Instant Message

Chapter 10 – Lightness

Disclaimer – Not mine, never will be etc. etc.

A/N – You guys are unbelievable! I can't believe that so many of you took the time to review the last chapter. The reviewstruly are the best incentive and I'm pleased to say that they inspired another long chapter. Hope you like it.

Jack found himself staring at Sam during the mission briefing the next morning. It wasn't the usual all out staring that one might expect from a man who had a fitful night plagued by erotic dreams. There was no leering. There was no open mouth drooling. In fact no one even noticed except him.

Sam was discussing a quirk in the planet's gravity due to its size relative to Earth. Since everyone in the room thought that he didn't understand what she was talking about he was free to look at her as intently as he wanted. They would simply think that he was staring, hoping that the words leaving her mouth would become clearer to him.

However, since he had understood every word she had written in regards to the anomaly in the briefing he had read over coffee that morning, he was actually looking at various Carter body parts. One by one. Playing a game. Memorizing each part and relating them to his dreams from the night before.

He started with her mouth which looked rich, full and red, as she described the barometric expectation of their mission. He remembered how in his dreams he had gently brushed his lips against that very mouth, which responded with eagerness when his tongue had pushed for entry. He noticed her tongue as she spoke remembering the imagined sensations that rippled through him as he tasted her.

He then looked at her hair which she had grown a little longer lately. He had felt the tickle of those blond tendrils as she had moved her kisses down his bare chest as she took control of their embrace.

Back in reality, Sam was drawing attention to a photograph taken by the UAV contained in the report, pointing as she spoke. Jack looked at her hand and saw beautiful long fingers, nails short and polish less. The fingers that he had dreamt had caressed his abdomen as they moved lower to claim their target.

Sam lifted her gaze from the photograph and found herself looking at Jack who had a peculiar grin on his face. She had seen it once before when they had been in the commissary with Daniel after the time loop incidents. She had always wondered what he had been thinking about then and in light of the instant message conversation of last night, she now felt sure that it was associated with her.

She felt a tingling deep down in her abdomen as she began to imagine what illicit thoughts may have caused that grin. She found herself wondering what it would be like to have Jack's hands touch her in a way he definitely wasn't supposed to. The intensity of the sensation grew stronger and she moved her gaze from his lips up to his eyes.

They both felt the jolt when their eyes met and they simultaneously looked away.

Daniel had to stifle a laugh watching his team mates actually turn their heads away to hide the fact that that they had been looking at the other. The act gave the opposite of the desired effect, making it blatantly obvious that they had been sharing a moment. He quickly shot a glance at General Hammond and was satisfied that he was unaware of the indiscretion concentrating instead on the photograph.

Daniel understood how his friends felt about each other but also knew them well enough to know that any interference from him would simply lead to denial. Denial and them moving further into their respective shells. After all these years he was still dumbfounded by the fact that they would break just about every other reg in the book but they wouldn't break the frat regs.

As he saw it, the regs may just as well be a convenient excuse for two people who had spent a large part of their recent lives shying away from intimacy. They both had experienced a great deal of hurt in their lives, both having lost someone dear to them. He could empathize with that, having been orphaned himself, but his circumstance had simply made him jump at the chance of happiness with Sha're.

As he watched his friends perfect their emotionless masks, Daniel wondered if they could ever find a place and time where they could give into their feelings and give each other a chance at happiness. He sighed and turned his focus back to the briefing.

SG-1 Walked though the shimmering blue horizon of the stargate at 10:00 hours that day and arrived on a planet that felt very much like fall in Colorado. The weather was clear, only a couple of clouds filled the sky, and there was a definite chill in the air.

There was also a distinct lightness to everything. Their kits appeared to weigh a little less and their steps seemed a little easier to take. Jack knew that these were effects of the gravitational anomaly but never the less laughed to himself as he wondered if it were instead a result of a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

'Who knew it could be so liberating to admit that you loved your 2IC?', Jack thought to himself as his grin widened further still.

