you won't be able to get to me—"
"I don't want to lose you, alright? I'm being selfish!" He gazed deeply at her surprised expression.
"That's why you can't go, Sam. I can't lose you."
She knew he wasn't being completely honest with her. She responded with an edge of sarcasm to her voice. "Sweet, but no. You don't show emotion that easy."
'Damn, she's good.'
"Sam, we both agreed work would stay at work, and when it was just us, we would be together."
"Too early for make-up sex, Jack."
Mock surprise found his face. "That's not what I meant!" She eyed him. "Entirely."
Now she bought it. Because she'd figured it out.
"So there's something you can't tell me and you're trying to hide it from me," he nodded," But why would you do that?"
"That's a very good question, Sam. I mean, Carter."
A light turned on in her head. "Because it's something classified."
Jack nodded. "Yes. But it definitely has nothing to do with me retiring or wanting to hi-jack the Daedalus."
Sam wasn't sure what she was more surprised at, but it all made her need to sit down. As she finally found her voice, he sat beside her, not but a breath away. That made it easier for her to think. Not.
"You're retiring."
He nodded yes. "No. There is nothing about my retirement that is classified and therefore causing me to give you nonverbal clues to what's really going on."
She smirked at him. He was trying so hard…but this didn't help explain denying the mission. Maybe it would if she let it continue. But how to get the information? She knew how… "Just talk to me, Jack."
"I can't. Hammond and everyone else up there would kill me if they found out you knew—"
"Technically, we're already asking for a court marshal," she kissed him deeply, glad for once that she knew how to exploit her CO. Jack never could resist her, and he didn't plan on starting now. Despite how Jack deepened the kiss, she moved to his ear, playing with it in her mouth. He spoke.
"A convincing argument, Colonel."
She breathed a laugh. "Tell me, then."
Hammond deserved to kill him. Bloodily. But hey, if no one found out about them, maybe this would work, too. He had to tell people at some point…"Alright," he took her hand sin his, her eyes searching his for the answers her mathematical mind was deprived of.
"Yes, I'm retiring. But somehow, I have a feeling they won't want me completely gone."
"What makes you think that?"
"Hammond 'told' me."
"I see."
"Yeah. So, since I've already got security clearance, if they need me, they can pull me in as a civilian. Not to mention I can then legally be with this hot astrophysicist I know."
He knew she'd smile, but the becoming blush of her cheeks while she lowered her head only made him lo9ve her more. Which wasn't possible, but hey. He'd try. When she recovered, Sam pounced on the second half of his confusing statement.
"Now, what about the Daedalus?"
"I want to hi-jack it."
She mouthed the word before she said it. "Why?"
"Because extra ZPMs would be great."
A light of understanding covered her expression. She rambled off her newfound knowledge.
"You had to make a scene because Daniel told you in public. Or, at least in front of other SGC personnel. But you're really all for the mission for SG-1, you just—"
"I wanna go! You guys get all the funs tuff while I'm listening to Siler and pushing paper from the left of my desk to the right to make it look like I did something. I figured reuniting the ORIGINAL SG-1 for this mission would be the right thing to do."
His reward for his witty remark was a soft laugh, followed by a brief silence. Sam thought of something.
"There is no way I'll be able to pilot that thing by myself, though, I mean I only helped design the hyper drive engine, and most of it's Asguard technology anyway. I don't even think I could hotwire it—"
"Sam. Listen to me. A little favor from Thor and some help from Daniel's old friend may be all we need."
"What?"
"Well you see, when I actually did read one of those mission reports, I found out Daniel had a little friend aboard the Prometheus. Her name was Vala, and she could fly that. You help Thor, she helps Teal'c with the Earth tech, and we're fine."
"But until she gets there?"
"Guess you'll figure something out."
He felt a punch land in his shoulder, much harder than he'd been expecting. Military women…
She spoke. "So how do we get our hands on it anyway? Since you seem to have this all figured out."
