AN: Hey, kids, remember me? I haven't forgotten this story, nor have I forgotten the ending which should be in the next part. My life is completely insane, that's all I can say. I hope you guys are still interested! Please read and review!

Chapter Six

I was up before the sun. Well, I probably was, but in a holding cell, in a mountain, twenty stories below ground, it was hard to tell what the sun was doing. Another group of five SFs came to retrieve me. I nearly pointed out that it was even more unnecessary than before - I'd happily go anywhere if it would get me to Carter.

Hammond didn't bother with much of a briefing. Not that I noticed what he was saying anyway. I spent the time staring at Carter, who Hammond had sensibly insisted stay on the opposite side of the table from me. She looked tired and rumpled and exactly not how she ever looked in front of me. I imagined, like me, she'd been forced to go straight to the briefing without stopping at a mirror. She stifled a yawn and I knew she'd been up all night exploring everything within reach. I imagined if I had the chance and or the nerve to put my arm around her right then, she'd snuggle right into me and take a nap. I could almost feel her soft skin and her soft hair and the light tickle of her breath on my skin.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

My eyes unhappily jerked away from Carter. "Yes, sir?"

"What are you smiling at?"

Sure enough, I could feel the silly grin on my face. I couldn't answer the question without making him mad. Of course, I couldn't not answer the question without making him mad. I looked down, hoping the guilty face I was making would be enough to placate him. "Nothing, sir."

"You'd better hope she doesn't take that personally." Apparently, Hammond was still suffering the ill effects of caffeine and sugar withdrawal. He got right in my face, causing me to wince involuntarily because I wasn't awake enough yet to hide it. "You stand there ignoring me because you're too busy staring at a beautiful woman and then you have the audacity to lie and say it was nothing."

I was thoroughly embarrassed, but not so thoroughly embarrassed as to resist the urge to look at Carter. Her face was a frightening shade of red and her eyes were trained on the floor. I thought she was as thoroughly embarrassed as I should have been, but I realized after a moment that she wasn't embarrassed at all. She was mad, insulted, angry. Hammond had been able to admit that she was beautiful, somehow without it sounding inappropriate and weird and she was upset that I hadn't taken the opportunity to do the same.

Oh well, at least there was something that I could fix. I let my cocky grin slide over my face as I stared at the top of her head and willed her to look up at me.

"Sorry, sir, I was just smiling at that impossibly sexy woman over there cause I'm too tired to care that I shouldn't be." My cocky grin only lasted a second under the withering stare of the general. But at least Carter was smiling.

As my eyes darted back to the floor, I caught a glance of Carter's face. Sure, she'd been startled at first by my words, but the surprised was quickly replaced by pride. She was fighting back a smile and I knew she'd done it on purpose. I'd walked right into her trap. She glanced up and caught my eyes, daring to smile while Hammond tried to regain his composure. Hammond's face was tomato red. I probably could have seen steam coming out of his ears except that I was staring and grinning at Carter. I was smiling so hard my face hurt.

"Get the hell out of here and don't come back until you can be held accountable for your actions."

Carter darted for the door. I scrambled after her, fearing exactly what Hammond would say if he caught me alone and fearing he would realize that sending us to get ready for a mission meant sending us back to the locker room together.

We made very little progress. Carter made it to the stairs and probably would have jogged down them had she not grabbed the railing. It was just a plain metal railing that we'd both touched a million times over the years. But we'd never been highly sensitive to physical sensation. Carter stopped dead, fascinated by the painted rail. I was trying to control myself, paralyzed into immobility by the conflicting desires - the first telling me to run for my life from Hammond, the second telling me that anything Carter found so captivating as to squat down to inspect it had to be worth my time. My hand snaked out to feel it, sliding lightly along the smooth, cool metal. I ran my hand back and forth over it, completely forgetting about everything else.

