Ok this was my first story ever…I am giving it a face lift…this will take time. If you see at the beginning of the story its been updated.
Title: Game, Set, Match
Author: cess525
Content Level: I don't think there is anything in here to worry about.
Pairings: Jack & Sam (always)
Season: 7 after Inauguration
Spoilers: none that I know of
Summary: Who knew what could happen from a friendly game of tennis.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Sam checked herself in the bathroom mirror one more time to make sure her tennis skirt was not tucked into the back of her bloomers. Once she was satisfied that everything was in its right place she picked up her tennis bag and headed outside.
It was a nice sunny day in Colorado Springs, the temperature had reached the upper 70's and a slight breeze was blowing. It was the perfect day to visit the local Racquet Club for a tennis match.
As Sam was looking around for her partner she noticed someone she never thought she would see at the Racquet Club.
"Colonel?" Sam asked, surprise in her voice. He looked like he had just finished playing a match with the man he was walking with. Jack looked up, when he heard her voice, and started heading towards her.
"See you later, Eric." Jack yelled over his shoulder towards the man he had been walking with.
"We still on for doubles next week, Jack?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, as long as I'm not needed at the mountain." Jack called back. Eric shrugged his shoulders at that
"Alright, I'll get us a court. See you then." Eric said, with a nod.
"Thanks." Jack called back before he turned all of his attention to Sam.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.
"Just finished playing tennis, Carter. What does it look like?" Jack replied, as he pointed to all the tennis courts around them.
"Sorry Sir, I just never thought you would be much of a tennis player." Sam said, as she bit her bottom lip. "You know with all the concentration involved." She added, with a smirk.
"Funny Carter, Funny." Jack answered back with a twinkle in his eye. "As for seeing me here, I couldn't play for a while with the knees and all. Now that they are all patched up." He said, testing them out. Realization dawned for Sam that the time Jack had spent with Ba'al must have fixed Jack's knees.
"Ah right, Sir." She said, tentatively biting her lip once more. Jack could see that Sam had started looking around for someone and instantly spotted whom she was looking for; Pete was coming out of the men's bathroom.
"Ah well, I better get going." Jack stated; then adding with a grimace "I have some paperwork to finish."
"See you later, Sir." Sam added as Jack started to make his exit. "Maybe we could play sometime."
"Sure Carter, though I have to tell you I'm not that good. Still a bit rusty from all those years I couldn't play."
"I'll be the judge of that, Sir. You want to try for next Saturday at 4?" she asked.
"Ya sure ya betcha." Jack replied, as Pete arrived, standing next to Sam.
"Hey Sammie, you ready to play?" Pete looked and noticed Jack, causing their alpha male syndrome to kick in. Pete won as he put his arm around Sam but Jack got a silent point as he noticed Sam cringe. "Colonel."
"Pete." Jack replied in monotone. "I was just on my way. A mountain of paperwork awaits me." Jack finished, pointing towards Cheyenne Mountain.
"Bye Sir, and remember next Saturday." Sam stated, as Jack made a speedy exit to his truck.
"Yeah Carter, send me a memo." He called out over his shoulder.
--
The next day Sergeant Siler had been puttering around outside Daniel's lab waiting for Sam to leave. He was pretending to fix all sorts of things but Daniel could tell he needed him for something.
"When do you think you can get the translations from this device for me?" Sam asked, as she looked at the item in question in front of them both.
"Huh? Oh yeah, should take a few hours. I think it is of Celtic origins. So should have it to you by this evening." Daniel replied, after making a quick recovery.
"Thanks Daniel." Sam said, as she looked down at her watch. "Ah," She started with a grimace. "I have to go. I'm supposed to meet Pete topside in 20 minutes." She stated, as she made her way to the door. "I will be back later for those items."
"Bye Sam." He called out to her retreating form. "Siler?"
" Yes, Dr. Jackson?" Siler asked, looking up from his work on the pipe outside Daniel's office.
