Thanks for the great reviews; hope I can keep up the good work. This is a bit of a departure in style for me — not as silly as normal — so I'm glad people are enjoying it.
Jack paced past Sam's lab. Then back. Then back again. By the sounds of it, she was pretty busy with an experiment and he didn't want to disturb her. While he liked listening to her talk, liked watching her eyes shine with enthusiasm, he knew the technicalities would just hurt his brain.
"Sir? Are you all right?" a passing Airman asked tentatively. After all, it wasn't often you found Colonel Jack O'Neill pacing outside a lab at 0300.
Nosy little runt. "Fine, Airman," Jack barked. The hell with this. He opened the door and walked into Sam's lab. "Hey, Carter," he offered casually.
"Sir," she replied absently, her big eyes fixed on her computer screen. Then she slammed a hand down. "Dammit; why can't I get this?" she growled.
"Y'know, Carter; call me insane and all, but there's a school of thought out there that's saying sleep can actually help ya think," Jack drawled.
She blinked and looked over at him, seeming to only just see him. She gave him a tired smile. "I'd … rather keep busy, sir," she said.
Ah. Carter-speak for I'm still having nightmares, but I'll be damned if I'm going to talk to anyone about them. She'd been exactly the same after Jolinar, Netu, Martouf's death … all the other crap she'd gone through the last few years. "Right," Jack replied. He picked up a small rounded … thing and twirled it round in his long fingers. "So … what's this thing do?"
She growled again, sounding remarkably like an angry cat rather than a scarily-bright woman. "I don't know, sir," she bit out. "That's what I'm trying to find out."
Whoops. He peered at the device, his attention caught by some etchings. "This looks familiar," he said, showing her the etchings.
"It should, sir; you spoke it till a week ago," she replied. "According to Daniel, it's Ancient."
"Ancient tech?" He shuddered dramatically. "Bit small for one of those dang head suckers, but be careful. Could be their version of a floppy disk."
Carter's eyes widened. "That's it!" she exclaimed, hopping off her stool. "It could be a portable database; maybe designed to …".
"A-ah!" He cut her off with an upraised forefinger. "Let's just leave it at you could be right." He smiled sweetly at her. "Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
Carter wasn't paying any attention. She grabbed the thing from his hands and set it down next to the laptop, then took Jack's face in her hands and kissed him hard on the lips. "I knew I loved you for a reason!" she said jubilantly, then turned to her laptop once more.
Lips tingling from the kiss, Jack shook his head and cleared his throat. "Carter!" he barked. "Now you have an idea what that thing is, close that damn computer and hit the sack. Got it?" Had to keep up the CO-mode on base, even though his Jack-mode was chanting She kissed me over and over again.
"Sir?" Sam said distractedly.
"Carter; shut that damn thing off and go to bed," CO-mode ordered. And take me with you, Jack-mode added. God, he was way too old for these adolescent thoughts.
"Right," Sam mumbled, closing her eyes and scrubbing her hands over her face.
"When was the last time you had a decent night's sleep?" Jack asked, now seeing just how pale and worn she looked.
Sam shrugged. "That night on the Daniel Jackson," she said, opening her eyes.
"Ah." The night he'd held her as they'd slept. Although he was a notoriously light sleeper off world, that had been one of the best nights sleep he'd ever had. "I can't believe I'm saying this, Carter, but … maybe you should talk to someone. You can't go on like this."
She shrugged her shoulders again, looking incredibly young and vulnerable for a gun-toting PhD-holding USAF Major.
"At least go home," Jack said, knowing not to push the idea of a shrink. Hell, he hated them himself! His hypocrisy only went so far. "We're on down time for a week while I decide about this whole General thing. Go home. Or go to San Diego — visit Mark and the kids."
Sam looked into the soft brown eyes of her CO and realized that he was perfectly capable of hanging round and bugging her till she gave in. "All right, sir," she got out round a yawn. She pushed the Ancient device to one side, glad that the Colonel had come along when he did. He had a way of cutting right through the crap; she could've gone on for days without working out what the device did. But the idea of a portable database was very plausible.
She shut down her laptop and obediently left the lab, followed closely by the Colonel, who put a light hand to her back as he ushered her out. She immediately buried her natural reaction — a shudder of deep need — with the skill of years of practice and turned to the man. "Well … good night, sir," she said. "See you in a week?"
He gave her a small smile. "Actually, Carter … Sam … I need to talk to you before I decide this General business. Could I come see you tomorrow?"
Sam was intrigued. But flattered that he valued her opinion. "Of course," she said. "Come round about midday and we'll have lunch."
"Lunch?" He looked at her askance. "You're cooking?"
"I can cook, sir," Sam said, too tired to get indignant at the teasing. "I said I don't cook, not that I can't. There's a difference."
"Okay, okay." He held up his hands playfully. "I'll trust ya. Midday tomorrow, then, Carter?"
"Yes, sir," she said, and stepped into the elevator. "Good night, sir."
"Night, Sam," he replied softly as the elevator doors closed.
Sam?, she mused, stuffing her hands into her pockets. It had sounded weird … but nice coming from the Colonel's lips. Lips. Colonel lips. Oh, crap; you kissed him!
She'd kissed the Colonel. Again. On the base. Again. In front of security cameras. Again. And she couldn't even blame a weird alien virus this time. She'd been so happy when he'd cleared those muddy waters that she'd just … yep; grabbed his face and kissed him.
And there was no chance of her ever forgetting this kiss. There was now so much history between them, those feelings they'd tried to bury for the last few years. She got out of the elevator and headed to the locker room, wanting to scream at her own stupidity. She couldn't go on like this — torn between love and duty. Something had to give. But … what?
Evil, aren't I? (Mwa-ha-ha-hah!) Don't worry; I won't drag this out forever!