"Maybe I should just go . . ." Tal trailed off as she looked at the members of SG1.
"What and leave me to fend for myself?" Jack asked her.
"You're a big boy I'm sure you can handle it." He glared at her. "Fine, fine, in we go then." She said walking towards the house and making ushering movements with her arms. Jack rolled his eyes at her and gave a nod of reassurance to his team, who headed back into the house.
Jack and Tal followed, just before they reached the door Tal grabbed Jack's arm so he turned to face her. Smiling she leant forward and gave him a quick kiss.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"I dunno." She smiled. "To cheer you up." She said and skipped into the house.
"It might take a little more than that!" he said "Tal?" he called after her as her closed the door behind them.
Jack dropped down into his favourite chair and glanced at his team, who taking his lead sat down too.
"Hey Jack?" Tal asked. "Can I borrow your phone?" Jack waved a hand in the direction of the phone.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." She smiled brightly at him, and picked up the phone and walked out of the room. A few seconds passed in silence before Daniel leaned forward and spoke.
"Isn't she supposed to be dead Jack?"
"Yep."
"She looks good for someone whose been dead for a couple of months." Daniel commented dryly.
"Sure does."
"Em, wasn't she pronounced dead?" Daniel asked. "By, like, a coroner."
"You ask me the one thing I can't explain." Daniel looked at him. "She explained it to me, but I kinda phased out after a minute or two." Daniel rolled his eyes.
"So you knew she wasn't dead?" Carter asked.
"What really gave it away was when she came to her own funeral." He said sarcastically. "Seriously? No. But I kinda guessed when they said the body had gone missing." Jack shrugged. They looked up as Tal came back in the room. She replaced the phone on the receiver.
"Thanks. I assume you've filled them in, so I'll just be leaving then." She said innocently, they all looked at her incredulously. "Or not. You know, whatever." She said and sat down on the arm of Jack's chair.
"How is it that you are alive Captain Corrigan?" Teal'c asked.
"Straight to the point? Fair enough." She said. "To be honest I'm not 100 percent sure. But I figure that when General Carter tried to heal me with the hand device thing, that it worked, but it just took a bit of time for all the tissue to repair itself. When it finished and my heart kick started again, I'd already been pronounced dead." She shrugged off the fact that she'd technically been dead for a good few hours off like nothing.
"Just like that huh?" Daniel asked. She only shrugged in answer.
"I suppose it could be possible, but I'm no physician so I wouldn't really know." Carter said.
"Yeah, I was gonna go and ask my doctor but it just might have given me away." Tal said.
"Why didn't you just find someone and tell them what happened? I don't get why you had to use one of your 'secret identities' instead." Daniel asked.
"Felt like a change?" she said hopefully. Daniel raised his eyebrows at her. "Anne wasn't all she was cracked up to be you know." He looked at her questioningly. "You want the list? Fine." She sighed. "She had done prison time, substance abuse, various failed relationships including a particularly messy divorce, physically, worked for some extremely shady government organisations, spent time in institutions for mentally unbalanced, had more than a one court-martial, known Jack O'Neill since before I could remember . . ." she trailed off. There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before someone spoke.
"And we all know that last one can have horrific consequences." Jack quipped. Tal laughed.
"Oh yeah." Tal added. "And at the time, I thought that some old colleagues were involved in an assassination attempt on everyone's favourite Senator, and at the time I was still in their employment, it might have got a little messy."
"Assassination?" Daniel asked.
"Lets not get into that conversation." Jack said, sitting up.
"Right." Tal muttered.
Discreetly, Jack met Teal'c's eyes then glanced to the door and back again. The Jaffa barely nodded his head.
"I believe it is time we took our leave, Major Carter, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said firmly.
"But-" Daniel began, but Jack and Teal'c were already standing. "Fine." He said dejectedly and he and Carter stood up. Jack led them to the door. As they stepped out the door Tal stepped into the doorway besides Jack.
"Err, you guys gonna rat me out?" she asked.
"Not at the moment." Daniel smiled at her as he walked down the path. Carter just frowned.
"Teal'c!" Jack called, Teal'c turned round. "Thanks." He mouthed. Teal'c nodded and smiled, then followed Daniel and Carter back towards the car round the corner.
Tal rested her chin on Jack's shoulder as the rest of SG1 walked round a corner and out of sight.
"That went well." She said quietly.
"Just peachy." He muttered.
Thank you to; stargate-fan, heather, Hot Girl Faith, Blackfire and pain in the mikta for the reviews of the last chapter, much appreciated!
stargate-fan, heather, Hot Girl Faith, Blackfire and pain in the miktaHope you liked this chapter. I know I don't often write very long chapters, and this is no exception, but I try to update regularly to make up for it, so please forgive the shortness.
Anyway please review and tell me what you think, and any ideas you have. Thanks x