"It there any real reason why you have been outside my office all morning?" Daniel asked, as he looked at the pipe and the huge wrench in Siler's hand.
"Did you know that the Colonel could play tennis?" Siler stammered out.
"No, never thought he would have had the patience for the sport. Why?"
"I was playing with Colonel Dixon when I noticed Major Carter and the Colonel talking as I was retrieving a ball that went over the fence." Siler started.
"Really?" Daniel asked, with keen interest. "Had they been playing each other?"
"No, the Major was there to play tennis with that cop. The Colonel looked like he had just finished playing." Daniel could see that Siler had something else to add but he seemed hesitant to speak.
"Anything else, Siler?"
"They have set up a match for this Saturday at 4." With that final piece of information Daniel picked up his phone.
"I have a few phone calls to make. I'll see what I can dig up." Siler started to walk out of Daniel's office with a huge grin on this face. "Oh and Siler?" Siler turned his head towards Daniel. "Thanks for the tip."
"My pleasure, Dr. Jackson." Siler said, as he slipped out the door.
--
Later that same day Jack was sitting in his office, his desk inundated with reports, trying to make a dent in his paper work. Jack sat there with his left hand on his chin while the other idly twirled a pen. At a rap at his door, Jack lifted his head to see who it was. When he saw it was Sam he perked up.
"Sir, have you signed those reports yet?" Sam asked, though she knew the answer all ready. As Daniel had already told her this morning they were done.
"Yes Carter, they're right here." He replied, as he picked up one of the big stacks of reports and handed them to her.
"Thanks." She said, as she accepted the reports into her awaiting arms.
"Oh and Carter, don't forget about Saturday." He reminded her.
"Don't worry, sir. I'll be there with bells on." She stated, as she tried to hide a giggle. Jack rose an eyebrow at the comment but quickly changed it to a glare as he heard a giggle escape, but before he could reprimand her she was already out the door.
--
Daniel was sat in front of his computer mulling over data, surrounded by a sea of clutter. At the knocking outside his door he looked up, pushing his glasses back up his nose in the process. Once he saw that it was Siler at the door, Daniel made no attempt to cover up what was on the computer screen.
"Come in." Daniel invited him in, as he tried to clean the books and lose papers off the chair next to him at the desk.
"Any information, Dr. Jackson?" Siler asked, as he sat down. Daniel started riffling around his desk before he found what he was looking for. He handed one of them to Siler and then he started to explain what he had found.
"The first page is what I have been able to gather on Jack so far. He used to play when he was at the Academy, did pretty well, playing number 1 singles and doubles his last year. Looking at his current USTA stats he just recently self rated at a 4.0 level. Though I called around to some of the guys he has played with and they have said it's a fair rating though he is getting better." Daniel paused to see if Siler was absorbing all the information. As he saw the slight confused look on Siler's face,
"Siler I thought you played tennis?" Daniel asked.
"Yes Sir, just started playing about 3 months ago." Siler answered with pride.
"Ah," Daniel decided he had to try and clarify the ranking system. "The tennis ranking system goes up to are professionals. Jack being a 4.0 is pretty good for a male playing locally at his age." Siler nodded his head in understanding so that Daniel knew he could continue. Daniel flipped to the second page with all of Sam's stats and Siler followed.
"Sam has been playing since she was little, and from what I gathered from General Hammond she beats Jacob every time he's here. Her rank is a strong 4.5, and her match record says she is pretty good. I talked to some of the people she plays with but all they could tell me was she's one of the best women in the area."
"So Major Carter should win the match?" Siler asked.
"Not necessarily. Apparently the men's and women's rankings don't exactly match up since playing styles are different at the lower levels. Sam's strong 4.5 might be closer to a week 4.0 on the men's ranking; though I don't think Sam would let a little ranking stand in the way of beating Jack." Siler took a few notes on the papers that Daniel had given him.