"Colonel O'Neill!" The sound of Hammond's voice brought me right back. He smiled irritatingly at me. "Why don't you head to the locker room and get ready while the major continues her safety inspection?"

I grimaced. "Yes, sir." I drug my feet as I walked around Carter, loathe to leave her again. I actually made it two steps before I noticed the steps. The steps themselves were boring concrete. It was the thick black strip at the end of each one that caught my eye. Ostensibly, I knew the strip was course, to keep people from slipping and falling down the stairs. I also knew that to keep people from falling that strip had to be particularly rough, but it didn't matter. I needed to feel it. I squatted down, only gently touching the edge. It was as course as I'd expected. Rather than pulling away from the uncomfortable sensation, I pressed harder, feeling the grainy bumps under my hand.

"Colonel?"

"I'm going, I'm going." I abandoned my study of the steps unhappily. Sadly, Carter didn't even notice when I walked away. I forced myself to stay focused as I changed. All I had to do was remind myself that once we got though the gate, Carter and I would be away from General Hammond and we could explore anything we wanted, including each other. The thought that I had every intention of disobeying orders should have been sobering, but I was smiling as I headed back to the gate room.

When Carter appeared through the door, dressed and ready to go, only a few minutes later, I realized that General Hammond had gone out of his way to keep us apart and still get us off the base as soon as humanly possible. I was almost proud of how sneaky he could be, except that I didn't want him being sneaky to my detriment.

I was so annoyed with him that I completely ignored his send off, instead turning to Carter. "Ready?" My smile was probably bordering on lecherous, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Sure." Then she yawned, not even bother to cover her mouth. "Sir."

I stretched out my arm, indicating that she should go first, but I quickly caught up to her. Although we'd started out with a few feet between us, by the time we got to the gate, our hands were brushing one another. I winked at her as we both took one more step. The last thing I felt was her hand grasping mine.

So we were holding hands stepping through the gate. So what. We were going to a place where the expected us to be touchy-feely. They worked their little magic specifically so we couldn't resist being touchy-feely. Unfortunately, I'd momentarily forgotten about their nifty memory-wiping technology. So I'll never know how well we were received by Togar and his people.

But I'll never forget the fury on General Hammond's face as we reemerged from the gate, walking down the ramp a millisecond later with our hands still entwined. I almost wished for another trip through the memory-wiper. I had the presence of mind to think about releasing my hold on Carter, but I felt her grip tighten the moment she realized what had happened.

Hammond's glare was fixed on our joined hands for a long time before he finally looked up at my face. "Colonel, I strongly suggest you tell me that the last twelve hours were successful in getting those damn things removed." He glared back at our hands again. "And I even more strongly suggest you remain a professional distance from Major Carter."

Reluctantly, I dropped her hand and shifted slightly away - certainly not a professional distance, but I figured it would count as an attempt. "Twelve hours, sir?" I didn't know why, but it still sort of shocked me. I was never going to get used to having time stolen from my life. I peeked at Carter, who only shrugged at me. "We should probably skedaddle off to the infirmary to have our heads examined, huh?"

Hammond looked back and forth between us. "Do you have any idea whether you're back to normal or not?"

I turned to Carter, who was tugging at her collar with a scowl. Boldly, I reached out and ran my hand along her cheek. It was as soft as I remembered. She looked up at me with a smile as her hand dropped her collar in favor of resting on my arm. I closed my eyes to savor the feeling. Without permission, my hand slipped back into her hair, pulling her forward into a kiss with little effort.

"Colonel!" The sound of the general screaming in my ear was sufficient motivation to pull away from Carter. I realized that, up close, his red face and flaring nostrils were once again reminding me of a bull about to charge.

"That would be a no on the back to normal thing, sir."

He didn't step back. "Is that so?"

I winced. "Apparently."

He turned then, motioning at the still armed defense team. "Someone escort them to the infirmary and make sure they don't get distracted on the way."

I rolled my eyes at his back then dutifully followed Carter to see Dr. Frasier.