He heard the whoosh of the Stargate closing behind him and he turned to find Sam standing beside him.

"What's so funny, sir?", she asked.

"Nothing, Carter. I was just thinking that everything feels a little less burdensome today."

Sam resisted showing the smile his statement brought and instead said "As I explained, Sir, since this planet is smaller than Earth, the gravitational pull is weakened, …"

"Ah!", Jack stopped her with a wave of his hand, "I understood it the first time and that's not what I meant."

Sam couldn't believe that he had just admitted he had understood her "techno-babble". Was he beginning to slowly remove the walls between them with this being the first confession? She quickly decided that she should let it go, fearing that if she pointed out his lapse he would withdraw from her. Instead she simply said, "Yes, Sir", and smiled at him. A smile that he had been correct in determining she reserved just for him. What Jack would never understand was that sometimes she smiled at him purely to get a reaction out of him.

In fact, she did it to get the very reaction she was witnessing, his eyes lighting up and a look of pure satisfaction crossing his face. She wondered to herself that if she got a look like that from a smile, what would she get if she gave her body to him? She inwardly scolded herself for daring to think such thoughts, but his confessions of the previous night had unlocked an abandon in her she had long hidden. Unfortunately she knew that is needed to remain suppressed, at least until she figured out her next step.

She was elated that he loved her but had no idea what his reaction would be if he discovered that she was Dorothy. Deception was not something Jack O'Neill looked upon favorably and she once again found herself questioning her actions. Just as Sam started to analyze the situation to the point of despair she heard Jack call out to her. He stepped closer, out of earshot of their colleagues.

"So Carter, we're not going to be with each other a lot on this mission are we?"

She looked at him with an easily readable confusion and said "No, Sir. Not unless you want to ditch your recon with T'ealc and come play with rocks with Daniel and I?"

He could see a slight twitch of a grin forming as she finished her sentence.

"Er, no Carter. As appealing as that sounds, T would be lonely without me", Jack said grinning at her.

"So no, Sir, we'll see each other when we meet back here to go through the gate. Why?", Sam asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Well, I realized that I never took you out to celebrate your promotion", he answered.

"What promotion, Colonel?", she asked, honestly confused.

"Your promotion to Major, of course", he replied with a slight nod.

"But, Sir, that was a couple of years ago', Sam said shaking her head slowly from side to side.

"Oh wow! I'm an even worse Commanding Officer than I thought then. I mean what kind of a CO doesn't take their 2IC out for a celebratory dinner when they get promoted?", Jack responded, laughing quietly.

"Sir, if you want a team dinner, you don't need an excuse, you know".

"Hmm. Well Carter it wouldn't be a team dinner. I actually thought that since it would be in honor of your promotion, it should be just you and I, since we're the only military members of SG-1. What do you say, Carter? You got plans tomorrow evening?"

Sam was so surprised by his invitation that she was speechless for a few moments. She did a great impression of a fish while trying to form a coherent sentence that wouldn't sound too enthusiastic or juvenile.

Jack mistook her reaction and mentally smacked himself in the head. He had let his emotions, and the lack of gravitational pull, impair his judgment and he had basically just asked his 2IC on a date. His self-loathing was interrupted by Sam's voice.

"Did you just ask me on a date?"

"What? No!" Jack shouted. "Definitely not a date. A date would be against the regs. Just a celebratory dinner between two colleagues", he said as he regulated his voice looking at her almost shyly.

This time Sam didn't hesitate.

"OK".

"OK?"

"OK. Where? When?"

"Your place. 19:00 hours".

She gave Jack one of her 1000 watt smiles and began to walk towards Daniel where he stood talking to T'ealc.

"Sam?", Jack called after her. She turned back towards him with a questioning look on her face.

"Wear something nice, ok?" he asked.

"Don't worry Jack. I will", Sam answered grinning. She turned towards Daniel again and this time didn't stop walking. Only then did Jack break out his 'shit-eating grin' and he mentally high-fived himself. He'd finally asked Samantha Carter out on a date and if they were to be honest, they both knew it.