"Thanks Dr. Jackson. I will get these to Walter right away." Siler said, as he stood up.
"Hey Siler put 10 down for me; Sam to win." Daniel added. Siler made another quick note on his paper before heading out the door.
--
Another bright sunny day came to Colorado Springs that Saturday. There had been reports early in the week that there would be rain; Jack and Sam had talked about a possible rescheduling, but on Friday the weather report looked promising so they decided to keep the match as scheduled. When Sam came to sign in, at the tennis shop, she noticed that Jack had already signed in. As she grabbed a towel from the teenager behind the desk she could sense someone was watching her.
"Carter, you ready?" Jack asked, as he came up beside her.
"Yes, Sir."
"Just remember to be nice to the old man."
"'Old' right sir." Sam said, as she rolled her eyes. The two of them made their way out of the tennis shop and over to the court that had been assigned to them.
As they put their stuff down onto the benches they saw Daniel and Teal'c show up. Sam and Jack looked at each other and shrugged figuring the other one must have told Teal'c or Daniel about the match; pulling out their rackets the two set to warm up. While they warmed up they noticed SGC employees show up and take seats next to Daniel and Teal'c on the bleachers. Jack and Sam both looked at the ever-increasing crowd as they warmed up. They could hear Daniel try to explain to Teal'c and a few others how the game was played, though it was obvious that he didn't have a full grasp on the game.
"Dr. Jackson, it might be better to explain as they are playing." Walter said, as he noticed the confusion on everyone's faces. "Also, you are supposed to be quiet."
"Hey, Walter." Jack called, seizing an opportunity.
"Yes, Sir?"
"The same applies to you." Jack said, as he went to hit his next warm-up serve. Walter looked shocked for a moment and then sat back further into his seat. More people showed up while all this was going on.
"DanielJackson." Teal'c whispered, as he pointed in the direction off towards the tennis shop; Pete had just exited the shop and was walking towards them.
"Oh boy." Daniel said, as he tried to hide from Pete's eye sight. It didn't matter because Pete saw them and made his way towards them.
"Dr. Jackson. Teal'c." He greeted, acknowledging the two.
"Pete, coming to watch the match?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, never get to see Sam when she plays." Pete answered
"It should be a good match." Teal'c stated.
"Yeah, it should be." Pete said, and then was off to find himself a seat off at the end of the bleachers.
By the time Sam and Jack had finished warming up the bleachers were almost packed. "Well Sir, it looks like we have a audience." Sam stated, pointing out the obvious.
"Something tells me everyone is going to see this." Jack said, as he pointed to Siler and a few other techies setting up cameras on the hill next to the court.
"Great."
"It's not that bad, Carter."
"Not that, sir." She said, as she pointed her head toward the two new figures sat on the bleachers: General Hammond and her father, Retired General Jacob Carter host of Sel'mak. "I should go say hi."
"Yeah and greet the crowd." Jack added, as they walked towards the fence nearest to the crowd.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, when she got to the fence as Jack started talking a few of the spectators.
"When else am I going to able to see my daughter beat up her CO and not get into trouble for it." Jacob said, with a grin.
Sam just rolled her eyes at the comment, and looked at Jack; who had been noticing the money change hands as he was talking.
"Carter, I think we should place a bet on this." He calmly stated. Jacob perked up at this along with the rest of the crowd. There were chants of encouragement from the crowd.
"Alright, what are the terms?" Sam asked, using her best poker face.
"If I win you have to be out of your lab everyday by 1700 hours for the next month." Jack said, with a cocky grin on his face.
"Sir, that is hardly fair, I don't have anything like that to hold over your head."
"Sam, why don't you make him have to eat one of your meals?" Daniel called out from where he was. The crowd instantly cringed at the thought.
"Daniel, I'm warning you," Jack glared at Daniel. "Don't put ideas into Carter's head."
"I am not that bad of a cook!" Sam said, defensively.
