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Captain Carter wiped the remains of her tears off her cheeks and sighed, hoping he would let her stay in his office until her nose and cheeks weren't all red and her eyes all puffy.

"Hey!" Colonel O'Neill said suddenly, a boyish grin in place. "I've got a cure-all for ya!"

Another Jack O'Neill hug? she found herself thinking cheekily. Blushing slightly, she asked, "What?"

"Cake!" He said the word carefully and excitedly, as though it were the world's greatest treasure.

His boyish charm made her giggle. "Ah!" she heard him say playfully. "No giggling, Captain!"

She threw him a sloppy salute. "Yessir!" she joked, feeling better than she had in days. When she giggled again, he groaned and dragged her to her feet, marching her down to the commissary, claiming that if, "I don't take you, you won't eat. Period."

"I do too eat!" she argued with a grin.

"Regularly?" he asked when they got to the elevator.

She shifted uncomfortably as the doors closed in front of them. "Erm…"

"Aha! I knew it!" he said smugly, smirking.

Captain Carter ducked her head to hide her own smile, and when the doors opened, the two went out to the commissary, Colonel O'Neill whistling "We're Off to See the Wizard" the entire way.

"So," he said as they sat down, him with his cake and her with her jello, "how'd you do it the last time?"

"Sir?"

He leaned in closer; thankfully, there weren't many people in the commissary, so they weren't overheard. "The nightmares?" he said. "How'd you deal with them the last time?"

Sam shifted the jello in its cup with her spoon. "Barely," she said. "I barely dealt with it. I think it was my work and Steve that got me through, and my training. Well, retraining; I'd gotten out of practice during my time with Hansen. So now you know why I'm such a workaholic," she said with a wry smile.

He nodded. "Steve?" he asked.

"A coworker and my closest friend. He was the only one who knew about Hansen; the others knew something was up, they just didn't know what. And he was the only one to drive me crazy with questions until I told him." Her smile grew as the memories came. "Somehow he knew exactly how to help me; I don't know how, or why he would, but I'm glad he did."

"What'd he do?" Colonel O'Neill asked. She looked at him, her mind dragged out of her memories. He seemed genuinely interested – why?

"Well…to be honest, he was just – there. When I was ordered to see a shrink, and I was ordered to see a lot of shrinks, he tried to come with me whenever he could. When I woke up from my nightmares one night, I called him, wanting just to hear a friendly voice, and apologized half a dozen times for doing so. He encouraged me to call him after every nightmare, and after an hour or so, I would begin to feel sleepy. I would fall asleep on the phone with him, and I would be too tired to dream, even nightmares. When he heard me sleep, he'd hang up. In the morning, there would be hot coffee and cinnamon rolls on my desk, or fruit or something else from the commissary. Then at lunchtime he'd drag me out of my office for lunch and I'd pay." Carter shrugged. "My way of paying back for breakfast I doubt he's paid off the phone bills yet, though…"

Colonel O'Neill grinned. "I like the guy already. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels as though he needs to practically order you to eat."

Carter blushed. "I'm not that bad, sir," she mumbled, picking at her jello.

"Call me."

Carter choked. "Sir?" she asked through her coughing.

"When you wake up from nightmares. Call me. Just like Steve."

Carter stared at him for a moment. "You don't have to do that, sir," she said quietly.

Colonel O'Neill ran his fingers through his hair. "No. But I want to." He watched her, concern glowing in his eyes. "I want my team to be safe. That's more than just making sure you guys don't get your asses killed on an alien planet. That means trying to help in any way I can. Besides, if I can get you to eat, I can get you to sleep!" he said cheekily.

Captain Carter smiled. "I'm not sure you can order me to sleep, sir," she said. Especially when I know another nightmare is just around the corner.

Colonel O'Neill waggled his eyebrows in a way that made her go weak in the knees (What the hell? Earth to emotions – that's my COMMANDING OFFICER!). She was awfully glad she was sitting and not standing, or she might've fainted then and there. "Wanna bet?" he asked.

A few seconds passed before she was able to reply: "Not really, sir. I wouldn't want to cheat you out of your money and your dignity."

Colonel O'Neill's jaw dropped and he laughed. "So there is a little smartass somewhere in there!" he exclaimed, smirking. "We'll just have to work on that, won't we?" he said, shaking a finger at her playfully. He got up from the table. "See you later, Carter," he said.

"Goodbye, sir." Carter watched him leave, and fleeting hope came to mind; Maybe he won't really want me to –

"Don't forget to call tonight!" he yelled from the hall.

- never mind.