Hello -- for those of you returning, I'm about to upload a whole whack of stuff so we can catch up and carry on!! My part numbers and my chapters are a bit out of whack... :( Sorry.

For those who are returning -- thanks for coming back :) For any new readers -- I hope you are enjoying it!

As always, my gratitude to those who read and reviewed and helped me shape this; and to all the other fabulous authors who made me think this was possible :)

Daniel watched the girl studying the artifacts that had been brought back from one of the latest missions. These proved almost conclusively that the various civilizations in the universe were related to the ones on earth, bearing an uncanny likeness to those found in Giza. This new planet also had several pyramids; pretty much proof positive. It gave him great satisfaction to know that his theories had always been right, even if he would never know the recognition in his own lifetime outside of the base.

Lieutenant Hailey seemed to share his passion for this type of information; he knew her strength was in the area of astrophysics, as evidenced by the continuous banter between she and Sam, but he also knew that she enjoyed this science almost as much as he did, and under his tutelage was getting quite good at it. Jonas had given her some hints on being observant and a quick study, which she easily absorbed. Once again he was struck by feelings for her that he did not think he should have. They had awakened after the incident with Jameson, but they had grown stronger with every day that she spent in his lab. And there had been the kissing incident a while back…

As he watched her, he toyed with the idea of inviting her to an event at the local art museum. It was the unveiling of a new archaeological exhibit, a private showing of which was being sponsored by the local public radio station, and since he had first heard the ads about it, he had imagined going with her to this event. He figured that was a sign that he should ask her, but he was a bit hesitant. She still scared him; not in the way she scared other men, but in the ways that he knew were probably good for him to be scared.

She looked up then, noticing him watching her. "Is everything okay, Dr. Jackson?" She instinctively touched her hair, wondering if that was what he was staring at. He really liked that about her; she had no idea what a fetching presence she really had.

"Oh, yes, yes, I was, just wondering…." He looked at the clock on the wall. "Don't you have to go up to Sam's lab?" Close, but no cigar, Jackson, he thought to himself.

She looked up at the clock. "You're probably right, I should go." She had become equally fond of the brown-haired, blue-eyed archaeologist; she spent as much time as she could in his lab when she wasn't on offworld missions. She was afraid he might notice just how much time, and get suspicious of her true motives. She did enjoy both the work and his presence, not wanting to give up either. Here in his lab, she could forget she was military; it was about the only time she could let her hair down, even if it wasn't in the literal sense. She felt safe and comfortable with him.

"Oh, no, that's okay, I was just wondering…" he trailed off, aware that he was starting to babble.

She smiled, that warm friendly smile that he was seeing more and more, the one he had seen briefly in the coffee shop after the Jameson incident. He really liked it.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong, Dr. Jackson?" She peered at him, as if trying to see the truth behind his eyes. He actually looked a little scared at that moment, and she felt self-conscious. She knew she had that affect on men. She looked down, not wanting to frighten him any more than she already had; she'd been embarrassed enough after the kissing incident …and she couldn't even blame that on an alien influence, like the other women could.

"Well, I guess I'll go, then," she said. She picked up her books, feeling awkward, and headed for the door.

"There's an archaeological exhibit in town tomorrow night and I was wondering if you would go with me," he said in a rush. There. It was out of his mouth. Stop now, Jackson, he told himself. But he ignored his better judgment.

"It's just a private showing being hosted by the local public radio station and several of the people I know from the archaeological department at the university are going and you've really seemed to take an interest in this stuff and I don't usually go to these things but these friends have been pestering me and I've thought about going alone but I really don't want to and I thought you might like a break from the base and I don't know who else to ask and of course I-"

"Okay."

He stopped, realizing he'd been babbling, despite himself.

"Okay?" he asked, almost incredulous.

"Okay," she said, more firmly, granting him one of those big smiles she had when she was really excited about something. She became a little self-conscious about her beaming grin, afraid it would give away just how excited she really was about the invitation. She cleared her throat and looked down.

"Okay, then," he said. "I'll pick you up at the barracks about 7:00 tomorrow night, then?"

"See you at 7:00, Dr. Jackson," she replied evenly, trying to contain her own excitement. She turned and walked slowly out of the lab, down the hall. Once out of sight of the lab corridor, she broke into a dead run, heading straight for Dr. Fraiser's office.

She arrived breathless in the infirmary. "Hi Dr. Fraiser," she said a bit anxiously. "How are you?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant," she said, eyeing the younger girl with amusement. "What's on your mind?" It was clear that something exciting had just happened or was about to happen, for all of her efforts to hide it.

"Date."