"The few times you have cooked for us while on missions state otherwise, MajorCarter." Teal'c chimed in.
"Alright, if I win you have to eat one of my meals." Sam stated, with an evil twinkle in her eye as she saw Jack squirm. "Sir, are you afraid you're going to lose to a girl?"
"No, Carter. I just remembered the last time I ate your cooking." Jack replied.
"Again, it wasn't that bad." repeated Sam.
"Daniel got food poisoning!" Jack retorted, as he threw his hands in the air. Sam did have the decency to look ashamed. "You're on, Carter." Jack added, as he put his hand out to shake.
"You're on, sir." Sam agreeing, taking his hand and looked in his eyes, with a grin plastered on her face.
They went to their respective sides of the court and Jack suddenly decided, as he readied himself to return her serve, that Sam's outfit should be illegal. In fact he had noticed in the past that women's tennis outfits were a little light on the fabric, but he realized that Sam's outfit was going to be a problem; he was going to have difficulty not looking. She was wearing a white skirt with a touch of blue on the edges. The skirt itself stopped mid thigh but had two slits, one on each side, which went almost to the top of the skirt, underneath it was a pair of white spandex shorts. Her top was composed of an assortment of blue thread wound together to make an interesting print, it was a tank top but with thick straps and was cropped to stop just at the top of the skirt. While Jack was mulling over Sam's outfit, Sam was getting ready to serve. She had already noticed Jack's rather tame white with olive green accented short-sleeved dri-fit shirt and olive green shorts, though she liked what she saw. Hey a girl can look, even if she is dating another man, she just can't touch. Despite looking, she had set her concentration on winning the game.
The match started out fairly even; well matched, neither of them would be able to say they were having a bad day. Both were going for and making shots that they would not normally make on any other day. If it was the crowd or the heat that made them fight harder who knew, the fact is that after an hour Sam had pulled out the first set 6-4. While taking the two-minute break between sets, Jack looked down at his shirt and decided it was a goner. He went into his bag and pulled out another shirt; this one more simple than the first one, just being a white dri-fit shirt. Sam looked over at a good time and caught a glimpse of the shirtless Jack as he took off the old shirt and put on the new. Momentarily distracted she did not hear Pete call out to her. Finally hearing her name the second time it was called, she snapped out of her daydream and looked over towards Pete. He was giving her two thumbs up.
"You got it, babe." Pete called out to her, ecstatically. At hearing babe Sam cringed, she hated that nickname and no matter how many times she told him not to call her that he kept calling her babe regardless. She nodded her head towards him in agreement before picking up her racket and heading back to the baseline to start the second set.
Jack had told himself he was not going to lose this set. He was going to win and the set started off in his favor, 3-0. That didn't last long as Sam snapped back into the match and quickly evened it up again to 3-3 with an overhead smash that sent Siler off to fetch the ball out of the woods behind Jack's side of the court. With renewed determination, Sam won the next two games sending Jack into mass panic before he was able to take control of the situation evening it up and then continued his momentum on to win the set 7-5.
With the match now tied at a set a piece, the two took their 10 minute break. Everyone that was in the crowd talked among themselves as they had been quiet for the majority of the set, only talking between side changes. The crowd had also grown; people from the Racquet Club had actually stopped by after their own matches and were now sitting on the grass watching as well. With so many people watching one would have thought there was a pro-exhibition going on; not simply a game between two Air Force Officers.
