Chapter 6 – Food for Thought
Disclaimer – Not mine, never will be etc. etc.
A/N Once again, thanks for all of the reviews I received, I appreciate everyone who took the time to click the button at the end of the page at let me know that people are still interested. For those of you who would like to see more frequent updates I need to tell you that I will commit to posting one chapter per week at the very least which is about all I can promise with real life getting in the way (see my profile for what my version of real life consists).
The remainder of the mission passed quietly with non of SG-1 discussing the earlier incident. Once back at the SGC, the usual debriefing was held and once complete General Hammond relieved them from duty for the night. As the teammates were leaving the briefing room, the General requested that O'Neill stay behind.
"What's up General?" Asked Jack receiving a reply of "That's what I want to know Colonel. You were very distracted throughout the briefing and hardly looked at your 2IC the whole time. However, when you did look at her you had a strange expression on your face. Is there something going on between you and Major Carter that I need to know about?".
The General hated asking the question knowing for a fact that his 2IC had some kind of feelings for his 2IC although at this point he had no idea what they could be defined as. He was mentally keeping his fingers crossed that he would receive the "right" answer because until the day came when he knew for a fact that Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter were breaking the fraternization rules, he would turn a blind eye to the loving looks, the secret touches and the unrepentant willingness to die for one another.
"No Sir. At least not in the way you mean. We simply had a heated conversation off-world and she said some strange things that just didn't seem to add up".
"Colonel, are you telling me that you think Major Carter has been compromised? That she's a Goa'uld?"
Jack looked at his superior officer and with a deadpan expression replied "No Sir. I think she's a woman". The corner of Jack's mouth turned up slightly and General Hammond let out a low chuckle. "Oh yes Colonel. You can be assured of that". He smiled at Jack with a true affection that had grown for the man over the years that he had worked with him.
"Dismissed", he ordered and as Jack left the room, the smile turned slightly sad as he thought of the feelings he knew the Colonel and Major felt for each other but could not explore. If only there was a way, he thought and with a sigh he picked up the pre-mission report he needed to read before SG-13's briefing.
That evening Jack did a good job of not thinking about the events of the day. He ordered Chinese food, sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice and an egg roll. He'd had a lot of exercise on PX3-422 so what the heck! He put on his Simpsons DVD choosing an episode with lots of itchy and scratchy.
His eye kept drifting towards the digital clock glowing green on his DVD player. 21:50. With 10 minutes to go before his online rendezvous, he pulled his laptop from his bag and hooked it up. He logged onto instant messaging system, signing in as Scarecrow. Staring at the bright colors of the banner ads on the screen, a thought hit him and he opened the profile search option. He looked up his 'Colonel O'Neill" profile and … nothing appeared. He searched every different iteration of his name and still nothing.
He smiled to himself as he came to the conclusion that, true to her word, Carter had removed his profile from the IM universe. All going well he wouldn't be receiving any new 'suitors' and he now just had to figure out a way to deal with the one he already had.
As id on cue he heard his computer ding. "Will you accept a message from Dorothy?" He raised his eyes to heaven and rubbed his hand over his face ending the movement running his fingers through his graying hair, resting his hand on his neck. He really didn't need this tonight especially when the implications of why Carter had set him up in the situation were running around in his head. He made a quick decision. He would end this now. There was nothing real about this virtual 'relationship' and no good would come of it.
He pressed the OK button and a message box popped up onto his screen.
Dorothy – Hi Scarecrow!
Scarecrow – Hi Dorothy
Dorothy – Whatcha wearing?
Oh he really wasn't in the mood for this.
Scarecrow – Jeans and a grey sweater
Dorothy – Nice. Do you want to know what I'm wearing?
Scarecrow – Not particularly
Dorothy – Wow! Either you're not quite the man I thought you were or you're in a very bad mood
Scarecrow – Sorry, had a bad day
Dorothy – Wanna talk about it?
Scarecrow – No, not really
Dorothy – Oh. Not really? That's an opening you know. So what was it? Work? A woman?
Scarecrow – If you must know a bit of both actually
Dorothy – Huh?
Scarecrow – I had an argument with my friend, a woman, a colleague, about this IM'ing actually and it was very unpleasant and upsetting and I'm confused about the whole thing which is why I don't want to talk about it.
Dorothy – Is this the colleague who set up your instant message profile?
Scarecrow – Yep
Dorothy – Ahh! So you were pissed off that she played a trick on you
Scarecrow – No it wasn't a trick and that's not why I was pissed really
Dorothy – You lost me there. Explain.
Scarecrow – She set it up because she wanted me to get a life
Dorothy – Well that was nice of her, looking out for you. Right?
Scarecrow – I suppose you could look at it that way
Dorothy – So you need to get a life, eh?
Scarecrow – I guess I do
Dorothy – So what do you want in this life that you need to get?
Scarecrow – That's where it gets a little hazy for me. I'm not sure anymore and I'm too tired to figure it out right now.
Scarecrow – Do you know what you want in life?
Dorothy – Well since you ask, yes I do
Scarecrow – And what is that?
Dorothy – I want it all!
Scarecrow – LOL. Is that all?
Dorothy – Seriously. I want it all. I want the man. The children. The career. The happiness. As I said, I want it all.
Scarecrow – But what happens when you can't have it all
Dorothy – You make it happen. Whatever it takes you get it.
Scarecrow – you think it's that easy
Dorothy – No but you have to find a way to make it that easy
Scarecrow – Hmm. Food for thought.
Dorothy – I know you're tired, and not all together in the greatest of moods, so let me leave you with this.
Dorothy - Take the next 24 hours and think.
Dorothy – What do you really want in life?
Dorothy – Think about it Scarecrow. Goodnight.
And with that a message appeared on the screen telling Jack that Dorothy had logged off.
A/N Hmm – what will Jack conclude? I hope you're all still interested and will tune in next week to find out!