Janet's mouth almost fell open in spite of herself. "Date?" she asked, happily, almost as excited as Jennifer herself.

"Date," Jennifer nodded. That was the only the word needed, Janet knew the rest. Since "the kiss," she'd been kind of hoping for another sign in what she and Sam had hoped would be a budding romance between the pair.

"Okay, when?" Janet asked, all business now.

"Tomorrow night; he's picking me up at the barracks at 7:00."

"Good, we'll just arrange to get you to my house by 4:00 tomorrow – you know Cassie will want to be part of this – then you'll be ready in plenty of time for him to pick you up at 7:00."

"But I'm supposed to be working on an all day experiment with Major Carter tomorrow," Jennifer remembered suddenly. Her brow creased with concern at how she could get time off to get ready for a date.

"Don't you worry about that, Lieutenant," Janet said in her doctor tone of voice. "I'm sure it will all work out."

Jennifer knew that Janet had a firm belief in things working out as they should, so she just smiled. "Thanks Dr. Fraiser." She turned around and headed back to Sam's lab for her next shift.

Janet watched her out of the corner of her eye, leaning towards the door to see when she would be gone. She rolled her chair quickly back to her desk and hurriedly dialed the number for Sam's lab. She knew that the young lieutenant was self conscious about asking for time off, her theory being that soldiers don't need time off.

Sam answered the phone. "Hey Janet."

"Date," Janet said.

"Date?" Sam asked excitedly. The possibility of romance between them made her happy.

"Date," Janet confirmed, "so you either need to reschedule that all day experiment tomorrow, or find a way for it not to be all day."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Sam said in mock military response as she hung up the telephone. Now she needed to think quick – she knew that Jennifer was on her way up to the lab.

At that thought, the knock came on her lab door. She had better come up with something plausible.

"Come in," Sam said.

"Major Carter ma'am, Lieutenant Hailey reporting for duty, ma'am," she said in the traditional military greeting.

"Hi, Lieutenant."

"Shall I continue with the preparations for the naquadriah experiment tomorrow, ma'am?"

"Yes, that would be a good idea." She had a good idea of her own, now. She stepped into the other room and used her cell phone to dial the lab. The lab phone rang. She hurried back into the lab, stuffing her cell phone into her lab pocket.

"This is Carter," she said as she picked up the dead line. "Oh, no, what do you mean we don't have the naquadriah for the experiment tomorrow? What happened?" She waited a few moments as she thought of what to say next. "Well, you can tell the president that the testing for the fuel combination for the X302 has been pushed back because someone made a mistake in the clerical department at the SGC, airman." She slammed the phone down, hoping the display would look convincing to the young lieutenant.

"Something wrong, Major Carter?" the girl asked inquisitively.

"Oh, same bureaucratic crap, different day," she said, exasperatedly. "Apparently, they've given the naquadriah that we were supposed to use for the experiment tomorrow to the Russians for their experiment," Sam lied, convincing even herself.

Jennifer smiled to herself; Janet had been right again.

Sam shrugged, feigning exasperation at the bogus situation. "Well, lieutenant, I really don't have much else that's worth us getting started on until we can secure that naquadriah, and I don't think that will happen much before next week. Why don't you just do an inventory and diagnostics on the equipment here, and then take tomorrow off? You haven't taken any time off recently; it's good to take some down time when you're doing off-world missions. I'll work it out with Colonel Taylor," Sam said, trying to balance the lightness in her tone with just the right amount of condescending majorly tone, hoping that would keep the girl from getting suspicious.

"You're right, major, it has been a while since I've taken some time off. I'll just do the inventory and diagnostics and call it a week," Jennifer said, hardly believing her luck.

She didn't even argue with me, Sam thought. Wow, she must really be excited, she pondered to herself happily.

They settled in for the rest of the afternoon. Jennifer finished the work late in the evening, but having the next day off was important to her, and she didn't want it to come at the expense of her work, which was equally important to her. Sam pretended not to notice the time, working at her own desk. As per usual, she drove the girl back to her barracks when they were done.

"Have a good time tomorrow," Sam called cheerily out to the younger woman as she headed up the steps to her barracks.

Jennifer whirled around, "what do you mean, have a good time?" She was beginning to smell a rat at her good fortune, and she would not be party to special privileges or consideration.

Sam froze; she had almost divulged the conspiracy. "It means have a nice day off, Lieutenant," she said condescendingly again, smiling at the girl. She knew that the tone would anger Jennifer out of her suspicious mode. She hated to trick the girl, but sometimes, desperate measures were called for.

Jennifer smiled back. "Thanks. See you Monday." She turned and went into her barracks.

That was a close one, Sam thought, as she drove home.