Jack and Sam started out the final set the way they had started the first one, battling for every game but neither one of them getting the break. 0-1, 1-2, 3-2, 4-3, 4-5, 5-6, 6-6. Now the match was tied and the whole thing would come down to a tie break. The crowd was literally on the edge of their seats and some of the Racquet Club players were brought into the stands to explain how the tie-breaker worked. With the SGC component happy to have someone explain the game in better detail they grew quiet again as Jack served the first point. If the match before that point looked interesting this took the cake, there were playing first to 7, points that is, win by two, winner takes all. The need to win was greater, the crowd was larger and the ego boost at winning was going to be massive. The language was tame still but the outbursts of frustrations were greater, grumbles of "fer crying out loud" were more frequent along with "that's just not possible." As the first point made its way along, the two were so focused on the goal that Thor could have beamed himself into the judge's chair and they would not have noticed until the match was over. Jack won the first point with a tactical drop shot that spun off the court. Switching sides of the court, Sam served the next two points winning one instantly with an ace, the next point though took a little more thought but she got it in the end. The points continued in this pattern both winning their serves, not able to break the pattern. The match went past playing for 7, now it was on to win by two. With the score tied at 10-10 the pattern finally was broken.
Jack went up for his serve, it was placed in such a way that a pro would have a hard time getting to it as it kicked off to the right, heading off the court, Sam, by some miraculous chance, was able to stick her racket out and salvage the ball, as it hit the tip of the net it drooled over the other side of the court with no chance for Jack to get it. Sam had received the upper hand.
She set up to serve, 11-10, like she had so many other times during that match; Pulling down her top and whipping her hand on her skirt to rid it of excess sweat. Bouncing the ball a few times and looking over towards Jack deciding where to serve it; his forehand had more power but there was more chance he would over hit it, but his backhand was not as powerful yet it had more control and at times could have a nasty spin attached to it. Sam made up her mind and aimed to throw the ball in the air, Jack was ready at the other end, trying to see how she was positioned so he could estimate where the serve was going to send the ball. Instead of hitting it, Sam caught the ball. The crowd looked on curiously as Jack looked perplexed toward her. Standing up straight, she threw the ball up in the air again like she was judging something. Catching the ball, she stepped over to the left and threw the ball up in the air, again catching the ball. She nodded her head and positioned herself ready to serve again. Jack taking the cue prepared himself. Sam threw the ball in the air pulling her racket to behind her back at the same time as the ball was reaching its peak she jumped up towards it like every other serve this time though Jack noticed something glittering. Instead of looking at her serve, he was now looking at her stomach in shock, the only thing running through his mind was "Carter has her belly buttoned pierced!" Sam hit the ball and it went soaring toward the box, Jack shook himself out of his momentary gaze but was not prepared, his shot came back to Sam short and she was able to put it away with a forehand to the deep left corner. Victory was hers. The crowd erupted into cheers, even from those that had bet for Jack to win. Jack looked over at Sam in shock, shock that he had lost and shocked at the new information he had.
"Oh, fer crying out loud!" Jack exclaimed, as he finally broke out of his shock. The crowd was on their feet, applauding and whistles could be heard; Walter was collecting money from the losers to be distributed to the winners after everything was collected.
Sam walked towards the net with her hand extended to shack his hand.
"That was a good match, Sir." Jack swore he could see an evil twinkle in her eye.
"It was a good match, Carter. We should do that again sometime." Jack agreed.
"Of course Sir, so what night is good for you, for dinner?" The crowd saw the look of horror on Jack's face and they became quiet.
"Oh Carter we, uh, I mean, uh-" Jack stumbled.
"Colonel, you aren't trying to back out of a bet are you?" Jacob asked.
"No, sir." Jack replied quickly "How about Wednesday?" Jack offered, knowing they had a mission on Monday this would give her time to prepare on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"That sounds great, sir." Carter answered. Jack was certain that she really was evil.
Forehand – For right handed players it's a one handed shot on the right side of their body hit from the back line
Backhand – For right-handed players it's a one or two-handed shot (right hand always on racket) on the left hand side of their body hit from the back line.
Ace- Is a serve that is do good your opponent doesn't even touch it.
Bloomers- Is a garment that covers women's underwear and holds tennis balls.
Racket verse racquet – both are correct though I have always used racket but the Racquet Club is what I believe when I wrote this story eons ago was the tennis facility in Colorado Springs…to lazy to look it up again.