He returned her smirk. "Well, we can make Thor say the Asguard parts need to be check out and that it'll be done ASAP, and we all stow away and tell everyone we're hanging out in my cabin and won't be reachable. Maybe Thor could just beam us from there, but he can beam us back down, too, and when the Daedalus comes back with the ZPMs, we can say they're a gift from the Asguard."
She was impressed, showing as such when she ran her fingers down the buttons of his shirt. "You really have thought this through, haven't you?"
Jack shrugged, but liked the response he was getting. Maybe he should work on things more often. "I guess."
"So what do I do to make this whole thing work?"
Jack gave her a sideways smile. "Tell you what. You leave that to me to figure out, and you can do something else you're so good at—"
Sam was way ahead of him. She kissed him.
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Daniel about exploded in his apartment when Sam told him. She'd made sure he wasn't at the SGC and came around to explain things. It could've gone better in hell.
"Uh…no, Sam! There's absolutely NO way it'll work, and I'm not asking Vala for a favor EVER. I'm sorry Jack's getting stir crazy up there in his office, but I'm not risking my job for this. He should just approve the mission."
Sam rolled her eyes. She knew as soon as Jack told her that convincing Daniel would be hard. But Jack got Thor. They'd flipped a coin. Realizing she'd won the easier complaint, and being grateful Daniel had an exploitable weakness, she tried again. After praying for Jack, of course, knowing full well he had such a way with words…
"Daniel. Think about it. ZPMs. Come on, it'll be like old times. You, me, Jack, Teal'c—"
"And her. Not happening, Sam. What makes you think Thor's gonna agree?"
"Jack's talking with him."
He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think Thor's gonna agree?"
"Very funny. Come on, he's retiring anyway; let the man have his fun. You're getting what you want. Jack's been stuck in the office for—"
Daniel realized something about her speech. "Okay, wait a second. You just called him 'Jack' three times in the span of," he checked his watch, "Two minutes. Care to explain?"
Sam had even noticed, it'd come so naturally. She thought hard, trying not to let it show. Stammering, she answered, "Well…uh, that's his name, isn't it?"
"Yes, but he's your CO, technically you can't call him that."
He wasn't buying it. She tried to shrug it off. "Sure I can."
"Is there something else going on that I should know about?"
"No," was her all-too-quick reply.
Her performance was less than convincing, especially to someone who knew her as well as Daniel.
"There is something else that I should know about. Something happened with Jack, didn't it?"
No response. "Come on, you said it yourself, he's retired now—"
"Not officially."
"So you could still get in trouble, meaning something most definitely happened. Just—"
"Look, if you say you'll go, I'll tell you." Teenage bribery, yes, but hey, if the shoe fits…
He took a surprised stance, adjusting his glasses as his eyebrows furrowed, though he was completely amused. "Someone's gone elementary on me."
Okay, so it was more elementary than juvenile, but whatever! She was getting to him, and she knew it. "If it works, call it what you will."
Though it was against his better judgment, he'd wanted to go the whole time. Sounded like fun. Now he got to hear something good, too, hopefully about his favorite couple. "Alright, Sam. You win. I'll go. But make sure Vala knows I didn't want her tagging along."
"Okay."
Silence. She hoped he'd forget their deal, knowing he wouldn't. "Now spill."
'Damn it…'
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Thor was definitely the hardest to convince, though he agreed, mumbling something about "power hungry inferior beings". Nevertheless, everyone bought the repair bluff hook, line, and sinker. Speaking of fishing, they all said they'd be in Minnesota, but their cells would be on them at all times, though reception could be "questionable over there". Teal'c was on board as soon as he returned from Takara, and Jack was ready as soon as his resignation was final. General Landry would be in on Monday. Thor beamed them from Minnesota on Friday night. They had two days, one of which was spent getting Vala at her current "residence". Otherwise, SG-1 would be called back into duty, and they wouldn't be there. Explaining everything to everyone was NOT an ideal situation.
Needless to say, with Thor, Sam, and Teal'c trying to fly the Daedalus all by themselves, Jack got bored. Okay, bored was three hours ago. He didn't know what to call the lack of mental excitement he'd been stuck in forever. Like a living coma. In a big, gray box. Flying box. Even better. Tired of comparing the Daedalus to colored cardboard, he sat on the floor in front of the large window of blurring stars. Lying down on the very uncomfortable tile, he complained aloud.
"Are we there yet? You'd think with hyperspace engines we'd get there faster than a family car trip."
"No, GeneralO'Neill, we are not 'there yet'. I will alert you when we are."
"Teal'c. I'm retired. Call me Jack."
He arched an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his face. "I am not yet accustomed to that title, O'Neill."
"It's called my name, but that's alright, T. We'll work on that," he looked around at the other stoic faces in the room, "Seems like we'll have plenty of time…"
"Jack?"
"Yeah, Daniel?"
"Shut up."
"Alright, someone's cranky."
Noticing Daniel had another book out and was still staring at the damn tablet, Jack got slightly interested. He moved over to where Daniel sat, looking over his shoulder as he scribbled in his notebook.
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Trying to find clues as to where we should look for the ZPMs. There's something small after the gate address that I didn't see before, but—"
"Yeah, here's a question for ya. How do we know where we're going? We have a gate address."
"Thor was kind enough to help us with that."
"Right. So who's helping him down there?"
"Sam."
"But she's doing navigational up here."
"Well, until Vala gets here, they're all doing double duty. That's where she ran off to just now."
"She's gotta be tired."
"Probably," Daniel smirked to himself, trying to concentrate on his work but remembering what Sam had told him instead. Getting fired would be worth hearing about what had happened from Sam.
Jack noticed Daniel's cell ph one was next to the tablet, on and waiting for a call. He laughed aloud, acutely aware of Carter re-entering the room and staring at him.
"Daniel, you brought your cell? Here? What service are you gonna use? ET&T?"
Sam smiled, Teal'c pretended to understand, and Daniel continued to translate.
"How long have you been waiting to say that, Jack?"
"A good couple of hours now. Why?"
Daniel's reply was cut off by feminine laughter and a lurch of ship, signaling their exit from hyperspace. Sam pulled herself together as Thor came over the PA system.
"Should we contact Vala to assure she is at the designated coordinates?"
"Just do it, Thor. She'll be there, trust me," was Daniel's sour reply. She was the only hitch on this trip down memory lane.
"I will beam her onto the main deck, you should see her clearly soon."
A flash of light faded to reveal a woman in clingy black leather pants and matching boots, a jack slung over her exposed right shoulder, an off the shoulder tan half shirt tapering off to a point near her naval. Her hair was up with a few strands hanging down, a near sensual smile on her face.
"Well, do I get a kiss, Daniel, or should I come by your room later tonight so you can show me how much you missed me?"
He glanced up, trying not to look embarrassed. "Hello, Vala. Feel free to lock yourself in a room until we get there."
"Yes, that was quite fun the last time, wasn't it?"
When he didn't reply, she began walking over to Sam to take control of that station, stopping briefly to pat Daniel on the shoulder.
"Good to know I was missed, though, Daniel." No response. "I've been looking forward to this."
"You couldn't stop there, could you?"
"Not when we both know you like it."
Sam failed at hiding her amusement, but showed Vala the difference between the Prometheus and the Daedalus nonetheless. She was done in a matter of minutes, and sprinted off to help Thor. Jack couldn't help smiling to himself as the thought.
'Hmm…hot alien chick and the Spacemonkey…things are looking up in the entertainment department.'
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Sorry it took me so long, but it's a long chapter. Hopefully you guys like the way it's going, I know it's fun to write, just let me know if it's fun to read! How do you do that? REVIEW of course!
…okay that was terrible, sorry. Just click the button and tell me what you think! More story? No more story? Start new story? Let me know, okay?